X-MEN: APOCALYPSE

Twentieth-Century Fox/Marvel

Rated PG-13

Running Time: 144 Minutes

Click below to watch a trailer of X-Men: Apocalypse from YouTube.
 

In Twentieth-Century Fox/Marvel's X-Men: Apocalypse, Professor Charles Xavier/James McAvoy and his mutant students, must go up against the first mutant Apocalypse/Oscar Isaac and his Four Horseman, Storm/Alexandra Shipp, Psylocke/Olivia Munn, Angel/Ben Hardy, and Magneto/Michael Fassbender to stop Apocalypse/Isaac from literally destroying the world.

Produced, Written and Directed by Bryan Singer and based on the X-Men characters from Marvel Comics, this is the ninth film in the X-Men series and a sequel to X-Men: Days of Future Past. Mutant/god Apocalypse/Isaac, who takes other people's powers to make him even more powerful, awakens after being buried by his worshipers since the year 3600 BC. Seeing the world as it is today in 1983, and still feeling angry at being betrayed by his worshippers - Apocalypse/Isaac decides to destroy the world because they are lost, and wants to remake it with the strongest in control as he seeks out his new Four Horsemen and having them devoting themselves to him as his children.

With Apocalypse/Isaac considering himself a god, I think this is the most religious of the X-Men movies and has a lot of Old Testament themes to it. The movie definitely has a more disaster movie feel to it, instead of just an action movie. The launching of the nuclear missiles is both intimidating, and yes we've seen this in other disaster movies.  There was not enough desperation from the government for me when they had lost control of their nuclear missiles. Although with all of the world-wide destruction in the movie, you do not feel all of the death from that as the cities get destroyed. The deaths that you feel are the more intimate, one on one deaths.

Being released in 2016, with Apocalypse's first appearance in an X-Men movie, this marks Apocalypse's 30 anniversary since his first appearance in the X-Men comics (July1986).

Due to the international feel of the movie, there are subtitles for the various languages - including Egyptian and a very rudimentary Polish language.

With the new timeline, at Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, there is a younger group of the core of X-Men, basically children learning how to control their powers, with Jean Grey/Sophie Turner, Scott Summers/Tye Sheridan, Nightcrawler/Kodi Smit-McPhee, and newcomers Quicksilver/Evan Peters and Jubilee/Lana Condor - although Condor did not get to do anything with her powers, but I am looking forward to seeing them in future movies. Quicksilver's/Peters scenes I think are the most fun. Returning X-Men Raven/Jennifer Lawrence, Hank McCoy/Nicholas Hoult, and Havok/Lucas Till continue their roles - as well as returning CIA agent Moira MacTaggert/Rose Byrne, who is also the unrequited love interest of Xavier/McAvoy. McAvoy finally got to shave his head for his role as Xavier.

I think this was Michael Fassbender's best characterization of his character Magneto in the X-Men movies. It definitely gave me the feels for him and his family in this movie, which also includes his return to Auschwitz.

It was great seeing Tomas Lemarquis as Caliban, thus setting up the Morlocks in the X-Men Universe.

One of the fun things in the movie is that they showed a clip of the Star Trek episode "Who Mourns for Adonais" as one of Apocalypse/Isaac's first experiences to the modern world. I wish they would have used a better clip from that episode to make it even more fun.

Stan Lee makes his appearance in the middle of the movie, along with his wife Joanie Lee.

There is an awesome uncredited cameo in the movie.

In the beginning of the movie - at least in my theater showing - Alexandra Shipp, who plays Storm, talks about how much she enjoyed playing the role and that hundreds of people worked to put together this movie and that everyone should enjoy it. This insert seems like an appeal to all of the fanboys who have been criticizing comic book films lately.

I saw the movie in RealD 3D. Outside of a few action scenes and the opening credits, I mostly did not notice the 3D - which gave depth into the movie, instead of things coming out at you.

There is one after credits scene, which sets up new elements for the X-Men universe, including the upcoming Wolverine sequel. There was also one scene in the movie, that to me, sets up a possible Phoenix story, while Psylocke/Munn sets up the X-Force movie.

Click below to watch another movie trailer of X-Men: Apocalypse from YouTube.



Click below to watch a final movie trailer of X-Men: Apocalypse from YouTube.



