In the 24th week of 2020 for Wandering Through the Shelves' Thursday Movie Picks. We venture into the subject of prequels. Films that are based on other films as it play more as an origin story of the characters of that story and such. Sometimes, they work but there’s been others that haven’t worked at all. Here are my three picks of prequels that… absolutely fucking sucked:
1. The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas
Did anyone really wanted to see a movie of how Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble met Wilma and Betty? Who the fuck thought anyone wanted to see it after the 1994 film came out and everyone (including me) thought it was shit. They replaced the entire cast by having Mark Addy as Fred, Stephen Baldwin as Barney, Kristen Johnson as Wilma, and Jane Krakowski as Betty plus Joan Collins as Wilma’s mother, Harvey Korman (in his final film performance) as Wilma’s dad, and Alan Cumming in a dual role as the Great Gazoo and a Mick Jagger-like singer who is more concerned about his butt. It was worse and the visual effects are dated as it is a film that not many saw as this was sad for a comedy great like Korman who just plays an absent-minded guy whom Collins married for his wealth.
2. Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights
How much money did they lure to get Patrick Swayze to appear in this awful film? Set in Cuba before the Cuban Revolution, it revolves around an American girl meeting a Cuban boy and they dance and fall in love. It’s the same storyline from the original film but without any heart. Granted that both Romola Garai and Diego Luna are incredible actors who would both do better things but it’s not just the material that fails them but they really don’t have any chemistry as well looked extremely uncomfortable dancing either by themselves or together.
3. Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd
The 2014 sequel to the 1994 film is an awful film but it’s not as awful as this prequel which didn’t involve the Farrelly Brothers nor Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels as it is just unwatchable from start to finish. Derek Richardson and Eric Christian Olsen in their respective roles as Harry and Lloyd don’t exactly do any performances but rather poor imitations of what Carrey and Daniels did while their attempts at humor is more mean-spirited and idiotic. The plot that involves a principal and a teacher trying to scheme their way for money is a distraction as it leads to a mess that tries too hard to be engaging as it’s just fucking awful.
© thevoid99 2020
Interesting. A different approach from what I would have expected. Admittedly I haven't seen any of these films, possibly for the better, but your descriptions don't sound all that great.
ReplyDeleteThe Flintstones prequel in particular sounds extremely pointless. In what way did the 1994 live action version of the Flintstones warrant a sequel? Having none of the same actors probably didn't help. I know sometimes casting changes are necessary, especially in prequels where you may need to cast a new actor to play a younger version of someone, or simply because so much time has passed since the first one that you can't get the original cast or they're too old to play the role convincingly. It doesn't sound like it fits any of those categories. Did the 1994 film even make that much to begin with? Even as a purely financial decision it seems questionable.
Also, THAT was Harvey Korman's last film role? I feel like a guy like him deserved something a bit more dignifying.
I'm happy to say I've managed to avoid all three of these. They looked awful.
ReplyDeleteThe only one of these I've seen is the Dirty Dancing prequel and I can't remember a thing about it except for Diego Luna being in it.
ReplyDeleteI love that you chose sucky movies this week! I have to admit, I very nearly did the same. Like Brit, I can thankfully say I haven't seen any of your picks!
ReplyDeleteWell this is quite a collection of terrible movies!
ReplyDeleteI watched Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd all the time when I was younger and laughed all the time. I even own it on DVD. Now thinking about that film's comedy alone makes me cringe.
ReplyDeleteThank God I have never seen any of these nor do I want to
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