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Director: Pierre Morel Starring: Liam Neeson, Famke Janssen, Maggie Grace IMDB Liam Neeson stars as a retired government operative/spy who gets back into action when his own daughter is kidnapped in Paris. Neeson then proceeds to tear apart the entire city looking for her. That's pretty much it. This move is absolutely loving brutal. Think of Bourne Identity, except kick everything up a few notches, add a heavy dose of gritty realism, and you've got Taken. Everything in this movie just screams at you from the screen, the gunshots feel real, the fights are extremely well choreographed and, I hate to use the word brutal again but it pretty much sums up the entire movie. Neeson is absolutely terrific and makes Damon look like a wimp. If you liked Bourne Identity (gently caress the other two Bourne movies) you will definitely love this. 4.5/5
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Nov 7, 2008 21:10
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I must agree. Aside from a hokey ending, this movie is pretty drat tight. Neeson methodically rips the bad guys new a-holes using cars, guns, and his limbs. I love the pace of the movie. I also appreciate that the hand-to-hand combat is shot somewhat well, allowing the viewer to understand what's happening. As soon as it ended, I wanted to rewatch all the action. 4/5
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Nov 9, 2008 07:38
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Basically good action scenes stringed together with lots of coincidences, such as his daughter giving another ho her jacket and the pipe he is handcuffed to being looseetc etc. Nothing worth seeing here apart from the action, but it's good enough to stand up on it's own. 3.5/5
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Nov 9, 2008 21:53
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Pretty good action flick and its pretty fun watching Neeson slaughter his way through Paris. The hand to hand fights are pretty brutal, and the plot is decent for an action film, but not great by any means. Its still worth seeing if you like modern action flicks though. 4/5
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Nov 10, 2008 11:47
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Essentially The Bourne Retirement. Good action, decent plot, and refreshing to see a protagonist who's no less ruthless than his enemies. Pretty predictable, but still very entertaining. 4/5
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Nov 11, 2008 14:00
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This movie is loving badass. My friend and I found a lot of coincidences half way through the movie until out of loving nowhere Neeson shoots Jean-Claude's wife in the arm! We did NOT see that one coming at all I wish that his old CIA buddies were used more throughout the movie. Seeing Neeson in a role like this was definitely fresh. 4/5
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Nov 13, 2008 18:57
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This movie doesn't mess around with convoluted plots or fancy details. The action is fast, the feelings that it inspires are grim and surreal. For this style of movie the few Hollywood plot holes are forgivable, and their purpose is to allow the movie to progress fluidly without hesitation. It accomplishes one thing, and that is portraying Niam Leeson as one bad-rear end motherfucker. 4.5/5
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Nov 27, 2008 14:01
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This has easily been my movie of the year. It's a perfect movie for when you want something easy to watch, and be able to say "hell yeah" out loud a good few times. You know what's going to happen, and you can easily predict the story line, but the way in which Neeson goes about his business makes this movie. I would have scored it 5/5 if it wasn't for the appalling acting from the girl who gets kidnapped. I think way the director has said to her "act young", she took that as a sign to act like a 7 year old rather than a 17 year old. 4.5/5
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Dec 8, 2008 15:15
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The movie is well made, actors are believable and the only thing that is seriously lacking is the story. At several points the characters actions were very irrational. Add to that the cliché American movie scaremongering, in this case concerning the safety of American Tourists in a Western-European country, which is ridiculous. 3.5/5
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Dec 8, 2008 20:18
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I saw it the other day. Its a good action movie even though some of the plot didn't make sense at times but its an action movie, what can you expect. It kept me on edge a few times. Most of the "professional" reviews are expecting way to much out of this movie. It does its job containing fast action and stuff. 4/5
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Dec 11, 2008 02:05
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Just watched it tonight. Simple, straight-forward, and unapologetically badass. It has a story. Liam Neeson's daughter gets kidnapped and he wants to use his ex-spy skills to get her back. We don't need anymore than that and we don't get anymore. It has badass action. Action that you can actually follow. And Neeson is a surprisingly badassmotherfucker. Predictable but utterly loving enjoyable with some seriously satisfying comeuppances.
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Jan 17, 2009 07:27
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There are a few hilariously bad scenes (good-bad though), and a ton of awesome action scenes. This is my favorite movie of the last while, and gets a solid 4.5/5 from me  I have to admit the drug-rape-house-thing was pretty brutal as well
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Jan 18, 2009 22:59
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A really refreshing action movie. Probably one of the best I've seen in a long while. I didn't think Liam Neeson would do well in an action film...I was proven quite wrong. Not going to win any awards, but who expected it to? The movie delivered exactly what the preview trailer for it would make you think. That doesn't happen often these days. For that I'm giving it a 5/5 (I know that's a very high rating, but for the type of movie it is I feel it deserves it).
