THE SUPER MARIO GALAXY MOVIE (2026, AMC DOLBY CINEMA) is so busy moving from one stunning-looking action set-piece (Peach and Toad's casino brawl) to another (Fox McCloud's space fight) it wastes the handful of great character moments that could have built a better narrative. Mario (Chris Pratt) and Princess Peach (Anya Taylor-Joyce) have great chemistry the few times they're alone talking, but this ain't "Zootopia" so they spend most of the movie separated. Bowser (Jack Black) has a legit character arc and steals every scene he's in, but at the very end reverts back to one-dimensional foe to match Bowser Jr. (Benny Safdie). Not gonna lie, though, every time Yoshi (Donald Glover pulling a 'Groot') and Fox (Glen Powell in full 'Hangman' mode) are in a scene l giggled like a girl. Loved every second these two interacted with the unending parade of Nintendo IP's and callbacks to old/new games. Rosalina (Brie Larson) wasted and the rushed reveal of her relationship to Peach notwithstanding, "TSMGM" is a ton of empty calories fun.
Saw Robert Zemeckis' BACK TO THE FUTURE PART II (1989) AND PART III (1990, BLU-RAY), the former on a Jury Room 4.0 Discord watchalong and the latter by myself afterwards. For as many times as l've seen the first "BTTF," this is only the 3rd or 4th time l've tackled the sequels. "Part ll" is ambitious as hell with its now-quaint depiction of "futuristic" 2015, but only the finale built around the goodwill toward the prequel's 1955 final act is actually entertaining. Tom Wilson gives a tour-de-force performance as half-a-dozen variations of Biff, but he and his goons (including Billy Zane) are such a-holes they bring down the fun factor. Elisabeth Shue manages to leave an impression despite being excluded from big scenes. An ambitious-as-hell mixed bag.
"Part III" benefits from a return to the first movie's lack of special effects ("Part ll" suffers because once-great SFX have aged badly) within its western setting. Though most of the OG cast returns as centuries-old versions of their ancestors, this is where the star power and quirky chemistry between Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd carry the film through lots of dull, boring parts. More predictable and slow-paced than its manic predecessor but on par with the first "BTTF," "Part lll" concludes the trilogy on a satisfying note.
THE KING'S WARDEN ('26, SOUTH KOREA, THEATER) is a historical drama (set in the Joseon Dynasty period circa 1492 AC) about an exiled, aloof young king (Park Ji-hoon) and the buffoon elder leader (Yoo Hae-jin) of a poor rural village offering him sanctuary in anticipation of rich rewards. Instead an unlikely friendship develops between the poor villagers and the grateful-but-powerless monarch who can only share his knowledge as repayment. Starts very comedic and broad, but gradually the social commentary and palace intrigue take over. Solid, patient filmmaking.
REMINDERS OF HIM ('26, THEATER) is the latest in novel writer/producer Colleen Hoover's unending parade of rural American misery p@rn happening to good, hard-working (mostly) white folks. Kenna (Maika Monroe) is the just-released-from-prison mother of a little girl she's never seen, the result of a vehicular accident that killed Maika's boyfriend, trying to get the paternal grandparents (Lauren Graham and Bradley Whitford) to let her see her daughter. The deceased dad's bestie (Tyrig Withers) who the little girl worships eventually falls in love with Kenna. Predictable drama, pathos, PG-13 sex and reconciliations ensue. 'It's fine' but predictably formulaic to a fault.
Last and certainly least, TOW ('26, THEATER) wastes Rose Byrn's talents playing an unemployed poor woman estranged from her fashion-obsessed daughter (Elsie Fisher) who spends a year trying to get her 1991 Toyota car back from an evil towing company. Domin Sessa ("The Holdovers"), Octavia Spencer and Demi Lovato have nice supporting roles, but the quirky tone undermines the inspired-by-real-people/events narrative. Pass. 🫤
Strap in guys, no overtime this week and I had a couple of days off...
Young Guns (1988): For some reasons, I wanted to revisit this thing. It's as imperfect as I remember it to be, but it's still a very cool movie. Now I need to rewatch the sequel. I also revisited the FTM episode on the movie (their second episode ever), which was very fun to listen to 15 years younger Patrick and no outro by Charlie.
