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sd7767
Reviews
National Treasure: Book of Secrets (2007)
Man - I'm gonna ruin it for the Sheeple out there...
Okay- So I have a problem with the entire premise. First off- If you want a treasure to remain hidden, why give all the "cryptic" clues? Secondly, who left the clues anyway if no one remembered where the treasure is hence the hundreds of years to find it again?
Then - how come over the years clues were added, again, to a treasure no one knows the location of?
And how can you make a clue if you're not privy to the other clues or other stories and references that Gates (Cage) later somehow connected?
Lastly, you'd think there would be some decoy or false clues as well.
Since the Masons left clues in a bunch of old monuments, all you have to do is walk around and dig behind every Mason symbol you find with a pocket knife.
Now, for other problems: (oh, where to start?)
Okay - the chase scene - You have this ancient piece of wood clue and you trust a traffic cam to pick up a picture of it in high zoom-able resolution. I wouldn't. Then you expect the kid to hack right into their system.
Speaking of that, how the heck does this kid hack into the most secure systems in the world using a crappy Mac notebook and some wires taped to tiles?
How do they instantly get detailed schematics and blueprints to every building they need to get into? Why would they post those details somewhere on their sites anyway?
The Oval Office - again - one of the most secure locations on this planet and they get some White House flunky to take them in there- THEN - He doesn't think looking for an earring all around the room is ridiculous. You'd think she'd lost it earlier. How does a earring fly across the room and under a desk? Then the magic box desk - The flunky doesn't seem to hear all the locks and tumblers snapping up and down? Oh, that's right, because he was getting kissed by the girl which didn't seem to arouse any suspicion in itself (maybe something else though).
I won't even go into the Kidnap the President part - I was slapping my forehead at that point.
The clues - Geez - so vague but then Gates just steps away for a second and figures it all out correctly. I mean, you can look at anything a thousand different ways. How do you even know you had all the clues? Where is/was the chief clue keeper tracker anyway?
You can't make a sensible clue based treasure hunt without one.
Again- if all these people from different walks and times have clues to offer, then wouldn't that prove somebody or somebodies, knew where the treasure was? So why is it lost?
How did the kid fly that helicopter like that without looking half the time? Also, of course the copter had a high def camera on board as well. How did he get the helicopter in the first place? Wal-Mart in France? Yes, I know you have to go to a higher end R/C store than that. But still. Guess they took it on the plane with them.
How come the President can not only pardon all the federal offenses that occurred, they also didn't have to answer to any of the destruction they caused everywhere else either?
The last points are just for measure. I could have sat here all day but I didn't take notes while watching all the ridiculous "plot" pieces. There are too many to recall.
The Dukes of Hazzard: The Beginning (2007)
Unbelievable...??? How do they greenlight these...???
I mean, I know it's for the money. Movie-making is a business arterial. But if they go in intending to "bilk" all the Dukes fans out there, who they know will rent or buy just because it's the Dukes, then at least stick to the proper formula. I liked American Pie too, but the crude stuff doesn't belong in a Dukes story. And what was the story, anyway? The scenes they do use seem entirely disjointed. I need to write ten lines here, so I will go on to say that I read many a user review on here, yet I post very rarely. This movie here just plain stunk. At least they didn't trash too many General Lees. But come to think of it, any more General Lees sacrificed for more lame remake movies like this are a travesty. In fact, since it's NOTHING like the real Dukes, it can't even be considered a remake anyway. I agree with many people who feel there are only one real Bo, Luke and Daisy. In fact, everyone is around except Sorrell Booke and Denver Pile. I can understand if they don't want to make another "reunion" movie, and that's okay. Just leave the General where he lays then, flying in the memory of a great TV show.
An American Haunting (2005)
Disappointed they didn't follow the "real" story
*** Spoilers Ahead *** I went to this movie because of its tag line reading : Based on the only documented death by a paranormal and recorded by the state of Tennessee.
The movie implied that it was Sissy Spacek, not a spirit, that poisons Donald Sutherland. I understand "Hollywood-ising" a movie, but why do it here? If I didn't read sluggo2112's comment I wouldn't have known what the heck was going on in the end there. True, I missed the first few minutes, but I did see the "modern" girl having the nightmare. So I didn't make the connection at the end with the car going off in the car.
Sounds to me that a more accurate telling of the "true" story would have been far more un-nerving.
King Kong (2005)
CGI flight modeling of aircraft is TERRIBLE
I'll have to agree with the others. The CGI of this movie was awesome and taken to a new level. I was immersed in this production - UNTIL- The biplanes came onto the scene. The physical look and modeling is very good. But someone did NOT do their homework on how they actually flew. The large winged biplanes of the period -Stearmans, DeHavillands, Hawkers, etc, still flew like motorized kites. Very slow on the controls, very smooth in their flight. In the picture they are depicted in a herky-jerky fashion akin to an old b-movie. They looked as though on wires. And the "pilots" were throwing them around like a modern fighter. Anyone who's ever been around the real thing, or flown one such as I, know you don't just jerk the stick and the damn thing responds immediately. You make very minute corrections in flight. If you want to roll from one side to the other, the aircraft took some time to adjust its attitude before completing the maneuver. Overall, the effects artists used there own interpretation, probably based on movies of yore, not actual flight film or video. Just a trip to Reinbeck, New York would have made for a good study. They fly a number of old biplanes practically daily. So overall- I enjoyed the entire film but feel they fell flat in the end.