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Reviews
Highway Thru Hell (2012)
Awesome show from Discovery
I'm not a great fan of Discovery shows for the most part because even the reality shows have a bit too much scripting and staged drama to make them watchable. However Highway Thru Hell dispels with that need. The weather and accidents more than make up the need to not have to stage anything. This show I actually picked up on Netflix after the first 2 seasons were available and was hooked. Seasons 3 and 4 are now available, and I've just finished 3, and am a couple of episodes into 4.
Jamie Davis and co do an excellent job of showing just how difficult recoveries can be up on the Canadian highways in the peak of winter, yet somehow their professionalism manages to minimize delays for the most part, although sometimes no matter how much experience you bring to the job, a long delay is unavoidable. When you have to haul up 80,000 pounds up a steep incline 40-50 feet, there is no hurrying that or physics will tan your behind.
With Jamie Davies expanding into Lac La Biche and Edmonton in the Alberta area, I would have thought there was more than enough content to keep focusing on Jamie Davis. He has left equipment and crew in Hope but season 4 is making it seem like JD cannot handle that area since they are featuring Al Quiring a bit too much for my liking - although I must admit I get a chuckle out of his side kick Gordo.
It was a shame that Adam decided to leave JD at end of season 3, but he had his reasons, and also Ken moved on to another towing company. As much as I liked him, the series is really about JD and season 4 is beginning to lose that focus.
Despite what is happening in season 4, I am still liking this, but that is why I am giving it an 8 out of 10 instead of a solid 10.
The only thing I would say to the producers of this show is watch the sound effects, some of them of clearly enhanced. I get why, but sometimes it gets in the way of what is really happening - also the radio sound bites supposedly from other drivers chit chatting about the conditions is not really necessary and quite often grating - the commentary and JD interviews are more than enough to explain what is happening.
All in all a good series and I know season 5 is happening and hope that it gets picked up for a least a couple more, it deserves it, winter never lets up in Canada and there are always wild and wacky drivers to keep the towing business in operation.
The Polar Express (2004)
Fun Christmas Favorite
I never read the Polar Express as a kid. Coming from the UK originally as I do, it was not wildly available there. I believe it is now, thanks mainly to the movie generated from it.
Having said that, I watched the movie at the cinema when it came out in 2004 and was blown away. I've seen many of the comments here and it makes me cringe that all people can think to say is how unrealistic the kids look. This is an animated movie. Anything CGI or the evolved performance capture is never going to look truly realistic. You only have to look at computer game video cut ins to know that.
It didn't strike me the first time watching, but I did watch the movie again a week later as a chaperon to school kids who got to see the movie in the cinema as their final day of school before Christmas treat and then it dawned on me that this movie was a very modern adaptation of the Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" - and this has been remarked on in some other comments where the Conductor represents the ghost of Christmas present, the ghost/hobo on the train represents the ghost of Christmas past, and Santa Claus the ghost of Christmas future. Having seen many renditions of the Dickens' classic, when you are aware that this is the theme that was adopted for Polar Express, then it's instantly understandable that there has to be an element of darkness and the macabre to make that connection and so I have no problem whatsoever in believing that was the message the producers wished to convey, after all A Christmas Carol is all about believing, just as Polar Express is.
I never tire of watching this movie around Christmas time that I now have as part of my DVD collection. The plot line is such that it is somewhat fantastic and "unbelievable" to a certain extent, but rather than drawing criticism from me, I feel this was deliberate. The child's faces, sure there is certain something lacking, but then again this was the very first attempt at a feature length performance capture movie. I also feel that the producers and writers were trying to recreate the look and feel of the imagery from the original book, thus not requiring perhaps as much realism as one would ordinarily expect to see. Indeed a lot of the colorful backdrops that you see at the North Pole remind me very much of imagery that was generated by the painter of light, Thomas Kinkade. I am certainly not reminded of zombies, or the walking dead when seeing the characters move on screen. It actually made me laugh when I saw those comments. I am more reminded of how it is to imagine as kid. Bright colors, wonderful backdrops, well defined imagery. All of this was very well done in the backdrops to "The Wizard of Oz" and that was a movie made over 70 years ago - with NO computers. Imagine if that same story was made today with the technology at hand.
I was wondering about where so many people have said that this is a pointless movie as there is no plot. I've heard this before. This movie doesn't NEED a plot. It's about the journey of belief and how it doesn't need to be structured, but simply exist. This is mirrored very well in another children's story - "Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory" (2005) where Mike Teavee says "why is everything here completely pointless" to which Charlie Bucket replies "Candy doesn't have to have a point - that's why it's Candy" All in all, this is a fun movie to watch for children of all ages. Definitely one to last the ages.