Reviews

I, as with other recent reviewers, have found that the film version of Rent lives up to the stage version and adds a well-roundedness that only enhances the story. I was very skeptical, as RENT is my all time favorite play. I won tickets to a screening and am so happy I was among the early viewers. I laughed and cried (I never cried in the 5 times I have seen the stage play)-- all in all, it was spectacular!!! Even if you are not aware of the stage musical, you will find something to relate too because their is a character for everyone. Take friends, and go for it--I promise you will not be disappointed!! Enjoy the movie, the songs, and the words that are spoken and sung--the cast is amazing and electrifying.

As many fans of Harry Potter did, I flocked to the theatre tonight to see the newest in the Harry Potter collection. In attendance with me was another person well versed in the Harry Potter lore and someone who had never read the books. The un-read friend found the movie slow and floundering, as we, the well read, did. She found herself dozing and yearning for more of the Harry-Hermione-Ron interactions that this film lacked.

The well-read attendee and I felt that the movie was rushed. Fully realizing that a book that is as long as Goblet of Fire is cannot contain all of the fun and enjoyable plot points, many of the points that were included dragged the movie down. I would prefer to see a movie that stays true to the overall theme of the book rather than a movie that forces a story together and shouts "I hope you like what we did, we sure tried to get everything."

I left the theatre desiring to read the book again to regain the enjoyment I had and the anxiety I felt about the friendship and the tournament. Although there is no good place in the story to create a split, I would have preferred to have seen this movie split up into 2 films to get everything, rather than what Mike Newell and company forced together.

However, despite what I wrote, I did enjoy the film but do suggest that you be prepared for a long film and not be tired. I will try again at an earlier showing and hope to leave feeling better about the latest tribute to Harry Potter!

The Sleepy Time Gal was an excellent concept that unfortunately ended up being unsatisfying. Death is a hard thing to film but this movie does nothing to enhance views we have seen about death. The adoption story was wonderful but never met a good end. I needed to see more resolution because I had to assume to much about what Rebecca found out in the end. I was disappointed that they never met and that Morgan never eluded to knowing about her, if he did. I wish it had been a better movie. For only being an hour and a half long, I felt that it was much longer. Nice try but the bar was never met.

Although the acting may be lacking, the cinematography and actual surfing is fabulous. Realize when watching this almost documentary that despite the fact that their not playing themselves, each character is playing themselves. The characters of Shane, Mickey, Keoni, and all the other surfers are either using variations of their real names or their real names in this film. They are all the real thing, you can't get any better than them. The story is simple, get to the big waves and surf them while making a family or "tribe" as they are and learning about yourself. I own this movie and watch it whenever i need a reality check about hard things in this world. On top of everything it is the best surf movie because they are really surfing, no stunt doubles, no slight of hand camera shots, Patrick Shane and Matt are really surfing!!!!! It is a movie about surfing not about famous actors or a deep story line--JUST SURFING!!!!

I waited until today to finally see this movie. As I suspected, this wonderful suspenseful book was slaughtered to make a barely decent movie. I love Morgan Freeman as an actor but he was totally miscast in this movie and in "Kiss the Girls". If you like this movie, or if you didn't like it because you thought it was lacking, you need to read this book because there is an enormous part of the storyline that was never even touched on. The book dealt more with Soneji's mentality, the children, Cross's family, and Cross and Jezzie's relationship. It goes way past anything this move did. Check it out. I have read it a couple of times and cringed through the whole movie because of the missing pieces of the puzzle. READ THE BOOK BEFORE YOU JUDGE THIS STORY!! MOVIE WAS BAD BUT THE BOOK IS AWESOME!!!!

With such a large cast, there is no ability to give a real plot. There are too many people involved and the story bounces too much for it to be easily followed. I found that the movie lacked any real story. The end made no sense to the rest of the movie. I found the music to be utterly annoying, and I like country. On top of it all, there were no sympathetic characters. I could have cared less about any of these characters. Overall, I found this movie not very funny or romantic.