Today's Column: what to do when the end credits start rolling

My monthly contribution to MS's slate of columns has thus been posted for this June:

http://www.moviescene.nl/p/155987/column_te_blijven_of_niet_te_blijven_dat_is_de_vraag

To be completely honest, I don't always stay for the entire run of end credits, unlike I;m suggesting here. Call me a hypocrite if you must. It's one of the perks working in a movie theater to know when stingers are attached and when they're not. And even if I know there's post-credits scenes available, chances are good I saw them prior to watching the actual movie itself. Of course, it's not all about stingers, though they're the most attractive part of end credit sequences. The creativity invested in the end credits, though not mentioned in this column (it was running overly long, as usual) is also of note in this regard. I can't imagine many people leaving during the wonderfully designed, stunning credits of Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events. If a credit sequence looks that good, you obviously stay. Paying respect to those who got the film to where it is now, in theaters for my enjoyment or amazement, should not be ignored as a factor. If a film is good enough I stay; if it's bad, mediocre or passable it depends on my mood and the time at my disposal. Since I tend to go to the movies after work predominantly, and I do not work so close to home as I would like, I'm usually eager to fetch my train and get home. Another element prohibiting me from staying or leaving is the score or soundtrack that accompanies the credits. If it concerns a good, solid, orchestral score I'm usually entranced to keep listening, and therefore, watching, accordingly. If however the producing powers-that-be attached some awfully loud and unattractive (for me, that is) song, as part of their synergy driven promotional campaign, the decision to hurry home is all too quickly made (unless it's a good song, which is not often the case). Nevertheless, that hilarious scene and poignant quote from Return of the Killer Tomatoes always springs to mind when the end credits advance. I bet most mothers of directors (and other production departments too) wouldn't take kindly to people so easily ignoring all the names of people who worked hard to deliver them their dose of entertainment. Or the dirctors themselves for that matter.

Today's Triple News: amazing dragon jobs

Let's put an end to MovieScene news posts by my hand accumulating indefinitely right here, right now:

http://www.moviescene.nl/p/155304/danny_boyle_beoogd_regisseur_voor_biopic_steve_jobs

http://www.moviescene.nl/p/155276/eerste_vijf_minuten_how_to_train_your_dragon_2_online

http://www.moviescene.nl/p/155262/x-men_in_aftiteling_amazing_spider-man_2

Good going, Fox and Sony... As if the situation with the various Marvel properties isn't complicated enough for non-fans to grasp, you two just had to go and muddy the waters some more. This is bound to be getting people's hopes up needlessly. The X-Men and Spider-Man are never gonna team up in a movie. Period. Like Marvel big-shot producer Avi Arad said only last week, interstudio team-ups are a last resort for when the studios have run out of ideas with their franchises. And considering the amount of work currently being done to ensure smooth internal crossovering, there's simply no room yet for adding characters of other franchises to the mix for at least two decades or so. Fox is too busy making sense of the larger X-universe and looking for ways to also incorporate the Fantastic Four in there somehow, while Sony is reworking the Spider-Man legacy to explore ways of producing spin-off movies without the webhead himself, like Sinister Six and Venom. At this point, the whole notion of Spider-Man joining the X-Men in a mutually shared adventure just makes no sense, and putting a scene for an upcoming X-flick in the end credits of the latest Spider-flick ought to be considered false advertising. Better to introduce an exclusive clip from Days of Future Past in advance of screening the actual Spider-film, so lay people understand it's not connected at all, as it isn't. Sony's cause would be better served including a teaser for The Amazing Spider-Man 3 in their latest blockbuster, as the studio did in the case of its predecessor (even though in hindsight, judging from the second film that particular scene now raises more questions than it answers, which might point at Sony's long term strategy not being so clearly envisioned as the studio would have us believe). So far, indications seem the X-clip in question is not part of the Dutch release of The Amazing Spider-Man 2. Good thing too, since I don't feel like snapping all those clueless cinemagoers going in to see Spidey and coming out hoping for his showdown with them mutants out of their big Marvel dreams. That would be cruel, even though I'm not to blame for this poor marketing move on the studios' part.

Coherency seems better handled in the How to Train Your Dragon franchise, judging from the first few minutes of the new film which are now widely found online, two months prior to the film's actual release. A common strategy as we've seen of late, as other big budget movies took the same route in the hopes of convincing people to go and check out the rest of the film soon. This opening of the sequel bears more than a minor similarity to the start of the first film, which is of course the idea. It parallels the former status quo wherein dragons were a threat to the inhabitants of Berk to the new situation in which both parties have formed a mutually beneficial alliance. A symbiosis which of course comes under threat from the movie's new antagonist, who's out of the picture here just yet so as to not spoil what the movie is actually about, other than providing us with some more adventures of Hiccup and Toothless to get us interested. How to Train Your Dragon 2 seems a typical sequel to its original, which is not a bad thing at all as that was a fun, high spirited family film with a heartfelt message of looking past differences and promoting universal understanding of others. At least this movie won't claim random ties to  computer animated films from rival companies where non exist.

