#53: X-MEN: FIRST CLASS

 

STARRING: James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Rose Byrne, Jennifer Lawrence, January Jones, Oliver Platt and Kevin Bacon. Screenplay by Ashley Edward Miller, Zack Stentz, Jane Goldman and Matthew Vaughn. Directed by Matthew Vaughn. Budget $160 million, boxoffice gross: $353 million. Running time 132 minutes. Originally released in 2011.

Thank god Hollywood aren't producing as many films as they used to so that cinemas have to reissue old films, this month Cineworld are doing both the X-Men and the Batman trilogy as part of the Nolan retrospective they're running. 

After the awfulness of 2006's X-Men: Last Stand and X-Men Origins: Wolverine in 2009 the future wasn't looking rosy for the X-Men, that was until Matthew Vaughn stepped in to replace Bryan Singer, rewrote the script with Jane Goldman and showed the world the X-Men had more to offer.

Set in the swinging 60s and showing the origin of the first X-Men as well as Magneto (Michael Fassbender) and Professor X (James McAvoy) and Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) this is an absolute delight, Kevin Bacon as Sebastian Shaw is a fantastic villain. Using the Cuban missile crisis as its backdrop this as a deeply impressively mounted action romp, with a likeable cast of loveable characters and a deeply satisfying climax. Good effects, and with a surprising amount of raunch which was much appreciated.

Gloriously good fun!

8/10



 

#52: WEAPONS

STARRING: Josh brolin, Julia Garner, Alden Ehrenreich, Austin Abrams, Cary Christopher, Benedict Wong and Amy Madigan. Written, produced and directed by Zach Cregger. Budget $38 million. Running time 128 minutes.

When a classroom's worth of children, save one, Alex Lilly (Cary Christopher) all get out of bed at 2.17am in the morning and run off into the night never to be seen again, suspicion falls on their teacher Justine Gandy (Julia Garner) and the parents of the missing kids all turn on her. 

And that's all I'm going to tell you about the plot. The film unfurls its story through six different character's perspective, the surviving child Alex, his teacher Justine, her ex boyfriend Alden (Paul Morgan), her boss headmaster Marcus Miller (Benedict Wong), a young drug addict called James (Austin Abrams), and the father of one of the missing children Archer Graff (Josh Brolin).

Telling the story from six different character's perspective is an excellent conceit and works brilliantly, building the plot with each tale. You'll try to second guess the story, but you'll do it without success, the film leads you along but each time rips the rug from under you, creating a deeply unsettling and scary experience. The film is filled with jump scares and some genuinely frightening imagery, it's also got some extremely gory sequences that had the audience I saw this with shrieking in response. The direction from Cregger is very assured and he is shaping up to be a deeply original horror director. The music also works perfectly creating an atmosphere of clawing naked dread.  

However, a film like this only works if it nails its landing and it's a delight to report that this does it with absolute precision and you will not be disappointed. 

It think this was one of the most original and chilling horror films I've seen in a very long time and I bloody loved it! And for once, I didn't groan or laugh at some ludicrous plot hole.

Drop whatever you're doing and go and see this now, before someone spoils it for you.

9/10

 

#51: X-MEN

 

STARRING: Patrick Stewart, Hugh Jackman, Ian McKellen, Halle Berry, Famke Janssen, James Marsden, Bruce Davidon, Rebecca Romijn-Stamos, Ray Park and Anna Paquin. Screenplay by David Hayter from a story by Tom DeSanto and Bryan Singer, based on x-Men by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. Directed by Bryan Singer. Budget $75 million. Box office $296.3 million. Running time 104 minutes. Origianlly released in 2000.

Was amazed to realise that this is 25 years old, how is that possible I mused until I realised that my daughter was born the previous year and she's 26. This glorious movie predated the MCU first effort, Iron Man by 8 years, which amazed me even more. 

What an absolute treat it was to see this up on the big screen, I don't think I've seen it that way since it was first released. It has a great cast, a confident script and a great look. The way the source material is handled is respectful, as is the way the characters are introduced, no more so than the introduction of Wolverine (Hugh Jackman), who simply owns the screen everytime he's on it. The actors all bring a splendid sense of believability to their characters and the effects, which for the most part seem very practical enhance the experience even more. It honours the comics it's based on, and it looks as if every penny of its budget is on display.

It's not perfect, the final third act showdown between the X-Men and the Brotherhood of Mutants looks and feels cheap, but the build up is glorious. This is a film with a story to tell, and not a message to sell and I doubt we'd have seen the MCU if this hadn't been successful. Obviously it created an initial triology, of which the least said about the third, Last Stand the better! It's a terrible film, but not as terrible as the franchise of mutant themed movies it spawned. 

With a great beginning, a solid middle and a disappointing ending this was a excellent and exciting evening and well worth rewatching. 

8/10

#50: THE NAKED GUN

STARRING: Liam Neeson, Pamela Anderson, Paul Walter Hauser, Kevin Durand & Danny Huston. Written by Dan Gregor, Doug Mand and Akiva Schaffer. Directed by Akiva Schaffer. Produced by Seth MacFarlane and Erica Huggins. Budget $42 million. Running time 85 minutes. 

The film opens with a bank robbery in progress where an item called 'P.L.O.T. DEVICE' is stolen from a vault box by Kevin Durand's Sig Gustafson, henchman to Richard Cane (Danny Huston). Soon after a wrecked car turns up with a dead body and Lt Frank Drebin Jnr (Liam Neeson) is assigned both cases. When Beth Davenport (Pamela Anderson), the sister of the dead body in the car turns up widowed Drebin is drawn into a passionate romance that intertwines with a sinister conspiracy involving Richard Cane which might just end up causing the end of the world.

The stakes, both literally and literally, have never been higher for a Naked Gun movie, and this new one, a 'legacy sequel' to 1994's Naked Gun 33 1/3 starring the last, great Leslie Neilson as Lt. Frank Drebin is a daring effort. Will this film resonate with the youth of today who, it seems, find comedies where farting is funny problematic and where jokes about sex with dogs are considered tasteless?

Packed to the gill with jokes both verbal and visual, the film never lets up and the sense of utter stupidity and silliness is so thick you could cut it with a knife. No stupid pun or smutty joke is left unturned or said and the success rate, oddly enough is rather high. I laughed out loud many times and Liam shows off some powerful comedy chops. Similarly, proving she's also a game gal is Pamela Anderson who has some great comedic timing, and in one scene alone, the superb jazz club she dazzles singing a staggering ridiculous song. And Danny Huston is an utter delight, his villainous Cane is brilliant, his climactic fight with Drebin is worth the admission price alone. There's also an excellent back and forth about the Black Eyed Peas which had me almost weeping with laughter. 

This film is the very definition of 'it isn't big and it isn't clever', and it's a delight because of it. There's an over abundance of innuendo gags, which delighted me immensely, and it's been so long since any so called comedy produced by Hollywood has been this cravenly and openly childish and I laughed myself horse. There are two standout jokes which I'm still laughing about the first when Drebin says to Beth as she gazes out of the window over hollywood, "UCLA?" to which she replies, "Yes, Frank everyday, I live there." and the second was how he described her bottom in a voice over. For once this film wasn't ruined by the trailer. Everybody seemed wildly game. 

All that said, it's not perfect, even with a running time of just 85 minutes the second half dragged and there's a sequence with an owl that goes on way too long. And oddly enough some of it seems too police procedural at times. This is also one of those films that defies critical appreciation. So I reviewed it from the point of vierw that it made me laugh. A lot. But mostly because it's just so goddam silly and deeply childish. 

In fact I haven't laughed this much since Jackass IV. 

7/10