If you, like me, were blown away by 2017’s “One Cut of the Dead,” you’ll have been surprised to learn that there was indeed a French language remake right down the pipeline. I’ll admit that I was very annoyed by this news, but everyone’s experience making movies is different and this story translates well to any one that has endured making art. “Final Cut” when all is said and done is a very good remake of the 2017 original. It’s funny and clever, but it never quite hits the emotional highs and sincerity that Shin’ichirō Ueda’s original ever does.
Every Bugs Bunny Ever: Bugs Bunny and the Three Bears (1944)
2023 marks the 85th Anniversary of Bug Bunny’s first animated appearance in 1938’s “Porky’s Hare Hunt.” Debuting originally as Happy Rabbit, Bugs eventually became one of the most iconic animated characters of all time. In honor of the landmark anniversary, we’re discussing every animated appearance by Bugs Bunny. We’re big fans of Bugsy and we hope that you are, too.
Follow us on this massive journey where we discover and re-discover Every Bugs Bunny Ever.
Bugs Bunny and the Three Bears (1944)
Directed by Chuck Jones
Written by Tedd Pierce
Music by Carl W. Stalling
Animation by Robert Cannon
“Once Upon a Time There were Three Bears–” is what sets of the chaos of what happens when Bugs Bunny meets the iconic three bears. The three bears is the iconic bedside story written by Robert Southey from the nineteenth century, and it’s been twisted, and retold, and adapted dozens of times since its introduction. While Warner and the Looney Tunes aren’t the first to offer animated versions of the Three Bears, they are surely the best. Here, rather than three inadvertent characters of a story that come across Goldilocks, they’re instead a dysfunctional family on the verge of starvation. This take on the three bears is not only prime material for pure comedy but it’s one of the few times in this era where there’s not a traditional nuclear family.
The Flood (2023)
During one Louisiana’s wildest hurricanes, a group of convicts attempts to breakout while in transport from one jail to another. While forced to stay at a local sheriff’s station, they end up facing off with more than wind and rain.
Astonishing Tales of Terror: Rocktapussy! (2022)
I appreciate what Andrew Cymek, who writes and directs “Rocktopussy!”, tries to with his feature film, utilizing as many resources as he can to deliver something that unabashedly melds Heavy Metal, Barbarella, and HP Lovecraft. I’m not sure what he has planned for future films or if there’s going to be more movies under the banner of “Astonishing Tales of Terror,” but “Rocktopiussy!” is off to a good start with a movie that while it doesn’t deliver completely on promises made in the trailer, is at least a fun time with some midnight movie potential.
Quicksand (2023)
There’s that funny meme on the internet about how fiction always warned us about quicksand but very few of us rarely come across it. It’s funny also how there aren’t many movies revolving around the idea of being stuck in quicksand. Andrés Beltrán approaches the idea with a survival thriller that’s quite good, but doesn’t re-invent the wheel. When it comes to films of this ilk, everything you think is going to happen does happen, and the movie doesn’t mind hitting on those tropes along with handing us an ambiguous finale that felt kind of like a cop out.
The Flood (2023)
So basically, Brandon Slagle’s “The Flood” is “Assault on Precinct 13” but with killer alligators. That’s it. That’s the whole of the concept and premise. You can fill in the rest, if you’ve been watching movies for a while; which is not to say that “The Flood” is a bad film, it’s just not something that I haven’t seen before. Truth be told, there are nuggets of a great film embedded within “The Flood” but if you’re expecting a full on alligator siege movie in the vein of “Crawl,” then your best bet is looking elsewhere.
Insidious: the Red Door (2023)
It’s a real shame that the “Insidious” series would go back to its roots with “The Red Door” and end up being probably the worse entry in the franchise yet. Patrick Wilson is a fine enough director, but “The Red Door” is such a misfire that you can’t even really call it a cash grab. It feels a lot like the studios attempts to add some sense of closure to the Lambert family, but rather than this emotional journey through the Further, all they hand us is a half baked rip off of “The Babadook.” And that’s saying a lot since I’ve been such a fan of the “Insidious” series since it arrived in 2011. But these films have done so much better, even with “The Last Key.”