wolverine

Is Logan Really All That Good? – Cinemaholics

This week on Cinemaholics, Will Ashton and I debated the good (and bad) in Logan. Is it really a masterpiece? We want your help to figure that out. Plus, we reviewed The Shack, Table 19, and Trial & Error toward the end of the show.

Question of the Week: Same one we answered! Do you think Logan is as good as all the hype suggests?

Send us your feedback! Email cinemaholicspodcast [at] gmail.com to let us know what you think of this week’s show. You might just hear your email read on next week!

Go on…Is Logan Really All That Good? – Cinemaholics

Second Opinion: ‘Days of Future Past’ Is a Good, But Not Great X-Men Film

days of future past opinion

Days of Future Past was quite the success story when it finished its run in 2014, amid competition from Captain America: Winter Soldier and Amazing Spider-Man 2 in what was quite the crowded spring for comic-book movies, only to be upended by Guardians of the Galaxy that August.

Fans were divided on whether or not the film would actually work with time traveling in the mix, yet that very plot device is what enabled some of the film’s best moments, like seeing the previous generation of X-Men stars exist in the same universe as the fresher, more upbeat cast introduced in First Class. Because of this and a certain character named Quicksilver, DOFP was a huge hit with both audiences and critics, gaining almost double the average worldwide box office for X-Men films and getting the highest overall ratings.

And yet it’s probably not the best X-Men film, perhaps tying for second with First Class and submitting to the superior X2, if only because that film had the luxury of being a continuation of a solid pilot movie, as well as a more complete feature.

Like X2, DOFP’s biggest strength is its lack of having to tell another origin story. It’s a seamless continuation of two movies: X-Men: First Class and The Wolverine (or Last Stand, perhaps), making this the first X-Men sequel to feel like a comic-book movie, rather than a movie based on comic-book characters. It worked for Marvel’s slate of films, and it worked well here for X-Men, as well.

days of future past opinion

But also like Marvel, DOFP suffers from having a severe barrier to entry, preventing most newcomers from being able to jump in and start watching. Because of the complexity set forth by multiple soft reboots thanks to non-starters such as Last Stand and Origins: Wolverine, DOFP requires a full viewing of almost all of its films dating back to 2000 in order for viewers to have a complete picture of the “what” and “who” that makes up this film.

You can arguably get away with skipping the first X-Men, but then you wouldn’t understand the implication of Rogue’s actions in the subsequent two films. Skipping The Wolverine robs of you a crucial end-credits sequence that explains what goes completely unexplained in DOFP concerning the reappearance of two major characters presumed either dead or powerless. And even Origins: Wolverine lends some context to…well, never mind about that one.

Take a look at the complexity of the set up alone: In the future, Sentinels have all but rid the world of mutants, creating an apocalyptic wasteland in the process. So Shadowcat, reprised by Ellen Paige, uses a new power to send Wolverine’s consciousness back in time to 1973 to prevent a series of events that leads to the creation of the murderous sentinels, starting with Mystique’s mission to assassinate their creator, Bolivar Trask.

For invested fans, DOFP works on every level because there’s enough familiarity to fuel the drama that parallels between the past, with characters from First Class, and the dystopian future battled out with the cast of the first trilogy of movies. But most of the fun truly lies in the main plot occurring in 1973, as the movie feels most at home combining stunning special effects sequences with historical fiction, and doing it even better than First Class for that matter.

days of future past opinion

The main problem is that you spend more time trying to understand where everything exists in this movie than you do trying to analyze and think about the story. Little of the drama between characters is appreciated or slowed down to be appreciated, traded instead for a series of “big” moments compounding on each other in order to get to the finish line, which involves a sweeping retcon of previous X-Men flops.

Like First Class, Days of Future Past is certainly a good movie. It’s just not very great because it has to pave the way for something better, later. When it first came out, many fans were worried about getting their hopes up to high because director Bryan Singer had an almost impossible task set before him. But it’s clear that the task was to make a good film out of a complicated premise, rather than something amazing that manages to stand out and convert new fans into the X-Men universe.

Second Opinion Grade: B

I’m Jon and thanks for reading this. You can subscribe to my posts by clicking “Follow” in the right sidebar. Or just say hey on Twitter! @JonNegroni

Review: ‘Deadpool’ Is Fantastic at a Few Things

deadpool review

The makers of Deadpool had a tall order on their hands.

A beloved comic-book antihero conceived in the early 90s, Deadpool has collected a legion of fans for a list of specific, stringent reasons. Failing to capture the exact spirit of the character would land Fox in a repeat of X-Men Origins: Wolverine history, when they first tried to fit the merc on the big screen.

