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joeavalon
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Nightbreaker (1989)
A cult movie for the ages
I fell in love with this movie in 1989, and have long since considered it one of my favorite cult movies of all times. I'm blown away that as a TV-Movie I still can't find a decent version of it.
This movie is cult because it's both obscure and also covers a critical aspect of history that is still insufficiently well known to the masses - the "Atomic Soldiers" of the 1950s. The movie was made during Reagan/Bush era that still tried to hide such history.
The Siege (1998)
Wonderfully prophetic!
"Those who sacrifice liberty for security deserve neither." Benjamin Franklin, 1755 (paraphrase)
I remember when I first saw the trailer for this movie in the theater. I was immediately really excited, as I had a sense of what the movie was going for - a warning of what could happen in our free country under the right conditions. I applauded this because it is a lesson that was extremely important but not well understood in 1998.
When I finally saw the movie I was not disappointed. The issue of Muslim extremism was handled very well. While some Arab-Americans may have felt offended by this I think the viewers understood that this was a tiny percentage of the Muslim community, and it was better for them to recognize this in order to distance themselves from the extremist.
However, the real issue and prophetic warning of this movie was not about Muslim extremism at all, but about how our citizens were capable of going collectively insane over a tragedy and throwing away our freedoms in the name of safety, and the tragic consequences of such a short-sited decision. Bruce Willis was exceptional in this as he truly warned everyone of the consequences and was reluctant to accept.
"The Siege" became all the more important and frighteningly prophetic after the events of 9/11. The U.S. did go collectively insane, and our fears were exploited to serve neoconservative special interest that we never would have agreed to otherwise. I hope interest in this movie is renewed for this all important warning for the future.
"Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it." - George Santayana, 1905 (paraphrase)