Sequels

News, Reviews & Features
  • You made Avatar a success, now quit complaining about the sequels

    Movie Feature | Ali Gray | 15th April 2016

    Is there a word used on social media and comment threads more cringeworthy than "Avatards"? Not only is it not remotely funny, it's usually accompanied by a lazy, sneering dismissal of James Cameron's Avatar sequels, or more specifically, the rapidly increasing volume of them. I admit, I am fascinated by the highs and lows of the Avatar franchise, the record-breaking box office haul and the subsequent disappearing act from the nation's consciousness (this article from Forbes, on Avatar's lack of "pop-culture footprint", is sadly accurate). But have we really become so jaded and so short-sighted that we're dismissing out of hand sequels to the most popular movie of all time; a movie that, just seven years ago, we ALL paid money hand over fist to go and see? You and I are both complicit: we all were Avatards and we will be again (and again, and again, and finally once more in 2023).

  • Neve Campbell signs for Scream 4

    Movie News | Ali | 27th September 2009

    Jobbing actress signs for unnecessary sequel to pay rent. In other news, the Earth continued to spin on its axis.

  • Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince

    Movie Review | Ali | 4th July 2009

    First, an admission: I've not read the Harry Potter books. Go ahead: take me out back and shoot me. I've seen the films and enjoyed them as passing distractions, but never felt obliged to comment, given that they're so clearly aimed at the hardcore fans - trying to review them would be like pretending to support a football team ...

  • Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen

    Movie Review | Ali | 12th June 2009

    It doesn't take a genius to figure out why, out of all the big ass summer blockbusters this year, Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen was the one I was least worried about performing. Camp-as-Christmas Hugh Jackman trying and failing to unleash his inner animal? Cringe. Christian Bale's CHAN CANNAR trying to avoid termination at...

  • Terminator Salvation

    Movie Review | Ali | 21st May 2009

    Terminator Salvation is explosive - not in the sense that it'll blow your mind, more in the sense that it'll burst your eardrums. Pound for pound, it features more explosions than any other movie I've seen - there's literally something detonating or collapsing or being shot or catching fire every 30 seconds. Even in quiet scenes...

  • Friday The 13th

    Movie Review | Ali | 14th February 2009

    "Remakes? Pah!" Before you spit with indignation, remember it's kind of hard to besmirch the legacy of a slasher series that boasts ten awful sequels thus far. In fact, a Friday The 13th remake is one of the safest bets imaginable, and paired with a release date nobody's likely to forget - the day before Valentine's, no less - t...

  • The Chronicles Of Narnia: Prince Caspian

    Movie Review | Ali | 2nd June 2008

    Sunday morning, at the Prince Caspian screening in the West End. There's a queue, winding from the cinema lobby, out into Leicester Square and down the road, 350-400 strong at least. At 10 o'clock in the morning. What the hell? I guess it's easy to forget that to some, this is just a sequel - another production line fantasy epic...

  • Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull

    Movie Review | Ali | 21st May 2008

    16 July, 1999. The queue for the cinema spills out into the car park. Crowds jostle with energy and a sense of adventure. The screen is packed to capacity, a quick glance revealing the audience to be a cross-section of both males and females, young and old. The lights go down to giggles at first and finally, respectfully, an awe...

  • Terminator 4: Who Will Succeed Arnie?

    Movie Feature | Ali | 18th March 2008

    Terminator fans have had to experience a variety of different emotions over the last few years. In 2003, there was the lacklustre Terminator 3: Rise Of The Machines, an embarrassing parody of James Cameron's first two movies. Hardcore series geeks baulked at the appointment of hack director McG for the inevitable fourth Terminat...

  • Diary Of The Dead

    Movie Review | Stuart | 11th March 2008

    Zombie films by George A Romero seem to be taking on a bus-like quality. After two decades of waiting for a follow-up to the flawed and rotting diamond that was Day of the Dead, we get a brace of follow up films in almost as many years. The first of those, Land of the Dead, was a crushing disappointment to many fans, mainly, due...