X-Men: Days of Future Past - Uncanny, Astonishing, and Amazing!

What do you get when you put Hugh Jackman, James McAvoy, and Michael Fassbender (plus a whole bunch of others) together in a movie directed by Bryan Singer?  Awesomeness!

“X-Men: Days of Future Past” is my second favorite movie of the summer so far.  And it isn’t a distant second, either.  It was a fun movie, start to finish.  It was a great mix of action, drama, and suspense, with just the right amount of humor added in.  The special effects were excellent.  The science that I care about wasn’t too horrible.  (Sorry, genetics isn’t my field—so I can’t comment about the “believability” of that portion of X-Men stories.)  The story was very enjoyable, though the ending left me with a lot of questions.

One of the things that I particularly liked about this movie was that it paid attention to physics, to a point at least.  There was one thoroughly satisfying scene with one character with a mutation that gave him super-speed.  The sequence shows him foiling the prevention of a prison break by adjusting the trajectory of bullets, repositioning hands and arms, and generally saving the day, all before Wolverine could pop his claws.  Granted, he should have caused severe injuries to the men whose limbs he moved, but other than that, it was one of the best uses of super-speed I’ve seen in film!  He even knew that he had to brace the neck of someone he was going to take with him at high speed to protect against whiplash.  Now that’s a great example of writers paying attention to details!

(As a side note, I’m wondering how 20^th Century Fox and Marvel Studios worked out the use of this character in this film, since the same character is showing up in the next Avengers movie.  The character’s first name is slightly different than it is in the comics, and his codename? alias? super-hero/villain/anti-hero name? was never mentioned.  Maybe that’s enough to not cause problems.)

Another thing that this movie did well was connecting the past and the present—though those classifications are sort of reversed from a movie-goer’s perspective.  The characters and actors from the first X-Men trilogy were there (movie-goers’ past, but movie chronology’s present) as well as the new cast introduced in X-Men First Class (movie-goers’ present, but movie chronology’s past).  And tying it all together was my third favorite comic book character, Wolverine.  There was even a bit where we were treated to glimpses of the previous six X-Men movies (four team films and two solo Wolverine features).  I thought that might have been an attempt to maintain continuity, even though there have been some contradictions introduced over the course of the film series.  In any event, it was a nice touch.

One of the few complaints that I have about the movie is that there wasn’t enough Wolverine with his claws out, doing what he does best.  He had a couple good action sequences, but I could have gone for more.  However, this wasn’t another Wolverine movie—it was an X-Men movie.  Other characters and actors needed screen time, so I guess I can get over it.

**SPOILERS AHEAD**

The ending raised a lot of questions for me, hopefully to be answered in another movie in a couple of years.  The premise of the movie was that Wolverine’s present consciousness was sent back to his body in 1973 in an effort to change events that would lead to a horrible dystopia.  Of course he succeeded, but now I have to wonder how much of the cinematic X-Men universe changed?  For one thing, the change happened before Wolverine got his adamantium skeleton.  So will he ever get that skeleton?  Sorry, but bone claws aren’t nearly as cool as razor-sharp metal claws.  Another question, do Professor X and Magneto become the leaders of opposing mutant factions like they were in the previous trilogy?  Is Mystique one of the good guys now?  So many questions, and too long to wait for the answers.  But that’s what keeps people coming back, isn’t it?

**NO MORE SPOILERS.  RESUME READING**

To sum up, this movie got a lot of things wonderfully right: really good looking guys (Hugh Jackman is just getting better with age) that are also really good actors; a compelling story that had me on the edge of my seat waiting to see how it would all work out; special effects that paid attention to physics; and a great balance in emotions—serious when it needed to be, but with enough levity to make it an overall fun summer movie.  I highly recommend and commend this latest installment in the X-Men movie franchise!

Godzilla - Am I Expecting Too Much?

After seeing “Godzilla”, I’m worried that writing this blog has made me over-critical.  I usually like movies better than official critics; I tend to agree more with movie viewers.  In this case, though, I liked “Godzilla” less than both groups, at least based on the Rotten Tomatoes ratings.

