Re-Watch: All 6 X-Men Movies: From X-Men (2000) to The Wolverine (2013)

In preparation for what is probably the movie I am looking forward to most this year, X-Men: Days of Future Past, I thought it made sense to review all 6 X-Men movies thus far. I debated going chronologically but I think it would be confusing so I'm going by release dates. There will be spoilers here, the purpose of this post is to catch up before seeing the new X-Men film.

It's time to prep for DAYS OF FUTURE PAST!

Up first is....

X-Men (2000)

Ah, the start of it all. What a beautiful beginning. This was back before superhero movies were so popular and this film kicked off the entire X-Men universe.

X-Men Poster

This film follows Rogue and Wolverine, two mutants with special abilities, as they make their way to Charles Xavier's school for the gifted. Xavier is one of the most powerful mutants in the X universe having the ability to read and control things with his mind. Xavier, or Professor X, and his team are up against Magneto, an equally powerful mutant with the ability to control metal. Magneto wants to make the rest of the world mutants too, he wants mutant equality and thinks that the only way to get that is through terror and force. Wolverine's power of healing and his adamantium claws make him an invaluable weapon in this fight as well as Rogue's ability to absorb other mutant's powers through skin contact. Much to Rogue's dismay, she can't touch people without hurting them, though. Xavier's X-Men stop Magneto before it's too late and all's well in the X world, for now.

Xavier and Magneto play chess a lot. It's a thing. They're old friends.

This movie has a great cast and does a good job at balancing so many characters in one film. It's a fun universe with a nearly infinite amount of different X-Men characters to choose from and add to various movies. The filmmakers did a good job of staying true to the comics here and it's a great beginning to a franchise. X-Men is directed by Bryan Singer, stars Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen (among many, many others. Halle Berry, James Marsden, Anna Paquin, etc.) It has an 82% on Rotten Tomatoes.

X2: X-Men United (2003)

My personal favorite X-Men movie, the opening sequence is wonderful and amazing. Why can't Nightcrawler be in more of these films?

This poster is all about the hair. Yes, even you Bobby Drake.

This sequel has the X-Men uniting (get it? the title of the movie...) with Magneto and his team to fight against William Stryker, an evil militant man who makes it his mission to use Xavier and Cerebro, his mutant locating machine, to get rid of all the mutants. Stryker is the key to Wolverine/ Logan's mysterious past and how he came to have adamantium throughout his entire body (don't worry that whole story will be explained in X-Origins: Wolverine). Stryker put all the metal throughout Logan's body long ago and he is also responsible for Logan's lack of any memory. The team works together to stop Stryker from killing all the mutants but Jean Grey gets trapped and "killed" letting the X-Men escape from an exploding dam.

Kurt Wagner, Nightcrawler.

This movie does a great job continuing to build up the X-Men franchise, there's lots of new mutants and the story is interesting and well-done, the acting is superb, it's better than the first film. This movie is a great example of how a sequel should be done, especially for comic book films. It's one of the best. This movie is again directed by Bryan Singer stars all the same people from the previous film plus Alan Cumming as Nightcrawler and a few others. It's at 87% on Rotten Tomatoes.

X-Men: The Last Stand (2006)

The downfall of what should've been an excellent triology, this movie falls flat of doing anything worthwhile to continue to build up this series. Let's remember what went wrong...

Angel's wings take up half the poster.

This time the X-Men must deal with a mutant cure that some scientists have created from a mutant who's power is to suppress other people's abilities. The film builds up to a suspenseful (somewhat?) climax of Xavier's X-Men versus Magneto's Brotherhood. Mutants must decide between giving up their powers and joining the human race or joining Magneto in fighting a war against humankind. Jean Grey is alive and has transformed into her evil and powerful alter ego, Phoenix (one of my favorite Marvel characters!). She is collected by Magneto and she is the powerful key to their battle against the humans. Mutants added to this film include Angel, Beast and Juggernaut. In the end, Wolverine kills Jean Grey, the woman he loves, in order to stop her destruction of humans and basically everything. It leaves the mutants disheartened, many of them killed like Cyclops and Jean Grey. Xavier is also seemingly dead but in the end of the film during a post-credits scene it is hinted that perhaps he actually is still alive.