Rated PG-13 for violence. Running time: 144 Minutes.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

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X-Men: Days of Future Past

Twentieth Century Fox

Rated PG-13

Running Time: 131 Minutes


Click below to watch a movie  trailer of X-Men: Days of Future Past




In Twentieth Century Fox's X-Men: Days of Future Past, the near future has most mutants, and the humans who helped them, placed in internment camps, while the rest of the mutants are hunted down and killed by mutant hunting robot Sentinels. In order to save what's left of the mutant X-Men - Professor Charles Xavier/Patrick Stewart and Magneto/Ian McKellen sends Wolverine/Hugh Jackman 50 years into the past to change history.

After traveling back into the past, Wolverine/Jackman returns home to a run-down Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters to try to convince a young broken and disheveled Xavier/James McAvoy to free and recruit Magneto/Michael Fassbender from the Pentagon and join them to stop Mystique/Jennifer Lawrence from changing history.

The movie is basically The Avengers meets Captain America: The Winter Soldier and just as political as Captain America. The seventh film in the X-Men series, and the third X-Men film Directed and Produced by Bryan Singer, X-Men: Days of Future Past is based on the X-Men story line by Chris Claremont and John Byrne in the comic book The Uncanny X-Men issues #141-142, "Days of Future Past" published in 1981. The first issue of the story line was voted in 2001 as the 25th greatest Marvel comic. It is great that Claremont was brought in as a consultant to this film.

While I have not read "Days of Future Past" since it was published in 1981, I am pretty sure the movie followed the story fairly closely with some minor changes - or major changes depending on your point of view, since in the original story it was Kitty Pryde/Sprite who went back in time. But Wolverine/Jackman is the more popular protagonist character to the audience and can be used as an ageless immortal time travel character since he does not age. Also in the comics, the key time character was Senator Robert Kelly who was the head of an anti-mutant platform. In the movie, the key time character is cyberneticist Bolivar Trask/Peter Dinklage who created the robot Sentinels, since Senator Kelly/Bruce Davison appeared in X-Men.

With Bryan Singer's casting of Dinklage as Bolivar Trask, there could have been a lot of characterization developed on Trask and to why he had created the Sentinels. As a writer, I would have asked Dinklage's opinions of why Dinklage himself would have done something like creating the Sentinels. Too bad there was hardly any characterization developed for Trask/Dinklage. A new enemy and a new weapon for this war is not enough characterization.

The X-Men from the future you never get to know at all, aside from their powers. As a fan of the X-Men, I knew who these future X-Men all were - but even then, I have not read the books since the eighty's and I do not know if these characters have been prominent in the books since then. So the general public would most likely not have any connection to these future X-Men aside from appreciating their powers - which were pretty kick ass. The movie is basically Wolverine's/Jackman's movie. In the books, the dystopian near-future was the year 2013, which was last year as of this writing in 2014. It is good to know that near-future did not come to past in this reality.

Several people from the previous X-Men movies reprise their roles, like Nicholas Hoult/Beast, with most of the people being in cameo roles. The movie includes footage from the previous X-Men movie for these characters - as well as people appearing in some surprising live-action cameos.  The new character in the movie, who was also the most fun character in the movie, was Pietro Maximoff/Evan Peters. Too bad Maximoff/Peters did not have a larger role to offset some of the heavy drama that would play out in the rest of the movie. I am looking forward to Maximoff/Peters future connection to Magneto/Fassbender. It was sad to hear from Magneto/Michael Fassbender that several characters from the X-Men movies had been killed off. It was heartbreaking to hear Magneto/Fassbender yell at Charles Xavier/James McAvoy because it was Xavier/McAvoy as the one who had abandoned those who were lost. Mystique's/Jennifer Lawrence's character is the one character in the movie who was the most tragic after all the things that had happened to her, although we never really get the reason why Mystique/Lawrence was really after Trask/Dinklage aside from the obvious. The real reason is too subtle to pick up. Halle Berry's/Storm's character presence was reduced in this film due to Barry's pregnancy.

I liked the DNA graphics that were shown during the opening credits, which stresses the idea of genetics, leading into the theme of mutants. The prototype Sentinels in the past look just like the ones of which I am familiar with from the comics, and visually look pretty cool, while the Sentinels from the future are the ones that are the most dangerous. While X-Men: First Class used historical footage of President John F. Kennedy as part of the film to help make it believable, X-Men: Days of Future Past casts actor Mark Camacho as an historical figure. Using an actor for this historical figure loses credibility to the reality of the role, especially considering everyone's perceptions of this historical figure. The international implications of mutants as well as the news coverage of the mutants added to the reality of the situation outside of this figure.