I understand that opinions, by definition, are subjective.  People who like comic book movies will probably enjoy a new comic book movie more than those who don’t like that genre.  So perhaps my estimation of Godzilla is less than people who like monster movies.

Last year’s “Pacific Rim”, admittedly, wasn’t a great movie.  But it had mecha (aka giant robots)!  Not only that, but it had mecha fighting giant monsters!  And the designs of the mecha were really cool!  To me, that was more than enough to forgive funny science, plot holes, and a somewhat disappointing end, among other things.  Mecha make up for a multitude of movie sins.  “Godzilla” didn’t have any mecha.

**SPOILERS AHEAD**

What it did have was a lack of logic.  For example, the military seemed bent on using nuclear weapons, when all evidence pointed to radioactive material being a food/energy source for the bad monsters (MUTA—it’s an acronym) and perhaps for Godzilla as well, though that was somewhat unclear.  Another thing was that the MUTA seemed to have multiple methods of development: the pods that the two main ones hatched from along with eggs that the female laid and tried to bring to term.  I suppose it’s possible that the pods were cocoons, and they had started out in life as the eggs, but that was never mentioned or explored.

There were more things that bugged me, but they weren’t necessarily logic errors.  One, getting into and out of hard-to-access areas was never shown: characters talked about needing to get into those areas, and then they were just there.  Two, Godzilla was described as a predator.  His behavior, however, wasn’t predatory as in an animal hunting food.  It was more like he was a hunting down bad guys or going for revenge on a couple of killers.  Three, Godzilla didn’t use his “special move” (breathing blue fire) until the very end.  Why not start out with that—unless the waiting was necessary to extend the length of the movie?

Along with all of those gripes, there were others.  There wasn’t enough Godzilla.  We got to see him (or bits of him) at the very beginning of the movie.  As the movie went on, we still didn’t get to see all of him until about two thirds of the way through it.  Along with that, he seemed to be a background character as opposed to the title character.  Finally, while the movie started out with a decent amount of excitement, it was slow until the end.  I think I actually heard a guy behind me snoring at one point.

There were some things about “Godzilla” that I really liked.  For example, the aesthetics of the movie were very nice (a scene with a dark grey cloud of dust in the background and some strings of orange lanterns in the foreground comes to mind.)  Godzilla’s design was very true to the original, if a little chunky, but with much better special effects.  The MUTA were well designed as well, and definitely scary.

The acting wasn’t too bad, either.  My first introduction to Bryan Cranston was in “Malcolm in the Middle.”  The next time I saw him was in the remake of “Total Recall” a couple years ago.  What a switch!  I haven’t seen a lot of “Breaking Bad” yet, but again, so much different from my first introduction to his work.  He’s very good in “Godzilla”—and not as a bad guy this time.  He’s a lot more versatile than I ever thought he’d be.  The rest of the cast was pretty good as well, though Ken Watanabe never got to do anything except scowl and be thoughtful.  I wish he’d been allowed more of a part.

In all, I wonder if I’d have liked the movie better if I was more of a fan of monster flicks.  I know that they aren’t necessarily known for their plots.  If there had been something to make up for the deficiencies—like the mecha in “Pacific Rim”—I would have had an easier time overlooking them.  As it stands, this won’t be on the top of my movie list for summer 2014.

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 - Corn and Cheese with a Side of Meat and Dessert

To start out, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (TASM2) was no Captain America 2.  Where I had a really hard time thinking of things I didn’t like about Captain America, TASM2 gave me no such trouble.  But that doesn’t mean that it was terrible.  I just really don’t think anything will top Cap on my favorites list for summer 2014.

I should probably warn you that there will be spoilers ahead.  I’ll give good notice so you can skip over them if you want to.

As the title of this post indicates, there was plenty of corniness and cheesiness.  That isn’t necessarily a bad thing.  For the most part, it fits really well for the character.  It’s when it doesn’t have to do with Spider-Man himself that I roll my eyes.