Sisu - Road to Revenge (2025): They did their best, but I think they knew they could never reach the level of the first movie. I could nitpick it until the end of the world, but what's the point, you're with it or you're not. If you ever wanted to see a Looney Tunes cartoon set in post-WWII era (era), this is the one, even more than the first movie actually. Just think of the tank flip, or the missile ride.
Escape From L.A. (1996): Speaking of unnecessary sequel, here's another one. It's basically the same as the first, but in LA, and more 90s. I always liked it though, despite the bad visual effects. These things don't bother me. If the movie's good and fun, I can overlook a lot of things. At least Carpenter did it, I guess it helped a little. Oh, and Robert Carradine is here, for about 30 seconds. And a short cameo by Bruce Campbell. What's not to love?
Johnny Mnemonic (1995): I had to import a region B blu-ray because the only version available here is the black & white version of the movie. I don't understand the obsession to turn color movies to b&w, but thankfully it didn't last long and is mostly over (I hope). At the minimum, if you release a blu-ray, provide both versions. I'm sure Arrow will announce a super-duper edition soon enough, now that I've buy it. Anyway, cheezy 90s sci-fi, featuring Keany Reeves and Ice-T. I love it. And would you believe it's only 90 minutes.
Backdraft (1991): I had to upgrade it to 4k. It's one of the early 4k discs, but they did a pretty good job with it.
Red Sonja (2025): Not a great movie, but I enjoy it enough, and I'm starved for anything sword and sorcery, I'll get anything. Too bad there's no 4k.
Deathstalker (2025): What was in the air in 2025? Two S&S in the same year. This is definitely better than Red Sonja, and possibly the funniest movie of the year (that may be because comedy movies are not that good anymore). As a reminder, this is from the director of Psycho Goreman, so you know what kind of humor you'll get. Also, it's pretty fun to see the Telefilm Canada logo, and the next shot is a head being cut off in very gory details. The Shout blu-ray has a couple of interesting interviews.
Pizza Movie (2026): Speaking of funny movie, here's one. I compare it to Bottoms, if it was a stoner movie. The college has its own rules and the kids are all crazy. It's not as good, but I laughed a few times and had a ton of fun.
Is it June already? That's a Junesploitation-worthy boatload of movies for just one week! 🥵😅
"Red Sonja" is out on Arrow 4K, $38 on Amazon. Not a great flick, but if you already have the first two Arnie "Conan" flicks on Arrow 4K you might as well go for the hattrick. 🤠 "Sisu 2" and "Escape... L.A." are inferior sequels to their predecessors, but if you meet them halfway and enjoy them on their own terms they're alone blast. You need all four movies for the full monty of badass action spectacle. "Backdraft" is alright (🤨🙄), but "Johnny Mnemonic" is only worth watching for Keanu losing his crap, Dolph Lundgren's preacher and Ice T's dolphin partner. 🐬 Such a bad movie! 😬
Theres a ton of great 4k buzz in the action community from boutique labels. Two standouts being two of my all time favorite actioners from the man himself John Woo: The Killer and Hard Boiled. So prior to watching those i thought it'd be fun to visit some earlier Woo/Yun-fat teamups.
Overall pretty enjoyable movies that sew the seeds of what will become more full on gun-fu films. In these cases theres a fair amount of melodrama focusing on the fall of men involved with organized crime and police and relationships (familial and friendship based) between. The final shoot out in part II is realllllly good.
April Fools Day (plutotv 1986)
First up: huuuge shout out to the free streamers like Plutotv and Tubi. They have some really "deep benches" of genre films and thank goodness they do.
Watching this film on actual April 1st seemed like a good plan! I had seen it back in the 80s and kinda remembered aspects of it. Its ok i guess. I liked the setup of escalating pranks and 80s horror teen archetypes (horny guy, preppy guy, A/V guy, bookworm girl, party girl,etc) but the writing was overall boring and the kills were so-so. A shame as i think you could do alot more with this concept and twists.
(SPOILER OBSERVATION: dont read on if you dont want the ending spoiled. This flick ends with the reveal that all killings were faked as part of a huge prank. Thats a great hook...and it occurred to me that it was used FAR better in Finchers The Game years later.)
