Slasher Horror: The Genre That Refuses To Die

A ‘Slasher’ film for those of you who don’t know is a type of horror film usually focusing on a group of people, in most cases teens, who are hunted down one by and one and killed. Sometimes this can be done with the standard escaped lunatic trope, Halloween the original, or sometimes the killer can have more of a supernatural bend, like Freddy from the Nightmare on Elm Street series.

The Slasher sub-genre has been around in one form or another for decades, stretching all the way back to the 1960 release of Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho. The film’s villain, Norman Bates, is the first example we see of what would become the horror staple slasher. Following on from this we had the release of Black Christmas, which is getting a 2019 remake, and the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, both released in 1974; this kicked the sub-genre off, and proved that these sort of films was where the horror was heading.

The film that would go on to solidify the identity of what a Slasher film can and can’t be, as well as bring about the trope of the ‘Final Girl’, was John Carpenters Halloween; this is seen as the first of the modern slashers and would become the template for what other horror movies and franchises would do down the line.

The 80s were the prime time for Slasher horror, with the release of Friday the 13th at the end of the 70s going into the 80s as well as more from the Halloween franchise, and a little film called Nightmare on Elm Street. All of these films put their spin on the slasher formula, with the 1980s release of Child’s Play being the most novel making the evil slasher a doll. However, franchise fatigue was beginning to set in.

Over the 1980s the market had become saturated with Slasher horror and audiences were starting to get sick of it. The big franchises had become more and more silly, as a way to try and keep the concept new and exciting; here’s looking at you Friday the 13th. As such, when the 1990s rolled around, a film was released which exposed as well as poked fun at all of the sub-genres rules and tropes; this film was Wes Craven’s Scream.

Scream was released to massive applause and praise, with it almost being a parody, but still remaining scary, and most importantly innovative. The release of Scream helped to breath new life into the Slasher genre, but this was only short-lived. With more schlocky slasher films like Wrong Turn and Hatchet being made in this brief window, but all of this was not enough to save the genre; as we reached the end of the 90s, the Slasher horror was on its way out. Another contributing factor in this decline was the late 90s release of The Blair Witch Project, which pushed horror cinema in a completely different direction, found footage.

Throughout the 2000s the big Slasher franchises continued to release films, whether reboots or, sequels no one asked for and a lot of them came out to minimal fanfare and even fewer ticket sales. All hope for Slasher movies coming back to the forefront of horror cinema seemed lost. Then the news was announced that Danny McBride, know for his comedy roles, wanted to write a new entry for the Halloween series, this film would ignore all the terrible sequels that followed the original; when the movie came out it was met with praise at every turn and made a large amount of money for the studio; naturally two sequels to this film were announced thereafter. Now at the time of writing there is talk of a new Friday the 13th film as well as a Nightmare on Elm Street film, and though there still are terrible Slasher movie sequels being released, 2019’s Child’s Play and the Leatherface origin story, the Slasher genre still has one last gasp in its lungs and, one last scare to give.

Hustlers: Proof Jennifer Lopez can act!

Hustlers is a 2019 crime thriller film, about a group of strippers that after the 2008 financial crisis decide to start drugging and robbing their clients to make some extra cash; apparently based on real events.

First things first, the film is handled tastefully, others who have reviewed it says it shows life as a stripper accurately, rather than overly glamorising it; which some movies do. At no point did the film become vulgar, or pervy; which is something that this film if done differently, could have been in danger of.

The main plot of the film revolves around Destiny, (Constance Wu), as a new girl in this particular strip club, who needs to make some money to pay for her grandmother’s debts. Enter Ramona, (Jennifer Lopez), a seasoned pro who knows how to make money and get what she wants. What then follows is a dive into the extreme as the girl’s actions become more and more sinister, and Ramona and Destiny become more and more at odds. On the whole, the film’s plot is quite novel as there haven’t been many crime films from the woman’s point of view.

Hustlers is Jennifer Lopez’s movie, as though she isn’t the main character, she is the most interesting and compelling. Lopez gives a hell of a performance and can switch between a caring mother and friend, to someone who will do whatever it takes to get what she wants. There has been talk comparing Lopez’s role in this to Matthew McConaughey’s character in Magic Mike, and if this is true than Hustlers might mark the beginning of a renaissance in Lopez’s acting career; she might even win an Oscar.

That is all the positives I can say about the film.

