Gosnell, Raja

Home Alone 3

Here's a perfect movie for kids, who never seem to tire of John Hughes's sure-fire slapstick formula. Working yet another variation on his mammoth 1990 hit, writer-producer Hughes (regarded by many as Hollywood's antichrist) strands a youngster in his own home with the chicken pox in this 1997 retelling. While his parents go to work, he sees a team of burglars invading the neighborhood houses; in fact, they're spies, looking for a toy containing a stolen microchip. The inevitability of the finale--one kid holding off four professionals with toys and garden tools--will do nothing to lessen the amusement of youngsters, who love to see the bad guys get creamed. Adults may pause at the sadistic nature of some of Hughes's pranks, but kids will eat up the image of one of their own outwitting all the adults. --Marshall Fine

A band of international crooks has hidden a military computer chip inside a toy car, but an airport mix-up lands it in the hands of whiz-kid Alex Pruitt (Alex D. Linz) who's home alone with the chicken pox in a quiet Chicago suburb. When the criminals zero in on Alex's house with their high-tech gadgetry, madness and mayhem kick into high gear as the pint-sized hero defends himself against the bumbling bad guys -armed with an outrageous array of ambushes and booby traps!

Never Been Kissed

Let's get this straight: Drew Barrymore started a production company to develop original scripts outside of Hollywood and the first project she chose to produce was this, a romantic comedy written by USC grads Abby Kohn and Mark Silverstein about a nerdy, virginal woman who returns to high school as an undercover reporter, finally gets to be popular, and falls in love. And Barrymore decided, as producer, that the perfect actress to play this virtuous, clean-cut, and downright annoying geek would be... Drew Barrymore? It's hard to believe that after The Wedding Singer Barrymore's not getting enough dopey, formulaic, predictable romantic comedies coming across her desk. The complete inability to buy Barrymore as unattractive, awkward, and unpopular ruins Never Been Kissed from the start, but it's doubtful a better actress could have saved it. The jokes fall flat, the romance between Barrymore and her English teacher (played by Michael Vartan) lacks chemistry, and the portrayals of high school and the newspaper newsroom is clichéd and uninspired (big surprise here: the director, Raja Gosnell, previously made Home Alone 3). Gosnell can't even give the gifted character actor, John C. Reilly, anything to do. Only David Arquette, who plays Barrymore's out-of-control brother, brings any energy to the film. --Dave McCoy

A budding journalist is determined to go from geek to chic when shes sent back to high school on her first undercover assignment. Studio: Tcfhe Release Date: 01/15/2008 Starring: Drew Barrymore David Arquette Run time: 108 minutes Rating: Pg13

Scooby-Doo (Widescreen Edition)

"I would've gotten away with it if weren't for you meddling kids!" Equal parts remake and spoof, this tongue-in-cheek live-action resurrection finds the old Saturday-morning-cartoon gang reunited to investigate the zombie teens of a haunted amusement park. Frantic action and big-screen special effects stand in for logic, but for a while it makes for a spirited send-up. Freddie Prinze Jr., under a blond hairdo and an ascot, turns Fred into a preening pretty boy, and Sarah Michelle Gellar plays with her own Buffy image as eternal damsel-in-distress Daphne (in magenta mini-dress and maxi-boots, no less), but this show belongs to gangly Matthew Lillard, who is the adenoidal beatnik Shaggy. His loyal-to-the-end friendship with the computer-animated Scooby-Doo is the most convincing relationship in the whole two-dimensional goof. Some of the supernatural nasties may be scary for young kids and the humor careens from winking self-awareness to Scooby doo-doo gags, but otherwise this is as harmless as a Saturday-morning chapter and as substantial as a Scooby snack. --Sean Axmaker

After an acrimonious break up the mystery inc. Gang are individually brought to an island resort to investigate strange goings on. Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 11/13/2007 Starring: Freddie Prinze Jr Matthew Lillard Run time: 86 minutes Rating: Pg

Scooby-Doo 2 - Monsters Unleashed (Widescreen Edition)

The animated pooch detective returns in Scooby Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed, which packs a wealth of ghostly villains from the Saturday morning cartoon into one movie. When Mystery Inc. opens a museum exhibit of costumes of their old foes, a new masked foe appears and steals everything--and before you know it, all the costumes come to life, chasing Fred (Freddie Prinze Jr., Head Over Heels), Daphne (Sarah Michelle Gellar, TV's Buffy the Vampire Slayer), Velma (Linda Cardellini, Freaks and Geeks), Shaggy (Matthew Lillard, SLC Punk), and the computer-animated Scooby Doo all over Coolsville. It's no better or worse than the first Scooby Doo movie. Watching live-action scenes that you've previously seen in two dimensions is vaguely uncanny; it's like deja vu turned inside out. Also featuring the weirdly unsynchronized lips of Alicia Silverstone (Clueless), Seth Green (Austin Powers), and Peter Boyle (Young Frankenstein). --Bret Fetzer

