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How to Train Your Dragon , a review by Tom

How to Train Your Dragon (2010/United States) IMDb | Wikipedia DreamWorks Animation Home Entertainment, Paramount Home Entertainment (Germany) Director: Chris Sanders, Dean Deblois Writing: Will Davies (Screenwriter), Dean Deblois (Screenwriter), Chris Sanders (Screenwriter), Cressida Cowell (Original Material By) Length: 98 min. Video: Widescreen 2.35 Audio: English: Dolby TrueHD 5.1, German: Dolby Digital 5.1, Estonian: Dolby Digital 5.1, Hebrew: Dolby Digital 5.1, Latvian: Dolby Digital 5.1, Lithuanian: Dolby Digital 5.1, Romanian: Dolby Digital 5.1, Russian: Dolby Digital 5.1, Other: Dolby Digital 5.1, Commentary: Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo Subtitles: Commentary, English, Estonian, German, Hebrew, Latvian, Lithuanian, Other, Romanian, Russian, Trivia

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Stars:
Jay Baruchel as Hiccup (voice)
Gerard Butler as Stoick (voice)
Craig Ferguson as Gobber (voice)
America Ferrera as Astrid (voice)
Jonah Hill as Snotlout (voice)

Plot:

Awards:
Nominated:

Academy Award (2010)		Best Animated Feature (Chris Sanders, Dean DeBlois)
Academy Award (2010)		Best Original Score (John Powell)
Golden Globe (2010)		Best Animated Feature Film

Extras:

• Commentary
• Featurettes
• Picture-in-picture
• Scene Access
• Wendecover

After all the hype about this movie, I was curious about this one. It had great animation. Also it was fun to watch. But to be honest, I expected a more surprising story. It was without any surprises. Also I didn't really like the voice-acting of the main character. It didn't really fit.

Rating:

(From Tom's Random Reviews on June 19th, 2011)

Big Jake, a review by Antares

Big Jake (1971) 72/100 - I must have had this confused with another Wayne film, because I rated it lower many years ago. This was a pretty decent popcorn western. One thing I have to say about John Wayne, he definitely got better as he aged when it came to his acting abilities. There's more of a redoubtable and stoic nature to him in the latter era films he made, as opposed to the brash, cocksure arrogance he displaced in his youth. But like in Rio Lobo from the previous year, his co-stars, with the exception of Bruce Cabot and Richard Boone, kind of let him down. Although she's only in the beginning of the film, Maureen O'Hara, who I've always loved, is the complete opposite of what I praised Wayne for a few sentences earlier. I don't know what happened to her, but she really became a subpar performer sometime in the early sixties and never really found it again. Maybe she needed a strong director to bring out the best in her, but her delivery of lines seems so empty, that I'm kind of glad she doesn't reappear. Patrick Wayne and Christopher Mitchum prove that screen presence and talent aren't genetically encoded in offspring. There are only a few moments in the film where I kind of cringed, like the staged fight scene and the last scene in particular. Now I can see why Maureen O'Hara's character threw him out, he has no loyalty. And one last thing, the music composed by Elmer Bernstein throughout the entire film, made me think I was watching the sequel to The Magnificent Seven, it sounded so similar. Shame on you Elmer, you could have put a bit more effort into it, instead of rehashing that score and collecting your fee.

Teal = Masterpiece
Dark Green = Classic or someday will be
Lime Green = A good, entertaining film
Orange = Average
Red = Cinemuck
Brown = The color of crap, which this film is

(From Antares' Short Summations on February 25th, 2015)

Smallville Marathon #2, a review by DJ Doena

Synopsis: Lois Lane comes to Smallville to find out who killed her cousin but then she finds a guy in a field who doesn't know who he his. Jonathan Kent lies in a hospital bed and is brain-dead. Lana is still in Paris and has a new boyfriend. Lionel is still in jail, waiting for his trial. And Lex - who has survived the attempt to poison him - travels around the world to find objects that are connected to the symbols in the Kawatche cave.

My Opinion: Sorry, but that went a bit too fast. Within half an hour Kal-El was Clark again. I am sure that if the writers really wanted to, this could have been an arc that lasted at least 4 episodes, even more. Just because it was a cliffhanger doesn't mean it has to be resolved in the very first episode of the new season.
But I like the arrival of Lois, she is refreshingly blunt. And I liked the appearance of Margot Kidder (Lois Lane in the Superman movies), especially her remark regarding Dr. Swann and a "former life". She's now the third person from the movies to appear in the series (Annette O'Toole [Lana Lang in Superman III, now Martha Kent] was obviously the first).

Synopsis: After they've found out that Chloe's grave is empty, Clark and Lois investigate her disappearance, but there are several obstacles: For one, Lois's father is a three-star General who doesn't want his daughter digging into that mystery. Secondly, he is in league with Lex. And thirdly, there's a T-1000 meteor freak who works for Lionel and wants to kill Chloe for real this time. And Lana has returned to Smallville.

My Opinion: That was a really obvious Terminator 2 rip-off, especially with the end. But I still liked it, the scenes in the Kent house were really funny. Lois's great advantage is, that she has no history whatsoever with Clark. For her, he's simply "Smallville".

Synopsis: Clark is now in his senior year at high school and he's trying out for the football team against the wishes of his father (again). The new assistant coach is none other than Lana's new boyfriend. It's a relationship they must keep hidden because he could get fired for it. But there's something else that has changed: A student nicknamed "Scabby Abby" is now a real beauty but when she kisses people they get delusional and land in the hospital. While Lois is stuck at Smallville High (she needs a few additional points to get accepted to the university) she helps Chloe and Clark to investigate.

My Opinion: The bitter irony of that episode is in my opinion, that Erica Durance (Lois) has had a "boob job" because someone convinced her that she would have better chances to get a job afterwards.
That aside it was a decent FotW episode.

Synopsis: The cheerleaders of Smallville High are using meteor rocks to create a love potion. When the football team drinks of it they all become aboulic slaves with the exception of Clark who gets ill from it. Chloe drinks from it, too, and soonafter a new cheerleading star is born.

My Opinion: This was a very funny episode, especially the parts where Chloe hits on Clark and where Clark had to pretend that we was under the love spell. I had a great time.

(From Smallville Marathon #2 on June 1st, 2008)