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Jan 20, 2009 03:35
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Fantastic movie. It could also be called Do Not Ever Piss Off Liam Neeson or alternatively Don't Ever Let Your Daughter Out of Your Sight. Fantastic action. Can't really say much else that hasn't been said. Oh his wife is a total bitch! How could I forget that? 5/5
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Jan 21, 2009 22:46
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100% badass, minimal time spent dicking around with plot, which is nice because the plot segments that didn't make it into the final cut were probably cheesy like the part where he does the CSI-style image enhance with the photo printing machine. I also enjoyed how Neeson isn't a moralistic good guy and just kills dudes without thinking twice. 5/5
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Jan 26, 2009 04:10
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Swartz posted:A really refreshing action movie. Probably one of the best I've seen in a long while. Batman Begins and Star Wars gave an inkling of Liam Neeson's action chops. Loved this film. Uncomplicated plot, well choreographed action, clearly shot fight scenes (huge plus for me). This was like a movie version of the old school video games where the good guy makes his way through progessively harder bad guys till the end boss. 4/5
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Jan 26, 2009 21:10
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This was essentially 24 the movie. Jack lets his eyes off Kim for one second and then he has to save her in a day by going rogue and shooting and torturing a lot of people. 3/5
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Jan 29, 2009 15:51
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Do you like the French? Do you like Liam Neeson? Do you like kung-fu! If so, 5/5, otherwise 3.5/5.
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Jan 30, 2009 09:11
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Liam Neeson doing a fantastic job of being badass. It's a pretty wide plot but it's very well done and entertaining. Definitely worth watching. 4/5
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Jan 31, 2009 05:17
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Brigadier Sockface posted:This was essentially 24 the movie. Wow, I actually couldn't have put it any better than this. It even gets bonus points for having an actress in her mid-twenties playing a helpless teenager.
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Jan 31, 2009 19:42
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Fantastic action movie. Though I must say Famke Janssen character was one of the most aggravating characters I've ever seen in a movie. 4/5
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Jan 31, 2009 22:00
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This is basically Commando remade. Totally awesome, I loved it. I never thought Liam Neeson could be this badass. Great pace, great action, fine acting from Neeson and some very creative methods of violence. I sat on the edge of my sat for the whole time during the last 45 minutes. 4/5
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Feb 1, 2009 00:33
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This was completely stupid. Neeson is a combination of the guy from Shoot-Em-Up, and Homer Simpson when he gets a gun. Taking out a room of armed gangsters? Not a problem for a retired CIA agent apparently. Still, was semi-entertaining. 3/5
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Feb 5, 2009 23:38
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I thought this movie was absolutely horrible. Other than when he is kicking rear end (and I mean EVERY second of when he's not) was unbearable. The fight scenes weren't even that spectacular. So much of the movie didn't make sense to me and just seemed dumb, and everything seemed so cliched and stereotyped from other movies, I felt as if a 15 year old had written the script. The only redeeming parts were when he shoots the guys wife and the wine bottle kill, but even those weren't redeeming enough. I started watching the movie as a comedy and once I did that it became thoroughly more enjoyable. 1/5
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Feb 6, 2009 22:27
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This is the new action, I guess. I know the studios shoot for PG-13 to get a wider audience, but I felt it really damaged this film. The old school action movies were full of blood, and the blood had a point: This is violent poo poo going on. That was the 80's, in the 00's you can apparently cause a massive traffic jam chasing a guy, and when that guy gets hit by a loving truck after Parkouring his way away from you, you can still just walk away disappointed. Oh, and there's no splatter from the truck either. For an action movie, the action scenes themselves range from good to lovely. The good ones are the close quarter scenes where Neeson takes out full rooms of bad guys with ease. The lovely ones are anything outside. Any scene involving cars is a choppy, shakey-cam mess. The construction site chase scene is the worst offender. Liam Neeson does a great job as the retired "preventer" and he sells the father aspect well. Every other actor is just there. The annoying ex-family, the old work buddies and the foreign, depraved baddies do average jobs being annoying, amiable, and, uh, foreign and depraved. The story goes through its three acts in a predictable and flashy manner, carried by Neeson and a number of shakey action scenes. Father loves daughter, father loses daughter, father rescues daughter. The end. 2.5/5
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Feb 7, 2009 00:59
