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Journey to the Center of the Earth, a review by GSyren

Title	Journey to the Centre of the Earth (9-345228-001424)
Director	Henry Levin
Actors	Pat Boone, James Mason, Arlene Dahl, Diane Baker, Thayer David
Produced	1959 in United States
Runtime	129 minutes
Audio	English DTS-HD Master Audio 4.0, Music Only DTS-HD Master Audio 2-Channel Stereo
Subtitles	None
Overview	The accent is on fun and fantasy in this film version of Jules Verne's classic thriller that stars James Mason, Pat Boone, and Arlene Dahl. With spectacular visuals as a backdrop, the story centres on an expedition led by Professor Lindenbrook (Mason) down into the earth's dark, threat-laden core. Members of the group include the professor's star student, Alec (Boone), and the widow (Dahl) of a colleague. Along the way lurk dangers such as kidnapping, death, sabotage by a rival explorer, and attacks by giant prehistoric reptiles. But they also encounter such magnificent wonders as a glistening cavern of quartz crystals, luminescent algae, a forest of giant mushrooms, and the lost city of Atlantis. Remaining faithful to Verne's story, this is a sweeping adventure that offers enough thrills and entertainment to satisfy every explorer in the family.
My thoughts	Journey to the Center of the Earth Raiders of the Lost Ark. Using live lizards to represent giant monsters is usually a groan-inducing trick, but it actually works better than expected here. There are a couple of really accomplished split screen scenes. The acting is fairly good for the most part. It's Peter Ronson's only acting credit. It's clear that he is not an actor, but he's acceptable as Hans, their Icelandic guide. Pat Boone isn't much of an actor, either, and his singing feels like a filler, but otherwise he's not too bad. Professor Lindenbrook is hardly James Mason's most taxing role, but it's always good to see him. Apparently he didn't much like Arlene Dahl, but that works fine since that pretty well mirrors what his character feels. If I had seen this for the first time today I would probably not rate it more than max 4, if that. But with the good memories I have, and the fact that re-watching it hasn't diminished them, I rate it a very strong 4.5.
My rating

(From Reviews and ramblings by Gunnar on May 26th, 2014)

9, a review by addicted2dvd

9 (2009/United States) IMDb |Wikipedia |Trailer | Universal Studios Home Entertainment Director: Shane Acker Writing: Pamela Pettler (Screenwriter), Shane Acker (Story By) Length: 79 min. Rating: Rated PG-13 : Violence and Scary Images Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85:1 Audio: English: Dolby Digital: 5.1, French: Dolby Digital: 5.1, Spanish: Dolby Digital: 5.1, Commentary: Dolby Digital: 2-Channel Stereo Subtitles: English, French, Spanish

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Stars:
Christopher Plummer as #1
Martin Landau as #2
John C. Reilly as #5
Crispin Glover as #6
Jennifer Connelly as #7
Fred Tatasciore as #8

Plot:Extras:

• Scene Access
• Audio Commentary
• Bonus Trailers
• Deleted Scenes
• Featurettes
• 9 - The Original Short with Optional Commentary

Decided to watch this one with my daughter today. We both been wanting to check it out for some time now. This one I enjoyed quite a bit. The graphics on this animated movie was fantastic... and I enjoyed the storyline as well. Definitely one I feel comfortable recommending. Brittany on the other hand wasn't too impressed with this one.



(From Weekend Movie Marathon: Unwatched DVDs on June 30th, 2013)

Smallville Marathon #2, a review by DJ Doena

Synopsis: After the football player Sean has fallen into the lake he comes out of it barely alive. But something has happened, he can't keep warm and he needs new sources of heat all the time. The best source seems to be the body heat of a human and Chloe has just given him her phone number. In the meantime Clark is driving to a concert - together with Lana, but "just as friends". But then he learns of the dange Chloe is in and immediately returns to Smallville.

My Opinion:Friends).
I also liked the remark when Chloe asked Clark if he comes from an ice planet - considering the movie and the place of his Fortress of Solitude that wasn't far from the truth.

Synopsis: Clark does community work in a retirement home where he reads stories to an old, blind lady who claims to be able to foretell the future. But then one of the elders "gets lost" and instead a young man appears in Smallville and he has a score to settle.

My Opinion: I wonder if this old woman Cassandra (what an unimaginative name for a person that can see the future) has seen Clark as himself or as Superman when she looked into other people's future. I also "liked" how they presented Lex's future, they way that sunflower field turned into a wasteland covered with bones. It seemed fitting for the character.
What I didn't understand was Harry's motive to kill the descendants. He said he wanted to destroy the future of that teacher und thus he killed his son. He wanted to hurt the teacher, otherwise he would have killed him, too. So why now kill the children of the original jury when they jury members themselves are already dead and can't feel any pain anymore? He simply could have left Smallville and started a new life. Mabye I don't understand because I am not a homicidal lunatic.

Synopsis: Jodi is obsessed with diets because she is an overweight teenager. But then she finds the perfect shake: vegetables grown in meteor soil. She slims down to a perfect body, but this diet has side-effects: she needs huge portions of fat to survive. And she gets it from wherever she can.

My Opinion: People who are unhappy the way they look are very exhausting, it's no fun to be around them. But one shouldn't define oneself by the looks. But then again I was never a female teenager.
Once again Clark can't be with Lana because he has to save a friend and I can understand that she's disappointed. She said a funny thing in a previous episode, that Whitney would always be there when she would need him. Clark will also always be there when she needs him, just not in the way she meant it or expects it.

Synopsis: A man claims to have worked on "Level 3" in the Smallville fertilizer plant and he got somehow sick there. Now he demands answers and takes hostages at the plant. Among them: A group of Highschool students. Among them: Lana, Chloe, Pete and Clark. The problem is: This plant has no "Level 3" - at least not official.

My Opinion: This was the first hint, that LuthorCorp conducts research on the meteor rocks and that it isn't entirely legal. And it also showed that Lex isn't involved in his father's plans - at least until now. I also liked the closing scene where Lionel and Lex hugged for the cameras while the Kents hugged as a family. One could see that Lex envied them.

(From Smallville Marathon #2 on May 22nd, 2008)