For example, just about everything about one of the characters is corny.  When he’s first introduced, he has a horrible comb-over, a pocket stuffed full of pens with the possibility of a pocket protector, and stereotypical nerd glasses.  Then there’s a completely preventable accident that gives him electric powers.  (My manager at work sometimes brings in photos of people doing stupid stuff safety-wise.  The whole scenario surrounding the accident would fit right in with those examples.)

There were some things that were really well done with regard to that character as well.  One thing was that eventually he figured out how to travel like electricity, which was a really cool effect.  His progression from a nerd obsessed with Spider-Man, to a border-line Spider-man stalker, to an insane super-villain was pretty good as well.  Though I did wonder where his super-villain outfit came from.

SPOILERS AHEAD

TASM2 was both true to and strayed away from the comic book it comes from.  The parts that strayed were, with one exception, disappointing.  For one thing, Norman Osborn apparently dies before becoming the Green Goblin.  I say apparently because, with super-hero comics, death is rarely permanent.  But how can Norman Osborn never become the Green Goblin?  It’s not right!  Another of the strays, though, was more than welcome.  It had to do with a character that never showed up in costume until the very end of the movie:  the Rhino.  In the comics he’s one of the corniest of the corny, in my opinion.  He’s just a big guy in a rhinoceros suit.  In the movie, the suit was almost a mecha-like armor that actually looked pretty cool.  There were also hints at another of the comic’s cheesy villains, the Vulture—apparently for future use.

(By the way, has anyone ever wondered why there are so many animal-themed characters associated with Spider-Man—from Spider-Man himself to the Rhino, the Vulture, and Doctor Octopus?)

MORE SPOILERS FORTHCOMING

Anyone who is familiar with the comic book knows that Gwen Stacy met a bad end.  There were rumors brought on by pictures of one of the outfits Emma Stone (Gwen) was wearing during filming that she might meet that fate in this movie.  I wasn’t sure if that would come to pass or not, but it did.  And it happened in a way that was very similar to what happened in the comic.  In both media, it was ambiguous as to whether Spidey’s rescue was the cause, or if it was due to injuries caused in the event that lead to her having to be rescued.  Even though it was a tragedy, it was one of the things that I thought was really well done and appropriate for the story of Spider-Man.

THIS PARAGRAPH SHOULD BE SAFE

Another thing that I liked was that the cheesiness didn’t extend to the look of the Green Goblin when he did show up.  The Green Goblin of the Tobey Maguire era of the movies was terrible due both to Willem Dafoe’s over acting and a truly horrible design for his suit.  The new version was more menacing and much easier to take seriously.

There were a lot of things I really like about Andrew Garfield’s portrayal of Spider-Man.  For one thing, he does Peter Parker’s awkwardness really well, both in and out of costume.  One of the things that Spider-Man is well known for (or should be) is his corny jokes whole fighting, and Garfield was great at them!

The special effects in the action scenes were well done.  I also enjoyed how Spidey moved, both in travel and in combat.  The inventiveness in his use of his tools was very nice.  I like that there seems to be a good amount of effort on the part of writers and choreographers to do new and different things with action scenes.  It is especially effective in super-hero movies in which you expect a certain amount of gravity-defying and impossible survivability.

SORT OF SPOILER AHEAD

Another thing that I like had to do with the story, or rather with the back story.  It made this movie a true sequel to the last one, having to do with Peter’s parents.  My experience with the comics is that they are rarely if ever mentioned.  But this is one deviation from the comics that I really like.  I like that it is a factor in who Peter is as well as shaping the world that is unfolding in the movies.  I like that it’s a theme that will probably continue to further installments.

To sum up, there were plenty of things that made me roll my eyes and think that the film-makers could have done a better job.  But there were also many things that I thought were well done.  So, even though it wasn’t as good as Captain America 2, TASM2 will be in the plus column of this summer’s films.  If you’re looking for a fun time at the movies, with a touch of tragedy, this one does a pretty good job.