Other than Lopez there are a large amount of other supporting characters, such as Annabelle, (Lili Reinhart of Riverdale fame), all of these characters aren’t fleshed out or, developed beyond one or two memorable traits. In the case of Reinhart her gimmick, and that truly is an apt choice of word, is that she is sick whenever she is stressed and that she has a bad home life, those are the only two things you know about her character; so a developed supporting cast is something you can’t find here.

In my opinion, the main issue with Hustlers is Constance Wu; she is incredibly unlikable and doesn’t work as the main character we are supposed to root for. She is given various traits to make her more sympathetic, but all they seem to do is reinforce just how unlikable she is. I don’t know if she is just upstaged by Jennifer Lopez’s electrifying performance, but to me, Wu was incredibly miscast.

What’s more and it needs to be said, the film doesn’t view men in a good light at all, even one in the third act who is supposed to be sympathetic he is still treated with contempt; that said, though in the context of the film it makes sense why they have this view. At no point does it feel forced in, it makes sense from the character motivations; it just something that needs to be talked about in regards to this film.

Overall the film is worth seeing for Jennifer Lopez’s fantastic performance alone; it is just a shame the rest of the cast can’t live up to her. An average to good crime film.

3/5

Reviewed by Luke

IT Chapter 2 and the mass appeal of Horror.

Horror cinema has been around for decades, and over the years it has grown in popularity more and more, to the point that now when IT chapter 2 comes out, it can be a huge hit. I want to talk about why that is, and how horror has gone from a very niche thing to rising to prominence in mainstream culture; then I’ll touch on my thoughts for IT chapter 2.

Horror Cinema has always had a dedicated audience whether its kids and teenagers going to see matinees back in the 50s and 60s, to the rise of Hammer Horror. However, it has never been a genre that Studios have seen as viable for a broad audience, as it forgoes a lot of the profitable demographics. The reason for this is that not everyone likes to be scared, unlike comedy that can appeal to a lot of people, the desire to be scared and in effect horror, in general, is far more niche. Furthermore, horror can offend people they may not think that a film showing such a thing, should be viewed.

Despite that in recent years with the rise of giants like Blumhouse and A24, horror is very much in vogue; it continues to rise and rise with more and more people seeing it as not only profitable but also a creatively free genre, with marketing agencies and big studios realising there is a lot of money to be made off the dedicated fan base that there has always been for horror.

That brings us to the film I am going to cover today, IT Chapter 2.
Chapter 2 carries on from the 2017 release of IT, based off the Stephen King book of the same name, about an entity that preys on the townspeople of Derry, Maine; every 27 years. Where the first chapter focused on the Losers Club, the main protagonists, as children, Part 2 sees them returning as adults when Pennywise the Dancing Clown, the before mentioned entity, awakens from his slumber; to have one final showdown.

I believe in many ways, this film was not as good as the first chapter and a far cry from the 90s miniseries, but it was never going to be. IT Chapter 2 suffered from something a lot of big films do these days, that is being overhyped, these films get talked about and talked about to such an extent that they have to be a perfect film otherwise people are going to feel disappointed, and to a degree cheated; very few films can live up to this standard.

My thoughts on the film can be summed up like this, for a movie that runs for nearly 3 hours, it feels rushed. A lot of key scenes, in terms of character development, from the book are left out; such is the issue with trying to stuff a mammoth book into two films. Adding to this fact, and making it all the worse, is that this film suffers from severe pacing issues. Whilst there are elements of comedy in the original novel it is never front and centre, conversely in this film, there are scenes where comedy is artificially forced in, why this is done is beyond me as it takes away from any sort of tension.

Additionally, though the main characters are well cast and all the actors do a good job, Pennywise, for many people the selling point of these films, is mostly underused, with him being reserved mainly for the final act.
This leaves us with a lot of boring scenes of the Losers Club members walking the streets of Derry and reminiscing about their childhoods, with the occasional jump-scare put in to remind you, that although you may have forgotten, you’re watching a horror film.

Ultimately though there are good aspects, this film feels rushed and also overly drawn out at the same time, and that is something that ruins the movie overall; with it needing a tighter focus.

3/5

Reviewed by Luke

Once Upon A Time In Hollywood: A Love Letter To Tarantino

Preface: When I first saw this film, I didn’t like it, but after seeing it the second time I have much more of an appreciation for it.

Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, is the 9th film by acclaimed director Quentin Tarantino, and is in a sense a retelling of the real-life Manson Murders; all bit it with a twist, but I’m not going to spoil that here. The film itself reads like a love letter to the Golden Age of Hollywood, as well as to the 1960s.

The plot of the film revolves around three intersecting stories, each focusing on one of the three main cast members, Brad Pitt,( Cliff Booth), Leonardo DiCaprio, (Rick Dalton), and Margot Robbie, (Sharon Tate). Rick’s story focuses on him realising he is past his peak in terms of acting and, needs to adapt his ways to stay relevant. Booth is mainly a supportive figure to Dalton, being there to lend a hand, although his story line does bring about the Manson Family element which adds an exciting spark to the film*.

*I believe knowing about the events of the Manson Murders before going in to see the film, adds a sense of dread to the proceedings, with you knowing it’s just a matter of time before the killings happen; if you don’t know the history the final act of the film can feel like it’s just come out of nowhere.

The third and final main character, Robbie’s Tate is by far the weakest as she is given the least to do, and I didn’t notice this the first time around, but nothing much to say as well; her amount of dialogue compared to Pitt’s and DiCaprio’s is none existent; she mainly exists to dance around to various 60’s tunes and go on drawn-out trips to the movies.

On the flip side of that, the writing and the dialogue for both Booth and Dalton is well done, both of their characters seem like people, they’re relatable and easy to root for. Moreover, one of the final scenes of the film shows the relationship between these two men, in such a perfect away, it’s incredibly effective.

My biggest complaint against the film is the pacing of it. A lot, and I mean 60% + of the scenes feel like they could have been edited down, a lot of them weren’t vital and just served to reinforce and retell us things about the characters we already knew. Adding to this complaint, we only actually see Charles Manson, for one scene; which is incredibly brief. I don’t know if they shot more scenes and they didn’t make it in, but it leaves said scenes feeling oddly out of place.

Overall there are things to like about this film; both leading men are charming, there are some excellent celebrity cameos, but it doesn’t hide the fact that this is one of Tarantino’s weaker efforts.
The man has a stellar catalogue, with the likes of Django Unchained and Inglorious Bastards, but this seems like a mismatch of different things and ideas that don’t come together.
To summaries, I loved 40% of the film, but the other 60% was just too long, too dragged out and, dare I say it too self indulgent.

3/5

Reviewed by Luke

Yesterday: The Best Film of Summer 2019

Summer 2019 has, in terms of film, been one of the most disappointing in recent memory. We’ve seen unwanted remakes and reimaginings; beloved series shoot themselves in the head, looking at you Men In Black International and, your genius decision to not bring Will Smith back. Overall Summer 2019 has been in a word- meh.

The highlights would probably include, Brightburn for sheer originality, Toy Story 4 for not being a blatant cash grab and, Spider-man Far From Home, which let’s face it is only really cared about now because it might be the last one in the MCU.

Horror was in pretty good form over the summer though, with Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark and Midsommar both being fantastic films, sadly the horror front was let down by the lacklustre Annabelle Comes Home from the Conjuring Universe, but at least 2 out of 3 isn’t bad.

However, one film stood above all as the best film of the summer, at least to me, that film was Yesterday. Yesterday is a British ‘Feel Good’ Romantic Comedy, focusing on talented but, overlooked musician Jack Malik, (Himesh Patel), as he, after a bike crash, wakes up in a world where no one remembers the Beatles, except him and two others. What follows is Jack’s rise to fame as he takes credit for writing and singing all of the Beatles most famous songs, along the way he learns what’s important to him, and that fame isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

Though the premise, Beatle-less world aside, has been done a million and one times before, there is something about Yesterday, so endearing and undeniably positive, that you can’t help but smile. It hits on a lot of different emotional cores and leaves you happier than when you went in; there is no doubt about that.

The film is well-executed and planned out, with each musical sequences feeling needed and relevant to the plot of the film, rather than just feeling like it’s there to be “remember this song”, as so many other musicals do. This goes to show that Director Danny Boyle hasn’t lost his streak for making great films, said streak brought us the likes of Trainspotting 1 and 2 and is still very present here.

A significant plot point of the film focuses on the will they won’t they, relationship between Jack and his childhood best friend Ellie, (Lilly James). The chemistry between James and Patel is palpable, which makes the eventual relationship not only believable but, also one you can’t help to root for and, become invested in. The interesting twist on the standard unrequited or, overlook love angle here is that it’s James’ Ellie who is madly in love with Jack, but he can’t see it and, thinks they are just friends. This twist on the standard gender roles this story angle usually has is fascinating and, something more films should do.

