10) Zoolander 2
Previous movie:
Zoolander was a mini-comedy gem from the mind of Ben Stiller, featuring David Bowie on ostentatious cameo duty, and both Stiller and Owen Wilson giving two of their surest comedic performances. It’s the winningly stupid satire that the fashion world never even knew it wanted.
The sequel:
Zoolander 2 is an under-developed cameo-fest produced with more money and less wit than the original, regrettably made in an era of late-sequel comedy cash-ins (Anchorman 2, Dumb and Dumber To, Vacation etc.). Stiller and Wilson return, but they bring with them an overbearing cavalcade of stars all making appearances just because. Washington Post’s Ann Hornaday went so far as to call it “a betrayal of public trust.”
9) Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Previous movie:
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade is a solid trilogy-capper that succeeded the marginally less-successful Temple of Doom and the bona fide classic Raiders of the Lost Ark. The original Indiana Jones trilogy is one of the greats, bringing old-school movie serial fun into the modern age.
The sequel:
The recent announcement that Steven Spielberg intends to make a fifth Indiana Jones movie proves his heart is still in it, but Kingdom of the Crystal Skull – made almost 30 years after its immediate forebear – suggests he may have lost sight of what originally made these movies so spectacular. Crystal Skull stars the inimitable Harrison Ford, but he appears alongside some weird aliens, a nuked fridge, some dodgy CGI ants and Shia LaBeouf. Disappointing doesn’t even begin to describe it.