There was no Stan Lee cameo in this movie, so don't bother looking for him, like I was doing. You can concentrate on watching the movie instead and not worry about missing something important like Lee.

While the events of this movie might change the events of previous X-Men films, Singer believes in multiverses and that certain events would be part of the history of alternate universes. This will help the fans keep from being so upset that things keep changing. I know it would help keep me from being so upset. There are a lot of good stories from the alternate universes in the 50 years of X-Men history.

I saw this movie on an opening weekend matinee and the theater was pretty full. At the end of the movie, the audience applauded. While most of the audience left, those who had stayed while waiting for the closing credits scene were sitting around talking about X-Men as the end titles credits music played. The closing scene character, while different from the drawings from the comics - so much so that I did not recognize the character, suggests the story that I am looking forward to in the next X-Men film - X-Men: Apocalypse coming out in 2016. I should point out, that while the scene at the end of the credits in the movie The Wolverine teased at what was going to happen in X-Men: Days of Future Past, that scene does not appear in Days of Future Past.

Rated PG-13 for violence, language, and nudity. Running Time: 131 Minutes.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

Pancho's Movie Reviews

THE HUNGER GAMES

Lionsgate

Rated PG-13

Running time: 142 Minutes

Click below to watch The Hunger Games trailer.




In Lionsgate The Hunger Games, Katniss Everdeen, Jennifer Lawrence, is reluctantly sent from her impoverished District of a future devastated apocalyptic America, as a Tribute to the wealthy capitol city. In what is now the new country of Panem, Lawrence becomes a participant in a deadly reality TV elimination Game show - where the winner is the last person still alive.

Based on the book The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, the movie is a cross between the short story The Lottery by author Shirley Jackson, as well as Arnold Schwarzenegger's The Running Man, and the TV show Survivor. With TV host Stanley Tucci hosting the Games, the Games was more of a media extravaganza for the masses instead of a gladiator arena for the Tributes - especially with Lawrence being billed as "The Girl on Fire." The celebrity aspect of the show is in sharp contrast to the deadly killing spree in the second half of the movie as the Tributes target each other in this survival of the fittest conflict. While Lawrence's coal minor District Tributes were chosen by lottery, other Tributes in other Districts were training all their lives for the Games. The sycophants of the show do not seem to realize or care that the Games are in reality a punishment check for the rebellious war that happened to the country seventy-five years ago. They just want a good show to be entertained by, which is sad. The "Bread and Circuses" aspect of the Game comes from the latter days of the Roman Empire, where the government would keep the masses satisfied by providing violent and deadly entertainments for the people to watch. And having the nation being forced to watch the Game is rather Big Brotherish. When Lawrence volunteers herself in exchange for her sister Willow Shields when Shields gets chosen to be a Tribute to the Games, it was a heart-rending moment to witness Lawrence's sacrifice. This sacrifice is the beginning of Lawrence's journey through The Hunger Games. It also lead to Lawrence becoming a big sister to Tribute Amandla Stenberg during the Game.

Considering that this is a post-apocalyptic era amongst the ruins of North America, there seems to be a lot of technology in this era in contrast to the lack of food that the people have. Lawrence is forced to hunt animals for food - and has become very good with the bow and arrow as a result. Lawrence's use of the bow and arrow during the Game drove home the fact to me that the Game and the Tributes really are in the wilderness. It is implied that the rebellious war only occurred in America, so it is possible that the rest of the world was unaffected by the war and could contribute to the technology - but there is no reference to the rest of the world. Still, that is a lot of advanced technology involved that is able to manipulate an entire wilderness area that is being controlled by virtual computers. And the lack of food is more implied in the film rather than being graphic about it. I was expecting graphic hunger, so the implied hunger makes trivial the status of the real life homeless who are hungry. As a result, I am still not sure in the movie if people in society are really starving or if it is just a few people. Having producer Wes Bentley manipulate the games to force some killings, I thought was very unfair to the Tributes and is a form of violation of the amendment to the Communications Act of 1934 preventing anyone from fixing quiz shows. However, Bentley was being manipulated by the President, Donald Sutherland, to keep the people from having too much hope in Lawrence as the Games are a punishment and check against the various Districts to prevent future rebellions.

