Author: Dave Franklin
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Here We Go Again: A Look At Sequels: Part 3
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Read more: Here We Go Again: A Look At Sequels: Part 3A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987) Aah, poor Freddy. Top of his game in his 1984 debut, but already wearing out his welcome in the hastily assembled, lazily named Freddy’s Revenge. Some people get a kick out of this odd, gay-themed sequel, but I don’t see it as anything other than a…
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Here We Go Again: A Look At Sequels: Part 2
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Read more: Here We Go Again: A Look At Sequels: Part 2Damien: Omen II (1978) & The Final Conflict (1981) The Omen’s head-lopping, priest-spearing supernatural delights have meant it’s never dropped out of my horror top ten. And when it comes to its sequels, I’ve never had a problem. They aren’t simple repetition in that we’re following Satan’s son from birth to adulthood. That’s gotta mean…
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Here We Go Again: A Look At Sequels: Part One
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Read more: Here We Go Again: A Look At Sequels: Part OneAround the forty-minute mark of Die Hard 2, John McClane realizes he’s dealing with another bunch of hi-tech, well-organized terrorists. “Oh, man,” he mutters to himself. “I can’t fucking believe this… How could the same shit happen to the same guy twice?” Yeah, dude, you nailed it. For herein lies the problem with most sequels:…
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Boogie Nights: Much Better Than Not Quite
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Read more: Boogie Nights: Much Better Than Not QuiteDo you watch porn? C’mon, you can tell me. Maybe you’re one of those guys who wakes up and immediately staggers bleary-eyed across the bedroom to flip up a laptop lid, a short journey made hazardous by the combination of throbbing boner and ankle-pooled pajama bottoms that necessitate arms thrown out to the side while…
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Nasty Fuckers: Part 2
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Read more: Nasty Fuckers: Part 2Brad Whitewood Sr. reveals his true colors in At Close Range (1986) It takes more than an hour of this very nicely photographed neo-noir crime pic for Brad Sr. (Christopher Walken) to show he’s a nasty fucker. Up until then, he’s merely a thief, the leader of a tightly knit bunch of rural crims that…
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Nasty Fuckers: Part One
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Read more: Nasty Fuckers: Part OneHeroes are OK but when it comes to memorability, villains tend to piss all over ’em. This glaring divergence has long plagued creators and can be traced back at least as far as Shakespeare. Take The Merchant of Venice. Shylock’s vengeful demand for a pound of flesh ensures his status as an all-time bad guy,…
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The Not Quite #6: The King of Comedy (1982)
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Read more: The Not Quite #6: The King of Comedy (1982)Scorsese’s cinematic partnership with De Niro is among the most legendary of the twentieth century, hemorrhaging up blood-soaked classics like Taxi Driver and Goodfellas. It wasn’t all plain slaying, though. Just take a look at the headache-inducing musical New York, New York in which De Niro argues nonstop with Liza Minnelli. Then there’s the redundant,…
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The Teacher Typos: Part 4
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Read more: The Teacher Typos: Part 4The corrupt: Jim McAllister in Election (1999) The perfect companion piece to the iconic Ferris Bueller. Here we get to see Broderick play a character at the opposite end of the spectrum. Bueller was an exuberant livewire beating the system but the vanilla, sensibly dressed McAllister in his nerdy car is the loser that always…
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The Teacher Typos: Part 3
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Read more: The Teacher Typos: Part 3The wrongly accused: Lucas in The Hunt aka Jagten (2012) Back in the 90s I covered a newspaper story in which a run of the mill, middle-aged sex offender was having a bit of a tough time. He’d been sent to clink for touching up some residents at a women’s shelter. In his favor, the…
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The Teacher Typos: Part 2
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Read more: The Teacher Typos: Part 2The inspirational: LouAnne Johnson in Dangerous Minds (1995), Mark Thackeray in To Sir, with Love (1967) and John Keating in Dead Poets Society (1989) It’s time to say hi to our latest graduate from the Kelly McGillis Top Gun School of Absurd Roles. Meet the willowy, effortlessly elegant Michelle Pfeiffer (along with her dazzling smile…