Joe Dante's 1990 film "Gremlins 2: The New Batch" is possibly one of the best of its decade. Just as a whimsical, well-paced slapstick comedy, it's head and slimy shoulders above its peers, and boasts some of the greatest practical monster effects in cinema history. Additionally, however, it may stand as a glorious meta-text on the disintegrating state of cinema itself. The gremlins on screen frequently break the fourth wall, addressing the camera directly. The bulk of "Gremlins 2" takes place in a tower, where multiple low-rent, low-intelligence TV shows are filmed. The gremlins merrily break into the TV station and take over the airwaves. Gremlins are monsters who tinker with the machinery of media.

In the film's most brilliant sequence, Joe Dante stages a fake film break, making it lo

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