TheRetroCritic

Because found-footage surprise hit The Blair Witch Project was made for peanuts back in 1999 and made a ridiculous amount of money at the box-office, it was inevitable that a remake would happen at some point. Finally, in 2016 we got Blair Witch , a sequel/reboot looking to revamp the franchise. Like with most modern horror remakes, this is a thinly veiled reboot dressed up like a sequel but there's really nothing about it that directly connects Blair Witch from the original except for the fact that one of the characters is the brother of the girl from the first movie but it's not like we ever see her so it might as well have been a completely unrelated bunch entering the creepy woods many years later. Amusingly, none of the people involved in this new expedition appear to have learned anything from previous events making these guys far dumber than the last ones. James (James Allen McCune) is the brother looking for his sister even though he doesn't seem too concerned

Zoolander 2 wasn't the only belated comedy sequel 2016 had to offer, we also got Bad Santa 2 , the follow-up to the surprisingly good Bad Santa , released back in 2003. It's unclear why we got a second instalment this late in the game or who asked for it but the original was fun so hey, why not have a sequel? Bad Santa was a refreshing remedy to corny, forgettable Christmas comedies: dirty jokes, Billy Bob Thornton in a Santa costume soiling himself, a heist plot. And yet it had just enough Christmas spirit to catch you off guard and work as both a seasonal treat and a dark comedy. In Bad Santa 2, we catch up to the same characters 13 years later as Marcus (Tony Cox) invites Willie (Billy Bob Thornton) to join him for one last job where they would be stealing millions from a charity in Chicago. This time, they are collaborating with Willie's mother Sunny (Kathy Bates) but a lot of back-stabbing quickly takes place. Meanwhile, an all grown up but still completely naive

Tom Cruise returns with  Jack Reacher: Never Go Back , the first sequel to 2012's successful action thriller Jack Reacher based on a series of novels by Lee Child. A much less flashy franchise than the Mission: Impossible series, the Jack Reacher films aim for a darker, grittier take on the genre more akin to an episode of 24 than a bombastic blockbuster. While lower key than some of Cruise's other vehicles, the first film did include some stand-out elements like the deliciously tense Bullitt -style car chase, the inspired casting choice of Werner Herzog as the intimidating main villain, a particularly brutal fist-fight and an instantly compelling plot. Most sequels tend to go bigger and sillier but Never Go Back takes a page out of the Bourne movies and keeps things relatively restrained. From the mostly star-free cast to the character-centric approach, this is, against all odds, a significantly less over-the-top film than its predecessor. Which is not to say it's

Here's the video version of my King Kong Escapes review.

Star Trek is back with yet another big-screen reboot sequel and, since the darker Star Trek Into Darkness  promised a return to the brighter tone of the old TV series in the next instalment, Star Trek Beyond had its work cut out, especially following its much-criticised first teaser trailer. The good news is that this is very easily the "Trekkiest" of all the reboot movies and, like a few of the old Star Trek movies, it feels like an extended episode of The Original Series... in a good way. Packed with lots of loving references from Spock's trademark eyebrow raise to Kirk always ripping his shirt and McCoy being thrown into situations he's not too keen on, this manages to be a fun homage without feeling like fan-fiction. With Justin Lin replacing J.J. Abrams as director, you can certainly expect more action, a LOT more action in fact, as this movie makes Into Darkness look like a business meeting. You've got the Enterprise being torn to shreds by space bees,

20 years after Will Smith first punched an alien in the face in the original Independence Day , director Roland Emmerich brings us a belated sequel to one of the 90's biggest blockbusters. Independence Day: Resurgence brings back some familiar faces while adding some young blood to the cast as those pesky extraterrestrials come back with an updated plan to destroy the world with a giant spaceship. Having to follow such a simple concept must have made the writing not too much of a chore and, indeed, the story is one of this sequel's best elements: it's more of the same except we delve deeper into how those aliens work (a lot like bees, it turns out) plus meet a brand new entity who is both an ally and a liability. There's enough there in terms of danger and intrigue to keep even the most reluctant viewer interested throughout. Add to that a reliably good Jeff Goldblum, a dramatic character arc involving Bill Pullman's ex-President plus lots of mindless destruct

I talk about Roland Emmerich's belated sci-fi sequel Independence Day: Resurgence . Welcome to Earth... again.

