My Fave Five X-Men Films

Hello, friends!

As you may have noticed, I have been going through an X-Men film phase of late. With the end of Fox’s era of X-Men films, I decided to go back and watch the entire franchise, reviewing the films I had yet to review on the site along the way. Kicking off with 2000s X-Men and concluding with next year’s New Mutants, and consisting of three spin-off series, the franchise has had its ups and downs over its nearly twenty-year run. Recently, I created the definitive viewing order for all twelve of the currently released X-Men movies. But now, it’s time to look at which movies I liked most in the franchise. Here are my fave five X-Men films.

5) X-Men: Days of Future Past

I can hear you saying “What? Days of Future Past is only number 5??” Yes, but that’s nothing against the film. Days of Future Past is a magnificent film. However, it lacks the heart that most of the other films on this list has. But it does have an abundance of everything else: action, excitement, character development, and Wolverine. This is great to bring all the major characters from the core X-Men films up to that point together and gave the series the much needed reboot it needed (even if the continuity continued to make no sense afterwards). It deserves all of the praise that it has received but it is not the best film in the franchise in my opinion.

4) Logan

Over the last twenty years, the superhero genre has exploded and, dare I say, has become saturated. With the genre becoming congested, new entries need to do something different. Logan did just that. Rather than go the traditional superhero route, James Mangold and company told a western / noir film that happened to feature superheroes. The result was one of the best character studies in the genre. With the success of Deadpool the year prior, Fox elected to make this film R-rated, which enabled Mangold to give us the unleashed Wolverine we have been waiting for since he hit the screens in 2000. Over the years, Hugh Jackman came to embody the character of James Howlett, aka Wolverine, aka Logan, and Logan was the perfect farewell to the character, a sobering film filled with emotion and weight, yet brimming with hope and optimism.

3) X-Men: First Class

After the conclusion of the X-Men trilogy with X-Men: The Last Stand, spin-off films for Wolverine, Charles Xavier, and Magneto began being talked about. Wolverine’s spin-off became X-Men Origins: Wolverine whereas Xavier’s and Magneto’s became X-Men: First Class. Set in the midst of the cold war between the United states and Russia, First Class shows how the X-Men came to be, breathing a breath of fresh air into the franchise after the critical flop that was The Last Stand. First Class centered around the idea that the X-Men are family, way more than X-Men or X2: X-Men United did. It might not be the flashiest or most exciting entry of the franchise but if offers some of the best character-driven moments of it.

2) X2: X-Men United

For the longest time, X2: X-Men United was the benchmark the series needed to follow to create a great X-Men movie. It was clear since X-Men that Wolverine would play a prominent role in Fox’s X-Men franchise. X2 puts Wolverine front and center, making his unknown history the focus of the story. But where this film excels is that even though the main plot line focuses on Wolverine, the movie isn’t about him, not entirely anyway. Plenty of time is spent with the younger mutants, showing how the Xavier’s and Magneto’s conflict and general discrimination affects them. The heart in this film has never been captured since (First Class came close). And for that reason, X2 has continued to rank so high for me.

1) Deadpool

While I’ve talked a lot about heart and emotions so far, Deadpool doesn’t have the same emotional impact as the other films on this list, it was the first to be different. Despite an abominable version of the character in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Ryan Reynolds never gave up on the character of Deadpool. Thankfully his perseverance paid off and we all won because of it. Like Jackman and Wolverine, Reynolds uniquely epitomized Deadpool. Deadpool is one of my favorite comic book characters so to see him brought to the big screen so perfectly and accuratly brought me great satisfaction. This continues to be a film I can watch over and over again and the jokes never get old or any less funny.

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And there you have it! Next year will see the release of New Mutants, the final X-Men film before Marvel Studios brings the characters into the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). It’s doubtful that New Mutants will find its way onto my top five given the caliber of the films on it but who knows, maybe I’ll be surprised!

What are some of your favorite X-Men films? Are you looking forward to a reboot of the characters when the appear in the MCU?

Until next time, cheers!

The Definitive X-Men Watch Order

Hello, friends!

With the release of X-Men: Dark Phoenix, Fox’s time with the X-Men franchise has ended, for better or for worse. While it will probably be several years still until Marvel Studios brings their take of the merry mutants to the big screen, I thought now was a good time to revisit the series that could arguably be considered the starting point of the superhero movie era we find ourselves in now.

Fox’s X-Men have certainly seen their share of highs and lows over the years. Having a franchise consisting of a dozen films from a variety of creative teams is bound to do that; they can’t all be winners. Nevertheless, between the main entries and spin-offs, I do feel the X-Men franchise has managed to bat 500. But that is an article for another day. Today is for a list agnostic of quality.

