Weekend Roundtable: Collecting Movie Franchises
It seems like every movie Hollywood makes these days has to be part of an epic multi-part franchise of endless sequels and prequels and reboots. As home theater fans, what movie franchises do you feel...
View Article40 Questions About ‘Avengers: Age of Ultron’– Spoilers Within
Two years ago, I found myself in the sights of James Bond fans everywhere. While ‘Skyfall’ was becoming the highest-grossing entry in the long-running 007 franchise, I scratched my head wondering how...
View Article‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ Review: Absolute Automotive Insanity
Until I was actually sitting in a theater watching ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’, I wasn’t entirely convinced that it had actually been made. Sure, I’d seen the trailers, but after years of false starts the...
View Article‘Pitch Perfect 2′ Review: Good Sequel, But Not Perfect
‘Pitch Perfect’ was a little comedy that could. It arrived with no expectations, performed better than anticipated, and then gradually built up a cult audience of fans who couldn’t believe they were...
View Article‘Insidious: Chapter 3′ Review: Time to Close This Book
When ‘Insidious’ was released five years ago, it felt like a bit of a breath of fresh air in the horror genre that avoided graphic torture porn excess and Found-Footage sloppiness trends for a more...
View Article‘Jurassic World’ Review: Bigger, Louder, Dumber
It’s amazing how a few decades can change standards in moviegoing. In 1993, simply seeing Steven Spielberg throw credible dinosaurs up on the big screen qualified as an unprecedented success of...
View Article‘Ted 2′ Review: More of the Same (For Better or Worse)
The simplest way to describe ‘Ted 2′ is something along the lines of, “It is what it is.” If you liked the first ‘Ted‘ (or any of Seth MacFarlane’s crude comedy output), you’ll probably like this one....
View Article‘Terminator Genisys’ Review: Guess What, He’s Back
‘Terminator Genisys’ is technically the fifth film in the 30-year-old franchise, but as James Cameron or anyone who was actually involved in the project will tell you, it’s really the third official...
View Article‘Magic Mike XXL’ Review: More Mike, Less Magic
Well, here’s a new one: a movie about male strippers is now officially a franchise. Steven Soderbergh’s ‘Magic Mike‘ was a truly unexpected charmer when it popped up on screens with glistening abs and...
View Article‘Minions’ Review: Meh, It’s Fine
The ‘Despicable Me’ franchise might not have been perfect, but it produced some animated icons in the bumbling Minions. Sporting a simple design and sputtering out cute gibberish, the Minions were...
View Article‘Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation’ Review: Tired Spy Games
It’s bizarre to think that Tom Cruise managed to will an old TV series into a film franchise that’s kept trucking for 19 years and counting. Yet here we are with a fifth ‘Mission: Impossible’ movie...
View Article‘Sinister 2′ Review: Superflous Sequeling
Combining a clever premise that twisted around old genre tropes, a creepy villain, some stellar scares, a solid cast and a delightfully fetishistic use of 8mm film stock, Sinister‘ was a pleasant...
View Article‘Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension’ Review: A Convoluted Conclusion
Five sequels later, it’s still hard to believe that ‘Paranormal Activity’ became the second most successful horror franchise of the decade. Over the last eight years, it’s become an endlessly extended...
View Article‘Spectre’ Review: A Bond-Sized Victory Lap
At its best, the Daniel Craig era of James Bond has been all about reinvention. ‘Casino Royale’ kicked things off with an origin story that allowed the Bond conventions to be twisted through the...
View Article‘The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 2′ Review: An Appropriately Dour Finale
Through a haze of shadowy and barely visible cinematography, ‘The Hungers Games’ saga has finally reached its predictably cheerless end. The YA series which hinged on televised child murder is one of...
View Article‘Creed’ Review: ‘Rocky’ Sequel/Spin-Off Punches Above Its Weight
I have to admit that I approached ‘Creed’ filled with cynicism and was convinced that I’d hate it. The mere concept of extending the already overblown ‘Rocky’ franchise was bad enough, but to do it...
View Article‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ Review: Thrilling Fan Service
I’m not sure if you’re aware of this, but there’s a ‘Star Wars’ movie opening this weekend. A new one too. Not a Special Edition. Not even a prequel. In fact, George Lucas isn’t involved for reasons...
View ArticleThe Trailer Park: Apocalypse Next Summer
Hollywood’s obsession with adapting popular comic books is not slowing down in the slightest. In fact, it only seems to be growing and expanding to the point of bloating cinemas with superhero...
View Article‘Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip’ Review: Alvin, Simon, Such a Bore…
If you were to go out into the streets right now and start asking people if they liked the ‘Alvin and the Chipmunks’ movies, you likely wouldn’t find a single person who said yes. Yet there’s a new...
View ArticleThe Trailer Park: Another Summer of Sequels
2016 is ramping up to be a year loaded with sequels. Some cater to decades-old favorites, while others try to reboot beloved series. ‘Independence Day: Resurgence’ I must admit that I’ve never been a...
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