Scooby-Doo! – The Spirits of ’76

  • Title: The Scooby-Doo Show – The Spirits of ’76
  • wiki: link

The 4th of July takes us back for a patriotic mystery involving some meddling kids and their talking dog. Created 50 years ago for the Bicentennial, “The Spirits of ’76” takes Mystery, Inc. to Washington D.C. where they spend a night locked in the Splitsonian Institute which has become haunted by the ghosts of Benedict Arnold, William Demont, and Major André (all three notorious traitors of American history). They may not be the most memorable baddies from Scooby-Doo, but the episode does attempt to use the ghosts and the museum to teach viewers a little American history.

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Yojimbo

  • Title: Yojimbo
  • IMDb: link

Akira Kurosawa knew how to tell stories that last. The simple story of a ronin (Toshirō Mifune) wandering into a small town and causing chaos to solve a larger problem has been remade, adapted, and inspired dozens (if not hundreds) of projects over the years from spaghetti westerns to samurai science fiction. My favorite, however, has always been Stan Sakai‘s Usagi Yojimbo which owes much to Kurosawa’s tale.

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Minions & Monsters

  • Title: Minions & Monsters
  • IMDb: link

The seventh movie of the Despicable Me franchise, and the third to focus squarely on the odd yellow henchmen, takes one tribe of Minions (after a brief history lesson) to Hollywood during the Roaring Twenties. All voiced by writer/director Pierre Coffin, the most important Minions of the film are James (the dreamer and storyteller), Henry (James’ best friend), the hearing impaired Ed, and, to a lesser extent, the dickish leader of the group appropriately named Dick.

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