Yup. Let's see some of the reviews:
I came into the documentary excited about artistic building concepts and futuristic ideas of technology. Instead it felt like I was being sold a quack's ideas on government, a bio-dome'esk state of magical fairytale existence. I was genuinely intrigued about his building concepts and ideas on robotic factors of production, but when he started talking about a system of government where people are just good and do the right thing and work their butts off for the greater good I became disgusted that he didn't derive anything from failed communism. I will grant him that he appears to be a good inventor and interior/exterior design artist, but when he started trying to push ideas of economic and political insanity, I lost interest in the documentary. His funniest (non intentional) like was something along the lines of "we won't need a police force or military because people will just be good." riiiiighhhttt.....
This could be fun to watch as long as you don't hope to take it seriously. I had not heard of Jacques Fresco until I saw the documentary, so I come from this perspective: The imagery is great, with cinematic modeling of futuristic buildings, locomotives, and landscapes. However it seems more like a portfolio of a conceptual artist rather than a practical plan for the future. While some of his ideas are interesting to think about (such as a water recycling system for restrooms), none of those ideas are new or remarkable (including his social ideas) or if they are, they are not feasible even though he talks about them as if they are. Half way through the film I realized all this guy had was fancy models and child-like schemes of "efficiency" that make no sense if you've had any remote education in physics. He came off as a engineering quack unable to distinguish his fantasy from reality. If this is not the case, then I'm thoroughly confused about what his motivations are. It turned me off and I soon lost interest in the "futurist" message. But hey, if you are into great art or just like science fiction or fantasy ideas, this is a film to check out.
Ramblings of an egotistical and uneducated mad man. Most of his ideas would work fine in a world of unlimited resources and mindless drones, but not in ours. none of his plans have much room for individuality or variety, and completely ignore building materials or fuel sources. what happens if one of his cities grow beyond its limits? why would all cities be the same size and shape, and who would want them to be? that said, his models are pretty cool and neat to look at, but his pompous attitude is a bit much to bear.
This guy has some really cool ideas, but his thoughts of social designs sound closer to slavery to me than the utopia he believes they would be. Let's bbe happy he was never elected president.
Jacque Fresco says he can deliver a world without scarcity, where everyone can have whatever they want without cost. Hey sign me up! Surely this time it won't turn out like Stalin's Russia, or Pol Pot's Cambodia. Communism - the myth that won't die - always there to enslave the next generation of dreamers.
I came into this movie very interested, but I knew I was in for a disappointment as soon as Jacque Fresco started talking about how engineers never get into arguments. (Don't you see! Everything they say is objective! How could they argue when they speak only in facts, and the facts must point out the truth!) Fresco is self-educated, but he appears to have ended his education sometime in the 1970s. The way he uses terms like "computer" when describing his cities of the future shows that he has a very limited understanding of that they actually are and how they operate (in many cases he might as well be using the term "wizard", as they just seem to serve as a deus ex machina in his plans). Some of his designs aren't even internally logical. (Why would a 2000-mile-an-hour train need a classroom? Even a trip from New York to Bejing would take around 4 hours, hardly long enough for a school day.) There are some very nice images in this film, but after an hour even those become monotonous. William Gazecki does a decent-enough job stringing together the best footage he had, it can't break away from how limited and sycophantic he chose to make the film. The fact that he never presents a single critic to Fresco during the entire runtime (leaving Fresco to make statements about imagined criticism that all generally boil down to "but aren't your ideas just too advanced and excellent?") is unforgivable. Fresco is definitely an interesting character, and could serve as the subject of a very good documentary, but this is not it.
His architectural designs are beautiful and innovative, but his social designs are childish and ill conceived. He preaches communism with no thought given to the practical flaws of central planning demonstrated by every socialist community. Instead of trying to convince a capitalist society to try out socialism, he should go to a socialist country and try to make things work there first.
This movie seems to split cynics and dreamers. My take on it was well if Fresco wasnt realistic he was hopeful. He had a spark of innovation and inspirational. Even though Tomorrowland is outdated its hopeful. There is no end times .Problems are presented and they are just kind of solved. We hope for a better time for the future and our next generations. I found the film sweet and inspiring.
Granted there are some glowing reviews but they look coordinated or came from people who were already drinking the Kool-Aid before watching it.
