Let’s dive back into the vaults again to see what’s out there that we may or may not know of, in sequels and prequels to movies.
Free Willy
The 1993 childrens movie, based on a killer whale (Keiko) being taken from its natual habitat and thrown into a Seaworldesque theme park. While making a human friend with Jesse (Jason James Richter), Willy is desperate to escape and get back home. The movie was a major success, with help of Michael Jackson releasing “Will You Be There” as the theme song. To cash in on the success, a sequel Free Willy 2: The Adventure Home, was released in 1995. The original cast appeared in the 2nd movie, and Michael Jackson returned for the soundtrack. Even the original killer whale signed the dotted line. This again was a commercial success, so the movie studio decided to release Free Willy 3: The Rescue, in 1997. Jason James Richter and Keiko returned once again for the 3rd sequel. However, it was a major commercial flop. But, as most studios do, over 10 years later, tap into a source of franchises and try and reboot the story. Free Willy 4: Escape From Pirate Cove, will star Bindi Irwin and will be released around 2010. Sadly, Keiko the Killer Whale, died in 2003 from pneumonia. Jason James Richter is still around…
The Land Before Time
This one is a huge one… so I’ll keep this as brief as possible.
This animated franchise was bloody huge when the first movie was released in 1988. It was a merchandising dream. I still remember Pizza Hut having hand puppets of Littlefoot, Cera and the rest of the gang. It was a box office success, especially with Steven Spielberg and George Lucas having their fingers in the pie. However, this was the only film that was released at the cinema. The following were straight to video:
- The Land Before Time II: The Great Valley Adventure (1994)
- The Land Before Time III: The Time of the Great Giving (1995)
- The Land Before Time IV: Journey Through the Mists (1996)
- The Land Before Time V: The Mysterious Island (1997)
- The Land Before Time VI: The Secret of Saurus Rock (1998)
- The Land Before Time VII: The Stone of Cold Fire (2000)
- The Land Before Time VIII: The Big Freeze (2001)
- The Land Before Time IX: Journey to Big Water (2002)
- The Land Before Time X: The Great Longneck Migration (2003)
- The Land Before Time XI: Invasion of the Tinysauruses (2004)
- The Land Before Time XII: The Great Day of the Flyers (2006)
- The Land Before Time XIII: The Wisdom of Friends (2007)
Only Spielberg and Lucas had dibs on the first one. The rest – blame the studios.
Wild Things
In 1997, Starship Troopers gave Denise Richards the “She’s hot! I want to see her topless!” image. We didn’t see her boobs in that movie as Dina Meyer had the cards on that one. Many horny teens had to wait a year until 1998, when the sex-crime thriller Wild Things came out. The “it” girl of 1998 Neve Campbell as a co-star, sexed up the screen with Campbell and Matt Dillon in a threesome. We saw Richards topless, but Campbell mainly wore a singlet, only to be covered by Dillon when the singlet was removed. Being a huge success, two sequels were released, straight to DVD. Wild Things 2 was released in 2004, and Wild Things 3: Diamonds In The Rough, in 2005. Both sequels had the exact sexual theme, with the dark mystery and conspiracies , but just with different actors/characters. Quite repetitive. Here’s a link for you – Dina Meyer, appears in Wild Things 3.
Director Tim Burton is known for his dark, gothic style movies: Beetlejuice, Batman, Edward Scissorhands, Sleepy Hollow, the list goes on. The majority of them have Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter in them too. (Burton is married to Carter.) After re-visioning the timeless classic Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, he’s rubbed his hands all over Alice In Wonderland, giving it his magic touch.
The casting is second to none. Alice is played by relatively unknown Australian actress Mia Wasikowska. We begin with a young Alice, who has already experienced her time in Wonderland. Her father is her idol, an explorer who is a heavy business dealer, but loving father. Fast forward 10 years, and we meet a mature girl-cum-lady, who hasn’t fully let go of her childhood. Her portrait of everyone’s favourite daydreamer is magical.
Being rebellious but maintaining the innocence, Alice has been thrown into the deep end of the classic arranged marriage to a Lord who is quite the upper-class twit. After realising that this new world in front of her is just not her thing, her imagination starts creeping into everyday life, with discreet appearances by The White Rabbit. After seeing visions, Alice follows the rabbit, into the well known rabbit hole. As the story unravels, we all begin to meet the characters: Cheshire Cat, Caterpillar, Dormouse, Mad Hatter, Tweedledum and Tweedledee… they’re all there. But we soon discover that she’s been to Wonderland before, and they don’t fully recognise her as she’s all grown up. However, as the awareness begins to unravel, the familiar story falls into place.
