The Three Investigators

The Three Investigators And The Secret Of Skeleton Island (2007)
The Three Investigators And The Secret Of Terror Castle (2008)

It's a kids movie; & there's no denying that. There's a good amount of adventure & thrills in here as we follow Jupe, Pete & Bob investigating a new case. Beautiful locales, excellently used. & thankfully it didn't drag on. The two movies tried to stay true to the literature & did bring to life the Jones' Salvage Yard beautifully. The second movie pimped up the look & gave it some finesse. But it brought the familiar RollsRoyce & chauffer Worthington & the Rocky Mountain landscapes into the scene. The Rolls numberplate reads JellyB & the Terror Castle was built perfectly. There wasn't much of a mystery in the first movie..but the second one was nicely shot. They changed the book a great deal to update the settings. All the automation in Terror Castle was a bit over-the-top but still enjoyable.


Favourite scenes include: Glider scene, Pete & Bob's funny bits; the clicking word/almost-kiss; Terror castle escape; Bob & the Sherriff confrontations; The Valentine-love-story.

Alternate Ending: The first movie is an original screenplay. I'll keep it as is, but want some more tying up of loose ends; like how did the forger manage to maintain multiple cons going at the same time. & they tied in an emotional story in the second movie, but thankfully didn't slow down the pace. & they created an arch-nemesis for the 3 Investigators !!

First Viewed: Alone at Harborne in Parramatta.

Rating-2.5*

Fast & Furious (2009)

The FF franchise has never been a 'Jedi vs. Sith' affair. It's always been about fast cars & skimpy skirts. It's full of booty-closeups & girls making-out with each other grooving to hiphop music. The movie starts off with Letty's death... Why bring Michelle back only to bump her off in the first scene!! The first car-race was neat, the next underground race (literally) was pathetically fake. There were plenty of dull moments, mainly self-referential, which slowed down the furiosity.

I was surprised Dom didn't kill Letty's killer the first chance he got; I'm surprised that almost half of the movie was shot at night; I'm surprised that the director opted for the tunnels again for the climax chase instead of the lovely Mexican desert. The movie did not have any interesting scenes or moments that stay on.

Favourite scenes include: None at all; but I did smile at the club scene & the family dinner grace.

Alternate Ending:

First Viewed: Alone at home in Doha.

Rating-2

U.S. Marshals (1998)

Pitched as a sequel to Harrison Ford's 'The Fugitive', Tommy Lee Jones reprises his role as Sam Gerard, the deputy marshal in pursuit of Wesley Snipes. To add to the mix, Robert Downey Jr plays a goodlooking FBI special agent Royce. Snipes' character has a lot of mystery tied in, which does provide the thrills. (& his gf is a Starbucks barista !?) The plane-crash was a good start. The swamps provided a very good backdrop for the initial chase. Snipes look ridiculous with a hair wig. Action all over the place; cars, plane, train & ship.

The twist... was really unexpected; I was expecting something totally different. But it works well. That's the only reason it scores slightly better.

Favourite scenes include: Joe Pantoliano's got some good funny lines, the train-jumping scene was cool.

Alternate Ending: It felt long; all in all makes a good action movie; so won't tamper with it; just cut it a bit short.

First Viewed: Alone at home in UK.

Rating-2.5*