Somewhere I sense that George W. Bush is giggling somewhere, because while we have to pay for his sins, we also have to pay for Hollywood’s unoriginality. Word has it that Donnie Darko 3 may be in the works, and that puts the “franchise” now at two unnecessary sequels. (more…)

I love Donnie Darko. The movie, directed by Richard Kelly and starring Jake Gyllenhaal, was an amazing piece of work in every way. I do not love news that Donnie Darko 2 is in the works, however.

There are some movies that are great on their own, that are so good that any other related film will pale in comparison, that wrap things up in just the right way that it isn’t necessary to continue the story. Such was the case with Donnie Darko.

Unfortunately, according to Screen Daily News, production for Donnie Darko 2, officially titled S. Darko, begins on May 18, 2008. Kelly and the Gyllenhaals (Maggie was in the first movie, too) are not involved, but thankfully Chris Fisher, acclaimed director of such films as Rampage: The Hillside Strangler Murders and Nightstalker, is taking the reigns.

Fisher said, “I am a great admirer of Richard Kelly’s film and hope to create a similar world of blurred fantasy and reality.” Simon Crowe, of Velvet Octopus, one of the companies producing the film, added, “I think there is a new generation of cinema-goers who will be very excited to see this film. Donnie’s not in it but there are meteorites and rabbits.”

As for the plot and cast, Daviegh Chase, who played Donnie’s younger sister, is set to return and will follow her and a friend as they travel to Los Angeles. There, they experience visions and other weird things. Ed Westwick, Briana Evigan and Justin Chatwin are also cast members.

What are they thinking? How can this happen? What a horrible, horrible, horrible idea!

From the guy who brought us the awesome Donnie Darko, one of my favorite films of all times, comes Southland Tales, a movie with a few similar themes but one big difference: it sucks big time. Here’s a snippet of my full movie review…

Wednesday night. Eight people. Only four survivors. The emotional toll for those who endured was almost too much to handle.

The situation: Southland Tales, the two-hour, forty-minute Richard Kelly follow-up to the classic Donnie Darko. It was a massacre if I ever saw one, where fifty percent of the audience was shot down, their lives destroyed in an instant. Only it wasn’t an instant. One man, popcorn still in hand, didn’t make an hour, and the three large young ladies who had to sit down right behind me, most likely just to annoy me by talking the entire time (though as it turns out their commentary helped get me through the rough patches), left just before the scene where one SUV humps another SUV. I’d never seen so many people walk out before, but I don’t really blame them: Southland Tales is a mess, and not the fun mess Kelly was shooting for.

I am a big fan of Donnie Darko, and in terms of theme, Southland Tales isn’t that far removed. There are wormholes, time travel and distortion of reality, but how all of that is delivered is so absurd and unruly that it’s nearly impossible to enjoy. Southland Tales is like one of those movies you see in another movie, where some low grade director is trying to make an epic, and when he sits down at the premiere he watches in horror as everyone falls asleep or gets up and walks out. The movie is an epic; it’s just an epic that doesn’t find its identify and isn’t able to engage the audience. It has a message, but without interesting characters or an entertaining plot, Southland Tales falls apart at the seams.

Read my full Southland Tales movie review.