jimadamgolfer Reviews

Unprecedented: The 2000 Presidential Election (2002)

No attempt was made to be fair

[8 September 2004]

Of course, Al Gore got hosed in Florida. Absolutely more voters intended to vote for Al Gore than George Bush. But Al Gore had a lot a voters too challenged to get it right and after the votes were counted and recounted he came up a tad short.

I went into this movie hoping to learn something I already didn't know. No such luck. It was obvious the movie was slanted or bias to omit facts that favored George Bush.

For example, all of the counties with the problems were Democratic controlled counties and they ran the voting process. They were responsible.

For example, the absent overseas votes, the movie only mentioned the late post marked votes, but the much larger problem were the thousands of envelopes with no post mark. Why should these Bush favored votes all be thrown out because the Armed Forces does a sloppy job of post marking.

For example, the Florida Supreme court was rewriting election laws to aid Al Gore. The law sets a specific deadline date in compliance with the electoral college deadlines and to avoid the chaos that ensured. For example, the new services joined together to count every votes and they reported that George Bush won more votes, but the movie flipped that conclusion to suit their liberal agenda.

They may fool impressionable minds, but by disregarding both sides of the story, this documentary is false. All they had to do is try to be more fair and balanced, because Al Gore did get hosed.

The Matrix Reloaded (2003)

Once Was Enough

[15 September 2003]

Add my name to the list who found Matrix Reloaded totally boring. The only other movie I saw this summer was Tomb Raider 2. That film had beautiful scenery and Ms. Jolie. What did Matrix Reloaded have? Boring fight scenes that went on and on with the same Mr. Smith. Dumb dialogue that droned on and on. I think the core audience for this franchise has lost a large segment of viewers with this boring sequel and a whole lot work (editing, re-shooting and marketing) needs to be done for Part 3. I expect a 50 percent drop in business.

Edge of Darkness (1985)

Video #1 is really slow

[5/10 · 1 August 2003]

I would have quit on this film early if I hadn't paid my $2 and the tape was copy protected, so watching later was not an option. While the British accents weren't hard to understand, a lot people places and things were foreign to me. Also, some conversations got very quiet, I should have tried close caption. However, in video tape #2 the plot got moving and I am surprised that no one complained that things went a little overboard. Companies may cook the books for personal gain, but investment operations are far too open.

This film was interesting and remarkable, but at 5 hours, whoa. Skip video tape #1. It is hard to get the image of 32,000 large nuclear bombs located around the world, to worry too much about a stockpile of weapons grade materials in Scotland.

Hardball (1997 Video)

Pure Escapism, Very Enjoyable

[12 July 2003]

Okay, I admit that I love low-brow films. I don't want to think about what the Director is trying to do. The story is not to be taken seriously and concerns a male and female bounty hunters being pursued by Tony Curtis's mob buddies. There is a heavy emphasis on explosions and thankfully no car chases.

Watch as Lisa Howard, a 135 pound attractive bounty hunter, out fights the 180 pound guys in hand to hand combat, sometimes taking on two at a time. What makes the scene work is that the fights are shot without using tricked up camera work and special effects as seen in most films today. It looked like a real, not a fake fight.

What I really appreciate is that every spoken word can be understood and every scene is well lighted. There is only brief nudity and virtually no profanity. There isn't much in the way of racial diversity. Above average escapism film.

Derailed (2002)

Absurd, but not all bad

[4/10 · 2 June 2003]

Some of the scenes were absurd. Who decided that deadly viruses must always be a glowing green color? Shouldn't they be invisible to the naked eye? On the plus side this film rolls along nicely and never bores. There are a number of attractive woman in major roles. Sufficient eye candy is always a good thing.

This film wasn't even ruined by USA-TV commercials and on-screen logo distractions. I would be interested in seeing this film again, minus those distractions. Even so, I can only give the film a 4 on a B-movie 10 scale. I can't believe the so called Van Damme fans who call this his worst film.

Bimini Code (1983 Video)

Rarely seen junk, OK family fare

[24 April 2003]

I probably need help, but I actually do enjoy this type of low budget escapism fare. The girls are nice looking eye candy and spend a great deal of time in bathing suits. They are out on the water on boats performing the adventure denoted in the plot outline. I haven't seen the movie for a long time, but I do have it on tape. That's a good thing because Bimini Code may never make it to TV despite having no nudity or profanity. Hulk Hogan makes only a cameo appearance.

I get so tired of slow moving, expensive, complicated, poorly lighted, boring, artistic (over directed) films featuring over acting performers, that a piece of junk like Bimini Code is a welcomed change of pace.

Tail Sting (2001)

Bad movie, Yes, Waste of Time, No

[19 April 2003]

With so many people reviewing this rarely seen film, I had to check it out. And I am not sorry that I did. While the movie was generally unbelievable, stupid and full of plot holes, the script was pretty decent and maintained interest to the end. The only level on which this movie worked was the generous use of humor and the absurd. Thus, on the boring scale Tail Sting passed, but unless you don't mind laughing at a film, you better look elsewhere. I would like to say that with a little bit more film making expertise, budget and cast, Tail Sting could have been decent, but a major overhaul is needed. Had that been done, we would have just another movie with far fewer reviews.

Protection (2001)

Well Written

[14 March 2003]

The lower budget crime movie today is generally full of ignorant low-lifes, shoot outs every 5 minutes from weapons of mass destruction and dialogue consisting of hundreds of F bombs. Simply put, nothing of any intelligence can be expected or received.

Thankfully, Protection is different. While it is not lacking in shoot outs and other violence, Protection actually includes an intelligent script and people who can act. It leaves out most of the profanity as well racial diversity. I don't recall a single Black, Hispanic or Asian person in the film. Stephen Baldwin does a great job and is in almost every scene. This is still a lower budget film that will slip below most peoples' radar.

Night Hunter (1996)

Whole Lot of Shaking Going On

[23 February 2003]

Every single fight scene (and there was a ton of them - this is a Don Wilson film) was ruined by shaking the camera. What's the point? Not only that, but most fight scenes included flickering the light intensity. And to insure complete dizziness a few scenes put the camera on a carousel to spin the action in a circle. It's crude, unpleasant and kills the film.

Otherwise this would have been a decent non traditional, vampire, time wasting film for people who may like hand to hand combat.