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Reviews
Elysium (2013)
I can't believe a great talent like Jodie Foster starred in this movie
The metaphor works like this: Elysium is the United States and the earth is Mexico. The people on earth are trying to run across the boarder (low earth orbit) to Elysium to get free health care. OMG. Are you joking. I could understand if Arnold Schwarzenegger starred in the film, I mean his scripts are written in crayon, right? But not the great talent, Jodie Foster. What was she thinking? The plot had more holes than a colander. The 2 dimensional and unimaginative writers do nothing to develop the characters in fact there is a scene were the president of Elysium himself chases down a terrorist. What? Little or no time is given to the people of Elysium much less Jodie Foster's character who only has a hand full of speaking parts. The only reason I went to see this movie was to see Jodie Foster knock one out of the park, again. She is so talented and has always been very selective about the films she stars in. They either cut out a lot of her parts or paid her a lot of money to act in this poorly thought out film. If you have to see this movie either wait two weeks for it to go to the cheap theaters or a couple of months to get on Net Flix. Not worth the money. Sorry Jodie.
Hot Wheels Highway 35 World Race: The Ultimate Race (2006)
What a disappointment the last movie in the series and you're left hanging
What a disappointment! Of course, compare to Hot Wheels World Race the whole series was a disappointment, more about that later. It would seem that Mattel Entertainment ran out of money to produce a final episode that would tie together all the loose ends. If you've been following the series you know that there are two street racing teams, the Teku and the Metal Maniacs, matched up against the Drones. These teams race in an effort to win Accele-Chargers, which we find out in this last episode, have no real use out side of fooling Gelorum. As the series of movies progress, yet another team enters the fray called the silencerz, who we find out, in the very last seen of this episode, is led by Vert's father, but it is not explained how or why. In the first episode, we are reintroduced to Kadeam, the only character in my opinion, that had any real moral fiber. Kadeam gets trapped in this same first episode and later is turned into a Drone. If any one deserved to be saved it was Kadeam. But sadly, in this last episode he is made out to be a villain and dies in the end. Instead the Teku and Metal Maniacs team up and enter the Drone's lair. Once in the lair they save Mark Wylde with a minimum of resistance from the Drones. By this point, it is clear that the writers of the series had written themselves into a corner, which began with the introduction of the silencerz
a very bad plot twist. In a vain attempt to add some suspense, we find out that Gig is really a Silencerz operative, but we are also told that Tezla stole Gig from the Silencerz. WHAT? That would mean Tezla knew about the Silencerz long before the World Race. It's really sad when you see writers do things like this. The rivalry between Tork and Nolo is resolved in a four-sentence conversation between the two. The relationship between Lani and Taro is barely addressed and they should have been brought back together for some love interest. The death of Vert's mother, which seems to have created much of the animosity between Vert and his father is not addressed either. At the end, the Teku and the Metal Maniacs are left with no cars and Vert enters the Silencer'z lair alone and is captured. The very last seen shows a silencer walking up to Vert, slides away his face shield to expose Vert's father, who says, "Son we have to talk." And that's it, the movie ends. Instead of being left with a feeling that the good guys won over evil, you are left saying, "WHAT???" This reminds me a great deal of your child falling in love with some fabulous toy on television that costs a small fortune. Then when you finally scrape the money together to buy it, the toy either breaks right away or in no way functions like shown on television. That's how disappointing this movie is. Really the whole accelerator series was a let down compared to the World Race that had a great plot, writing and animation. With the movies targeted at children, glamorizing street racing, which is a criminal activity, isn't the most wholesome concept to base characters on. Next, the plot in accelerators makes no sense, for instance, why would Taro, a multi millionaire adventurer, get involved with a bunch of street punks/criminals? Also, with five million dollars in his pocket, why would Mark Wylde get involved with the same group, when he could have easily bought his way into Formula racing and continued to compete against his brother, who was clearly rich himself? Then the idea that Tezla cut off the supply of Nitrox two in order to conduct his own research, by himself, doesn't make sense either. And how were the Drones able to take the ring of power out of Hot Wheels City when it was pointed out in World Race that only a human could do so? Now, I have to ask, did a ten year old do the animation? In World Race, the characters were well proportioned and believable. In Accelerators, they look like steroid nightmares. And why do they all have elephant sized feet? This includes Lani who also seems to have packed it on around the hips. They look like a first attempt by someone who just started out in animation. It is possible, if enough people write and complain about how this movie ends, maybe Hot Wheels will produce another movie that will end the series properly. This review was written by Ray Hansen, author of the Nina Steel Adventure Series at www.nstk.com and a father of an eight year old, who is very disappointed over this movie.
The Man Who Predicted 9/11 (2005)
Ray Hansen not Rick Rescorla predicted 9/11
This was a very interesting movie however, Rick Rescorla, was not the man who predicted 9/11. That prediction was made by Ray Hansen back in 1988 and later published in 1993 in his novel Reunion, ISBN: 0595093019 and explored it further in his other novels. It is possible that Rick Rescorla read Hansen's novel and is now given credit for Hansen's prediction. However, Rick Rescorla, can be given credit for planning the evacuation and saving countless lives and is a true hero of the people. Everyone who survived owes him a great debt. Maybe someday Ray Hansen will be given credit for being the first to predict an attack on a US skyscraper by terrorists.
Ultraviolet (2006)
If only they had done it right.
Although they claim the film maker was inspired by John Cassavetes' 1980 cult classic Gloria, it would seem more likely that the movie borrows heavily from Ray Hansen's action adventure series, Nina Steel Adventures. The whole premise of a genetically engineered super race created by and then destroyed by the government has been a mainstay in Mr. Hansen's first three novels. Outside of the vampire twist, Ultraviolet is so much like Mr. Hansen's main character, Nina Steel, you have to wonder why they didn't buy the rights and make a great film based on a great series of novels. However, this flick is just more of the same mindless fluff Hollywood has been pumping out for years. If all you want to see is one special effect after another then this is the film for you, if you what genetically engineered sci-fi with substance then rent Blade Runner.
Until September (1984)
One of the great love stories
Why this title is no long in print is beyond me. This is one of the great love stories. It was truly wonderful, with great direction and acting. So much so that you really feel you know the characters...and how often does that happen in a movie now-a-days. Although some may no have liked it due to the sex scene, I think the sex scene was well done and very real. But the best part was when Thierry Lhermitte was trying to find Karen Allen at the airport...I was right on the edge of my seat! I really what them to find each other. If anyone from MGM/UA ever reads this please bring the film out in DVD...PLEASE.