Having proven themselves to be an action movie duo worth sticking around for, Mel Gibson and Danny Glover joined forces again for Lethal Weapon 3 in 1992 and the film did reliably well at the box-office but how did the film compare to the franchise's previous two outings? It's easy to forget how serious in tone the first Lethal Weapon was, with Martin Riggs (Gibson) having suicidal tendencies and all, but if you were to skip the sequel and watch this third instalment right after the original you'd probably think you had somehow stumbled onto a live-action cartoon version of Shane Black's cop movie classic by mistake. Indeed, while Lethal Weapon 2 pushed the comedy aspect of the two main characters' unlikely friendship a tad more, this movie is mostly a straight-up lolfest with the exception of a couple of more emotional scenes. By giving Joe Pesci's mouthy informant/real estate agent Leo more screen-time, the film runs the risk of turning the character in

We talk at length about Star Wars: The Force Awakens on the first episode of podcast Force Majeure . Chewie, we're home.

After the success of the last two Kung Fu Panda movies, a third instalment was inevitable and the first two being as good as they were, the pressure was on for Dreamworks to not mess things up with a soulless cash-in. The good news is that Kung Fu Panda 3 is definitely not that and is actually a very decent, worthy second sequel. This time, Po (Jack Black) is tasked by Master Shifu (Dustin Hoffman) to teach his team mates Kung Fu but, of course, that soon backfires. Meanwhile, evil yak Kai (J.K. Simmons) comes back from the spirit world with the goal of taking the "Chi" from every Kung Fu master in the land. He goes on a rampage just as Po's long lost father  Li Shan (Bryan Cranston) shows up to take Po back to the panda village and show him the ways of the pandas. Both plots eventually meet and, once again, Po will have to learn a bunch of valuable lessons to defeat the villain and become the master he was destined to become. It's a busy sequel and, in lesse

Critics may not have quite embraced the first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie reboot but it nevertheless had enough Turtle Power to guarantee this sequel which sees our heroes in a half shell take on more larger-than-life baddies. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out Of The Shadows makes a genuine attempt to bring to life familiar characters from the comics and cartoons, which is very refreshing. By playing the classic theme song during the end credits and introducing the likes of Bebop & Rocksteady, Krang, Casey Jones and Baxter Stockman, this movie certainly earns some big fan points. Some of these characters had never made it to the big screen so there's definitely something to be said about finally doing that for those nostalgic about the source material. If only the Transformers movies cared this much. The plot of this film sees Krang (voiced by Brad Garrett) influence Shredder, who has escaped from prison, to open a portal through which the Technodrome could come

I talk a bit about Disney's new live-action sequel Alice Through The Looking Glass .

I talk briefly about X-Men: Apocalypse . 80's style!

Following the success of the first two films, it was obvious the turtles trilogy would soon be completed and, sure enough, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III was released in 1993 and it did well enough at the box-office despite receiving mostly negative reviews. The plot this time sees April O'Neil (Paige Turco) get sent back in time to feudal Japan because of some magical sceptre she found in a flea market. The turtles soon go after her but they find themselves quickly separated and in the middle of a local conflict between Lord Norinaga (Sab Shimono) and his own children who disagree with his desire for war and his dealings with shady English trader Walker (Stuart Wilson). Meanwhile, back in the New York sewers, Casey Jones (Elias Koteas) returns to babysit Splinter (now voiced by James Murray) and the Japanese warriors who have exchanged places with April and the turtles. The time travel aspect of the story is promising and yet you get the feeling right off the bat that it c

In 1991, everyone's favourite ninja turtles came back for a live-action sequel with a rather long title. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret Of The Ooze wasn't as violent or as dark as its predecessor, much lighter in tone, but it still did well at the box-office. Critics weren't quite as enthusiastic about this one since it clearly wanted to stay closer to the cartoons rather than introduce a moody element the way the first movie did but audiences still enjoyed the turtles' ninja antics. The plot, this time, involves the "ooze", the toxic green goop which once turned the titular teens into mutants as the scientist who created it (played by David Warner) is kidnapped by The Shredder with the goal of creating two monsters powerful enough to get rid of the turtles for him. A pizza delivery boy who practices martial arts (Ernie Reyes Jr's Keno) helps the turtles on their quest to find out the truth about their origins and defeat the bad guys.