Consistency between films in the X-Men franchise have never been a priority to Fox. For the most part, the studio allowed the creative teams behind the films to use whatever characters they want and only loosely connect the entries to each other. This has caused many continuity errors that resulted in Bryan Singer and team to have Wolverine go back in time to create a new timeline to start over. Even then, the films continuously contradicted each other. However, if you don’t concern yourself with the finer details and not be as picky when it comes to the cohesion between films (like I was for a while), each film becomes much more enjoyable.

As I said, Fox created a dozen films in this franchise: seven main entries, three Wolverine films, and two Deadpool films. You could watch them in release order but I think there is a better way. Having gone through all of the films again, I think I have come up with the definitive watch order that provides the best flow from entry to entry. Logan, however, is particular among the other movies on this list in that I feel it can be slotted in several different places and still work with the films around it. I will talk about that when the time comes.

Now, onto the list!

X-Men

I’m pretty sure I don’t need to explain why this is where you should start. My review.

X2: X-Men United

Direct sequel to X-Men. My review.

Side note: I will admit I don’t exactly understand where the title comes from since the team spends most of the film separated…

X-Men Origins: Wolverine

X-Men Origins: Wolverine could be watched after The Last Stand (for release order) or before X-Men (for chronological order) but I think it works better after X2: X-Men United. Wolverine’s history with Col. Stryker and how he comes to have his adamantium skeleton is a focal point in X2, so it is fresh in your mind when watching this. Also, we see how this timeline’s Scott Summers meets Professor Xavier, which is a great little bonus given how unceremoniously he is eliminated in The Last Stand. Sorry, spoiler. My review.

X-Men: The Last Stand

Now that you’ve seen Wolverine’s past, it’s time to jump to the present and finish the first X-Men trilogy. My review.

The Wolverine

By watching X-Men Origins: Wolverine before The Last Stand, it let’s you jump right into post-The Last Stand Wolverine rather than going back in history then jumping forward again. The post-credits scene of The Wolverine ties into Days of Future Past which is not the next film in the watch order so it give you a little bit of a tease of what’s to come in the franchise. My review.

X-Men: First Class

First film in the series with the new cast, focusing on Charles Xavier, aka Professor X, and Erik Lehnsherr, aka Magneto. Also the first core X-Men film released after The Last Stand. My review.

X-Men: Days of Future Past

Direct sequel to The Last Stand, The Wolverine, and First Class. Reboots the timeline. My review.

X-Men: Apocalypse

Direct sequel to Days of Future Past. My review.

X-Men: Dark Phoenix

Direct sequel to Apocalypse and the last of the core X-Men films. Honestly, this is an optional viewing in my opinion. With the Disney takeover of Fox, Dark Phoenix became a shell of the movie it was supposed to be. It doesn’t add anything to the characters (except maybe that Professor X did some questionable things in his past which was taken directly from the comics) and Apocalypse‘s final scene is also a fantastic point to end the core series on. But if you want to be a completionist, give this a watch. My review.

Deadpool

Takes place in the new timeline and in the “modern day” compared to the 80s and 90s settings of Apocalypse and Dark Phoenix respectively. My review.

Deadpool 2

Direct sequel to Deadpool. My review.

Logan

Logan is unique in that it can slotted after any movie Days of Future Past and onward. My review.

Depending on where you slot it, it has a different purpose:

• After Days of Future Past: Concludes Wolverine’s story. Then you get a fun cameo in Apocalypse with the Apocalypse post-credit scene acting as a call-back to explain how Laura was able to be cloned from Wolverine’s DNA.
• After Apocalypse: Logan becomes the last appearance of Wolverine on the list. The Apocalypse post-credit scene then becomes a direct lead in to Logan. Also this is where it was theatrically released compared to Apocalypse.
• After Dark Phoenix: Groups the R-rated films on list together. Watching after Dark Phoenix gives the Apocalypse post-credit scene a movie break the same way the The Wolverine post-credit scene has First Class as a buffer before Days of Future Past. And it also finishes the stories of all the characters that have headlined a film to this point.
• After Deadpool: Theatrical release order. Prevents the literal first scene of Deadpool 2 from spoiling the ending of Logan.
• After Deadpool 2: Logan is chronologically the last film in the franchise so watching it after Deadpool 2 keeps the series in order as possible. However, this is also the gloomiest of all the films so you’d be ending on a emotionally somber note. But at the same time, it is one of the best in the franchise so you would be ending on a qualitative high note. Decisions, decisions…

And there you have it my the definitive X-Men watch order! Do you agree? Would you change anything? What’s your X-Men watch order?