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This is the best Steven Seagal movie I have ever seen. 3.5/5
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Feb 7, 2009 10:11
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Pretty standard premise, but it's execution is near flawless. 4/5
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Feb 9, 2009 03:14
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For an action revenge movie, this was pretty drat good. 4.5/5
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Feb 11, 2009 20:04
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I will say, I can't get over the fact that Liam's character puts a bullet through the arm of his French buddy's wife, especially since it seemed she had no idea of the corruption going on. I have only watched bits and pieces of '24' on tv, but I'm sure you can draw parallels between the "hero" in 'Taken' and Jack from '24'. Torture is good when you use it on bad guys, everyone who speaks with an accent is evil, and ... if only 3-5 innocent bystanders die in the act of saving your daughter, then you're doing just fine. Just fine. If you like action and no lulls of inactivity, this movie will please. It's something we've seen done before in many many movies; like 'Rambo' but with a little more class. In reality world, anyone who would do what Liam does in this movie would be near the top of our most-wanted-terrorist-list. Even if he was a hero while serving his country, the movie would have concluded with him behind bars getting a visit from his dumb daughter if it were anything close to reality. Movie was only 90 minutes of my time, so I don't feel like I was cheated too bad. 3/5 moolchaba fucked around with this message at 06:16 on Feb 25, 2009 |
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Feb 25, 2009 06:08
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Calling it 24: The Movie is fair, but I think it's a major compliment. The movie starts a little slow, making it's introductions and setting the stage. After about 25 minutes, the adrenalin dumps, the strobes and heavy metal kick in, and Liam Neeson kills scores of people with household objects, bare hands, and their own weapons. It was a nail-biter all the way through and the main character's completely cold methodical vengeance is awesome to watch. I came out of the movie wanting: 1) A smoke and 2) A work out. 4.5/5
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Feb 26, 2009 01:50
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I thought this movie was great. I started watching it expecting a movie that delivered non-stop action, and that is exactly what I got. Liam Neeson was fantastic in his role, he really pulled it off flawlessly. The plot was really nothing new or innovative but it was done just so drat well. I think the only bad thing I can say about the movie was about the roles of the mother, father What oil deal, hurrr. and Kim(Did she really have to act like a flailing baby at every point that we see her, even pre-kidnapping?) weren't up to par. Fantastic action movie, nothing less, nothing more. 4.5/5 ishootudie fucked around with this message at 08:28 on Mar 1, 2009 |
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Feb 28, 2009 11:36
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OK movie. I digged it and connected with the main character on the revenge issue and was biting my nails of how the hell he was going to kill people or get out of some situations. Ending was a bit wonky as stated above with no real consequences after it was over. He killed tons of people and seemingly no one gave two shits. The only real thing that kept flashing through my mind the entire movie was Thank you Mario! But our princess is in another castle! 3.5 / 5
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Mar 1, 2009 16:36
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Saw this movie with my girlfriend last night. As has already been stated, the movie is pretty brutal, as Neeson spends the entire movie loving people up. A couple of nitpicks: All of the major characters in this movie are archetypal stereotypes. Liam Neeson is an action movie BADASS, the mother is a golddigging bitch, the stepdad is an old rich businessman, his daughter is a reckless teenager, and his daughter's blond friend is bimbo who doesn't have a thought in her head beyond PARTYFUCKPARTY. The plotline becomes slightly cliqued, when Neeson encounters the Sheikh's manservant the first time and is captured following said encounter, before managing to miraculously escape. And also as has been said before, the ending is anti-climatic, cliqued, and just not all that good Although, in its defense Neeson already killed or tortured to death pretty much every enemy in the movie, so ending kinda makes sense. On the plus side, good action scenes, a likable main character, and a very subtle sub-plot, outweigh all that nitpicking crap, and make this one definitely worth seeing. 4.0/5.0 Satone fucked around with this message at 20:52 on Mar 1, 2009 |
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Mar 1, 2009 20:47
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Knew nothing about this film and watched it out of boredom really and got a pleasant suprise. Nothing complicated here its a very obvious straight forward action film with a storyline about a kidnapped daughter shoehorned as an excuse for all the rear end kickery going on. The story is pretty basic and cliched but it just about holds together and theres an air of calm and coolness about Liam Neeson that helps pass it all off. The action itself is all well done without any of this shaky cam poo poo so we can actually tell whats going on. 3/5 + Good action and nicely acted by Liam Neeson. - Crap story (but does it really matter with this type of film?)
