Review Roundup - Bustin'

GHOSTBUSTERS AFTERLIFE (2021)

Another week, another soft reboot. Looking back, it seems as though the success of The Force Awakens is a deeply cursed moment in box office history. Now you can never escape the likes of another psuedo-sequel to Jurassic Park or yet another time-shifting Terminator movie. Even a series like Halloween that was already weighed down by remakes can't escape. And so we come to Ghostbusters, a one-time affair in which sarcastic humour and 1980s special effects wizardry came together to create real movie magic. The second instalment was a hit and miss affair depending who you ask. Then a lot of years went by and Harold Ramis passed away. How could a part three ever happen? 

Review Roundup - Dodge This

THE MATRIX RESURRECTIONS (2021)

The Matrix was a film that came out in 1999. A film that borrowed liberally from the Eastern kicks of Hong Kong cinema, as well as the cyberpunk aesthetics of Japanese animation. An almost perfect distillation of various influences that changed Hollywood action movies, and the career of a certain leading man. But it was one film. The one, if you like. Two sequels, some video-games and even several comic books later, and it remains a stand-alone movie in many respects. There was no lasting impact after the 'Year of The Matrix.' There were no pop culture changing repercussions as a result of the swamp of multimedia projects that were released. In some ways the sequels drained any impetus the whole thing had. The same is still very much true today.

Weekend Retrospective - Beware of Scorpio

WEEKEND WITH CLINT

This originally started out as a fresh look at the Dirty Harry series. One of those slow grey sort of weekends where a whole movie series just kind of watches itself. However, along the way there ended up being a slight detour and a kind of post viewing epilogue, which I will get to shortly. My memory was pretty fuzzy on some of the sequels, so it was interesting to see how much (if any) of it had stood the test of time. As you can imagine certain elements don't quite hold up, while others are always a treat. So to get things started let's join the original loose cannon himself, Harry Callahan, as he reels off a few good lines and a hits a few road bumps on the path to the Scorpio killer.

Scorecard

NOVEMBER

FILM OF THE MONTH - Evil Dead II ☆☆☆☆