You hear "documentary" and you expect one or all of these: Controversy (Fahrenheit 911), insight (anything historical), or beauty (Winged Migration).

Animals: Friend or Food has little of the first two, and makes a token attempt at the third, following a nondescript Canadian as he runs his first animal farm in Nova Scotia, from purchasing the livestock to slaughter.

The title gives you the impression that a vegetarian or a hippie is behind this, and filmmaker Jason Young does sport the long hair and scruffy beard. But Young is not only a meat-eater, but seems to have few reservations about the issue. He just wants to see what being a livestock farmer is like, and whether being closer to pigs, steer and rabbits will alter his view of food. No statistics on animals slaughte...Read the entire review

As someone who hasn't yet had the luxury of leaving my home continent, it's locations like those found in One World (2004) that make me want to explore this big blue ball we live on. Granted, it's not the most informative account of world culture; instead, it's a lively romp through Zambia, Uganda, Costa Rica, China, Kyrgyzstan and Norway by way of kayak (and beat up old van, of course). Participating in this whitewater tour are a number of enthusiastic athletes including Ben Brown, Steve Fisher, Jimi Scott, Ben Selznick and many more. Needless to say, they're pretty psyched about the adven...Read the entire review