X-Men Movies Thread

[EricJ]

Well, counting the "X-Men Origins: Magneto" that was eventually folded into XM:FC, that makes the second time that long-range Fox Mutant-verse plans had to be cut shorter after the screwup...

[manga raw]

X-Men Apocalypse:
if those characters are considered heroes in the comics or have been shown to be in previous X-Men movies; they're not treated as such until right until the final showdown (in the case of Storm and Magneto).

[ShyViolet]

Saw it again (iTunes download).

Even better than the first time around.

[ShyViolet]

First Old Man Logan (film will just be called "Logan") poster from Fox. (Scroll down page.)

http://moviepilot.com/p/logan-wolverine ... ms/4114579

[Randall]

I saw X-Men:A tonight. It slightly bothers just how screwed up all of the films' characters and timelines are relative to the comics (or even within the films), but I did actually enjoy the movie more than expected.

[Ben]

Since Logan will wrap up the Wolvie trilogy and comes at a point where the original and prequel trilogies have come to a pause, I will likely spring for a boxset of the X films when Logan hits disc next year.

Fox seem to package them all together every time a new film is released, and with a trilogy of trilogies now (then) completed, it's a no brainier that they'll put them out again. It would be nice to see them do an ultimate collection with all the extended cuts and such, but I'll take what I can get. I'm not the biggest fan of the X films but I do appreciate and enjoy them.

[ShyViolet]

Update on "Legion" (Xavier's insane son) TV show:

http://dlvr.it/MQYZYW

[ShyViolet]

More on the Legion series (including trailer).

https://www.inverse.com/article/21976-x ... tal-health

[Ben]

Guess now that JK has moved on, we have found a new subject for Vi to fixate on...

Must say that Noah Hawley's involvement has me most intrigued and excited about this. I've been absolutely loving his Fargo series.

[ShyViolet]

[ShyViolet]

OK, some of this I did find funny (like Jennifer Lawrence hardly appearing in blue Mystique form) but please, please, please see the film before you make the final judgment. (They didn't really include many spoilers.). The thing I MOST disagreed with was that there was no real story going on. Oh my God...this film was so subtle and emotionally gripping I can't believe so many critics missed it! It is about pain, identity, loss, passion and love. The story is about the characters' growth versus the emotional/physical collapse of Apocalypse, whose powers that fuel his belief that he is God are his gift as well as his curse. His power over his followers fills his need as well as theirs.

I won't say more because of spoilers but really...Bryan Singer's need to go beyond the comic book and into religious parables is so evident here. Much as I LOVE Days of Future Past in a lot of ways I feel that it was more of a "popcorn" movie when you compare it to Apocalypse. I really do.

And don't go by the Fox trailers. Obviously the studio execs missed the real drama that was going on here and compressed the film into what appeared to be a retread of everything we'd already seen. But trust me...it's not!


Honest trailer: X-Men: Apocalypse

https://youtu.be/h2U0PgGtzM8

[Vernadyn]

I was hesitating about whether to get Apocalypse on Blu-ray (having missed it in theaters), but ShyViolet's enthusiasm helped sway me. (I also have the rest of the X-Men movies on home video; I figured if I have The Last Stand, I may as well get Apocalypse as well.)

The good news: It's nowhere near as abysmal as some of the reviews suggest. The prologue had me pumped up for a big, cheesy, roller-coaster adventure akin to Stephen Sommers's Mummy films; I figured that any added depth would be a bonus. And the early scenes with Magneto definitely delivered in terms of emotional resonance--you can see what's coming from Fassbender's very first scene, but the scene that gets him back into being Magneto again is no less poignantly staged. The film also moves at a brisk pace, never dragging (though to be fair, I would say that's true of The Last Stand as well.)

Oh, and John Ottman's score was pretty darn awesome too. .

Yes, this was Ottman's strongest X-Men effort by far, but the most vivid cues were in the prologue and in parts of the final battle; the rest of the score was Ottman once again noodling around with little impact. I'd put the score at around the same level as Kamen's but a little below Jackman's and a lot below Powell's.

