I watch a lot of movies and television and enjoy writing about what I'm watching. I own 750+ movies but I'm no expert, I put my DVDs in one disc at a time, just like you.
It's been awhile since I've posted on here but it's because I've started a podcast! My 2 friends and I discuss time travel in movies and release new episodes bi-weekly. We started the podcast on back to the future day (October 21, 2015), which is the day that Marty goes to the future in BTTF 2 so you know we take this seriously. We get into the science behind the time travel, the consequences and its relevance to the film as well as some non-time travel related notes we may have noticed in the movie. It's a lot of fun and creates great discussions between us that brings up questions that you may not have thought about before.
Look it's our floating heads in space!!
Movies we have done so far include:
Back to the Future
Back to the Future 2
Timecrimes
The Time Traveler's Wife
The Time Machine
Project Almanac
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Looper
Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure
Edge of Tomorrow / Live. Die. Repeat.
A few upcoming movies we're doing (but don't worry there's A LOT more):
Star Trek
Deja Vu
Men In Black 3
Predestination
About Time
So, apologies for not posting anything new recently but PLEASE check out the podcast to hear some new content from me and if you have any suggestions about films you'd like us to cover let us know.
It's time for another addition to my Guilty Pleasure Series! Check out my previous guilty pleasure movie posts: #1 Mean Girls and Rat Race, #2 Ben Stiller movies and #3 Cadet Kelly and Wild Child. This time I chose 2 Disney movies that might not seem very similar at first but let's take a closer look...
FROZEN (2013)
Frozen movie poster
(SPOILERS) In case for some reason you live in a cave and didn't hear of this giant movie, it's about two sister Anna and Elsa whose parents have died. Elsa has ice powers and Anna knows nothing about it because Elsa closes herself off due to her dangerous powers. Anna meets Hans at Elsa's coronation and they decide to get married and tell Elsa who gets mad and loses control of her powers, runs away, sets off an eternal winter, etc. Anna goes to find her and meets Kristoff and Sven and they help her find Elsa. They come across Olaf who Elsa created and is a living being. That part gets glossed over. She literally created a living thing.... anyway they find her and she wants nothing to do with them and she strikes Anna in the heart with her magic and Kristoff takes her to the creepy trolls who say she needs an act of true love to cure her. Hans and team go to hunt down Elsa and manage to capture her. She escapes but Hans tells her that Anna is dead when really Anna is just freezing to death until Olaf helps her. Hans has revealed himself to be the bad guy, wanting to take over their kingdom because he'll never get one of his own. He leaves Anna for dead because he is not her "true love" so he doesn't kiss her. Olaf helps Anna to realize that Kristoff is her actual true love so she runs to find him to cure her frozen heart. Then she sees Hans about to kill Elsa so she goes to stop him and is then frozen solid. However, her act of bravery was an act of true love for her sister so Anna becomes unfrozen. Elsa also realizes that love can unfreeze all her winter mess. Anna and Kristoff kiss and all is happy ever after.
Kristoff, Olaf and Anna
So overall, not a bad storyline and the music of course is great. Still some classic Disney tropes like losing a parent or in this case both and a young girl being locked up is pretty ignorant about the world. It's at 89% on Rotten Tomatoes.
ENCHANTED (2007)
Enchanted movie poster
(SPOILERS) Enchanted is a unique story in the Disney cannon because it begins in the animated world then transition to live action for the majority of the movie. The idea is that it takes the classic Disney story and flips it. Giselle is a daydreaming girl in a tower who fantasizes about her prince coming to rescue her. Prince Edward comes along and battles a troll to save her and claims that they will be married in the morning. As Giselle is on her way to her wedding an old woman tricks her and she falls down a well and into the real world, specifically New York City. The old woman is actually Prince Edward's mother who doesn't want to lose her crown by having her son married off to some girl. Giselle wanders around Times Square until Robert and his daughter Morgan find Giselle and are kind enough to help her and let her stay in their fancy rich New York apartment. Giselle and Robert get to know each other as she is waiting for Edward to come and rescue her and bring her back home. Edward makes his way to New York with the help of Giselle's chipmunk friend Pip and they search for her while the Queen's lackey, Nathaniel tries to get Giselle to eat a poisonous apple in various forms (candy apple, apple martini, etc.). Robert tells Giselle that he is planning on proposing to Nancy, his long time girlfriend but she seems constantly upset with him for some reason or another. Towards the end of the movie once Edward finally finds Giselle she is somewhat changed. She doesn't sing all the time, she's experienced emotions other than happiness and she asks Edward to go on a date so they can get to know each other. Giselle doesn't seem as smitten with Edward anymore and they go to a ball before they leave. Robert and Nancy are there and Robert and Giselle dance together while Edward and Nancy watch them. They are clearly in love but both with different people. The Queen manages to interrupt the ball as Giselle is leaving with Edward and she finally agrees to eat the apple. Giselle falls into a deep sleep and the Queen tells Edward and Robert that she will be dead by midnight. Robert suggests true love's kiss and Edward steps up to kiss her but nothing happens. Then Edward tells Robert he should try and he does and it works. Giselle wakes up and tells Robert that she knew it was him all along. Then the Queen turns into a giant cheesy talking dragon and takes Robert as his damsel in distress and Giselle must save him. She does and they all live happily ever after and Nancy and Edward go back together and get married. Giselle starts a fashion line and stays in New York with Robert and Morgan.