Finally, the film’s music is infectious, even if you don’t like or, for some reason don’t know the Beatles, their music is used in such a heartfelt and touching way here; that you can’t help but, sing along. Yesterday is a love letter to the Beatles and to music in general and, that fact shines brightly in every scene.

If you haven’t already, you should see this film, as I can guarantee it will put a smile on your face and, make just a little bit happier.

5/5

Review by Luke

A Beginners Guide to Comic Books

Ever since I was young, I loved reading comics; indeed, my obsession with Marvel and DC superheroes almost began in-utero. From as young as I can remember I have kept up with adventures of Batman and Spider-man, and as I have got older my tastes changed; I moved away from superhero comics, except for Moon Knight, and found a whole other world of comics and graphic novels that have nothing to do with superheroes at all.

My first foray into this world came as I started reading Bill Williamson’s Fables, which still stands as my personal favourite comic series ever, a series in which classic fairytale characters find themselves in our world in the present day. What makes the comic series so superb is that it manages to merge the silly wimsey of fairytales with the grittiness of real life; to a fantastic end.

So the subject of today’s post is how to get into, and hopefully love comics. In recent years a lot of people are getting into comics thanks in no small part to the mass success of the MCU, but there are so many different comics it is hard to know where to start. Ultimately it depends what you’re looking for if you’re trying to get into Marvel or, DC then every few years they will have significant events that restart the in-comic universe and make it more approachable for new readers. Failing that you can always find older issue of any series you want to get into at any good comic shop. If you want to get into non-superhero comics, then it’s even more accessible, as most of the time these series don’t have hundreds of back issues to sort through. As well as this most major comic publications have online services where you can read all of their comics for a fee.

How I handle reading comics is, I don’t try and keep up with every series from a particular brand, Marvel, DC, Boom, Dark Horse; instead I find authors I like and stick to their runs, exploring maybe one or, two other comic series a month. I believe this makes keeping up with comics way easier.

The reason everyone should try and read comics is not only because comics are cool, but also because so many of them have something different to say, and show the world from another viewpoint. To me, comics are the most original medium, as the creators are only really bound by the limits of their imagination, especially if they’re writing for an independent publisher. You can go from reading a comic about vampires across time to one about people who freeze time when they orgasm, the amount of variety and creativity is unlike anything found elsewhere.

To conclude I think everyone should give comics ago, yes it’s not going to be for everyone, but you might just read something that captures your imagination and engrosses you, and for some of the characters and worlds alone I think you should pick up a comic book today!

What Happened to the Arrowverse?

I remember the day the first episode of Arrow aired, it filled me with the same kind of wonder that I had when I first watch Smallville years prior. The same if not more could be said when Barry Allen appeared on Arrow in a guest-starring role, with the intention being for him to get his own series down the line. When Legends of Tomorrow came out, I was cautiously optimistic, to see how a show compromised of side and villain characters from the other two shows would be; I wasn’t disappointed. Even when Supergirl came out, I loved every minute of the first season.

Then something happened, The shows I had once loved, weren’t what I remember them being any more, the spark that was once there was extinguished. So the question I want to ask today is what happened and is there hope left?

The Problem I believe is multi-faceted; it is hard to put down to just one thing. To get the obvious out of the way, every show has a decline in quality the longer it goes on; Arrow is going into its 8th season, and the Flash is going into its 6th; as a result, they aren’t going to be as good as they were in their respective primes. With the 20-24 episode mode of storytelling, all sources of inspiration are used and then used again, as there are only so many things these characters can do before things start to get stale. The creatives know this, so they make filler content, a fairly standard practice, to pad out the season. This content often takes away from the drama and the stakes of the overall season and gives us meaningless side stories that only really appeal to a small group of people. A little bit of filler can be a nice break, but the issue with the Arrowverse at this point is every other episode is like this.

Furthermore, and this is true for Marvel and the MCU as well, the stakes on the Arrowverse shows are incredibly low. We know characters are safe, they have plot armor so they can’t die, which shatters a lot of the tension in episodes. The worst is when the episode ends on a cliffhanger and, it is set up to look as though X character is going to die, but the drama doesn’t work because you know they won’t. Now, the Arrowverse has killed off characters before that is true, but never major ones, never your Barry Allens or, your Oliver Queens: instead it’s always a side character, and even then they come back, look at Sara Lance.

