Reviews by DefenderOfKnowledge

I found The War browsing Facebook, I believe, and got "Love Come Down" for free off Itunes. I really liked it and decided to check out the rest of the stuff. Now me, I am NOT the kind of person that buys alot of music online, but "Waving White" was just too good to pass up. I have to say, this album is one of my favorite, even if it is only 5 tracks. "Manhattan" has quickly climbed to the top of my most-liked-of-all-time list, "Love Come Down", "Satisfied", and "Thought I had died" are all just amazing. Period. "Goodbye July" is my least favorite off the EP, but it's still a very good song. Keeping in mind that my least favorite songs off of other CDs annoy me to the point of punching my answering machine, "Goodbye July" (rated a 4/5 in my library) doesn't lessen the value of the album at all. I'm a little sad that there are only 5 tracks, but those tracks are amazing, so it really makes up for it. Plus, it's really just a taste of what The War has for us in the future. The best way I can describe this CD is the most highly concentrated package of good songs out there.

When this album first came out, I was a little disturbed. I thought Switchfoot had taken a turn for the worst.....or at least the weirder. I mean Jon is crying on the cover for heaven's sake! But it's grown on me, and become yet another wonderful link in the Switchfoot saga.

The CD starts out with its title track "Oh! Gravity.". While I'll admit the lyrics don't always make sense, ("Oh, Gravity, why can't we seem to keep it together"???) it's still a wonderful song, very catchy. My favorite, and IMHO the BEST song off this album, if not all of Switchfoot is "Awakening". I call it the "We are one tonight" of "Oh! Gravity." It has such a powerful message and sound. I have to admit, they RUINED it with the music video, but still, it's the best song, no doubt.

"American Dream", "In this life", "Burn out bright", and "4:12" are all terrific songs with differing sounds, but still a ton of the Switchfoot sound that we all love. "Faust, Midas, and Myself" stands alone as probably the most convicting, if you will, song off the CD, repeating the line "We've one life left to lead." "Amateur Lovers" just annoys me to no end, "Circles" is better, but still irritating. "Yesterdays" and "Let your love be strong" are the slow tracks of the album. "Yesterdays" is a wonderfully written, and almost mournful, but still fun to listen to. "Let your love be strong" is almost completely Jon, and is more like Switchfoot's earlier works, such as "Only Hope" or "Amy's Song".

Overall, it's a wonderful album. "Beautiful Letdown" might have been a tad better, but this one's still worth a listen, and a buy. I give it a 8/10.

~Dok

When walking into the theater, you can't but expect this movie to be corny. And it is. The mere fact that the Prince decides to marry Giselle after just learning her name provides proof enough. It was strange to view transitions between animation and reality, but it did it well. The prince was quite a character himself, and added alot to the movie. The squirrel, named "Pip", is a sidekick with a very annoying accent (which fortunately leaves when he travels to the real world ;]) but really doesn't add as much comedy as you might think a talking chipmunk might add.

Anyway, Patrick Dempsey does a wonderful job playing Robert, as does Amy Adams to Giselle. Me being a guy, there was quite a bit too much singing going on, but it still retained its comical theme. The best part of the movie, IMHO, would be after a song when a pigeon leans over and eats a cockroach. The Jamaican band following them around is also quite funny, and the fact that everyone, including the construction workers, joined in and danced was a very funny sight.

It was a pleasant surprise also to find that Nancy, Robert's girlfriend, was not evil, as first portrayed, and also got a happily ever after. It's also funny how Nathaniel -played wonderfully by Timothy Spall- picks up on all of the nuances of the real world, including selling candied apples, pizza, etc, when the prince and Giselle are clueless to everything. The bike scene that others thought was hilarious, I found to be annoying at best, probably because of stupid Disney 411. (CURSE YOU, SURFERS!) I did like, however, the scene with the bus, and probably my favorite line from the movie was "Nobody stabs my bus!"
The CGI for Pip is ok, but for the dragon is quite laughable. The queen made more lame jokes in the last 10 minutes of the film that anyone else made the entire movie. The ending is a corny, fairy tale ending, to be expected.

All in all, it's still a wonderful movie....for kids and hopeless romantics. You'll be pleasantly surprised by the comedy in this film, and it still retains its family friendliness. I give it a good 4/10.

~Dok

Peretti and Dekker: what could be better?

This book jumps right into the action first chapter, and it does so without feeling rushed. It takes place at a very spooky house run by three different individuals. As if things weren't strange enough, a psycho named "White" or "Tin Man" crashes their party by sealing them in the house. With the ultimatum that either one must die, or all will die, White begins to work on their minds. The four captives must first fight off against the three inbreds inhabiting the house.

After this, it almost seems like Dekker and Peretti start an entire book. After the four go into the basement, things go from being spooky, to downright evil. Things start to make less and less sense to the four, and more and more inviting to the reader.

The first night I started reading this, I literally could not put it down. I read the first 120 pages, until I almost fell asleep. Even then, I was a bit spooked out by Dekker and Peretti's amazing fear-striking characters.

