2009

Starring: Matt Czuchry, Jesse Bradford, Geoff Stults, Marika Dominczak, and Keri Lynn Pratt

Written by: Tucker Max & Nils Parker based on the novel by Tucker Max

Directed by: Bob Gosse

2010

Starring: Mia Wasikowska, Johnny Depp, Anne Hathaway, Helena Bonham Carter, Crispin Glover, Michael Sheen, and Stephen Fry

Written by: Linda Woolverton based on the novel by Lewis Carroll

Directed by: Tim Burton

Before you see this film you must decide one thing. Do you like Tim Burton? If you have never enjoyed a Tim Burton directed piece than you might as well stay home. This is vintage Burton through and through…if a little Disneyfied. In an interesting move that is somewhere between deception and honesty, Burton names the film Alice In Wonderland despite the fact that it is supposedly a sequel of sorts. Alice is grown up now and she returns to a now post-apocalyptic Wond…er…Underland, as the denziens call it. And yet, the sequel does, for the most part, follow the same tale as the original, with the exception of the grown up Alice.

2006

Starring: Tom Hanks, Audrey Tautou, Ian McKellan, Alfred Molina, Jean Reno, and Paul Bettany

Written by: Akiva Goldsmith based on the novel by: Dan Brown

Directed by: Ron Howard

Having just finished the novel and recently the film version and novel of Angels and Demons, I was curious as to how I’d like this film again. I had seen it when it first came out but honestly remembered very little. I remembered not hating it as much as some did, but that was about it.

2010

Starring: Kate Featherston and Micah Sloat

Written and Directed by Oren Peli

This was another one of those movies that I saw long after the hype. All I knew is that people thought it was extremely scary and that it was great filmmaking, Being a horror fan I was immediately intrigued, but circumstances made me have to wait for awhile to see it.

2009

Starring: Eric Bana, Rachel McAdams, and Ron Livingston

Written by: Jeremy Leven & Bruce Joel Rubin based on the novel by Audrey Niffenegger

Directed by: Robert Schwentke

Competent. That was really the best way I could describe the film. Having not read the book, I can’t make any kind of comparison, but I can say that the film isn’t making me run out to read the novel. That being said, I don’t feel like it was a complete waste of my time either. It just kind of was. And that goes for nearly every aspect of the film.

2010

Starring: Logan Lerman, Brandon T. Jackson, Alexandra Daddario, Jake Abel, Sean Bean, Kevin McKidd, Steve Coogan, Rosario Dawson, Uma Thurman, and Pierce Brosnan

Written by: Craig Titley and Joe Stillman based on the novel by Rick Riordan

Directed by: Chris Columbus

Harry Potter, it’s not. Directed by the man who gave us the faithful, yet safe adaptions of Harry Potter’s first two stories, Percy Jackson is a shining showcase on potential that gets mired down by incompetence in terms of adaption and partially in direction.

2009

Starring: Ed Asner, Christopher Plummer, Jordan Nagai, and Bob Peterson

Written by: Pete Docter, Bob Peterson, and Thomas McCarthy

Directed by: Pete Docter and Bob Peterson

A true home run of a film by any stretch of imagination. To make a film so truthful, so genuine, so warm and touching, and then have it be animated? Pixar is truly the best of the best when it comes to animation simply because they know that it is the story and the characters more than it is any flashy cartoons that make a truly good movie.

2009

Starring: Bill Hader, Anna Faris, Neil Patrick Harris, Bruce Campbell, James Caan, Mr. T, and Andy Samberg

Written by: Phil Lord and Christopher Miller based loosely on the book by Judi and Ron Barrett

Directed by: Phil Lord and Christopher Miller

Watch out for giant Pizzas! I was a fan of this book growing up and read it to my own children more than a few times and I had no idea how they were going to turn it into a movie. So the answer was to very loosely use the idea of food weather and write a new story around the basic idea.

The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring

2001

Starring: Elijah Woods, Ian McKellan, Viggo Mortensen, Sean Astin, Christopher Lee, Billy Boyd, Dominic Monaghan, John Rhyes-Davies, Orlando Bloom, Hugo Weaving, Liv Tyler, Cate Blanchett, Sean Bean, Ian Holm, and Andy Serkis

Written by: Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh, and Phillipa Boyens based on the novel by J.R.R. Tolkien

Directed by: Peter Jackson

**Note – Extended Edition**

Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

2002

Starring: Elijah Woods, Ian McKellan, Viggo Mortensen, Sean Astin, Christopher Lee, Billy Boyd, Dominic Monaghan, John Rhyes-Davies, Orlando Bloom, Hugo Weaving, Liv Tyler, Cate Blanchett, Sean Bean, Ian Holm, Bernard Hill, David Wenham, Brad Dourif, Karl Urban, Miranda Otto, and Andy Serkis

Written by: Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh, and Phillipa Boyens based on the novel by J.R.R. Tolkien

Directed by: Peter Jackson

**Note – Extended Edition**

The Two Towers had quite a task. After hitting it out of the ballpark with the Fellowship of the Ring, how could they possibly follow suit? Especially given that as the middle arc, there is no true beginning, no true end, and the way the book is depicted would be two mini-movies as we follow first the remaining fellowship and their adventures and then the story of the still questing Frodo and Sam in the second portion.

2003

Starring: Elijah Woods, Ian McKellan, Viggo Mortensen, Sean Astin, Christopher Lee, Billy Boyd, Dominic Monaghan, John Rhyes-Davies, Orlando Bloom, Hugo Weaving, Liv Tyler, Cate Blanchett, Sean Bean, Ian Holm, Bernard Hill, David Wenham, Brad Dourif, Karl Urban, Miranda Otto, and Andy Serkis

Written by: Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh, and Phillipa Boyens based on the novel by J.R.R. Tolkien

Directed by: Peter Jackson

**Note – Extended Edition**