Logan getting ready to kill Jean Grey/ Phoenix.

The reason that this film doesn't work is because all of the heart and emotion from the previous two films is gone and replaced with action sequences and explosions. There is a different director this time around, Brett Ratner taking the helm. The acting is still well done and the fact that the previous two films were so good is partly what carries this one but it's not enough to make this film great. It lacks the beauty and precision of Singer's films. It's at 58% on Rotten Tomatoes.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009)

The title pretty much says everything about this movie. It's an origin story. Unfortunately it's the weakest film in the X-Men canon. Everyone loves Wolverine, right? I'm pretty sure this is the thought process behind those responsible for choosing this as the next X-Men movie.

Gambit, Deadpool and Wolverine in one film? Where did this go wrong?!?

This film tells the origin of Wolverine, his brother Victor and how Wolverine got to be the lonely wanderer we met in the beginning of X-Men (2000). Basically, Wolverine aka James Logan and his brother Victor Creed both have sharp claws and healing powers and were born prior to 1845. They travel through wars together (the beginning sequence of them throughout the various wars is a highlight of the film, actually) and fight along side each other. They are found by William Stryker during Vietnam and he convinces they to join his team of mutants. They travel to find a meteorite in Nigeria and when the group uses unnecessary brutality on the local townspeople, Logan leaves. We find him years later living with his girlfriend, Kayla Silverfox, leading a quiet life. Victor is hunting down members of the old team, long disbanded, and Stryker comes to warn Logan about "someone" killing off the group. Stryker uses Logan's anger at learning that Victor is killing the mutants to put the adamantium in Logan's skeletal system.

Post-Op

Logan hears that they are planning to kill him and use his DNA and healing to create something more powerful. He escapes and is hunted down by Stryker's team. Some of the old team is still alive and Logan looks to them for help in finding Stryker and hunting him down. Logan learns that Gambit is the only one to escape from Stryker's prison and he takes Logan there. Logan learns that Victor and Kayla were both working for Stryker and that Stryker is building an "all powerful" mutant. He had Victor help him collect dozens of mutants and he put their powers into a single body known as Weapon XI. Weapon XI is formerly Wade Wilson, a member of the old team, aka Deadpool. Kayla helps Logan free all the imprisoned mutants and he goes and fights Weapon XI controlled by Stryker. Victor helps Logan out and they both defeated him by chopping his head off. Kayla dies and Stryker shoots Logan in the head with an adamantium bullet erasing all of his memories. He only knows his name by the dog tags around his neck saying Logan on one side and The Wolverine on the other. Stryker lives for now but is later killed off at the end of X2.

He was a great Deadpool.

I like all the different mutants and fan favorites, Gambit and Deadpool, in this film. The shame is that once they turn Ryan Reynolds into Deadpool they stitch up his mouth so he can't talk. Deadpool's smart mouth is one of his best qualities in the comics. The general dislike of this film is due to the story and it's lack of originality. It's too cliché and makes the film difficult to remember an hour after seeing it. (I had to go back through a plot summary to remember all these points to type up here). Once Victor and Logan separate in the film it loses it's focus and can't regain the momentum. Liev Schreiber delivers a great performance and Hugh Jackman is great as always in this role, he's played it enough times to have an incredibly strong grasp of the character. The film is directed by Gavin Hood and has a 38% on Rotten Tomatoes.

X-Men: First Class (2011)

For all intents and purposes this movie is a reboot for a struggling franchise... and it succeeds! First Class breathed a much need new breath of life into this series.

I HAD to choose this poster because everyone's face is ridiculous. That's also why I made it so large.

