Change Your Image
darin-wissbaum
Reviews
Noah's Ark (1999)
The most absurd story ever told...
This has to be the most absurd story ever told. Not that it makes a difference that it was made into a movie but that people really watch this and believe that it really happened. Lets be honest here. Do you really think that two of ever animal marched step by step onto a boat 400 feet long that floated on a planet completely covered by water? Think about how much water it would take to cover the highest point on Earth, which is just over 29,000 feet. And assuming there is a God why flood the planet? Why not just kill off the bad evil people and spare Noah the trouble of building a boat. Some people might think that the story of Noah's Ark might make a good children's story but it is far from that. It is a story about genocide, horror and incest. I mean only Noah's family was spared so who else were they going to have sex with to repopulate the human race? And aside from that do you really suppose that Noah lived to be 500? Here is the issues with logic with the story of Noah's Ark:
1. How were the animals gathered? Would have been a bit hard to find a polar bear in the desert.
2. What about the special diets of the animals? How did they bring the food along? and how was it stored? What about storing fresh water?
3.Getting all the animals aboard the Ark presents logistical problems which, while not impossible, are highly impractical. If only 16000 animals were aboard the Ark, one animal must have been loaded every 38 seconds, without letup.
4. How do you explain the relative ages of mountains? For example, why weren't the Sierra Nevadas eroded as much as the Appalachians during the Flood?
5. Are we to believe that after the Ark came to rest on Mt. Ararat that all the animals just wondered back to their present locations?
6. What happened to all the water that covered the Earth?
I have made a fatal mistake here. I have used logic to explain something that makes no sense and is beyond absurd. Logic is something that people of faith do not like.
John Voight must have been hurting for money to be a part of this project....
Walking Tall (2004)
Buford Pusser is turning in his grave...
If you have ever seen the 1973 film Walking Tall staring Joe Don Baker as Sheriff Buford Pusser then there is really little need to see this version. The original was based on a true and sad story about a man fighting crime and corruption in a small town and would ultimately cost him his life. It had style and made you feel for this man standing up against the scum that was taking over his town. This new version is nothing more than a joke staring a man who dares call himself an actor. Dwayne Johnson (AKA The Rock). It is nothing more than a cheap parody of an original classic and in my view mocks the real Sheriff Pusser who was nothing like Dwayne Johnson. See the original and you will see what an insult this film was to a man that stood for what was right and take down the worst scum of society.
The Maury Povich Show (1991)
Where both white and Ghetto trash converge...
Oh my and I thought Jerry Springer was bad. This show takes the cake. I can think of so many things I can do during the course of an hours time than to watch a program about a bunch of lowlifes who are out having sex and getting people pregnant, and then putting themselves on national television with the cute little kid on screen behind them so Maury can announce the DNA results of who the kid belongs to. I guess I should not be surprised but in a way I am that the guests (if you can call them that) are able to get any kind of recognition for their pathetic behavior. And what happens to the kids once the DNA results are in? The people that come on this program are not fit to be parents or even engage in sexual acts. But this is what TV has become in America. Which is an endless string of programs that does nothing to inform or educate the public. And whats scary is that is what a lot of the public wants...
The Karate Kid (2010)
Worn out formula that needs to be put to rest...
OK I think Hollywood has made its point with this Karate Kid nonsense. This is a worn out formula that has outlived its usefulness. First we had the The Karate Kid, then The Karate Kid Part II, then the Karate Kid Part III and just when we thought it was over they gave us The Next Karate Kid which of course had to star a woman. If you remember anything from the very first movie back in 1984 you will notice that the premise of this latest release is almost identical to that one. In both films you had a single mother who takes a job in another state, or in this case in another country, is a single parent raising a son who does not seem to be adjusting to the relocation all that well, and finds himself bullied by some punk that knows karate. After he gets his butt kicked he meets the Master (which in the earlier films was played by the late Pat Morita) Jackie Chan who does his best to play a dramatic role with no success takes the young lad under his wing and teaches him the art of Kung Fu. Will Dre Parker played by Jaden Smith learn Kung Fu in a hurry? Will there be a big fight at the end? Will he win? Will the master almost become a father to him? Does the sun rise in the East every day? This film is not in any way an original idea and just proves that Hollywood has run clean out of them. I can only wonder how many sequels this film will spawn. Save your hard earned money
Creation (2009)
Dis Service to Charles...