Speaking of companies, Steve Jobs co-founded a notable one (bad segue, I know). Now he's dead and apparently Hollywood isn't done just yet telling the story of the man who created Apple. One biopic isn't enough, especially as jOBS apparently didn't do justice to the great man. Now Sony attempts to draw in the bigger names in order to produce a more prestigious film about Mr. Jobs. Danny Boyle is in the spotlight as director after David Fincher left the project, while Leonardo DiCaprio is sought to replace Christian Bale portraying the main character. Strong names all, but is there a real need for another Jobs film in so short a time span? Or is Hollywood still trying to cash in on the demise of the man? Granted, jOBS was a fairly low budget film and did bring in thrice its budget at the box office, but it still didn't draw huge crowds, despite the continuing popularity of Apple products. It seems those big shot names are more suited for enticing the audience to come see the film. In DiCaprio's case, if it worked on a sleazy fraud like Jordan Belfort, who's to say it won't do the same for a revolutionary inventor/entrepreneur like Steve? Guess DiCaprio needs to show off he can run a company in a responsible manner as well.

Today's Trailer: a very X-citing final X-trailer

As promised, here's the latest and apparently last trailer for X-Men: Days of Future Past:

http://www.moviescene.nl/p/155150/laatste_trailer_x-men_days_of_future_past_online

Any doubts I had about this film when watching the previous few trailers have disappeared: this film looks like a total blast! What it relays the most pressingly, compared to its predecessors, is the sense of a coherent story line; always welcome in a movie involving time travel. Even though it does kinda feel like a gratuitous set-up to have the original X-Men's X-Men and their recent First Class past counterparts hook up. It's definitely a step away from the original comic book story, wherein there was no past, only the present and the abysmal future that would have occurred if the X-Men hadn't halted certain events in said present. This time it's the past that needs to be altered for the good of both mankind and mutantkind, while the future serves as an alternate present, considering the characters from previous X-films do not appear all that much older (okay, so Iceman grew a beard: whoop-dee-doo!). Despite all the techie stuff involved, this grizzly future seems to takes place around the same time as our present (roughly stated, 2015-2020), making it a future only for the past.

More intriguing is what happened to the 'first class' of X-Men, who seem to have disbanded, making for a rather disheveled and depressed Xavier. There's definitely some explaining that needs to be done there. As happened in First Class, the need to form a new team is imminent, and this time it's Wolverine (Hugh Jackman playing that part for the seventh time, and still he's up for more: that's loyalty!) who must do the job. Question is: is this the actual future Wolverine transported in time, or has the older Xavier somehow mentally instructed the past Wolverine to do so through time? As seen in the marketing campaign, though not something easily picked up in this trailer, both the boney claw Wolverine and his adamantium wielding equivalent will be spotted in this movie, but will they share the screen, thus making for two different Wolverines in one film? This is still left a little vague, as can be expected from a film involving temporal mechanics. In the original story, Kitty Pride (Shadowcat) was the one doing the time travelling, but she didn't do so physically, as her present counterpart was mentally picking up future events sent to aid her in forcing a change that should prevent that bleak future from ever happening. Shadowcat makes an appearance in this movie, but since Wolverine is still the most popular X-Man, he now has taken over her role, and apparently reduced her character to mere cannon fodder. The notion of seeing two Wolverines onscreen simultaneously is a wonderful concept and I wouldn't mind exploring that avenue. But then, there's still plenty of fascinating character moments bound to pass, judging from the trailer, as Wolverine is confronted with past versions of fellow mutants he has come to know and love, or in other cases, hate.

And of course there's mindblowing action with Sentinels and all kinds of mutants and crashing football stadiums and stuff. Good to know, but in this case more than ever there's a great opportunity for getting to know these characters, some of them established is two different ways, from fresh and unexpected angles. Bryan Singer has previously proven to work well with large ensembles, giving everyone their appropriate due and I have full confidence he won't let us down in that regard once more. I was somewhat sceptical about this film thanks to the first two trailers - and the fact this movie deals with what is arguably the most classic and well loved X-tale of them all - but this trailer has gotten me X-cessively hyped for this latest X-travaganza. And those to follow, since Days of Future Past will have great consequences for various X-projects to follow, like X-Force and X-Men: Apocalypse. Seems the X-future will be at least as X-citing as the X-past!

Today's News: introducing a new breed of X-Men

Here's a bit of news I posted on MovieScene earlier this week. Related news soon to follow, but not yet posted on that site.

http://www.moviescene.nl/p/155100/openingsscene_x-men_days_of_future_past_online_geplaatst

This is a common occurrence for big budget blockbuster movies, to post finished clips of the actual movie in the few months leading up to its theatrical release. They usually stick to material from the film's opening to intrigue the audience as to the exact cause of events (which is left in the dark well enough for them to be enticed) and to prohibit giving too much away from the actual plot, which the studio prefer to keep to itself until the movie hits theaters. I recently posted a clip of Captain America: The Winter Soldier on MS that adhered to the same marketing strategy. Of course, some movies go even further and post way more than just a few scenes from the movie's first half: The Amazing Spider-Man 2 currently has so many clips up online you might puzzle together the whole movie from those. That's no fun for the nerds that actually attempt to do just that and end up spoiling the final viewing experience for themselves completely. Fortunately I'm not that determined.

