Monsters Inc (2001 Movie)

 

Movie Details

Series – Monsters Inc #1
Director – Pete Docter et al
Release – 2001
Rating – PG
Time – 1hr 32min

My Thoughts:

I bought this 2 disc dvd back in 2002. I loved the movie and it was (along with Toystory) what cemented my love of Pixar. But I don't watch movies very often at all and Mrs B watches them even less, so I think I watched this once more after buying and watching it initially? My best guess is that it has been 20 years since I last watched it.

Sadly, this was a lot more childish than I remembered. That wouldn't be a bad thing if I was expecting it, as I like the Despicable Me franchise and the Shrek movies too and those are both very childish. But I had it in my head that was a more adult movie that could still be for kids. The reality is that it is a kids movie that an adult can watch, if they so desire.

I had forgotten how quickly everything moved. It was less than 48hrs in-world and scene jumped to scene jumped to scene as quickly as a 5 year old's attention span. It wasn't necessarily bad, it just wasn't aimed at me and I had forgotten/neverrealized that. It was kind of a rude awakening. The positive of that is that I am not in the least tempted to go watch the sequel, Monsters University, which came out 20 years after Monsters Inc.

My sony bluray player upscaled the dvd just fine for watching on my 50in tv and it wasn't grainy like an old vhs tape. One of the reasons for re-watching this now was to see if I wanted to upgrade it to bluray to hold on to. That won't be happening and at some point I'll be getting rid of the dvd's. There's a whole disc of extras but I couldn't be bothered to put in another disc to just look at extras about a movie that I didn't care that much for now.

In the end, I don't regret re-watching this, but I will be getting rid of my dvd and I will not be rebuying it on bluray.

Synopsis from Wikipedia:

Synopsis - click to open

In a world inhabited entirely by monsters, the city of Monstropolis harnesses the screams of human children for energy. At the Monsters Incorporated factory, skilled monsters employed as "scarers" enter the human world through special doors that become portals to children's bedroom closets. They then frighten the children to harvest their screams; as human children are rumored to be toxic enough to kill a monster through physical contact, this work is considered dangerous. Furthermore, children are becoming harder to scare, causing a decline in production and subsequent energy crisis that worries Monsters, Inc. CEO Henry J. Waternoose III.

One evening after work, top scarer James P. "Sulley" Sullivan discovers that an active door has been left in the station of his rival, Randall Boggs. He inspects the door and accidentally lets a toddler girl into the factory. Frightened, Sulley unsuccessfully tries to return the girl, who escapes into Monstropolis, interrupting Sulley's best friend and assistant Mike Wazowski on a date at a sushi restaurant. Chaos erupts when other monsters see the girl; Sulley and Mike escape with her as the Child Detection Agency (CDA) arrives and quarantines the restaurant. Forced to keep the girl hidden in their apartment for the night, Sulley and Mike realize she is not toxic and her laughter generates more energy than screams.

The next day, Sulley and Mike disguise the girl as a monster and attempt to send her home. While Mike seeks out her door, Sulley grows attached to her and nicknames her "Boo". Randall, waiting in ambush for the girl, kidnaps Mike by accident and reveals his plan to kidnap children and cruelly force screams from them using a machine called a scream extractor. Sulley rescues Mike, and they go to the simulator room to alert Waternoose of Randall's plot. There, Waternoose makes Sulley give a scare demonstration to some recruits, and Boo becomes frightened. Sulley now realizes how children truly feel when scared. Boo inadvertently reveals herself to Waternoose, who turns out to be in league with Randall. Waternoose abducts Boo and banishes Mike and Sulley to the Himalayas in the human world.

Mike and Sulley are found by the Abominable Snowman, who takes them to his lair. He reveals a nearby village; Sulley hopes to use its closets to return to Monstropolis, but Mike, feeling betrayed, refuses to go with him. Sulley returns to the factory and rescues Boo from the scream extractor. Mike returns to reconcile with Sulley, and Randall chases them through the enormous door vault as the trio searches for Boo's door. Randall eventually grabs Boo, but she overcomes her fear of him and attacks him. Mike and Sulley banish Randall to the human world and destroy his corresponding door.

