Most people rushed to go see this movie because of the lovable dogs and their very appealing appearances, but I personally went to see the actual survival story. The story wasn't anything out of the ordinary, it was just average and didn't make you feel obligated to feel sorry for this bunch of sled dogs. The story, as most of you might already know, involves a team of Antarctic snow dogs who are abandoned in the middle of an icy hillock. Jerry Shepard (Paul Walker) is the trainer of these endearing pups and is evacuated because of a gargantuan snow storm that is going to hit Antarctica, or as the characters in the movie like to call it, "the bottom of the world." Jerry soon discovers that he cannot return for his sled dogs until late August because it is too dangerous to head down into the aftermath of the storm. The dogs must then try and survive for months on their own in the cold, harsh weather until their trainer can finally reach them and take them back home. The entire movie is inspired by a true story, so I have no problem with it. The only problem I did have with the story is the very unamusing love that Jerry has for his co-worker, Katie (Moon Bloodgood), but tries to hide so he can focus on training his dogs and have more time to spend with them. That entire part of the movie proved to be astonishingly distracting and gave no additional entertainment to the audiences watching. I will have to admit that I am still flabbergasted as to how the makers of this film were able to get this amazing footage, not only of the snowy environment, but of the dogs by their lonesome. This movie deserves a lot of credit for its special cinematography and backgrounds, but otherwise, it tries to hard to succeed in things that it never even could, not to mention the horrible acting. If you have seen commercials for this film or have seen its theatrical trailer, you've seen the entire movie.

My Grade: C+

This remake of the 1979 version, which gave its starring role to Carol Kane as the paranoid babysitter, now features a fresh, new actress who plays a more modernized version of the character, Camilla Belle. I thought that this new actress played her role very well, not only as the eventually crazed babysitter, but also as a caring and loving one who is willing to risk her life for the children she is watching over. Although, overall, the movie was just about a young girl wandering aimlessly throughout a humongous house which is tucked away in a secluded area of wilderness by a rather large pond. The title of the movie is an obvious dead giveaway on what it's about once you know it is a thriller film, so I won't waste my time telling you what leads up to its climax. Now, most people may have went to go see this movie with an already biased opinion about it being just another stupid horror movie about a teenage girl being harassed by a much older man; but this movie isn't really concerning that unoriginal material. I mean, of course, all of the movie isn't completely original because it is a remake, but I thought it was definitely much better than most other horror flicks that you see in this day and age. I think that I liked this movie more than I expected I would because it was really modernized and didn't try to fully copy the original. The thing that I found most specifically modernized was the structure of the house the young girl babysat in and the style in which it was decorated. There is one specific area of the house which I completely loved, it was this little room, almost like a greenhouse, that was inhabited by a small pond and trees and stones in which fish and birds lived. That part of the house was actually amazing. Other than the sets, the movie didn't really have much else to work with so they could grab the audience with interest and intrigue. The ending of the movie will especially make you upset because it doesn't really reveal anything about who the killer is, but more about different characters in the film. A definite more elaborate version of the original classic with a little less absorption for audiences.

My Grade: C

This movie was absolutely no comparison at all to the other two which famously used Death as their villain and disguised it any many different forms. I think that most people, including myself, went to see this movie because they loved the first two and they wanted to see if the death scenes were as elaborate as the first movie because it is the same director (James Wong). The death scenes, although original, were weak and failed to meet the standards of my personal taste. The plot of the movie is exactly the same as the others, you know, a group of people cheat death and it tries to get even with them and kills them one by one in the order that they would have died. The only thing that is different in this movie is that the group of people are high school seniors and they cheat death by getting off of a roller coaster that is going to crash. I was very surprised that Wong did not succeed in making this last installment of the trilogy as good as the first, which he so passionately directed. One of the things I found most disturbing about the movie was that it seemed to be among the many other unoriginal horror flicks that thinks they are safe with a couple of gory scenes and graphic nudity. I absolutely despise movies like that. Throughout the movie, I could not believe that these high school students could figure out how their roller coaster fiasco was related to the Flight 180 crash that occurred some years ago (or in the first movie). Overall, "Final Destination 3" is just another idiotic horror film that gives you a judgmental look at teenagers and how they socialize with each other, although most of it is, in reality, true. The death scenes were extremely weak, although sometimes original, and were nothing compared to the ones in the other two movies.

My Grade: C

A definite horrendous mess of a movie that deserves credit only for ruining the reputations of every actor in this film and nothing else. Of course, I was expecting this movie to bomb immensely, as I'm sure most everyone else did, too. My prediction was unfortunately correct, but it also went to a greater degree of being an absolutely horrific movie. The story is, of course, about the robbery of the Pink Panther diamond and the murder of the man who was wearing it, Bizu (William Abadie). A rather pompous Chief of police in Paris, France, Chief Inspector Dreyfus (Kevin Kline), wants all of the glory for himself in solving the murder and catching the killer. He would rather make it seem to the public that he is off the case, so his glory can be even greater, so he must hire a moronic Inspector. He finds Inspector Jacques Clouseau (Steve Martin) to work on the case for he has the aptitude of an ostrich and is always unaware of the constant clumsy things he does. The plot then thickens as Clouseau finds out more than he would like to know about a certain crush of his, hip-hop artist Xania (Beyonce Knowles). What I found most increasingly unpleasant about the entire movie was that it was repetitive in dialogue, in the comedy aspect of the movie. Martin does a bit over and over again throughout the movie where he pretends to talk to another person in the room about the lovely weather while he really is trying to check and secure the perimeter. Every time he attempts to be funny with this bit, without fail he predictably whacks his arm against a curtain or a lamp which then shatters into pieces. On the whole, this was an idiotically predictable movie that attempted to be hilarious, but only accomplished the disrespect of every actor in it (especially Jean Reno who does a freakish dance in a skin-tight suit). By far, the absolute worst movie of the year.

My Grade: D-

Hattie Mae Pierce, or Big Momma, is at it again with her rough exterior and her tender love for children on the inside in the southern part of California. I must admit, I didn't have high hopes for this movie at all; I didn't even have low hopes for it. But, it turned out to be surprisingly good, with a lot of flaws, of course. The story, although it makes sense, there is no way possible this lively character portrayed by a man in a fat suit could once again return to cinema. The plot is about Malcolm Turner (Martin Lawrence) who is so desperate to get back on the police force and go under cover again like he did in Georgia some six years back. He is now married to, and having a child with, Sherri Turner (Nia Long), who is the only other returning actor from the first film besides Lawrence. Malcolm listens in on a conference call and discovers that the police department needs someone to go under cover as a nanny. Malcolm looks over at his desk and "coincidentally" finds a picture of Big Momma. He then looks at the camera as if he is saying in his mind, "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" As you can see, not a very believable plot. But what else could the makers of this movie think of? Everything was just way too easy to fall into Malcolm's lap within the first ten minutes of the movie. From this point on in the movie, there is nothing but one joke after another as Martin Lawrence serves up his usual shtick that never seems to get tiresome. It was an outrageously funny movie, but everything was just too beyond belief in order to be a good story with excellent comedy. This one wasn't as good as the first one, but I still recommend that you see it for Lawrence's comedic genius.

My Grade: C+