This one minute scene begins and ends in medias res; you might accuse it of missing context, but then, the context is provided by the rest of the film this early released clip wants you to go and see soon. There's a lot of characters in this dynamic scene, half of whom fans will recognize from previous X-movies (Colossus, Shadowcat, Iceman). The other half consists of new characters, who appropriately get to show off their powers which define them. Even though we don't get much on their character background here as yet, we learn what they can do and how well they act as a team in a dire situation like this. We're also introduced to the nightmarish future world wherein these mutants have become the hunted, as well as their enemy, the ominous and ruthless future Sentinels. We learn little about those genocidal robots from this clip, which also pushes us to want to see the movie to learn just how dangerous they are to our heroes and what role they played in bringing about this Apocalypse. Deducing from this scene, Bryan Singer once again revels in his craftsmanship when it comes to making the audience acquainted with lots of characters, while not sacrificing the pace of the movie. It helps that the spectator is already familiar with many of the personas present in this movie, but there are many characters left to explore and all need ample screentime. If needs be, established characters are pushed to the background, as happened to Anna Paquin's Rogue, who was almost cut from the movie entirely, though word has now reached us that she will at least make a cameo appearance. Singer knows that in a movie with so many characters as this one, there is a serious risk of the story getting padded to the detriment of the film as a whole, so sacrifices have to be made. I expect these mutants to serve as canon fodder in their attempt to escort Wolverine to the past where most of the story takes place though. No problem, as long as Singer makes us care about their demise. If there's one person who excels at bringing together large ensembles without confusing the audience needlessly and making them empathic about all of them, it's Singer.

Tomorrow: final trailer for this same movie. X-celsior!

Today's Column: are we tired yet of the Avengers-approach?

After yesterday's sad events, spirits may be lifted a little bit with an extra lengthy column I wrote for MS this week:

http://www.moviescene.nl/p/154600/column_zijn_we_al_moe_van_de_avengers-aanpak

My point that Marvel might be endangering its own construct by relying on its star actors too much was fortuitously underscored this week, when word leaked that Chris Evans means to quit the acting business altogether in favor of turning towards directing, as I posted in this bit of news last week:

 http://www.moviescene.nl/p/154691/chris_evans_wil_stoppen_met_acteren

Fortunately he's under contract at Marvel and he still has two movies to go (Avengers: Age of Ultron and Captain America 3 it seems), so there's still time for Marvel to avert a crisis. For now. Phase 2 seems secure, but it seems a sure thing Evans will not return for Avengers 3. So what's Marvel to do without the iconic Star Spangled Avenger? Recasting is an option, as is killing off his character. But it's just one actor among many who may jump ship earlier than Marvel would like, and you can't recast or replace them all without potentially annoying or needlessly confusing the audience. But let's find out how the viewers will respond to two different takes on the same character (Quicksilver) first. Maybe it will go unnoticed by all but the avid comic book fans, maybe people will understand not all Marvel superheroes belong to Marvel Studios proper in terms of copyright (fat chance!), or maybe they will simply not care about the whole matter (the wisest choice no doubt). But it seems a given that even Marvel's ambitious 'Avengers-approach' to building a coherent cinematic universe will be in need of a reboot somewhere down the line, and maybe earlier than anticipated.

Today's Double News: Days of Future Past fully covered

As always I prove to be particularly drawn to posting superhero news on MS, and consequently reposting it here:

http://www.moviescene.nl/p/153410/marvel_wil_russos_terug_voor_captain_america_3

http://www.moviescene.nl/p/153359/empire_onthult_25_covers_x-men_days_of_future_past

25 different magazine covers?! Am I glad I'm not a collector of anything X-Men, saves me a lot of money in this case. I doubt there would be many people - though I know there will definitely be some - crazy enough to collect them all if they can just behold them in Hi-Def glory online. And they certainly are glorious, me thinks. (Be sure to check them out right here to form your own opinion on the subject.) Though there's the usual Photoshop editing to post the various characters overly smoothly in the shot, you can't deny the full panoramic view of all 25 covers in the right order, moving from the Sixties to the (not too distant?) future, is quite an ingenious piece of work. I must admit I didn't even notice the big picture (literally) at first when I only saw the first six covers made available. However, it's the characters, new an old, that take centerstage on both the covers and in fan interest, including my own. We finally get to see decent shots of the much anticipated new characters, as well as the grim future appearances of beloved familiar ones from Singer's own first pair of X-movies. I'm first and foremost glad and thankful virtually all of both time frame's major players have returned, including personal favorites like Sir Ian McKellen, Patrick Stewart, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence and Ellen Page. Say what you will about the rather pretentious and arrogant cover text 'the biggest ever superhero movie', this film certainly has the most impressive cast to date of all Marvel flicks. The greatest fear in this regard is that with so many characters, few of them get a true chance to shine and many will be relegated to minor tidbits of interaction: a feeling not unwarranted since overcrowdedness has already cost Anna Paquin's Rogue her limited screen time, though oddly enough she's still present on these covers regardless. That said, if Singer proved one thing with X-Men and X2, it's that he knows how to handle star studded ensemble pieces, giving each character his or her due. I have faith he hasn't forgotten how to keep large casts worth our while on screen.

