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Fall 04-05 TV Guide
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Fahrenheit 9/11 * * * *
Michael Moore, George W Bush
 
If you are a stronghold republican, I suggest going to see this movie. It may change your opinion on your president. Michael Moore has struck gold yet again with his new documentary "Fahrenheit 9/11". The new documentary is basically about the Bush conspiracy. There is so much you can learn from this movie. For one, Saudi Arabia has over 1 TRILLION dollars of its money in OUR banks, so if we had chosen to attack them and not Iraq, we would've had all that taken out, and we would've gone bankrupt basically. I am a democrat, so I don't want anyone to get angry, but this movie is a 5 star movie. Some stuff you might hear is that the bin ladens were actually friends with the bushs, when bush heard that the trade centers had been hit, he just sat and continued what he was doing, not making any sudden moves to help. Michael Moore's new brainchild may not attract some people because of its forward attack on bush, but its good for people of all ages to show you what is going on in your government.

Dan Byrd and Hilary Duff in A Cinderella Story
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A Cinderella Story 
(3 1/2 OUT OF FIVE STARS)
Hilary Duff, Chad Michael Murray, Jenifer Coolige, Brad Bufanda
 
         In a classic remake of the fairy tale, Hilary Duff plays Sam, who were expected to believe is a dorky outcast at her high school. She puts on an overall good performance, and Dan Byrd, who plays her weird best friend, does excellent. His character Carter is an actor, and because of that he wears weird outfits to school everyday, depending on the character he's playing.
          This time around the fairy tale's made modern and the ball is the school halloween dance, where Sam finally agrees to meet her prince charming. Austin, played by Chad Michael Murray, is her mysterious pen pal she met in a college chatroom. The movies gets going quickly, and within the first twenty minutes you watching them dance under the stars. This time instead of dropping her glass slipper, it's her cell phone.
          The wicked stepmother, which is given an awesome performance by Jenifer Coolige (Legally Blonde), is a plastic Barbie-like witch who makes Sam wait on her hand and foot. I always wondered why Sam was so obedient, and in this adaption it's explained in the reasoning of college tuition. Before Sams father died, he mentioned Princeton being the college for princesses, and since then it's been Sams dream, but even studying every waking hour, and graduating a year early dosen't mean she has a way to pay for it (obviously financial aid hasn't applied to her). Therefore she must please her stepmother in every way possible.
          Overall the movie is filled with quite a few laughs (mostly provided by her stepmothers lines about excessive botox and implants, or her stepsisters stupidity). Towards the end you actually start to feel bad for Sam, and what she has to endure from her really evil stepmother, whose head I personally wanted to rip off. It has a good message about being yourself, and I personally like the scene in the locker room and the drought outcome. Overall this would be a good girls night movie, if not for the movie, for the chance to stare at Chad Michael Murray and pretend he's not engaged.
- REVIEWED BY PAIGE
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A Cinderella Story reads out like most of the teenage movies of today. Following the classic Cinderella cues, Sam's dad was a widow(with a diner), who wants Sam to have a mother. He marries Fiona(Jennifer Coolidge),the evil stepmother, who has 2 ugly daughters Brianna(Madeline Zima) and Gabriella(Angela Avery). Daddy dearest dies, and Sam is left to the care of Fiona. Cut to Sam all grown up, with dreams of going to Princeton. She meets a mysterious guy(Chad Michael Murray) on the Princeton chatroom,and carries on an internet and text message relashionship. Her
fairy godmother comes in the form of the boss of Fiona's diner,Rhonda(Regina King). When Sam agrees to meet this mystery man at the school dance, she has little idea that he is Austin, the most popular guy in school. They meet, her clad in a cinderlla-like dress and white mask. When the clock strikes midnight, she must be home due to the fact that Fiona will be home, and leaves her cell phone behind. Basically, it reads out like a washed up version of the classic fairy tale. It's a good movie for little kids, but if your looking for any substance at all, avoid this.
- REVIEWED BY CAITLIN

Spiderman 2   (* * * * 1/2)
Tobey McGuire, Kirsten Dunst, James Franco, Alfred Molina
 
Your friendly neighborhood spiderman is back in the action packed sequel to 2001's blockbuster. McGuire returns playing Peter Parker, who is now a student at (the fictional) Empire State University, where he is trying to juggle school, work, and his feelings for Mary Jane while maintaining his Spiderman duties. In the tradition of this summer, the sequel surpasses the first one and is even better.
 
When Mary Jane, now a model with her picture all over the city as the face of a new perfume, unexpectedly gets engadged to an astronaut, who happens to be the son of Peter's boss. Fed up with his life and not getting to live life how he wants, he gives up Spiderman. But when a scientist with eight mechanical arms grows crazy and trys to blow up the city, will he put the suit back on.
 
