WTFEntertainment

It’s been a while since I’ve posted due to being stuck at work and doing that real life thing. In fact I am at work right now… but that’s besides the point. The point is something so attrocious has been building up in me. We all hate most remakes, anyone who is a true film fan does. I’ve come to accept that Hollywood runs out of original ideas on a regular basis and has to go back to the well.

For every 300 there is a Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003), for every Grindhouse there is a Hitcher… that’s fine. They will be remaking films until the end of time. It’s a hard thing to accept but I do accept it. However… pointless sequels… they have a whole other air about them that rubs me the wrong way. I mostly ignored these until very recently. As I was parusing one of my favorite websites of all time, Dread Central, a wave of hate flowed over me like a downpoor of blood from the sky; a good idea in concept that will completely fall apart and die as you read this article below:

Fans who have been waiting for someone to finally get off their asses and make a sequel to Beetlejuice can rest a bit easier tonight; word has come down that one is finally in the works over at Warner’s home video line. The rest of us can be left to wonder why.

Moviehole got a press release from the Warner Australia arm indicating some new direct-to-DVD sequels being planned for the near future and Beetlejuice was the most interesting of the bunch. Michael Keaton will likely not be back, Tim Burton will not be directing, but somehow they’ll continue on with the story of the Ghost With the Most.

I just hope it’s not the damn Beetlejuice Goes to Hawaii story they were discussing a few years back; that just sounded lame as hell. We’ll do some digging and see what more we can find out about the sequel, but you can also look forward to new sequels for Under Siege, Space Jam, Training Day and Dark Castle movies to go in front of cameras this year, as well.

Now why does this bother me so much? The chances of Michael Keaton reprising the role are pretty much next to nothing, especially because they are DTV releases. This also means the budget will be nil and some random unknown director will be trying to copy Tim Burtons style. Even the cartoon was a great show that still kept the feel of the show, while changing the format slightly to make Beetlejuice more kid friendly. It worked because it felt natural, that after his great defeat at the hands of Lydia Dietz that he would just want to become friends and hope that someday he could escape the afterlife.

It was a fun show that had a lot going for it… during its life on Nick and subsequent afterlife on Cartoon Network; it seemed that it was a fitting end to the character overall… but now… NOW they want to do DTV sequels?! WTF?! Why not do them sooner — get Michael Keaton back! He *IS* Beetlejuice. His manic crazy, yet charming ways were what made the movie the classic it is today… please just stop, no one wants to see a shitty DTV sequel to Beetlejuice… Nobody.

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I bet you didn’t think there would be monkey’s involved. Well, there sure as hell are.

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I read a lot of comics. I know plenty of people say that but I’ve noticed that most people who do this blogging/reviewing thing usually only read a handful of comics a month or they just comaplain about the books they do read. Now me personally, I love comics. It’s my favorite medium in which to tell a story. I mention this because there is no way I’m going to be able to review every comic I read every week. I have 18 titles this week and even more a few weeks ago. Enough babbling, lets get to it.

My pick of the week for April 18 was The Spirit #5. The plot of this issue revolves around pork and beans and believe it or not, it’s just plain awesome! I must confess here I never read Will Eisner’s Spirit but if its ANYTHING like the stuff Darwyn Cook is doing I’m going to start picking up the $50 hardcovers. I haven’t had this must fun or gotten this much childlike glee from reading a single comic in years. The stories are self contained, the pace is perfect and the art is like something out of the golden age in the best possible way. I don’t really want to say too much about this book except for this, if you aren’t buying this you are cheating yourself out of a whole lot of fun.

WORLD WAR III has been almost universally panned as a disappointment which is a shame because this week’s issue of 52 was flat out amazing. I can’t exactly argue with that sentiment as I didn’t exactly love it. I think if you can crank up your suspension of disbelief to max then you can call the quick recapping of where everyone was for the past year a success. The way they weaved some of these stories had a very daytime soapish feel to them. The transitions were poorly executed and the acting was a little stiff. Susan Lucci these cats ain’t. This may be the dad in me coming out but the first page of the first issue of WWIII had a river of blood and a huge pile of decomposing bodies. A “parental warning” on the cover would not have been a terrible idea.

I think the real shame of WWIII was the need, not the desire mind you but the NEED to help people understand all the crap that lead up to One Year Later. Some books took it upon themselves to explain what was going on (Green Arrow, Outsiders) but for the most part we were left with really bad stories that came straight outta left field. Luckily for me my favorite books seem to be back on track after the OYL debacle. Putting Marv Wolfman on Nightwing was a brilliant piece of strategery. I was on the verge of dumping that title.

As for 52, I love that no matter the evidence Atom Smasher refuses to believe Black Adam of genocide until he hears it straight from the man himself and even then I think A.S. Is still a little unbelieving. We don’t really know because he’s busy being unconscious after the startling revelation. The real world parallels were well done as the entire JSA stands outside the Chinese border waiting for the Great Ten to remove their heads from their asses and allow them to help. Of course a huge fight ensues and we get the highlights. WWIII did help fill in a few blanks that wouldn’t even bother a casual reader of comics but had super nerds like me wondering like where did Booster Gold and Rip Hunter take T.O. Morrow to? I can’t wait to see how 52 ends.

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I aologize for the lack of updates for the past two weeks. There has been a lot of activity at WTF Virtual World Headquarters. Hopefully in the coming weeks and months we can take you on a tour and show you how a website like this one gets put together.

There have been a few items in the news lately. People getting shot while trying to get an education both at home and abroad. I’m not going to talk about all the killings, that seems insensitive and I really can’t make fun of that… yet. What I do want to comment on is how the American media, and really, the world media is a broken shell of its former glory. No, it’s more like a naked homeless guy after being cornholed by thirty seven members of the Alabama police department and then getting pissed on by their overweight dogs. Its a big fucking mess is what I’m saying. I think the worst thing to happen in the last twenty years wasn’t 9/11 or the Iraq war or even the pres getting a BJ in the oval office. It’s the 24 hour news cycle. CNN, MSNBC, Fox news et cetera are all guilty of shamelessly calling what they do “news”. It stopped being news in CNN’s second hour on the air when they realized not nough happened in the world that day and they needed something to keep people watching. Sex, violence, exploiting anyone who will give them a reaction. That’s the new state of the “news media”. What was once America’s greatest asset, freedom of the press, has become hollow and unrecognizeable.

The local braodcasts are no better. Sure, they held on to a shred f decency for a few years but once cable news stations started taking their viewers they had to conform to compete. There is a reason the majority of young people get their news from bloggers outside the industry and John Stewart. People who aren’t a part of the machine are less likey to get trapped inside. Sadly, I have no answers. I can only watch with the rest of the world as good people get torn down in the name of getting a soundbyte that can be replayed until the next big story comes along. The only good thing to come out of the tragedy at Virginia Tech is that I haven’t heard a thing about Anna fucking Nicole in days. I hope that one day we will once again get real news and not this sloppily reserched hackneyd crap with pretty graphics.

We need a new Walter Cronkite. And soon.

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If you though last episode was disturbing, this is just the begining. Trust me it gets worse.

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