Mike and Sulley locate Boo's door, but Waternoose calls it down to the scare floor, intending to have the CDA arrest them. Mike distracts the CDA while Sulley and Boo lure Waternoose into the simulator room. Sulley tricks Waternoose into revealing his conspiracy to kidnap thousands of children to solve the energy crisis. Mike records the conversation and replays it to the CDA, who arrest him. Scare floor administrator Roz reveals herself as an undercover CDA agent, and allows Sulley to send Boo home, but orders her door shredded.

Sulley retools the factory to harvest children's laughter rather than screams, since laughter is ten times more powerful. With the energy crisis solved, Mike becomes the company's top comedian, and Sulley becomes the new CEO. Mike then reveals to Sulley that he has painstakingly rebuilt Boo's door, allowing Sulley to reunite with Boo.

The Island of Felicidad (Groo the Wanderer #55) 2Stars

 

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot, by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: The Island of Felicidad
Series: Groo the Wanderer #55
Author: Sergio Aragones
Rating: 2 of 5 Stars
Genre: Comics
Pages: 24
Words: 2K
Publish: 1989

Most of the time Aragones makes his point with some grace, some tact, a little humor and a very gentle touch. Here, well, it might as well have been 2021 in the midst of the Mask Nazi Time. Aragones simply hammers his readers with his anti-war message. The funny thing is that the Iron Curtain was about to fall in just a few short months and the Cold War as he knew it was about to be over.

This was the first Groo comic that I was truly disappointed with.

★★☆☆☆

• All of My “Groo the Wanderer” Reviews

Those Without Mercy (Warhammer 40K: Astra Militarum) 2.5Stars

 

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: Those Without Mercy
Series: Warhammer 40K: Astra Militarum
Author: Callum Davis
Rating: 2.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: SF
Pages: 20
Words: 6K
Publish: 2025

In the Empire of Man, the “army” is made up of different kinds of units. Some of those units are the tyrants, the dominators of mankind, ie, the eunuchs, the Space Marines. Monstrous beings almost as evil as the evil they are fighting. Then you have the Mechanized divisions, which meld man and machine until it’s hard to tell which is which. Then you have the regular old humans who are the fodder. But even within the human only part of things, the divisions are as great as the variety of planets from which they come. One faction (which I guess you can play in the miniatures game) are the Chem Dogs. They are prisoners condemned to die but instead of being executed, are given over to a force that take on suicide missions. They are given drugs which make them go out of their gourds and they will do almost whatever they are told while on said drugs.

All of that is pretty much introduced in this short story. I’ve never heard of the Chem Dog faction before and to be honest, I’ll be ok if I never read another story about them. Part of that is because this short story was very obviously just an introduction and a chapter to a full novel. You have the setup happen for a suicide mission and that is where this story ends. I dinged off half a star because of Black Library being such a jerk for doing this.

However, I am including a full sized cover for this. Man, is it cool and macabre looking!

★★✬☆☆

From the Publisher:

A commissar investigates the death of a colleague at the hands of the Savlar Chem-Dogs, and finds more than he bargained for.

READ IT BECAUSE
The Savlar Chem-Dogs are a fascinating example of a penal legion. This story explores their unsavoury reputation, but also what makes them such effective soldiers.

THE STORY
The Savlar Chem-Dogs penal legion are embroiled in a brutal conflict against the orks. When the ruthless Commissar Hasp witnesses a squad murdering a fellow commissar, he is determined to bring them to justice – but is there more to the situation than meets the eye?

• All of My Warhammer 40K Reviews

Mesa Pegasus - MTG 4E

 

This was a good card for its time. A flyer for cheap meant you could block some of the bigger flying creatures and while Mesa Pegasus was sure to die, it prevented all the damage to you, which is the point of a creatures' existence in the game. This was a staple in the White Weenie deck archetype. The WW was a deck consisting of a lot of small creatures that would over run your opponent, with an occasional card to help boost them. Your goal was to overwhelm and overrun your opponent before they could respond in time.

