With the comic book universe expanding and Deadpool exploding in cinemas I wanted to go back and look at the third films of three early Marvel trilogies. The three films are X-Men: the Last Stand, Blade: Trinity and Spider-Man 3. They made over a $1,000,000,000 worldwide yet are perceived as creative failures that forced reboots and prequels in order to right the crazy course they set. While many have disdain for the three films I actually love how carefree and careless they are. It’s like they took everything that everyone loved from the prior films and walked all over them.
The three films went off the rails for three different reasons. Whether it be last minute director changes, or studio meddling, the quality plummeted to some pretty great depths. If you look at the averaged Rotten Tomatoes critical ratings for the three trilogies the first films started strong (74.6), the sequels got better (78.6), and the third films went totally bonkers (48.6).
X-Men: The Last Stand was left in a limbo when both Bryan Singer and Mathew Vaughn departed for other jobs. This left the new director Brett Ratner a month to prep for the juggernaut. Ratner succeeded in making a cohesive movie, but it totally screwed up the X-Men universe and left people very confused and annoyed. The movie made over $200 million domestically, but is now completely ignored and considered a non-cannon X-Men film.
The Last Stand focuses on Magneto trying to kill a mutant who can rid mutants of their powers. I stopped caring about 10-minutes in when the film unceremoniously killed off Cyclops and turned Mystique human.
I know exactly what Marsden is saying to Famke in this picture.
James: I got a role in Singer’s Superman. Come with me!!!
Famke: I can’t. I have to stand around for three months.
The biggest problem (aside from everything else) with The Last Stand is the massive fight at Alcatraz. The brawl is the conclusion to a blockbuster franchise and is amazingly dumb. The fight proves how little thought went into the film because it makes zero sense. It involves Magneto’s folks attacking Alcatraz while the X-Men defend. While watching I thought “why doesn’t Magneto just throw huge metal objects at the island and call it a day?”
Pick up the bridge and drop it on the island. Problem solved.
The battle features some hilarious scenes of badness that forget to include logic. For instance, A man’s limbs keep growing back after wolverine cuts them off. Thus, Wolverine kicks him in the balls (classic….) and the dumb fight is over. Did the man think he could defeat a metal bodied Mutant by punching him in the face? Did he not have a scouting report before the battle? Also, there is a scene where Wolverine is being hunted by a man holding a baseball bat. Is he the Sammy Sosa of mutants? The film cost over $100 million to make yet it still featured a mutant holding a baseball bat.
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X-Men: The Last Stand is now looked at as a hindrance to the X-Men world because of all the craziness involved. The movie took zero thought towards the future and didn’t think anything out. Major characters were killed and others were shortchanged. It was the product of a rushed production schedule and too many cooks in the kitchen. X-Men: The Last Stand imploded under too much pressure whereas Spider-Man 3 self-detonated.
Spider-Man 3 is a weird mash-up of singing, dancing and villains who are in no way related to each other. Sam Raimi seemed to have no interest in Venom so he wrote him in as a goo alien that lands on earth then hops a ride on Peter Parker’s moped. The goo waits a couple of days in Peter’s apartment then latches itself to Spidey’s suit. In that time, we have to deal with Mary Jane’s failed Broadway career, James Franco dying twice and enough skyscraper rubble to kill thousands of people.
In an interview with The Nerdist Sam Raimi had this to say about the film:
It’s a movie that just didn’t work very well. I tried to make it work, but I didn’t really believe in all the characters, so that couldn’t be hidden from people who loved Spider-Man. If the director doesn’t love something, it’s wrong of them to make it when so many other people love it.
The disdain for Venom was apparent and the character never had a chance to become anything threatening. It actually became “anti-threatening” because Raimi made it seem like the goo simply made you a jerk. Spider-Man 3 takes an interesting plot turn when the goo latches onto Spider Man and he devolves into an emo dancing guy. Basically, he becomes an super jerk who struts around giving everyone finger guns (which is awesome). He buys a super cheap suit then dances the night away while saucily eating cookies. While many were cringing I had a smile on my face because it was all so crazy. Spider-Man 3 is massive film that doesn’t give a shit.