The most notable thing about these covers is the excellent new shots they provide of hot new mutant characters, namely Quicksilver (the first, as another will appear next year in the second Avengers film), Warpath, Sunspot, Blink and Bishop. A diverse bunch appropriated from the whole spectrum of the X-universe throughout its long history and hopefully not randomly thrown in the mix. Though Warpath, Blink and Bishop look a lot like their comic book counterparts (except with blacker costumes, to establish a sense of coherency in the bleak future X-look), Sunspot and particularly Quickie have underwent a few stylistic changes, in the latter's case no doubt to make him distinct from the other Quicksilver, which might follow the character's historically drawn dresscode more closely. As for Sunspot, maybe I'm just used to seeing him in full 'spot mode' too much to remember his actual physical regular appearance. What's more surprising than the addition of novel characters is the unexpected return of old ones, i.e. Colonel Stryker (who looks quite different from his counterpart in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, pushing that movie out of the cinematic continuity even further) and Toad (who also bears little similarity to the original as played by Ray Park). I'm guessing Toad will stay limited to playing the henchman as before, but Stryker clearly will have a bigger part to play as the film's secondary human antagonist (next to Peter Dinklage's Bolivar Trask), likely forming a liaison between the American military and Trask Industries as the pair of them engage in constructing mutant hunting Sentinels. As for those, they look spectacular. The past version looks retro and similar enough to the comic book robots to keep the fans satisfied (or me, at least), while the future Sentinel is a whole different beast altogether, which definitely allowed the design team to go all-out. As for the character design, I'm sure there will be ample whining about the black Batmanesque X-costumes, but I have little against them except they make for too uniform a look as opposed to the wildly divergent styles of costumes from the comics. Some characters make it work, like Colossus and Storm who look badass, while on others (Xavier, Shadowcat (here simply referred to by her real name Kitty Pryde)) the choice is less appealing. However, I'm all for substance over style, and as long as these are compelling characters played convincingly by capable actors, I have no qualms about their outfits. Not everyone can look like Mystique, who has found a perfect balance in that respect.

Aside from the background panorama, there's a few other little details to enjoy. I love Blink's teleporting window, revealing Warpath's back, and vice versa. Maybe the covers hint at a romantic relationship or some other personal connection between these newbie characters? Also of note is the difference between Wolverine's claws in both eras, the past showing the bone claws he originally was born with as illustrated in X-Men Origins: Wolverine (welcome back to the continuity!), the future witnessing him equipped with his well known adamantium claws instead. Since it was established Logan got the rare metal grafted onto his skeleton somewhere in the early Seventies, and the past section of X-Men: Days of Future Past as I understood it takes place in 1963 around the time of JFK's assassination, this fits the timeline neatly. And what's with the military look to Havok and Toad? They undercover or som'thin'? What's up with Quicksilver's utility belt? Why is Rogue all in white unlike the rest of her team members, and what's that spaceship looking thingy above here? These covers provide both answers and new questions, and prove more effective in terms of spawning speculation than the somewhat disappointing first trailer did.

In other news, Marvel is doing with the Russo Brothers what Fox recently did with Matt Reeves on Planet of the Apes, seemingly already hiring them on the basis of great expectations over concrete results for another sequel. I still say this is not the smartest move, but at least in the case of Marvel Studios advance planning of future projects has been shown to be taken much more seriously than is usual. And so far I have no reason to doubt the qualities of the Russos, as I very much liked what I saw of Captain America: The Winter Soldier so far. But who cares about a project at least three or four years in the future when you can drool over them X-covers some more? X-Men: Days of Future Past is only a few months away but thanks to promotional strategies like these the suspense is killing me. Considering the status of the original story line as one of the greatest X-Men classics and the presence of a humongous cast of talented actors, as well as this film's need to also serve as a decent set-up for the sequel X-Men: Apocalypse, the movie certainly has a lot to live up to. I trust Singer realized all of this well in advance. Considering his success on the first X-films, I'm willing to cut him some slack. X-celsior, Bryan!

Today's News: Paquin gone rogue

A little flash of news from mine own hand today:

http://www.moviescene.nl/p/152605/anna_paquin_uit_x-men_days_of_future_past_geknipt

I'm not surprised at this occurrence: considering the vast number of returning characters, not to mention a bunch of new ones, there were bound to be a few left in the cold. Apparently Rogue was only in this one single action scene, so it appears there was little substance to her character anyway. If it helps the pace and flow of the movie, sacrifices have to be made. 'Kill your darlings' is a well established editorial practice, and many a film has fallen prey to scenes featuring fan favorites being chopped out. Compare The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King for example, where everyone's preferred evil wizard Saruman was excised, despite being played by the formidable Christopher Lee (blasphemy says I!). At least that movie had an extended cut upcoming, which I doubt will be the case for Days of Future Past. At least Bryan Singer assures us we'll see the scene on the home cinema release regardless, albeit not reintegrated in the movie proper. It is always a hard thing for actors to swallow when they hear they haven't made it into the final film - the Saruman incident for instance resulted in a brief falling-out between Lee and Peter Jackson - but apparently Paquin is enough of a professional to be cool with it, even though it means she did the whole Comic-Con press thing last summer for nothing. That is, Singer tells us she agrees with the decision: we have not had confirmation of her own opinion yet, so maybe it's just a marketing tactic to assure us that despite the change everything has been resolved amicably. Something which I am inclined to believe, considering the director and actress have worked before twice, so they're probably dear friends as these things go. And as for the fanboys, get over it: there's still plenty of mutants around in Days of Future Past to make for an X-travaganza like nothing seen before. Unless Singer goes all Sentinel and terminates a few more to make the movie run more smoothly. It's Marvel, anything can happen.