Until next time, cheers!

Deadpool 2 Review

Synopsis
When Cable (Josh Brolin) travels from the future to kill a mutant kid named Russell (Julian Dennison), Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) puts together a team to stop him.

Review
Deadpool quickly shot towards the top of my favorite superhero movies when it hit theaters in 2016. The irreverent tone, genre-deprecating humor, constant pop culture references and fourth-wall breaking, and the perfect casting of Ryan Reynolds in the titular role made one volatile and vulgar adventure. I, for one, could not wait for a sequel, especially after Deadpool‘s post-credit scene revealed Cable would be in the sequel. Thankfully, what Deadpool 2 delivered on was much of what made its predecessor so enjoyable, along with greater stakes and more character development. Or in other words: exactly what a good sequel should do.

One of my favorite things about Deadpool was the humor. The jokes came at you quickly but the nearly almost landed. Ryan Reynolds’ delivery was sharp and snappy. It’s no surprise the the sequel would deliver much of the same. The jokes come in greater quantity and quicker this time. Not as many of the jokes stuck the landing this time around but quantity trumped quality in this case and before you had time to realize you didn’t laugh at the last joke, the film was already on to the next.

If you didn’t like the amount of pop culture references in the first film, I’m sorry to say that you’re in for more of the same here. My favorite moments from Deadpool were those that broke the fourth-wall. While those were abundant in Deadpool 2, they didn’t seem as frequent. So in essence, this film traded fourth-wall jokes for pop culture ones.

You could not ask for a better Deadpool than Reynolds. Even way back in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, I thought he made the perfect Wade Wilson. He killed it in the previous outing as Wilson and only gets better in the sequel. The casting is so perfect it is hard to determine where Reynolds ends and Wilson begins.

Superhero newcomer Zazie Beetz is an absolute scene stealer as the luck-manipulating Domino. She has the most screen time of any of the members of X-Force and she makes the most of it. Whether it is her back-and-forth banter with Reynolds or the display of her unique powers, Beetz is on point. I can’t wait to see what she does next in film.

As big of a deal the trailers made X-Force seem, they weren’t around as much as I expected before the film sent Wilson back on his own. I wish more time would have been spent with them because many of the members (read as all except Domino) didn’t get much screen time. The members of X-Force all had various powers that were seen too briefly. Except Peter. Peter has no powers. Which easily made him the most compelling member of the group. I have no doubt that if Peter had a bigger role, it would have made this movie even better. However, despite the limited time spent with the team, it was enjoyable and generated several good laughs.

For a vulgar blockbuster such as this, it was a lot more heartfelt than I expected. The basis of the movie is that Cable came from the future to kill a young mutant before he can become bad and Deadpool tries to stop Cable from doing so. The comics version of Deadpool has been shown to be capable of such actions (look up comic panels of Deadpool and a young version of Apocalypse named Evan). Many of the scenes when Deadpool was opening up to Russell or Cable were genuinely emotional. I wasn’t expecting that from this kind of film. It sounds like these scenes would feel out of place but they fit it seamlessly and naturally.

I thought Deadpool 2 was GOOD 🙂 Knowing what made Deadpool a hit, the sequel offers much of the same. Although not quite as funny as the first, it trades some humor for something more heartfelt. Almost every member of the cast delivers fantastic performances but Ryan Reynolds and Zazie Beetz offer some of the more memorable of the film. I hope a third film is made because I can never get enough of Ryan Reynolds in his signature tight, red spandex.

Favorite Quote
Deadpool: With this collar on, my superpower is just unbridled cancer. Give me a bow and arrow and I’m basically Hawkeye.

Trailer

Cast & Crew
David Leitch – Director
Rhet Reese – Writer
Paul Wernick – Writer
Ryan Reynolds – Writer
Tyler Bates – Composer

Ryan Reynolds – Wade Wilson / Deadpool
Josh Brolin – Cable
Morena Baccarin – Vanessa
Julian Dennison – Russell / Firefist
Zazie Beetz – Domino
TJ Miller – Weasel
Leslie Uggams – Blind Al
Karan Soni – Dopinder
Jack Kesy – Black Tom
Stefan Kapicic – Colossus (voice)
Brianna Hildebrand – Negasonic Teenage Warhead
Shioli Kutsuna – Yukio
Eddie Marsan – Headmaster
Nikolai Witschi – Head Orderly Frye
Rob Delaney – Peter
Lewis Tan – Shatterstar
Bill Skarsgard – Zeitgeist
Terry Crews – Bedlam
Brad Pitt – Vanisher

Movie Quote of the Week – 5/18/18

Answer to MWL 5/16/18: Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) – Deadpool

Hey! [Bad guys start shooting at Deadpool] Wait! You may be wondering, “why the red suit?” Well, that’s so bad guys can’t see me bleed. This guys got the right idea, he wore the brown pants.

