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Masters of the Universe, a review by Tom

Title: Masters of the Universe
Year: 1987
Director: Gary Goddard
Rating: PG
Length: 105 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85
Audio: English: Dolby Digital Surround, French: Dolby Digital Surround, Commentary: Dolby Digital Stereo
Subtitles: English, French, Spanish

Stars:
Dolph Lundgren
Frank Langella
Meg Foster
Billy Barty
Courteney Cox

Plot:
Planet Eternia and the Castle of Greyskull are under threat from the evil Skeletor, who wants to take over the planet. A group of Freedom Fighters led by the heroic He-Man are accidentally transported to Earth by a mysterious Cosmic Key which holds the power to make Skeletor all-powerful. Once on Earth, He-Man joins alliances with two teenagers as they attempt to find the key and return home.

Extras:
Character Profiles
Closed Captioned
Commentary
Production Notes
Scene Access
Trailers

The first time I saw this movie, I was disappointed, that there was no mention of Prince Adam. But this can be explained away with him already being He-Man at the start of the movie and no opportunity to change back.

There was a time, I enjoyed this movie more than I did now. Maybe it's because I recently watched the rebooted animated series again and saw what could have been.

I have not a major problem that most of the movie plays on earth. As a matter of fact, in the old Filmation cartoon Earth existed in the same universe. Prince Adam's mother was from there (though this fact has been done away in the reboot). It just could have been incorporated better. Too much focus was set on the Earth characters. And when Skeletor appeared on Earth with his army and fought He-Man, no soul was on the streets to see this. Strange.

Another sad fact is, that only very few characters have made the transition to the big screen. We have He-Man (I like this portrayal except for the bad accent), Skeletor (best transistion of all characters), Sorceress (a shadow of what she was in the cartoon), Man-At-Arms (okay I guess), Teela (could have been better), Beastmen (reduced to a man in costume who growls) and Evil-Lyn (liked her). The rest are new characters or simply some random stormtrooper type of cannon fodder.

Much of this movie reminds of Star Wars. The black stormtroopers, Skeletor made up like the Emperor (they both even are defeated in a similar way) and the music. Especially the theme and Skeletor's entry.

My biggest problem was Gwildor. This is a subsitute character for Orko, because the visual effects were not ready for him at the time. This comic relief character is just really out of place here. He only annoys. In the most ridiculous scenes are the ones with him. Like for example he refitted with no parts from Eternia available a car in five minutes to be more futuristic.

Also some lazy plot holes. Like this one: The whole aim of Skeletor was always to conquer/enter Castle Greyskull which he achieved here with the help of the cosmic key invented by Gwildor. When He-Man asked Gwildor, if they can use the cosmic key to get into Greyskull, he said no as Skeletor would know where they are when they use the key. So they took a tunnel from Gwildors house which lead directly into Greyskull. WTF!

I am really hoping, that a new movies will get done (which has been in development hell for a while with recent rumors that it will be out in 2011). I think it could be really great if done right. I wished they would hire some of the people behind the animation reboot as consultant though. They seem to know what the old fans expect.

Rating:

(From Tom's Random Reviews on June 11th, 2009)

Toy Story 2, a review by snowcat

Here we see Jessie, at this point Woody has been talking about how he has to get back to Andy, because Andy loves him. Upset by this Jessie walks away only to be followed by Woody who again, tells her how great Andy is. Jessie snaps back at him telling him she knows what its like but it will change.



Here we see Emily playing with Jessie happily, after going to a small park the two return in the car. Jessie is safely tucked in Emily seatbelt, Emily strokes her hand in a comforting way (maybe the same way you would comfort a tired child?) Jessie seems to go to sleep.



After Jessie falls under Emily's bed she looks out to see Emily is starting to grow up, she's into makeup and has her friend over. very different to the days she dressed as a cow girl.



What appears to be a few years later, Emily drops her makeup on the floor reaching under her bed she finds Jessie, she pulls her out and looks at her. Jessie looks happily back



At this point we see that Jessie thinks every thing will return to the way it was. She sits in Emily's bag in the car as they return to the same park from earlier.



(From Emma's Saddest Moments in Disney Marathon on January 25th, 2010)

Tom's Random Star Trek Reviews, a review by Tom

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
3.11 Past Tense, Part I
Writer: Robert Hewitt Wolfe (Screenwriter), Ira Steven Behr (Original Material By), Robert Hewitt Wolfe (Original Material By)
Director: Reza Badiyi
Cast: Avery Brooks (Commander Sisko), Rene Auberjonois (Odo), Siddig El Fadil (Doctor Bashir), Terry Farrell (Lieutenant Dax), Cirroc Lofton (Jake Sisko), Colm Meaney (Chief O'Brien), Armin Shimerman (Quark), Nana Visitor (Major Kira), Jim Metzler (Chris Brynner), Frank Military (B.C.), Dick Miller (Vin), Al Rodrigo (Bernardo), Tina Lifford (Lee), Bill Smitrovich (Webb), Henry Hayashi (Male Guest), Patty Holley (Female Guest), Richard Lee Jackson (Danny), Eric Stuart (Stairway Guard), John Lendale Bennett (Gabriel Bell)

In "present" time, there is a lot of techno-babble which gets ridiculous, just to explain how it could be, that Sisko, Dax and Bashir were transported back in time during beaming. And why the Defiant is not affected by the changes which happen because the past has been changed.
The scenes in the past are also not that exciting, but it's a premise which promises to be at least somewhat interesting.

Rating:

(From Tom's Random Star Trek Reviews on November 2nd, 2011)