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Scooby-Doo, a review by addicted2dvd

Scooby-Doo (2002/United States) Warner Home Video Director: Raja Gosnell Writing: James Gunn (Screenwriter), Craig Titley (Writer), James Gunn (Writer), Joseph Barbera (Original Characters By), William Hanna (Original Characters By) Length: 86 min. Rating: Rated PG : Some Rude Humor, Language and Some Scary Action Video: Full Frame 1.33:1 Audio: English: Dolby Digital: 5.1, Spanish: Dolby Digital: 5.1, Commentary: Dolby Digital: 2-Channel Stereo, Commentary: Dolby Digital: 2-Channel Stereo Subtitles: English, French, Spanish

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Stars:
Freddie Prinze, Jr. as Fred
Sarah Michelle Gellar as Daphne
Matthew Lillard as Shaggy
Linda Cardellini as Velma
Rowan Atkinson as Mondavarious
Isla Fisher as Mary Jane

Plot:
Zoinks! Two years after a clash of egos forced Mystery Inc. to close its doors, Scooby-Doo and his clever crime-solving cohorts Fred (FREDDIE PRONZE JR.), Daphne (SARAH MICHELLE GELLAR), Shaggy (MATTHEW LILLARD) and Thelma (LINDA CARDELLINI) are individually summoned to Spooky Island to investigate a series of paranormal incidents at the ultra-hip Spring Break hot spot.

Concerned that his way cool theme park might truly be haunted, Spooky Island owner Emile Mondavarious (ROWAN ATKINSON) tries to reunite those notoriously meddling detectives to solve the mystery before his supernatural secret scares away the college crowds.

Scooby and the gang still have to overcome their personal deffierences and forget everything thay think they know about fake ghouls and phony creatures to crack the case, save themselves and possibly...the world. RUH-ROH!

Extras:

• Scene Access
• Deleted Scenes
• Featurettes
• Production Notes
• Interactive Games
• Music Videos
• DVD-ROM Content
• Closed Captioned

I haven't watched this movie since it was originally released on DVD. That was back in late 2002. I can't believe it is going on 10 years already. I use to watch the Scooby Doo cartoons all the time when I was a kid. I think they did a fine job bringing it to live action. While it is live action, it didn't loose the cartoon feel. I think they did a good job casting the characters.  I especially liked Sarah Michelle Geller as Daphne. Sure, the movie is geared more for the kids... but I think any adult that watched Scooby and the gang during their childhood will enjoy it too. I know I enjoyed it. It is something that brought me back to my childhood, but at the same time something that is modern.

This DVD was in the package I got yesterday. And was glad to be able to watch it again. Unfortunately it is the full screen edition. But I hope to upgrade to the widescreen eventually.




(From What Movies I Been Watching on January 29th, 2012)

It Waits, a review by Boomstick98

It Waits (2005)   

Plot: A lone female park ranger tries to track down a vicious creature killing various people and terrorizing her at a remote national park.

My O: I went in with low expectation for this film. It centers around a female park ranger (actress in now way fits the part) being terrorized by a monster in the woods. The director spends most of the movie trying to build suspense by just giving small quick glimpses of the monster. This works okay for the most part, and it was probably for the best with the low budget the movie had. The practical effects of the monster suit weren't that bad, but when the CGI scenes come in it doesn't even look like the same creature (think Sci Fi channel).  It just had the feeling of a cheesy monster movie that was taking itself way too seriously.

(From Boomstick's 2009 Horror Marathon on October 9th, 2009)

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles: The Complete Second Season marathon, a review by goodguy

2x10 Strange Things Happen at the One Two Point
Synopsis: The three-dot symbol leads Sarah to a company with a surprising connection to Andy Goode's Turk. Riley becomes a liability to John.
My Rating:

This is the first time I'm ahead. Yay me!!

As usual I will talk about the events in the episode fairly open and without spoiler tags. Achim, if you haven't seen the episode yet, you may want to postpone reading this.

I really wish I could give another 5-star rating here, because there were so many great things in this episode. The Riley story was terrific. The Ellison story intriguing. There were big reveals. It was all wonderfully done. But. The main story about Sarah and Dakara systems had such a weak run-of-the-mill, done-by-the-numbers plot; it unfortunately drags the whole thing down a notch.

I initially thought the three-dot thingie was a distraction, or even a meta joke, like, solve the problem, connect the dots. But as everyone kept insisting it was just that, I became less sure. BTW, nice that John continues to be supportive towards Sarah, even if he has his doubts.

So Sarah and Cameron play dress up as potential investors, there are business meetings and business dinners and small talks and a chip which is a fake chip and the Connors get conned and... yawn. Still, there are a few nice bits in-between, such as Cameron's sudden remark about the hair, the colors of Sarah and Cameron's outfit matching the black and white of the Go pieces, or Cameron's gun posing during the raid on the impostors (doing nothing while Sarah and Derek beat up the guys).

That the plot is so boring is even more of a shame, because Lena Hadey is great showing both Sarah's longing for a past were everything was normal and her growing obsession with the three dots. When she almost loses it and beats the hell out of Akagi, it is a very intense scene. Later on, she looks in the mirror and discovers three small splashes of blood on her face. Is she going crazy? As she smashes the mirror in frustration, the camera pans down to the shards in the sink, reflecting two images of Sarah. Wonderful shot.

Derek finally discovers that Jesse has an agenda of her own. What she tells about Future John might be exaggerated, but we know from S1 that he was heavily shielded. Derek decides to trust her, but we know that she still keeps secrets. How ironic that later it is Derek who tells Sarah she got played.

And Riley. Leven Rambin took the character to a whole new level in this episode. The scene as John visits her and she talks about the bear/fish poster completely blew me away. Then, in another terrific scene, we find out she is connected to Jesse, who once more becomes creepy as hell in the way she manipulates Riley. And as Riley returns to her foster home, she finally has her breakdown too and channels T2-Sarah in her you're-all-gonna-die outburst. All this remains beyond powerful, even on rewatching and without being floored by the surprises.

Meanwhile, Ellison finds out that Weaver's AI accidentally caused the death of Dr. Sherman during a blackout. Weaver encourages him to investigate. And while the writers managed to make a con plot boring, they also manage to make Ellison "interrogating" the AI a very intriguing scene. As he comes to the conclusion that the AI needs to be taught ethics, Weaver again takes him up on it. It is still hard to say what Weaver's agenda is, but her elevator talk with Ellison surely provided some interesting clues. But what he sees when both go to the AI lab again will probably give him another nightmare.


(From Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles: The Complete Second Season marathon on February 9th, 2010)