Quick Review : Luigi’s Mansion 2 (3DS)

This is a sequel I’ve been waiting almost 15 years for! Luigi’s Mansion 2 offers not just one, but five mansions to explore. Sounds good, no? The problem is that you are rarely allowed to explore them freely. In the original, you did return to E.Gadd after completing a particular area, but in this sequel each mansion is split into missions. They break down each mansion so you don’t feel as if you can explore. You are constrained.

Review: Blade Runner 2049 (2017) (A Sequel Thirty-Odd Years Too Late?)

(SPOILER FREE)

“I hope you don’t mind me taking the liberty”

When we were told that we were getting a belated sequel to Blade Runner, one of the most influential sequels of all time, I reacted with apathy. Why do we need a sequel thirty years after the original was released? Blade Runner might be very well respected as a film, but I couldn’t imagine many people buying tickets to see a sequel to it. And, of course, not many people have bought tickets to see a sequel to Blade Runner. It only making $30 million in its first weekend, compared to its budget of around $150 million. But I’d advise, nay implore, people who love cinema to watch Blade Runner 2049. What could have been worthless cash-in turned out to be one of the films of the year…

Review: Kingsman: The Golden Circle (2017) (Or: How Not To Do A Sequel)

(SPOILER FREE)

“You think that s**t’s gonna work this time?”

Kingsman: The Secret Service was a novel surprise back in 2014, an ultraviolent spy spoof that worked gloriously. In fact, it was so successful in what it did that a sequel wasn’t necessary. However, a sequel was thrust upon us. Could the sequel be a successful spy spoof that didn’t copy the outline of the first one? Could it spoof sequels? Could it give us a reason for its existence? My answer to all of the above questions is: no. It’s a mess, in basic terms. It adds nothing of substance to the Kingsman universe. A plodding pace, a silly storyline and incongruent scenes add up to an awful sequel.

Review: Independence Day: Resurgence (2016) [Twenty Years Ago…Emmerich Made A Better Film!]

“I honestly didn’t think that was going to work”

Was anyone clamouring for a sequel to Independence Day? There seemed nothing left to add to the 1996 blockbuster. However, nostalgia is there purely to be mined in the minds of Hollywood people, so we have Independence Day: Resurgence. Forget about Will Smith; apart from two pictures he isn’t in the film. What we do have, however, is abundance of old and new characters, a bigger alien spaceship than before, a film overloaded with CGI and the same plot as the first one. Aliens invade earth, we fight back. What was the point? I asked myself this every couple of minutes or so during the film. The worst film I’ve seen this year? Without a doubt!