(As an aside, I can’t help but wonder if the director was chosen at least in part for his name:  Marc Webb.)

Captain America: The Winter Soldier - Cap Is Back!

I have thought all weekend, trying to figure think of something I didn’t like about “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” (hereafter referred to as Cap 2).  I was mostly unsuccessful.  And considering that it took me so long to come up with anything at all, that tells me that my gripes really didn’t matter to my enjoyment of the film.

First off, the things that were great:  the action, the characters, the costumes, the story, the pace, and the aesthetics of the end credits.  In short, everything.

There was a lot of action in this movie.  I hope that’s not news.  Lots of hand-to-hand combat.  A few car chases.  A decent number of explosions.  Some shooting.  And, of course, Cap’s shield flying and ricocheting all over the place.  Several different fighting styles were exhibited, all of which were very cool to watch.  I have to say that, compared with the first movie (hereafter referred to as Cap 1), the action in Cap 2 was a step up.

One of the things that was great about Cap 1 was that the fighting styles were fairly conventional—true to the era in which it took place.  Of course, Captain America and the Red Skull, as super soldiers, were stronger and faster than normal men.  That made it so that the fight scenes they had with each other and otherwise had some moves that were less common.  For Cap 2, Cap’s fighting style changed, which is fitting for his having spent time in the modern world training and running operations.  I really liked how well he incorporated his shield in his fighting, both offensively and defensively.  I also loved that he wasn’t dependent on it.

Another thing that I liked was how Black Widow’s fighting style has been consistent from “Iron Man 2” to “The Avengers” to Cap 2.  So often when characters cross over several movies, each with a different director, they change with the movie-makers’ visions.  That hasn’t been the case so far with any of the Marvel movies.  I think that’s one of the things that makes them so enjoyable and re-watchable.

As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, action scenes in many movies these days can be very frenetic and confusing, especially in close quarters.  But in this movie, there were only a couple bits that were unclear to me.  On one occasion, I wasn’t sure if it was good guys pointing guns or if it was bad guys.  And on another occasion I thought it was one character who got knocked out of the way, but it turned out to be another.  That’s one of the two complaints I had with the film.

The characters were well done.  The interplay between Cap and Black Widow was a lot of fun.  The new characters, especially Sam Wilson, were great additions to the cast and the story.  Of necessity, not many of the characters from Cap 1 made it to Cap 2.  But the few (4? 5?) that did were consistent between this movie and the last.

Captain America is my second favorite comic book super hero.  And right now it’s a close second.  Chris Evans’ portrayal of him in the movies is excellent.  The character is a genuinely good man.  He’s uncompromising in his morals.  He’s selfless and willing to walk the talk.  But he’s not too perfect.  There’s evidence of a temper on occasion, and he can come off as a bit self-righteous.  But the good far outweighs the bad.  I also appreciate that the writers haven’t tried to down-play his goodness or make it look like those are undesirable qualities.  That’s kind of refreshing.

One of the challenges about bringing comic books to live-action movies is making the ridiculous look reasonable and the far-fetched seem feasible.  For example, one of the villains in the movie is named Batroc.  In the comic’s he’s called Batroc the Leaper.  (When you see the movie, you’ll see why.)  He’s always (since I’ve been aware of him) seemed a bit silly to me.  But watching his fight scene with Cap was a lot of fun!  Very acrobatic, and not silly at all.

Another character that made a very successful transition was Sam Wilson, the Falcon.  Frankly, his costume in the comics is stupid.  It is very different in the movie, and a vast improvement.  Not to mention completely awesome!

I enjoyed the story: the twists and turns.  It has been described as a political thriller, and I think that fits well.  There were some things that I saw coming, and others I was blind-sided by.  However, the second thing I perceived of as a flaw in this movie had to do with the story.  It’s a pretty big spoiler, so I won’t go into specifics.  But it has to do with revealing secrets that could have an impact on national security.  I understand why the story went in the direction it did, but that doesn’t mean I agree with it whole-heartedly.

