DECEMBER
FILM OF THE MONTH: The Adventures of Robin Hood ☆☆☆☆
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?
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 several comic books later, and it remains a stand-alone movie in many respects. The sequels had no lasting impact after the 'Year of The Matrix.' There were no real repercussions as a result of that swamp of multimedia projects. In some ways the sequels drained any impetus the whole thing had. The same is still very much true today.