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For instance, casting Thomas Haden Church after his wonderful turn in Sideways and giving him nothing to do. He escapes from jail and ends up in a conveniently switched on particle accelerator (something like that). The machine turns him into Sandman (very quickly) and Church then goes to New York and finds convenient sand trucks which triple his size and create subpar CGI. The rest is bad movie history and it made room for some spin-offs that made a lot of money but ultimately failed.
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X-Men: The Last Stand never had a chance but Spider-Man 3 sorta gave up However, they both pale in comparison to the extremely weird Blade: Trinity.
Blade: Trinity is the rare daywalker of bad movies. It is gloriously terrible yet very watchable. The majority of it makes zero sense but there is something hypnotic about it. The production was troubled from the beginning and everything was changed at the last minute which infuriated Wesley Snipes and made the production a living hell. Despite all the problems I adore the movie because it is really dumb, and loaded with good actors doing what they can to make it work.
The two prior Blade films did a wonderful job of building up Wesley Snipe’s Blade character. They were ultra-violet, somewhat serious and featured some logic. They opened the door for R-rated comic book mayhem, and featured this great line.
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However, all the world building was thrown out the window with the inclusion of the Night Stalkers and a deep v-neck wearing Dracula. Blade: Trinity revolves around yuppie vampires awakening Dracula, and Blade teaming up with a crew to stop them. Director/writer David S. Goyer went through hell on the shoot and his relationship with Wesley Snipes was vitriolic. In an interview with HitFix Goyer had this to say about the shoot:
“That was the most personally and professionally difficult and painful thing I’ve ever been through. Having said that, I have incredibly fond memories of working with Ryan [Reynolds] and Jessica [Biel] and a lot of people on the movie. Ryan and I remain really good friends today. It was a challenged shoot, as has been reported. What can I say?”
Patton Oswalt did a wonderful interview with the A.V. Club where he talked about what the film was originally about.
Oh, Christ. That was the third Blade movie. And there’s a scene where Blade goes in and confronts this guy for harvesting humans. That scene was supposed to be the whole basis of the film. Blade is fighting for the last shred of humanity. But they thought that it was just so fucking grim, so they decided to just have Blade fighting Dracula. It was just one of those; it was a very troubled production.
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The reason I love Blade: Trinity is because of Parker Posey. Posey is transcendent (hair included) in Blade Trinity. She owns the role of a yuppie vampire and is way better than she has any right to be. Roger Ebert summed up her performance perfectly.
“Parker Posey is an actress I have always had affection for, and now it is mixed with increased admiration, for the way she soldiers through an impossible role, sneering like the good sport she is.”
Posey soldiers on through a soul crushing script and copious amounts of slow motion walking. Without her we never would have seen this kick (10 second mark) or heard the insult “c*ck juggling thunder c**t.” While watching, I felt she was on another level of performance. She realized the production had it’s troubles (read this article) and went full vamp. Her committed performance is one of the reasons Blade: Trinity has become a watchable bad movie staple
The three movies I’ve written about are not good. They border on insane film making and I love them for it. It’s not everyday that this weirdness comes about, so, I’ve learned to appreciate the bombs and roll with them. I will leave you with this.
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John’s Horror Corner: REC 4: Apocalypse (2014), a shipwrecked disappointment for this Spanish zombie franchise.
MY CALL: The claustrophobia of the first two films is rendered limp on this ship, the spirit of fun embraced in part 3 (which many disliked) is also missing, and I wasn’t rooting for anyone for the first time in the franchise. Essentially this fourth film has nothing that anyone liked from the earlier films. It isn’t really so bad as a random horror flick. It’s certainly well-acted, has decent special effects and production value, and it made for a breezy entertaining 90 minutes. MORE MOVIES LIKE REC 4: Apocalypse: REC (2007), REC 2 (2009), REC 3: Genesis (2012) and Quarantine (2008)–all of which are MUCH better.
Our final girl heroine spends pretty much the whole movie in a tank top. We have an article that focuses on this phenomenon: The Tank Top Horror Film: A Horror Tradition.
Spanish TV reporter Ángela Vidal (Manuela Velasco; REC) is rescued [picking up from the end of the second REC film] and sequestered for precautionary testing aboard a mobile laboratory on an ocean vessel. Finding herself in restraints, she doesn’t exactly feel “rescued” or safe, nor does she trust her new host.
