06/09/2026
Rainy day in Bridgnorth - when you’re done looking at the Italian 🇮🇹 🏎️ why not head to the cinema
REEL Cinema Bridgnorth has some great reshows of some landmark films 🎥 to mark their anniversaries…..
So buckle up for a chance to see Terminator 2 🦾
on the big screen or Cars 🚗
Here’s what Charlie has to say about them:
Here’s my reviews for upcoming re-releases of Terminator 2 and Cars for their 35th and 20th anniversaries.
Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1991)
Rated: 15
Times: Friday and Tuesday: 7:50pm
Weekend: 8:00pm
Rating: 5/5
Ten years after giving birth to John Connor (Edward Furlong), Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton) has ended up locked in an asylum after failing to stop the creation of Skynet. Her fears soon are confirmed, when an even more powerful Terminator, the T-1000 (Robert Patrick), is sent back in time to kill John. Now, both Sarah and John must rely on a reprogrammed T-800 (Arnold Schwarzenegger) if they ever hope to stop "Judgment Day"...
After directing two more features, Aliens and The Abyss, James Cameron had to settle numerous court battles relating to the ownership of the franchise from Orion and Harlen Pictures, who gave him a really hard time during production of the first film and from Sci-fi author Harlen Ellison who claimed that the film stole ideas from his TV shows. Despite this, James Cameron did manage to settle these lawsuits and managed to gain a much higher budget of $70 million from new distributor Mario Kasser and get the film done in time for its July 2nd, 1991 deadline.
Of all the Terminator films, Terminator 2: Judgment Day has the most emotional moments and character development of the entire franchise. For example, the theme of role-reversal of the T-800 and Sarah Conner is well told, with the latter going slowly insane with understandable reasons. From threatening to smash the T-800's chip, to attempting to kill the future creator of Skynet who is revealed to be nothing more than a loving family man in front of his own family, while the T-800, on the other hand, forms a bond with John Connor, learns to become more human in his mannerisms and becomes a surrogate father figure for him, a brilliant example of subversive storytelling.
The T-1000 on the other hand, is one of the best creations of this film. As most film buffs know , this character is the main reason why Terminator 2 is regarded as one of the most important films in the history of visual effects, as along with Jurassic Park's dinosaurs, this character was one of the first characters to receive heavy use of CGI for most of its scenes. It still looks amazing though as Stan Winston blended the CGI with much more detailed prosthetics for his facial damage, even the infamous pestle-man design was done with prosthetics.
Overall, Terminator 2: Judgment Day is the magnum-opus of the series, which has since gone on to become listed the AFI's top 10 Science Fiction films, Empire's 500 greatest films, has won four Oscars for its technical achievements, became the highest-grossing film of 1991 and a majority of these scenes are the ones that people associate with the most, when talking about the Terminator series. James Cameron, satisfied with both films, decided to end the franchise there and move on to other things (at least, for his involvement for the franchise anyway).
Cars (2006)
Rated: PG
Times: Weekend: 9:30am and 12:30pm
Rating: 4/5
In an alternate universe where living automobiles and vehicles became the dominant species on Earth, a rookie race car named Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson) has quickly risen to the ranks of top racer when he ends up tying for first place with current champion, The King (Richard Petty) and a selfish cheater named Chick Hicks (Michael Keaton), in the Annual Piston Cup Championships. While on the way to a tie-breaker race in California that will decide the winner, Lightning gets separated from his trailer, Mack (John Ratzenberger)l and ends accidentally destroying the road of a small American town of Radiator Springs. Sentenced to community service by the grumpy town judge and doctor, Doc Hudson (Paul Newman), and law attorney and hotel owner, Sally Carrera (Bonnie Hunt), Lightning starts to learn about the values of small-town life from the residents, including a dim-witted tow truck named Mater (Larry the Cable Guy), and the benefits in detours from life….
Of all of the groundbreaking hits produced by the studio that revolutionised CGI in mainstream animated films Pixar Animation Studios, the Cars franchise is one of their most successful in terms of merchandising, but, for a long time, was their least successful one critically. While not being outright panned at the time , these films got a lot of slack by most critics and animation buffs, for not pushing the medium like Toy Story did, or telling the most complex or interesting stories like a majority of their output in their 2000s golden age, but when taken on its own terms, the first film is still pretty great entertainment for all ages.
Lightning McQueen's arc of learning to slow down in life and appreciating small-town life may be a tad predictable, but the (disgraced) John Lasseter's love of Americana and car culture, makes his journey and the anthropological car-world, pleasing to look at in terms of the production and character design.
The Radiator Springs residents, despite being based almost entirely on ethnic stereotypes, are all likeable characters, with the late Paul Newman's Doc Hudson, getting the best character development as a former racer turned doctor, who has to deal with his past when another racer turns up to his town. Randy Newman's score also fits both the exciting racing action in the first and third acts, and the more intimate country-based environment of Route 66 and Radiator Springs.
Overall, Cars may not be a groundbreaking film, but it is still a very good Pixar film with creative worldbuilding and a heartwarming, yet simple plot.
