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Edmund_Dantes
Reviews
The Wave (1981)
People will do things in groups they would never do alone.
I don't know who the summary quote is from, but it is true. This is the message in Shakespeare's Julius Caeser, "I come not to praise Brutus, but to bury him." "The Wave" is based on a true experiment in a California high school. Most commentators missed that even the teacher was surprised at how well it worked. There is something in the human psyche that allows us to be manipulated. I think that persons who criticize the movie miss the point. I was very impressed and interested on the truism demonstrated in the story. People wonder how persons could follow Hitler or Stalin or their like and this movie shows just how easy it is to dupe the public. This is a very important message in a democracy.
Absolute Zero (2006)
There was one thing that was accurate in this movie
Science, which is frequently wrong, thinks that the North South Magnetic poles have flipped many times in the past. However why this would have the effect on the weather as depicted in this movie isn't clear. It seems that the writer discovered the pole flipping, tied it up to Global Warming by reversing it to cooling and then wrote a story about it. There was a lack of continuity also. When we first are shown the "Door to the Lab" it is difficult to keep open for security? reasons. However, later in the movie, a little 8 year old girl can come and go out of it at will. The movie also completely ignores cryogenic effects on things like making common things so brittle that they smash into a thousand pieces. The hotel pool encased in ice was probably shot live in Yellow Knife. All that was missing was the Ice Road Truckers. Also Absolute Zero is really only a theoretical situation and probably doesn't exist at all in the universe much less only 93 million miles from a star like our sun. I don't know. This movie wasn't bad enough to be 'camp' and not good enough to be even mildly good. Maybe I'll get a t-shirt, "I survived 'Absolute Zero'." LOL
The Hunt for the Unicorn Killer (1999)
The final results and psychopaths
I thought the movie a good one, allowing one to imagine the angst the family of a murder victim goes through.What happened after the movie left off: Ira was returned to stand another trial due to a special law passed in Pennsylvania allowing persons convicted in absentia to petition for another trial. In Ira's second trial with him presenting his story of the CIA trying to embarrass him, etc. it took the jury all of two hours to return a guilty verdict. Ira is serving a life sentence at Hautzville prison in PA. It is an interesting study how madmen can hypnotize persons into believing them. Think of, besides the Unicorn, Charles Manson, Adolph Hitler, Jim Jones and, unfortunately, many others with this ability.
The Long Ride Home (2003)
Oh, I don't know
I liked the movie. I guess many of the previous posters missed the sex and swearing. The New York accent was explained when Arthur was discussing with Miriam her desire to return to New York because of the threat in their town from the presence of a gunfighter. I liked the confusion in the beginning about Jack Cole and it was fun figuring out during the course of the movie the identity of Jack Cole and the story of why Jack Fowler left his family for 8 years. The Bible verses were true to life in that persons were poor in those times and often the only book they owned was The Bible and as a result many became quite conversant with it.
Ned Blessing: The True Story of My Life (1992)
Abrupt Ending
I liked the movie. I was enjoying it when it suddenly and inexplicably ended! Looking back, I have the impression that it is a two hour pilot for a TV series, not a movie. The length is about right and there are so many unfinished story lines, like: Does Ned Blessing evade the hangman? Does he get back with Jilly Blue? Does Jilly Blue detect the double dealing of the count? Does Ned Blessing avenge Anthony Blessing's (his father's) murder? I didn't really understand how Tors Buckner became Ned Blessing's enemy, but that is another unfinished part of the story. If Tors Buckner was his mother's second husband, who abused Ned Blessing, why didn't Ned recognize him? I understand that Tors Buckner might not have recognized Ned Blessing as an adult. I also found that without subtitles, it was really hard to understand Bruto Half Tongue (what a name!) after he bit his tongue off. The low score is because of the unfinished aspect, otherwise I would have given it an 8.
Leaving Las Vegas (1995)
Why do they make films like this?
I have some issues with this movie..... 1) Why does Hollywood always feel they have to have a scene where a character vomits? I would think this would really cut into concession sales, a big part of theater revenue. ---There is a survival factor to group nausea, I understand. If one person in a family group vomits, the others feel like it because this extends the first person's sensitivity to the food they all probably just ate.--- All I know is that it turns me off. Yuk.:-(..... 2) Why does Ben try to kill himself by slowly drinking? Heck, one good binge where he raises his blood alcohol level above a certain point and it would be curtains, and a very short movie, I guess..... 3) I think that Ben and Sera's love should have helped each other to overcome their respective problems. Prostitution, alcoholism and SUICIDE were made much too glamorous in this movie..... This having been said, I still think the acting was good. This is the reason I gave it the points I did.
Airport (1970)
A Good Way to Spend a Couple of Hours
I just purchased the 4 "Airport" movie DVD set and watched "Airport" for the first time again in years. I has been so long that I didn't remember the plot and so enjoyed it all over again. I agree with commenter Zetes on much except Lancaster's Character's wife is played by Dana Wynter. Jacqueline Bisset plays Dean Martin's Character's stewardess girlfriend. As far as Dino not being suitable for the role because he imbibes, the recent flap concerning drunk or HBD pilots indicate that maybe he was perfect! The movie is somewhat dated, but does have some novel screen division effects when radio or telephone communication takes place. I found it refreshing and helpful in keeping straight who was doing the talking. If not for the divisions, Dana Wynter would have had a small part, indeed.
I don't know if I like the way they virtually showed HOW to build a simple bomb, but I guess if one would want to build one, there are plenty of sources out there to consult on how. I liked the multiple story lines. I think the bomber plot all by itself would have been somewhat thin. Another plus is that one identifies with the passengers and then cares more if they were to be killed by the bomb. Of course the movie was before Roe vs Wade and two of the characters discuss going to Sweden to have an abortion... Except for that and the showing of smoking on the airplane which has been banned for how many years now? And I only wish the 707/727/737/757 body types would have the wide aisle depicted in the movie!
The Sea Wolves (1980)
If you liked The Guns of Navarone...
I thought the film was very good. Being based on a true story, the action comes when it comes. Of course Hollywood being Hollywood one wonders where the 'true story' ends and the embellishment begins. I found the story interesting. The film opens with a spy segment when the British try to find a Nazi spy in neutral Goa who is tipping the German U-Boats to freighter sailings. Then the unique solution to taking military action in a neutral country..."All's fair in love and war." In reality, it is impossible to ignore an effective enemy in a neutral country. After all, the Nazis weren't respecting that neutrality. People today don't have any idea how close the world came to being dominated by the Axis Powers. So such 'niceties' as neutrality sometimes had to be put aside. I thought this film something along the line of "The Man Who Never Was" with action. SPOILER I thought it interesting that actual photographs of the sinking and sunk German ships were used at the end. I liked the film very much, but I wondered about the truthfulness of the 'love scenes.'
Along Came a Spider (2001)
Holey Story
I agree with the other commenter. There is more holes in the story than in the Swiss cheese I had for lunch. A teacher at such a secure school would have to have more than a basic security clearance. And if the kidnapper wanted the Russian kid, why did he take the senator's daughter? To get all the security services on high alert? He was going to shoot the kid with a "heavy calibre handgun" while she lay in the bottom of his boat? Hello. Ever hear that boats tend to leak with holes in the bottom? I could go on, but you get the drift. The worst thing is the movie was well done in all other aspects. The female Secret Service Agent Jezzie handles her gun like a pro. Impressive. Dr Alex Cross is a great character. Please give him a better plot next time.