It’s a good thing I was just at the park last year with my sister who is like me and will go on anything, because I couldn’t talk my boyfriend into going on the Dragster to save my life. I’ll admit, it is one of the most intimidating rides I’ve ever seen, and appears to defy all natural laws of physics and safety by looking at it, but it was one of the biggest thrills I’ve ever had in my life riding that thing!

If you’ve never seen a picture of the Top Thrill Dragster, you have to pull it up online, you’ll see what I mean by thrilling - and intimidating! You shoot off like a bullet up a roller coaster that ends in midair, and then you shoot back down the coaster backwards in all of seconds. If I had to compare it to something I’d say it might be a bit like getting shot out of a cannon, because the G forces it generates are pretty amazing when you are flung up the coaster’s rails.

Cedar Point has the best rides around for sure, boasting several huge roller coasters, many of which have been around for years and still pack entertaining, heart racing fun, but it definitely lacks on food prices. The prices of the food there are outrageous, and the quality isn’t that great either. For twelve bucks we split one meal from ChikFil-A, which isn’t a bargain by any stretch, but there were also lots of burger and hot dog stands, all of which offered mediocre, somewhat bland food for a high cost. Not that going to Cedar Point is synonomous with great food, but that was one drawback.

Occasionally the rides shutdown, another conceivable drawback, but that’s understandable because sometimes it is a genuine safety issue that they have to shut down for. We enjoyed all of the coasters, including veteran coasters the Blue Streak, The Gemini, and the Magnum. The Mantis was probably my least favorite, which is one where you stand up, and there are head holsters that hold your head in, but your head rattles back and forth so many times that your ears are red when you get off.

The Skyhawk was both our favorite non-coaster ride. It’s a line of seats on each side, and it goes about a hundred feet up in the air and then comes swooping down, giving you the feeling like you’re free falling. We wanted to ride that one twice but it actually had a line both times.

First off let me say, this is the first movie that we have enjoyed Thomas Jane in. He turns in a superb performance, and it’s really a shame that this movie and it’s actors didnt’ get a little more attention as far as critical acclaim. The movie is directed by director Frank Darabont, who also brought us another envisionment of a Stephen King novel on screen, which was critically acclaimed, the Green Mile.

Darabont has another winner here, disguised as a low budget sleeper, and I’d recommend the movie to any horror fan or Stephen King fan, since the character development in the movie are very much true to how Stephen King develops his characters in books.

The angles and pacing in this movie are what intoxicates you from the beginning. It starts off in a believable setting of a quiet lakeside community, and has a cast of characters that everyone knows an archetype of in their lives, so they identify with them.

The special effects leave a lot to be desired, but you will quickly forget about them when you start to get into the story and actually care about the survival of, or demise of, some of them as their characters begin to show their true selves when faced with enclosure and fear. All in all, I highly recommend this movie to anyone who is looking for something different and quality to add to their movie going experience.

It’s unfortunate too, because the film makers were going for something that was a standalone story, not part of the ever popular alien mythology, but they missed the mark on this one because the story was weak, and the character development and plot line followed.

First off, it was hard to swallow Billy Connolly, a comedian who used to play a class teacher on a popular sitcom way back when, as a pedophile preacher who molested many young alter boys, and quite possibly the film’s villain until we find out who really dunnit. I couldn’t stop trying to separate his voice from the bad disguise they gave hime of a white haired wig and lots of facial hair, and kept sort of waiting for the punch line whenever he would utter his lines.

The dialogue was very weak at certain parts, almost cringe worthy, and a stab at political commentary goes awry in the middle of the movie as the camera goes to a picture of President Bush to a picture of J Edgar Hoover and the whistling X Files theme plays, with Scully and Mulder giving eachother a “knowing look”. My boyfriend and I looked at eachother as if we had just seen aliens crawl out of the screen, it was a poor attempt at humor, and went right over the audience’s head in my opinion.

Also, Gillian Anderson’s Scully seemed very out of character the whole movie. I mean, we know time has passed and she’s moved on and grown up more, but she acted very emotionally and agressively in some scenes which was not part of her developed persona on the show or in the first movie.

We also had a hard time with Mulder and Scully’s “love story”, because I liked when the chemistry was just a tease with them, and nothing actually ever happened. It’s like once they made that step, they can’t go back, and the mystery of the characters and their mutual independence that made them so interesting is gone.