Sequels

Last night I went to see Tron Legacy, a sequel to a movie that came out almost 20 years ago and used to be in high rotation on The Disney Channel.  Then, today as I was reading Don't You Forget About Me, one of the authors mentioned the much talked about idea of a John Hughes teen movie sequel.  All of this got me thinking about sequels to movies we loved as children, and sequels to movies that just had no place with having a sequel. Sometimes, these sequels work, sometimes they go horribly wrong *cough*The Matrix*cough*.

Tron Legacy was pretty darn awesome.  It needed some more editing, and was a bit slow in parts, but at least it made sense and had some real soul to it.  Growing up in the 80's I was well aware of the first Tron movie, although I was not a big fan.  I didn't dislike it, just wasn't a big fan.  So, I may be more forgiving of the sequel then someone who is a big fan of the movie.  All in all though, it was a sequel that can mostly stand on its own, and adds to an already established story.

Then, along the lines of sequels that should have never been is Clerks 2.  Really, who heard of that movie the first time and thought "Yeah this is going to work!"  I certainly didn't.  But, as info kept coming about the movie I did get more excited about it.  I was at the theatre opening weekend ready to enjoy more Randell and Dante time.  And you know what?  The movie was AWESOME!  I laughed, I cried, I almost threw up.  Seriously, it was just all levels of awesome rolled into some awesome sauce and put on an awesome bun.  I never thought it could be that successful though.  I was pleasantly surprised.

This brings me to the essay in Don't You Forget About Me, and the talk of any number of John Hughes sequels (Sixteen Candles, Pretty in Pink, Ferris....).  I really don't think any of those sequels would work.  I don't want to see Samantha Baker older and not married to Jake Ryan, and I am not sure I want to see her older and married to Jake Ryan.  I don't want to know for sure what happened to Ducky, or if John Bender made a life of crime or turned himself around, if Allison ended up ODing in her 20's, if Bryan ended up actually killing himself in college due to stress put on him by his parents.  I just don't want to know.  Why?  John Hughes teen movies are all about the moment and the possibility of the future.  I don't want to know why Ducky is happy, I just want to pretend that he is.  I want to think that he found a girl he could be devoted to, who was just as much in love with him, and that he continued to be his Classic Soul loving, quirky self, on into his adult life.

Maybe I don't want to know for sure what happened to John Hughes characters because I don't want to know exactly what has happened to me.  I don't want to think that my life is set, that I can't still change, that I don't still have that magical possibility that is at the end of Ferris Bueller, The Breakfast Club, Pretty in Pink, and Sixteen Candles.

Best of 2010

While it isn't exactly the end of the year yet, I am going to put out my list for the best books that I read in 2010.  Actually, since I didn't do a best of list last year, I am going to cheat just a tiny little bit and go back to Dec. 2009 and include a book I read in there too.  But, in this list you will notice one very conspicious book missing...or maybe you won't, but I am going to mention it later anyways.

So, in no particular order, here are the books that I thought were the best of what I read last year:

Hate List by Jennifer Brown
Dash and Lily's Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan
Dragonbreath: Curse of the Were-wiener by Ursula Vernon
Don't You Forget About Me: Contemporary Writers on the Films of John Hughes
It's a Book by Lane Smith
The Eternal Ones by Kirsten Miller
Carter Finally Gets it by Brent Crawford
Night by Elie Wiesel
Grace by Elizabeth Scott

Oh and I forgot to mention that which I left off the list.  In a previous blog post I reviewed Mockingjay, the conclusion to my much MUCH loved Hunger Games storyline.  Well, I still hate the book, so it does not make my best of list for 2010, although I have seen it on many other "best of" lists.

So, what about you guys?  What were your favorite books of 2010?