The not-so-good: Oscar Isaac is a talented, charismatic actor, but for some reason he or Singer decided to make Apocalypse sound like a vaguely wheezy old man for the majority of the movie. After he woke up and was walking around the streets of Cairo in a cloak, his hoodie up like some sort of dour teenager (and with a facial expression to match), I couldn't help but laugh out loud at his comical appearance. Yes, he does commit nefarious acts here and there, but he never came across as more menacing or complex than Ronan from Guardians of the Galaxy or Malekith from Thor: The Dark World. I mean, at one point, Xavier "rebels" against him, and what does Apocalypse do? Nothing, apparently, as the film cuts to another scene and Xavier is still hale and hearty when the film does cut back to him.

And well I thought the early Magneto family scene was well done, the Blu-ray has an extension of the scene that's telling of Singer's approach. Basically, the extended scene has a callback to a lullaby early in the movie, but Singer cut it out because, as he explains, he didn't want to "push the envelope of the movie emotionally." And indeed, the finished film cuts from that scene to some insubstantial mutant hijinks; Singer almost seems afraid of letting the previous scene breathe, letting its impact run its course. (The Force Awakens had this problem too.)

The script also came across as messier and less focused than Days of Future Past. It flirted with several intriguing themes but ultimately dropped them in favor of bombast or Apocalypse yelling at various characters. This makes me wonder how much of a hand Goldman and Vaughn had in the story for DOFP as it was by far the best script Simon Kinberg has been involved with. (His other masterpieces include the XXX sequel, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Jumper, This Means War, Fantastic Four, and yes, The Last Stand.)

In the end, I'm not sorry I saw the film, but I don't think it's some misunderstood masterpiece either. Although I thought Apocalypse was demonstrably inferior to Deadpool and Civil War, I did enjoy it more than both of DC's efforts this year.

One final, somewhat tangential note:

(And yes, I still think Bryan Singer is ten times the director that Vaughn and Ratner are combined.

Regarding Vaughn, I understand that sentiment as far as X-Men films are concerned. But I think Kick-Ass and Kingsman in particular show that he's skilled at making cheeky blockbusters that are slick and shiny on the outside but sly and shrewd underneath. There's a method to his irreverence, a deftness and subtlety that eludes even James Gunn or Adam McKay. (In some ways, I think that Vaughn and Edgar Wright are kindred spirits.) Again, Singer may very well be a better fit for the X-Men universe than Vaughn, but I don't agree that Singer is a better director in general This big, fat essay by Film Crit Hulk crystallizes some of the reasons why I like Vaughn's films--especially Kick-Ass and Kingsman--so much:
http://birthmoviesdeath.com/2015/07/17/ ... ing-satire

[Ben]

My clear animosity towards Snafuperman Returns aside, Bryan Singer is not a good director. He's not even that switched on as a human being.

He's a lucky guy who's had the fortune to bump into some very good scripts and much more talented collaborators, who feed him many good ideas that he either uses (to good effect) or doesn't (when ego takes over). Hence why he's so keen to keep some kind of grip on the X films.

You only need to watch the Snafuperman Returns doc to see him on various huge sets without a clue on what to do, while everyone else is coming up with suggestions and literally rolling their eyes at the person who should be the one corralling all the elements.

I also know of his on-set behavior on Valkerie and, let's just say, he didn't go down well with a lot of people on that show either...

[ShyViolet]

I was hesitating about whether to get Apocalypse on Blu-ray (having missed it in theaters), but ShyViolet's enthusiasm helped sway me.

Yay! Glad to hear it.

Yes, this was Ottman's strongest X-Men effort by far, but the most vivid cues were in the prologue and in parts of the final battle

Yes definitely!! Especially spoiler Jean's final unleashing of her true powers. (The whole walking on air thing definitely had a religious context as well.)

[ShyViolet]

Much as I have gushed over X-Men:A, this is pretty funny:

https://youtu.be/YvEzdmRpbGM