tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12380553.post6602914861337913026..comments2024-03-27T10:27:59.266-04:00Comments on John Kenneth Muir's Reflections on Cult Movies and Classic TV: Ask JKM a Question: To Sequel or not to Sequel?John Kenneth Muirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15629979615332893780noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12380553.post-28040846728190581862016-03-15T05:00:44.679-04:002016-03-15T05:00:44.679-04:00Though it's not the same, and I would have pre...Though it's not the same, and I would have preferred these sequels to play out on the big screen, The Black Hole, The Thing, and Big Trouble in Little China have seen comic book sequels. The Black Hole sequel actually came out soon after the film did. I'm assuming they'd already come up with a a treatment and didn't want to see it go to waste. Michael Giammarinonoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12380553.post-47947009467039538312016-03-14T22:16:31.617-04:002016-03-14T22:16:31.617-04:00Some great points here and I couldn't agree mo...Some great points here and I couldn't agree more about a Hobbit movie that could have worked like a desert as a tight disciplined single film. Well said.<br /><br />And I have had John Carter (Of Mars) on my radar since your review. I still have yet to see it, but one day I will.<br /><br />And I love your bold pronouncements regarding the Star Wars franchise. I mean it. It needs to be said. I was very disappointed in the new film. The universe feels tired to me. I'm glad it makes people happy, like the superhero films, but sadly, the once magnificent Star Wars is quickly succumbing to the super hero excesses that I deplore. Perhaps I'll be proven wrong, but I'm not feeling it.SFFhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04256589316922398158noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12380553.post-75194881323466322442016-03-14T20:47:20.448-04:002016-03-14T20:47:20.448-04:00No other on your list do I agree with more than Bu...No other on your list do I agree with more than <b>Buckaroo Banzai Against the World Crime League</b>. Equally, though, I must dispute <b>The Thing</b>. Accessory 2011 prequel experiment aside, I just don't see the 1981 original as franchise worthy. And I doubt Carpenter ever did either. The way it ends on a note of (nihilistic) ambiguity—such a denouement, in statement and overall attitude, is part and parcel to the film's lasting greatness. The story of those men and of Macready, his purpose as a character, is played out in full by the closing credits; following up on the actual fate of him and Childs, no matter how twisty-inventive, would do nothing but dilute as much. I think it's best left, most affecting, as a standalone piece.<br /><br />In place of, regarding Carpenter, how about <b>Ghost of Mars</b>? To me that one pretty much ends on the cusp of a much larger narrative where Lt. Ballard and Desolation Williams must either save Mars or get the hell off it once and for all and, in tandem, where they as characters were ripe for further thematic possibilities: the sheriff and the outlaw archetypes as an established buddy team. <br /><br />Others:<br /><b>Streets of Fire<br />Time Bandits<br />Lifeforce<br />The Rocketeer</b><br /><br />And above all, <b>Dredd</b>. It's franchise-ready abandonment is practically a <i>crime</i>.<br /> Cannonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12886860130286869992noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12380553.post-63159372480062117792016-03-14T17:01:53.372-04:002016-03-14T17:01:53.372-04:00As loath as I am to suggest anything even remotely...As loath as I am to suggest anything even remotely resembling "stealing", I have to recommend the Tolkien Edit of The Hobbit. It still isn't the lighter kids book that Tolkien almost smashed to bits in his second edition, but it's a heck of a lot closer than that flying mess that includes "Uncanny Valley Pretty Boy" (Legolas).<br /><br />Legolas was so creepy that the avatar's presence in a scene nuked my Suspension of Disbelief so hard that I could barely get it back again before he came back.<br /><br />The Hobbit is why Peter Jackson desperately needs a producer with final control for every project from here to eternity.Kentucky Packrathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01444480982718107017noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12380553.post-77063923733220188812016-03-14T16:51:47.056-04:002016-03-14T16:51:47.056-04:00John absolutely agree with all your thoughts on th...John absolutely agree with all your thoughts on this. Those films deserved a sequel with franchise potential, unlike the others that were not worthy at all.<br /><br />SGBSGBhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07137406272001346149noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12380553.post-60506909151587005672016-03-14T16:23:34.643-04:002016-03-14T16:23:34.643-04:00I waited a long time for Talon's next adventur...I waited a long time for Talon's next adventure: Tales of an Ancient Empire. It finally came out in 2012 about three decades after being teased in the closing credits of The Sword and the Sorcerer... and it was astoundingly wretched. Not in a glorious so-bad-it's-good way like the first film either.nowherehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12125582590094636085noreply@blogger.com