I have always been a fan of Charles Darwin and a firm supporter of his theories on natural selection, and when I learned of this films release last year I was very excited. I was very disappointed with the outcome. This film does a dis-service to Darwin's life and hardly touches on his ideas of natural selection or how he came about to develop his theories. The story presented in the movie takes place years after his epic 5 year voyage aboard the HMS Beagle, which is where he came to develop his ideas on his famous theory through investigating geology and through careful notes during this time on his observations and theoretical speculations. Instead the film makers focus on Darwin's life while he is struggling to put his book together and deal with his bible thumping creationist wife Emma Darwin played by Jennifer Connelly. She questions her husbands ideas and feels he has lost his way to God while he struggles with his book and others getting in the way like the family preacher who also warns Darwin that his book will be an insult to God. The only firm supporter Charles seems to have in the film is his daughter Annie played very well by Martha West. Not only does she support his ideas but in many ways seems to be his equal as well and this is where I feel the film really goes wrong. You get the impression that Charles feels a bit threatened by her for reasons that are not fully explained, and the film makers seem to settle on a story of Charles and Emma Darwin and the strange obsessive behavior Charles seems to develop towards her. It is true that Charles Darwin was very close to Emma and was lost in grief when she died in 1851 but 3/4 of this film focused on his relationship with her. There are scenes for example in which he has strange dreams about her, and in other parts of the film he thinks he sees her spirit watching him as he walks around the grounds of his estate. He almost seemed on the brink of going insane towards the end.
This film failed I feel to really examine Charles Darwins ideas and how he came to develop them. I would have preferred a film that covered his 5 years on board the HMS Beagle. What one single event or series of events gave Darwin the beginnings of his ideas? Why did he choose to go on his famous journey? What types of plants, insects or animal life did he discover that only strengthened his theories? These questions were never explored in the film. If the film would have focused on his time aboard the Beagle(Which it should have)instead of playing out like some soap opera it could have been an instant classic.
The part of Charles Darwin was played by Paul Bettany...
The Grudge 2 (2006)
Lets get over this grudge...
Ever since the film The Exorcist was released in 1973 (And was fantastic by the way) directors of horror films seem to like using little girls or women to scare their audiences. Examples of such films are The Little Girl who Lives Down the Lane, The Ring, Audry Rose and now the Grudge films. The Exorcist had style and was truly scary without having things jump out at you, or come out of TV sets. The Grudge films if you have not seen them is about a woman and her little boy that were killed in their house by the woman's husband. Now for some reason anyone that goes in the house finds themselves cursed by the spirit of the dead woman and her son. Why? Was she evil to begin with in some way? Why does her spirit feel a need to torment those that had nothing to do with her death? I don't feel it is really explained to my satisfaction.
This film pretty much picks up where the first one left off but as with all sequels is not as effective as the first. Instead of the curse taking place only in Japan it has now spread to other parts of the world (Chicago for instance) and as it is explained in the film the grudge woman is now out of the house and ready to haunt anyone that gets close to her or just haunt them in general. But I will say this film does have some really scary scenes that might make it worth renting. But aside from that it is nothing more then B grade film making...
Faces of Death (1978)
Nothing more than cheap B rated nonsense...