Pee-wee Herman returned only a few years following his big screen debut Pee-wee's Big Adventure in this sequel which saw the off-beat man-child living on a farm and encounter a circus following an impromptu storm. Tim Burton sadly did not come back to direct this one though Danny Elfman stayed on as composer delivering a very circusy score. The first thing you'll notice watching Big Top Pee-wee is that gone are the toys and gadgets, Speck and the iconic bike Pee-wee worked so hard to recover the last time. There's something a little off-putting about seeing Pee-wee live on a farm in a completely normal and unexciting room after the colourful treat that was the last film. Add to that the fact he lives in a small town where everyone inexplicably hates his guts and this looks set to be a depressing watch. Luckily, Pee-wee soon reveals a secret room where he's working on silly secret experiments (hot dog trees etc.) and the circus soon appears thereby giving the film

Last week, Netflix released  Sword Of Destiny , a sequel to the Oscar-winning Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon . With Michelle Yeoh returning and Donnie Yen joining the cast, this looked like it had the potential to, at the very least, be entertaining. Co-produced by Harvey Weinstein, the film has been criticised for being too "Westernized" and seeing as the film's dialogs are spoken in English, cast members Jason Scott Lee, Harry Shum Jr and Natasha Liu Bordizzo are only partly Chinese and the whole thing is packed with CGI, I'd say that was a fair complaint. But the main problem with this sequel is it really bears little to no resemblance to the original both in terms of the story and the overall quality. Sure, there's mention of Chow Yun-Fat's Li Mu Bai (though the actor doesn't even cameo), Yeoh is present and the sword is once again a big deal but it's like Zhang Ziyi's entire character arc never happened, the flying sword fights are extrem

After the huge success that Jurassic Park was, director Steven Spielberg confidently followed the film four years later with sequel The Lost World: Jurassic Park , spinning off Jeff Goldblum's character in the original into his own movie. With the lead bringing his usual brand of irresistible stuttering charm and Spielberg back on directing duties, The Lost World seemed like a clear winner. While it certainly was a winner at the box-office (I mean, who wouldn't go see a Jurassic Park sequel?) it didn't exactly wow critics who delivered mixed reviews. The original film was ground-breaking in terms of special effects, bringing believable-looking dinosaurs to wide-eyed 90's audiences, but it was also a masterpiece of suspense and schlocky popcorn movie action. It walked a fine line between family-friendly fare and gory horror but it made it all work effortlessly. Making Dr. Ian Malcolm the main character in this one was a good call: his wry quips and chilled-out

In some extra audio from episode 58 of The Big Rewind podcast , Jamie and I list and comment on some of the reboots we've been graced with over the past few years.

After Jurassic Park gave us the World last month,  The Terminator gave us Genisys, an oddly spelled sequel/prequel/reboot starring the franchise's very own Jason Voorhees, the unstoppable Arnold Schwarzenegger. The result was one messy Terminator film to say the least. The core premise of the film being to pull a Star Trek and deliver an alternate timeline thereby somehow creating a fresh and new storyline. This time, we go back to 1984 where the original Terminator film takes place only to find that a T-800 had already been around for 10 years training Sarah Connor to be a badass. Oh, also a T-1000 who doesn't look like Robert Patrick shows up. Everything is given a reason to be but it's all rather far-fetched, even for a series of films about time-travelling Austrian robots. Weirdly, the fact that Terminators can age ends up being the least distracting plot point. In what is easily one of the least respectful franchise moves I've seen, new Arnie literally an