This book is very well written; probably my favorite of Dekker's so far, at least in how things are expressed. It is a tad long, though; though I didn't grow bored, it is a high possibility that after door, upon door, upon door, that some readers might just say "Get on with it". Still, the first 2/3 of the book are worth a read.

The addition of the Susan character is probably about where it takes a dramatic change. It morphs into one of Dekker's classic novels: a man running around with a second character (Susan) who ends out to play a larger role that first believed. It somewhat begins to become trite, and predictable.

The very ending of the book absolutely ruined it for me. The sheer way that the final confrontation annoys me to no end. I had read the review above me when I was halfway through it, and thought "I don't know....how can they ruin the book at the end? It's going so well". But it's true. After hours (both in the book, and probably you reading it) of struggling, and fighting, and confusion, and evil, I was expecting some kind of amazing fight scene, or for them to discover something that changed everything, or SOMEthing. But really, it was my guess of how the book would end the entire time, and I was sad to read that I was correct in my guess. I love to be surprised. My mind is STILL whirring from the ending of "Thr3e"; I don't think that it ever crossed my mind. But the whole thing of "light" and "dark" was sooooooooo overdone. To be honest, for once, I would like to read a good novel by Dekker that wasn't so much on the large scale, the ultimate fight of good verses evil. It would suffice for 4 simple people to fight a maniac and a haunted house, and kept the whole thing of "good vs evil" and "light vs dark" out of it. Completely trite, if you asked me.

So as I said before, the first 2/3 or so had me HOOKED. I could almost play it as a movie in my mind. But unfortunately, the most important part of the book is its ending, where this book ultimately fails to deliver. If you could only read the first part and forget the last part, it would be a wonderful book, but then you would be left hanging. I give it a 5/10

~DOK

This game is just about the perfect example of a movie game: terrible plot, things that aren't in the movie, and everything wants to kill you. There are only a limited amount of inventions you can make. Of course Violet has unlimited fruits or candies, and Klaus's spring loaded device doesn't really use the spring loaded part. The bosses are all the same, very easy. There are so many things that defy the laws of physics, but who's really expecting all that from a movie game.

Overall, don't spend much money on this game. If you can get it for $5, get it and play it. But otherwise, it's definitely not worth it. I can beat it in an hour.

Ok, let's be honest: Halo 2 sucked. It was not just bad, it SUCKED. Bungie took the good name of "Halo" and ground it into the dirt with its sequel. The question that burned on everybody’s minds was "Could they turn around?" Could they pull out of this downward spiral of a video game series?

Halo 3 starts off slightly after the second. The storyline and plot, I am sad to say, still follows the Halo series way: get from here to there, kill this, survive, ect. But being the end to a trilogy, it did have many more plot twists than it's redundant predecessor 2. As for the graphics, they really are not all that great. That is, for the humans. The terrain is great, the Master Chief is (obviously, for the sake of fans) well animated, the covenant are ok, but the humans are just sad. It almost seems like they were trying something new with the lighting, and it didn't work out. This seriously discouraged me considering I was expecting something better than Gears of War.

Though very important, a games worth is not completely measured on plot and graphics. The game play is what truly matters. Another question that burnt in everyone's mind before its release was if it was going to be like Halo 1, or 2. The answer, surprisingly enough, is neither. This game is not like the realistic Halo 1, nor the unrealistic Halo 2, but settles nicely in between.
The main flaw of Halo 1 would be the lack of variety in weapons. Where Halo 2 failed, Halo 3 succeeds. It brings 8 new weapons, two new types of grenades, a few new vehicles, and an entirely new category of tools entitled "equipment". It also gives new features such as ripping turrets off their stands, and the “death-to-vehicles” missile pod. Overall, this game has new stuff bustin' outta every hole; but somehow, it still retains its Halo-ness.
The new maps are amazing well detailed and designed. The lack of classic maps is somewhat disappointing though. A plus in the map department of this game would be the new level editor, called “Forge Mode”. “Forge” basically means “takes ten times longer that it should”. In Forge mode, you gain the ability to turn into a monitor, like Guilty Spark, and fly around and poof things up. The bad news, that’s the only way to make a map. If you want everything cleared off a map, you must fly around, deleting everything –weapons, vehicles, spawn points, EVERYTHING- then you can start making your map. In addition, it’s a waste of time to rotate something to the way you want it, and gently put it in place. So Forge Mode is quite an annoying way to edit levels, but it’s not a major set back for this game; and I always do love a game of “Spartan Laser vs Guilty Spark”. ;)

Xbox live is much improved, with new features like vetoing the map, recent players list in the 360 dashboard, and lack of extreme connection’s host. Not exactly a downside, but a major retarded part of Live would be the ridiculous names that Bungie gives game types, such as “Eliminatio”. (Nope, not “Elimination”, there’s no “n” there.) In this game setting nobody gets eliminated. Period. Dur, Bungie. Just dur. On the opposite side, they did add the new “Infection” game setting.