Scooby & gang confront an anonymous masked villain who is plotting to take over the city of coolsville by wreaking mayhem with a monster machine that creates mystery incs classic foes. Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 11/14/2006 Starring: Sarah Michelle Gellar Alicia Silverstone Run time: 93 minutes Rating: Pg

Yours, Mine & Ours (Full Screen Edition)

Dennis Quaid and Rene Russo, the sexiest adults in Hollywood, anchor Yours, Mine and Ours, an enjoyably traditional family film. Frank Beardsley (Quaid, In Good Company, The Rookie), a Coast Guard admiral, runs his brood of eight kids like a military squad; Helen North (Russo, Tin Cup, Get Shorty), a designer, keeps her multicultural family of ten together with a more free and creative hand. The two run into each other and rekindle their high school romance, getting married before the kids even have a chance to meet. The two families naturally experience a bit of culture clash. After squabbles, disputes, and outright fights, the kids agree on one thing: They have to split up Frank and Helen so they can return to their old lives. Yours, Mine and Ours doesn't hold any surprises, but after a rushed beginning, the movie settles into a series of brisk, cheerful skirmishes among the kids and some truly sweet interludes between Quaid and Russo, who handle their mature romance with graceful, seasoned aplomb. This straightforward movie cruises by on energy and enthusiasm, and sometimes, that's enough for a good time. --Bret Fetzer

A widowed coast guard admiral and a widowed handbag designer fall in love and marry much to the dismay of her 10 and his 8 children. Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 08/21/2007 Starring: Dennis Quaid Rene Russo Run time: 90 minutes Rating: Pg

Yours, Mine & Ours (Widescreen Edition)

Dennis Quaid and Rene Russo, the sexiest adults in Hollywood, anchor Yours, Mine and Ours, an enjoyably traditional family film. Frank Beardsley (Quaid, In Good Company, The Rookie), a Coast Guard admiral, runs his brood of eight kids like a military squad; Helen North (Russo, Tin Cup, Get Shorty), a designer, keeps her multicultural family of ten together with a more free and creative hand. The two run into each other and rekindle their high school romance, getting married before the kids even have a chance to meet. The two families naturally experience a bit of culture clash. After squabbles, disputes, and outright fights, the kids agree on one thing: They have to split up Frank and Helen so they can return to their old lives. Yours, Mine and Ours doesn't hold any surprises, but after a rushed beginning, the movie settles into a series of brisk, cheerful skirmishes among the kids and some truly sweet interludes between Quaid and Russo, who handle their mature romance with graceful, seasoned aplomb. This straightforward movie cruises by on energy and enthusiasm, and sometimes, that's enough for a good time. --Bret Fetzer

A widowed coast guard admiral and a widowed handbag designer fall in love and marry much to the dismay of her 10 and his 8 children. Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 08/21/2007 Starring: Dennis Quaid Rene Russo Run time: 90 minutes Rating: Pg

Big Momma's House (Special Edition)

No one tries very hard in Big Momma's House, so your enjoyment of this Martin Lawrence vehicle pretty much depends on how much amusement you're able to derive from a guy dressed up as a very ample woman. The setup is of the eye-rolling, only-in-Hollywood nature: Lawrence, as detective Malcolm Turner, is after a killer, and apparently the only way to capture him is to pose as the bad guy's ex-girlfriend's grandmother, who--the film cannot stress this point too much--is quite large.

Apparently, Sherry (Nia Long), the young woman in question--she's as attractive as Big Momma is, well, you know--is none too bright, for she falls for Malcolm's ruse, which of course ostensibly amuses mainly because it's so transparent. She at least has an excuse--she hasn't seen Big Momma in two years--but Big Momma's oblivious friends must be functional morons. Screenwriters Darryl Quarles and Don Rhymer didn't tax themselves very much, as they have Malcolm-as-Big-Momma going through fairly predictable motions--botching a meal and delivering a baby unconventionally (Big Momma's a midwife), but ruling at basketball and self- defense and protecting Sherry while trying vainly not to flirt with her. Paul Giamatti is wasted as Malcolm's partner; director Raja Gosnell's clunky sense of comic rhythm is bewildering, because he used to be an editor (he brought a similar lack of magic to Home Alone 3).