Thomas F. Wilson (Biff in "BTTF") was great comic relief in "April Fools Day," a movie l like more than l should because Amy Steel (final girl in "Friday the 13th Part ll") is in it. 😍🥰 But yeah, the movie's a one-trick pony that only works on rewatches after enough years pass between viewings for you to forget about it. Shame. 😪
I watched a 25-minute, The Twilight Zone-inspired fan edit of Spider-Man 3 called "The Sand Man," based on a YouTube suggestion by CinemaStix, which is entirely focused on Flint Marko and Peter. And, it's... fine. Definitely less painful than watching the full movie, but it's still pretty thin soup. I guess it could make a decent appetizer to a screening of No Way Home.
Also, Mike and Rich of Red Letter Media re:Viewed the first season of Star Trek: Voyager this week, which, along with their first season review of Deep Space Nine, easily makes for the most exciting Trek content of the year so far, amirite, folks? :P
Last time l saw "Spider-Man 3" was in a theater packed with fans a couple of years back. Though the cheese is thick and the Emo Peter dancing can't be redeemed the post-"No Way Home" love toward Tobey Maguire was strong. It was an enjoyable watch because there are good scenes/moments in "3" if can put up with the rain of garbage around them. 🫤🧐
I think Spider-Man 3's core problem is it lacks a compelling reason to exist. By the end of 2, Peter had become an experienced hero, and got the girl. He and James Franco's Harry Osborn never had any compelling chemistry or credible history as friends, so their confrontation fundamentally lacks interest. (Their being buddies in the first movie, given they seem to have nothing in common, was at least as far-fetched as the whole superpowers-from-a-spider-bite thing.) The other two villains feel tossed in at random. It's a movie made from contractual obligations, plain and simple.
And, for all the flack the MCU gets for making movies that are glorified TV episodes that play in theaters, I hold that Raimi's trilogy feels much more like installments of a soap opera superhero TV series like Smallville than, say, the Jon Watts Spider-trilogy. From the almost purely suburban Homecoming to the European tour of Far From Home to the multiversal shenanigans of No Way Home, each of those movies feel much more distinct, IMO.
Very few sequels have a compelling reason for existing beyond keeping the money train rolling. The few that do it well have either passionate filmmakers with something to say, a story too big for just one feature and/or understanding/patient fans willing to cut the studio some slack. The "Lord of The Rings" trilogy qualifies, but the follow-up "Hobbit" trilogy falls into the "Spider-Man 3" sequel trap you described, Gaith. Dollar signs took over. 🤑🙄
Based on most behind-the-scenes stories about the making of "3," though, to me it's a clear case of studio interference messing up a mediocre-at-worst thing, aka, the enormous audience goodwill earned after two movies' worth of character/narrative build-up (especially "Spider-Man 2" blowing the roof and improving from the good parts of the first film). Sam Raimi didn't want Venom, but the studio forced him onto a narrative that was already teetering with (a) Sandman as the villain (great for comics and cartoons, not an ideal live-action foe) and (b) a happy and content Peter Parker (as the end of "No Way Home" proves, Peter's dramatic worth increases the more miserable his life is). Too many cooks with different agendas doomed "3," which ironically seen with its prequels back-to-back is both better than its reputation (Kirsten Dunst's performance, Sandman's particle effects, J.K. Simmons still crushing it as JJJ, etc.) and fall-from-grace threequel poster child. 🫤🤓
THE HOBBIT: THE BATTLE OF THE FIVE ARMIES (2014) I forgot how much Legolas is in this. He’s pretty much the third lead.
THE BOONDOCK SAINTS (1999) To paraphrase Tom Servo, “Nobody’s THAT Irish!”
DAUGHTERS OF DARKNESS (1971) The Elizabeth Bathory character has never quite taken off as a proper horror villainess, has she?
MEN IN BLACK INTERNATIONAL (2019) They tried making this one more action and less comedy, but it ended up all boring.
BACK TO THE FUTURE PART II (1989) Apologies for being sacrilegious, but to me the BTTF sequels are pale shadows of the classic original. That said, this one does reward fans with a lot of tiny fun details throughout. And it gave us hoverboards, so it’s all good.
RAISING ARIZONA (1987) “Well, which is it, young fella? You want me to freeze or get down on the ground?”
I read The Hobbit several times during my youthful years. When I learned that Peter Jackson planned a trilogy for the story, I knew it would turn out a bloated mess. Maybe two films work at most for a slim novel, not three.
