• Inside Entertainment,  Media Rants

    A Pop Culture Rant

    As if it isn’t obvious, I’m a pop culture nerd. Or was. I think I’m just about done. I don’t have a lot of confidence in today’s industry to make good adaptations of those characters I love. In fact, most of the time I feel insulted. What’s happened? Why has it changed so drastically? Why are these blockbusters so often style without substance? It wasn’t always this way. Superman’s a good example. The original two Richard Donner movies – Superman (1978) and Superman II (2006: this is the year the official Richard Donner version was released) –  are classics. Donner knew Superman. He loved Superman. He created a vision of…

  • Inside Entertainment,  Old vs New

    Mad Max vs Fury Road

    The Mad Max reboot, Mad Max: Fury Road (2015), is different to all the other reboots taking place, because the same person is behind both the original and the remake: George Miller. Who could possibly know the character of Max Rockatansky better? Miller was behind the original three movies, and between the last Mel Gibson movie, Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome (1985) and the reboot, Mad Max: Fury Road (2015), surely would’ve at times contemplated new stories for the character. Fury Road plays out like a contemporary blockbuster that sparkles with genuine vision, while trying to remain true to the originals. That’s laudable, because it’s something a lot of reboots are missing. Christopher…