This film follows the beginning and inception of the X-Men from Charles Xavier, played by James McAvoy, and Erik Lensherr/ Magneto, played by Michael Fassbender. It shows how they met and how they were once friends. Kevin Bacon plays the bad guy here, Sebastian Shaw, and it's so nice to have a fresh new villain to deal with in this movie. It makes the plot much more interesting and sustainable for the story here to make sense. The film is set in 1962 and the military enlists Xavier's help to stop Shaw from starting World War III by releasing nuclear missiles in Cuba. Magneto holds a grudge against Shaw who killed his mother in front of him during WWII when he was held in a concentration camp. Magneto often gets blinded by his need for revenge, a need that Xavier does not share and it ends up tearing apart their friendship in the end. BUT! Before that happens they work together to try and recruit other mutants to help them and fight against Shaw together, i.e. the First Class of the X-Men. I should mention that Mystique was taken in by Xavier when they were young children and he helped to raise her but in the end of the film she leaves him to join Magneto who has gone a separate way from Xavier. They end up stopping Shaw and killing him but Magneto changes and becomes the vengeful mutant that we know from the previous films and it breaks apart some of Xavier's team who decide to join Magneto instead.

See look, they're playing chess again. I told you it's a thing.

There's lots of great mutant characters in this film. We get to see how Hank McCoy turns into Beast, there's Alex Summers who is brother to Scott Summers (Cyclops from X-Men 1 and 2), Emma Frost and many others. The act is superb here, each of these actors knows how to use their craft in the best possible ways. The script here is strong, logical and most of all fun. The cast isn't mostly men anymore with a few women thrown in for good measure, the females here are powerful and can definitely hold their own. The best part of this is all the cameos. Hugh Jackman even makes a cameo giving him the right to say he's been in every X-Men movie. The movie is directed by Matthew Vaughn and has an 87% on Rotten Tomatoes.

The Wolverine (2013)

The most recent X-Men film, The Wolverine takes place chronologically AFTER The Last Stand giving us a nice reprise from two back to back prequels.

ARM VEINS!!!!!

This film is a solo film and is done very well. It's difficult to break the audience away from the group cast format of all the previous X-Men films but this movie's successfully storytelling could open another branch for the franchise to create more solo films... Deadpool??

This film follows Wolverine as he struggles with accepting killing Jean Grey (remember, in Last Stand?) and he is called to Japan by an old acquaintance who he met during WWII. Wolverine is living a completely secluded life out in the woods when he's found and collected by Yukio to go to Japan and say goodbye to Yashida, an old friend of Wolverine's. He saved Yashida's life and Yashida saw Wolverine's healing ability first hand. Now old, Yashida wants to take this healing power from Wolverine so he can live forever and Logan can live out the rest of his life normally. Logan refuses but one of Yashida's people, Viper, comes into Logan's room that night and suppresses his healing power so now he can be injured. Logan also meets Mariko, Yashida's granddaughter. They end up having a stereotypical, she doesn't like him but he is entranced by her and she helps him get over Jean and they have a thing, etc. etc. Yashida dies and Mariko will inherit everything and be the most powerful person in Japan. She is constantly captured and we find out that her own father was trying to kill her before the will was read. Mariko is taken by Viper to one of Yashida's facilities in the mountains. Logan removes Viper's "curse" on his healing power and Logan is back to normal. 

This is the giant samurai that Logan fights.

Viper leads an army of black-suited ninja's that Logan must fight through in order to reach Mariko at the top of the facility. He passes out due to the ninja's having arrows dipped in poison. He wakes up in the facility and he is strapped down. Viper tells Logan that Yashida was stocking up on adamantium due to his obsession with Logan's skeletal system and he built a giant mechanical samurai out of the material and therefore it can kill Logan. Viper provokes Wolverine into extending out his claws but prevents him from retracting them back and the giant samurai is about to cut off his claws when Mariko distracts it and he cuts Logan's restraints instead. Yukio arrives and battles Viper while Logan fights the samurai who cuts off one of his adamantium claws revealing bone underneath it. Logan slashes it's head off one handed and the samurai is spazzing out of control but one of his swords falls and cuts off Logan's other adamantium claws. Inside the suit is Yashida, who faked his death and drew Logan to this facility in order to take the life from him which he does but as the life is draining from Logan, Mariko comes and stabs/ confronts her grandfather. Logan kills Yashida and he finally dies and the life returns to Logan. Logan leaves Mariko as she inherits her grandfather's corporation and her duties lie in Japan. Yukio happily joins Logan and they leave together on an airplane going to an unknown location.