OK so what do we have here? A man getting cooked in the electric chair till blood comes out of his eyes, people eating monkey brains, a woman jumping to her death from a building, some poor soul who gets run over by a truck, a man getting beat to death and the list goes on and on. This so called film or documentary hosted by a Dr. Gross (Now I know it's fake) tries to make it some deep study into the nature of death and dying. Instead all we have here is a film that plays on our morbid sense of curiosity. I did a little research on this film before writing this review and it stated that 40% or more of this film is fake. An example is the man that is sent to the electric chair. It was explained that the director filmed that scene in his basement with cheap special affects. But despite these facts the film made about 35 million worldwide and has become a cult classic that spawned several sequels, which were just as fake. Save your money....trust me.
The American President (1995)
Yeah whatever...
This could have a been a much better film had it not spent most of its time preaching to the viewing audience about political correctness. Michael Douglas plays Mr. President who is widowed and the first single President who has ever sat in the oval office. He meets a lobbyist (Annette Bening) and a love interest sparks between them. Of course The President seems to have way too much time on his hands with nothing else to do but see her. It was an interesting idea for a story and could have been much more charming had it not had a script that pretty much expressed its own political views. I don't want to go see a film that pretends to be one the whole family can enjoy and yet disguises itself with PC nonsense. But Hollywood is like that and they can never seem to stay true to a story without making it into some type of commercial. But then again look who the director was....Rob Reiner. Need I say more.
The Road (2009)
OK so we reached the ocean...now what?
This was a very dark, gloomy and depressing film in which you wished in just one scene that the darn sun would shine. I spent a lot of my time squinting at the screen trying to make sense of what was going on. The story centers around two characters. Viggo Mortenson as the Father and Kodi Smit-McPhee as the Son who are forced into survival in a Earth now destroyed by man's greed and global warming has killed most life except for as it is explained in the film two different types of peoples....The good people and the bad ones which do nothing but resort to cannibalism. After we see flash backs of the Mother telling the father that he needs to see to it that he gets their son to the sea in the South because she has no more of a desire to go on living, and in a very moving scene we see The Father pleading with her to just spend one more night with him before she walks off and dies. She does not and walks off into the darkness. The rest of the film has the Father and Son fighting their way through burned out cities and across a barren landscape in which it rains almost every day. They fight for survival from what appears to be red-necks who eat human flesh and keep warm humans locked up in basements to be eaten later. The Father Manages to escape death several times and save his son with nothing more than his wits and a pistol with only 2 rounds in which only 1 is ever used.
They finally do reach the sea, which was the point that was pressed throughout the film but nothing happens once they are there. The last 20 minutes The Son spends on the beach watching The Father die. Before his death he tells The Son to keep going south. After The Fathers death The Son finds a good family while on the beach, which included a man, woman, little boy, girl and a dog. So was this the meaning for The Father to get his little boy to the ocean? To find a nice family living on the beach? This all seemed too simple an ending for a story that was pretty complex about survival in a world in which survival was everything. But as with all Hollywood films the ending had to be happy seeing how gloomy it was up to that point. It just seemed too good an ending....
The Amityville Horror (2005)
Even more absurd than the original...
This was not a film that needed to be remade. If you saw the original in 1979 staring James Brolin that's really all you would need to believe that this whole story about haunting's at the famous house in Amityville was a con job. It is true that an entire family (Defeo Family) was murdered as they slept by the crazed son who lived in the basement who would later say demons told him to do it. Oh yawn might as well say the dog told me to do it.
This is pretty much as the 1979 version except the special effects are a lot better and it is not as scary. The house does not even look like the real place. I doubt very much that dead little girls were hiding in closets and demons roaming around hidden rooms under the house. I know it's meant to be just a scary film to sell some tickets but please don't say it is based on a true story. Complete and total hogwash...
Rocky II (1979)
More of the same but not as inspiring....