This fourth franchise installment frees us from our most effectively isolated landlocked apartment building zombie siege and infected flesh-eating wedding to quarantine us on a ship. With no rescue boats and disabled radio communication, it seems that our militarized team of scientists have not only succeeded at finally isolating the virus behind the zombie epidemic, but also at sealing their own fate should operations go less than smoothly.
We have plenty of time to get to know our characters but I think we barely sufficiently give a damn about most of them, not nearly as much as with REC 1-3. Parts 1-3 not only laid solid foundation for personable characters, but did so while the urgency level slowly ebbed from completely innocuous happy environments to utter dire terror. Here in part 4 we are dropped into troubled waters immediately and neither we nor our main characters have their guard down for even a moment…not even for a 20-minute introduction during which we’d like for someone to think there was hope. As such, there is no hope that we’ll care what happens to these people and subsequently no hope that we the audience will feel the threat of “Apocalypse” as the title suggests.
Rather than being well-intentioned, altruistic or optimistic, our scientist-commander is viciously pragmatic and his coldness borders on villainy. This operation is tyrannical by his design and, spoiler alert, all his security provisions will fail. Cue the evil zombie monkeys!!! You heard me: zombie monkeys. Zombie animals alone don’t harm the legitimacy of a horror movie, but the way they are handled here does. They start out cool, then they go overboard.
Shipmates get infected, the gore and zombie effects are pretty good, and the action is high-paced. I’m entertained. The only problem is that I don’t really care. I’m far less invested in the characters and even though this is not a found footage film, the camera relentlessly shakes during zombie attack scenes (as if the Starship Enterprise got hit by a Klingon photon canon–you know that shake). But the camera is admittedly less shaky than the preposterous story of a ship laboratory that willingly sets its course into a dangerous storm…and they never explain why. This sequel bit off more than it could chew, feels way less credible than parts 1-3, and fell off the deep end into ScyFy channel movie-of-the-week quality.
The most interesting thing about the story is perhaps the very thing most people will find annoying. In REC 3: Genesis (2012), we were introduced to the notion that this zombie virus had a Biblical origin: demons! This movie builds on that idea and may or may not have borrowed some flavor from The Hidden (1987) and Guillermo del Toro’s parasitic worm zombies in The Strain. This development takes things in a zany direction that provides a solid disservice to its three predecessors.
This movie isn’t really bad as a random horror flick. It’s certainly well-acted, has decent special effects and production value, and it made for a breezy entertaining 90 minutes. So I’ll give this a weak to moderate recommendation. Fans of the franchise should see it (although I think it offers the least of the four films and will likely disappoint to some extent), zombie fans maybe, and general horror fans could skip it.
To writer/director Jaume Balagueró (Darkness, REC, REC 2), I must ask: “What happened?” The claustrophobia of the first two films is rendered limp on this ship (more a writing/direction flaw than the setting itself), the spirit of fun embraced in part 3 (which most people disliked for its deliberate drop in intensity) is also missing, and I wasn’t rooting for anyone for the first time in the franchise. Essentially this fourth film has nothing that anyone liked from the earlier films and brought nothing new to the table.
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2016 Oscar Predictions: The 100% Correct Picks
Hello all. Mark here.
The most important weekend of the year is coming up (not really) and I wanted to throw my predictions into the ring. As always, the Academy Award nominations have annoyed many because they’ve excluded a lot of solid performances and ignored the mass populace. However, the show must go on and I once again wanted to prove my prowess at picking the majority of the categories correctly (thank you Gold Derby).
Without further ado here are my predictions!
Best Picture
Will win: The Revenant
Should win: Mad Max: Fury Road
Deserved a nomination: Sicario, Love & Mercy, Straight Outta Compton, Ex-Machina
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Best Director
Will win: Alejandro Gonzalez Inarrritu – The Revenant
Should win: George Miller – Mad Max: Fury Road
Deserved a nomination: Steven Speilberg – Bridge of Spies, Ridley Scott – The Martian
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Best Actor
Will win: Leonardo DiCaprio – The Revenant
Should win: Matt Damon – The Martian
Deserved a nomination: Michael B. Jordan – Creed, Tom Hanks – Bridge of Spies, Jason Segel – The End of the Tour, Samuel L. Jackson – The Hateful Eight
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Best Actress
Will win: Brie Larson – Room
Should win: Saoirse Ronan – Brooklyn
Deserved a nomination: Emily Blunt – Sicario, Charlize Theron – Mad Max: Fury Road, Elizabeth Banks – Love & Mercy
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Best Supporting Actress
Will win: Alicia Vikander – The Danish Girl
Should win: Alicia Vikander – The Danish Girl
Deserved a nomination: Alicia Vikander – Ex-Machina
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Best Supporting Actor
Will win: Sylvester Stallone – Creed
Should win: Mark Rylance – Bridge of Spies
Deserved a nomination: Paul Dano – Love & Mercy, Idris Elba – Beasts of No Nation, Benecio Del Toro – Sicario, Richard Jenkins – Bone Tomahawk
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Best Original Screenplay
Will win: Spotlight
Should win: Ex-Machina
Deserved a nomination: S. Craig Zahler – Bone Tomahawk, Quentin Tarantino – The Hateful Eight.
