DVD Collectors Online

Cats & Dogs, a review by Tom

Title: Cats & Dogs
Year: 2001
Director: Lawrence Guterman
Rating: PG
Length: 84 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85
Audio: English: Dolby Digital 5.1, Commentary: Dolby Digital Stereo
Subtitles: English

Stars:
Jeff Goldblum
Elizabeth Perkins
Alexander Pollock
Miriam Margolyes
Myron Natwick

Plot:
They're cunning. They're stealthy. They're waging a top-secret ultra-high-tech struggle for global domination right under our noses. They're...Cats & Dogs!

Witness this epic 'tail' of what happens when an eccentric professor (Jeff Goldblum) makes a discovery that could tip the age-old balance of pet power. Now, an inexperienced young beagle pup named Lou (voiced by Tobey Maguire) is about to begin the ultimate mission im-paws-ible: to save humanity from a total cat-tastrophe! Featuring the voices of Alec Baldwin, Susan Sarandon, Jon Lovitz, Charlton Heston and Sean Hayes.

Awards:

ASCAP Awards	2002	Won	Top Box Office Films	John Debney
Golden Raspberry Awards	2001	Won	Worst Supporting Actor	Charlton Heston
Young Artist Awards	2002	Nominated
Young Artist Awards	2002	Nominated		Alexander Pollock

Extras:
Commentary
DVD-ROM Content
Featurettes
Interactive Game
Scene Access
Storyboard Comparisons
Trailers

Purely some mindless fun. The battle between cats and dogs is secretly fought with high-tech weaponry. It's a nice idea to make the usual bad guys the good guys in this movie (the dogs).

Rating:

(From DCO third annual November Alphabet Marathon - discussion/review/banter thread on November 1st, 2009)

Knowing, a review by Dragonfire

I went to see Knowing last month.  It was entertaining overall, but not exactly what I was expecting.

in 1959, a time capsule is buried to mark the opening of a new elementary school.  Inside the capsule are drawings from the students.  After the ceremony to bury the capsule, one of the students disappears.

Fifty years later, the capsule is going to be dug up.  Caleb is a student at the elementary school.  He is being raised by his father John, a professor at MIT who is still grieving the death of his wife. When the capsule is dug up, the students at the school each get an envelope that is to have one of the drawings in it.  The one Caleb gets is just a paper full of numbers.  John ends up noticing something by chance and develops a theory about what the numbers mean.  That sets him off on a mission, which leads him to meeting Diana, a woman connected to what is going on, and her young daughter Abby.

Some time is taken to set up the time capsule situation in the past before focusing on things going on in the present with Caleb and John.  Knowing works as a decent thriller for the most part, though it could have been better.  There are some suspenseful moments that work well.  The page full of numbers provides a little bit of mystery since it isn't clear what they mean at first. That ends up being figured out fairly early, though there are still things to figure out by the end of the movie.  The mystery surrounding the numbers is eliminated for people who have seen the trailers though since they clearly give the explanation.  I hate when that happens.  Ultimately, there aren't that many surprises in the movie and certain things are rather predictable, which was a bit disappointing.  I didn't like the ending that much, though I suppose it was logical with what was going on.  Something just seemed wrong about it to me.  There are unusual things going on throughout the movie which add some interesting moments.  The unusual elements of the movie aren't going to appeal to a lot of people though.  One or two subplots were introduced and then they didn't really go anywhere.  None of the characters were overly interesting.  The actors were fine, though nothing that special.  Nicolas Cage is fine.  His fans may find something to like about the movie.

I was entertained by Knowing, but it could have been better. 

 

I did get a review posted on Epinions.

Knowing



(From Knowing on May 5th, 2009)

"Stargate SG-1" Marathon, a review by DJ Doena

Synopsis: The ambassadors of China, the United Kingdom and France have been invited to the Pentagon. There they learn about the Stargate program. But Senator Kinsey is also present and he wants to persuade the ambassadors to give the NID control over the Stargate program.

My Opinion: Now alle the permanent members of the UN Security Council know about the Stargate. Interesting about this episode was that no member of SG-1 (past or present) made a live appearance. Everything was presented as flashbacks. If you wanted to see a SG team, you'd have to imagine General Hammond, Major Davis, Colonel Checkov and Thor as a SG team.
But the best scene was when Thor corrects Senator Kinsey and insists that he isn't just a Commander but the Supreme Commander of the Asgard fleet.
But you haven't missed anything if you didn't watch it.

Synopsis: SG-1 discovers a crashed spaceship and its crew, but is soon attacked by other aliens. Sam wants to repair the ship to learn more about it but the crew isn't who they claim to be.

My Opinion: The episode wasn't bad, especially because SG-1 has learned from past experiences not to judge too quickly, who the "good guys" and who the "bad guys" are.
But what I found more interesting was to read the name Dion Johnstone once again. Dion was the black "Jaffa" in Rules of Engagement. After that he played the Unas Chaka, the Goa'uld Na'onak (Apophis's alter ego on the hell moon, probably to avoid the mentioning of Peter Williams's name in the opening sequence and thus spoiling the punch line), Lt. Tyler in The Fifth Man and just recently in Metamorphosis. In this episode he played the Captain of the Sebrus. It reminds me a bit of Wayne Alexander who played Sebastian (Jack the Ripper) and Lorien as well as a Narn, a Drazi and a Drakh in Babylon 5. However, both actors wore masks in most of their roles thus avoiding to challenge the suspension of disbelief.

Synopsis: Teal'c has weird dreams, although he usually doesn't dream at all. He dreams that he is a firefighter. But he has to leave soon for an important mission but these dreams prevent him from having a proper Kel'no'reem. The firefighter with the nickname "T" has weird dreams. He dreams that he belongs to a team that visits other planets. But he has to undergo an important surgery soon, he gives one of his kidneys to his stepfather Brae.

My Opinion: Great episode. To see all the guys (and gal) as firefighters was interesting. Sometimes it reminded me of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's Far Beyond the Stars. But as I said, I like out-of-character episodes. This wasn't even a real out-of-character episode because all people behaved as they would normally do - except that they were firefighters.

Synopsis: During a training flight with the Prometheus the hyperlight drive had to be jettisoned in the orbit of a planet where it explodes. Unfortunately the planet has no Stargate and without the hyperlight drive the travel would take ages.

My Opinion: An picture that is shown on Stargate (both in SG-1 or Atlantis) is that alien cultures can be as paranoid as we are. And that this paranoia can lead to actions that make more damage than they prevent. Unfortunately politicians on our planet don't seem to watch Sci-Fi shows. Instead they are creating more security laws and are thereby taking our freedom. Fortunately there was a politican that wasn't short-sighted (that's the reason why they call it "fiction").

(From "Stargate SG-1" Marathon on April 13th, 2008)