Interrogating Sequels

Hollywood, I have a bone to pick with you.  My big question of the day is:  Why do movie sequels have to be so much bigger & better?  I ask because I feel like many movies go painfully wrong & consequently loose following from poor attempts to make the story that much more.  Now, I'm not saying all movie sequels automatically fail, just a large number of them.  Too many sequels end up "larger than life" in a bad way, loosing their viewers suspension of disbelief, and ending up corny instead of compelling.  I sight the following offenders as examples: Transformers (all of them), Die Hard 2 (the other Die Hards were cool), Star Wars (wavered with the first two sequels, takes an all out nose dive with Episode 1 through 3), Indiana Jones & the Temple of Doom (I know it takes place before the other Indiana Jones films but it was produced after.  Can we just forget it ever existed?), The Next Karate Kid (give it up), Conan (all of the sequels somehow got cheesier?), Speed 2 (really? you didn't get enough heart pumping racing & explosions in the first one?), Friday the 13th (will it ever end???), Weekend at Bernie's II (dead people just aren't that amusing, unless they're actual zombies), and Batman & Robin (what wasn't made out of rubber in that film?)

Honestly, getting bigger each time only works in Dance movies; kudos to the Step Up series!  Hollywood, take a note from TV shows - progression in a character's story is much cooler than ever-inflating epicness :-P  And while I have your attention Hollywood, STOP REBOOTING THE SAME OLD STORIES!!!  There are plenty of us writers with neat ideas just waiting for an opportunity!  Please get off your couch & look.  

Sincerely, 

Hero Hearted

Villain Eat Villain World

11th July 2012 - "It's a Villain Eat Villain World"

There's a lot of wicked people in the world with a lot of there own personal agendas.  At least that's the way it seems. (What follows is going to make me seem a little crazy to the common eye & for that I apologize.  Let me assure you, I am normal as normal comes :-) Normal-er posts to follow :-D )

You hear conspiracy theorists talking about Shadow_Governments, Secret_Societies (also see this) & Government Cover-ups all the time. Do you ever stop & wonder about the truth that they might be telling?  I don't put a lot of stock into all the conspiracy stuff.  However, something has to be said for the theme, since it works it's way into many popular movies & shows.  Even some of the events reported in the daily news make you think there has to be a Super Villain (or a few) pulling strings somewhere.  For instance, look at this: 

I don't advocate stealing in any form but this is ridiculous.  No, this is absurd!  A Homeless Guy steals $100 & returns it with an apology, turning himself in, & gets 15 years.  In contrast the a fore mentioned CEO gets busted in one of our country's biggest corporate frauds & he gets a couple year slap on the wrist.  The saddest part is, this isn't an isolated case either.  

Wicked plots happen all too often & major news channels only report about some of them.  Then there are organizations like wikileaks.org which have helped to expose a number of dung heaps hidden behind many "big name" companies & people around the world.  If you've read any of the stuff on their you might wonder . . .

                . . . with this many schemes & schemers, how often do two villains cross paths?

I imagine a few wicked plots have to clash at some point.  So if the world can be seen through the eyes of a story, how often do two villains just wreck each other? Isn't that an interesting thought?  What would happen if a "real life" version of Batman's the Joker ran into Star Wars' Darth Vader?  Or Hannibal Lector from Silence of Lambs had to go toe to toe with the Wicked Witch of the West from the Wizard of Oz? 

That would be great if evil started chipping away at itself.  I believe justice will prevail eventually, but wouldn't it be sweet to see it happen?