Rocky was a film about overcoming the odds and rising to the top. About telling a story of a poor kid from the streets becoming a famous boxer. It was a heartfelt story and was worthy of getting the best picture nod. Since that time there has been endless sequels which pretty much tell the same story in a recycled watered down way with Rocky fighting a different boxer each time who seems to be more sadistic than the fighter before. Part II was pretty much the start of the decline of the Rocky franchise. Part III had Clubber Lang played by Mr. T who had he not been a boxer would have been a hit man for the mob. Part 4 had the Ridiculous Russian who had a punch strength that could take a mans head off. Part 5 had the young punk kid that Rocky takes in and trains, and from the first scene you knew how it was going to end. Part 6 pretty much went full circle and went along the same lines as the first Rocky. But at this point I pretty much did not care because it ran out of gas and it made its point a long time ago, and if you count how many times Rocky has been hit in the head and face he should either be dead or a vegetable.
Jaws: The Revenge (1987)
Why was this even allowed?!?!?!
OMG this has to be the worst film of the 20th century...in fact it is. What a shame and insult to the brilliant Jaws that came out in 1977. The first Jaws was truly terrifying from the opening scene to the final moment and you believed that such a thing could really happen. But this movie laughs at what film making is and has a contempt for the audience with its absurdity. A shark born from the first one that was killed comes back with revenge on its mind to get the family of the man that killed its mommy....I can't believe Lorrene Gary and Michael Caine were even a part of this project. In this film you have a shark that roars and can stand on its tail out of the water as it attacks people.
This movie should be required viewing in film school on what crappy film-making is and what to avoid.
Falling Down (1993)
"What kind of Vigilante are you?"
This film was in some ways like Charles Bronson's "Death Wish" but it lacked the gritty nature of Bronson's film and in a lot of ways was not as believable. But in any case Falling Down is still a good film with a good performance by Douglas as D-Fens who plays a laid-off Government Defence worker who gets up ever day for work except there is no work to go to. He feels pushed aside by society that he says he helped protect and one hot summer day on the LA freeway he finally breaks down and abandons his car and walks away. After he does this he comes across many different kinds of people from all walks of life from a Korean store owner, a Neo-Nazi military surplus store owner, a bum in a park looking for money, Mexican gang-bangers,grumpy road construction workers, rude workers in a fast food restaurant and a ex-wife that nags him and will not let him see his only daughter. All of these people D-Fens encounters throughout the film and after each encounter he looses it more and more. We feel and understand his frustration at a society that moves too fast, is way too tolerant on criminals, where English is becoming a second language in America, illegal immigration overrunning our cities, deadbeats who don't want to work and where just basic manners are all but forgotten. We cheer him on for example when he trashes the Korean man's store cause he was being overpriced for a can of soda or when he shoots one of the scum-bad gang bangers. We come to identify with him and his outrage and we understand what pushed him over the edge.
Robert Duvall plays the cop who is close to retiring but the case of D-Fens gets his attention and so he stays on to catch the man that is running amok in the city. In a way Duvall is a lot like D-Fens who has become numb to what is happening around him and how society is changing but you feel he has learned to live with it and play the game. I will not give the ending away except to say that there is a show-down between Duvall and D-Fens at the end that was disappointing.
The problem I have with this film is that at times it did not take itself serious enough and as a result it became a bit silly in a few scenes. An example is when D-Fens gets his hands on a rocket launcher and finds himself in a position that he decides to use it. He does not know how and so a young boy who just so happens to be passing by shows him how its done. Unbelievable and it just took some of the Punch out of the film.
But besides that this film does make you think about where we are as a society, and just how lose a canon we all can be and what we are able to deal with. Most if us do deal with it in frustration and are able to go about our daily lives. As Duvall's character does. Some however like D-Fens are the loose canons that can't.
Death Wish V: The Face of Death (1994)
Man does this guy have bad luck...
Paul Kersey had his first wife raped and murdered, his daughter rapped then killed in the second film in the series. His maid was then killed in part II before which she was rapped. Now in this one his soon to be wife is threatened my the mob. Trouble follows Paul wherever he goes. Of course there would not be any Death Wish films if the screen-writers came up with an original idea. When Death Wish came out in the early 70's it was original, and Paul Kersey was seen as a hero for fighting back against the street scum that killed his wife and rapped his daughter. Charles Bronson played the part well and you shared his rage and pain for what happened to his family. Since the first movie it just sunk into endless boring violence with no point at all. Paul Kersey just morphed from victim to the very scum he set out to kill in the first movie. What a sad end to a wonderful film Carrier for Bronson. Part 5 just stinks and is rotten to the core. Not just in film making but acting as well.