Today's News: the Days of Future Past go viral in the Sixties

Business is slow of late, but don't blame me, blame business. And blame time for not being available in the quantities one would like to have at his/her disposal. Anyway, here's a bit of news I managed to slip through:

http://www.moviescene.nl/p/151963/viral_video_x-men_days_of_future_past_online

I like alternative timelines, I like viral campaigns for movies that make good use of them to get me excited for a movie and I like X-Men, so this is a winner. It may not be the most detailed video (and a bit short really) and it's more of a teaser for the Bent Bullet website (which it itself is a teaser for next year's X-Men: Days of Future Past movie), but it serves as a decent catalyst for public interest. The article on the website looks fascinating too, but unfortunately, as mentioned above, lack of time prohibits me from reading it (probably until the Holidays have come and gone). I glanced through it and already found a minor spoiler for characters that we saw join Magneto's cause in X-Men: First Class, but won't be featured in the sequel because life (or its exact opposite rather) intervened with their goals. So no Jason Flemyng in DoFP apparently, since he's apparently too busy getting cast for Star Wars Episode VII.

You gotta love the eternal 'what if' question. Marvel certainly does, the House of Ideas even made a long running, delightful comic book series entitled What If on the subject, dealing exclusively with alternative plots to regular series, to explore the possibilities had things turned out otherwise. What if Wolverine was a Thirties' gangster? What if Spider-Man's daughter had survived? This viral video really fits right into that same venue. After all, First Class already handled historic happenstances that we know the conclusion of (at least, students of history do), but shed a different light on the situation because of the superpowered individuals native to the X-Universe, who could have influenced such global events for intriguing dramatic purposes. Occurrences that are shrouded into mystery until this day beg a mutant involvement in fiction, so the JFK assassination is a logical topic for an alternate history revisitation. Magneto bending a bullet so it would hit Kennedy is a wonderful notion, as is the thought of Mystique disguising herself as somebody else (in this instance, Lee Harvey Oswald) and taking the shot itself to add to the public confusion and number of question marks surrounding the case. Upon learning the possibility of mutant influence in the matter, the bleak future we'll see in the next movie, where mutants are hunted and slaughtered by the robotic Sentinels to guard the human public, is not such an unlikely thing to happen. I sure hope the viral campaign for Days of Future Past will contain more similarly themed conspiracy virals. I have heard it from reliable sources that such mutant scum was also responsible for the Watergate scandal and the Chernobyl catastrophe, ya know...

Today's Mini-Review: The Wolverine

The Wolverine: ***/*****, or 7/10

Hugh Jackman returns to the role of Logan, the X-Man with the healing factor and adamantium skeleton and claws, for the sixth time (after only a brief but hilarious cameo appearance in X-Men: First Class (2011)). Several years after the cataclysmic events of X-Men: The Last Stand (2006), that witnessed the death of his beloved Jean Grey (Famke Janssen) at his own hands for the greater good, Logan is still in agony, travelling through Canada aimlessly in search for something to believe in again. When young female ninja Yukio (Rila Fukushima) finds him at a bar picking a fight with irresponsible hunters, she offers him a chance for redemption, of sorts. Her employer, the powerful Japanese clan leader and major industrialist Yashida (Hal Yamanouchi), is dying and wants to thank Logan for having saved his life back in 1945, when an atom bomb was dropped on both their heads at Nagasaki. Logan haphazardly accepts the invitation but is dismayed to learn the old man's offer of taking his “curse” of “immortality” – not wholly accurate, as Wolverine isn't truly immortal, he just ages much slower than everybody else – for himself so he won't have to die,and Logan can live a normal life if he so chooses. All too soon, Logan finds himself immersed in a complicated web of intrigue in the clan's affairs, revolving around Yashida's legacy and his decision to leave everything to his granddaughter Mariko (Tao Okamoto) upon his demise. Before long, the girl has to run for her life, dodging Yakuza bullets and ninja swords, but fortunately Logan has taken a liking to her and aims to protect her from harm. Matters turn worse when Yashida's shady physician, a sexy mutant poisoner named Viper (Svetlana Khodchenkova), manages to disable Logan's healing abilities, thus rendering him vulnerable. 