Another nice thing about it would be the customization of armor. You can earn, and choose from several types, mix and match, and make a unique looking character. It's a nice change from the same ol' MC everyday. Same goes with the Elites.

When compared to Halo 2, this game looks almost like the best game of all time. But when compared to other shooters, it’s good, but not that great. Still, I highly recommend it as on of the best games out there for the 360.

Jon Foreman has always had a gift when it comes to singing soft songs as apart of Switchfoot, but how does he do when he's on his own?

"The Cure for Pain" starts off wonderfully for the two disc set. Good rhythm, vocals and lyrics; a very nice song. The same goes for "Learning how to die" beginning Winter. Unfortunately, that's about it. For the twelve tracks available between the two cds, less than half are what you'd expect from the leader of Switchfoot.
"Southbound Train" has a catchy rhythm, but is just a little too country for me. "Equally skilled" has a wonderful chorus, but the lack of lyrical creativity is very evident.
"How miserable I am
I feel like a fruit-picker
Who arrived here
After the harvest
There's nothing here at all
Nothing at all here
That could placate my hunger
The godly people are all gone
There's not one honest soul left alive
Here on the planet
We're all murderers and thieves
Setting traps here
For even our brothers"
Beautiful lyrics indeed, but the lack of rhyming and general coordination just make it sound almost improvised. He sounds at times like he's trying to squeeze syllables into a line.

To be honest, I wish he would have done things more like "Only Hope," or even "Yesterdays", but then I suppose it would be Switchfoot, and not Jon Foreman. Still, I recommend this CD if you are a loyal Switchfoot fan, or if you've always thought that Jon sounded better soft.

We have all heard the happy bedtime stories with princesses and fairies and beautiful creatures great and small, but Shrek breaks the mold by showing how things would really be like.

The main character is Shrek, a rude and crude Ogre, who simply wants to live alone in peace, until he meets his soon to be friend, Donkey, a talking donkey. The two instantly become friends, at least in Donkey's eyes, and become inseparable. Then one night, Shrek discovers that hundreds of "fairy tale creatures" have moved into his swamp in order to escape the evil Lord Farquaad's decree against all magical beings. Shrek sets out to find Farquaad and get his swamp back, only to be sent on yet another journey to rescue one spunky Princess Fiona. But soon, Shrek begins to fall in love with the feisty princess. It's a love story completely in it's own league.

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Shrek is instantly a classic. The main character, Shrek, is a very gruff, mean looking character, but does have a soft spot, though he argues differently. Mike Meyers portrays this character Donkey, the supporting role, is the comic relief for the movie, and an excellent job at it. Eddi Murphy brings the entire movie to life with this character. Fiona is voiced by Cameron Diaz, who also does a fantastic job.

The plot is very original. It's nothing like any fairy tale you've heard before. The romance adds a nice twist, making you wonder if the good guy might actually get the girl in the end.

The dialog is very good; funny too. Unfortunately, there are far too many "ass" jokes with Donkey than I'd prefer there to be. Still, it's one of the funniest movies I can think of.

The music is fantastic, one of the best sountracks I own. Smashmouth does two numbers which are amazing. Very good.

The animation is good, period.


Overall, this movie is one of the best CGI movies out there right now. Instantly a classic. Highly recommended.

This movie was a fantastic addition to the trilogy. At first, I thought that the movie was too much about the CIA, and that kinda turned me away, but then it gained momentum and started in on Bourne at his best: kicking butt and taking names.

But there is a DEFINATE flaw in this movie, as expressed by Vix, is that the shaky camera. I've see worse, in Spiderman 3, but it was still TERRIBLE! Many of the fight scenes were actually dulled down because of it! For example, when he's fighting that one dude in Madrid. They are throwing some KILLER moves, and the dude totally does a side twist, but I could barely even tell because of the camera. I had to deduct it in logic, actually. "Ah, he was trapped, and there was a whirring sound, thus he must have done some type of flip." Another prime example would be in the car chase, and they attempt to film the rear view mirror. I couldn't make out what was behind him to save my life. It couldn't been anything from a cow to Agent Smith for all I know. Terrible. It was also extremely evident when it changed from shaky back to still. Like after the car chase and Bourne walks over to the "asset" sitting in the car. One minute it's shaky so hard, you are about to vomit, the next, it's completely still. Gahg.

Overall, it was still a tremendous movie. AMAZING plot, acting, action scenes (other than camera), and everything. If you are thinking of buying this movie, I would, especially with the other two.

Now I recently acquired the books for free, from a giveaway thing. So I read the first and enjoyed it, then I read the second and LOVED it. I simply loved the character of Dr. Levine, and the kids. I imagined parts in the book on the main screen, like when the raptor sniffs the rapper and slowly looks up, scowling. But did I see that? No. Did I even see Levine? No. Arby? No.

Don't get me wrong, it was an ok movie, but what happened? The book was awesome, and it didn't need to be changed. The saddest part is that they still grabbed characters and ideas from the book, but that's about it.

All in all, it is a decent movie. Good plot, good acting, good everything, just somewhat disappointing in my opinion.