The CGI used in the film is a visionary experience. The sceneries are enriched with colour and tremendous detail, including managing to get The Red Queen’s head (Helena Bonham Carter) larger than her actual body. Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter is hilarious, especially when we first meet the crew at the tea party. Anne Hathaway as the White Queen is gorgeous, with enough white to make you go blind. The mindless slapstick with Matt Lucas playing Tweedledum and Tweedledee is funny, that oozes throughout the film. The kids will find the film visually brillant, while the adults will get a kick out of the layer of humour to get through the 2 hours of entertainment.
With an all-star cast (try and spot the voices), this will take you back to your childhood. There is slight violence, such as eye poking and the odd beheading, but a fun family film that everyone will love.
Rating: 
Karl Stefanovic + Wii =…
US band Ok Go know how to grab attention.
Their latest song This Too Shall Pass has a wicked music clip, that’s instantly going viral. They’ve taken the Rube Goldberg effect and created a one motion video… just watch the video!
There’s also their other video, but you don’t need a fancy video to grab peoples’ attention.
Check out these videos, spoken about in some good or bad form by the media. Don’t blame me if the song isn’t decent enough to your tastes. That’s not my fault 
Green Jelly – Three Little Pigs
Fatboy Slim – Weapon Of Choice
There’s plenty more, but the list would be endless.
Today there was nothing on TV to watch. A whole bunch of police, forensic, reality dramas that were plastered all over the commercial TV stations. Not my cup of tea. So I turned behind my lounge and headed towards my DVD collection. I was then left with a ‘too many to choose’ dilemma. As I searched through the collection, I discovered there were movies which I had bought, that I hadn’t seen at the cinema, on TV, or rented. I bought them because of the talent in it. Some of the movies were that good, they were ones where they were released straight to video/DVD and would only appear if the star became Grade A famous years later.
Here’s a small list that tickle my fancy, in no order.
I picked this one up because I had seen it on TV only. I saw it a year before Phil Hartman’s unfortunate death. This movie had a simple plot: Rich old Uncle, money grubby young nieces and nephews with some major personal issues, doing anything they can to obtain the fortune when he croaks. Enter the nephew who distances himself from the family, who gets dragged in to win him over when there’s an outside threat from a young hot woman. Hilarity ensues.
If that doesn’t catch you, the awesome 90s cast will. Kirk Douglas, Phil Hartman, Michael J Fox, Nancy Travis, Ed Begley Jr, Colleen Camp, Khandi Alexander… all competing for the camera.
Usually having an all-star cast means that there could be terrible chemistry. Amazingly, the cast was chosen perfectly. Possibly being biased, Phil Hartman does steal the scenes he appears in.
This was recommended by a friend after he went on a snow skiing holiday. He had found it in the video rentals section at the lodge he was staying at. After hurting his leg, he wanted to rest and found it in the corner shelf.
Starring Jerry O’Connell, Ryan Reynolds, Bridgette Wilson, Alyssa Milano and Ron Livingston. A time in a guys relationship where his girlfriend is about to have a major career change, but can’t really do it until she finds out if her long turn boyfriend will marry her. So she jets off across the country, while he deals with finding his soul mate. While searching, he reminises with his drinking buddies, his first true experience of a soul mate, which ends in an awkward consequence. While that is going on, one of his womanising mates has a sexual identity crisis… with flamboyant laughter. This was while Ryan Reynolds was just starting to make a name for himself. Add in Alyssa Milano as a really cool stripper who has a sense of humour, and you have a male sex comedy that would please your girlfriend too. Warning: your girlfriend may trade you in for this exposing but funny scene.
Want to see a film that may potentially embarrass the stars if you ask them about it? Sir Anthony Hopkins, Matthew Broderick, John Cusack, Bridgette Fonda, Dana Carvey and Lara Flynn Boyle step back in time to the 1900s where Dr John Harvey Kellogg is as nutty as his crunchy nut cornflakes – operating a Sanatorium. His methods of a healthy is via your bowels. A clean bowel is a clean body. Enter Matthew Broderick and Jane Fonda, signing up for the health clinic after Mr Broderick’s insides have been damaged by meat and alcohol. Enemas all round!
John Cusack comes in to start a cornflake business to rival Kelloggs. He recruits Dana Carvey, who plays the demented son of Dr Kellogg. What seems to be the perfect world, also has been deprived of sexual tension. In order to detox, you can’t have sex. What a shame. This movie is one of those ones where you need to put your feet up and fully tune out from the world for 2 hours.
I hope that gets your rental card out.
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