Credit has to be given to Jackman for sticking to the Wolverine character for so long, which prohibits the use for a reboot at some point as most other superheroes with movie careers have already experienced. It also allows for Logan's emotional and sensual side to be explored, something director James Mangold (3:10 to Yuma) doesn't amply succeed in. It seems odd for this typically 'loner' character, who finally found a family with his fellow mutants, to just go and get himself caught up in what's basically a very private affair in a family he doesn't know, in a culture he hardly understands, even though he had nothing to lose. The various family ploys and their ramifications for Japanese and Yakuza politics hardly feel coherent, as everybody has his or her own motivations for gaining power, some of them underexposed, others needlessly complicated and layered so their bigger picture proves difficult to grasp. Logans romantic entanglement with Mariko is a typical Hollywood love plot, except for Logan being plagued by inexplicable, pointless visions of dear deceased Jean: of course her death still haunts her, but apparently her mental powers have left some sort of astral imprint upon Logan, or so I surmise since the writers never bother to fully explain this aspect of the plot. It just seems like an overly simple, lazy excuse to get Famke Janssen back for a few short sequences. Whatever the movie lacks in character logic it mostly makes up for in action, with a knife fight on the roof of a high speeds train as the most intense moment in that category. Otherwise however, the action scenes seem somewhat repetitive with their focus on samurai and ninja clichés, culminating in a big action piece between Logan and a mecha-warrior with a burning sword, which is this movie's take on Marvel's original Silver Samurai character. The make-up of some featured characters sure deviates from their original comics counterparts, as was to be expected but necessarily appreciated. Similarly to Silver Samurai now being a robot-armour instead of a kinetically charged mutant in shiny, traditional Nippon warrior garb, Viper has transformed from a typical assassin dabbling in assorted toxins to a full fledged snake like mutant, complete with silly forked tongue, the ability to spit poison and skin shedding issues. The only character who stands out next to the ass-kicking Wolverine himself is the tough, lite and wise-cracking Yukio, both dangerous and playful, who brings some much needed lightheartedness in an otherwise all too dramatic and emotionally heavy superhero film. The Wolverine is only a minor improvement over Logan's previous solo adventure X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009). Though more room is given for Logan's personal turmoil, the side characters for the most part aren't as colourful and compelling this time around, nor is the action delivered in a diverse manner to keep capturing the audience's imagination. Nevertheless, the short teaser for the next X-flick, next year's X-Men: Days of Future Past, wedged in halfway into the end credits, sure makes the levels of anticipation rise tremendously, considering what other popular characters make a comeback.

Today's News: Sentinels are coming!

Posted this tidbit of news the other day:

http://www.moviescene.nl/p/148803/sentinel_posters_x-men_days_of_future_past_online

These are some fabulous, artistically appreciative posters! Gotta love the throwback to the good ol' propaganda style of the regimes of the Thirties that proved a definite inspiration here. And why not after all? With X-Men: Days of Future Past the franchise journeys into much darker territory than it has so far on the big screen. Sure, there have been incidents of violences and mutual attempts at genocide from both man and mutant in the series at numerous turns, but nothing as bleak as the comics on occasion explored. This is the first time we see just what the X-Men are fighting for, or better yet, what they're aiming to prevent: a future where mutants are a social minority on the verge of being purged by the ruling race that deems them a threat to its own existence. Rather than getting their hands dirty themselves, mankind had delegated this glorious task to machines with awesome power not all that dissimilar from their targets, coupled with a convenient off-switch (or are they?) should problems arise in their simple programming: destroy all mutants! The notion of one race/species overthrowing another it deems inferior or threatening of course hearkens back to the saddest pages of past human history, while this film is set both in the now (of sorts) and in the future, indicating man may not have learned so much from its past. Which is of course also a sad aspect of genocide: despite the mass cullings instigated by vast propaganda machines that produced posters such as these, mankind still hasn't alwasy learned from the past and repeated such abhorrent mistakes throughout the 20th century. At least in the Marvel universe, we have superheroes like the X-Men that fight for all kinds and creeds of man to stay safe from such atrocities. Unless they too are targeted for termination: Days of Future Past will show us just what happens then...

By the way, someone inform me whether it was a conscious decision on Marvel's part to have 'Trask' be an anagram of 'Stark'? I doubt there wasn't, as Stark Industries basically turned from creating weapons for profit to producing inventions and devices for the benefit of mankind when Tony Stark donned the Iron Man suit, while Bolivar Trask - who, it appears, will be played in this film by Tyrion Lannister Peter Dinklage: quite a surprising bit of casting, as the two look nothing alike, but with such a capable actor, I'm not complaining! - and his family got ever more obsessed with mutant genocide, Sentinels being one of their results. Seems they went the opposite route. Too bad there is no Stark Industries in Fox's branch of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. But there still is that alleged connection between the X-Men and the Fantastic Four that will supposedly witness its first link crafted in this flick, so who knows just who might come to the mutants' aid in this dystopian alternate universe?

Today's News: Studios engage in Marvel Civil War

Here's a hot item of mine that just got posted on MovieScene:

http://www.moviescene.nl/p/147404/marvel_en_fox_vechten_om_quicksilver

It had to happen sooner rather than later, considering how much money studios make over superhero movies, especially the Marvel kind. Since the rights to various franchises and characters lie with various studios, a few characters would surely cause difficulty in terms of copyright, and now they have. The characters in point are none other than my favorite sibling superhumans, Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch. Starting off as mutant terrorists and enemies of the X-Men, they soon quit a life of wreaking havoc among humankind and turned towards protecting it as full members of the illustrious Avengers (which still made them enemies of the X-Men at times). So now the question is, where do they best fit in?