Whats-more, The Arrowverse shows just become the same in the end they all follow a pattern, I’m not saying this is a wrong, a lot of people like it, but it does take away from the originality of the shows themselves. A lot of the time it is just pretty people in rooms, having soap opera level drama, that most of the time goes nowhere and, is rather inconsequential. This can be found across all of the shows and, makes it hard to be able to tell one apart from the others.

Ultimately for me the shows, barring Legends of Tomorrow which still entertains me every week, have become stale and, the Arrowverse as a whole simply relies on spectacle to sell itself, see any number of the crossover specials for evidence, and again I’m not saying this is a bad thing, I’m just saying it is not what it once was.

Hopefully, the Arrowverse can recapture what made it great at some point in the future.

PS Constantine is the best part of the whole Arrowverse.

Gremlins: The Best Christmas Film

With summer coming to a close we begin the slow march towards Christmas, it really does get earlier every year, as such I want to write about my favourite Christmas/ Holiday movie of all time; Gremlins.

The idea of a Christmas film is usually something happy and upbeat, enjoyable by the whole family, things like Home Alone and the Santa Claus spring to mind. In that parameter, Gremlins doesn’t really fit in; it is a horror-comedy film, unusual Christmas movie fare. However, that’s what works so well about it; it subverts all the stereotypes about what defines a Christmas movie, while still being set at Christmas, coming across almost as a homage.

To give some background to the film, it was released in the summer of 1984; it was a considerable hit commercially and critically and, this along with Raiders of the Lost Ark lead to the creation of the PG-13 rating. The plot of the film revolves around Billy, (Zach Gilligan), as he receives a Gremlin, here called a Mogwai, from his father as a Christmas present. Upon receiving Gizmo the mogwai, Billy has to learn and keep to the stringent rules of ownership; otherwise, there will be disastrous consequences, to spoil it, he breaks the rules and chaos ensues.

This film portrays Christmas, not as this sweet idyllic time of the year, but rather as this crazy manic time where everything is continuously moving, a move which I find refreshing. Furthermore, the relationship between Billy and Gizmo is very relatable to anyone who has ever got a pet on Christmas morning, with this relationship being the beating heart of the film.

Gizmo himself is easily the cutest puppet in film ever; he has a distinct look that makes him easily recognisable and iconic. Furthermore, the facial movements of the character convey emotion to significant effect, leading you not only to root for Gizmo but also viewing him as somewhat of the main character. Comparatively, the evil gremlins, because yes, there are more gremlins, and some of them are or, become evil, actually inspire fear. The puppetry of these gremlins conveys malice and menace as their different design comes across as ugly and monstrous, which the film uses to great effect, showing us the difference between cute happy Gizmo and the evil other gremlins.

The humour in this film is also incredibly well done being funny and very endearing; the gore of the film also works to this extent. With a lot of the kills towards the end of the film, being quite comedic in their brutality, in almost a Zombieland esque kind of fashion.
There is so much charm and heart to this film that it quickly makes it’s self one of the most memorable films of the 80s, having a legacy that lives on way over 30 years later. The sequel, while still entertaining couldn’t live up to the heights of the first film and fell short in many ways. However there is now talk of a Gremlins series coming to the small screen, so there is clearly still demand after all these years.
In my opinion, the first Gremlins is a must-see and one of the best films to watch at Christmas, if only as a palate cleanser to all those sickly emotional Christmas films that plague the holiday season, like ghosts that refuse to die.

Angel has Fallen: What makes an Action Hero?

There is an art to being an action star; it’s something only few can do; fewer still convincingly. Therein lies today’s topic I want to talk about what makes a convincing action star, and how all that can and will change over time. When you imagine an action hero, you imagine a tough person in the prime of their life, ready and able to do whatever it takes to save the day. Keanu Reeves is believable in John Wick because he trains incredibly hard and has excellent stunt coordination. The is true of Sigourney Weaver in Aliens as well; she is a believable badass, due to a well-developed character and great set pieces/ stunt work. This brings us to the meat of what I want to talk about today the recently released blockbuster Angel Has Fallen.