The Jerry Springer Show (1991)
Trailer Park Trash T.V. The real face of America today...
This show is without question a national disgrace. Its no wonder people in other countries think Americans are nothing but a bunch of fat ignorant boneheads. Where do they find these creeps to be on this show? Are peoples lives really this bankrupt to go in front of a national audience to yell and scream profanities about who slept with who and what child may have been fathered by some lowlife.
If you have ever listened to Jerry Springer talk about important topics regarding politics you will discover he really is a smart well informed man. I mean he used to be the mayor of Cinninnati. He really must have been offered a lot of money to be a part of this pathetic show.
Americas greatest generation was without a doubt during the 1940's. What has happened in the time since? Americans used to be an honorable people who had self-respect and would never be caught dead on a show like this.
Can only wonder what it will be like in 60 years.....
Death Wish 3 (1985)
Paul is back at it again.....
I think I get the point by now in these death wish films. Unbelievable bad luck keeps happening to a simple working man who in turn goes out and just kills a lot of street scum. In the first film (Death Wish) Bronson was someone you really felt for and his situation. And you were cheering him on as he takes to the streets and enforces his own sense of justice. But it is getting old now and the point has been made. Plus the fact in the first film he did all his killing in New York then in the second film he is in LA killing a bunch of bad guys, and then it is back to New York again. This man has a grudge he needs to let go of just like Rambo does. As good of an actor Bronson was in his early days in film I can't believe he really enjoyed doing these sequels. Watch if you have nothing better to do but veg out
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Death Wish 4: The Crackdown (1987)
Hey Paul!!! Get over it!!!
This is really no different than any of the First Blood films. It started out with a man in which you really felt for and how fate dealt him a crappy hand. But then the character morphed into nothing short of a cold blooded killer who does not know when to stop. The first Death Wish had style and was gritty plus the fact it was believable that a man could go on rampage to fight the scum on our streets. Since then the series has become a joke. I have always admired Charles Bronson, and in his early days he was in some films that are now classics. The Death Wish films from Part 2 on in my view tarnished his image.
He must have been paid a lot of money to be in these sequels or he had trouble finding work.
Alice in Wonderland (2010)
Visuals are there but not the acting...
Tim Burton is one of the most talented visual directors in the business (next to the great Stanley Kubrick) and whenever he makes a new film you can bet on a truly visual experience. Alice in Wonderland is no exception to this but unfortunately that is where it ends. Burton it seemed spent way too much time on perfecting the visuals in the film that he forgot about the actors. Johnny Depp can certainly hold his own in any film but his performance as the Mad Hatter was less than impressive for an actor of his caliber. He was more interesting to look at than to watch act and what made it worse was at the end he does this ridiculous break dance which for me just took more away from the story. And speaking of this classic and what I remember from it, Alice was more of an upbeat likable character that made you feel for her. Mia Wasikowska performance as Alice was the cure for insomnia. Her portrayal as Alice was one dimensional and expressionless which was surprising when you consider the enchanting place she finds herself in. She just delivered her dialog like she was bored to tears. And I can't understand the need for Burton to use Helena Bonham carter as the bad queen. I mean I know his is married to her in real life but she was mis-cast and she overacted. I would have preferred say Glenn Close for the part or some other actress that could have brought more to the role. Not only was the acting bad in this film but there were also several characters that in my opinion were a little on the creepy side, and that might scare kids. Tweedledee and Tweedledum are an example. They looked like something you would see in your worst nightmare.
Aside from the poor acting the visuals again were wonderful and maybe for some that would be worth the price of admission. Not for me
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The Blair Witch Project (1999)
Just follow the river will you...
