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writerpatrick
Reviews
Search for Haunted Hollywood (1989)
Mainly a magic special.
I use to have the special on tape but decided not to keep it after watching it many times.
The special was essentially a magic special with a number of ghost stories mixed in. The best part was the appearances by many of the better known Magic Castle members.
Walt & El Grupo (2008)
Not up to Disney standards
Like many documentaries, the documentary seemed to lack a specific point. It comes across as interesting as watching someone's home movies. It talks about the various staff who travelled with Walt Disney to South America and people who they met with.
But it's just an info-dump with no real focus as to any goal. There's some mention as to why Disney travelled there and how some of the materials gathered were used in Disney films, but it would have been better if the documentary had shown more of the connection with how specific material had been used in the films.
There was also no mention of the Tiki Bar Lounge in Disneyland, however after seeing the documentary it's obvious that it must have contributed to it's creation.
Noah's Ark (1999)
Not as bad as it seems
It's become popular over the years to consider this a bad film, yet many don't seem to realize the producer's intentions. This film was created as a comedy or light drama. There are many aspects deliberately included for the purpose of humour. However, many of the jokes just don't come across properly and when taken seriously make the film seem bad.
There are many aspects of it that differ from the actual Bible story, however one must realize that the Bible story is only about a paragraph long. So trying to do the story as written would make it difficult to do even a half-hour story.
This film is best enjoyed if you just take it as a creative retelling and don't take it seriously. And it's obvious that it never was meant to be taken seriously. Those elements pointed out as bad writing, such as the pirates, were deliberately added with a tongue-in-cheek approach. If anything is bad about it, it's that the comedy doesn't come across as well as it's suppose to.
When buying this film one has to be careful of the version they get. There are many versions in which scenes have been deleted such as the incident with the pirates. Some versions run 140 minutes while others are 160 minutes for multiple parts. 178 minutes is listed as the full running time, but the mini-series when aired was presented in two parts. Some releases have it in three parts, including end credits. The TV version shortened the end credits and ran about 173-174 minutes long (without ads). So it's hard to tell if the 178 minute version is counting the end credits twice. But it would seem that the full version is 178 minutes long. (I don't have the different versions to compare.)
Speed Zone (1989)
Disowned
Speed Zone was originally intended as Cannonball Run 3 but the Cannonball Run producers found it so bad that the Cannonball Run name was pulled from it. So it's not an official Cannonball Run movie.
If you're a fan of the original Cannonball Run movies then you're going to be greatly disappointed. With all the SCTV stars the movie comes across as a Canadian version of Cannonball Run. And Jamie Farr is about the only person to appear from the previous films.
It's obvious that those stars that do appear in the film were suckered into making it. They thought they would be acting with many major Hollywood stars only to find they were stuck with a bunch of minor comics. It's somewhat similar to the way Battle of the Network Stars lost it's stars and wound up with supporting actors.
This film is better enjoyed as a stand-alone and not part of the Cannonball Run series. Remembering how good Cannonball Run was will only make the film unbearable and remind the viewer of a lost opportunity. It should only be watched by those interested in race movies in general, particularly those with patience for b-rated movies.