Thanks for everyone’s submission and one red suit to the following people for answering correctly:

Tom (Plain, Simple Tom Reviews)
Allie (Often Off Topic)
Little Panda Bear (Cleaver Movies Blog)
Spike’s Mom (Roseann’s Musings)
Carson
Curt (The Hypersonic55’s Realm of Reviews and Other Stuff)
Kevin (Master Mix Movies)

Have you seen Deadpool 2? What are some of your spoiler-free thoughts?

Drew’s Movie Reviews Turns 3! Anniversary Week 3 Conclusion: My Fave Five New Movies I Watched in Year 3

Hey there, dear readers!

Welcome to my blog’s third birthday! That’s right, 36 months ago to the day I posted my first posts.  And in that time it has blossomed into the cute little place you see today.  In what has become customary here, I reviewed two trilogies throughout the week.  This year, I looked at two series that I haven’t seen before: The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. If you missed any of my reviews for them, here are the links:

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies

One of the biggest changes I made this blogging year was changing my scoring system.  From the start up through December 2015, I used a number rating from 0.5 to 5. Beginning with my review of Star Wars: Episode VII: The Force Awakens, I transitioned into a more loose rating of BAD, OK, GOOD, GREAT.  This wasn’t exactly a huge change but it allowed me to feel less confined in my scorings. A more vague approach allowed me to make my reviews more in line with how I would speak about the film to you as if we were face-to-face, which is more the goal of this blog.  You guys seemed to handle the change pretty well and were very supportive of it.

Many great bloggers nominated me for awards this year but I dropped the ball on them.  I like doing write-ups for award nominations, it is a great way to interact with my fellow bloggers, but I never got around to many this year.  Much of my time and focus went into my reviews, features, playing Splatoon (seriously, I’m addicted to that game), or many of the other things I do outside of blogging.  So I would just like to take this time and thank those of you who gave me an award that I never responded to.  I didn’t forget about you (well I did but I also didn’t) and I appreciate the nominations.  Thank you.

Every blogiversary, I like to look back at all the movies I have watched in the last twelve months and give the top ones I have watched that were new to me, whether I watched them on home video or in the theater. Last year, my list was comprised of entirely movies seen in theaters but this year it is mixed, which is exciting. So here are my fave five films I watched during my third year of blogging.

5) Rocky Balboa

Late in 2015, I went through the Rocky series for the first time.  Out of all six, Rocky Balboa was my favorite.  Rocky V was a very disappointing end to the series, so I’m really glad that a sixth Rocky was released because it gave the character an ending he deserved.  The entire series is composed of feel-good moments but Rocky Balboa was the most emotional of them all.  Most of the time is spent outside the boxing ring, and with a Rocky coming to terms with his old age, it offers one of the best character studies of the series.  I know many people consider Rocky the best of the series but I think that honor belongs to Rocky Balboa.

4) The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

After the slow start in The Fellowship of the Ring and large set-up in The Two Towers, The Return of the King brings all of the plot threads together.  The run time is absurdly long but it packs a lot in.  The action is top-notch and all the characters get satisfying endings to their stories.  The use of practical effects most of the time and using CGI only when necessary adds so much to the film that got lost in the Hobbit series, something that plagues many films today.  I know I got around to watch this series late, but it was definitely worth the wait.

3) Zootopia

Every Disney movie tries to have some sort of lesson.  Zootopia has the standard “don’t give up on your dreams” that is common in many Disney movies.  But on top of that, it tries to handle the sensitive topic of racism and stereotypes.  Although the topic is brought up often, it doesn’t feel heavy handed.  It comes across strongly but never overwhelming.  What really solidified this as a favorite for me was the buddy cop aspect.  Nick Wilde (Jasaon Bateman) and Judy Hopps (Ginnifer Goodwin) try to solve a mystery of savage residents in Zootopia.  Like the best buddy cop movies, they are very different and become reluctant partners.  Disney has had a resurgence lately and Zootopia is keeping that train going strong.