But Deadpool also had to be a movie. Which means Fox had to work hard for the affections of Deadpool fans…and everyone else. And in a lot of ways, Deadpool more or less pulls this off with some creative humor and storytelling.

The film stars Ryan Reynolds, again playing Wade Wilson in a new origin story for the same character he played in Origins (sort of). After finding out he has terminal cancer, Wade leaves the love of his life, Vanessa (played by Gotham‘s Morena Baccarin), and tries to find a cure.

A group of scientists, led by “Ajax” (Ed Skrein from last year’s Transporter Refueled), manage to save Wade’s life, but they give him mutant abilities in the process. The procedure viciously scars Wade in more ways than one, setting him off on a mission to track Ajax down using his new abilities as the assassin, “Deadpool.”

deadpool review

If this sounds like a straightforward superhero movie, then I’m doing a decent job of preserving a lot of the jokes and humor that comprise Deadpool. Going into too much detail surrounding the plot and how certain scenes are set up would probably ruin a lot of the laughs you would otherwise have in the theater.

Because as you’ll realize within the first ten seconds of the film, Deadpool is absolutely a post-modern comedy. More than that, it’s a satire of superhero movies, much like how the original comic was a satire of the macho, violent 90s comics Wade Wilson was created to mock.

This is as funny as it is poignant, considering what it took to greenlight a feature film for a character most people have never heard of. And fans of superhero movies will likely consider Deadpool to be one of the best offerings in the superhero genre in years.

But Deadpool also provides an appeal that casual fans of the genre can appreciate, thanks mostly to Reynolds’ performance. His quick delivery lands more jokes than I think anyone else in the business could pull off, and his likability keeps the plot “moving forward” as you’ll discover.

deadpool review

Violence is also a hallmark of the Deadpool franchise, and Fox didn’t hold back at all this time. Deadpool belongs to a small club of R-rated superhero films, and the rating is spot on. There’s plenty of gore and grisly mayhem to justify the restriction, but that’s all part of what makes the source material so endearing. While it’s not as on the nose as the comics trying to spoof the 90s, the gratuitous violence certainly feels welcome in a genre stuffed with sanitized action and fake-out deaths.

What’s more impressive than the violence, however, is how competently Deadpool is shot as an action film. While parts of the origin story drag for a bit before getting back into the action, what we do get in these scenes is typically worth the wait.

The camera cuts at just the right moments when you want to feel the pain of a character’s head getting smashed against a wall, and impressive stunt work and effects make for an immersive comic-book movie on par with some of the best ever made.

You’d have to be pretty demanding to expect anything more from a movie that is as well-made as Deadpool, but there are enough issues to remember that Fox is just getting started.

deadpool review

The movie is overflowing with a surprising amount of faithfulness to the source material, and it’s fairly inventive. But it’s also generic, anyway. Underneath all of the delight you’ll get from well-written, self-aware humor is masked by an origin story that feels by-the-numbers and formulaic—a stark contrast to the risky business displayed by everything else in the movie, from the side characters to the soundtrack.

Perhaps this was necessary in order for Fox to ensure that there can, in fact, be a superhero movie for people who are sick of them. But for everyone else who can’t stomach the genre, Deadpool won’t do much to entertain them.

I’m going to give Deadpool a B+

If you like superhero movies, X-Men or otherwise, you’ll find a lot to love in Deadpool. Otherwise, you may find a lot of the humor flat and uninteresting. It would be a must-see for the action and Reynolds alone if only it didn’t fall back on so many origin story cliches it could have easily sidestepped.

Did you like Deadpool? Let’s talk about it in the comments.

I’m Jon and thanks for reading this. You can subscribe to my posts by clicking “Follow” in the right sidebar. Or just say hey on Twitter! @JonNegroni

Retronalysis: Ryan Reynolds Was the Least of ‘X-Men Origins: Wolverine’s Problems

deadpool ryan reynolds x-men origins wolverine

In 2009, the X-Men film franchise took a step backward in more ways than one. It stepped backward in time, literally, to explore the origins of Wolverine, played a fourth time by Hugh Jackman.

The problem? We had already experienced a Wolverine-centric trilogy. Seriously, those movies were all about Wolverine. Many people, myself included, had no idea why we needed an origin film for a character we already knew so much about .

