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maguffinator
Reviews
Who Killed the Electric Car? (2006)
"I can't believe I cried over a car"
I just saw this at the festival. Wow. What an awesome film (and soundtrack)!! This isn't just a film about a car, it's film about us, but more than that, it's an uplifting film about us. Most documentaries make me want to jump off a bridge after I leave the theater, but this one gave me hope. In the pre-hybrid days, the EV1 fully electric car was released by GM in the 1990s with great fanfare and hubris from Roger Smith (yes, the same Roger Smith as "Roger & Me".) It caught on quickly with consumers and gave GM a 3 year technological head start over the other manufactures. GM, however, had inadvertently built a car that required no gas, no oil, and no replacement parts. If they'd stayed the course, GM would be where Toyota is today with the Prius, but with no gas required. But they, and a host of others, chose a different course. This films chronicles the struggle of the dedicated EV drivers (men and women, everyday folks) who decided to take a stand. A stand against who? A stand against auto manufacturers, big oil, the federal government, the state of California, and ultimately their fellow consumers. If one person can make a difference, wait until you see what a growing coalition of one-persons can do (and are doing)! Be afraid, Goliath, be very afraid. As one girl in the audience put it, "I can't believe I cried over a car...twice."
Alien Lockdown (2004)
BEST DEATH SCENE...EVER!
This was an unintentional viewing. What started out as channel surfing, ended up costing me two hours. Let me start by saying that the story sucked, big time. Alien/Predator ripoff, nothing much I can do about that. But the directing was solid, creative, and certainly made much more of this movie than the story deserved. The writer better be praying to the director 5 times a day -- hopefully Sci-Fi will use the director again. I haven't seen his other stuff, but if they give him a better story next time, I'll certainly make the effort. The acting was also just as capable (the mad scientist got on my nerves, but the army group was again much better than the story deserved.) The death scene of the bald army guy (Kearns?) ROCKED! Kudos to director Cox and actor Kallaway for pulling off what was certainly the most memorable death scene in a long, long time (and the best scene of the movie). Somebody saw this movie that will be a future bigtime director and I guarantee you they'll rip that death scene off in their big budget hollywood version 10 years from now (YOU HEARD IT HEAR FIRST!) I didn't mean to like this movie, it just happened...