2) Some Like It Hot

I’ve seen Some Like It Hot on several “best of” comedy movie lists.  Comedy is one of my favorite genres so the “Try it, you’ll like it” blogathon hosted by Movies Silently and Sister celluloid gave me the perfect chance to check it out.  Whenever I look at “definitive” or “best of” lists like that, I always read them with some hesitation because I have been let down before.  However, Some Like It Hot every bit deserves to be on those lists.  Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon are absolutely hilarious together.  Every scene is side splitting.  If you have never seen this, you owe it to yourself to check it out. You won’t be disappointed. As they say, they don’t make them like this anymore.

1) Deadpool

It was tough to decide which movie got the top spot on this list but Deadpool inched out over Some Like It Hot.  Deadpool had been in development hell for years and audiences were not sure if it was even going to happen.  After a disappointing appearance in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Fox had to nail the character of Deadpool this time or completely lose the support of fans.  Luckily, they completely nailed him.  Ryan Reynolds was perfect in his first outing as Wade Wilson and is even better the second time.  It is easy to tell he and the entire cast was having a great time.  As a huge fan of the character myself, I could not ask for a better movie version of the character.

And with that, I close out year three and move into year four!  From the bottom of my heart, I want to thank all of you for reading this blog.  I know people say this all the time but it does not make it any less true: I wouldn’t be here without any of you (heh, I rhymed). Your constant likes and comments tell me all the time spent writing reviews, finding quotes, gathering trailers and collaborating with many of you is all worth while.  Thank you everyone for all your support!

I’m excited to see what the next twelve months have in store and hope you will stick around to help me see it, too. 🙂

Until next time. Cheers!

Deadpool Review

Synopsis
When Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds) gets diagnosed with terminal cancer, he agrees to undergo experimentation that would grant him super powers.

Review
I have been waiting to see Deadpool on screen for some time. It looked like we were going to get a good Deadpool in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, but think we all know how that turned out. We got a good Wade Wilson but their Deadpool was an abomination. He is one of my favorite comic characters and it hurt to see him treated in that way. But now, he finally has a proper movie. Does Deadpool deliver everything the character’s fans were hoping for? You bet your chimi-fucking-changas it does!

Much like Ryan Reynolds’ portrayal of Wade Wilson in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, he perfectly brings the character to life here again. He never shuts up, always cracking jokes, being a vulgar smart-ass, and constantly talks to the audience. Even his appearance, from his skin post-transformation and his costume are pulled straight from the comic book. Everything about Deadpool was on point. This was the truest adaptations of a comic character in a long time.

This is not your typical comic book movie. Some comic book movies will tone down the action and language to get a PG-13 rating. If Deadpool had tried that, this movie would have failed miserably. Deadpool is a character that deserves the R-rating. He is very foul-mouthed, over-the-top violent, and unrefined. To do anything less would have been a disservice to the character. If you are expecting a movie along the lines of Iron Man, go look elsewhere. When you watch Deadpool, expect a lot of blood, guts, exploding heads, dismemberment, and f-bombs.

As I’ve mentioned before, Reynolds did a fantastic job the first time as the character. He is even better the second time around, especially since he spends more than five minutes as Wade Wilson. I believe Deadpool would not have worked as well if anyone besides Reynolds was in the red spandex. Reynolds has both the comedic timing and action skills to pull off all aspects of the character.

It seems each new comic book movie is longer than the last. Deadpool clocks in at 108 minutes. As a result, it moves pretty fast. The studio knows what the audience wants to see, so there is no extra fluff. It starts off with a big action scene, then the back story is slowly sprinkled in. The number of characters is fairly small so there is nothing more than what is necessary. I almost wanted the movie to be longer! I was having so much fun that I didn’t want it to end.

I think my only gripe is that between the several trailers, much of the great moments from the bridge fight scene in the were spoiled. This scene on the bridge takes a good chunk of the movie so it was disappointing when the scene kept going and I felt like I had seen it already.

I thought Deadpool was GREAT :-D. Ryan Reynolds perfectly captures Deadpool, who is true to his comic book counterpart. The action is comically over-the-top and a quick run time keeps the movie focused. I knew I was in for a treat when the opening credits, before anyone even speaks, made me laugh.

Favorite Quote
It’s a big house. It’s weird that I only ever see two of you. Almost like the studio couldn’t afford another X-Man. -Deadpool

Trailer

Cast & Crew
Tim Miller – Director
Rhett Reese – Writer
Paul Wernick – Writer
Tom Holkenbog – Composer

Ryan Reynolds – Wade Wilson / Deadpool
Ed Skrein – Ajax
TJ Miller – Weasel
Morena Baccarin – Vanessa
Stefan Kapicic – Colossus (voice)
Brianna Hildebrand – Negasonic Teenage Warhead
Gina Carano – Angel Dust
Karen Soni – Dopinder
Leslie Uggams – Blind Al