Sequels
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"Final Destination 5" Puts the Gory in Allegory for a Look at Extreme Corporate Downsizing
There's not much to say on the quality of "Final Destination 5" other than it's the best-directed of the series since the second installment. And if you're a fan of the first two movies, even if not the subsequent two, you should enjoy the latest just as much. The kills are just as elaborate and tense as ever in their Rube Goldbergian fashion, but for some reason they're also more exaggerated in their implausibility. Skulls are completely squashed by objects not likely to have such impact, people crash through windows that one would expect to be stronger, a gymnast twists into a grim position that nobody even on screen accepts as making any s...
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Which Documentary Should Get a Sequel?
As I noted in my latest Doc Talk column at Movies.com, we will have seen at least seven documentary sequels bow in 2011 (see the titles profiled in my column). That's still well short of the record number of fiction follow-ups we're experiencing this year, but it still seems nonfiction ...
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"Rise of the Planet of the Apes" is the Best Remake of "Project X" Since "Project Nim"
When I made the joke months ago that people should see "Project Nim" because it's basically like a prequel to "Rise of the Planet of the Apes," I didn't realize just how similar the two movies would really be. It's more like "ROTPOTA" is a dramatic remake of the recent documentary, which also relates it very closely to "Project X." Back when "Nim" arrived in theaters I revisited "X" to see how it compared in retrospect. And while I'm only partially familiar with the "Planet of the Apes" sequels most closely used as reference material for this rebooted installment (the plot is somewhere within the spirits of "Escape" and "Conquest"), I've conc...
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"Captain America: The First Avenger" Captivates But Has Little Care for Character
Ten years ago, Joe Johnston directed "Jurassic Park III," a much-maligned sequel to the Steven Spielberg original(s) that can be enjoyed if you forgive the more cartoonish, Joe Dante-esque turn of the series (speaking of which, Dante should helm part IV). And it's not really too much worse than Spielberg's own sequel ("The Lost World"). Now Johnston gives us the latest "Avengers" franchise title, "Captain America: The First Avenger," and at many times it begs to be thought of as an entry in Spielberg's "Indiana Jones" series. Again, it's a cartoonish distortion of the original(s), but it's also not any worse than the last Spielberg-directed i...
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Watch Every 2011 Action Movie at Once in This Awesome Mashup Montage
First off, congrats to "Another Earth" and "Bellflower" for making the cut as two of the more obscure films to be featured in this primarily Hollywood blockbuster-centric mashup. More kudos to the former, actually, for kicking it off. Foreign martial arts flicks are to be expected, even those not well known at the multiplex, in a montage of the year's action movies (set to "This is War" by 30 Seconds to Mars), but these Sundance favorites should feel they've made it now that they're being spliced up against stuff like "Transformers: Dark of the Moon" and "Fast Five." Of course, indie or studio, these films do pretty much come from similar inf...
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5 Reasons Tom Hanks Should Be in "Transformers: Dark of the Moon" Instead of "Larry Crowne"
Watching the trailer for "Larry Crowne," the new film directed by Tom Hanks and starring he and Julia Roberts, you get the idea that there's something we're not seeing. The marketing must simply be selling this thing to as broad an audience as possible and avoiding the substance, right? Well, the reviews are coming in (Dan will share some thoughts later in the week) and it's apparently actually as insignificant as it looks. What could have been Hanks' motivation other than owing a favor to co-screenwriter Nia Vardalos, who surely made him a ton of money with her surprise hit "My Big Fat Greek Wedding"? Okay, that might be good enough reason, ...
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"Transformers: Dark of the Moon" Might Just Be the Greatest Political Allegory of Our Time
The following is a lengthy discussion of elements of “Transformers: Dark of the Moon” which contains some minor spoilers.
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5 Ideas for a "Wet Hot American Summer" Sequel
Something appropriate for the first day of summer:
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"X-Men: First Class" is a Fantastical Trip Through History and Interchangeable Subtexts
The following is a lengthy discussion of elements of "X-Men: First Class" which contains some minor spoilers.
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