I mentioned it last week, but I highly recommend Lindsay Ellis video on the Hobbit movies. Not only they made bad movies, they screwed up New Zealand movie business. Jackson was merely a pawn in the studios hands
I am looking forward to the start of the drive-in season. The Mahoning Drive-In opens next weekend with its traditional pairing of The Wizard of Oz and Charlie And The Chocolate factory. The screening of Barbarella the following Thursday might be my first visit there for the season.
Next week has some screenings at the Gap Theatre that I would love to attend. William Friedkin's Sorcerer is playing on Friday, and there is another Gap Grindhouse event on Saturday night. Everything depends on my schedule (things change quickly at the end of the tax season) and energy levels. Fingers crossed that I can get to at least one of the shows.
Lucky you. There are no drive-ins near NYC that l know of, but since l don't even own a car it's a mute point. 🙄😛 if l dud I'd try to go to screenings like "Sorcerer" all the time. 😎
It looks like the Hudson Valley has a concentration of drive-ins. With all of the development in the greater New York City area, it would be hard for a drive-in movie theater to survive around there.
Northeast Pennsylvania has many options for drive-ins. There are four drive-in theaters within roughly an hour from my area in the Poconos. Two are in urban areas - Shankweiler's and The Circle - and the other two are around small towns (The Mahoning and Becky's). There are a couple more drive-ins a little further away near the city of Wilkes-Barre which I have never gone to.
Oh, hi April! 🥳
ReplyDeleteTHE SUPER MARIO GALAXY MOVIE (2026, AMC DOLBY CINEMA) is so busy moving from one stunning-looking action set-piece (Peach and Toad's casino brawl) to another (Fox McCloud's space fight) it wastes the handful of great character moments that could have built a better narrative. Mario (Chris Pratt) and Princess Peach (Anya Taylor-Joyce) have great chemistry the few times they're alone talking, but this ain't "Zootopia" so they spend most of the movie separated. Bowser (Jack Black) has a legit character arc and steals every scene he's in, but at the very end reverts back to one-dimensional foe to match Bowser Jr. (Benny Safdie). Not gonna lie, though, every time Yoshi (Donald Glover pulling a 'Groot') and Fox (Glen Powell in full 'Hangman' mode) are in a scene l giggled like a girl. Loved every second these two interacted with the unending parade of Nintendo IP's and callbacks to old/new games. Rosalina (Brie Larson) wasted and the rushed reveal of her relationship to Peach notwithstanding, "TSMGM" is a ton of empty calories fun.
Saw Robert Zemeckis' BACK TO THE FUTURE PART II (1989) AND PART III (1990, BLU-RAY), the former on a Jury Room 4.0 Discord watchalong and the latter by myself afterwards. For as many times as l've seen the first "BTTF," this is only the 3rd or 4th time l've tackled the sequels. "Part ll" is ambitious as hell with its now-quaint depiction of "futuristic" 2015, but only the finale built around the goodwill toward the prequel's 1955 final act is actually entertaining. Tom Wilson gives a tour-de-force performance as half-a-dozen variations of Biff, but he and his goons (including Billy Zane) are such a-holes they bring down the fun factor. Elisabeth Shue manages to leave an impression despite being excluded from big scenes. An ambitious-as-hell mixed bag.
"Part III" benefits from a return to the first movie's lack of special effects ("Part ll" suffers because once-great SFX have aged badly) within its western setting. Though most of the OG cast returns as centuries-old versions of their ancestors, this is where the star power and quirky chemistry between Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd carry the film through lots of dull, boring parts. More predictable and slow-paced than its manic predecessor but on par with the first "BTTF," "Part lll" concludes the trilogy on a satisfying note.
THE KING'S WARDEN ('26, SOUTH KOREA, THEATER) is a historical drama (set in the Joseon Dynasty period circa 1492 AC) about an exiled, aloof young king (Park Ji-hoon) and the buffoon elder leader (Yoo Hae-jin) of a poor rural village offering him sanctuary in anticipation of rich rewards. Instead an unlikely friendship develops between the poor villagers and the grateful-but-powerless monarch who can only share his knowledge as repayment. Starts very comedic and broad, but gradually the social commentary and palace intrigue take over. Solid, patient filmmaking.