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Best Adapted Screenplay
Will win: The Big Short
Should win: The Martian
Deserved a nomination: Jesse Andrews – Me and Earl and the Dying Girl,
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Best Cinematography
Will win: Emmanuel Lubezki – The Revenant
Should win: Roger Deakins – Sicario
Deserved a nomination: Hoyte van Hoytema – Spectre
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The Rest of the Winners!
Best Costume Design – Cinderella
Best Film Editing – Mad Max: Fury Road
Best Makeup and Hair – Mad Max: Fury Road
Best Production Design – Mad Max: Fury Road
Best Score – The Hateful Eight
Best Song – Til It Happens to You – The Hunting Ground
Best Sound Editing – Mad Max: Fury Road
Best Sound Mixing – Mad Max: Fury Road
Best Visual Effects – Mad Max: Fury Road
Best Animated Feature – Inside Out
Best Documentary Feature- Amy
Best Foreign Language Feature – Son of Saul
Best Animated Short – Sanjay’s Super Team
Best Documentary Short – Body Team 12
Best Live Action Short – Ave Maria
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The Top Six Fur Coats of 2015
2015 was a banner year for fur coats. The Revenant, Slow West, Carol and The Hateful Eight boasted an impressive collection of fur coats that were practical and fabulous. I understand the backlash against the coats, but, in these films they seem acceptable because of the time and place they were worn. These coats are basically extensions of the characters and in several cases they prevented them from dying. So, without further ado here are the top six fur coats of 2015!
6. Chewbacca – Star Wars: The Force Awakens
This one is a stretch but Chewbacca sure does wear his fur coat well. His fur seems practical and doesn’t get in the way. Also, it looks nice and conditioned, which is interesting because we never see him cleaning or shampooing his mane.
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5. Jonathan Brugh – What We Do in the Shadows
Brugh’s character Deacon looks like an arena rocker in the fur coat and I really want to know when and where he got it. You need to watch What We Do in the Shadows.
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4. Kurt Russell – The Hateful Eight
Sometimes I wonder if the fur coat grew out of Russell’s mustache. The fur coat would engulf any other man but when on Kurt Russell’s broad shoulders it fits perfectly. The fur coat was a practical item of clothing and it seems to have many stories. Kurt Russell normally rocks a great sleeveless t-shirt but I hope his new thing is the fur coat.
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3. Leonardo DiCaprio – The Revenant
DiCaprio would’ve surely died if it wasn’t for the coat. If you’ve watched The Revenant you know that DiCaprio was basically nature’s punching bag for two hours. However, with the help of the wonder coat he survived and found redemption.
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2. Cate Blanchett – Carol
Cate Blanchett looks fantastic in her Carol fur coat. This coat has been the focal point of the advertising and the picture below proves why. The costume designer Sandy Powell recently did an interview with The Hollywood Reporter and she broke down the importance of the fur coat. A lot of work went into making Blanchett look fabulous.
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The Winner: Ben Mendelsohn – Slow West
I have a feeling that this fur coat just grew around Mendelsohn one day. He went to sleep and woke up with a beautiful and warm coat around him. Mendelsohn loved the coat so much he wore it to Sundance and looked awesome! Definitely check out Slow West.
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John’s Horror Corner: Late Phases (2014), throwing tropes out the window to deliver a fresh indie werewolf movie with a blind elderly antihero.
MY CALL: If you enjoy werewolf movies or off-the-beaten path indie horror films, I’d say you should give this film a shot. Steering clear of standard trope fare, it’s not particularly gory nor scary. But it has something I struggle to put into words for which it deserves a lot of credit.
