Movie Review: X-Men - Days of Future Past

Movie Review: X-Men - Days of Future Past

A few years ago, there was some worry that the X-Men film franchise was going to go the way of the Batman films.  X-Men: The Last Stand and X-Men Origins: Wolverine were scattered messes that seemed thrown together and were sort of disrespectful to the source material and to fans of the comics and the films that came before it.  When talk of a fifth film surfaced, it wasn't a huge shock that Fox decided to go the reboot route.  Indie director Matthew Vaughn told the story of a young Xavier and Magneto and the first group of X-Men in the Sixties.  It gave fans hope that the franchise could still produce quality films.  Fans went crazy when it was announced that director Bryan Singer would be returning to the franchise and he would be bringing the popular story "Days of Future Past" with him.

Movie Review: The Amazing Spider-Man 2

Movie Review: The Amazing Spider-Man 2

Reboot it.  That was Sony's decision when a deal fell through with Sam Raimi to continue the story he'd been telling with Tobey Maguire.  Instead of another trilogy featuring the same cast, Sony decided to scrub what had came before and start a brand new series re-telling Peter's origin.  Fans of the original trilogy and Spidey fans in general were not huge fans of this decision.  Despite the lackluster response to Spider-Man 3, fans wanted to see what Raimi could do to sort of redeem himself and maybe give fans a concrete ending, something the third film lacked.  Sony went ahead with their decision casting relative unknown, Andrew Garfield, in the title role and Emma Stone as his love interest Gwen Stacy.  When the first film premiered in 2012, fans and critics responded pretty positively and Sony was able to take a victory lap.  Now, it's sequel time.

Misogyny in Nerdland: That Scene on Last Night's Game of Thrones (MASSIVE SPOILER ALERT!)

Why the Rape on Last Night's Game of Thrones?

Last night was the third episode of the fourth season of Game of Thrones entitled, "Breaker of Chains."  The episode dealt with the aftermath of the murder of Joffrey Baratheon and showed Daenerys finally reached Mereen.  It was a stand out episode except for one pretty large thing that happened in a scene that happened around the halfway point of the episode.  When I first watched the scene, I was like a lot of people, really mortified and squeamish and I even tried to be a little glib about it on Facebook to try and offset how uncomfortable the whole thing made me.  I'm talking about the rape of Cersei by her brother Jamie, under their son's dead body.  

Movie Review: Captain America - The Winter Soldier

Movie Review: Captain America - The Winter Soldier

Steve Rogers isn't the most relatable character in the world.  He's kind of like Marvel's Superman.  He can come off as white bread and a little too much like a Boy Scout.  He's super strong so it's hard to find adversaries that can really stand up to him.  His "Aw Shucks" demeanor can sometimes come off as cloying, but Steve as Captain America is pretty big in the Marvel Universe, so Marvel Studios had to come up with a way to make him relatable to modern day movie goers and they seemed to find the right formula with the first film and that carried through to The Avengers.  Now Cap is back in his second solo big screen adventure.  Did this film meet or exceed expectations?  Read on to find out.

Hannibal Second Season Premiere Recap: "You're the New Will Graham."

Hannibal, Episode 1: "Kaiseki"

Oh man.  That was an amazing premiere.  Hannibal debuted with an incredibly strong premiere that promised lots of good stuff to come.  If you've watched, hit the jump so we can take a deep dive into the start of season two.  

Five Reasons You Should Watch… Hannibal

Hannibal Is One of the Best Shows on TV You Aren't Watching

This Friday, the very best thriller on television returns.  Hannibal premiered last year to stellar reviews but middling ratings.  It told a familiar story in an unfamiliar way.  The first season detailed the first meeting between FBI profiler Will Graham and psychologist/cannibal Hannibal Lecter.  Will is cursed with pure empathy, which means that he can walk in the shoes of psychopaths, but the crux of the show is how this affects Will's psyche.  In the finale, Hannibal has framed Will for four murders that he commited and Will is sent to the Baltimore State Hospital for the Criminally Insane.  The final scene is reminiscent of Clarice Starling's first meeting with Lecter, but with Lecter outside and Will inside.  This sets up a second season of Will trying to convince everyone that it's Hannibal who is the murderer while Hannibal takes Will's place helping the FBI.  So, why should you start watching Hannibal?  Hit the jump for five compelling reasons.

Bandwagon Jumpers: Venom & Sinister Six Movies Announced

Sony Announces Expanded Spider-Man Universe with Venom and Sinister Six Films

Sony decided to jump on the shared movie universe bandwagon, announcing this week that they would be releasing two spin-off films in the rebooted Amazing Spider-Man universe, Venom and Sinister Six.  This isn't the first time that Venom has appeared onscreen.  He was one of the villains in the much maligned Spider-Man 3.  Sony has been talking about bringing a solo Venom film to screen since they found out that the re-booted Amazing Spider-Man was a global box office success.  This isn't a huge surprise.  In comic books, Venom is a hero.  The alien symbiote has bonded to Peter Parkers enemy turned friend and former president of the Spider-Man fan club, Flash Thompson, a veteran who lost both legs in the Iraq War.  Flash can only wear the symbiote suit for a brief period of time, to make sure that it doesn't warp him and force him to do not so nice things like eat folks.  So, if Sony decides to go with the current incarnation of Venom, we've got a hero or an antihero, someone that audiences can root for.  

A movie focusing on the Sinister Six is a little more puzzling.  The Sinister Six are a collection of some of Spider-Man's greatest enemies.  They are originally brought together by Doctor Octopus who, sick of being humiliated by Spidey, thinks that his chances of defeating the Wall Crawler will raise if he brings together some likeminded individuals.  The original Sinister Six were Doc Ock, Vulture, Mysterio, Electro, Kraven the Hunter and Sandman.  I don't think that will be the group in the film.  Electro and the Rhino are being introduced in the new film.  In the newly released trailer, we catch a glimpse of Dock Ock's arms and the Vulture's wings.  So, if we just assume that those four will be in the group, who will be the last two?  Could the film introduce us to Kraven and Mysterio?  That would be awesome.  Kraven is a big game hunter who comes to NYC to hunt Spider-Man.  In modern incarnations, Kraven has had his own reality TV show, which I think would translate well to the big screen.  Mysterio's alter ego, Quentin Beck, is a special effects wizard who decides to use his talents and make it big in the crime game.

The problem is who will be the POV character?  Will audiences be able to relate to a film where every character is a villain?  We'll see.  What do you guys think?  Who would be your ideal Sinister Six?  Do you think the Green Goblin will be a member?  Any casting ideas?  Let me know in the comments.