REMINDERS OF HIM ('26, THEATER) is the latest in novel writer/producer Colleen Hoover's unending parade of rural American misery p@rn happening to good, hard-working (mostly) white folks. Kenna (Maika Monroe) is the just-released-from-prison mother of a little girl she's never seen, the result of a vehicular accident that killed Maika's boyfriend, trying to get the paternal grandparents (Lauren Graham and Bradley Whitford) to let her see her daughter. The deceased dad's bestie (Tyrig Withers) who the little girl worships eventually falls in love with Kenna. Predictable drama, pathos, PG-13 sex and reconciliations ensue. 'It's fine' but predictably formulaic to a fault.
Last and certainly least, TOW ('26, THEATER) wastes Rose Byrn's talents playing an unemployed poor woman estranged from her fashion-obsessed daughter (Elsie Fisher) who spends a year trying to get her 1991 Toyota car back from an evil towing company. Domin Sessa ("The Holdovers"), Octavia Spencer and Demi Lovato have nice supporting roles, but the quirky tone undermines the inspired-by-real-people/events narrative. Pass. 🫤
Strap in guys, no overtime this week and I had a couple of days off...
ReplyDeleteYoung Guns (1988): For some reasons, I wanted to revisit this thing. It's as imperfect as I remember it to be, but it's still a very cool movie. Now I need to rewatch the sequel. I also revisited the FTM episode on the movie (their second episode ever), which was very fun to listen to 15 years younger Patrick and no outro by Charlie.
Sisu - Road to Revenge (2025): They did their best, but I think they knew they could never reach the level of the first movie. I could nitpick it until the end of the world, but what's the point, you're with it or you're not. If you ever wanted to see a Looney Tunes cartoon set in post-WWII era (era), this is the one, even more than the first movie actually. Just think of the tank flip, or the missile ride.
Escape From L.A. (1996): Speaking of unnecessary sequel, here's another one. It's basically the same as the first, but in LA, and more 90s. I always liked it though, despite the bad visual effects. These things don't bother me. If the movie's good and fun, I can overlook a lot of things. At least Carpenter did it, I guess it helped a little. Oh, and Robert Carradine is here, for about 30 seconds. And a short cameo by Bruce Campbell. What's not to love?
Johnny Mnemonic (1995): I had to import a region B blu-ray because the only version available here is the black & white version of the movie. I don't understand the obsession to turn color movies to b&w, but thankfully it didn't last long and is mostly over (I hope). At the minimum, if you release a blu-ray, provide both versions. I'm sure Arrow will announce a super-duper edition soon enough, now that I've buy it. Anyway, cheezy 90s sci-fi, featuring Keany Reeves and Ice-T. I love it. And would you believe it's only 90 minutes.
Backdraft (1991): I had to upgrade it to 4k. It's one of the early 4k discs, but they did a pretty good job with it.
Red Sonja (2025): Not a great movie, but I enjoy it enough, and I'm starved for anything sword and sorcery, I'll get anything. Too bad there's no 4k.
Deathstalker (2025): What was in the air in 2025? Two S&S in the same year. This is definitely better than Red Sonja, and possibly the funniest movie of the year (that may be because comedy movies are not that good anymore). As a reminder, this is from the director of Psycho Goreman, so you know what kind of humor you'll get. Also, it's pretty fun to see the Telefilm Canada logo, and the next shot is a head being cut off in very gory details. The Shout blu-ray has a couple of interesting interviews.
Pizza Movie (2026): Speaking of funny movie, here's one. I compare it to Bottoms, if it was a stoner movie. The college has its own rules and the kids are all crazy. It's not as good, but I laughed a few times and had a ton of fun.
Is it June already? That's a Junesploitation-worthy boatload of movies for just one week! 🥵😅
Delete"Red Sonja" is out on Arrow 4K, $38 on Amazon. Not a great flick, but if you already have the first two Arnie "Conan" flicks on Arrow 4K you might as well go for the hattrick. 🤠 "Sisu 2" and "Escape... L.A." are inferior sequels to their predecessors, but if you meet them halfway and enjoy them on their own terms they're alone blast. You need all four movies for the full monty of badass action spectacle. "Backdraft" is alright (🤨🙄), but "Johnny Mnemonic" is only worth watching for Keanu losing his crap, Dolph Lundgren's preacher and Ice T's dolphin partner. 🐬 Such a bad movie! 😬
I already have the old Sonja on 4k, but not the Arrow release. I'm thinking of upgrading though
DeleteQuick note, the Red Sonja Studio Canal 4k comes with the documentary The Last Movie Painter (2020), about Walter Bencini. Very cool stuff
DeleteOh, the NEW "Red Sonya" isn't out in 4K. I didn't even notice a remake came out last year. My bad. 😳🫣
DeleteNot exactly a remake. It's another story with another actress in the role
DeleteJune is not far away, J.M.