MORE MOVIES LIKE Late Phases: The best werewolf movies would have to be An American Werewolf in London (1981; semi-humorous), Ginger Snaps (2000; metaphoric), Dog Soldiers (2002; unconventional) and The Howling (1981; serious). If you want another utterly ridiculous werewolf movie, then move on to Howling II: Your Sister is a Werewolf (1985) and Howling 3: The Marsupials (1987). Skip Ginger Snaps Back: The Beginning (2004), Howling IV: The Original Nightmare (1988), Howling V: The Rebirth (1989), Howling VI: The Freaks (1991) and The Howling: Reborn (2011). Cursed (2005; cliché-loaded and contemporary), Ginger Snaps 2: Unleashed (2004), Wolf (1994), Wer (2013), The Wolfman (2010), Wolfcop (2014) and An American Werewolf in Paris (1997) are also worth a watch.
Meet Ambrose (Nick Damici; We Are What We Are, The Sacrament), a blind Vietnam veteran transitioning into a retirement community to enjoy the late phases of his life after the recent death of his wife. But Ambrose didn’t seem to get the memo about “enjoying” himself. He’s grumpy, brusque, and stand-offish to the baked goods-toting welcome committee and even a bit coarse with his own son.
The first reluctant night in his new home is overcast by a full moon, an animal’s claw embedded in his wall, the death of his kind neighbor and the slaughter of his seeing-eye dog. Obsessed with discovering the assailant’s true nature, the seed of suspicion is planted.
I’ve gotta’ be honest here. The cast offers all levels of performances from good, to maybe decent, to stale–thankfully the more talented actors seem to get the most screen time. Oh, and I enjoyed seeing Ethan Embry (The Guest, Cheap Thrills) in this, even though his role was sort of weak. No performances are outstanding, but despite that this film seems to work quite well. And not because this is some “so bad it’s good” B-movie. No, that’s not what this is at all. This is a decent film that has something to show us in, thankfully, a manner that isn’t so familiar.
Directed by Adrián García Bogliano (B is for Bigfoot – The ABCs of Death) and written by Eric Stolze (Under the Bed), this film is far from amazing but it’s nothing to scoff at either. This horror movie succeeds on its own merits without the overplayed tropes of the gratuitous breast, the final girl or the intoxicated sexually active teenager. Violating all expectations, we watch as an elderly man plays our antihero. He discovers a supernatural threat, trains by swinging his shovel like a sensei, and procures silver bullets in preparation for the next full moon. Worthy of a few giggles, Ambrose shoots with stunning accuracy considering his impediment and the werewolf action scenes are sloppy, but I don’t think I cared. Coming in with low expectations, I ended up really liking this film.
I enjoyed the different approach to the hero, the unique retirement community setting, and the deviation from some standard tropes. But do you know what I loved most about this film? The practical effects. The transformation scene may not have been top-dollar, but it was cool and smacked of Hemlock Grove (2013-2016), The Howling (1981), Wolfcop (2014; transformation scene) and In the Company of Wolves (1984). The werewolf itself had a sleek look of its own, too. And once we start seeing it, we see a lot of it! VERY pleased with the practical effects.
If you enjoy werewolf movies or off-the-beaten path indie horror films, I’d say you should give this film a shot. It’s not super gory (except for one scene) and not really scary either, but it has something I struggle to put into words for which it deserves a lot of credit. Again, it’s just…different.
If you’re not convinced and want a second opinion, read this: Late Phases: The Old Man and the Werewolf.
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The MFF Podcast #47: Let’s Grab a Beer and Hunt Some Bigfoot Trolls
Hello all. Mark here.
You can stream the pod on Blog Talk Radio or download it from Itunes. If you get a chance please rate the review the pod. You are awesome!
The MFF podcast is back and we are talking 21st century creatures features! I recently wrote a post about fantastic creature features and the internet actually loved it! The list was really popular and we wanted to spread the love to the podcast. In this pod you will hear about Grabbers, Trollhunter and Willow Creek!
Greatest alien flick ever.
As always we answer random questions and ponder why zombies aren’t bothered by flies. Sit back, relax and listen to a whole lot of creature randomness.
