A collection of thirteen vignettes set around the country during George W. Bush’s presidency, We Pedal Uphill gauges the state of the union with less flash and blunt-force blather than your average Hollywood message picture, but nonetheless contains quite a bit of preachiness. Addressing various socio-political issues from the past eight years, writer/director Roland Tec certainly attempts a subtle touch, his script largely sidestepping declarative speeches and leaden exposition to make its points. His functional digital-video cinematography won’t win any awards, and his theater-trained cast’s unshowy turns are saddled with a stagey quality, but strictly in terms of aesthetics and performance, Tec’s film eschews – save for a few notable exceptions – ostentation and pomposity in favor of tonal and narrative modesty. Unfortunately, while he channels his anger, frustration and sadness about the nation’s health into short stories free of hysterics, his collage still all too frequently succumbs to moralistic clichés, and never coheres into a rousing, affecting whole.

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"A jet-lagged Harvey Weinstein lecturing at an Arab film festival: what could go wrong with that?" This is one of many loaded questions posed by Jeff Beresford-Howe in his highly entertaining Film Threat diary of the first-ever Middle East International Film Festival, held recently in opulent Abu Dhabi. A mere four months in the making, the festival was sponsored by emirs rich on petrodollars and tourist dirhams, but that doesn’t mean there wasn’t plenty that could go awry, as evidenced by the first night of the festival, where Beresford-Howe logs the reaction of a group of Arab women in the audience of Atonement to a scene involving the frequent use of a rather crude term for the female genitalia. The author also offers this not unexpected bit of advice: "If you ever want to see the full range of Homeland Security tricks and treats, book a same-day international flight to an Arab country and have your ticket paid for by a third party with a Middle Eastern address." — Leonard Pierce