An interesting article up at Salon.com this morning that discusses the inordinate number of sequels and/or prequels to be released for the 2003, movie season. While I already knew about the two new Matrix movies, The Return of the King, Terminator 3, and X2 (X-Men 2), I wasn't aware there were so many other big budget sequels. For some reason I loved Desperado - achingly cool movie - and was surprised to see a sequel was in the works, but did we really need a sequel to The Whole Nine Yards or the prequel Exorcist: The Beginning?
Hit the forums to discuss what movies you're looking forward to this year, or click the read more button for ... well more.The article goes on to say:
Antonio Banderas reprises his gunslinging Â"DesperadoÂ" role in Â"Once Upon a Time in MexicoÂ"; Reese Witherspoon has a new day in court with Â"Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & BlondeÂ"; Jackie Chan and Owen Wilson follow up Â"Shanghai NoonÂ" with Â"Shanghai KnightsÂ"; and Bruce Willis and Matthew Perry of Â"The Whole Nine YardsÂ" make a new hitman comedy, Â"The Whole Ten Yards.Â"
There's also Â"Barbershop 2,Â" Â"Bad Boys II,Â" Â"Jungle Book 2,Â" Â"Spy Kids 3Â" and Â"Scary Movie 3.Â"
I've grown a bit critical of movies these days, no more or less so than I've grown of television, and very little here seems to be making me particlularly hot or bothered. As I progressed through the article, it described some "original" works (original now simply defined as not being a sequel of some kind, I suppose). Only 'The Hulk' really intrigues me from that list, but only because I have some degree of confidence in the director, and recent comic book movies have been satisfying experiences.
Here's a little more, then off to the forums with you! Or back to work, whichever.
Among big fall and holiday releases:
Mike Myers in Â"Dr. Seuss' the Cat in the HatÂ"; Tom Cruise in Â"The Last Samurai,Â" about a U.S. soldier teaching modern warfare in 1870s Japan; Â"Cold Mountain,Â" starring Nicole Kidman in an adaptation of the best-seller set during the Civil War; the Coen brothers' battle-of-the-sexes story Â"Intolerable Cruelty,Â" with George Clooney; Julia Roberts as a freethinking art professor in Â"Mona Lisa SmileÂ"; Â"Out of Time,Â" starring Denzel Washington as a cop troubled by a double homicide; Uma Thurman as a vengeful former assassin in Quentin Tarantino's Â"Kill BillÂ"; and Â"The Alamo,Â" with Billy Bob Thornton and Dennis Quaid in a new dramatization of the infamous last stand.
- Elysium
Comments
I'm relatively easy to please when it comes to movies, a trait I think I learned from my wife. Sequels, in and of themselves, don't bother me; bad sequels (or sequels to bad movies) do.
Robocop? Good movie, bad sequels.
Alien? Good movie, great sequel (I'm much more an action fan than a horror one), steadily worsening sequels after that.
Terminator? Tar and feather me for liking T2 at least as much as T, and for thinking T3 looks to be an explosive trip.
Star Wars? Good movies, bad prequels. (Though watching Dooku hack off Anakin's hand and then Force-push him away sent shivers up my spine; I turned to my wife in the theater and giggled, "I've done that in Jedi Knight II!")
Legally Blonde was funny enough, and is one of my wife's favorite movies, so the thought of a sequel isn't an auto-turnoff for me. And what action movie fan didn't like Bad Boys? I'm surprised it's taken them this long to produce a second one, given the ever-ascending star that is Will Smith.
"but did we really need a sequel to The Whole Nine Yards"
YES, if it has Amanda Peet naked again.
well the story in the whole nine yards came to a pretty good ending.
that would be the only reason we wouldnt need a sequel.
other than that, i surprisingly enjoyed the whole nine yards.
This is indicative of the whole entertainment industry, IMO. Most of the major media conglomerates have gotten soft, they know they can ride thier copyrights forever, so they just sit back and take money for doing nothing new. Its all just complacency, which is the result of a monopoly. Of course, this one is a government granted monopoly, but that doesn't make them any less complacent. They know that people have fond memories, which they own the exclusive rights to exploit, and therefore they don't have to create anything new to profit.
Not that its all bad, the comic book and novel treatments on the silver screen have been pretty well done and enjoyable, but I dont like the direction its all headed. Theyre going to keep doing this shit until one of two things happens, either the management has a changing of the guard or this stops becoming profitable and they go out of business.
I didn't hate the hole nine yards or anything, I actually quite liked it, but the last thing I expected was a sequel to it. I didnt think it did that well at the box office. Other than that it looks to be the year of the sequel, which could be a bad or good thing. Im not to sure which one though.
Top of my list is probably Hellboy by Del Toro (think Blade 2 turned up to 11)
Intolerable Cruelty I'm looking forward to as well cos it has Clooney in it and is being done by the godlike Coen Brothers.
and Darkness falls cos it has Emma Caulfield in it and we need to get married one day in Vegas.