Quality Control and Tracking Movie Reviews
Dunks. Big dunks. Gravity-defying, rim-rattling, in-your-face dunks. That's what you'll find in Ball Above All, a production of HoopsTV.com, a Web site dedicated to celebrating basketball from the playgrounds to the pros. This 35-minute video also includes brief segments on subjects as wide-ranging as tattoos, Shaquille O'Neal's custom-made car, and white men who can jump, all peppered with rap music, comments from Sinbad ("Kobe, you got game, but no more albums!"), sports-beverage product placements, and a little T&A. But the real reason for watching the video is killer crossover dribbles, no-look passes, and, oh yes, the dunks, in clips taken chiefly from prep games, summer leagues, and invitational tournaments. The NBA may be fan-tastic, but Ball Above All proves that you don't have to be Michael Jordan or Vince Carter to throw down a vicious dunk, and you don't have to pay $85 a ticket to catch some spectacular basketball action. --David Horiuchi
Ballin' Outta Control
From New York, Washington, D.C., Chicago, Atlanta, Philadelphia, and North Carolina, this follow-up to Ball Above All takes it to the streets to bring home more hard-core footage of rim-grabbing dunks and legerdemain ball-handling and passing. Fast-forward through brief segments hosted by rapper DJ Whoo Kid about "Hoop Honeys," Kobe Bryant, and various product placements to get to the main event: awesome clips from playground contests, invitational tournaments, and prep games. As with Ball Above All, this approximately 45-minute video pulsates to an authentic rap and hip-hop soundtrack (obscenities edited), and there is gratuitous, albeit fleeting, T&A (no nudity). What it lacks in slick packaging and marquee superstars, Ballin' Outta Control more than makes up for in street cred, with footage of local heroes such as Sebastian Telfair and Lebron James, who astound with their Matrix-like moves on the court. --Donald Liebenson
When the inept inspector accidentally thwarts a bank robbery by Dr. Claw's minions, the evil Claw devises a revenge scheme that puts the Gadgetmobile in the shop and Gadget out of a job. During this 73-minute animated feature, things go from bad to worse for Gadget when he abandons his beloved car for a more sophisticated model in the hopes of better competing with Metro City's new superhero Devon Debonair, who's stealing all his good works and publicity. Then Debonair buys Gadget's cast-off, re-dubs it the "Debonairmobile," and provides him with fancy parking quarters and a personal buffer. Gadget may be too dim to figure out the connection to Claw, but thank goodness his niece Penny can think for both of them. While there's an underlying lesson in loyalty, the inspector's real forte is goofy fun. (Ages 3 to 12) --Kimberly Heinrichs
Dennis the Menace: Cruise Control
Dennis the Menace leaps from his infamous place on the comics page into his own feature film, a 75-minute jaunt into madcap mischief and "whodunnit" adventure with pals Margaret and Joey, and crotchety Mr. Wilson (voiced by Tom Arnold). When George Wilson seeks peace and quiet on a three-week cruise to the tropical island of Mimosa, the Mitchells make a surprise appearance into his idyllic vacation. More surprises are in store when Dennis befriends the young princess of Mimosa and unknowingly exposes an evil scheme by her royal advisors to steal her ruby ring and oust her from power. Antics abound aboard the ship as Dennis and friends avoid the bad guys, annoy Mr. Wilson, and add a lot of playful pranks to the mix. While Cruise Control suffers from a formulaic storyline (woefully lacking the one-liner hilarity of the print cartoons), a child's appetite for rudimentary humor will be satisfied. (Ages 5 to 10) --Lynn Gibson
Time Kid
The animated Time Kid boasts an exciting idea for a family movie: Remake previous film versions of H.G. Wells's irresistible The Time Machine, but tell the story from the point of view of the time-traveling hero's son, who plunges 10,000 years into the future in search of his missing dad. Adolescent Tom Spender leaves his familiar 1902 trappings in a machine similar to the one that took his father, Henry, to a superficially Eden-like future. Like Henry, Tom meets a race of exotic, golden children who appear to want for nothing but lack curiosity about their existence--or about the reasons why so many of them disappear into the cruel hands of a subhuman species. On the downside, Tom is annoying and frequently petulant. The good news is a lot of Time Kid's re-imagining of Wells's futuristic set pieces is quite captivating and refreshing, at moments even superior to previous, live-action adaptations of the book. --Tom Keogh
