Milking the cow until she's dried up

I am behind in my goal of a blog a day for a week. I am determined to have written seven blogs by the end of this week and not even my severe case of man flu will stop me.

Apparently 2011 will see the release of Ghostbusters 3. Usually i'm skeptical when a sequel is made because they will usually lack the quality of the original, but it's Ghostbusters, one of the funniest movies ever made, and the second is underrated in my opinion. Most of me is excited for the reforming of the band, but there is a little doubt. Doubt because sequels can sometimes be fucking awful, no matter how you look at it.

Sometimes another sequel won't tarnish the legacy. Die Hard 4 is a very good film and felt like a good end to the franchise (I'm sure there will be a fifth at some point, with John McClane trying to find his missing teeth in the retirement home) It introduced a new terror threat, it had a younger cast to make the film seem new and you had Bruce Willis doing what he does best. I also think that the sixth Rocky was the perfect send off to the ultimate underdog

Sometimes another sequel after a few years break can be so bad you feel violated watching it. I'm talking about Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Dr. Jones, one of the greatest and coolest characters ever and his legacy of three good films is tarnished by the recent pile of shit. I know the Indy franchise is meant to be fun and not taken seriously, but what the fuck were those gophers about? it made no sense (i don't hate gophers, i love the dancing gopher in Caddyshack. While mentioning Caddyshack, the sequel to that was a very bad idea). And then Indy is in a nuclear explosion but survives hiding in a fridge. Then the film tells you that aliens exists? And it has Shia Leboeuf in it? Doesn't Hollywood know that he is a very annoying person and lacks acting ability?

I think the point i'm trying to make is unless you have a story to tell, then leave the great legacy of the previous films alone, because as much as you love a film, it can be ruined by sequels. People don't talk about how great the first Pirates film is because people only think of them as a trilogy.

With people seeming to want to make films for a built in audience, there are some sequels being spoken about. There is a fourth Pirates (could work), a fourth Beverley Hills Cop (the third was rubbish, and Eddie Murphy seems to hast lost his comedic groove) a fifth Lethal Weapon (Murtagh really is too old for this shit now and Riggs actually went crazy in real life).

Sequels can be good (Clerks 2, Toy Story 2, Bourne trilogy) but you need to know when to let go otherwise the films you love will turn into a big joke, like Police Academy. This rant might not make sense because it's almost one in the morning.