Heinrich Himmler's Beliefs: As American As Apple Pie,...

Another movie with a NewAge theme (I've lost count of how many this is now) but in the case of The Bling Ring, the subject is it's effect on teens - and it sounds like Sophia Coppola got it right:

Though on the surface “The Bling Ring” is slight of aim and repetitive of structure, it is actually a slam-dunk conservative critique of American culture: As if with a checklist at hand, Coppola hits the collapse in Judeo-Christian teaching, decaying educational standards, loose ethics, broken families, drugs, Hollywood and a permissive criminal justice system. (Sex is missing — the only boy in the group seems to be gay, or at least more interested in trying on women’s pumps than getting in their pants. But these girls are so in love with themselves it’s tough to imagine anyone else meeting their standards.)

NOW we're getting somewhere, huh? C'mon, this could've been a TMR production. But get this:

It's a based on a true story!

Of course it is - I've been saying it's the real world for years. And not only that, but while this movie could've been told from almost any point of view, Coppola even chose mine, in a blender:

...Watson, who is amusingly convincing as the vapid Nicki and does a flawless American accent, plays a kid who is being home-schooled by her airhead mom (Leslie Mann). Nicki has a foster sister, Sam (Taissa Farmiga) who is living in the house because her mother washed away on a tide of booze and drugs. 

The mother is teaching the girls a goofball religion based on “The Secret” — prayer as catalog shopping,..

I am so there.

I finally caught Kumaré: A True Film About a False Prophet, and it was a little too cute for my taste. That's not to say I didn't like it, or can't recommend it (I did and can) but disliked director/star Vikram Gandhi's clever scheme to avoid the resolution he builds towards. Sorry, I can't say more without giving it away:

 Get it, watch it, enjoy it, and then marvel we're here at all,...
 

"And They Believed You?"

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Bogus Belief Film: The History Of Spiritual Sell-You-Loid

Another cult-inspired film is being released, and this time it's Vikram Gandhi's Kumaré: A True Film About A False Prophet. In it, the American Gandhi assumed the role of a visiting Indian guru named Kumaré and filmed the reactions of the gullible. And gullible they are. Watch.

The film's conceit even has some bearing on the Mormon "religion" as Gandhi asks, "Can people find the same peace, from a made-up religion, that they found in a real one?" Of course, the better question is whether people need to be this nonsensical at all, but - hey - it's Gandhi's first film. Maybe he can make one on the lives of those who, somehow, live without covering life in the fake gold of false hope for his next one.

Though it should be pretty obvious, I would like to point out how important Yoga was to the con job. Yoga is the gateway drug to being delusional, so it was only natural that - in order to fool people - a yoga studio is where Kumaré would find delusionals who would foolishly follow him. And they did.

I should also point out that years ago, long before Vikram Gandhi and Kumaré, James "The Amazing" Randi pulled this same stunt in Australia by creating a fake guru named "Carlos" and drawing the media in. Considering the media's supposed to be our bull work against bullshit, it was pretty damning evidence the public had been abandoned by those self-assigned to protecting us.

And finally, there was Randi's Project Alpha, when he proved "paranormal" researchers also want to believe when there's no good reason to do so. We are surrounded by hucksters, and they're in charge, getting all the money, holding positions of power, and doing everything but letting the truth breathe - just so they can keep it. But never fear - Randi won a MacArthur Genius grant, Vikram Gandhi won the People's Choice award at the SXSW film festival, and I still have a blog.

I told you the cult films are coming - and there's more on the way. 

The frauds don't stand a chance,...