SAVING THE PLANET

ONE CROSSWORD PUZZLE AT A TIME

Screw Superman and the X-Men! I mean, who needs genetically mutated freaks when we can see real life heroes in this summer’s bumper crop of good documentaries?

People are flocking to see Al Gore talk about imminent environmental catastrophes in An Inconvenient Truth. Last weekend, in fact, the film earned more money per screen than anything in the schlocky blockbuster brigade. I haven’t seen it yet, but my friend Meg invites you to her blog to read her reaction: http://willworkforearth.blogspot.com/2006/06/bars-of-gold-or-whole-planet-hmm.html

But I did catch a screening of an eco-friendly documentary called Who Killed the Electric Car? Scroll down a wee bit and you’ll find my review.

Turning from earth warriors to geek squads, today I saw Wordplay, a terrific and suspenseful documentary about The New York Times crossword puzzle and its legions of addicted fans. Director Patrick Creadon gives a generous chunk of screen time to celebrity puzzle whizzes Jon Stewart, Bill Clinton and the Indigo Girls, but most of the attention goes to the quirky and frighteningly intelligent folks who make an annual pilgrimage to a high pressure national competition in Stamford, CT. I highly recommend it, especially if you liked Spellbound (the documentary about kids in the national spelling bee, not the Hitchcock movie) and Word Wars, a portrait of highly competitive Scrabble players.

Who Killed the Electric Car? (Grade: B+)

Martin Sheen narrates a documentary that will leave you feeling guilty every time you fuel up at the gas station. Director Chris Paine’s informal interviewing techniques sometimes yield annoying gab fests instead of cold hard facts. But his research findings leave us with no doubt that the U.S. government and big business have successfully - and nefariously - railroaded efforts to bring environmentally safe vehicles to the general population. Along with Al Gore’s somber environmental outlook in An Inconvenient Truth, Electric Car is the antithesis of escapism at the movies this summer.