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**1/2 In "National Treasure: Book of Secrets," the 2007 sequel to the original "National Treasure" from 2004, historian Ben Gates (Nicholas Cage) finds himself in the distinctly unenviable position of having to clear his great-great-grandfather's name from the charge - being leveled by a black market antiquities dealer (Ed Harris) - that his forefather played a major role in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. In order to prove the accusation wrong, thereby restoring not only his ancestor`s reputation but his own in the process, Gates must uncover the whereabouts of a treasure map leading to the fabled City of Gold built by a tribe of pre-Columbian Native Americans. (And don't bother asking how those two things are related because, even after watching the movie, I`m still not sure I would be able tell you). "Book of Secrets," produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and Jon Turteltaub and directed by Turteltaub, is a giant Rube Goldberg contraption about a series of Rube Goldberg contraptions. In terms of the story, there are more twists and turns, leaps in logic, conspiracy theories and contrived red herrings than even the most astute puzzle-solver should be required to keep up with. Luckily, the action moves along at a quick enough pace - including an impressive car chase through the streets and alleyways of London - that one doesn't have much time to question the sense of it all. The actors certainly do throw themselves into the spirit of the enterprise, running around like mad through an assortment of colorful, touristy settings - from the Eiffel Tower to Buckingham Palace to the White House to Mount Vernon to the Library of Congress to Mount Rushmore - but the film, taken as a whole, is a pretty soulless exercise overall. Most grating is the stereotypical love/hate relationship between Ben and his ex-girlfriend, Abigail (Diane Kruger), an archivist at the National Archives, who are obviously still hopelessly, madly in love with one another and only need one more epic, life-threatening adventure to bring that truth home to them - which puts the audience one step ahead of the sleuthers to begin with. And as if that weren`t enough, we're treated to a second bickering couple - Ben's divorced mother (Helen Mirren) and father (Jon Voight) - to parallel the first and double our displeasure. The problem with a movie like this one is that, no matter how well it's put together on a technical level, finally, after what feels like the thousandth uncovered clue and the millionth hairbreadth escape from a fate-worse-than-death, the viewer simply exhausts himself trying to keep up with it all and stops paying attention.

Ben Gates and his father have lobbied to get their ancestor Thomas Gates, the man who was entrusted with the secret of the Templars treasure, honored as a historical hero. They believe that Gates was approached by two men who unbeknown est to him were members of a group loyal to the confederacy, and one of the men, John Wilkes Booth, give him his journal and shows him something they want him to decipher. Booth then leaves to assassinate Lincoln. Gates completes the deciphering and discovers that it's a clue to a great treasure but when Gates learns who they are, he rips out pages that had the clue and tried to bur them, he would then be shot. At the unveiling, a man named Wilkinson stands up claiming to have in his position one of the pages that Gates tried to burn and in it, is something that claims that Gates may have been involved with the plot to assassinate Lincoln. So now Thomas Gates is labeled a traitor. But Ben and his father don't believe it. So they acquire the page and discover what Gates was deciphering and sets out to prove that Gates is innocent. But Wilkinson is following him. Ben's trek takes him to France, England, and eventually back to Washington but they hit a road block. And to find the clue Ben is forced to kidnap the President. This movie has some great laughs and some really fascinating connections from history, you may actually learn something on the journey. Want to be entertained, National Treasure 2- Book of Secrets delivers.

Excellent service. Received in time expected. Very entertaining movie. Just as good as the first movie.

If you are a child at heart and have a strong imagination, this is the movie for you. In the same lines as the first National Treasure, it keeps you on your toes and at the edge of your seat the whole time. I found this movie to be quite similar to the first National Treasure, which has a lot of adventure in it. The main characters where the same, but the locations are different. This movie takes you to some of this country's greatest landmarks and gives you that sense of patriotism associated with the birth of our nation and it's era. A great movie for family night, or anytime.

4 of 5 stars for the adventure movie National Treasure: Book of Secrets. This is the second installment of the Benjamin Franklin Gates story. Same basic characters as NT1 but a whole new story. Same formula, follow clues to uncover treasure. Of course there are rival treasure hunter on the same quest. In this case, the rivals want to prevent Gates from being successful for purposes of hiding the truth about a historical event. This treasure hunt has lots of good action, some surprises and some way-out-yeah-right things (such as, kidnapping the President of the USA). A very well crafted story with some cool artifacts that all leads to a great ending. I do highly recommend this movie; fun to watch; kid friendly (its Disney) yet adult interesting. I do like Cage in this role and hope to see more NT movies. Voight is OK in his role but not as strong as Cage. This is a great Saturday afternoon pass-the-popcorn movie.

Reviews

Glenn Beck is a wonderful entertainer but even more so, Glenn is an honest, moral and intelligent man. This DVD shows his tremendous ability to be both humorous and educational at the same time. I love his sense of sarcastic humor!!