By now I would think most people would know the story of the Blair Witch Project....But here is my take. This film has spawned several so called copies since its release in 1999. Examples would be, "Paranormal Activity" and "Paranormal Entity." These films were in my opinion not as good as The Blair Witch, which was an original idea the time it was released. 3 young filmmakers, Jennifer, Mike and Josh go into the woods in Marlyland to shot a Documentary on the legend of the The Blair Witch. What happens is they come across an old cemetery and by accident knock over one of the grave stones. This lets loose the the Ghost of the witch. The three filmmakers then become lost and are haunted as they try to find their way out of the woods....ghostly sounds of children laughing and the sounds of footsteps around their tent terify them as they desperately try to find their way out. Despite all that is happening someone always seems to find time to film what is going on which leads to a lot of camera shake but this gives it realism and makes it truly scary.
It was said earlier in the film that the place the 3 were going to make the documentary was up in the hills around Burkittsville, Maryland. As the filmmakers got lost you see a river in several shots and you wonder since water flows to its lowest point why not just follow the river down till you are out? This never seems to dawn on the filmmakers. Of course that would have ended the film...in any case this is still very good....
The Invention of Lying (2009)
Had promise but lost it...
I have never seen a film with Ricky Gervais but a lot of people I know have told me he is one of the funnest men around so I was excited to see there was one last copy in the video store to rent. Hey if its the last one it must be good. I must say I was very disappointed. It started off with a lot of promise and some strange humor. By strange I mean people in a town that Ricky lives are all unable to lie or not know what lying is. So everyone goes around telling everyone else how they really feel about him/her. Ricky throughout the first half of the film is told he is fat, not very attractive and has a pug nose by a woman he is having a date with. Not just by her but he takes the same punishment by his boss and secretary (played by Tina Fey). Ricky soon discovers that by telling a lie he can get whatever he wants because no one knows what lying is. He soon becomes famous and is seen as someone that knows more than the rest of the town and even mentions the man in the sky (refering to God) and everyone needs to be nice or they will go to another place not so nice. This part of the film was certainly throwing jabs at religion and you wonder if Ricky was expressing his own beliefs on faith. It was at this point of the film that it went off track. Instead of staying the course and just be funny I kind of felt preached at. Not just this but the film has several shameless product placements that the producers made sure the audience would see. Such as when Ricky writes his version of the 10 Comandments on 2 Pizza Hut boxes and their logo is in your face for an endless scene of Ricky describing what the man in the sky wants. There are several other of these product ads in the film that are placed just right so we can see it. Ricky some advice for you. Stay away from Hollywood!
Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday (1993)
The final Friday....see you in the next Sequel
Enough, enough, enough....Hang up your knives, meat cleavers, chain saws and whatever else you use to butcher people Jason. This series have served the producers well and made them lots of money but its getting old. I mean how many times can you really watch young kids getting chopped up by whatever means Jason can come up with? What new angel can you apply to this series to make it more original? You can't. Its been the Final film since Part 4 and as long as it makes them money (which it will) Jason will continue to come back to life or escape into the woods to wait for the next bus load of clueless kids coming to spend a week at Crystal Lake.
Man v. Food (2008)
what a complete pig...
So this is something that people really watch? How did the guy who is the star of this show get this gig? What do we have here? Some disgusting man stuffing food in his mouth as fast as he can at any restaurant he can find. But it is not just that...he has to eat food that is made in such in way that normal people would not risk their health or stomach lining to eat. Meaning the food is normally really hot and as he stuffs it down the rest of the patrons cheer him on. He is shown sweating as he eats curry so hot you almost expect him to burst into flames and he normally cleans his plate everyplace he goes.I don't know about you but I really don't enjoy watching people eat and with bad table manners at that. This is not an informative program in any way but just some gross man who pretty much proves what is wrong with America these days. Which is bad diets and mass excess. If this guy stays on this program eating like he does he will be appearing on The Biggest Loser so as to burn off his bloated gut from all the crap he has put in his mouth. Really gross and an insult to watch...
