J-Dogg

I saw Left Behind before I started reading the books, and at that time I thought it was a pretty good movie. Now that I pretty much know the workings of the books inside and out, I had become pretty much disappointed with Left Behind. At the time I thought it was because they didn't follow the book close enough. I had become so disappointed with the movie I hadn't planned on seeing Trib Force.

Fast forward to tonight, and I went and rented it anyway. At first I was very lost because the opening of Trib Force the movie didn't even come close to the opening of the book, and the pattern followed. You know what? It has actually made it a better movie! The problem with trying to turn a 400 page book into a 2 hour movie is that you can't cover all the details, and when that happens (like it did in Left Behind), you run into problems. I think they fixed this problem in Trib Force by making it stand on its own, giving it its own story line, changing things around. They also cut out the end of the book, presumably to be shown in Left Behind 3. But I think now that the movies have become a work of their own, it works much better. I think Trib Force has actually made Left Behind become a better movie, and I may start collecting the movies as "religiously ;)" as I have the book series.

Ordinarily I would have probably given this a 6, but with the way Trib Force set the tone for the rest of the series and actually made Left Behind a better movie, I give it a 7

Reign of Fire was one of those movies that wasn't hyped as much as some of the other movies this summer, and because of that, I wasn't planning on seeing it until it came out on video. Then I got talked into seeing it -- and I liked! The movie opens up in modern-day London, where Quinn is going to visit his mom at her dig site (she was building tunnels). Then her co-workers have Quinn go in to check out the site, and what does he do? He wakes up the big "bull" dragon! 20 years and one gigantic barbecue later, we come back to Quinn, all grown up. The dragons control Earth, and man is in hiding. Enter Americans Denton, Alex, and a host of others, and we have immediate conflict (apparently, even though successful, the Brits weren't happy with our methods -- sounds familiar). They band together, and well, that's all I'm really gonna say about it, you'll have to see the rest for yourself! Reign of Fire was predictable, but really, who doesn't already know what's gonna happen? It's not about the twists and superb storyline. It's about pure, unadulterated action, special effects, and fire that would do more than make Beavis and Butthead proud! Really good movie, 8 stars.

I'm not really big on the Disney TV movies, especially when they stoop down to those who are pre-teens (as a 23 year old, it kinda insults my intelligence). Maybe it had to do with Lindsay Lohan, who did a really great job in the Parent Trap. Anyway, as I sat there and watched it, I became hooked on it. It probably had something to do with the plot dealing with investigative journalism, and me being a Journalism/Mass Comm major here at Iowa State. Anyway, I think one of the best things they did in Get a Clue was they kept the plot simple. Sure, they didn't let on what has actually happened, but revealing everything was timely. While it was a little cheezy and corny (to be expected from Disney), it was not all that predictable. It had a little of everything: action; suspense; mystery; comedy; and just a touch of kiddy-romance. The actors all did an incredible job in this movie. It's just too bad Lindsay isn't 5 years older - that would put her age in my ballpark and then she could be thought of as all of the other actresses of our generation are thought of! 9 out of 10

Not Another Teen Movie can be summed up pretty simply - "She's All That" on crack. This has to be one of the worst movies I have ever seen. It's as if they just took the script of She's All That and stupified it with its lame outtakes. There were very few redeeming qualities in this movie, and it was only with the cameos made by Mr. T, Molly Ringwald, Sean Patrick Thomas, and Melissa Joan Hart. However, even these scenes were not worth the money paid to see this. Do yourselves a favor and leave this one on the shelf.

When I was a child, I wasn't really into comic books or cartoons all that much. On occasion, I would watch The Adventures of Batman and Robin, The X-Men, and Spider-man. Out of these three cartoons that eventually became movies, Spider-man is by far my favorite. While I don't remember much about the storyline from the cartoon, the specials I have seen on television about the making of Spider-man say they tried to make it as accurate of a depiction as they possibly could. It showed. It did a great job of telling the story of how Spider-man came into being and why he became the crime-fighter he is (and for those who are like me who weren't a big comic-book follower, I'm not spilling it). The action sequences and computer generated effects were also amazing. The casting was very good as well. My roommate and I actually had an argument over how he couldn't believe they would cast a "dork" like Tobey McGuire as Spider-man, but I actually had to remind him that Peter Parker WAS a dork. I don't know if I'll ever convince my roommate that Tobey McGuire was the perfect role, but he is. And it's incredible how much time he put into getting into shape in order to be Spider-man. Word is he spent sometimes more than 4 hours a day getting 'ripped.' Kirsten Dunst (who is my on-again-off-again favorite actress) was also perfect in her role as MJ. She has played similar role types in the past (such as Torrance in Bring It On), and I must say she is SO attractive in red hair! :) So, yes, I would recommend this movie to anyone who is up for a good action movie, regardless of whether they had a detailed comic book following or not