Jonathan

Jabberwocky - Terry Gilliam's first film. I love Gilliam, but this thing was not very good at all compared to his other stuff (Brothers Grimm excluded). Felt like a Monty Python movie without any of the other Python men; well, I guess that's exactly what it was. 2/4 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - This was easily my favorite of the four. Extremely fast paced, lots of action, and it actually had some decent character development; everything a popcorn flick should be. I definitely like the more mature turn the films are taking. With that said, there's only so far you can go with these movies. I enjoyed the books as well, but the films and books have the same flaw; people are basically reading/watching them just to find out what happens next. There's not really that much depth to them. Golbet of Fire was well done, though. 3/4 Jarhead - After an initial viewing, this is one of my favorites of the year. I liked it in the same way as Apocalypse Now in that it was more of a psychological view of war. I think a lot of people have been disappointed with this because they were expecting an action movie, when in fact it is a character study. It felt very realistic to me, although I don't have any foundation for that claim. 3.5/4

I like your list. Dr. Strangelove is near the top of mine as well.

I'm reading "Brave New World" right now, and also conducting a full assault on the NCSU library's section of books on filmmakers, because I am a nerd.

I watched David Cronenberg's Videodrome, and I really have no idea what the **** was going on.

Simply amazing.

You don't have your AIM name in your profile... that could be why... Works fine for me when I click on someone's AIM icon.

Aha I'm the same way. I bought it on DVD, watched it for the first time, thought it was one of the best movies I've ever seen, and haven't touched it since. I saw Persona the other day and thought I was going to have nightmares. Not that it is a horror movie or anything, but it really freaked me out.

Looks like it will be very similar to Dollywood's Country Fair expansion, which was really well done.

The original what?

What I have done in the past (when there are no exit passes, of course 8) ) is this, and it works really well: -As soon as the ropes drop, hurry to Hypersonic, as the line is usually insane later in the day -(optional) Hit Drop Zone and Ricochet, which will be walk-ons -Get over to Volcano, which will still have a fairly small line

All of the photos from this day are now up in the photo gallery at http://www.jonathan-hawkins.net After finding out about Kings Dominion's "Final Fling" event, Alan, John, and myself threw together quick plans to make a day trip to the park, as the event sounded just too good to pass up. I left my place at 6 AM Saturday morning, and by 7:30 we were on our way to the park from John's house. We stopped once along the way at a Waffle House, and made good time to the park, getting there close to opening. The parking lot at Kings Dominion was not too full when we arrived, and it turned out to be a moderately crowded day at the park. There was a fairly sizeable line to get in the park, and we had to wait in it twice, as we discovered once we got inside the gates that the registration point for the event was outside of the park! Back inside the park again, we had little time to gaze at the park's beautiful entrance area, as we were hurrying on our way to the first ride of the day... The restrooms! The restrooms set the bar high for the day, but the next stop was up for the challenge. Grizzly was down for extensive maintanence in the Spring, so we were very excited to get our first rides of the year. Grizzly was running awesome! We ended up spending a huge chunk of the day riding Grizzly, but if we thought it was running well at that point, we just had to wait until nightfall to find out how insane it can really be. Hurler was next, and it was running awesome as well. The Kings Dominion Hurler has been very poor in comparison to the Carowinds version in the past, but this year Kings Dominion really has theirs running well. John wanted to ride Ricochet all day long, but the line stayed very long all day. Sorry John, maybe next time... With a few rides out of the way, we headed for lunch at the picnic pavilion. Lunch consisted of baked beans, slaw, chicken, and a lot of very good desserts. John even won a door prize. The biggest prize was an Italian Job press pack and media day invitation, but who needs that... When you can have a SpongeBob Squarepants gift bag. Aside from the door prizes, everyone in attendance received a Kings Dominion mouse pad with Scooby Doo on it, a 30th anniversary commemorative coin with Tomb Raider Firefall on it, and a 30th anniversary lapel pin. For some reason John did not want to carry his SpongeBob bag around the park, so we had to rent a locker. I wonder what is going here? We headed over to Volcano, where there was a pretty large line. Who needs lines? We had our Final Fling exit pass, good for one ride on Volcano. We were able to get on the train at the exit platform and ride the train forward to the loading platform, so I guess that means I finally got the complete credit. Tomb Raider was up and running, but my one ride in the Spring was enough to deter us from doing it again. Great ride program, but it was quite uncomfortable in a certain area. Next it was time to use one of our 'enthusiast's pick' exit passes... On Flight of Fear! Flight of Fear was a lot of fun as always, although the mid-course is still bringing the train to a complete stop. And now, here's a picture of Alan with a big fish. Anaconda's lake was looking very pretty, as it was drained for Italian Job construction. For some reason, we all look very happy getting our brains bashed to pieces. It was time to once again piss off a bunch of people in line, as we pulled out another exit pass. They even allowed us to ride in the front seat. Hypersonic is a pretty intense ride, but I definitely would not want to wait in much of a line for it. I guess the park was fairly crowded, because we actually had to wait in a fairly large line for Rebel Yell! It was running pretty well, but still not a very exciting ride. While we were over in the Grizzly area (riding Grizzly more of course), we hit the Flying Eagles. The line for the flyers was huge all day, so we used one of our exit passes on it. The reaction of the operator was hilarious, as he could not understand why we wanted to use a pass on that ride. The Kings Dominion flyers are pretty fun, and it is possible to get some moderate snapping action on them. Back where it all started. The sun was beginning to set, and you know what that means... Grizzly at night! I was completely unprepared for how amazing Grizzly was running that night. I was almost getting flashbacks to Legend at Stark Raven Mad! There were rib-crushing laterals galore, and the train seemed to lose very little speed throughout the ride. The slamming pop of airtime inside the tunnel is still one of my favorite moments on any coaster. Volcano at night; how pretty. But whatever. Back to Grizzly! It was a great day at the park, but it was time for it to come to an end. John was reluctant to pose with his bag for some reason. We stopped at Applebees on the way home, and I was back in Raleigh shortly after midnight. It was an awesome day at the park, and big thanks to the park for throwing together the event. The exit passes were a really neat idea, and were a huge help in beating the unexpected crowds. It's hard to beat getting pitch black rides on Grizzly in November, with temperatures in the 70's!

