Latest horror franchise installment just doesn’t cut it

Clooney-helmed film fails to live up to potential

Sci-fi action flick entertainingly terrible

Thriller utterly lacking in any redeeming qualities

Wonder Woman is one of the most beloved comic book creations in the history of the medium. And with the recent success of the cinematic adaptation of the character, she’s as popular as ever. She’s been at the center of some incredible stories over the years.

But the story of how Wonder Woman came to be is incredible in its own right.

Revenge movie lacking in intrigue, action

There are a lot of reasons to dislike a movie. Perhaps the story doesn’t appeal to you. Maybe the performances fall flat or the visuals are uninteresting. Maybe you resent how a beloved character or franchise was treated.

But all of those reasons have decisions behind them. Whether you agree or not, the filmmakers involved have had a distinct idea with regards to what they want the film to be. That doesn’t mean it’s a GOOD film, but at least it knows what it is.

Something like “The Mountain Between Us” is something altogether different – and much worse.

The 1973 tennis match between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs is a legitimately important historic moment – one of the most important to ever spring from the world of sports. It was a blow struck for feminism and women’s rights, a blow that still resonates today.

Frankly, it’s remarkable that it has taken this long for it to receive the cinematic treatment.

There’s a lot of risk that goes into revisiting an idea long after the fact. Adding to a cinematic universe that has been both unchanged and largely beloved for decades is a demanding prospect. To be able to do justice to the original and satisfy its acolytes while also telling a story that feels both new and necessary, well … that’s a real challenge.

For example: Ridley Scott’s 1982 film “Blade Runner” is one of the most cherished sci-fi films in movie history. If you’re going to make a sequel to THAT film – one that in many ways essentially served as the model for the genre for 30-plus years – you better be damn sure you get it right.

“Blade Runner 2049” gets it right.

Hollywood’s current tendency toward remakes and reboots of preexisting properties isn’t always a bad thing. Sometimes, the right filmmaking team can take an older idea and breathe new life into it, creating something that both honors the source material and brings something uniquely its own to the table. The end result can be a really enjoyable movie.

Other times, a filmmaking team can completely miss whatever it was that made a property engaging in the first place and create something that is utterly devoid of anything remotely resembling value – entertainment or otherwise. That end result can be a truly terrible movie.

A movie like “Flatliners.”