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Reviews
Building a Thrill Ride: Expedition Everest (2006)
Inside story of the making of the Everest Roller-coaster
This is the story of the making of the Expedition Everest roller-coaster in Disney's Animal Kingdom in Florida. This film shows behind the scenes Disney like it has never been shown before.
This has something for everyone, it's a travel show, with some spectacular footage from the real mountain and surrounding country. It is also an inside look at a couple of Disney's Engineering marvels. The real heart of the documentary however, is a start-to-finish look at the Disney "Imagineering" process.
The basic concept for the ride was that a couple of cheap-skate's have opened an outfitters and expedition business. They have converted old mining trains to take travelers up the mountain. They have failed to warn anyone about the increasing anger of the resident Yetti.
The imagineers head to Everest to get the feel of the place. They take thousands of pictures, and buy tons and tons of authentic art, household items, decorative items, native cooking equipment, etc. These will populate the village they will create at the entrance to the ride. Then, in addition to the real artifacts, they build tons and tons of additional art and artifacts in that style.
Then there is the actual engineering involved. Creating a giant scale model of a mountain to house a roller-coaster. Then there is the Yetti, Disney's trademark audio-animatronics on steroids. Unlike most other Disney documentaries, they really show you how they built the mountain, and even the Yetti! This is the best look at the amazingly successful Disney "Imagineering" process that exists.
The Passage (2006)
Find out why things became very strange for George Brewer.
It's a typical day for George Brewer, which deteriorates as the people around him go crazy. Soon George ends up in a strange place, where everyone knows all about George, but George doesn't know anybody.
George hooks up with Lawrence, who acts as a guide. This provides George with some notion of what is happening. George concludes that his younger wife and his doctor are poisoning him.
The film seems very strange, but makes perfect sense in the end. Stick it out, it will make you think!
SPOILER FOLLOWS -- The events and characters are the thoughts of an old man, who is dying of old age, and is now in a coma-like state. Events are symbolic of how he lost some of his identity when he lost his job, he lost his ability to drive, he lost his ability to have sex, and has even lost the privacy of going to the bathroom by himself.