You can stream the pod on Blog Talk Radio or download it from Itunes. If you get a chance please rate the review the pod.
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Turbo Kid (2015), a weird, gory, goofy, quirky, post-apocalyptic wasteland B-action movie.
MY CALL: Just watch the trailer. If you really need to ask if this movie is for you, it probably isn’t. MORE MOVIES LIKE Turbo Kid: Kung Fury (2015), Manborg (2011), The ABCs of Death 2 (2014; W is for Wish), and various Tokyo Shock movies.
From the start, this movie is clearly an ultra-low budget flick that doesn’t seem overly concerned with acting quality. In fact, Michael Ironside (Extraterrestrial, Total Recall) gives perhaps his most ridiculously hammed up performance I’ve ever seen as some sort of evil tyrant in this post-apocalyptic Mad Max wasteland. Not one second of this film takes itself seriously and thank God for that. It’s part 80s action B-movie and part 80s videogame in theme and score, embracing its lunacy and running with scissors at top speed.
The Kid (Munro Chambers; Godsend) is a quirky young scavenger scouring the wastelands for trinkets to entertain himself and goods to trade for survival resources. He meets a bright-eyed, awkwardly idiosyncratic and perhaps mentally challenged girl named Apple (Laurence Leboeuf) who takes an instant liking to him…with a dash of stage-5 clinger craziness and equal parts adorable naiveté.
This attack legit kills someone…just saying.
This movie taught me a few things. For example, duct taping a lawn gnome to a baseball bat creates a dangerous weapon called a gnomestick. I also learned that the best way to settle a post-apocalyptic dispute is by arm-wrestling over hot toasters. Oh, and be wary of evil robots!
The adventure takes hold when The Kid finds Turbo Rider dead and dons his armor and turbo blaster power glove, which hilariously turns its target into explosions of gooey mess.
Written and directed by newcomers Yoann-Karl Whissell, Anouk Whissell and François Simard, this film feels rather innocuous until the gore graces the screen. Dismemberment accompanied by spewing red corn syrup and abundant gore-slathered chunky gushings beg us for forgiveness for the sinfully non-existent budget. And you know what? It works. I like watching torsos get quartered, blood geyser eruptions and bicycle-drawn disembowelment.
The connections to Fury Road‘s (2015) water tyrant and Soylent Green (1973) were well-intended, but didn’t fit my fancy nearly as much as the 80-90s videogame references to Zelda and the Nintendo PowerGlove. And despite its utter nonsense–best characterized by liquefying people and low-speed BMX chases–I “think” I enjoyed this. The combat violence was tedious at best (probably meant to be funny–but not so much for me), but I found it salvaged by the ridiculous gore.
There’s a pretty vast array of stupid-themed bad guys, saw blades and projectile buzz saws.
I find myself questioning the genre of this movie. It’s ultra-gory nature has made it an instant favorite to horror gorehounds, but it’s more of a campy action B-movie. I guess it doesn’t really matter, does it? It’s zany and bloody and funny, and that does it for me. If you enjoy pure cinematic lunacy, then this is probably for you, too. I will see that among movies like this, this is more on the forgettable side and I definitely have no desire to ever see it again. But I might be interested to see what these filmmakers do next, preferably with a bigger budget.
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The word “Olympian” and Michael Edwards don’t really go together. Michael Edwards grew up a as blue-collar kid with bad knees who defied every law of nature. He was told he should consider taking up reading over physical activities and was never allowed to prove himself when it came to sports. However, his determination lead him to becoming an elite downhill skier who could somewhat compete with his more pedigreed peers. When he realized he could no longer afford to be a downhill skier he took up ski jumping.
Nothing he did was pretty but the guy kept plugging along until his Olympic dream was realized. It is a true testament to never quitting and Eddie the Eagle deserved his time in the spotlight. He may have placed last in the 1988 Calgary Olympics but he left a first class legacy.
Director Dexter Fletcher calls the film a “fictionalized version of a true story” but the charm is all there. I enjoyed every second of the action and appreciated watching an uplifting story that featured all in performances. Eddie the Eagle is pretense free and simply wants to entertain. There is something refreshing about a small scale story about a dorky kid becoming an Olympian. If you can roll with the earnest story and quirky performances I guarantee you will leave the theater with a smile on your face.