Verdict: Way better than the first. It has a lot more emotion, and feeling. The actos do a good job, and the action scenes are even better. Especially the scene on the subway. Definately worth seeing.

Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams
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 The Notebook * * * * *
Ryan Gosling, Rachel McAdams, James Garner, James Marsden
 
This is one of the best movies I have ever seen. Even the toughest cynic will be touched by the romantic story. Any kind of love story fan should definately make a point to see this. I got the chance to see a sneak preview of it, which was packed, people were even sitting in the aisle (I've been to a lot of previews like these, the theatre has them a lot, but I've never seen it this packed). By the end almost everyone had cried or teared up at some point. Ryan Gosling does a truly remarkable job and he should (but sadly probably wont) win an award for his part. Newcomer Rachel McAdams (she also played Regina in Mean Girls) did a wonderful job with her role as welll. James Marsden plays the guy no one roots for, and as much as you'd love to hate him, you can't help but feel bad for him, almost.
 
Favorite Part: the carnival scene definately (u can see an edited version in the trailer), and the part in front of the fire place (I can't say anymore about it but when you see it you'll understand).
Best Unrecognized Actor: Kevin Connolly who plays Noah's best friend Finn, funny, and a good actor. (Though we don't like how his character ends up)

Mandy Moore and Jena Malone in Saved!
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Saved!
Jena Malone, Mandy Moore, Macaulay Culkin, Patrick Fugit, Chad Faust, Heather Matarazzaro
 
Saved! is a drama, a comedy, and a horror movie all in one. A drama because the dealings with cliques and teenage pregnancy, a comedy because of the dialect, and a horror because of the showings of extreme faith, to the point where you will send off your children because they have different beliefs then you. It all starts out when Mary(Jena Malone) falls into the pool after hearing her boyfriend, Dean (Chad Faust) is gay and thinks she sees God, telling her to have sex with him to change him. She does, and winds up pregnant. She is excluded from her best friend Hillary Faye(Mandy Moore) after realizing that christianity may not be all its cracked up to be, who then joins the rankings of the school's only Jewish girl and rebel Cassandra(Eva Ammuri), and Roland(Macauly Culkin. She also finds love with Patrick(Patrick Fugit), the skateboarding christian and Pastor Skip's(Martin Donovan). I rate this movie a 10, because it shows life in a Baptist school as it really is, hurtful and mean. This movie may really show light on the truth, that Christianity isn't all its cracked up to be.
-- REVIEWED BY CAITLIN

Emma Watson, Daniel Radcliff, and Rupert Grint
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 Harry Potter & the Pris. of Azka. * * * * 1/2
Daniel Radcliff, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Tom Felton
 
In the best of the three, Harry is sent back to Hogwarts for his third year. The third in the series is a lot different than the other two. For one, you can tell a new director has taken over and he did an excellent job. The overall feeling is darker and with the stars grown up a little the film has a more grown up aspect to it. The second thing that made this better is that the writers didn't try to cram every detail from the third book in the movie. Yes, I hate when they change the book in the film but the book is rather long for a two and a half hour movie. Without the fast pace the movie flows better and allows for a better time. The third thing that helped the film was even though it stayed true to it's very dark and heavy nature, the lighter moments had some funny moments. Rupert Grint (Ron) was more of a comedic relief in this one. He never seems to know what's going on, therefore his answer to everything is "What the bloody hell?"
 
Favorite Part: The parts that incorporated Ron's fear of spiders, especially his nightmare.
Unrecognized Actor: Someone who will go under appreciated in this one is Tom Felton, who plays Draco Malfoy. Besides a very different haircut, he's also made out to be much more of a wimp, which he embraces.

voiced by Mike Myers and Cameron Diaz
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 Shrek 2 * *
Mike Myers, Cameron Diaz, Eddie Murphy, Julie Andrews, Antonio Banderas
 
I loved the first film, it was an amazing story, especially for an animated one. It was the perfect tale of inner beauty. When Shrek, an ugly ogre falls for Princess Fiona he thinks it will never be, until he finds out she too is an ogre- at night. A kiss was suppost to free the curse, but it made her a permanent ogre. The second movie picks up right where the first one left off, Shrek and Fiona have just been married and are on their honeymoon. When they get back they receive an invitation to the castle of Far Far Away from her parents, the queen and king. The problem is Fiona was promised to Prince Charming and his mother, the Fairy Godmother, is none too happy when she finds out Fiona's married to an ogre. The movie's filled with punch lines and hilarious one-liners but falls flat where the first suceeded. For people with low expectations this is fine. It's a good movie, but not worth standing in a huge line for tickets.

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