Of course, if they are to be done justice and stay true to their comic book origin, they are the children of Magneto first and mutants foremost. So that would mean they would best begin with appearing in the X-Men franchise, but so far, they've been completely ignored despite their father having appeared four times before, as has his Brotherhood of (Evil) Mutants. Apparently Fox saw little appeal to their presence, until Joss Whedon announced his plans to incorporate them in The Avengers 2 last month, at which point Fox catapulted them (or at least the male half of the pair) without advance notice in their latest X-travaganza, Days of Future Past. It really feels that was done solely to create further friction between Fox and Marvel/Disney, since there were no signs at all of their appearance in the movie before Whedon's announcement, nor were they featured in the original comic book story line (and neither was Magneto, but his Brotherhood at least was, run by femme fatale Mystique, who is in the film as I reported here last week). Whedon however has no plans of dropping his two beloved mutant Avenger members, nor should he, since they fit better in there, judging from their long run as Avengers in that line of comic books, which far exceeded the number of issues they served as nemeses to their fellow mutant do-gooders.

Of course, it seemed unlikely from the inception of their appearance in Whedon's next film that they would be featured as Magneto's kids, or mutants at all. That's really X-Men territory. So far there has been no word on mutants at all in the true Marvel Cinematic Universe, and maybe it's better if it stays that way, since it might become hopelessly convoluted for the general audience and so far the established MCU is extensive enough to last us a decade of movies and TV-series. Whedon will have to prove creative with these characters, which in his case I don't mind at all. I heard rumours he intends to render them Inhumans; a good solution considering they are the next best thing to mutants and they haven't been used yet, plus Quicksilver has had plenty of dealings with them considering he married one and sired a daughter with her. Plus, it would give Whedon a chance to return the favour to Fox and give them the finger, since the Inhumans have usually been used as antagonists to the Fantastic Four, a franchise still under Fox's control. If mutants are denied to the true MCU, Marvel might as well steal the Inhumans from Fox. You get some, you lose some.

My favorite solution to this whole mess? A super crossover between both studios' superheroes springs to mind, but I realize full well that's much harder to pull off on film than it is on comic book paper. So many characters played by so many stars, yet still retaining a lot of action and preferably a decent story too? Fat chance. So why not do what the comic books did: create separate universes that are so alike but leave ample room for explaining away all the inconsistencies. Fox started this whole comic book movie rage back in 2000 with X-Men, let they be the genuine Marvel-616 Universe. And let Marvel's Cinematic Universe be what in terms of feel and style it has always seemed to aspire to be, the Ultimate Marvel Universe. Comic book fans would surely appreciate such a crafty solution, though I know it would still cause confusion among regular audiences who simply are not aware of the intricacies of the Marvel Universe or the copyright issues surrounding the various Marvel movies. These are basically the same audiences who wonder when Batman will appear in The Avengers, the type of people I still have to explain why Spider-Man wasn't in the X-Men films, the folks who'll never know the difference between Captain Marvel and Captain Marvel. They don't get it anyway, all they have to do is sit back and hope for a good entertaining superhero flick. That's not so much to ask and not so hard to deliver, Cinematic Universes and superhero legal battles aside. Let the fans worry and wonder about all that nerd stuff, and just enjoy whatever the studios throw at you without pondering about crossovers and such. Marvel/Disney and Fox, all I ask is that you Make Mine Marvel. You did a pretty good job at that so far.

Today's News: Jennifer Lawrence back in blue!

A tidbit of news appeared on MovieScene today and it'is my fault:

http://www.moviescene.nl/p/147240/foto_jennifer_lawrence_in_x-men:_days_of_future_past

Good news, for various reasons. I'll quickly name the first and get over it, since it will immediately come to the minds of people who know me: I'm such a nerd sexy blue mutant women get me excited, even over ordinary girls. That's that over with. Moving on, it's nice to know Jennifer Lawrence isn't afraid to get all naked and covered in paint again - an arduous process, if we are to believe the few women who have gone through it all and survived - as she's now playing Mystique for the second time (the first was in X-Men: First Class). This time though, she's bound to have quite a bit more scenes in the (blue) buff, considering she's abandoned the X-Men and joined Magneto's Brotherhood of Mutants, thus becoming a terrorist. And who needs clothes for that if you can produce them at will? Third, it's also good to know Bryan Singer is still adhering to the X-Universe he set up with his own first two X-films, despite other directors having followed suit since. Judging from this and the other pictures released so far, Singer hasn't made any changes to the design of the characters he made us come to love a decade ago. Despite Singer's successors tampering with the time line a bit, Singer appears to stay faithful to both the fantastic original X-Men and the fabulous semi-prequel First Class. That makes for some great consistency in Fox's X-universe,which is very useful for setting up that other Marvel Cinematic Universe Fox wants to create so desperately to compete with Marvel's own Avengers. Too bad Fox's Fantastic Four won't get similar respect, but hey, it hardly deserves it as much.

