Search

Search only in certain items:

X-Men: The Last Stand (2006)
X-Men: The Last Stand (2006)
2006 | Action, Sci-Fi
2
6.2 (37 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Then it all came crashing down with 2006’s The Last Stand. All the fan favourites returned and the cast remains a highlight of this film, but everything else was such a mess. It didn’t help that Bryan Singer left the franchise and Fox brought in Brett Ratner, hardly renowned for his understated filming style. The Jean Grey side-plot was muddled, the special effects were poor and this was such a disservice to the fans who had stayed with the franchise for six years. To its credit however, the action was staged well and there were some very exciting set pieces that saved it from total oblivion. Unfortunately, Vinnie Jones as the Juggernaut was the final nail in this film’s coffin.

https://moviemetropolis.net/2019/06/01/the-entire-x-men-franchise-ranked/
  
Big Hero 6 (2014)
Big Hero 6 (2014)
2014 | Animation, Family
Slightly oddball product of Disney's acquisition of Marvel - this started life as a comic book featuring characters from the X-Men - ends up as a typically witty and accomplished animation. Youthful genius has to form super-team to stop a supervillain from misusing one of his inventions.

Now, obviously if you're a purist, you can find things to complain about here - no mutant powers, no Silver Samurai, the whole thing is set in a science-fantasy future - but for everyone else this is an engaging, well-told story that comes close to matching The Incredibles when it comes to evoking the thrill and invention of classic superhero stories. Witty and imaginative; looks gorgeous; thoroughly enjoyable (though you have to wait until after the credits for the obligatory Stan Lee cameo).
  
40x40

Heather Cranmer (2721 KP) created a post

Feb 9, 2023  
Sneak a peek at the young adult Christian science fiction trilogy SANDS OF TIME by C.J. Peterson on my blog, and enter the giveaway for a chance to win all three eBooks in the trilogy - two winners!

https://alltheupsandowns.blogspot.com/2023/02/book-blog-tour-and-giveaway-sands-of.html

**SERIES SYNOPSIS**
In the game of chess, there are moves and countermoves. This sci-fi series follows a group of teens with abilities as they go through the U.S. to rescue their siblings. The challenger in this is their sadistic creator, Professor Noah Roth, who has the money and power to win at any cost. This series has been described as “Stranger Things (minus the Mind Flayer portion) meets X-Men.” Don’t miss a single installment of this explosive, action-packed series!
     
40x40

LeftSideCut (3776 KP) rated X-Men: Apocalypse (2016) in Movies

Aug 19, 2019 (Updated Oct 25, 2019)  
X-Men: Apocalypse (2016)
X-Men: Apocalypse (2016)
2016 | Action, Sci-Fi
A dammmnnn shame
Contains spoilers, click to show
Oh boy.

I'm going to get straight to the main flaw with this one - I'm not sure how someone can really mess up Apocalypse so bad - he is a great X-Men villain. I remember watching the cartoon as a kid, being enamoured whenever Apocalypse turned up. The first mutant, practically a god, terrifying voice etc.
The Age of Apocalypse story arc is also a great comic - one where we see just how dangerous Apocalypse can be.

But instead of this classic villain, we get, well whatever the hell this is.
Oscar Isaac is give or take in other films I've seen him in, he just sort of exists to me, but I'm sure he did the best he could with what he was given.
But the character we're presented with in X-Men: Apocalypse is a mutant that isn't particularly terrifying, whose motives aren't very clear, and who speaks in a goddam normal human voice for the entire movie.
He looks, ok I guess, a little Ivan Ooze-ish at times, and there is a (very) brief moment where his voice goes all demonic and his eyes turn white, which offers a tiny glimpse of what could have been.

Elsewhere, the still awesome Michael Fassbender is relegated to a sidekick character, new cast members such as Psylocke, Angel, and Storm are there just to strike poses to edgy rock music, and Quicksilver gets a re hash of his great scene from DOFP that just doesn't quite hit the mark this time round.

The introduction of Sophie Turner as Jean Grey is fine, and it's nice to see a young Cyclops, Nightcrawler etc, but they're not given too much to do. It all just feels like one big wasted opportunity.

The film would have been much better and ballsier had it ended with Apocalypse winning, and ushering a full on Age of Apocalypse scenario for a sequel, but instead, he is dispatched with not too much trouble, as the writers poorly shoehorn in a segue for Dark Phoenix (for the second time in this franchise)

It's not all bad, there are times where I felt I was watching the cartoon come to life. The opening scene in ancient Egypt was pretty fun, and I actually quite enjoyed the brief Wolverine scene - those few minutes were way more entertaining to me than the entirety of X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

Overall though, this one had me wanting the rights to return to Marvel Studios.
  
X-Men: First Class (2011)
X-Men: First Class (2011)
2011 | Action, Drama, Sci-Fi
X-Men finally given a decent treatment (0 more)
Fassbender's Irish accent (0 more)
I'm not an X-Men fan. I know, it's strange, right? I mean, I'm a comic book fan in general. Iron Man's a dude. I dig the Hulk. I love all things Batman (except when Joel Schumacher tweaked the Batman's Batnipples). I geekgasmed all over my trousers in the lead up to THE DARK KNIGHT and actually watching it at an IMAX was like losing my virginity again. But the X-Men? Kinda leave me cold. Even though, on the face of it, it should be pretty awesome. Mutant humans with the ability to do just about anything you can imagine, fighting each other and various other bad things? Why the hell wouldn't I like that? But I could never get into it. The first X-Men movie, way back in 2000, left me feeling indifferent. It was OK, but nothing special. The second one was worse. The third one just plain awful. WOLVERINE: ORIGINS was quite fun, but then, a hard drinking, smoking, swearing brawler with friendly mutton-chops and blades in his hands was always going to be appealing to me.