Anybody who wants the truth will love this show all else will make fools of themselves disputing it

Glenn Beck, love him or hate him, he has a lot of ideas. This was not a disappointment. Very funny, Very witty. I recommend this to EVERYONE! Conservatives, Liberals, Republicans, Democrats, or anyone else in between.

Glenn Beck again mixes seriousness and humor in a dead-on fashion to make for a highly entertaining video. Well worth the view, Glenn's ability to poke fun at himself is very effective.

This was taped in Texas during Glenn Beck's tour last year. Those of you who watch/listen/read Glenn with any regularity will recognize most of the sentiments shared. I did find it an interesting look at his "stage" presence with props and showmanship - which is a bit different than watching him behind the desk at CNN or Fox. I enjoy watching him because he is not completely "Republican", but asks that most people just have common sense. I was a little turned off by the fact that he curses several times during the presentation, but nothing so rampant that one feels it's the only vocabulary he utilizes.

Reviews

If you are a child of the 80's, then you have got to remember this movie! Tje charecter of Morgan Stewart made me fall head over heels for Jon Cryer. I was only 8 when I saw it, but I knew we were destined to be together..lol. Anyway, the story is about a boarding school rejuect, who'll do nothing to get kicked out of these institutions so he can be at home with his Senator dad and socialite mom. But, as it turns out, he had way more freemdom away from home then he does in it. Along the way, he finds friendship(and a little romance)with a local DC girl who teaches him that family, no matter how crazy,is worth fighting for. In the end, he gets the family, girl and life that he's always wanted. Not bad for a totally underrated 80's movie, huh? Enjoy!

Simply an 80s teen movie that brings back memories. It's nice to not see cell phones, computers, and other modern things in this movie.

Gosh, I was pretty young when my mother taped Morgan Stewart's Coming Home off of t.v. for me. I watched it pretty frequently, and as I grew up it become sort of a comfort movie and it moved with me, well it wore out. So yay to the DVD Lost Collection. Morgan Stewart is played by Jon Cryer, he's an awkward teenager who just wants to be part of his family. He's super into horror flicks. Well after a pretty crazy prank at the boarding school the headmaster informs Morgan that his parents called and they want him to come home. Morgan hasn't lived at home since he was about 8 or so. He doesn't really know much about his parents anymore and they certainly don't know or understand Morgan. His dad is a Republican Senator and his mother is an overly structured rigid rule cracking mom. Morgan meets a fellow horror movie fan and falls in love, and the more Morgan is himself the less his mother understands him and tries to restrict his life. When the restrictions become unbearable Morgan runs away and discovers some political secrets and ...I have to leave you there least I give away the ending.

I'm glad this is coming to DVD after all these years as it's one of my favorite 80's films, but only released in fullscreen? I'm hoping a widescreen version is also in the works.

I have worn out two VHS tapes of this movie. I am so excited that it's finally being released on dvd. This is a fun and very overlooked movie from the 80's starring Jon Cryer. I love so many scenes in this movie, I can't just pick one favorite. Now if they would release some more of my 80's favorites on dvd all would be well.

Reviews

GREAT TRANSACTION! FAST DELIVERY! THANK YOU!

I keep this in my car. Traffic got you down ? Kids screaming in the back seat ? Husband telling you how to drive ? Turn on Glenn and drown out the idiots. Unplug with Unplugged. You'll love the ride.

Yes, Glenn is a comedian, and he's very good at knocking down the liberal straw men his idiot friend sets up for him with humor and facts. Actual liberal arguments are usually a tiny bit more nuanced, though not much. Sometimes they actually have a point, though they then proceed to make an argument that shows their priorities are usually way out of whack. But the absolute best part of this was when we were going to Philly for a concert, and my wife's (Obamabot) sister-in-law and brother decided they just had to ride with us instead of driving their own car. We're in the front seat laughing and from the dead silence of the back seat you could almost see steam wafting forward. I don't know which was funnier between the audio and the reaction of those two dweebs. It's fun to both have post-doc studies under our belts and have our liberal relatives try to pull their 'intellectual superiority' act with us. We usually just play along and let them think their deep thoughts have never occurred to us before, when we both have mulled their 'solutions' and dismissed them because of unacceptable unintended consequences. I'm convinced your average liberal is more motivated by his heart than his head, and advocating huge spending policies that will wreck this nation makes his heart feel good, so when you point out the bad consequences it makes his head hurt and he changes the subject. That's usually how it works. It was sure that way when they used to argue about 'well, Bush did thus and such,' and my wife would say, 'and we conservatives were mortified and argued against it.' So how does the fact that the GOP averaged yearly deficits of a shocking, bank-busting $104 billion dollars during their time in the majority make it okay for the Dems, now in power, to average $1.1 TRILLION deficits annually during their time in the majority, then point to Bush as if he voted those budgets in the House so the deficit explosion is somehow his fault? We're talking about a deficit increase of A THOUSAND PERCENT since the Dems took over the Congress compared to when the GOP was running the place, and they still try to blame Bush. News flash: Congress controls the purse strings. Bush could have vetoed those budgets, I guess, but the Dems in Congress would just have passed them over his vetoes. It is our debt, our deficits and the corresponding need for crushing taxes in the middle of economic armageddon that is driving unemployment now, along with the uncertainty of 'what business rule is Obama going to change next?' You can't make plans when the rules are constantly changing, so you don't hire. My parents both voted for Obama. They both tell me, if they'd known then what they know now, they would have voted McCain, though they dislike the man. I think that is probably the case with millions of independents not only in Massachusetts but all over the country. Note to Democrats: if you want to turn the United States into Venezuela, you must first overturn the law that says we have elections every two years. Then you can do whatever you want. But try to turn the USA into a Socialist Workers Paradise like Cuba or the old Soviet Union without taking the voters' rights away first, and you're gonna get beaten like a rented mule come election day. We the People have caught on to your radical schtick.

