Scooby-Doo Where Are You!: Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Werewolf (1970)

 

A really fun episode. 

In this episode, the gang goes on a camping trip. When they hear howling from the distance, they decide to investigate. There they find a monstrous werewolf and have another mystery on their hands. 

There is a lot to love about this episode. The earliest scenes do a great job of setting up a spooky sense of atmosphere. There early scenes really do draw you into this creepy setting and a sense of dread. Part of this is that we hear the werewolf well before we see him and part of it is the always wonderful background art and use of lighting. I honestly wish more episodes took their time before showing us the villain. The werewolf himself is a delightful villain. He has a delightful design that is in equal parts fun and spooky. As this episode goes on the tone turns nearly completely comedic. Luckily most of the gags here work quite well. There is some truly delightful cartoony slapstick with Shaggy and Scooby throughout, especially during the chase scene. Yet thanks again to great background art, the sense of atmosphere is still there in these more comedic scenes. 

My one problem with this episode is that there is no mystery as we don't even meet any suspects before the reveal. 

This is simply a delightful episode and a lot of fun.  

Movie Review: The Outrun

 

Michael's Movie Grade: A-

A powerful drama. 

There have been many movies over the years about alcoholism, but this film really stands out as something special. One of the main reasons this movie works so well is because at its heart this is a complex character study. Our main character here is someone who we can easily relate to and feel deeply for. In many ways she is just a regular person trying to simply survive. There is no big dream she is working towards. Like many of us, simply making it from day to day becomes her major goal. Sometimes when we are going through hard times, this is all we can do. For a woman whose entire life was ruined by her alcohol addiction, who is trying her best to quit, simply making it from day to day is great accomplishment. This movie puts us directly in her shoes, having us experience every high and every low with her. Some of the most powerful moments here are the little ones where it becomes obvious just how much she misses drinking. When she admits to her A.A. group that she just really misses the way drinking makes her feel and when she ponders whether she can truly be happy sober, our hearts ache for her. This gives even those of us who never had a drink in our lives understand just why it has such a grip on her. The movie also helps us understand the isolation she feels at times, especially with the scenes with her very religious mother (it is never directly said but obvious that our main character is an atheist) and her mental ill father. This is even felt in little scenes like an early one where she flirts with a guy her age. It is obvious that she is not looking for either sex or romance but rather simply someone to make her feel not so alone (something many of us have experienced). Some moments are so heartbreaking that they become truly hard to watch. Yet beneath all the pain and struggle, there is a real sense of hope underneath. This may not be a feel-good movie, but it is not a film that leaves us in despair either.

 The storytelling in this film also makes it much more powerful. The story here is not told in a liner fashion. Instead, we start the movie watching our main character trying to overcome her alcoholism. Throughout the movie we cut back in forth between her trying to overcome her alcoholism and the events that led her to this point. This non-linear storytelling not only makes this film feel unique among more conventional films about the subject, but it also makes this a much more emotional ride. Cutting back and forth between the before and the after gives us a greater understanding of who this character is because of the obvious contrasts that make this feel like two different characters. This film also knows how to take its time. This is incredibly important because spending the smaller moments with our main character makes us feel like we know her personally. This is also a visually beautiful movie and that makes the smaller and quieter scenes all the more powerful. The movie also benefits from a truly wonderful performance by Saoirse Ronan, whose deeply human performance captures all the complexities of this character in a completely natural way. 

If this movie feels completely real to us, that is because in a way it is. This is an adaption of Amy Liptrot's 2016 memoir of the same name. Liptrot co-wrote the screenplay with the film's director Nora Fingscheidt. The personal connection here can be felt constantly and that is another reason this stands out above more conventional films about the same subject. This marks the third feature film from German director Nora Fingscheidt. Her previous features were the German drama System Crasher (2019) and the Sandra Bullock lead Netflix movie, The Unforgivable (2021). Even this early in her career it is easy to tell that she is a director to keep an eye out for. 

This is an incredibly emotional powerful ride and a must watch movie. 

All-New Super Friends Hour: Coming of the Arthropods (1977)

 This is the third segment of the eighth episode of The All-New Super Friends Hour, unlike most other Super Friends formats, this one had hour long episodes that were made up of various shorter cartoons. The first segment would be an adventure staring two members (or three in some cases as Batman and Robin would often team with another Super Friend) of the Super Friends. The second would be a morality play staring the Wonder Twins. The third would be a typical half hour Super Friends adventure. The fourth and last segment would feature one of the main Super Friends teaming up with a special DC Comics guest star.

In this episode a group of insect aliens is banished to Earth because of their crimes. They try to invade the planet so that they can get a weapon to get revenge on their home planet. 

