Allan Quatermain & The Lost City of Gold (1986) – Gary Nelson

Gary Nelson, who directed my beloved The Black Hole, directed the sequel to 1985’s King Solomon’s Mines, Allan Quatermain & The Lost City of Gold, which was filmed back to back with the first film. In fact, it steals a large portion of Jerry Goldsmith’s score for the first film as a way to save…

Halloween 5: The Revenge of Micheal Myers (1989) -Dominique Othenin-Girard

So it was bad enough that Carpenter delivered a script he didn’t believe in that made Micheal Myers/The Shape into Laurie Strode’s brother in Halloween II. Then things got worse when they continued with the Myers tale in Halloween 4 by introducing little Jamie (Danielle Harris) as Micheal’s niece and new target upon his return…

Halloween 4: The Return of Micheal Myers (1988) – Dwight H. Little

Apparently both Dr. Loomis (Donald Pleasance) and Micheal Myers (George P. Wilbur – who doesn’t have the same sense of menace) survived the explosive events of Halloween II, and Halloween, despite the way both films ended, both characters seem to keep coming back. Following the franchise stumble of Halloween III, though it has gone on…

Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One (2023) – 4K

Tom Cruise returns as IMF agent Ethan Hunt in his seventh Mission: Impossible outing Dead Reckoning Part One which comes home on 4K and physical media today from Paramount Canada. It’s epic and brings in a number of story and character threads from the entire franchise and, of course, looks absolutely stunning in 4K. This…

Halloween II (1981) – Rick Rosenthal

And this is where the problems with the Halloween sequels start. Is it canon? Is it not? How do you define canon? John Carpenter got himself a producer’s credit for this film, as well as having a hand in editing and the music for the film, but the biggest indicator, no matter what he thought…

Star Trek: Prodigy – Escape Route (2023) – Cassandra Rose Clarke

The Protostar is gone, and its young crew, Dal, Gwyn, Rok, Murf, Jankom and Zero are in a lone shuttlecraft making its way slowly to Earth in the new young readers adventure from Cassandra Rose Clarke and released by Simon & Schuster. Set during the season one finale, Supernova, the crew are travelling to Earth…

Evil Dead Rise (2023) – Lee Cronin

Lee Cronin wrote and directed Evil Dead Rise a nice new spin on the classic horror franchise that promises the ultimate in grueling horror. As much as I love the originals, and Bruce Campbell, I love that the new films have eschewed some of the comedic elements and really leaned into the brutal gore and…

Rush Hour 2 (2001) – Brett Ratner

So the racism, sexism and homophobia are back on display in the follow-up to the break-out hit, Rush Hour. Rush Hour 2 brings Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker back into action as Lee and Carter in a sequel that looks worlds better than the first but is still steeped in the same racist issues as…