Good Burger 2

Although the original 1997 Good Burger film, itself based on a popular sketch from the Nickelodeon series All That, saw commercial success, it would only receive a sequel in the form of a book, Good Burger 2 Go, the following year. 25 years later, however, this book would become non-canon with the formal announcement of Good Burger 2, set for a direct-to-streaming release on Paramount+. Even though I had never watched All That, nor had I seen the original “Good Burger” sketch until very recently, I was still a fan of the original film, and so was curious to see the sequel after it received a big promotional push at San Diego Comic-Con, including a building wrap-around ad and an interactive Good Burger section of the larger Nickelodeon booth. After managing to watch the sequel through Paramount+ on its release day, in the midst of preparing for a Thanksgiving trip the next day, while it did induce a few laughs from me, it wasn’t quite as good or funny as the original.

Good Burger

Note: This review contains spoilers for Good Burger.

Back in 1994, Nickelodeon premiered All That, a live-action sketch comedy series that lasted ten seasons prior to its 2019 revival. Of the many sketches that appeared across the show’s nearly 200 episodes, the recurring “Good Burger” sketch, in which the clueless teenager Ed somehow always messes things up, proved popular enough that in January 1997, Paramount fast-tracked production of a feature film based on it. The final product released in July that same year to mixed critical reception, but proved commercially successful, grossing $23.7 million against its $8.5 million budget, and gained a cult following over time.

As someone who didn’t grow up watching All That, despite it airing during my childhood, I first saw Good Burger completely out of context through someone else’s VHS. Although I had no attention span as a child, Good Burger stood out and after sporadically rewatching it through a later DVD release, I could quote the movie even with up to over a decade between viewings. Naturally, with the release of the direct to streaming sequel Good Burger 2, we rewatched Good Burger once again and found that, while not a great movie, it had held up surprisingly well 26 years later.

Stubs - Three Strangers

Three Strangers (1946) Starring Sydney Greenstreet, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Peter Lorre. Directed by Jean Negulesco. Screenplay by John Huston, Howard Koch. Produced by Wolfgang Reinhardt. Run time: 92 minutes. Black and White USA. Film Noir, Crime, Drama.

Even back in the golden days of the Hollywood studio system, the idea of sequels was nothing new. Take The Maltese Falcon (1941), as an example. Third time’s the charm with that film and afterward, Warner Bros was interested in making a sequel. The idea was to use a treatment written by John Huston, and bought by the studio in 1937 as the basis for it.

Inspired by a wooden figure he bought in an antique shop while working in London, a party in his flat suggested to Huston the story of three strangers sharing a sweepstakes ticket. Huston returned to Hollywood in 1937 and Warner Bros. bought the treatment. Several actors were considered but never cast in the original film they wanted to make based on it. Actors considered for the role of "Jerome K. Arbutny" were Lionel Atwill, Donald Crisp, Ian Hunter and Claude Rains, while Miriam Hopkins and Kay Francis were considered to play "Crystal Shackelford". For the role of "Johnny West," Errol Flynn, David Niven, Leslie Howard, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. and Robert Montgomery were considered.

However, no film materialized. After the success of The Maltese Falcon, Warner Bros. thought to rework it and Humphrey Bogart, Sydney Greenstreet and Mary Astor were to star. However, Warner Bros. discovered that the rights to the characters from that film had reverted back to Dashiell Hammett, author of the original novel.

The Land Before Time

Following the release of An American Tail in 1986, Don Bluth’s follow-up feature film would be The Land Before Time in 1988 in a continued partnership with Stephen Spielberg. This time, however, the film was further co-produced by George Lucas, in notably his only collaboration with Spielberg outside of the Indiana Jones series. The Land Before Time has since notoriously spawned a long-running franchise of direct-to-video sequels (13 as of this writing) and a short-lived TV series, all of which are inexplicably musicals in stark contrast to the original film. While I was aware of this franchise as a kid, the only one I wanted to see above all the others was the original The Land Before Time, which I finally got the chance to see for myself after receiving a Blu-ray copy as a Christmas gift. While the film is really good on its own merits, I found it to be an improvement over An American Tail in many areas.