Paranormal Activity (2007)
The Blair Witch Project Indoors...
There was not one moment in this film that was the least bit scary. Just two people (Katie and Micah) who live together in a nice house that is haunted by some type of demon that wants to have its way with Katie. The film is only 88 minutes long but it took forever to make it's point. Micah follows his girlfriend around with his camera in the house so that he can document a possible presence that might be there. A presence that is trying to reach or possess Katie. They set up the camera at night while they sleep with the door to the bedroom open. At first I was ready to be really scared but then nothing happened. Then the next night they set up the camera again...the door slowly moves a little and then its morning again. Only in the last 15 minutes or so does something really start to happen with Katie being pulled out of bed and dragged out into the hallway screaming and ghostly footprints showing up on the floor. Also there would be sounds of someone walking around the house at night while they sleep with doors closing, and old photos of Katie being found in the attic that Katie claims should not be up there. Kind of reminded me a little of the Blair Witch Project only indoors. But why was the demon trying to get to Katie? It is never really explained except that it was mentioned that she has had these experiences in the past and it is now again coming back. There are several attempts to reach the demon with a Ouija board and even a demonologist coming to the house but nothing happens except the Ouija board catching on fire and the demonologist says the demon wants him out and he never comes back. I will not give up the ending except to say it had no shock value and provided only a cheap thrill.
Life After People (2008)
Looking forward to another season of Life After People...
I don't care what anyone says about not liking this program I feel it's one of the more original programs to come out of the History Channel in a long time. And now all new shows of Life After People starts 1/5/10. It is fascinating to see what would happen to our cities and beloved landmarks once people where no longer on the planet to tend to them. How fast nature would re-claim what is hers. Not only do they show what would happened to such places and things as New York, London, The Golden gate Bridge and GM's Head Quarters but they also show examples of places already in decline on the planet because people are not there to look after it. An example is parts of Detroit that is completely void of humans and we are shown buildings crumbling after just a few short decades. Also what is interesting is the environment in which the city is in would determine how fast it would completely vanish. For example, New York would be gone long before Las Vegas being that Vegas is in more of a dry climate. I would like to see more of environmental damage being covered on this program and how it might affect change after humans are gone. But in any case a very smart enjoyable program that I highly recommend.
Infamous (2006)
Too bad Toby Jones could not have had the part in Capote...
This film was truly bad. The only standout was Toby Jones as Truman Capote who does pull off all of Capote's quirks and mannerisms, and it is kind of a shame he did not get the part in the other film Capote instead of Phillip Seymore Hoffman because I feel he could have been better for the part. This film pretty much tells the same story as Capote with Truman and Nelle Harper Lee (played by Sandra Bullock)going to Kansas to research the murders of the Clutter family which later turned into Trumans best selling book, "In Cold Blood." This film is told in flashbacks with a kind of documentary style after Truman's death with interviews being done with all the people Truman knew. Daniel Craig plays Perry Smith (one of the killers) and is so Mis-cast as to be embarrassing. The real Perry Smith was about 5'7" with very dark hair and if you have ever seen Daniel Craig he is much taller and more blond. You never really see any research being done by Truman he just shows up at Perry's jail cell with some lines he had written to see what Smith would think and there is even a scene when Perry Smith attacks Truman and for a moment you feel he was going to rape him. He never does and according to rumor Truman fell in love with Smith and was never the same after Smith's death. That is touched upon in this film but it all seemed rushed and put together at the last moment. The film Capote took it's time so the characters could develop, and we could see the story how it really happened and we could feel Truman's pain for doing whatever he had to do to get a story even if it meant that two men should die in the gallows. It was said Truman hired an attorney to hold off the hanging of these two men so he had an ending to his book. Maybe but in any case Infamous is a weak film full of Mis-cast actors save Toby Jones but even that was not enough to save it....Wonder what Toby would have done with a Script like Capote. We will never know.