The pacing was good, too.  The intense action was balanced by periods of calm, allowing the audience to catch its breath.  But it didn’t feel like they stopped the momentum.  They did well to progress the story without making it drag.

There were also little things that were nice touches.  One, mentioned in the beginning of this post, were the aesthetics of the end credits.  The title of the movie was done in the font of the comic book title from a couple years ago.  I also liked that it was minimalistic silhouettes and just three colors: black, white, and red, symbolic of Cap’s world view as well as a color associated with the second title character of the film, the Winter Soldier.

In summary, this movie was awesome!  I cannot wait to be able to add it to my movie collection!

Various and Sundry - Playing Catch-Up

Over the past several months, there have been a few movies that I’ve seen that I never wrote posts for.  I thought I’d take this opportunity to write short reviews for them.  At least one of them is already out on Blu-Ray/DVD, but there are others that are more recent.

 

“The Hunger Games: Catching Fire”

Of the books that this series is based on, I thought the first one was the best.  However, in my opinion, this second movie was better than the first one.  It followed the book really well, but there was something about it that also improved on the original format.  Some of that had to do with the casting, which I thought was one of the best thing about the first movie.  Some of it had to do with who well the film-makers’ vision matched my own.  I loved seeing the costumes the book described come to life.  One of my favorites was Effie’s poodle look early in the film.

One of the movie’s weaknesses is that it spent so much time on the pre-Hunger Games segment, that there were things I thought important that were left out of the Hunger Games bit.  At the same time, there were parts left out of the first part, too.  That isn’t much of a surprise, though.  It’s never possible to include everything.  Otherwise, movies would be about 10 hours long instead of 2 or so.

Over all, I thought that the movie was well done.

 

“I, Frankenstein”

Do not bother with this one.  I wasn’t expecting much from it, and I was disappointed.  Some of the special effects were okay.  The look of one of the groups, the Gargoyles, was actually pretty cool.  But the other group, the Demons, looked cheap.  I think most of the time they were just actors in masks—and really bad masks at that.  There were a lot of inconsistencies and logic errors in the story.  The acting wasn’t great.  Almost none of the characters were likeable.  I wanted to root for the title character, but I had a hard time doing it.  He just wasn’t a nice guy—and he didn’t make any effort to be.  Mostly he was miserable and angry, with no desire to be anything else.

 

“Divergent”

This one suffered from the book it was based on.  The book wasn’t the best I’ve read recently.  I picked it up because I saw a preview of the movie.  But the book never felt like it got started.  And its main character/story-teller was a rather weak character.

My favorite character from the book, Four, was my favorite character from the movie.  But most of the other characters were shallow and boring.  Maybe it has to do with one of the major premises of the book: that everyone is divided into one of five different factions, each based on one character trait.  Four mentioned, in the book and the movie, that he didn’t want to be just one thing.  Instead, he wanted to have all of the qualities.  He had layers.  Part of what made the main character, Tris, “special” was that she could have fit in several factions.  Most of the time, though, it seemed like she couldn’t decide if she was timid or bold.

I didn’t have any complaints related to the movie that didn’t have something to do with the book.  The casting was pretty good.  The costuming wasn’t too bad.  But, unlike “Catching Fire”, “Divergent” failed to improve upon its source material.

 

“The Lego Movie”

This one was so good!  I was deceived by the mediocre preview, so I wasn’t all that excited about it.  In fact, I didn’t see it until it had been in theaters for about a month.

I loved the humor of it.  It was surprisingly both clean and clever.  I loved the silliness of it!  And it had great themes and messages.  I appreciated that the rebellious “Master Builders” had weaknesses (lack of unity and team work), and that they needed the very average Emmett to succeed in their objective.  Emmett had qualities that they needed: inside the box thinking and the frowned-upon ability to follow directions.  I like that, ultimately, neither of those qualities were bad.

Also, incidentally, Will Farrell is a much more entertaining voice actor than a live-action actor, in my opinion.