Wolverine vs. Ninjas. Sweet.

This movie is a great example of a solo film, it isn't advertised as an X-Men film because it's not a group picture but Wolverine is such a familiar character at this point that this movie has a wide draw. Hugh Jackman does an excellent job once again. This movie has the emotion that Logan has to deal with following The Last Stand and that emotion is the strongest part of the film. The film stays in Japan, which is nice and gives a lot of beautiful exteriors all around Japan. Again, lots of strong female characters here too and it's a welcome change from what easily could've been a completely male dominated story. While it's not the strongest film it is worthwhile to see as the action sequences are well done. Some of the dislikes of this film are that Wolverine's evolution throughout the film aren't very interesting, as though he's just going through the motions. See the film and judge for yourself. This film is directed by James Mangold and has 69% on Rotten Tomatoes.

**POST CREDITS SPOILER:

After the credits for Wolverine there is a short scene of Logan walking alone through an airport and a TV commercial shows an ad for Trask Industries (Bolivar Trask is the villain in Days of Future Past). Suddenly everything metallic begins to float and Logan (and the audience) is familiar with this and he ejects his bone claws and turns around to see Magneto (Ian McKellan) and he freezes Logan in place and asks him to lower his defenses. Logan then sees that everything around them is frozen in place (cue audience excitement as we know this sequence too) and the camera shows a wheelchair weaving through the frozen crowd (cue me jumping up and down in my seat due to excitement) and we see Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart) definitely alive and Logan is speechless. Magneto tells Logan that they need him to save all of mutant-kind. (Cue me suppressing an excited scream because I'm so looking forward to Days of Future Past). 

Fine, fine I'll post this clip below. Here's the post-credits scene:

Here's the movies listed chronologically:

1. X-Men Origins: Wolverine (It begins in 1845)

2. X-Men: First Class

3. X-Men

4. X2: X-Men United

5. X-Men: The Last Stand

6. The Wolverine

Days of Future Past is a time traveling film to attempt and fix some of the mix-ups in the X-Men timeline so it takes place after The Wolverine and then time travels to after First Class. So now you're pretty much all caught up with everything X-Men and you're ready to see Days of Future Past as it's released on May 23, 2014! Days of Future Past currently has a 92% on Rotten Tomatoes. Very high critical success so far, which bodes well. I personally can't wait to see it and for those who want to see more here's a trailer for Days of Future Past:

This trailer still gives me chills. Oh man it's so good.

Guilty Pleasure Series #1: Mean Girls and Rat Race

Everyone has their own favorite guilty pleasure movies. A guilty pleasure movie is something that you shouldn't like but do, it's something that's generally defined as being a "bad movie" but you watch it anyway and it's a movie that you don't care how much other people may dislike it- it's something you can't help but love. In starting this post, which I hope to continue as a series, I didn't want to start with just my own guilty pleasures (don't worry we'll get to those too) but rather what other people's guilty pleasure movies were. So naturally, I posted a Facebook status about it. Here's some of the results I got:

I decided to start with two of the popular answers: Mean Girls and Rat Race. Let me clarify something first before beginning. Mean Girls DOES NOT actually qualify as a guilty pleasure but you could see how it could be seen as one don't worry I'll explain...



Mean Girls (2004)- Happy 10th Anniversary Mean Girls!

Is there anyone who HASN'T seen this movie a million times?

Funny, witty, relatable and well-written, this movie is overall not considered a bad movie! So why is that my friends along with other people feel like this is a guilty pleasure movie? Well, it's a teen comedy and it's about a bunch of girls. Most guys would be embarrassed to admit that they like this movie a lot but actually almost every guy I know has seen and liked this film. Teen comedies have a bad rep, and for a valid reason- there's a lot of stinkers out there, but this movie actually stands out as one of the better, smarter films in that category. So you feel guilty for liking a clever, funny movie about backstabbing girls in high school? So what. I say, don't feel guilty about this one.

It's written by Tina Fey. She's a master at work here.

