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Which recast is the best ever? RoboCop, Raiden, or Darkman?

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 Recast-a-Mania! Watch the video version here “Mortal Kombat isn’t about death. It’s about the preservation of life.” This is Def Rec, a very unserious blog about entertainment experiences you will definitely recommend. Movie minutia and television tidbits get ranked, rated, reviewed, and skewed, and in the end, you’ll know which one to Def Rec. I’m Jon McBrine. I’m an authority on popular entertainment and pop culture because I have access to the internet. Just because our heroes don’t want to, or maybe can’t go for another ride on our favorite adventures, that doesn’t mean we have to stop playing—even though sometimes we should stop. Recasting is a fact of Hollywood life, and it happens to the best of them, and sometimes it happens to people we didn’t notice to begin with. For a variety of reasons, an actor or actress may not return to the sequel of whatever cinematic classic they initially appeared in, but the show must go on. From Daphne Maxwell Reid replacing Janet Hubert as A...
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Best distant prequel TV series ever?

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Dune: Prophecy, House of the Dragon, or Krypton? Watch the video version here I’ll break down the top three TV series that take place way, way, way before their parent shows, and then I’ll reveal which is the number one pick I recommend. How many times have you been watching your favorite television series and wondered what were the main characters’ grandparents up to back in their day? Prequels provide a peek into the lives of the grandpappies and great-great-grandmas of our beloved heroes. Whether or not there was a high demand to check out the canonical past of these shows remains unclear. What is perfectly clear now is that prequels are a thing, and they’re here to stay. I’ve been on record on this topic before, and I’ll reiterate that I, for one, think the only good prequels have already been made. And frankly, we were lucky as a species that we even got that much. For every Better Call Saul , there are at least 50 utterly pointless prequel shows made. Dexter: Original Sin was a ...
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Can Heroes Be Happy?

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 Three belated sequels said no — and I picked the one worth watching anyway. "I will never train another generation of Jedi. I came to this island to die. It's time for the Jedi to end.” Watch the video version here Can a hero be happy? Belated sequels often think it’s more interesting if a familiar character is found in dire straits. Would it be so bland to see these legends living happily ever after? Do you think our heroes deserved better? An honorable mention right off the bat is the Die Hard sequels. John McClane is known for battling terrorists, not talking out his feelings. Still, it was nice to assume that the fateful phone call at the end of With a Vengeance would have smoothed things over with Holly Gennero. Instead, we lived with some not-so-good days. It appears that Divorcehard was more intriguing to the writers. A shining example of our faves getting a solid send-off is when Clark and Lois from Smallville appeared in the CW’s Crisis crossover event. Despite b...
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What's the best "The Movie" ever made?

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 F1 vs MST3K vs Hot Dog — which took the top spot? Watch the video version here “And now for the rules of the international Chinese downhill: there are none!” What’s better than an episode of your favorite TV series? A movie based on your favorite TV series! But how would you know if you’re watching the longer cinematic version or the shorter episodic kind you’re used to? Simply by adding “the movie” to the title, you eliminate the guesswork, and now you know just what kind of thing you are viewing. As a bonus, tacking on “the movie” to the title adds a bit of gravitas and sophistication. From Jackass: The Movie (2002) to It’s Pat: The Movie (1994), film adaptations of popular television shows or characters have been a Hollywood tradition for decades. It’s a great way to squeeze extra money out of an established IP, and it adds much-needed stress to already overworked cast and crew members. There’s a bit of cornball whimsy to having “the movie” in a film’s name, because it’s as i...
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