Saving the Soul of a Movie Franchise

The Batsuit of The Dark Knight, worn by Christian Bale. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Forgive my pedantry here, but there are feature film Remakes, feature film Re-Adaptations of non-feature film material and – the subject of this article - Reboots. When I read lists of good or bad remakes I often see a mishmash of these three and yet each is quite different. Remakes are films that make a clear attempt to produce a new version of a single film. A re-adaptation, in the context of this article, describes a second or subsequent adaptation of a novel, a play, video game or some other non-feature film source material. A movie reboot occurs when an established franchise of films starts anew. The overwhelming majority of reboots will start with a remake or a re-adaption, but the motive of the producers is to refresh an established franchise anew, disregarding previous continuities. A good reboot meets the torturous task of doing justice to the core “spirit” of the original work with obvious respect whilst laying believable foundations for the rest of the series. A bad reboot does the complete opposite. Therefore, the purpose of this frivolous and unashamedly geeky article is to put forward my favourite and least favourite attempts to refresh a movie franchise. 

Vigilante Thriller with Pedigree? - Review of the Brave One

Cover of The Brave One [Blu-ray]

 Plot:

Erica Bain (Jodie Foster) is an outspoken radio host. Her expressive opinions on her late night show have recently been focusing on the decay of her neighbourhood. One night she and her partner are victims of a vicious and unprovoked assault. Both are serious injured with only Erica surviving the attack. Struck by fear, she illegally purchases a gun. Finding herself in another violent incident she uses it and begins a life as a vigilante. Meanwhile, Detective Sean Mercer (Terence Howard) is appalled by the corruption he sees around him...

Review:

I always find it interesting to see what a very high calibre and respected artist can do with a simple and sensationalist genre. The last 15 years or so have seen an increasing number of writers, directors and actors decide to see what they can do with a populist medium. I would like to think that they were all inspired to do this in the same artistic vein that Alfred Hitchcock, considered by many to be history’s greatest director, decided to tackle a horror with “Psycho”. However, I cannot see Wilhelm Defoe and

Top Ten Best Movie Villains

Image via Wikipedia

This article was written out of total unashamed (or perhaps even shameless) self-indulgence. It is shamelessly low brow geeky and will probably never find its way into any self-respecting publication. However, when I first started writing paid online reviews this topic cropped up and I just couldn’t resist the urge to put my thoughts down. Villains are fascinating characters in fiction whether it is on the big screen, as the ones below are, or in literature. Without them we don’t get the contrast with the heroes. However, there is something much than that. The villain often speaks the words we dare not speak or presents us the line we dare not tread…