Mean Girls is about Caty Heron who has been home schooled her whole life finally making her way to high school because her parents want to make sure she is socialized. She likes math and falls into the "un-popular" crowd who accept her for who she is. However, when she's noticed by the popular crowd, referred to as "The Plastics" she joins them to be a spy on the inside, telling her unpopular friends about all the ridiculous things they do and say. Caty ends up getting sucked into the popular world and finds that she vies for their acceptance and she becomes one of them. The whole film is a wonderful commentary about high school life and it portrays different cliques and how far teenagers will go to fit in and just be accepted by their peers. Except this movie uses comedy instead of drama and guilty to teach teens that being who you are is what's important.

Oh, Lindsay

It's filled with comedy greats and more memorable, quotable lines than you'll be able to keep straight. It's likable because haven't most of us been in Caty's situation? Whether it's the new kid in school or wanting to sit with the popular crowd and be in their world? I bet a lot of us at 16 and 17 years old would change our hair and clothes (and perhaps attitude?) if it meant sitting with the popular crowd. Now I'm not saying EVERYONE felt that way. By the time I was 17 I was more than ready to leave high school not stay in and try to hang with the popular girls. But I can still relate to this story. Guys like this film too. It's a well-written comedy and those are hard to come by and should be embraced like this movie has been.

Wednesdays.

So, now you know that while this movie is a teen comedy it's a stand-out among the pack for it's creativity and originality. The story is logical and progressive and the acting is easy to watch. Most of these people are big stars now, sorry Gretchen Wieners :(. If you're ever in the mood for a good movie and a good laugh, watch Mean Girls... and don't feel guilty about it! This non-guilty pleasure, but still somewhat of a guilty pleasure movie is at 83% on Rotten Tomatoes.



Rat Race (2001)- Wait? It's been 13 years?

I actually had a hard time figuring out what to say about Rat Race. The movie is about a group of strangers picked at random from a Las Vegas casino for a high stakes wager from casino owner Donald Sinclair. They each get a key and race to Silver City, New Mexico to get $2,000,000 from a locker. Of course they all end up getting there at the same time and they chase the money to a giant charity concert featuring Smash Mouth (if that doesn't date this movie I don't know what else will. Maybe the ancient cell phones?) who they end up giving all the money to. It's based off the 1963 film It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World.

Is it a little bit creepy that their heads are abnormally big? I'm looking at you, Cuba.

The funny parts are some of the gags that they do but most of them are actually not that funny and even hard to watch. I get that it's a race for money but the greediness of the characters is somewhat disheartening. A dad for a family of four won't pull over so his daughter can actually use the bathroom? He makes her go number 2 out of the window of the moving van. I guess that's supposed to be funny but I just found it obnoxious. Nearly everyone in the movie steals are car at some point and even the casino owner played by John Cleese wages on cruel things like how long a maid can from the curtains and who will end up throwing up first in an airplane. If more of the jokes came off as actually being funny it wouldn't be so hard to watch Seth Green knocking into about a dozen cows. Honestly, during that bit I was more worried about the cows than I was laughing at any of these ridiculous things.

Seth Green, before he steals cars, delays the airport, and hangs from a cow off a hot air balloon.

So lots of people like this movie, I think it's because the cast is somewhat impressive for a film that's just one gag after the next without much more substance to it. It actually comes off like someone wrote down a bunch of "funny"things that could happen under these circumstances (I use "could happen" very loosely here) and they just lined them up in the movie one after the other. Rowan Atkinson's character is actually amusing, he's the only one who just goes to the locker without trying to sabotage everyone else. Plus his narcolepsy is one of the funnier gags in the movie, being that he just all of a sudden falls asleep standing up and random times. Also, Cuba Gooding, Jr.'s character stealing a bus full of I Love Lucy impersonators is funny too.

Why do all these characters talk about the money so much? Lots of other people try to steal it too.

One critic wrote, "Take a couple of laughs here, a couple of smirks there, and the conclusion is obvious: If ever there was a movie designed with the fast- forward button in mind, Rat Race is the one"(Liam Lacey). So why is it such a popular guilty pleasure movie? Well because it's a bad movie that people can't help but watch. It's a great example of a guilty pleasure. There's enough funny parts to stick in your mind and after some time make you want to watch it again and the cycle continues. While I am not a huge fan of this movie, guilty pleasure or not, there are many people who are. It's a basic comedy with enough entertaining gags to push along the rest of the film to a sappy ending.

