Better Late Than Never Vol. #4

Mary Poppins' Return is Welcome but Unnecessary

While never a fan of the original Mary Poppins I won't deny its innocent charm and cinematic legacy as it holds a place near and dear to many. I wouldn't think that this, of all Disney properties, would get a sequel so late in the game. Fifty-four years later to be precise! I thought this only applied to Harrison Ford movies. Yet here we are, nostalgia is the biggest cash-grabber hence the numerous live-action remakes from Disney and the ones yet to come.

Cinema Spotlight IV - James Wan (Part 9): "Aquaman"

James Wan expressed interest in doing a superhero movie around the time he did the first Conjuring movie. Thanks to its success, Warner Bros. gave him the option to do either The Flash or Aquaman for his next project. Seeing how The Flash was a more popular character starring in several iterations including a popular TV show on The CW, Wan went with Aquaman. Outside of supporting roles in other forms of media, nothing had ever been done with the underwater warrior in the center spotlight. I can safely say that the choice paid off.

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is Spectacular

I haven't read many superhero comics but one that I have is on Miles Morales. An afro-latino teen who becomes the new Spider-Man after the death of Peter Parker, the original Spider-Man. I always hoped he would get the cinematic treatment. Now he has and in glorious animation.

Cinema Spotlight IV - James Wan (Part 8): 'The Conjuring 2'

Lorraine Warren (Vera Farmiga).

Horror sequels are notorious for not being good as the first movie, but because the genre doesn't require that big of a budget, they are quick to make and still make enough money at the box-office. It doesn't help when most of the time, its not the same people who stay on board after the first installment. Perhaps the Saw movies would have benefited if James Wan stuck around as a director. It certainly helped the Insidious movies as he returned for the sequel with good results; even after passing the torch with the later chapters. Returning back to The Conjuring universe, Wan does it again.

Cinema Spotlight IV - James Wan (Part 7): 'Furious 7'

At the start of his career, James Wan changed gears after two horror movies with the action/revenge story Death Sentence. The end results were dismal to say the least. Going back to Horror, Wan delivered not one, not two, but three successful spooky movies. For his seventh project, Wan tries again at the action genre with the seventh installment of The Fast and the Furious franchise.

Bumblebee Is Remarkably Robust

There is no doubt that Transfomers is successful as a toyline. The cartoon adaptations have been both a hit (Transformers:Prime) and miss (Beast Machines). The movies, to put it delicately, have been severely underwhelming and gotten worse with each new entry. After helming every live-action iteration of the robots in disguise, Micheal Bay steps down as director and hand's the reigns to Travis Knight, fresh from his success of the stop-motion action fantasy Kubo and the Two-Strings.

Cinema Spotlight IV - James Wan (Part 6): 'Insidious: Chapter 2'

Josh (Patrick Wilson) and Dalton (Tye Simpkins) Lambert. 

If you recall my take of Insidious, I thought it was a return to form for Horror director James Wan. What you may not know is that on my first viewing, I was severely underwhelmed at the last minute decision of the "made you look" ending. I knew there were sequels but when its in the Horror genre, they are vastly inconsistent. You can imagine my surprise when Insidious: Chapter 2 immediately picks off where the last one ended