But we were still excited going into Origins because it featured our favorite mutant, and perhaps, we thought, there was still a great story to be told. And even more new X-Men characters for Fox to show us, including Gambit, a fully realized Sabertooth, and yes, Deadpool.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine has its fans, to be sure, as it serves up at least a passable romp of an action movie (as well as a far superior video game made by Activision). But what made the origin movie unforgivable for legions of X-Men fans had a lot to do with that character I mentioned earlier: Deadpool.

deadpool ryan reynolds x-men origins wolverine

The “Merc with a Mouth” made his debut on the big screen with Origins, and he was actually played by Ryan Reynolds (a hint that the casting was one of the character’s few bright spots).

What’s odd about Origins‘ take on Deadpool has a lot more to do with the Deadpool we got in the final act of the film, not his initial introduction. Early on, he was still Wade Wilson, before getting the Weapon X treatment that would transform him into the fully fleshed (depending on how you look at it) Deadpool.

The movie portrayed him as the mercenary for hire with enhanced reflexes. This, of course, was before he would undergo the nightmarish operations granting him Wolverine’s healing factor.

And this version of Deadpool was one of the highlights of what was mostly a dreary retread of the first X-Men with more montages. Just take a look at how they nailed Wilson’s ninjaesthetic in just one scene:

Reynolds’ quick wit was a welcome addition to the exposition-heavy origin story, and it set up for an even more interesting story we were getting with the character who would become Deadpool.

Then he became Deadpool. And all hell broke loose.

Spoilers for X-Men Origins: Wolverine going forward. 

As I stated earlier, the final act of Origins is where the bastardization of Deadpool came into effect. Stryker unleashes “Deadpool” on Wolverine, whose mouth is sewn shut to somehow resemble the comic book character in a grittier manner. Deep sigh.

Not only that, but Stryker dumped several mutant powers upon Deadpool, rather than just the healing factor. For whatever reason, they even decided to give him Cyclops’ optic beams. The result was a pale shadow of what makes Deadpool a compelling character, complete with blades coming out of his arms to mimic Wolverine.

The message was clear. Fox was so convinced that Wolverine was their only draw for these movies, they had to manufacture more characters to emulate him. Tinkering with source material is one thing, but assuming fans only care about one character in such an expansive mythology is just idiotic.

Which is why I hesitate to lay any blame on Reynolds. True, “Deadpool” contributed heavily to why Origins was a failure, but that’s removing a decent take on the character that we can place on Reynolds. He fit the part, just not the script.

deadpool ryan reynolds x-men origins wolverine

And when it comes to Origins as a whole, the problems begin long before the final act. For one thing, the movie removes a key trait of Wolverine that makes him interesting: the mystery of his origins (who’d have thought?) Taylor Kitsch as Gambit is given nothing to do, along with many of the other characters you saw in the video above. Adamantium bullets. CGI Patrick Stewart. It all adds up to something bizarrely awful.

The side characters are hard to place fault on, even Will.I.Am (yes, this was his debut on the big screen). Origins spends the majority of its time trying to get two hours out of a somewhat substantial rivalry between Wolverine and Sabertooth, played expertly by Liev Schrieber.

Granted, it’s a better set up than their conflict in the first of these movies, but it wasn’t interesting enough to sweep the film’s other side plots aside, a decision I suspect the writers were either forced to make late in production, or chose to in order to save the movie. The result ended up being all the same.

deadpool ryan reynolds x-men origins wolverine

While I don’t expect the upcoming Deadpool to be a revolution in superhero cinema, there’s little doubt that Fox has learned its lesson in spades these last few years, with nary a truly terrible X-Men film to be found. Some still find all of these later entries, even First Class, mostly generic, but there’s a certain level of effort being shown every time.

And for better or worse, that hasn’t changed with Reynolds’ next foray into the X-Men universe.

My Retronalysis grade for X-Men Origins: Wolverine is a D. 

Thanks for reading this! You can subscribe to my posts by clicking “Follow” in the right sidebar. Or just say hey on Twitter: @JonNegroni

Review: ‘The Wolverine’

Does Wolverine’s healing factor work on his own movies? Let’s find out. 

Go on…Review: ‘The Wolverine’

15 Most Anticipated Movies For 2013

Image Courtesy of wallpowper.com

If you haven’t noticed already, I am a fanatic when it comes to movies. I’ve been scouring the upcoming movies for 2013 and have compiled a list of features I am most excited about.

Enjoy the list! Let me know if there’s anything good I missed.