Taron Egerton (Kingsman) and Hugh Jackman have great chemistry as student and coach. I bet Jackman was stoked to not be Wolverine in a film and he looks relaxed and happy to be there. His performance is alive and he blends humor with cynicism beautifully. I was a bit thrown off by Egerton’s take on Eddie but as the film continued I embraced the role and appreciated that Egerton threw himself headlong into the performance.
They look a bit different.
What I found to be most impressive is the way Fletcher was able to capture the danger of the ski jump. It is a crazy sport that features insane people jumping long distances in the air. One misstep and your body is jelly and the film portrays the danger perfectly. Fletcher incorporates tracking shots and wide-angles to show how high and dangerous everything is. If you watch the trailer you will know what I mean.
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Between Cool Runnings and Eddie the Eagle the 1988 Calgary Olympics have inspired some solid films. I love the underdog vibe and fact that some people don’t know how to quit. These are stories worth telling and I’m glad they’ve made it to the big screen. 2015/2016 has been loaded with some inspirational true/fictional stories involving good people doing good things. I totally recommend you check out Bridge of Spies, The Finest Hours, The Martian, Brooklyn, The Intern and Eddie the Eagle.
Watch Eddie the Eagle on the biggest screen possible. Leave the ski jumping to Eddie. Appreciate Hugh Jackman not being Wolverine.
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John’s Horror Corner: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (2016), combining a refined literary British love story and a zombie apocalypse into a tasty brain stew.
MY CALL: This multi-dimensional movie equally boasts action, an alternate history based on a classic novel, a zombie apocalypse, and a gender role-rich love story complicated by the British class system. On all accounts, I’d say this film succeeded. MORE MOVIES LIKE Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: For more literary and historic figures fighting evil try Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (2012) or Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters (2013). Want more zombie-induced romance? Then maybe Warm Bodies (2013) is more your speed.
Best known for his work on the Zac Efron movies 17 Again (2009) and Charlie St. Cloud (2010), writer/director Burr Steers, boldly steps into 18th century England and tries to please horror fan and bookworm alike as Jane Austin’s complicated Victorian romance crosses paths with the zombie apocalypse in this sleek undead period piece. This is every bit as much a love story as much as it is a zombie action movie and its tongue-in-cheek comedy comes specifically from their admixture.
For the survival of our species the Victorian-era women have decidedly sacrificed some of their practice in the feminine ways of pleasantry to study the eastern arts of war in China and Japan. That is, of course, until finding a handsome man of means to marry well.
I went into this expecting something akin to Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (2012) or Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters (2013) in terms of action frequency, CGI and gore. Yes to the first two, but except for the gory zombie make-up/CGI itself (of which we see a great diversity) we don’t find the typically gut-ripping exploitative gore within the high production value. The amount of action is happily sufficient–though certainly not constant as there is a lot of plot and relationship going on as well. The fight scenes are not technically wowing–not like they got the choreographers from The Matrix movies or The Bourne series–but they remain very entertaining.
What this film lacks in flesh-rending it makes up for with stimulating romantic interests which will surely draw smiles as the dialogue often stays true to Jane Austin’s treasured novel. As Elizabeth Bennet, Lily James (Cinderella, Downton Abbey) does a fantastic job opposite Sam Riley’s (Maleficent, Ghost in the Shell) eligible but coarse Mr. Darcy. Douglas Booth (Jupiter Ascending, Noah) and Bella Heathcote (Dark Shadows, In Time) also deliver, and Charles Dance (Game of Thrones, Underworld 5, Dracula Untold), Matt Smith (Dr. Who, Terminator Genisys) and Lena Headey (The Purge, Game of Thrones, Dredd) provide various stage presence for the genre film fans.
There are a lot of scenes that will really stand out. The two fly zombie detection scenes and the church scene, to name a few, provided new flavors not commonly tasted in the zombie genre’s oft-rehashed brain stew. Most intriguingly is that this newer iteration of the zombie is intelligent. Not in the sense of the Romero trilogy zombie which slowly evolved into something more intelligent with each film (e.g., using tools, firing guns, enjoying music), but as crafty and manipulative entities hiding their zombiism and plotting against the uninfected. Now there’s a new spin!
This multi-dimensional movie equally boasts action, an alternate history based on a classic novel, a zombie apocalypse, and a gender role-rich love story complicated by the British class system. On all accounts, I’d say this film succeeded.