DeleteI know. Counting the days, making plans already. 😉😁
DeleteA Better Tomorrow I & II (plex 1986 1987)
ReplyDeleteTheres a ton of great 4k buzz in the action community from boutique labels. Two standouts being two of my all time favorite actioners from the man himself John Woo: The Killer and Hard Boiled. So prior to watching those i thought it'd be fun to visit some earlier Woo/Yun-fat teamups.
Overall pretty enjoyable movies that sew the seeds of what will become more full on gun-fu films. In these cases theres a fair amount of melodrama focusing on the fall of men involved with organized crime and police and relationships (familial and friendship based) between. The final shoot out in part II is realllllly good.
April Fools Day (plutotv 1986)
First up: huuuge shout out to the free streamers like Plutotv and Tubi. They have some really "deep benches" of genre films and thank goodness they do.
Watching this film on actual April 1st seemed like a good plan! I had seen it back in the 80s and kinda remembered aspects of it. Its ok i guess. I liked the setup of escalating pranks and 80s horror teen archetypes (horny guy, preppy guy, A/V guy, bookworm girl, party girl,etc) but the writing was overall boring and the kills were so-so.
A shame as i think you could do alot more with this concept and twists.
(SPOILER OBSERVATION: dont read on if you dont want the ending spoiled. This flick ends with the reveal that all killings were faked as part of a huge prank. Thats a great hook...and it occurred to me that it was used FAR better in Finchers The Game years later.)
Thomas F. Wilson (Biff in "BTTF") was great comic relief in "April Fools Day," a movie l like more than l should because Amy Steel (final girl in "Friday the 13th Part ll") is in it. 😍🥰 But yeah, the movie's a one-trick pony that only works on rewatches after enough years pass between viewings for you to forget about it. Shame. 😪
DeleteI watched a 25-minute, The Twilight Zone-inspired fan edit of Spider-Man 3 called "The Sand Man," based on a YouTube suggestion by CinemaStix, which is entirely focused on Flint Marko and Peter. And, it's... fine. Definitely less painful than watching the full movie, but it's still pretty thin soup. I guess it could make a decent appetizer to a screening of No Way Home.
ReplyDeleteAlso, Mike and Rich of Red Letter Media re:Viewed the first season of Star Trek: Voyager this week, which, along with their first season review of Deep Space Nine, easily makes for the most exciting Trek content of the year so far, amirite, folks? :P
I'm trying to download the video, but i'm on my phone, so i can't copy/paste the link. I guess i'll do it at home tomorrow
DeleteSpiderman 3 grew up on me. There's a ton of problems, but i enjoy sandman and eddie brock. Emo Peter is the main issue here.
Voyager is my favorite Trek, so i'm psyched about the new RLM video
Last time l saw "Spider-Man 3" was in a theater packed with fans a couple of years back. Though the cheese is thick and the Emo Peter dancing can't be redeemed the post-"No Way Home" love toward Tobey Maguire was strong. It was an enjoyable watch because there are good scenes/moments in "3" if can put up with the rain of garbage around them. 🫤🧐
DeleteI think Spider-Man 3's core problem is it lacks a compelling reason to exist. By the end of 2, Peter had become an experienced hero, and got the girl. He and James Franco's Harry Osborn never had any compelling chemistry or credible history as friends, so their confrontation fundamentally lacks interest. (Their being buddies in the first movie, given they seem to have nothing in common, was at least as far-fetched as the whole superpowers-from-a-spider-bite thing.) The other two villains feel tossed in at random. It's a movie made from contractual obligations, plain and simple.
