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john-4316
Reviews
Lava Storm (2008)
A waste of 2 hours
Nothing I could write could spoil this movie. The filmmakers and writers have already done that simply by making this horrible movie. Obviously the writer did not pass a 5th grade science class yet at the end of the movie they have the nerve to leave an "Ecological" message based on fact. Something about how this has happened in the pass and drilling may cause lava flows in the future.
This is idiotic as the deep well oil drilling is at 3-4 miles. The earth's crust runs from 15 – 40 miles thick. There is nothing man could due including use of nuclear weapons to cause lava to flow in this manner. They try to blow up a dam with a RPG which is impossible, and they are standing directly below the damn in the stream bed when they try to do it. I kept telling myself it only a movie. But it's a movie that is not even based in possible realm of reality. Don't waste 2 hours of your life skip this one.
The Golden Compass (2007)
Impressive Special Effects Entertaining Movie
I did not read the book and do not know anything about Pullman. But I did enjoy the movie The Golden Compass immensely. The special effects are simply the best I have ever seen, they are absolutely amazing and worth the price of admission. For those who complain that it was not realistic, I have to agree. Of course it isn't it's a fantasy, a place located in a parallel universe to ours where animals "Demons" speak perfect English.
The actors did a great job and pulled me into the original story and made it believable. The action occurs at a good pace so the story flows smoothly.
As I was looking through the IMDb site on The Golden Compass, I could not believe how anyone could think this movie is a threat to religious belief. This movie is a fantasy. It does not take place on this world so how can it be against any organized religion? This is a family movie and my kids thoroughly enjoyed the movie as well. So suspend your belief in reality for 113 minutes and enjoy the story.
Hybrid (2007)
A waste of Time.
The plot sounded like it had promise. To be honest I did not watch the entire movie. After about an hour into the movie I had to make a decision. Is this movie worth watching until it conclusion? The answer was clearly NO! It was not the fact that the human body could not receive a transplant from a different species without rejecting it. Nor the premise that he was being chased by secret government authorities for an human / wolf transplant. It was because the movie was badly written, acting lacked emotion and I did not understand the several dream sequences with the wolves and buffaloes. When he was running to the zoo with a dog pack and leaving them at the front of the zoo gate the saying "If you can't run with the big dogs don't leave the porch" kept running through my bored mind. Save yourself the time and skip this movie. I can guarantee if you do dare to watch it you will sit there slack jawed as I did wondering why anyone waste money, time, energy and effort to make this insulting outrage to American cinema.
Naked Science: Alien Contact (2004)
Alien hypothesis for the uneducated
I watched this episode and could not believe the lack of common sense used in making this documentary which was an obvious attempt to discredit the idea of alien intelligence possibly visiting the earth.
The show "Alien Contact," put forth the following difficulties in visiting our planet as near insurmountable.
The difficulties are numbered my thought while watching the show is in brackets;
1. Gravity their planet may be smaller and have less gravity could not walk on earth. (Gravity applies to anything that has a mass rest assured any planet with or without aliens will have gravity. NS did not say anything about what would happen if gravity on their planet was stronger therefore making it easier for them to move about on earth).
2. An alien ship may just burn up in Earth's Atmosphere upon entry. (They have traveled halfway across the galaxy to visit the earth, built an interstellar spacecraft and not slow down when they come into our atmosphere and burn up. What kind of sense does that make? We can be sure of 2 things, 1 The Alien planet will have an atmosphere of some sort very unlikely they have evolved in a vacuum . 2 If they can travel hundreds or thousands of light years we can safely assume they are smart enough to slow down or have a shield of some sort).
3. Bacterial Organisms, will kill the aliens when they land. (This is a possibility, once again bacteria are very common life forms and found everywhere on Earth. It's possible that fossil bacteria have been found on a meteorite which fell in Antarctica. No doubt Aliens will have bacteria on their planet as well. Unless of course their world is sterile and they have never encountered bacteria which is highly unlikely.)
4. Aliens would not know how to communicate with us on earth. (I don't know what an Alien world would be like, perhaps they only have 1 language. Aliens may not even use language and use only thought to communicate or music is another possibility. If an Alien will make an attempt to communicate with us I am sure we can work something out; that is if the Alien even wants to communicate with us. One common language we will have is physics, after all they did come in a spacecraft of some sort.)
5. Oxygen may be lethal to Aliens. (This is very true, any scuba diver will tell you that past 100 meters depth oxygen is poisonous. Whatever their atmosphere is does not logic dictate that they would know enough to have testing equipment and spacesuits if required)?
NS put forth the premise "If Alien technology is a Million years ahead of ours." Well if Alien technology is 1 million years ahead of ours and have worked out interstellar travel, would it be safe to assume that they have some knowledge of basic physics and the obstacles put forth by Naked Science are an obvious attempt to discredit the idea of alien visitors possibly visiting the earth. Once again they made the reference to the "Roswell Incident" the 1947 crashed of a supposed UFO in New Mexico. The US Government said it was a weather balloon. In 1995 the US Government said it was not a weather balloon but a radio balloon called Mogal. NS skeptic says yes the government lied and now told the truth. The problem I have with this is: That an Army Major in US Army Air Corp Intelligence cannot tell the difference between a balloon (Weather or Radio) and an aircraft / spacecraft of some sort? This is patently ridiculous. Obviously Naked Science does not think much of the intelligence of those watching the programs they produce.
The only reason that I gave this show a 3 was because of the theoretical physicist and the information he provided on warped space was interesting and correct.
NS has the opportunity to show groundbreaking views and insights into science. Instead the people that produced this show for some reason intended to serve as debunker's of Alien visitation using science without any logic or common sense to prove their point. From now on any NS show I happen see will be viewed with great skepticism. Obviously the show is geared for the uneducated that do not have any common sense whatsoever.
Manticore (2005)
Just Like Iraq
The first 15 minutes looks like it could have been shot on the outskirts of Baghdad. Having spent 2 years working in Iraq I thought the movie crew did an excellent job with location. The background portraits of Sadaam with the eyes scratched out was a nice touch. Equipment used by the US Army is close to what is actually used except that none of the actors used Level 3 plates. As they add 25Kg to the weight of the body armor I understand why they were left out. The TV reporter should have been wearing black Kevlar Helmut with black body armor used by civilians working in Iraq. For some reason they were not provided with Personal Protection gear.
The movie is entertaining, and makes a fine "B" movie. You will be disappointed by the special effects. It would have been better if only parts of the Manticore were shown. A claw here or tail there. With this movie less would have been more.
I think it was still worth watching on HBO, Cinemax or Star Movies.