Reviews

What ever happened to our conviction as conservatives? People who not only uphold the most righteous constitution in the history of the planet, but who've actually sat down to read it? No, we've fallen under the spell of every other credit card maxing, wine bibbing fool and gotten fat and bleary-eyed while extremists made back room deals in the dark of night with their 'bubbuhz' to further their causes and line their coffers. Besides that, it wasn't "nice" to disagree with the Marxist-Socialist-Regimes that are polluting the minds of college kids and infecting the land like a virulent carcinoma. Oh, and let's be "politically correct" while the worst element of souls pour over our borders with the singular goal of bringing down the "Infidel". AND let's hand all our productivity away to other countries because we're so strangled by labor unions that we can no longer compete! This is all too much like the fairy tale "The Emperors New Clothes"! Well, there's a prophet in the land and he's crying out "The emperor is naked!" to all and any with ears to hear. Glenn Beck is that prophet. Listen UP!

GLENN BACK SPEAKS TRUTH. WE ALL NEED TO HEAR THIS CD AS IT WILL SURELY OPEN YOUR EYES TO THE STATE OF THIS NATION.

Are we witnessing the death of our American ideals? Glenn Beck is continually sounding the alarm and many people are listening. Beck offers a timely message day after day and one wonders what he will tell us next. Some do not like what he's saying, but I would suggest we, at least, listen to this courageous messenger and give him a chance. This offering provides us with a simple way of hearing his warnings.

One of the best books I have ever I repeat I have ever read. A true american.

Either you are wealthy and fearful of losing your position of wealth, or you dont believe you can ever achieve more than you currently have, or you dont respect other peoples rights to pursue life and liberty If so , then you love socialism or worse and will hate the message Beck is spewing forth If you want as much control over your own life, and your families as possible then you go for Beck and other freedom lovers Its really that simple Capitalism is the perfect economic/political ( yes they are one in the same) system It says YOU ARE NOT FORCED to do anything but then dont EXPECT ( the key word) it to be handed to you It says if you cannot do for yourself than we have 100% tax free charities set up that will help you BUT YOU ARE NOT FORCED In all other "ism's"its all about force its all about "WE KNOW WHATS GOOD FOR YOU, BETTER THAN YOU DO" and of course we'll use the children as our shield and racism as our shut your mouth left hook

Reviews

Regardless of your political Party, Glenn Beck makes a lot of sense if you can remain open to actual input from a guy I now feel has gotten bad press. Great Read!!!

I read Beck's "Common Sense" and realized that what he advertises as "common sense" is emotionalism devoid of any substantive historical reference. His is a corruption of reality -- an appeal to others whose knowledge suffers as much as his. Beck obviously never studied Thomas Paine, the very anti-Christian founder whose name he stole for self-aggrandizement. A great historian wrote, half a century ago, that anti-intellectuals(like Beck) can never understand that better-educated people arrive at different conclusions than "common sense" people, because they have more information. Beck is gimmick-appeal. Like so many demagogues before him, he relegates those with substantive educations to "book-larnin," "uhleetist," "ivry tire," google-eyed bookworms. Beck and his ilk represent a far greater threat to this republic than any religious or political zealots anywhere in the world. Knowledge is found quietly on a long and winding road that Beck has never traveled. NYOD :)

I've developed an appreciation for Glenn Beck's view of government, his respect for the role of our founding fathers, and his challenge to citizens to become responsibly involved. Consequently, I sought this book. I haven't been disappointed.

How ironic that the so-called intellectual elite of this nation fail to see the reality of the failure of liberal policies .

A logic-driven, step-by-step discussion on various political issues. Because of this book I have become a fan of Glenn Beck's position on many government issues. It's great to read something that voers such a braod range of topics, yet contains almost no fallacies of logical argument whatsoever (e.g. ad nauseum, ad populum, hasty induction, etc). Despite what the opposition would have you believe about Glenn Beck, he doesn't use emotional arguments to work through a debate.