DeleteAnd, for all the flack the MCU gets for making movies that are glorified TV episodes that play in theaters, I hold that Raimi's trilogy feels much more like installments of a soap opera superhero TV series like Smallville than, say, the Jon Watts Spider-trilogy. From the almost purely suburban Homecoming to the European tour of Far From Home to the multiversal shenanigans of No Way Home, each of those movies feel much more distinct, IMO.
Very few sequels have a compelling reason for existing beyond keeping the money train rolling. The few that do it well have either passionate filmmakers with something to say, a story too big for just one feature and/or understanding/patient fans willing to cut the studio some slack. The "Lord of The Rings" trilogy qualifies, but the follow-up "Hobbit" trilogy falls into the "Spider-Man 3" sequel trap you described, Gaith. Dollar signs took over. 🤑🙄
DeleteBased on most behind-the-scenes stories about the making of "3," though, to me it's a clear case of studio interference messing up a mediocre-at-worst thing, aka, the enormous audience goodwill earned after two movies' worth of character/narrative build-up (especially "Spider-Man 2" blowing the roof and improving from the good parts of the first film). Sam Raimi didn't want Venom, but the studio forced him onto a narrative that was already teetering with (a) Sandman as the villain (great for comics and cartoons, not an ideal live-action foe) and (b) a happy and content Peter Parker (as the end of "No Way Home" proves, Peter's dramatic worth increases the more miserable his life is). Too many cooks with different agendas doomed "3," which ironically seen with its prequels back-to-back is both better than its reputation (Kirsten Dunst's performance, Sandman's particle effects, J.K. Simmons still crushing it as JJJ, etc.) and fall-from-grace threequel poster child. 🫤🤓
THE HOBBIT: THE BATTLE OF THE FIVE ARMIES (2014)
ReplyDeleteI forgot how much Legolas is in this. He’s pretty much the third lead.
THE BOONDOCK SAINTS (1999)
To paraphrase Tom Servo, “Nobody’s THAT Irish!”
DAUGHTERS OF DARKNESS (1971)
The Elizabeth Bathory character has never quite taken off as a proper horror villainess, has she?
MEN IN BLACK INTERNATIONAL (2019)
They tried making this one more action and less comedy, but it ended up all boring.
BACK TO THE FUTURE PART II (1989)
Apologies for being sacrilegious, but to me the BTTF sequels are pale shadows of the classic original. That said, this one does reward fans with a lot of tiny fun details throughout. And it gave us hoverboards, so it’s all good.
RAISING ARIZONA (1987)
“Well, which is it, young fella? You want me to freeze or get down on the ground?”
I read The Hobbit several times during my youthful years. When I learned that Peter Jackson planned a trilogy for the story, I knew it would turn out a bloated mess. Maybe two films work at most for a slim novel, not three.
DeleteI mentioned it last week, but I highly recommend Lindsay Ellis video on the Hobbit movies. Not only they made bad movies, they screwed up New Zealand movie business. Jackson was merely a pawn in the studios hands
DeleteDid not get around to any movies this week.
ReplyDeleteI am looking forward to the start of the drive-in season. The Mahoning Drive-In opens next weekend with its traditional pairing of The Wizard of Oz and Charlie And The Chocolate factory. The screening of Barbarella the following Thursday might be my first visit there for the season.
Next week has some screenings at the Gap Theatre that I would love to attend. William Friedkin's Sorcerer is playing on Friday, and there is another Gap Grindhouse event on Saturday night. Everything depends on my schedule (things change quickly at the end of the tax season) and energy levels. Fingers crossed that I can get to at least one of the shows.
Lucky you. There are no drive-ins near NYC that l know of, but since l don't even own a car it's a mute point. 🙄😛 if l dud I'd try to go to screenings like "Sorcerer" all the time. 😎
DeleteIt looks like the Hudson Valley has a concentration of drive-ins. With all of the development in the greater New York City area, it would be hard for a drive-in movie theater to survive around there.
DeleteNortheast Pennsylvania has many options for drive-ins. There are four drive-in theaters within roughly an hour from my area in the Poconos. Two are in urban areas - Shankweiler's and The Circle - and the other two are around small towns (The Mahoning and Becky's). There are a couple more drive-ins a little further away near the city of Wilkes-Barre which I have never gone to.
My family lives in the Hudson Valley (Poughkeepsie, New Paltz, Kingston, etc.), will keep that in mind next time l visit the folks upstate. 🤓😎
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