This is a really fun episode. The villains are a lot of fun. While their designs may not be the most original (they are somewhat reminiscent of Zorak from Space Ghost), they are very effective, and appealing. Their mind control powers make them feel like a real threat to our heroes and add a good sense of suspense. There are also some good action scenes throughout. I especially love the early action scene with Batman and Robin with the missile. The scenes aboard the plane are also a lot of fun with a good sense of suspense. This episode is also full of the great corny superhero dialogue that I love. A lot of it is reminiscent of the dialogue from the 60's Batman show in the best way. Robin even says, "holy dialogue Batman," when the insects first talk.  

This is a delight for those who (like me), love some corny superhero fun. 

All-New Super Friends Hour: Initiation (1977)

 This is the second segment of the eighth episode of The All-New Super Friends Hour, unlike most other Super Friends formats, this one had hour long episodes that were made up of various shorter cartoons. The first segment would be an adventure staring two members (or three in some cases as Batman and Robin would often team with another Super Friend) of the Super Friends. The second would be a morality play staring the Wonder Twins. The third would be a typical half hour Super Friends adventure. The fourth and last segment would feature one of the main Super Friends teaming up with a special DC Comics guest star.

In this cartoon, as part of an initiation, a teenager has to take a picture of a sleeping bear and finds himself in danger. The Wonder Twins go to save him. 

This is another lame Wonder Twins segment. Once again there is little entertainment value here. There is barely any real action or suspense, and the humor falls very flat. This is just another segment that exists only to teach the show's young audience an obvious lesson. 

Scooby-Doo Where Are You!: A Tiki Scare is No Fair (1970)

 

A delightful fun episode that is considered a classic for a reason.

In this episode the gang takes a trip to Hawaii, when a ghostly witch doctor interrupts their vacation. 

There is so much to love about this episode. The Witch Doctor is a wonderful villain. He has a great an incredibly memorable design as well as a delightfully creepy voice. This episode is also full of great spooky set-pieces. I love the scenes with the giant stone statue, the creepy old man, the skeleton in the airplane and the bats. This is pure Halloween type of spookiness at its most delightful. This episode also greatly benefits from some great background art. While all the episodes of the original series had great background work, the art in this episode is especially delightful to look at and gives this episode a wonderful sense of atmosphere. The episode also has some good comedic moments. The Tarzan and Jane gag always makes me laugh. 

If I had one complaint about this episode, it is that once again there are a lack of suspects that make the mystery too easy to solve. 

The Witch Doctor is one of the most iconic Scooby villains. He would appear in the live action theatrical film, Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed (2004) and the live action made-for-TV movie, Scooby-Doo! Curse of the Lake Monster (2010). This whole episode was adapted into the 3rd level of the 2000 N64 video game, Scooby-Doo! Classic Creep Capers.

A real classic. 

Movie Review: My Hero Academia: You're Next

 

Michael's Movie Grade: B

A very fun movie from the popular anime and manga franchise. 

This film has no pretentions about being anything more than a fun action/adventure flick. Luckily it works very well as just this. The movie gives us a wonderful new villain. He is very intimidating and a lot of fun. The movie also has some new hero characters that are very likable and feature great backstories. Our main hero also remains very likable and easy to relate to here. The storyline may not be especially deep, but it has a real sense of suspense. It also has a large scope that makes this feel worthy of being a movie instead of a TV episode. The action scenes are also larger than life and a lot of fun. This is top notch anime action at its best and it is hard not to simply have a great time watching it. The visuals in this film are simply beautiful to look at, whether in an action scene or a story driven one. However, these visual are always at service to the story and never distract from it. 

The movie does have its flaws though. Being a spin-off of the TV series, there are simply too many characters here. Anyone who doesn't follow the TV series closely will have a hard time keeping track of who these characters are. Also, the climax goes on too long and can feel a bit repetitive at points. 

This is simply a fun action flick.  

Scooby-Doo Where Are You!: Haunted House Hang-Up (1970)

 

An excellent episode. 

In this episode, while on the way to a rock music festival, the Mystery Machine breaks down near a haunted mansion. Here they meet the Headless Spector. Before you can say "Jinkies" the gang has another mystery on their hands. 

There is a lot to love about this episode. The Headless Spector is a wonderful Scooby villain with a memorable design and a great spooky laugh. While there have been plenty of creepy mansions in Scooby history, this one is very well done. The artwork and use of lighting create a great sense of atmosphere. There are also some very effective spooky scenes here, the highlight of which is the head in the chest. Yet this episode is full of what this series does best. That is balancing the spookiness with some good cartoony slapstick. There are plenty of wonderful gags throughout this episode. Some of them like the holding hands scene and the bicycle gag truly made me laugh. The ballon chase towards the end perfectly combines a sense of suspense and a sense of silliness. This episode also benefits from a fun chase song, Love the World, written by Danny Janssen and performed by George A. Robertson Jr.   

My only real problem with this episode is that once again the mystery was too easy to solve due to a lack of suspects. 

Another wonderful episode.