And so, it was with a feeling of complete indifference that I flashed my Cineworld Unlimited card at a bored usher and got my ticket and a mixed slushie last week. I only went to see it because my buddy wanted to and, well, we'd missed the start of THE HANGOVER PART II.

So, into the darkened room early for a change. Managed to get prime seats. Mainly because the auditorium was pretty much empty. Something I didn't think was the most fortuitous portent to the movie we were about to watch. On the plus side however, as we were watching a comic book movie, we got the comic book trailer reel... First was THE GREEN LANTERN, which excited me a little (mainly because I have a man crush on Ryan Reynolds). Then came CAPTAIN AMERICA, which excited me a little more (mainly because it looks FREAKIN' AWESOME). Then we got RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES, which intrigued me (mainly because James Franco was doing a 'learned man' accent). Presumably because Cineworld were already scraping the comic book movie barrel, they then repeated the APES trailer, which killed the mood and left me feeling indifferent again.

But I digress. I think you get that I didn't really give a crap one way or the other about the movie I was about to watch. The opening scenes however, are set in a WWII concentration camp and I found my interest piqued. At first, I couldn't figure out whether it had been newly filmed or if they were recycling one of the flashbacks from one of the earlier movies. Then, Kevin Bacon. Suddenly, I was transfixed by the German pouring forth from his mouth which seemed authentic and I couldn't quite work out if he was lip-synching or not. That's somewhat besides the point though, as the scene itself was very tense and only marginally spoiled by the child actor when it was his turn to scream the longest NOOOOOOO!!! (sorry, NEEEEEEEEIN!!!) since Adolf Vader in Episode 3.

The film very quickly moved on in leaps and bounds, sucking me in and winning me over. Kevin Bacon seemed to enjoy hamming it up as the evil Sebastian Shaw. James McAvoy is an exceptionally talented chap and made for an excellent Charles Xavier - a cocky, beer-swilling, genius ladies man. Similarly, Michael Fassbender did a top notch job in playing Erik Lehnsherr, coming across as a Holocaust-surviving Bond, maybe even slightly cooler. Even Jason Flemyng was pretty good, although I don't think he actually spoke at all, which might have helped his case.

I loved the whole origins story, seeing how Xavier and Lehnsherr were good friends despite their obvious differences and started the School for the Gifted together was pretty cool. The only little blight on the movie (after the whole NEEEEEEEIN!!! incident) was that when it came time for Fassbender to don Magneto's helmet, the prop department had obviously measured his noggin wrong and it was clearly too tight. I say that because, every time he slapped it on his dome, his accent turned from gruff-hero-of-indeterminate-country-of-origin to... Well, to Oirish. The only reason I can think of is that the helmet was squeezing his bonce a bit too snugly. It didn't happen when Kevin Bacon was wearing it.

Helmet business aside, on the whole, I left feeling like I'd just seen a proper comic book movie. Full of fantastical, incredible things dancing around a plot that made sense and characters that I, on the whole, cared about at least a little. There was even a Wolverine cameo in it, which made me chuckle more than it should have. Far from being indifferent towards the X-Men now, I'm looking forward to seeing where the story goes next. I just hope Matthew Vaughn is directing again. He's turned out an X-Men film that is much, much better than mediocre and they'd be idiots to give it to anyone else.
  
X-Men: Dark Phoenix (2019)
X-Men: Dark Phoenix (2019)
2019 | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
The Actual Phoenix Force (5 more)
Didn't guess Chastain's part
Action was good
Had a piece of DEEP Lore
GENOSHA
Ambiguous Ending
Some Retreading (3 more)
Simon Kinberg can't direct
Wonky Camera Angles
Did I say retreading?
The End is Here(Spoilers)
Contains spoilers, click to show
Dark Phoenix. A another attempt at getting it right... and... it was close. No, it was NOT perfect. Not even close. But I got enjoyment out of it.

I did NOT guess Jessica Chastain's character. I was guessing Deathbird or a physical manifestation of the Phoenix Force for Jean to talk to. But I never would've guessed Vuk, of the D'Bari. Not only left field, but ACTUALLY connected to the lore. Go look up the D'Bari, you will see what I mean.

Performances weren't bad. Sansa... I mean Sophie Turner is what I always picture Jean Grey to be, and she did well. Still impressed by McAvoy and Fassbender pulling off the younger versions.

Simon Kinberg... first time directing, right? Am I wrong? I knew he wrote... hell, he did Last Stand. But first time directing? Right? You CAN tell.

There is a slight retread of X-Men: Last Stand. But most of that is in the first act...... but I think it may be a good thing as well. It's almost like it gave Simon Kinberg a second chance to get it right. And it IS a HUGE improvement over Last Stand.

Dark Phoenix is the Last FOX X-Men movie... and sadly, it shows. Like their hearts weren't 100% in it. And they went ahead and filmed an ambiguous ending anyway. I say... BRAVO. Makes us wonder... What If?

But... now we can focus on what is next? Disney... it's your turn. Don't screq it up.