While former Hunger Games winner Woody Harrelson was a drunken, jaded mentor to Tribute Lawrence and to fellow Tribute Josh Hutcherson, it was nice to see Harrelson grow to be a true mentor and trainer to Lawrence and Hutcherson - especially to Lawrence.

While I generally liked the movie, this is also a long movie though. I felt it was taking too long to actually get to the Game once Lawrence and Hutcherson were chosen to be Tributes - and the Game was what I wanted to see when I went to see the movie in the first place. The Game was actually dramatically exciting with the Game set in the wilderness and the Tributes hunting each other, but the movie had spent quite of bit of time on the celebrity aspect, and training, of the Game before they actually got into the Game. Because of the Tributes killing each other off, you never get to know most of them as they get killed off too soon. I just barely remember a couple of their faces before they were killed off. Having a boy and a girl from each District being chosen as Tributes is rather sad, especially for Lawrence and Hutcherson, knowing that they would eventually have to kill each other in the end - which would prevent any type of friendship and alliance normally. The scene in the movie that got to me the most was the genetically enhanced wasps. I was imagining if I was thrown into that situation - suddenly attacked by wasps. Arghhh!

At the end of the movie, the people behind me were talking about the books. Since the book is part of a trilogy, Lionsgate said that the rest of the The Hunger Games The Hunger Games. From the opening box office, I expect they would be working on the next movie Catching Fire right now.

Rated PG-13 for violence. Running time: 142 Minutes.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

Pancho's Movie Reviews

X-MEN: FIRST CLASS

20th Century Fox

Rated PG-13

Running time: 132 minutes


In 20th Century Fox and Marvel Entertainment's X-MEN: FIRST CLASS, you see the origins of Charles Xavier, James McAvoy, and Erik Lehnsherr/Magneto Michael Fassbender as they form a team of mutants - humans born with an evolutionary X-gene allowing them to develop unusual abilities - to prevent evil mutant Sebastian Shaw, Kevin Bacon from creating the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962 and thus starting a Nuclear War.

This prequel to the X-MEN series is a better origin story then even the original X-MEN. This is not a children's film, even if there are mutant teenagers in the film, but a mature adult film. You get into the backgrounds of the characters, some of which are the ancestors of future mutants - and the reason why some mutants, who were originally good, decide to join the evil Brotherhood of Mutants due to their need of a surrogate family abused and persecuted in the same way they have. As Xavier and Magneto, McAvoy and Fassbender were originally friends - but their ideologies drifted them apart, such as Jewish Fassbender's vengeful search for Bacon for manipulating Fassbender's genetic ability after surviving the Holocaust - until McAvoy and Fassbender finally wind up on opposite sides of mutants evolutionary place in the world. The film deals with the mutants problem of acceptance, not only from the "normal" society of humans - but also from themselves. Some mutants are even more mutant than others. This causes a deep great feeling of abnormalcy in the mutants and they would do anything to become "normal." As Raven/Mystique Jennifer Lawrence says "Mutant - and proud of it!"

The film is also very political dealing with both the Holocaust and the Cuban Missile Crisis in the film, and with breaking news stock footage of President John F. Kennedy adding a sense of realism to the story. The international feeling with German, Russian and other languages, languages that become sub-titled in the movie, makes the story more worldly than just a setting at home in Washington D.C. or New York. This is similar in feeling to the Bond films.

While the movie adds some mutant characters that I do not recall from the X-MEN comic books, they add to the film, even if we really do not get to know them. Moira MacTaggert's, Rose Byrne, origin is different from the comic books since she is now a CIA agent investigating the Hellfire Club and mutant connection, but it explains the relationship she has with McAvoy. Oliver Platt's talent was pretty much wasted as the CIA Man in Black in charge of putting together the Mutant Project, as he had very little to do and was made the butt of jokes, but he was responsible for engineering Cerebro - the mutant locator. Watching trained mutants fight is amazing to see as they kick ass with their powers. The X-Men flying the SR-71 Blackbird was pretty cool. The Hellfire Club was great to see, but after it's initial introduction, you do not see it much anymore except for Bacon's few mutants - like the White Queen Emma Frost, January Jones. This is a shame as the Hellfire Club is a high profile political and business club. I would like to see more mutant political maneuvering from the Hellfire Club in future movies.

The uncredited cameo of Hugh Jackman was priceless.

Rated PG-13 for violence, language, and sexual situations. Running time: 132 minutes

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

Pancho's Movie Reviews