I, Asimov (Asimovian Memoirs #3) 5Stars

 

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: I, Asimov
Series: Asimovian Memoirs #3
Authors: Isaac Asimov
Rating: 5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Autobiography
Pages: 914
Words: 214K
Publish: 1994

The previous two Asimovian Memoirs (In Memory Yet Green and In Joy Still Felt) were very dense, factually heavy books. They were interesting but slow going and strictly chronological. I, Asimov repeats a lot of the data from those two books but brings us up to date to his illness in the 90’s and a final chapter by his second wife Janet, brings things to a close post-mortem.

This was a much lighter book, in tone. It’s not the bare facts of the matter, but as much about how Asimov felt about the subject he was writing about as about the subject itself. Much more of a “memoir” than a straight up autobiography. As such, I am very glad to have read the previous two books ahead of this, as it gave me a much deeper laid foundation to put this book on.

In that regards, I never felt bored by the repeating of data I had already read, because it was written in a different manner and with a different goal in mind. Asimov doesn’t go nearly as deep on subjects so there’s no “cut and paste” feel, which is important. He also talks about things from a more human perspective (how it made him feel) instead of just the facts. He had a section on his son David which opened up a little bit more about why he hadn’t written very much about him in the previous books. He also talks a bit more candidly about his first wife and the divorce. Nothing salacious or mean spirited, but being honest about their incompatibilities and inherent character flaws in both of them that they couldn’t or wouldn’t overcome.

Because this wasn’t strictly chronological, but topical, you can’t just skip sections thinking you’ve already know all the info from the previous two books. Some things yes, were no different but many of the areas were expanded upon post-1975, so there’s a good 15 years of new thoughts and happenings, even about people and events from his past. He talks about the Foundation novels and the Robot novels that happened post-1975 and it was fascinating to get his thoughts on them, to the point where I am seriously considering reading the rest of the Foundation books even though when I read them in the 90’s I wasn’t a fan.

This book really brings out the fact that Asimov was a short story guy. Whether fiction or non-fiction, he excelled at the under-10,000 word format. He could churn out articles for papers and magazines week after week without breaking a sweat. It isn’t until he talks about the novels that it becomes evident how hard it was for him to write when he wasn’t enjoying the process of writing.

From this, and the previous books, it is evident that Asimov had a huge ego. He parades around the issue and paints it in a positive light as promoting himself because no one else would, and while that was true to some extent, you can tell that he thought he was the best, period. It comes more to light in how he interacts with others and glimpses get through his writing. One of the issues was his atheism. He writes a chapter or two about religion and from that you can tell he doesn’t just disagree with anyone who believes in the supernatural, but that he despised them, for a variety of reasons. It was also evident that he simply didn’t understand the Bible as a whole but chose bits and bobs to talk about and skewered them that way. That stood out to me because he claimed throughout the book to be such an intellectual and that he was always judging things fairly and rationally. It just wasn’t so.

I really enjoyed this memoir and felt like it was a great capstone to the trilogy. The first two books dug a deep foundation and this put up the house and all the pretty windows. While I would recommend this book as a standalone, I would really recommend people read the whole Asimovian Memoirs trilogy to get the full experience.

★★★★★

From Asimov.fandom.com

It's a series of personal essays rather than a strictly chronological narrative, covering a wide range of topics from his childhood to his literary career and personal life. The book explores his thoughts on science, society, his colleagues, and even religion, offering a glimpse into the mind of a prolific writer.

• All of My Asimov Reviews

Imperatoris Chronicorum VII

 

This was a peculiar week. But not even regularly peculiar, but in fits and jerks.

Sunday was pretty typical. Church, chores and blogging. I drank a couple of Starbucks Mocha Frappucinos and all that sugar allowed me to stay awake all the way until 10:30pm.

Monday was Labor Day, so I had the day off. Mrs B works retail so she didn't have the day off. It was bright and sunny and I spent the entire day inside, on the couch, watching Gilmore Girls and blogging massive amounts (10+ posts). I'd say it was good relaxation for my body, but with another two bottles of Mocha Frappucinos, well, that's a lot of "healthy" sugar and caffeine.