Cleese is one of the funniest actors around and doesn't get much humor here for someone of his caliber.

Rat Race has a 44% on Rotten Tomatoes making it a good example of a guilty pleasure film. There's a lot of elements here that just don't work, mostly unfunny jokes, but there are enough funny moments to make the film somewhat likable. It's worth seeing at least once if you never have and if you are a fan of transportation-related humor this is definitely the movie for you. Fun fact I actually met Breckin Meyer once while working at Sony, he was very nice and very funny although I think of him in reference to Clueless before this movie.



If you have your own favorite guilty pleasure movies comment below, I might feature them on my next guilty pleasure series!

Re-Watch: The Amazing Spider-Man (2012)

I love Spider-Man. It's that's simple. When the first Spider-Man came out back in 2002 (12 years ago?!) I knew the entire movie line for line, but I'm not here to talk about Raimi's Trilogy. The franchise was rebooted so Sony could keep the rights instead of them reverting back to Marvel (MCU heavy sigh). 

The Amazing Spider-Man Poster.

The reboot was a pleasant experience of a well-known origin. This time Spidey is played by Andrew Garfield. Garfield is too attractive to be convincing that people would actually pick-on and ignore him in school but he plays a very nicely comedic Spider-Man. Much closer to the comic book. Garfield is a big fan of the character and has been since he was little. It makes his performance a little bit more endearing for me. 

Spidey's back. Get it? Back? Okay.

The difference with this reboot is that it's much closer to the feel of the comic books. The humor and sarcasm of Spider-Man is something that makes him an iconic superhero and they really brought that out better in this movie. The story, of course, is how Peter Parker turns into Spider-Man. As a young boy his parents mysteriously died and he was left to be raised by his Aunt and Uncle. Once in high school, he visits a science lab (this time at OSCORP) and is bitten by a spider while trying to snoop for information on his father.

The cast of The Amazing Spider-Man

The Spider bite gives him radioactive powers! He also has an adorable relationship with science student and independent woman, Gwen Stacy. As Peter begins to learn about all of his new abilities he chooses not to help when a drug store is robbed. The thief gets away and ends up shooting Peter's Uncle. Wap. Wap. Now he's angsty for life. The villain in the movie is Dr Curt Connors, someone who is connected to Peter's father through their research together. Peter gives Connors a formula he found in his father's hidden research and it seems to be valid. Connors uses it on himself, eager for his arm to grow back. He should know those types of things come with a consequence. He paid it big time. He turned into a giant lizard!

Long story short, there's lots of fight scenes. Connors wants the entire city of New York to be lizards too so he releases an air toxin to hit them all. Of course, all's well in the end. Spidey stops it but not without a casualty or two. He thinks that he is protecting Gwen by staying away from her (of course he should've- if you've read the comics you know what tragedy happens to her) but in the very end of the film decides he doesn't care and is with her anyway. Hm... sound familiar Spider-Man 2 plot point?

Andrew Garfield as Spider-Man. Mask-less and angsty

Emma Stone plays Gwen Stacy and she does a great job. I like her a lot as an actress. She's someone who can put up with Peter's nonsense and still hold her own ground. She challenges him in many ways. Her character is strong and keeps up with Peter Parker, she's independent and smart, I love that she is a positive role model in this film. You go Gwen Stacy!

Emma Stone as Gwen Stacy

The problem with this film, of course, is that it's all too familiar. We all know that Uncle Ben's going to die. We know why Peter Parker turns into Spider-Man. It makes for a less interesting story because it's too recently remade. This is starting to actually become a trend and a problem for studios to remake a film instead of producing new content. It's a travesty. There's great scripts out there but they get overshadowed and passed over by someone thinking that it'll make more money and makes more business sense to do something again that's already made money.

I like this reboot I just wish it had come with a little bit more time between films, I think people would be more excited about seeing the sequel to THIS reboot if that were the case. It's an epic story and deserves to be told in the right way. The Amazing Spider-Man is at 73% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Spider-Man and Gwen Stacy