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Hello all. Mark here.
The world is inundated with lists telling you which romantic films to watch on Valentine’s Day. I’m sure they all have their merits but they aren’t looking out for everybody. We here at MFF want to bring you a wide variety of films in order to give you options. We understand that not everybody watches the same kind of movies so options are always nice.
The following posts features 10 categories that have a main option and a backup in case you don’t like the first recommendation. Hopefully you can find something you will enjoy.
If you are in the mood for…..
A romance featuring amazing performances
Love & Basketball tells a great romantic story and features one of my favorite performances. Sanaa Lathan is amazing and you totally buy her as a love interest and successful athlete. It is well worth a watch and I guarantee you will be swept up in the love story.
- If you aren’t interested: You should check out Bull Durham. It is one of the great romantic sports movies and you can’t go wrong with Susan Surandon and Kevin Costner’s chemistry
A beautiful film full of great music and friendship
Once is one of my favorite films and it tells a great story about friendship, love and growing up. It is impossible to not have a smile on your face after watching it and you will immediately want to watch it again. Also, you will fall in love with the song Falling Slowly.
- If you aren’t interested: Cameron Crowe hit all the right notes with Almost Famous and I don’t see how anyone wouldn’t be into the fun story and characters.
- If you really aren’t interested: Beyond the Lights has a solid central romance and Gina Prince-Bythewood also directed Love & Basketball.
A movie about a hockey player falling in love
Goon is not a romantic film but it features one of my favorite cinematic couples. I love the relationship between Sean William Scott and Allison Pill because it is so nice and genuine. I really like it when she says “you make me want to stop sleeping with a bunch of guys.” In a weird way that is incredibly romantic.
- If you aren’t interested: If you are into unconventional love stories you need to watch Punch Drunk Love. Paul Thomas Anderson is brilliant and Adam Sandler has never been better.
A beautiful tale of a father and son finding their way in new relationships
I like Beginners because it does something different in the romance genre. It tells the story of people who finally make a massive decision that will change their lives. However, their beginning comes when they hunker down and stay in a “meet cute” relationship when things get hard.
- If you aren’t interested: Check out Amelie because it might be one of the most charming movies you will ever watch. Audrey Tautou is a likable presence and you will be swept up on the whimsy of this French charmer.
A woman being dragged to hell
Drag Me To Hell is the first film my wife and I watched together…….and we are still together. It is a fantastic horror comedy that will have you laughing, cringing and appreciating life.
- If you aren’t interested: I never thought Warm Bodies would work and I was wrong. It is a nice little thing that has a sense of humor and confident direction.
A sensitive dude and his boombox
Say Anything’s Lloyd Dobler and Diane Court are the greatest cinematic couple of all time. I love that Lloyd is a nice dude who can beat people up and still be sensitive. Say Anything is one of my favorite films and it made the young me realize that romantic movies could be great (and not yucky…this is young me talking).
- If you aren’t interested: I’m gonna stay with John Cusack and recommend Serendipity. It is a nice little charmer that features Cusack at his romantic comedy best.
Two people walking and talking
Before Sunrise is the beginning of a beautiful trilogy of films. It is optimistic, intelligently written and wonderfully acted. My wife and I love Before Sunrise.
- If you aren’t interested: I’m going to stick with the travel idea and recommend Lost in Translation. It is a fantastic film that will make you feel all the feels. The ending is beautiful.
An insane couple falling in love
True Romance is a bonkers love story that is full of ultraviolence and deplorable acts. It is a true cult classic that features fantastic chemistry between Christian Slater and Patrica Arquette. You will dig this crazy couple.
- If you aren’t interested: This couple is totally different but you need to watch Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet are terrible for each other but the movie is amazing.
Jennifer Lopez and George Clooney at their best
Out of Sight turns the smolder to 11 and features Jennifer Lopez and George Clooney at their best. Out of Sight is effortless, sexy and cool.
- If you aren’t interested: Brad Pitt and Angeline Jolie have crazy chemistry in Mr. and Mrs. Smith.
An absolute classic that never ages
Casablanca is an ageless wonder that still feels perfect today It transcends genres and has totally earned its top spot on AFI’s 100 passions list.
- If you aren’t interested: You gotta watch Roman Holiday. It doesn’t’ get any better than Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn hanging out.
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