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September Clues (2007)
Misleading editing used to promote hate.
The fade to black nonsense is really an artifact related to switching of the video feed. Also the moment of impact is not visible as the plane crash is obscured by the already burning tower in front of it.
As for an on-scene reporter's microphone failing to pick up the sound of the 2nd plane crash, it is not known exactly where the reporter was standing. Also the CNN anchor not noticing the crash can be attributed to watching another monitor in the newsroom.
That a person could have heard the 2nd crash from their high rise apartment less than 3 miles away is not unrealistic, but the video deletes part of the audio that describes in detail the location of the witness. There is no reason for Simon to be withholding evidence unless it is to prop up a weak claim. The video tries to degrade the reliability of a witness because they only saw the 2nd plane hit, not the 1st one. There is no good reason to do this. Super human vision is not required to see a large plane fly into the WTC from 3 miles away; no matter what Simon Shack says.
Another bogus "fade to black" claim is made while reviewing the helicopter shot of the 2nd plane crashing into the WTC.
The "nose in nose out" claim is just silly. If a person views a better quality video than the obviously lower rez version in the Clues video, they will see that the nose out shape doesn't match the nose in shape. Shack conveniently edits his version of the video to show that the plane hasn't flown into the view yet; this makes it easier for him to say there was no plane.
September Clues removes audio and manipulates the appearance of the Naudet video to trick the viewer. Watching an unmanipulated version shows what really happened, not what the producer of the video says happened.
The entire premise of the video falls apart when the misleading manipulation of the September Clues editor is revealed.
A Dog's Purpose (2017)
Somewhat faithful to the book
I read the book prior to watching the movie and enjoyed both, the book more than the movie. The book is entirely from the dog's point of view; this would be somewhat tedious if carried over to the movie. The dog has an additional life in the movie. If the script was written like the book I can only imagine that it would have been much more expensive to film, so Maya is a college student with a corgi instead of a police officer who takes over with Ellie at her side after the dog's previous partner is injured.
In both cases the dog lives and dies repeatedly; trying to discover its reason for living. While Ethan is able to reunite with Bailey in some manner at the conclusion, the movie has a much more Hollywood type ending than the book.
Edge of Tomorrow (2014)
Very poor adaptation of book.
Edge of Tomorrow is supposed to be based on Hiroshi Sakurazaka's light novel, All You Need is Kill.
The book was mainly about two young adults barely out of childhood fighting a nearly invincible foe with the assistance of older individuals who were devoted to helping them succeed. The main characters are Keiji Kiriya and Rita Vratasky as well as a few supporting characters like Sgt Bartolome (Eurasian, Kiriya's leader, mentor and trainer) and Shasta Raylle (Native American, Rita's armorer).
One short term goal was achieved (surviving a single battle) for one soldier, but not the other. The soldier that survived was prosecuted for the effort made on the battlefield and ended up nearly alone as the result of the mass casualties in the single battle.
None of this made it into the script which managed to feature Tom Cruise in every scene. Anyone who is a feminist will note that Rita (the Full Metal Bitch) carries a 200 kilogram battle axe in crimson armor while answering to hardy anyone in or out of battle. In the movie she was remade into a damsel in distress with very little of the original back story.
What we get is a Tom Cruise action flick that changes (whitewashes and ages) or eliminates characters to ensure that Cruise gets maximum screen time. Kiriya is aged to his late 40's and changed from Japanese to Caucasian. Rita is changed from a 19 year old short flat-chested redhead to the tall blonde 30 year old portrayed by Emily blunt.
Instead of the tragic ending of the book we get a dorky feel good Hollywood ending which looks like it was copied from Kevin Smith's Dogma.
The Truth Behind the Moon Landings (2003)
Honest program.
I watched a repeat of this program recently. Both sides of the alleged moon hoax were presented. The information presented was easy to understand, but not dumbed down. I was disappointed in the program's short length (1 hour with commercial breaks). It would have been interesting to hear more of the interviews with the hoax proponents just to see how ignorant they really are concerning space travel. It would have exposed them very well. The show also spent very little time examining each claim made by Kaysing and other hoax believers. Too bad they did not include video of Buzz Aldrin socking it to Bart Sibrel when Buzz was accused of being a fraud. All and all, it was a very enjoyable program.
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Moon (2001)
Bad science, bad entertainment
I watched this video at a friend's house. I'm glad I did not waste money buying this one. The video cover has a scene from the 1975 movie Capricorn One. The movie starts out with several clips of rocket blow-ups, most not related to manned flight. Sibrel's smoking gun is a short video clip of the astronauts preparing a video broadcast. He edits in his own voice-over instead of letting us listen to what the crew had to say. The video curiously ends with a showing of the Zapruder film. His claims about radiation, shielding, star photography, and others lead me to believe is he extremely ignorant or has some sort of ax to grind against NASA, the astronauts, or American in general. His science is bad, and so is this video.