Logan

 

Maybe a  few #spoilers here, I’ll try to keep them minimal if any.  Logan, I’m kind of still kinda of trying to process.  After watching it, and thinking about it some I think that this movie has to mark the end of what Fox created back in 2000 and then everything else with X2, X3, the spinoffs and the New Class trilogy.  This story should be the end of it.  Either give it all to Marvel or you have a new blackboard going on in the X-Verse with Deadpool being the start of that.  

Jackman is great as Wolverine and it’s the violent bezerker rage Wolverine we should have got years ago, maybe in X3 and all the other spinoffs.  There’s no real explanation of too why his powers are lowering till the end kind.  Unless you read a bit before going they need to I think more about that, maybe a line or two in the beginning.  Patrick Stewart returning in his role as Charles was decent and a nice end to his run as Charles in this story arch.  Laura/X23 was ok, but I would have maybe liked the roll better if she was a little older, say the Rogue age from X1.  Just as a younger kid, I didn’t like.  The villains were different than really any other X-Flick.  Which is ok, with this story they were trying to make it more emotional action than I think a big CGI flick.  It would have maybe been better I think if they could have expanded a lil more if they could have on them.  There were also a few minor little scenes that slowed it down in my opinion and could have been axed but the way they were used they were wrapped up pretty quick.  

Wolverine to me, his nemesis is always Sabretooth, and we saw that in Origins, which was wiped out with the Days of Future Past flick, but would have loved to see it end with a battle with Sabretooth and roll of into the sunset there.  That complaint/critique and the villains is my biggest disappointment here.  The ending, which I didn’t think they’d go that way, was pretty prefect and a sendoff for Hugh Jackman’s incarnation of Wolverine.  He put his stamp on the roll and the ending scene is where I think you get the end of this universe as it is.   

This isn’t a Marvel Cinematic flick, like Dr Strange or Civil War but it’s  one of the Better X films from Fox.
Logan
6/10 Stars

XMen First Class

Marvel’s second feature film this summer after Thor is XMen First Class.  A prequel to the XMen Trilogy that was given to us in the 2000s.  This takes pieces from the first film and expands to show how Erik and Charles become friends.  The movie also introduces some new mutants to us in Havoc, Angel Salvadore, Darwin, Banshee, Azazel, Riptide and Sebastian Shaw.  Also the introduction to the connection between Charles and Moria McTaggert.  The movie from the get go I thought was all action and great character development.  You were immediately immersed in to Erik’s world as a young boy in a concentration camp, and also into how Charles first used his powers and his maturity with them.  Along those lines Matthew Vaughn takes you back to the world events of the 1960s with the Cold War and Cuba Missile Crisis.  You can see the influence and hatred that Erik has for Shaw, along with the way that Erik thinks and views the World of Humans and Mutants and how Charles views the world.  Beast is shown as a young man here, and Mystique as a young child.  We learn how Beast gets his blue fur and becomes the Beast, and Mystique’s view of how she is mistreated by her blue skin.  Kevin Bacon was an excellent villain and you get great performances from James McAvoy (Charles) and Michael Fassbender(Erik).  You also see a few cameos too, not to ruin the scene but there is a scene with our favorite Wolverine.  You see a few cameos too, not to ruin the scene but there is a scene with our favorite Wolverine. 

This is by far the best movie I’ve seen in the XMEN series.  I was literally on the edge of my seat.  It is the front runner for my summer movie awards and I’m guessing is going to be the winner for a few awards.  It’s in a tie for the 3^rd best SuperHero movie ive seen with Iron Man and behind Spiderman 2 and The Dark Knight.

This is a great movie!  Go see it! 

4/5 Stars easy.

Now some issues I have with the Xmen series or movies.  This may contain some spoilers so read at your own risk.  This movie ties well with the original series, but if you are an XMen fan, this is not Charles first class.  His first class is Beast, IceMan, Cyclops, Angel and Jean Grey.  Not this kids but yea you needed to go backwards.  There are some character issues in this movie and XMen Origins:Wolverine.  In Origins Charles has the use of his legs, we see in this movie that he doesn’t at the end of the movie.  Moria in this movie is a CIA agent, at the end of the 3^rd XMEN movie and in the comics she is a Doctor.  Emma Frost is in XMen Origins:Wolverine as a child in the 70s/80s but she’s a grown women in the 60s?  I did like this carnation of her better than in Origins.  So there are my few character questions.  

Red, Secretariat and some more....

The last 2 movies I've seen from Redbox have been really good ones, and both star John Malkovich.  First one I saw was the action comedy RED and then next Secretariat.  First with RED, I kind of knew what I was getting, an action comedy with Bruce Willis.  Willis with a gun, it had to be decent right?  And it was.  But John Malkovich's crazy character stole the show for me.  Helen Mirren, ehh, could have done with out her, her with a gun didn't just seem right.  Maybe Betty White?  Even so it was a good fun movie to watch, and Malkovich's character alone is worth the watch.

Tonight was Secretariat, movie of the greatest race horse in the history of horse racing. Like with SeaBiscuit, it gave a story on the owners and trainer along with the horse.  And it was pretty good, even if it was "Hollywood"  What they don't mention in the movie is that Lucien, Ronnie and the stable had the 1972 Kentucky Derby and 1972 Belmont winner Riva Ridge in their barn.  But what fun would that be and where would the drama be?  Still it was a great movie.  Again John Malkovich was great.  Really liked the Eddie character and Diane Lane was great too.

Some other movie notes
-I posted on the casting of Anne Hathway and Tom Hardy in the final Nolan Batman film, Dark Knight Rises, and mentioned I'd like to see a 4th with Joseph Gorden-Levitt as the Riddler....well I may get my wish!

-Some Captian America talk here

-Hugh Jackman to be a stockier Wolverine in 'The Wolverine'

Who's in your 5 - SuperHeroes

Soundoff on WHO TV Sunday Nights has this little feature, and I may "Borrow" it. Sunday night it was "who is in your 5 for Favorite Super Heros."

So here we go.

#5 IronMan - Marvels version of Batman. Rich, and how many armor toys does he have?


#4 Iceman - he's just cool! And he can create his own transportation.



#3 Wolverine - A pure bad ass. Claws coming out of his hands. Regenerates his energy and is almost unbreakable.



#2 Daredevil - I may be the only one who enjoyed the Ben Affleck Movie, but dude is a blind lawyer and takes on everyone.



#1 Batman - dude is rich and and like Jack Nicholson's Joker says: "where does he get all those wonderful toys?"

2009 Summer Movie Awards

With the smell of football in the air, the summer in my mind not calendar, is coming to an end, and with that the summer blockbusters. And usually I try to get to the biggies in the theater, with kids and life I don’t. I’ve seen 5 movies this summer and have rankings below. The movies I’ve seen in chronological order; Wolverine…Star Trek…Transformers 2…Ice Age 3…GI Joe: Rise of Cobra.

Best Movie – Star Trek

Best Dude – Chris Pine : Captain Kirk : Star Trek

Best Dudette – Sienna Miller : Baroness : GI Joe

Best Scene – new Kirk meets old Spock : Star Trek

Best Fight – Snake Eyes vs. Storm Shadow : GI Joe

Biggest Dud – Transformers 2

Anticipated Sequel – GI Joe

Summer movie not seen that I want too – Terminator 4