Saw The Weather Man this afternoon. I had high expectations for it, and it had a lot of potential, but overall I thought the direction was quite poor. It was pretty funny, and worth a watch, but disappointing. 2.5 stars (out of 4)

I like cats

I'm on it

Yeah, I'm interested in that as well; I think it opens tomorrow at an independent theater here.

Figured Alan would bump this thread, but he didn't, so FYI, production images are now up at http://whootah.com/

Grizzly Man Sometimes a film is released that is so realistic that you have to constantly remind yourself that it is just a motion picture. "Grizzly Man" is the exact opposite of that. It is a documentary, but in the world we live in, it is difficult to believe that there existed a man like Timothy Treadwell. Treadwell was a grizzly bear activist who took his passion for bears to a level like no one else. For 2-4 months at a time, Treadwell would camp in Alaska and live amongst the bears completely unarmed, watching them and interacting with them, somehow co-existing with some of the most dangerous animals in the world. In October of 2003 Treadwell and his girlfriend Amie were killed and eaten by a bear. Director Werner Herzog used Treadwell's personal footage as well as interviews with his friends and family to make the documentary. Treadwell claims over and over throughout the film that he is the "only one protecting these bears", and he criticizes wildlife officials for not doing their job. However, it is never made clear how Treadwell is actually protecting the bears, or that they even need protecting, as they are in the middle of a wildlife preserve, and we never actually see any use that the bears have for Treadwell. It is clear though that Treadwell finds true joy in what he does, and believes very strongly in it. Often, he is very critical of civilization, and seems more content roaming through the woods with a fox he has befriended than he would with a human being. The great thing about Herzog's presentation of Treadwell is that he does not craft the film in a way that we are told what to think about him. Throughout the film, we are presented a number of viewpoints on Treadwell, from great admiration to "he got what he deserved", and even Herzog offers his own personal thoughts at times. From what I have seen, everyone comes out of this film with their own views on Treadwell, and I have read some heated discussions online regarding the true merits of Treadwell's work. As for myself, I am not really sure what to think of Treadwell. I strongly suspect that his adventures in the wilderness did nothing for the grizzly bears, but I still cannot help but admire him. It is rare to see someone spending their life doing what they love, and Treadwell made it explicitly clear that he was willing to die with the bears. With Herzog cutting the film, we get perhaps a very different perspective than if Treadwell were editing his own documentary. Herzog leaves uncut pieces of footage in; sometimes we see Treadwell do multiple takes of a "scene", and it is as if we are looking into his secret diary at times as he speaks to the camera. While on the surface it is a documentary about a man and grizzly bears, the film is really somewhat of a character study. We see Treadwell's emotional highs, such as the joy he displays when interacting with the bears, and the lows, such as when he suddenly goes into a complete fit of rage directed at the national park service. "Grizzly Man" is a very unique film about a very unique individual, and I applaud Werner Herzog's ability to present the film without bias, as this film could very easily have been a piece hailing Timothy Treadwell as an American hero, or one that portrayed him as a lunatic. The pacing was a bit odd, and I do have to question Herzog's commentary on Treadwell at times during the film (to my knowledge he never even met Treadwell, so do we really care what he thinks?); it seemed a little ego-centric. Those were very minor concerns, though, and I was very impressed overall by the film. As we all know, a certain nature documentary has been holding its ground at the box office for months now, and by no means is that certain documentary a bad film, but my recommendation would be to pass up the cute and cuddly birds, and go see how Timothy Treadwell lived and died in a place where few could survive unarmed. 3.5 stars (out of 4) Official Website: http://www.grizzlyman.com Trailer: http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/lions_gate/grizzly_man/

More importantly, it is mandatory to register for the selective service when you turn 18 here. Meaning, they can put a gun in your hand and send you to die for your country, but you can't have a beer!

Touche

Some of the answers to this thread are a bit odd, and I think a lot of people are simply saying their favorite movie. For example, "War of the Worlds" and "Shaun of the Dead"? What the heck? If you lived in either of these movies, chances are very good that you would only be living a short time, since they both involve the death of millions of people.

Noooooooooooooo That place was one of my favorite parks ever. No joke. Stopped by there with coasterdave and jamminj on the way to meetup with the RideWorld folks before last year's East Coast Trek. We planned to be in and out in an hour; get the credits and leave. We ended up staying until the park closed, and missed the cookout that night because we were having such a blast at the park! I can understand why they are losing money, though. The place was totally dead, and the operators for the Cyclone and the Wildcat kept letting us ride without paying!

I saw Flogging Molly last year, and they put on a really fun show. They definitely draw out some 'interesting' people, though.

I'm not Jarvis, but as a member of the paparazzi who follows him everywhere, I can tell you that he uses a tripod. Freakin' awesome video! I'm really amazed at the time and work you've clearly been putting into these videos. So when is the ever-delayed website going to go online?

Is that Grizzly Adams riding with him in the first photo?

I'm not Robb, but I would say DEFINITELY go to SDC. It is seriously one of the best parks in the country. The Ozark Wildcat at Celebration City is awesome, and probably my favorite coaster at the two parks, but Celebration City has a long way to go before it comes even close to the level of quality that SDC has. I can't recommend SDC enough.