Many people comment on how Disney took a generally dark and adult novel and watered it down for their audience. To those people, I ask: Have you ever seen Paul WS Anderson’s version of the Dumas novel? If anything, what “The Three Musketeers” lacks in poeticism, it makes up for in entertainment value, at least. And I am a big fan of the casting of Keifer Sutherland as the leader of the Musketeers. Basically, Alexandre Dumas’ tale remains fairly in tact save for one caveat. The Musketeers live happily ever after. But then Disney took “Hunchback of Notre Dame” and turned Quasimodo in to a kind hearted gent with a mild facial disfigurement who becomes the hero of his city in the end of the movie, so it comes with the territory.
For fans tired of the R rated animated Batman films, DC and Warner team up with Lego (who takes a break from the awful “Ninjago” series) to deliver a G rated Batman adventure the entire family can enjoy! Based on the hit video game, Lego pays homage to many of the Batman tropes with a fun crossing of superheroes and supervillains for the fate of Gotham and the world. Lex Luthor and the Joker team up to take down Batman and Superman, when a robbery at a local awards dinner goes awry for the Joker and his team of super villains. Lex takes the opportunity to join forces with the evil Clown, as Batman learns the meaning of team work through his young ward, Robin, who encourages the Dark Knight to call for back up at every opportunity. Batman, of course, shies away from any and all help, even when in danger.
“Ninja III: The Domination” encapsulates everything you loved about the eighties. There are ninjas, Sho Kosugi, Aerobics instructors, Lucinda Dickey with puffed hair and an Aerobics uniform playing an arcade in her house, a synth pop soundtrack, and yes, a callback to “The Exorcist.” To reflect upon the fitness-centric decade, Dickey’s character even seduces a man by pouring V8 juice down her body. Teaming a revenge film with a possession film, “Ninja III” is every bit the silly genre mashing I remember from when I was a kid. While I have fond memories of Lucinda Dickey being called upon by her floating sword back then, “Ninja III” watches surprisingly well today. It’s silly as all hell, but in the end it’s a fun eighties trip that you can’t help but smile through from beginning to end. And who didn’t love Ninjas back then?
I’ve always had this idea that the sequels to Tobe Hooper’s “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” were just glorified remakes of the first film. While it’s true they’re all very similar, filmmakers didn’t start to remake Hooper’s horror film until “The Next Generation.” The Hooper fueled sequel, and “Leatherface” are different films from the first film with finales that are in fact nearly identical to the end of the first film. It’s almost as if the writers never really know where to go once they’ve had their fun, and just go back to the whole dinner scene where the heroine screams bloody murder for thirty minutes. Wherein the second film in the series had poorly developed story, “Leatherface” really has little story.
So, the sequel to Tobe Hooper’s “Texas Chainsaw” wasn’t the sequel. They were sequels, but perhaps there’s a parallel Sawyer family out there somewhere. Maybe there’s a Leatherface A and a Leatherface B? The stories from parts two, and three in the eighties that followed Tobe Hooper’s original “Texas Chainsaw” were all nonsense that–I’m presuming–were just Nam flashbacks told by a hippy or something. Maybe there were “What If?” storylines. Or perhaps they were scenarios about what became of the Sawyers after Sally managed to escape Leatherface’s clutches. In truth, it’s just hackey studio tinkering that works best if you ignore it. At this point the “Texas Chainsaw” series is more convoluted and confused than “Halloween” and “Nightmare on Elm Street.”