TY the Tasmanian Tiger 4: Bush Rescue Returns

In the midst of remastering the original TY the Tasmanian Tiger trilogy, with the Kickstarter for the second currently still in the fulfillment process, Krome Studios still announced a new TY project for the series’ 20^th anniversary. More specifically, said announcement was a remaster of TY the Tasmanian Tiger 4, originally released on PC, for the Nintendo Switch with a new subtitle, Bush Rescue Returns. While I had played the original release, I was curious about the remaster due to the promise of extra content, including full voice acting and extended cutscenes, and so pre-purchased the game digitally (as the game still lacks a physical release) to take advantage of the limited-time discount. Although the experience remains much the same as the original, the new additions really do a lot to enhance it.

Rohan at the Louvre

Even if you’ve never heard of mangaka Hirohiko Araki, chances are you’ve at least heard of his best-known and longest-running work, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, a multigenerational epic about the Joestar family and their battle against evil (currently at Part 9 in Japan as of this writing). Following the publication of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure Part 4: Diamond is Unbreakable, Araki made the one-shot “At a Confessional,” the first in what would become a series of one-shots in the spin-off series Thus Spoke Kishibe Rohan (TSKR), centered around the character Rohan Kishibe from Diamond is Unbreakable. During the run of the Diamond is Unbreakable anime, a handful of these one-shots were adapted into a series of OVAs, later followed by an unrelated live-action drama adaptation with the same name that currently runs at 3 Seasons. When I first heard about the drama series, I assumed it would remain exclusive to Japan, which I also assumed of the related live-action film, Rohan at the Louvre (JP: Rohan au Louvre, Kishibe Rohan Rūvuru e Iku), itself based on the similarly-named one-shot, when it was first announced. Once I heard that Amazon would bring the film overseas via Prime Video, I also learned that the drama was also available on the same platform, sub-only and free for Prime members, so I finally got to watch the drama in preparation for watching the film.

As someone who has read the Thus Spoke Kishibe Rohan one-shots currently available in English, after watching the drama and seeing some of the liberties taken with it to form a more cohesive narrative across each Season, as well as to wholly disconnect it from the original context of Diamond is Unbreakable to make it more accessible to those unfamiliar with JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, I would say that they did a fantastic job in this regard and that it’s the perfect way for someone to dip their toe in the world of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure without having to commit to starting from Phantom Blood. As someone who has also read the English translation of the Rohan at the Louvre one-shot, I felt it worked as both a faithful adaptation of the source material and an enjoyable movie in its own right.

Stubs - Tomorrow is Another Day

Tomorrow is Another Day (1951) Starring Ruth Roman, Steve Cochran, Lurene Tuttle, Ray Teal. Directed by Felix E. Feist. Screenplay by Art Cohn, Guy Endore. Produced by Henry Blanke. Run time: 92 minutes. USA. Black and White. Melodrama, Romance, Film Noir

For some reason, Ruth Roman didn't strike me as the type of actress I would expect to see in a film noir, so when TCM's Summer of Darkness highlighted her in one several years ago, I was intrigued enough to record it for future viewing. I will admit I was glad I did, but sorry I waited so long to actually watch it.

Robin Hood (1973)

 

While a number of adaptations have been made out of the legend of Robin Hood, one of the best-known versions of the story is probably the animated adaptation by Disney from 1973, notably the first animated film from the studio to be made without any involvement from Walt Disney. Despite negative statements from critics and even some of the animators who worked on it, including Don Bluth, the film has achieved a bit of a cult following over the years, primarily stemming from its availability on home video. Like many people, I watched this movie a lot on VHS when I was a kid, and at least once when it was released on DVD, though I hadn’t watched it again for several years. In honor of the film’s 50^th anniversary, I decided to revisit it once more, finding it be quite an underrated Disney feature and a reminder of why I liked it so much as a kid in the first place.

Stubs - The Killer is Loose

The Killer is Loose (1956) Starring Joseph Cotten, Rhonda Fleming, Wendell Corey. Directed by Budd Boetticher. Screenplay by Harold Medford. Based on the novelette The Killer Is Loose by John and Ward Hawkins in The Saturday Evening Post (13 Jun 1953). Producer: Robert L. Jacks Run time: 73 minutes. Black and White. USA Drama, Police, Suspense, Film Noir

In 1953, when Twentieth-Century Fox bought the rights to John and Ward Hawkins’ story The Killer is Loose, they intended to have Orson Welles and Victor Mature star with plans to start shooting in October. Those plans went awry, as that film was never made. In 1954, Robert Goldstein and Robert L. Jacks purchased the rights from 20^th Century for their independent production company Crown Productions. Rather than Orson Welles, Wendell Corey got the lead and Joseph Cotton got the role originally meant for Mature.