As far as I can tell, the new Apple TV+ series The Changeling is not meant to have any direct connection to either the 1980 haunted house movie of the same title starring George C. Scott or to Clint Eastwood’s 2008 kidnapped-child drama called Changeling starring Angelina Jolie. I say “as far as I can… Read More Sad Truth Is Better Than a Happy Lie | The Changeling (2023) Apple TV+ Series Premiere
Even though the first attempt to make a theatrical feature film (in animated form) based on Hasbro’s popular Transformers toy line resulted in a big box office bust back in 1986, the property remained too valuable over the years to resist trying again. By 2007, visual effects technology had evolved and improved to the point… Read More Car Picks the Driver | Transformers (2007) Blu-ray
Disney’s sci-fi opus The Black Hole was the first movie I ever saw in a theater. At least, it’s the first movie I remember seeing in a theater. I was only five-years-old at the time, and looking back now, can’t imagine why my mother would have chosen to endure something like this with me. Nonetheless,… Read More 20 Billion Leagues in Outer Space | The Black Hole (1979)
The extended Nintendo commercial known as The Wizard has no business working at all, on any level, much less surviving for 30+ years with a modest audience of fans willing to revisit it from time to time. Unlike other notable cult films (such as the 1993 Super Mario Bros., which this pairs well with), I… Read More Sure Plays a Mean Super Mario Bros. 3 | The Wizard (1989) Blu-ray
Considering the multitude of problems working against it, the 2023 movie version of The Flash probably should have been even more of a disaster than it was. Make no mistake, the film was one of the biggest box office failures of the summer. Combined with mixed reviews and tons of negative publicity about its star’s… Read More Not Every Problem Has a Solution | The Flash (2023)
A notorious flop in its day, the 1993 live-action movie version of Super Mario Bros. is a fascinating disaster. The film feels like it was made by people who knew nothing about video games and, specifically, never had any interest in Nintendo’s smash hit Super Mario Bros. in the first place. In a strange way,… Read More Vote Koopa | Super Mario Bros. (1993) Blu-ray
Between The Last of Us on TV and The Super Mario Bros. Movie in theaters, 2023 may have finally broken the longstanding curse against video games being adapted to film or television. Both have been enormously popular in their respective mediums. Coincidentally (maybe?), fungus plays a major role in both stories. Are audiences finally ready… Read More Everybody Loves Mushrooms | The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023)
Once at the top of Hollywood’s A-List, by the mid-1990s director William Friedkin hadn’t made a solid box office hit in over two decades. In desperate need of (in the terms of his favorite sport) an easy lay-up, the former Oscar winner was reduced to banging out a Basic Instinct knockoff that frankly seemed beneath… Read More Money, Sex and Power | Jade (1995)
William Friedkin, who passed away last week at age 87, was a provocateur who enjoyed nothing more than to make movies that would push people’s buttons. In that regard, perhaps no project of his was more challenging than Cruising. The subject of intense criticism and controversy in its day, the film is still a hard… Read More One Day This Whole City’s Gonna Explode | Cruising (1980) Blu-ray
Although the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles phenomenon petered out in the mid-1990s after the disaster of its third live-action movie and the end of its original TV cartoon, plans for another film that would circle back to animation were discussed throughout the early 2000s. At one point, John Woo was even supposed to direct it.… Read More Man, I Love Being a Turtle! | TMNT (2007) Blu-ray
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