The Queen and Edward
It's definitely a cute film that comments on women characters saving themselves and being strong, which I really enjoy. The cast is well assembled and Amy Adams does a great job going from bumbling love sick princess to a grounded and realistic heroine who fights for herself and what she wants. It has a 93% on Rotten Tomatoes.
I chose Frozen and Enchanted because I noticed a few similarities between the two and while technically neither of these movies are "Guilty Pleasures" they're aimed at a younger audience so I'm just going to say that qualifies in my book. Like the photo above says, Enchanted also commented that the first guy isn't always the right guy. Both films show strong women who save themselves and don't need the men to rescue them. These musicals both have helpful sidekicks with Pip and Olaf/Sven who help the heroine and care about her above all else.
Our red headed heroine is called out by the man who is not her fiance (but she spends most of the movie with and gets to know him and connect with him) tells her that her she's crazy for marrying a man after only knowing him for a day.
She also has to pick between two men and doesn't realize until the end of the movie that the one she actually got to know is the one who she's care about more (Go figure!). Also, Hans is evil so there wasn't that much of a choice in Frozen...
Prince Hans
Prince Edward
Kristoff
Robert
P.S. I love that shot of Kristoff racing to get to Anna and save her from being frozen because he realizes that he loves her. Those are just a few similarities between Enchanted and Frozen, which are both excellent movies. Did you notice any other similarities between these movies? COMMENT BELOW!
I don't know about you but I absolutely love football movies. The suspense, the action packed grid iron, the overly dramatic teenage angst. It's great all around. I recently watched the film "When The Game Stands Tall", a somewhat newer football film about a high school football team with the greatest winning streak in history and suddenly they lose a game and everything seems to fall apart. While watching this film, which I enjoyed, I couldn't help but notice the formulaic approach to how the story would play out. (Hint: there's lots of expensive hospital bills in these movies) So I decided to take a closer look at 6 football movies and some of the clichés that accompany them.
Here are the movies that I will be looking at:
1. Remember the Titans- Set in 1971 and based on a true story a racially diverse team has to learn how to play together despite their race and society telling them they shouldn't be playing together.
2. Friday Night Lights- Set in 1988, the town of Odessa, TX is obsessive about following the football team as they attempt to win the state championships. (Also spawned the successful TV show of the same name)
3. Varsity Blues- Set in 1999, the small town of West Canaan, TX is an obsessive community that loves football and the player have to deal with a difficult and overbearing coach where winning is the only option. (I honestly have a difficult time separating this movie from Friday Night Lights except FNL has a better poster)
4. The Longest Yard (Sandler)- A remake of the 1974 film of the same name, Paul Crewe is a disgraced former quarterback in the NFL who is sent to prison and puts a team of inmates together to play against the guards.
5. We Are Marshall- Set in 1970 and based on a true story of a tragic plane crash that killed the impressive Marshall University football team of players, coaches and parents. The film shows an underdog coach that tries to rebuild the team with rookie players to inspire and keep the program alive at the university.
6. When the Game Stands Tall- Based on a true story set in 2003 at the end of 151 game winning streak of De La Salle High School, the team has to deal with difficulties of a passionate town and the struggles of adolescence after losing the longest winning streak in football history.
Here Are 6 Clichés That I Noticed:
1. Player Has An Obsessive, Controlling Father Who Only Cares About Winning
All of these movies except for The Longest Yard have this theme. (In The Longest Yard you could say that type of character is the warden). In the other films, it's a blatant annoyance that the coach and the player have to deal with. There's lot of lines like "Put my son in!" and "Why would you run that play?!" that this father character often screams.
In "Remember the Titans" it's Ryan Gosling's father who is annoying
In We Are Marshall, one of the players who died in the plane crash is the one with the overbearing father who is obsessed with every game and every play that his son makes. We see him deal with losing his son and leaving behind that passion of caring about football. He is against the people trying to rebuild the team so shortly after the deaths of the team because he says it's disrespectful. Most of the other parents, especially the one in When the Game Stands Tall are just plain a-holes.
Remember that time Nelly and Adam Sandler were "good" football players?
2. Movie Is More About The Coach Than The Players
In Remember the Titans, Friday Night Lights, We Are Marshall and When the Game Stands Tall, it's the coaches journey that's actually central to the story in the film. Remember the Titans is about two interracial coaches learning to work together at a time when blacks and whites were separated.
