DVD Collectors Online

Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, a review by Danae Cassandra

Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs
Year of Release: 2009
Directed By: Phil Lord, Christopher Miller
Starring: Bill Hader, Anna Faris, James Caan, Andy Samberg, Bruce Cambell, Mr. T
Genre: Comedy, Animation

Overview:
When Flint Lockwood's (Bill Hader) latest contraption accidentally destroys the town square and rockets up into the clouds, he thinks his inventing career is over. Then, something amazing happens as delicious cheeseburgers start raining from the sky. His machine actually works! But when people greedily ask for more and more food, the machine starts to run amok, unleashing spaghetti tornadoes and giant meatballs that threaten the world! Now it's up to Flint, with the help of weather girl Sam Sparks (Anna Faris) and Steve, his talking monkey assistant, to find some way to shut down the machine before the world is covered in super-sized meatballs!

My Thoughts:
This was an entertaining and funny movie. The animation is great, it's bright, vividly colorful, and super sharp, absolutely perfect for the subject. The characters are interesting and quirky, even the minor ones have a little something to set them apart. Not only is it amusing and inventive, it also has quite a few good points to make - about over-consumption, waste, and how being smart is undervalued. It's also a good father/son film, and would likely look spectacular in 3D. Recommended for any fan of animation or anyone with kids. Lots and lots of fun.

Bechdel Test: Fail

Overall: 3/5

(From Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs on June 7th, 2014)

Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, a review by DJ Doena

The last time I watched such an awful movie in the theatre, was Beowulf. And even then I didn't have that many facepalms as this time.

Basically everything was abysmal: The script itself, the dialogues and sometimes even the special effects. What does it say about a movie when a TV production like Xena: Warrior Princess does a better job at portraying a giant speaking to a normal-sized person? Not once did they manage to get the line of sight right, the giants always spoke to the shoulder or someone (who wasn't there) behind the actual person.

The dialogues! "I go into Hades!" - "Do you know where it is?" - "Uh, you are right, I totally did not think about that!"
"Your father built this house for you." (non-dialogue: "Until an hour ago it was never planned for you to ever come here but the viewer certainly won't notice that...").
"The stench of your stepfather hid your own scent from the Gods."
*shudder*

And don't get me started about this entire training camp and the Capture-the-Flag game...

When they were in Vegas they ate some Lotus blossoms which had a narcotic affect on them - I believe that is the only thing that would get me through this movie a second time. That or loads of alcohol.

Even the end credits joke was predictable and incredibly lame.


The dubbing was equally bad but I honestly don't think it made the movie worse than it already is.

(From Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief on February 23rd, 2010)

Tom's Buffy and Angel Marathon, a review by Tom

19. New Moon Rising (2000-05-02)
Writer: Marti Noxon (Writer)
Director: James A. Contner
Cast: Sarah Michelle Gellar (Buffy Summers), Nicholas Brendon (Xander Harris), Alyson Hannigan (Willow Rosenberg), Seth Green (Oz), Anthony Stewart Head (Giles), Marc Blucas (Riley Finn), James Marsters (Spike), Amber Benson (Tara), Leonard Roberts (Forrest Gates), Bailey Chase (Graham Miller), Robert Patrick Benedict (Jape), Conor O'Farrell (Colonel McNamara), George Hertzberg (Adam), Emma Caulfield (Anya), Seth Green (Oz), James Michael Conner (Scientist #1), Mark Daneri (Scientist #2), Doron Keenan (Commando #2)

Nice to see Oz again. And I am glad that we got the chance to see Willow choosing between Oz and Tara. Though I am glad about the choice that she made, it also means that it was the last time that we got to see Oz (okay Seth Green probably wouldn't have come back often anyway, as he is a very busy man).

Rating:

(From Tom's Buffy and Angel Marathon on September 12th, 2009)