As the beginning of September crept closer and closer, so did the September movies of 2006. The movies this year are looking for a better turnout than the previous September. Last year’s movies, such as Transporter, The Exorcism of Emily Rose, Flight Plan and Into the Blue were the hits of the month. However, with movies like Crank and The Wicker Man exploding on the big screen, it is hard to tell at this point which movies will become big hits this year. So many high-caliber movies are reaching the theaters — movies such as The Covenant, Gridiron Gang, and from the outlandish stunts of Johnny Knoxville and the Jackass crew comes Jackass 2, the sequel to 2000’s Jackass.

This reporter set out to see which movies UTM students would like to see this month. About 30 UTM students were asked which movie they would like to see this September: 11 said The Wicker Man, seven said Crank, five said Gridiron Gang, four said The Covenant and two said Jackass 2.

When asked about Crank and The Wicker Man, Cheri Cox, a psychology major from Fairview, said, “If you like action, boobs and guns, then Crank is for you, but if you like cults, rituals and hate men, then The Wicker Man is the movie for you.” When asked how well the movies did at the box office this weekend, Cox said that Crank and The Wicker Man both made even on income gross this weekend so far.

Some people can be harsh when describing a movie they have only seen once, and seeing The Wicker Man is no different; the Chicago Tribune described it as “A lousy thriller but a damn good accidental comedy” while Reel.com said it “has the subtlety of a sledgehammer.” Unfortunately, it looks like the critics did not like this movie. Maybe that is why it was given an F from Ebert and Roeper on moviestogo.com. On the other hand, Crank was given a B- from the same people who gave The Wicker Man an F. Crank was described as “...Speed with a heart” by Filmfocus.com while empireonline.com said it was “edgy and outrageous.” So find out for yourself just how good these movies are and take a trip to the theatre this weekend.