15. Sinatra. 

Finally. A movie about Frank Sinatra is hitting the big screen. All we know so far is that it will be directed by the legendary Martin Scorsese. The script is being rewritten, so there is a slight chance this might be delayed to 2014. Let’s hope the movie lives up to Walk the Line and Ray.

14. Oz: The Great and Powerful (March 8)

We’re finally getting a glimpse into the backstory of the Wizard of Oz. I’m not sure anyone actually asked for it, but the trailer looks like this could be a fun prequel for one of the best movies of all time. See the trailer here.

13. The Incredible Burt Wonderstone (March 15)

The only reason I’m excited about this is because Steve Carell and Jim Carrey are finally in a movie together. It has something to do with magicians, but I don’t really care. See the trailer here.

 

12. The Hangover Part III (May 24)

Yes, part II was disappointing, but it’s looking like the final movie will be breaking new ground. There’s no wedding or bachelor party this time, freeing up the script to new possibilities. I’m excited to see this one live up to the classic part I.

11. Kane and Lynch 

This one’s still in pre-production, so a 2013 release is still up in the air. Regardless, I’m excited to see the popular video game being translated into film with Jamie Foxx and Bruce Willis handling the lead roles. The casting is spot on. The movie is about death row inmates who escape and wreak havoc. There’s no trailer, but you can see the poster here.

10. Hancock 2

We know nothing about this for sure, except that Will Smith is returning and it will be released in 2013. Fingers crossed.

9. Zombieland 2

Another tight-lipped sequel, but hopefully the better complement to a less-than-stellar looking zombie flick we’ll be getting with World War Z (at least for people like me who actually read the book).

8. Oblivion (April 19) and After Earth (June 7)

I bunched them together because they’re essentially the same movie. Tom Cruise movies are pretty hit or miss these days, but Oblivion actually looks to be a fairly original take on the post-apocalyptic genre. PLUS it has Morgan Freeman. See the trailer here.  After Earth is pretty similar in comparison, only this one stars Will Smith and his son (remember the kid from Karate Kid?) Also, it’s M. Night Shyamalan’s allegedly last chance to make something good again. See the trailer here.

7. Iron Man 3 (May 3) and Thor: The Dark World (November 8)

You know what the deal is with these.

6. Pacific Rim (July 12)

One of the few original blockbusters coming out this year, this one looks amazing just because it’s a simple aliens versus humans action fest that isn’t based on board games, video games, books, or movies that came out decades ago. Seriously, see the trailer for yourself here.

5. The Wolverine (July 26)

Skeptical? It takes place in Japan, has samurai, doesn’t have a terrible version of Deadpool, and has Hugh Jackman as Wolverine. Oh, and it’s not X-Men Origins: Wolverine. So it has that going for it. See the awesome poster here.

4. Star Trek Into Darkness (May 17)

Though I’ve never gotten into Star Trek aside from the 2009 reboot, I’m definitely excited to see the Enterprise crew return in another special effects heavy adventure. I love the characters, and the settings are just jaw-dropping. See the trailer here.

3. The Lone Ranger (July 3)

So, it finally happened. Really, I’m just excited to see Johnny Depp play Tonto (like everyone else). See the trailer here.

2. Ender’s Game (November 1)

Never read the books or comics? You’ve been missing out. This movie has taken way too long to take shape and will hopefully be a surprise hit. It’s basically about a supergenius child who is called upon to save mankind from an overwhelming alien invasion. See some screenshots and a full description here.

1. Man of Steel (June 14)

When Batman Begins came out in 2005, I immediately craved the same stylistic reboot for Superman. Unfortunately, we got Superman Returns which was more of a memorial to the originals than it was a reboot adapted to modern times, so it flopped. When The Dark Knight came out, that was it for me. Many people, myself included, knew then that Superman would be treated with the same justice, and we finally have it taking shape under the direction of Watchmen and 300‘s Zack Snyder. Everything from the trailers points to this being a significant step forward in the Superman franchise. See for yourself here.

There are some other high-profile sequels that I’m honestly not that excited about. Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug and Hunger Games: Catching Fire are both coming out and will be probably be well-received, but I’m not desperate to see them since we just saw the franchises start out in 2012. Take a breath Hollywood! Also, 300 is coming out with a sequel, even though the last one was fairly conclusive and we’ll be getting a RoboCop reboot. Even Pixar is doing another sequel. This is basically 2009 all over again…

Like what you read? Connect with me further via twitter @JonNegroni. I’ll follow back if you seem like a real person.

Don’t forget to check out THE JON REPORT every day, updated at 8am for a list of today’s main headlines as selected by my editorial team (me)