Paul Walker in "Varsity Blues"
Friday Night Lights shows the stresses of a highly pressured coach and his mistakes and how he over comes them. We Are Marshall is about an outsider (Matthew McConaughey) rebuilding a football team after tragic deaths and he has to deal with players and a community who believe he's wrong for rebuilding the team so soon. When the Game Stands Tall is about a coach with an impressive winning streak and outstanding coaching ability who loses his first game after 151 wins in a row.
Billy Bob Thornton in "Friday Night Lights"
3. There Is An Exciting, Suspenseful Final Game That (Usually) Ends With A Win
Whether the stakes are as high as a state championship (Remember the Titans, Friday Night Lights) or just getting through and finally winning a game (The Longest Yard, When the Game Stands Tall, Varsity Blues, We Are Marshall) there's an inspiring tale of teamwork at the heart of these films. You know deep down that everything will work out and our underdog team will win it all but it's still suspenseful getting there.
"Varsity Blues"
We love to see the win after dealing with the hardships. Things will go wrong. Injuries will occur but our team shall prevail! Speaking of injuries...
4. Serious Injury Occurs, Often With A Death
Football movies are basically required to tug at our heart strings and more often than not it's due to someone dying (often a minor but lovable character) whose death (or injury) shakes up and ultimately unites the team into joining together. *(Spoilers below)*
"We Are Marshall"
Remember the Titans has the death of Gerry Bertier and gets in a serious car accident and is paralyzed but doesn't die until later. The movie opens and ends with all the players grown up at his funeral. Friday Night Lights has injuries and some are fairly serious. Varsity Blues also just deals with injuries of some of the players. The Longest Yard has the death of Caretaker (Chris Rock) which ends up being a plot point that effects the rest of the movie. There are also injuries during the game at the end of the film. We Are Marshall begins with the team dying in a plane crash close to home that kills 37 people (players, coaches and fans) so death is a theme throughout the film. There are also some injuries throughout and passionate players who try and fight through them for their team. When the Game Stands Tall has injuries and death. The coach has a heart attack and one of the players is tragically shot and killed. Both of these events shake up but don't break up the team, who ultimately prevails. *(End of Spoilers)*
"Friday Night Lights"
5. The Coach Serves As A Strong Father Figure For the Players
Varsity Blues and The Longest Yard are more about brotherhood with their fellow players but the other four films reach heavily into the father-like role model with the coaches of these teams. These coaches will often give inspirational speeches to the players in key moments in the film. Remember the Titans pins coach against coach for a large part of the movie but when they work together they inspire their team not just as players but as people, which is what really makes a great coach.
Julius knows what's up. "Remember the Titans"
Friday Night Lights is all about Billy Bob Thornton's character and how he inspires his team to persevere when the star player is badly injured. We Are Marshall has Matthew McConaughey and Matthew Fox as coaches of a distraught team after a devastating disaster for their college. They have to bring together a new team of rookie players and upset parents and show them the importance of honoring the ones who died. They inspire the players to work together to win a game. In When the Game Stands Tall, Coach Lad is a true father figure to all the players that he coaches. They are changed by working with him and he acts as a better father to his players than to his own children. In the end the players honor him by holding up their helmets in a salute to all he's done for them.
Favorite. "We Are Marshall"
6. Star Player(s) Has To Overcome An Issue On The Team And You'll Probably Cry
We all know by now that Remember the Titans is about racial differences so that's their issue and you'll cry when Gerry gets in his accident and he and Julius have a touching moment together in the hospital. In Friday Night Lights Miles gets seriously injured and you'll probably cry when he finally calms down his ego enough to see his dreams disappear. In The Longest Yard they have to overcome the obstacle of being in prison while trying to train as a team with guards making things more difficult for them. You'll probably cry when Chris Rock is killed because he was the best part of the movie.
Also, Tracy Morgan is hilarious in "The Longest Yard"
In Varsity Blues, it's dramatic teen angst and trying to decide where to go to college with an overbearing father and a stressful team riding on your back. Not sure if you'll cry in this one. Although, it is inspiring. In We Are Marshall, you'll definitely cry. If you're like me (sympathetic cryer like Gus in "Psych") this movie is definitely a tear jerker. First off it's a tragedy that starts the film and seeing parents and girlfriends have extreme emotional reactions is cry worthy. The players in the film have to overcome this tragedy and become a team. You'll also cry when they protest the board who doesn't want to green light another team and the entire school comes out and shows their support. That part got me. Finally, in When The Game Stands Tall, the team has to overcome losing the streak and losing one of their players who is killed. This is also when you'll cry, seeing this kid's father and grandmother wailing at his dead body.
Racial Differences in "Remember the Titans"
So there you have some of my observations about a few football movies and common themes throughout them. What's your favorite football movie? Did you notice any clichés that I might've missed?
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.