Lawrence won't have anyone forgetting Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon in Some Like It Hot, Dustin Hoffman in Tootsie, or Robin Williams in Mrs. Doubtfire anytime soon. Big Momma's House benefits mainly by being first to the marketplace ahead of Eddie Murphy's The Nutty Professor 2: The Klumps; Murphy's work in prosthetics is far more accomplished, versatile, and funny. --David Kronke

Martin lawrence stars as crafty fbi agent malcolm turner whos willing to go through thick and thin in order to catch an escaped federal prisoner. Nia long stars as sherry the cons sexy former flame she might have the skinny on millions in stolen lot and shes headed for georgia to lay low for a while. Studio: Tcfhe Release Date: 02/12/2008 Starring: Martin Lawrence Paul Giamatti Run time: 98 minutes Rating: Pg13 Director: Raja Gosnell

Scooby-Doo 2 - Monsters Unleashed (Full Screen Edition)

Scooby & gang confront an anonymous masked villain who is plotting to take over the city of coolsville by wreaking mayhem with a monster machine that creates mystery incs classic foes. Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 11/14/2006 Starring: Sarah Michelle Gellar Alicia Silverstone Run time: 93 minutes Rating: Pg

The animated pooch detective returns in Scooby Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed, which packs a wealth of ghostly villains from the Saturday morning cartoon into one movie. When Mystery Inc. opens a museum exhibit of costumes of their old foes, a new masked foe appears and steals everything--and before you know it, all the costumes come to life, chasing Fred (Freddie Prinze Jr., Head Over Heels), Daphne (Sarah Michelle Gellar, TV's Buffy the Vampire Slayer), Velma (Linda Cardellini, Freaks and Geeks), Shaggy (Matthew Lillard, SLC Punk), and the computer-animated Scooby Doo all over Coolsville. It's no better or worse than the first Scooby Doo movie. Watching live-action scenes that you've previously seen in two dimensions is vaguely uncanny; it's like deja vu turned inside out. Also featuring the weirdly unsynchronized lips of Alicia Silverstone (Clueless), Seth Green (Austin Powers), and Peter Boyle (Young Frankenstein). --Bret Fetzer

Home Alone 3 (Widescreen Edition)

Here's a perfect movie for kids, who never seem to tire of John Hughes's sure-fire slapstick formula. Working yet another variation on his mammoth 1990 hit, writer-producer Hughes (regarded by many as Hollywood's antichrist) strands a youngster in his own home with the chicken pox in this 1997 retelling. While his parents go to work, he sees a team of burglars invading the neighborhood houses; in fact, they're spies, looking for a toy containing a stolen microchip. The inevitability of the finale--one kid holding off four professionals with toys and garden tools--will do nothing to lessen the amusement of youngsters, who love to see the bad guys get creamed. Adults may pause at the sadistic nature of some of Hughes's pranks, but kids will eat up the image of one of their own outwitting all the adults. --Marshall Fine

Studio: Tcfhe Release Date: 11/18/2008

Scooby-Doo (Full Screen Edition)

"I would've gotten away with it if weren't for you meddling kids!" Equal parts remake and spoof, this tongue-in-cheek live-action resurrection finds the old Saturday-morning-cartoon gang reunited to investigate the zombie teens of a haunted amusement park. Frantic action and big-screen special effects stand in for logic, but for a while it makes for a spirited send-up. Freddie Prinze Jr., under a blond hairdo and an ascot, turns Fred into a preening pretty boy, and Sarah Michelle Gellar plays with her own Buffy image as eternal damsel-in-distress Daphne (in magenta mini-dress and maxi-boots, no less), but this show belongs to gangly Matthew Lillard, who is the adenoidal beatnik Shaggy. His loyal-to-the-end friendship with the computer-animated Scooby-Doo is the most convincing relationship in the whole two-dimensional goof. Some of the supernatural nasties may be scary for young kids and the humor careens from winking self-awareness to Scooby doo-doo gags, but otherwise this is as harmless as a Saturday-morning chapter and as substantial as a Scooby snack. --Sean Axmaker

After an acrimonious break up the mystery inc. Gang are individually brought to an island resort to investigate strange goings on. Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 11/13/2007 Starring: Freddie Prinze Jr Matthew Lillard Run time: 86 minutes Rating: Pg