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The Fantastic Four , a review by Tom

The Fantastic Four (2005/United States) IMDb | Wikipedia Constantin Film, Highlight Communications (Germany) Director: Tim Story Writing: Mark Frost (Writer), Michael France (Writer), Stan Lee (Original Material By), Jack Kirby (Original Material By) Length: 101 min. Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 2.35 Audio: German: Dolby Digital 5.1, German: DTS 5.1, English: Dolby Digital 5.1, Commentary: Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo Subtitles: German

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Stars:
Ioan Gruffudd as Reed Richards
Jessica Alba as Sue Storm
Chris Evans as Johnny Storm
Michael Chiklis as Ben Grimm
Julian McMahon as Victor Von Doom

Plot:Extras:

• 6-seitiges Booklet
• Bonus Trailers
• Commentary
• Deleted Scenes
• Featurettes
• Music Videos
• Production Notes
• Scene Access
• Trailers

When I first saw it, I didn't expect to really like it, because of what I knew about Fantastic Four I thought it was a too ridiculous premise for a live-action superhero movie. But I was pleasantly surprised. I think it's better than most reviews make it out to be. I like all the performance of the characters, except for Mr. Fantastic himself. I never really liked him. I think he is the weak link in this movie.

Rating:

(From Tom's Random Reviews on August 8th, 2011)

20 Million Miles To Earth, a review by Rogmeister

20 Million Miles To Earth (1957)  B&W
Special Effects: Ray Harryhausen
Director: Nathan Juran
Cast: William Hopper, Joan Taylor

A spaceship returns from a trip to Venus and lands in the sea just off the coast of Sicily.  Only one lone U.S. astronaut (William Hopper) survives.  A young Italian boy discovers a container that contains a lifeform the ship has brought from Venus, setting in motion events that will result in the ever-growing Venusian beast going on a rampage in Rome.

I think this movie proves that kids in monster movies are evil...evil!  He finds the container and what does the dope do right away?  You betcha, he opens it!  Luckily, unlike many monster movies, the kid isn't there till the end...once they leave Sicily for Rome, we don't see him again.  This is a first-rate sci-fi flick from the 1950s, aided by first rate special effects by the king of stop-motion effects, Ray Harryhausen.  I got this in a set of 5 of his films...it's since been released in a 50th Anniverary Editiion...that includes a colorized version of that film.  We certainly don't need that.  This just has the original black & white version and the print looks great.  If you like good science fiction films from this era, you know you want this one.   

(From DCO fourth Alphabet Marathon - discussion/review/banter thread on July 12th, 2010)

Tom's TV Pilots marathon, a review by Tom

Veronica Mars: Season One (2004/United States) IMDb | Wikipedia Warner Home Video (Germany) Length: 883 min. Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.78 Audio: English: Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround, French: Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround, German: Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround, Hungarian: Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround, Italian: Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround, Spanish: Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround Subtitles: Danish, English, French, German, Finnish, Italian, Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch, Swedish, Hungarian

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Plot:
A little bit Buffy. A little bit Bogart. A dash of Nancy Drew. Veronica Mars takes the best and brainiest of the American culture of crimesolving and adds a unique vision of its own - brooding, edgy, darkly funny and just plain dark - to become one of the hottest, sleekest series of the new century.

Veronica (Kristen Bell) is an outcast in a trendy SoCal beach town. Once she ran with Neptune High's in crowd. But she's on the outside after her best friend is murdered and her sheriff father accuses the wrong man as the perp: the dead girl's billionaire father. Dad loses his job, Veronica loses her popularity and both struggle to build a detective agency and new lives. E-mail scams, cults, car thefts - you name it, Veronica investigates it. But her obsession is the murder of her friend. And she'll take any risk to solve it.



Veronica Mars
Season 1.01 Pilot
Writer: Rob Thomas (Writer)
Director: Mark Piznarski
Cast: Kristen Bell (Veronica Mars), Percy Daggs III (Wallace Fennel), Teddy Dunn (Duncan Kane), Jason Dohring (Logan Echolls), Francis Capra (Eli "Weevil" Navarro), Enrico Colantoni (Keith Mars), Michael Muhney (Sheriff Don Lamb), Corinne Bohrer (Lianne Mars), Amanda Seyfried (Lilly Kane), Lisa Thornhill (Celeste Kane), Kyle Secor (Jake Kane), Daran Norris (Cliff McCormack), Brandon Hillock (Deputy Sacks), Brad Bufanda (Felix), Patrick Wolff (Hector), Tom McCafferty (Fireman Bill), Duane Daniels (Vice Principal Clemmons), Kirk Fogg (District Attorney), Benito Paje (Phuong), Randy Seidman (Clown), Ruth Stehle (Mrs. White), Linda Castro (Teacher #1), Jonathan Chesner (Corny), Mark Styles (Boy at Keyboard), Zac Henry (Mouth), Elvin Lai (Favorite Band Sucks T-Shirt), Nicole Monica (Dance Team Advisor), David E. Taylor (Steve), Seraina Jacqueline (Inga), Amber Ojeda (Cat In The Hat Raver), Chris Wiley (Band Dork), Heather Brittany (Pep Squader), Joshua Levine (Pencil-necked Geek), Annie Hinton (Judge), Jon Epstein (Stunt Coordinator), Scott Barry (Tony), Christian Clemenson (Abel Koontz)

A good introduction to an uneven series. The first season was very good. The second not so much. The opinion on the third and final season is split, but I enjoyed it more than season two.
The main character always reminds me of Chloe from Smallville.

Rating:

(From Tom's TV Pilots marathon on November 14th, 2012)