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Mar 6, 2009 13:40
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Luc Besson is, to me, the comfort food of cinema. He churns out movies that don't neccessarily make sense, and may not in any sense be quantifiably "good", but at the end you're still wearing a big dopey grin because it all goes down so deliciously. With any other actor in the lead role, this movie would almost certainly have sucked. In fact, the only person I could envision playing this role and making it just as awesome would be Alfred Molina. Stop and picture that for a moment and tell me it wouldn't rock, I double dog dare you. Most of the films characters are stock cliches. The daughter is a brainless twit, the ex-wife is a stone-hearted bitch, the step-dad is the richest man on the face of the earth. The antagonists all have ambiguously foreign accents. All that being said? I absolutely loved this movie. And I loved it for the same reasons that I loved Unleashed, The Professional, Angel-A, and just about everything else that Luc Besson has written. The poo poo's got heart. The action scenes are kinetic and violent, the pacing is on point, everything that needs to be in a movie in order for me to enjoy it is present and accounted for here. Sure, there's no accountability within the plot, it's not especially coherent or believable, and I could drive a jeep through some of the plot holes, but for me at least, in this context? Totally forgivable. 4/5
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Mar 7, 2009 05:33
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Brigadier Sockface posted:This was essentially 24 the movie. This but I liked it slightly better than you. What really kills the movie is the first 25 minutes (could have easily been 10-15) and the whole "singer" subplot in general. If it wasn't for that it probably would be a 4.5, and if I hadn't seen everything that happens in the movie on 24 it would be a 5. Even that scene where he shoots the wife happens on 24- and the SAME line "it's just a flesh wound". 3.5/5
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Mar 13, 2009 04:48
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This is probably the most straightfoward action movie I've seen in recent years. It might be predictable, but pleasingly so. The story goes from point A to point B so impressively fast and relentless that there's no room for contrived plot twists, stupid characters, or dumb stylization. Neeson is very convincing as an old school badass who is very precise and knows exactly what he is doing the entire time. Short, but sweet movie. 4/5
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Mar 15, 2009 01:07
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I so want to rate this thing a 5 based on it being loving Liam Neeson whooping rear end so much. It's predictable, there's nothing in it's own right that is all that special, and the preview gives away any of the dialogue that really gets you pumped. And then Neeson started kidney punching a motherfucker 20 minutes in. I've got a particular set of skills to rate this movie a 4/5. It'd be a 3/5 for any average movie goer, but I knew what I was getting into. It's an action movie that doesn't hide itself as anything but and that takes it out of comparisons to any movies with extensive plot lines. 4/5
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Mar 25, 2009 18:40
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Liam Nesson is an ex-CIA agent whose daughter is kidnapped while vacationing through Europe. He doesn't go through the proper channels because that would make for a boring movie. Instead, he decides to be the conductor on a murder train destined for France. Nesson's character kills everyone. He only spares the people who can give him the information he wants, and then he kills them when he gets that information. Nesson is awesome, and the movie is awesome. If you hate this movie, you're a human being. 5/5
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Mar 26, 2009 02:58
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| # ? Apr 16, 2024 20:43 |
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Also known as: Liam Neeson destroys Paris. I picture this movie being concieved by some writers sitting in a room pondering who could be the next Jack Bauer. One of them pipes up with Liam Neeson, and the movie is born. Basically, if you want to watch a movie about a badass person played by a likable actor completely ruin everyone's poo poo, then you should watch this movie. PROS: - Movie promises Liam Neeson being an unstoppable killing machine of awesomeness. Movie delivers. - Action is pretty entertaining - Pretty much no subplots, no awkward characters, unwanted characters are kept to a minimum. - The look of pants-making GBS threads when Liam Neeson says to the gangster who he talked to on his daughter's cell phone "I told you I'd find you" - Liam Neeson tortures a guy with electricity, and you hope that he leaves it on. Neeson does not disappoint. CONS: - Everything that does not involve Liam Neeson killing people. Not horrible, but everything else is pretty forgettable. - No real rising action. The action starts out at awesome, but it never actually gets any higher. I really couldn't tell (other than by the time) that the ending was approaching. No real climax either. I knew that Neeson's daughter was in no danger. The fat Arab guy wouldn't have time to apply pressure to the knife before Neeson killed him. Not so much of a movie as it is a montage of awesome, but oh well. 4/5
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Mar 30, 2009 21:47
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