If the original Mystique Rebecca Romijn's known tribulations - nine-hour make-up process, bitter cold on set - are any indication, Lawrence will be in for a rough ride, again. And she does so at free will, despite her jump to stardom caused by The Hunger Games and her recently acquired Oscar, so apparently she likes the character enough. Or it was one of those nasty contractual obligations, that would also make sense, playing Mystique at this point in her career. Maybe it was both. I like to think she likes Mystique. Who wouldn't like a naked blue woman that can alter her appearance to look like anyone dressed as anyone?!

Another reason to be excited once more over X-Men: Days of Future Past is Tyrion Lannister's Peter Dinklage's continued involvement. Especially since we still don't know who he's set to play. Us Marvel fanatics might be in for a real surprise. Or a huge letdown. But hey, it's Dinklage, so we know the performance can't be truly bad. I'm guessing he'll play Apocalypse, anyone wanna take that bet? Come on, you know this looks awesome!:

Today's News: there's a Storm coming

Look what came flying in from MovieScene:

http://www.moviescene.nl/p/146510/eerste_foto_halle_berry_in_x-men:_days_of_future_past

Other than the intriguing (and far less sexy, which is appropriate for this darker story) new outfit for Storm, what interests me most at this point is Bryan Singer's blatant readyness to communicate with the X-fans. Whereas most directors and studios try to keep the amount of officially released information rather limited so as to entice moviegoers by their lack of knowing what it's actually all about (I'm talking to you, Star Trek Into Darkness!!), Singer happily continues to tweet bits and pieces like this. Of course, no major plot points are revealed so far - not that there'll be that many of those, since X-Men: Days of Future Past is said to follow the original Uncanny X-Men story line of the same name fairly closely - and any existing cast list on sites like IMDb will tell you X-veterans the likes of Halle Berry, Shawn Ashmore and Patrick Stewart are returning to the mutated fold with a vengeance, but still, it's good to see an established director like Singer taking some of his valuable time to personally relay news goodies like this to a fanboy world that's eager to see this new X-travaganza of his. Here's to hoping we'll get a decent update on Tyrion Lannister's Peter Dinklage's character and costume soon, though I'm guessing that might prove to be just a little too big a spoiler after all.

I'm kinda digging the new outfit. Cape seems a bit small though, but hey, there must be economic crises in bleak, near Apocalyptic alternate timelines too, eh?

All quiet on the computer front, but at least we'll always have Dinklage

It's outrageous but unfortunately all too true: after two months of waiting for my PC to be returned to me, it arrived... with no Windows installed. The one thing I asked them to do they failed to perform. My trust in Dynabyte has shattered completely. Though I left my PC at the store once more so they can work on it, I'm now entirely set on buying a new one completely just to rid myself of having to get involved in further mind-boggling incompetence like this. I haven't fully decided yet whether I'm gonna go for a PC again or just switch to Apple like so many around me have done (and they seem like happier people). Time will tell, but hopefully I'll get back online within days.

In the mean time, I still get the chance every now and then of getting a scoop up at MovieScene. This week's scoop is double news around the same movie, which is once again named X-Men: Days of Future Past:

http://www.moviescene.nl/p/144601/peter_dinklage_gecast_in_x-men:_days_of_future_past_in_3d


First of all, there's little to comment on the 3D release. It was a long time coming. The X-franchise is a major one, especially now that Fox is gonna compete with Disney/Marvel with its own corner of the Marvel Universe aligning (Fantastic Four/X-Men team-ups seem inevitable for the not too distant future). And with a big name like this, the studio harbors big expectations for making money; 3D is of course a major tool for just that purpose. So the fact it will be a 3D-release is not surprising at all. However, the news that it's gonna be shot in the 3D-format is. This is still a very expensive procedure and most often studios prefer to rely on post-conversions, even though this usually spawns less impressive result and both studios and audiences know it. I guess Fox is trying to upstage The Avengers here, which was post-converted but still did extremely well at the box office. No doubt Disney/Marvel will soon turn to shooting in 3D too. No bad news (if you have any affinity for 3D at all), since it should make for a more refined and good looking 3D presentation.



And then there's Peter Dinklage, short of stature, high on acting skills. This week Bryan Singer confirmed he has been added to the cast, but his role remains a mystery. At first it was widely speculated he was gonna play Puck, a short, old friend of Wolverine's from the Canadian super hero team Alpha Flight, since he does seem most suited for that role to anybody but fools and little people themselves. This has already been debunked and probably for the best, since Puck isn't a very interesting character, which goes for most of Alpha Flight. His presence might have been a good first step towards an Alpha Flight movie, but I doubt anybody is really waiting for that to happen. That does leave the question, who's Dinky gonna play? Enter digital technology, which for one thing allowed him to voice a giant prehistoric gorilla pirate in Ice Age 4, indicating the sky is the limit. Though it has been confirmed by now Dinklage will play a villain, that still leaves us with little to go on, considering the vast numbers of X-villains of all shapes and sizes. Mr. Sinister? Nimrod? Mojo? Perhaps even Apocalypse? We just have no way of telling, since the digital age coupled with grand acting abilities like Pete's can deliver to fancifully re-create any X-baddie from the comics for the big screen... Whoever it's gonna end up being, as long as Tyrion Lannister Dinklage is on board, it seems little can go wrong (get it?). The Days of Future Past seem ever brighter. For the audience, not for muties.