Work. Well, work. My co-worker's wife is expecting their first kid and he's thinking about nothing but that. He's taking his car to job sites, which means I have to drive the work van. Oh, I hate that pig of a van. And when I wasn't working with my usual co-worker, I was working with Slow Boy 2.0. He drives the van, but my goodness, jobs take twice as long when he's involved. Scuttlebutt is that he's not long with the company. Given his slow track record, I'm not surprised. It just made the week a bit miserable, having to work with him :-/

And then today. It is the 25th Anniversary of 9/11. My co-worker was 4 years old when it happened and now he and his wife are having a kid. I think this might be the last year I do a remembrance post. I remember as a kid seeing "Pearl Harbor Day" on the calendar and wondering why that was on the calendar. What did Pearl Harbor have to do with the world I was living in then? And while I hate to say it, that unborn kid is going to grow up and 9/11 is going to be as historical to him as Pearl Harbor was to me. While I will continue to remember 9/11, I'm choosing to let it fully slide into history. I've arrived at this point over the years and that is reflected in the various remembrance posts where I've thought and remembered and pondered. It doesn't hurt anymore to remember that day. It is time to let the past be the past. I'm ready to accept that now.

On a much more positive note, this month Mrs B and I celebrate 18 years of marriage. We're celebrating tonight so I won't be home when this goes live. I'll be responding to comments tomorrow. We're doing our usual Cheesecake Factory run and there is a very good chance that when this post goes live that I'll be in the middle of eating some cheeseburger spring rolls while I wait for my shepherds pie with extra mashed potatoes to be cooked.

I shower you all with blessings of beneficence and cheer. See you tomorrow!

Atlantic Scramble (Phoenix Force #3) 3Stars

 

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: Atlantic Scramble
Series: Phoenix Force #3
Author: Gar Wilson
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: Action/Adventure
Pages: 185
Words: 41K
Publish: 1982

Camel humping terrorists (and I’m pretty sure they are referred to in that kind of language) steal a prototype machine gun that is super powerful and could change the balance of power in the middle east. What’s worse, they stole it from under the noses of the CIA and the Army. That can’t stand and so Hal Brognola (the liaison between the US Government and the special strike teams created by Mack Bolan) sends in Phoenix Force to recover the precious cargo.

One of the kickers is that the terrorists have a superserum that turns anyone who ingests it into a total suggestion zombie, but with all their skills still intact. And this is what bothered me. Nobody, and I mean nobody, on the side of the angels, even thinks about getting this drug. It is a plot device for this instance and that is it. Just think, if we could take enemy combatants, drug them with this, they’d then give us everything they knew without a fight, without torture, without any chance of misinformation. And we just ignore it because of laser guided machine guns, sigh.

I did notice a particular weakness of such ghost written franchises, that is, character erraticness. There are five guys in Phoenix Force and each ghost writer writes them a little bit differently. Sometimes that doesn’t matter, but here, it takes two of them and turns them into blood thirsty Rambo-clones instead of the intelligent men we’ve seen in the previous books. I doubt teenage me would have noticed something like this, but middle aged me definitely does. It is not an insurmountable weakness or one that will cause me to dnf the book, but it is a big ding against the series as a whole. It’s the kind of thing that builds and builds until I eventually blow my stack and dnf the series because of it.

Finally, All Hail Hypnotoad!

★★★☆☆

From the Publisher

Phoenix Force was scrambled from the far corners of the world when intelligence learned about Red Anvil.This Libyan terrorist organization had left a trail of blood across the United States, confounding all security systems in a savage, sometimes suicidal, pursuit of a deadly goal - possession of the Dessler Laser Submachine superweapon.The five warriors of Mack Bolan's mercenary force tracked their thieving quarry to the high seas of the Atlantic, where the battle zone descended upon the subchaser U.S.S. Beaumont and continued, bloodily, beneath the waves.The deep-sea shoot-out is the most explosive climax yet for the fabulous, world-encircling Phoenix Force. Here is raw power and magnificent courage in the gut-chilling tradition of the Executioner.

And there is nothing that dictator Xi Jinping the goat humper can do about it.