Angel Has Fallen is the third film in the Fallen series, carrying on from the events of Olympus Has Fallen and London Has Fallen. The third film focuses on Mike Banning, (Gerard Butler), as he faces off against the Government when he is framed for murder. A big part of the film focuses on the effect being a Secret Service agent is having on Mikes health, as he is not the man he used to be anymore. Despite that being a theme, the action in this film comes off as some of the laziest and most uninspired of recent history. I understand from a plot perspective Mike can’t be doing the same things he was doing in the first film, but other than some shooting and running he doesn’t really do all that much.

Maybe I have been spoiled with well planned out, well-executed action movies like this year’s John Wick, but in any case, I don’t see a reason to release an action movie, when it is clear that no one really cares, cookie-cutter in the extreme might as well be this films tagline.

What makes this all the more troubling is Gerard Butler himself. There was a time at the start of the 2000s where Butler’s name was being said in the same breath as Jason Statham and Arnold Schwarzenegger when it came to action stars; this was mainly due to the release of 300, which catapulted Butler into action superstardom. Cut to now, and the performance he gives in Angel Has Fallen is one of tiredness, it is clear he doesn’t want to be there anymore; crucially he isn’t believable as the character in this film. I know Butler can do better than this, he proved he can still be a viable and menacing action star in last year’s Den of Thieves. However, none of what made his performance good in that film is carried over.

To conclude, I think the Fallen series needs to be taken out back and shot; it is the merciful thing to do. We are a long way from the heights of the first film and, the longer it goes on, the more unbelievable Butler becomes as an action star, which is a shame. My final thought is that Butler needs to think carefully about the roles he picks, focusing more on films like Machine Gun Preacher and Law Abiding Citizen, where he shone through as a relatable action star.
What’s more, for the love of all of us when Fallen 4 comes a-knocking, Gerard, don’t answer.

1.5/5

Reviewed by Luke

Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Coming of Age

Over the years a lot of films have tackled the issue of coming of age, it is a common theme in many works of fiction and will be for years to come. There is something inherently relatable about films like these; where no matter the protagonist, you find something that reminds you of your own formative years. No series, in my opinion, handles the ideas of growing up and maturing better than the Diary of A Wimpy Kid films, today’s post will be a look at the franchise and what it meant to a lot of people.
Diary of A Wimpy Kid is a 2010, coming of age film, following the life of Greg Heffley, (Zachary Gordon), as he tries to navigate the world of middle school, be the most popular, and one day be famous. The film is based on a series of best-selling children’s books that are beloved by millions, the films themselves like to wear their book heritage on their sleeve and will often open with an animated scene that is very reminiscent of the books.
The three core films follow Greg as he progresses through the years of middle school, and we grow up with him in a way, or at least I did. We the audience see his priorities change as he gets older in a very relatable way, in the first film he just wants to hang out with his friend Rowley, (Robert Capron) and, play videogames; the friendship between these two boys is something that underscores the whole trilogy. By the time the second film Roderick Rules is set we see that now Greg is interested in girls and his friendship with Rowley changes, this is a thing that has happened to all of us, that transition from being a kid and thinking girls or, boys are icky to then being in a relationship, and I think that this transition is captured beautifully by the films.
Not only this but, the family interactions too were well thought out and intentioned, in the first film we see how much Greg is scared of his brother Roderick, (Devon Bostick), and how the two are always at odds. However, in Roderick Rules, we see that the pair actually share a bond and that perhaps Greg has just prejudged his brother and is later corrected, we see this towards the end of the second film in a very bittersweet scene. Moreover, the third film shows us the relationship between Greg and his dad and how Greg is trying to make him proud and get along with him, despite having nothing in common and being two drastically different people. This part of the third film has a lot to say about father-son relationships, and a lot of it is profoundly authentic and affecting; it reminded me more than once of my own life.
Perhaps the thing the film does the best is the development of Greg himself; he starts off the first film as a selfish arsehole who only really cares about himself, with a lot of his friends and family suffering as a result. A lot of the conflict of the films from his falling out with Rowley in the first film, to that tear provoking moment with Roderick in the second film all come as a result of Greg’s actions. As the trilogy progresses, however, we see Greg become a better person as he matures, one who will do what’s right to make his friends and family happy; sometimes even at his detriment, although it usually works out for him.
I think though these films owe a lot to the incredibly well-written books that they take inspiration from, there is something special about these series of films, that resonates with the audience, reminding them of their own lives and families: because at the end of the day who hasn’t been the wimpy kid who just wanted to be popular.
In my opinion, there is no fourth film.