“Have you Met My Ghoulfriend?” comes off like it’s the fourth film in a movie series, when it seems to only have come after the somewhat bland “Mostly Ghostly” from 2008. Only Madison Pettis comes back for the follow-up, which involves a pair of ghostly teenagers, their human friend with a ghoul fighting ring, and an evil ghoul named Phears intent on consuming their souls, or possessing them, or–something to that effect.
“Star Wars Rebels” is something that “The Clone Wars” wasn’t. It’s fun. It’s also simple, and about regular people for once. After so many years of writers focusing on military junk, “Rebels” is about regular outlaws and thieves, all with a hint of “Firefly.” Set after “Revenge of the Sith,” the writers focus on the after effects of the Imperial take over where the galaxy is disbanded and everyone are pretty much in it for themselves. “Rebels” is set before an important milestone in the “Star Wars” timeline. It’s when the seeds of rebellion were planted, and seems to be a show intent on focusing on how the famous rebellion was built and became a force against the Empire that would set the stage for folks like Luke Skywalker, and Han Solo to become heroes.
I understand why Roald Dahl hates “Willy Wonka.” Surely, it’s nothing like his original novel, and I get why fans would hate that it strays so immensely from the source material (i.e. World War Z) but that doesn’t mean “Willy Wonka” isn’t a good movie. In fact, it’s pretty damn excellent, and manages to evoke a sense of whimsy and menace that’s invigorating and refreshing for a kid’s film. Everything Tim Burton tried so hard to do, director Mel Stuart and Gene Wilder pull off without even trying very hard. With a single gleam of his eye, Wilder pulls off more hints at a devious personality than all Johnny Depp’s white make up, and bad wigs combined.
I was worried that Steven McKay’s follow up to Sam Raimi’s original pulp tribute would stink, but thankfully it’s a very good sequel. It not only keeps to much of the formula from the first film, but increases the pulp aspects of the story. There’s the return of an old villain, a mad scientist, a super secret weapon, underground lairs, intrepid reporters, and our dark anti-hero who mainly keeps to himself. Arnold Vosloo takes over for Liam Neeson as the character of Peyton Westlake, who is now living in a large underground subway.
It’s interesting how solid the “Darkman” series ended up being. While “Darkman III” is by no means on par with Raimi’s original, it’s still a very entertaining exit for such a unique superhero. Director Bradford McKay pushes Darkman toward the Phantom of the Opera style super heroics rather than the grisly monster in the shadows this time around, and Arnold Vosloo returns to really provide a passionate turn as Peyton Westlake, once more. While Liam Neeson gets credit for the role, Vosloo really is a great successor in his own right.
Leave it to Sam Raimi to take lemons and make batshit crazy insane lemonade. Pulling a George Lucas, “Darkman” was once the efforts from Raimi to adapt “The Shadow” on the big screen. When that fell through, he created his own superhero, a demented horror oriented avenger named Darkman. And he’s about what you’d expect from the man who gave us Ashley Williams. Liam Neeson gives a very entertaining turn as Peyton Westlake, a scientist who becomes the unwitting victim of a mob scheme. After Peyton’s fiance Julie discovers a document that can incriminate her boss in his efforts to develop land over the deserted docks, Peyton is tortured by local mob boss Robert Durant’s gang and murdered.
Disney seems to be having a good time mining the eighties lately with their original movies. First we had “Zapped!” which took the title from the raunchy eighties comedy along with a variation of the plot from “Love Potion No. 9,” while “How to…” is really just “Weird Science 3.0.” Except this time its PG rated, and much more based around feminism than misogyny. And rather than building on the entire “Frankenstein” idea, the writers set their sights on the US government surveillance and their plans to build a top secret robot that can infiltrate any setting.