Almost Equal Sequels Part XXI: Die Hard 2

Die Hard is one of those rare things in nature.  Rarer than a hen’s tooth.  More rarer than a unicorn.  Even more rarer than a Sasquatch riding a unicorn with a hen’s tooth in its innate rareness.  No, my friends, enemies, and barely tolerated minor acquaintances at best, Die Hard is one of those rare …

Almost Equal Sequels Part XX: Aliens

Franchises are not always obvious.  Who knew that taking the framework of 1958’s It: The Terror Beyond Space while mixing in some HR Giger artwork and then coating everything with KY jelly would result in such a hit with audiences?  But there was 20th Century Fox, suddenly sitting pretty with Alien’s sizeable box office returns …

Almost Equal Sequels Part XIX: War of the Colossal Beast 

Ah, the 1950s!  The true glory days of the hard scrabble slightly financed sci-fi extravaganzas! Giant bugs and atomic beasts! Flying saucers and underwater creatures! Infinitesimal amounts of money were spent on a huge catalog of films that were unleashed onto the unwitting public.  There were great posters, intriguing titles, and the promise of something unique and entertaining.  And mothers across the …

Almost Equal Sequels Part XVIII: The Lost World: Jurassic Park

As I write this in August 2025, there is still an opportunity to watch incredible creatures eating folks in your local theaters.  No, I’m not talking about the unsettling weirdness that is Pedro Pascal in Fantastic Four: First Steps, you sillies!  I mean dinosaurs!  Honest to goodness, slathered with CGI dinosaurs!  Yes, there are probably …

Almost Equal Sequels Part XVII: Hot Shots! Part Deux

Ah, comedy!  Remember when Hollywood made comedies?  I know it seems like an eternity ago, but at one time in the dim and dark past, despite the dysentery and the covered wagons, studios thought that comedies were a worthwhile enterprise.  They figured that audiences might pay to laugh at something on the big screen.  And …

Almost Equal Sequels Part XVI: Lethal Weapon 2

Gosh, I’d love to say that due to the injuries that I sustained while trying to stop a runaway school bus filled with nuns, orphans, orphaned nuns, and a squadron of sasquatch babies is what kept me from writing for so long, but sadly I cannot say that.  I mean, I could say that, but …

Almost Equal Sequels Part XV: Return To Oz

I apologize for the length of time it has taken for me to get back on the saddle to get back in the saddle as well in writing.  I would love to give a few excuses, but they would all pale in comparison to the truth: I was on a classified mission to save the …

Almost Equal Sequels Part XIV: Jaws 2

Just when I thought it was safe to go back into the waters of blogging…I decided to take a refreshing splash and jumped right in!  The world of sequels is blessedly never-ending and now with summer coming oppressively at us, the luscious land of blockbusters beckons from the deep!  So since this entry can’t stay …

Almost Equal Sequels PART XIII: Batman Returns

When in Year of Our Blockbusters, One Thousand Nine Hundred and Eighty-Nine, there was only one man that could beat Indiana Jones, James Bond, Riggs & Murtaugh, Marty McFly, the Ghostbusters, and Weird Al Yankovic at the box office: Batman!  There was such a demand for Batman movie tickets and bat-related paraphernalia, the country simply …

Almost Equal Sequels Part XII: 2010: The Year We Make Contact

Ye gods, it has been a terrifically long time, hasn’t it?  I feel like I’ve finally awoken from hibernation as I make the long journey to Jupiter’s moons, I tell you!  Now that I coincidentally on purpose mentioned Jupiter’s moons, I think the time has come to talk about a sequel to an acclaimed and …