reboot
Picture a world where women live in fear of men’s violent outbursts. This all too relevant scenario is where episode 7 of the Twilight Zone reboot begins.
Three episodes in and the new Twilight Zone has been way too blatant so far, hopefully the remaining episodes aren’t as predictable.
While Peele’s The Twilight Zone is an improvement compared to the previous reboots, viewers are better off revisiting Serling’s original series.
Halloween ends strongly, which always helps, but the picture lacks imagination in too many other areas to have any lasting impact.
The Predator is a brainless, tone deaf picture, that is quite easily the worst thing writer/director Shane Black has ever laid his hands on.
Jigsaw may not be the worst installment in the Saw saga, but with essential pieces to the puzzle missing, there was much to be desired.
War for the Planet of the Apes is a must-see, visually stunning achievement and a satisfying addition to the series.
The Godzilla franchise has had a long and storied history, dating back to the original motion picture of 1954 directed by Ishirō Honda. Produced and distributed by famed Japanese film studio Toho, the original feature has spawned multiple franchise sequels over the years, from both its country of origin and the United States. Starting with the 1956 Japanese-American remake of Honda’s original feature from only two years prior, Godzilla, King of the Monsters!
As a society, recent events have left us more divided than ever. The people on one side of this socio-political argument are trying to undermine unrepresented voices in the culture by calling for a cry back to the “good old days” and using hateful rhetoric in order to get what they want. The other side are being labelled as mere “liberals” with a politically correct agenda that isn’t attuned to the desires of the majority of people.
Concerning remakes in modern cinematic environments, there is a strong dominance during recent years involving large companies and production studios to provide audiences with an extensive range of remakes and indistinguishable plots and storylines with the twist of live action appearances. Speculations regarding Disney in particular are most prominent in terms of feature film announcements, with approximately 16 possible films arriving in the future that focus on existing narratives and characters. There are different approaches to this that Disney are experimenting on, from remaking the same story faithfully, adapting a different spin to the classics or even creating long awaited sequels – such as Mary Poppins Returns, set for release Dec 2018.
The ideology of originality in modern day cinema is a debate that is frequently discussed and examined, comparing it to what was considered the ‘Golden Age of Cinema’ in the 1900’s. Particularly regarded are the similar story lines and plots that are overused and are becoming somewhat identical, which can comprise of reboots of existing features, superheroes, etc. Along with the sheer amount of sequels that reoccur frequently even when audiences may not particularly want them, leading to them being ignored or neglected.
Fantastic Four is a film that people wanted to hate from the start. First, there was the controversial casting of Michael B. Jordan as the traditionally white character Johnny Storm; shortly following this was the discovery that Victor Von Doom was a computer hacker instead of a brilliant inventor; finally, there was the casting itself, which involved younger characters just finishing high school, whereas most adaptations of the story present the Fantastic Four as adults.
Two decades after the original Jurassic Park became the most successful film of all time at that point and ushered in the era of CGI, the blockbuster cinema landscape is very different. With Marvel Cinematic Universe, franchises six or seven sequels deep, and young-adult dystopias dominating the big releases more and more every year, original screenplays or adaptations of adult-oriented novels are struggling to make an impact – it is inconceivable that Steven Spielberg’s classic could have been released today with anything near the same level of success as in 1993. And so while the original film has a devoted fan base, few would have thought there was that much demand for a new Jurassic Park film, especially after its two increasingly inferior sequels.
Sequels sell like hotcakes. Filmgoers cannot be faulted for summing up today’s film industry simply as that. We don’t really need to draw up any charts or statistics to figure out that half of the films in 2015 consist of sequels.
Back in January Neill Blomkamp, the director of District 9, Elysium and the forthcoming Chappie posted online some intriguing fan/concept art for an as-yet-announced project related to the now floundering Alien franchise. The art featured some very intriguing illustrations of not only Sigourney Weaver as an almost fully evolved Ripley/xenomorph hybrid but also Michael Biehn as a battle scarred Corporal Hicks. At the time nobody knew what they were for: