X-Men: Days of Future Past

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Here we come to a bridge between the prequels and the original trilogy…and unintentional Terminator skin.

So the future has been taken over the Sentinels, large, nearly indestructible robots designed to hunt mutants. Most of the world is either dead or imprisoned. What’s left of the X-Men joined with Magneto and are on the run, struggling to stay one step ahead. The last shot they have to save themselves is to send Wolverine back in time to stop Mystique from killing Bolivar Trask, creator of the Sentinels whose death would start a chain of events leading there present. Wolverine is sent to the 70’s, a decade after First Class. The Xavier he finds is depressed and drug dependent, suffering a nasty break down over losing students in Vietnam and being paralyzed. Magneto is in prison. To find Mystique, he’ll need the help of Prof X, Magneto, Beast, and a young speed demon we can’t call QuickSilver I think, because legal bullshit. But can they save the past in time before the future crashes down on them…

I can’t say I read the book so I can’t really compare the two. That being said, Days of Future Past is a pretty good movie. Again McAvoy and Fassbender shine as well as Jackman as Wolverine. It was really awesome to have both Prof X’s and Magneto’s in one movie. Granted, though very much a Terminator skin, it is good at creating a bleak atmosphere, making hope all the more sweeter. It doesn’t feel the most original but it’s a pretty good watch. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Alien Contact:Outer Space (2017)

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This is a movie only in the sense that it is as long as a movie and I found it on Netflix and it was in more than one section which also included the documentary section. It actually was pretty entertaining surprisingly enough. The documentary itself looks at reported evidence with varying degrees of merit and reliability about humanities attempts to contact alien life and a few signals that haven’t quite been explained as to what they are. That isn’t to say it attempts to actually answer the question of are we alone, it doesn’t. Hell if it did that shit would be all over the news I would think. Hell maybe not, either way if you are interested in that sort of thing its pretty cool. If not don’t waste your time. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

X-Men: First Class

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Between Wolverine films, the X-Men films looked dead on the outside. Thankfully, despite even my own doubts, we got probably one of my favorite superhero movies.

Continuing after the intro to the original X- Men movie, we get a further glimpse into the hell young Erik Lehnserr would endure at the hands of Sebastian Shaw and we see the violent quest for revenge Magneto goes on to kill him. Along the way he meets newly doctored Charles Xavier and his best friend Raven, mutants aiding the government in finding Shaw before him and the Hellfire Club cause WW3 so mutants can reign supreme. Xavier, Magneto and a small band of young mutants have to hone there gifts to combat the Hellfire Club as the country’s last line of defense.

Ok, I’m going to take my nerd hat off a second. I know Mystique, Banshee and Havoc were not original X-Men (fun fact: Cyclops, Marvel Girl aka Jean Grey, Iceman, Angel, and Beast were the original first class in the comics.) I know Magneto didn’t put Xavier in the wheelchair. But, as a movie, it is pretty damn good. James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender do phenomenal as Prof X and Magneto in there younger years and the rest of the cast fits in really well too. The effects and the score are very cool. The only thing that dented the movie for me was the whole Magneto putting Xavier in the chair thing; it is a minor smudge on a otherwise badass prequel. I highly recommend it. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Caddyshack (1980)

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Oh caddyshack, you beautiful classic bastard. Its hard to believe this movie is going on 38 years old. The late Rodney Dangerfield is hilarious playing a brash new member of a very exclusive golf club as a very young Bill Murray plays an obsessed grounds keeper just trying to kill a gopher, and directed by the late great Harold Ramis, so at least he has that going for him. This movie is one of those classic 80’s movies that people today still quote and look at as an all time great and with good reason. People just loved this movie from the very beginning. Even today sitting down to watch it just brings a smile to my face. Any movie fan needs to watch this movie, even if its just for the history. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

The Wolverine

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This is one of those rare times I’m pretty damn divided on what I think and feel about a movie. Certainly not the colossal dumpster fire X Men Origins: Wolverine was, but nowhere near as raw and unrestrained as Logan was, I think it’s safe to call this the middle child of the Wolverine trilogy.

The film begins in WW2. Logan saves the life of a Japanese soldier by shielding him from missile fire that would have surely killed him. In astonishment, the soldier watches Logan regenerate before his eyes. He promises to repay our favorite clawed mutant one day. Fast forward to present day and Logan is drifting, alone after the events of X Men: The Last Stand , mourning the deaths of Prof. X, Cyclops, and especially Jean Grey. He is sick of not being able to die. The soldier he saved is dying now of old age, and offers Logan a chance to finally die by curing him of his regenerative ability. Suddenly he finds himself getting caught up in an adventure through Japan, vulnerable and kicking ass as a plot unfolds around him…

This time around, the story, effects, and characters are much better done. Honestly, I liked the movie a lot until the final villain reveal at the end.  Besides it feeling out of left field and tacked on as a way to keep this a standard superhero flick, as a nerd I can tell you it’s pretty damn WTF. Besides the final act, you can 100% tell the Pg-13 rating suffocated this movie. There were times it felt held back and damn I’m sorry but a movie solely about a dude with unbreakable metal claws doesn’t sound kid friendly to me. But, as I said, there was much more heart and appreciation for the characters and source material this time around. I think it’s worth checking out at bargain bin price. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Deep Blue Sea 2 trailer

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So here’s a small detour from my X- Men reviews to bring you my thoughts on the trailer for Deep Blue Sea 2. I covered Deep Blue Sea not long ago, so I figured strike the iron while its hot. Honestly, from what I’m gathering, a lot of this looks like a damn retread of the first. A lot of the sets look really damn similar to the facility from the first and even what they reveal of the plot sounds kinda close. You can tell it’s a straight-to video because we don’t get anyone from the first and I have to say the sharks don’t look great. Why did we need a sequel? May the gaming gods bring you glory as we wait and sea I guess- yes, I made a pun.

X Men Origins: Wolverine

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Wolverine, Deadpool, and Gambit deserved to be in much better movies than this piece of shit. Thankfully, Deadpool got the movie he so desperately needed and Wolverine finally got his perfect fit with Logan , and well, I’m sure we’ll get that fabled Gambit movie eventually when, yanno SpongeBob becomes President.

As the title suggests, this is the story of Logan’s origins to becoming the Wolverine. Mutant brothers James Logan Howlett ( Wolverine) and Victor Creed (Sabretooth) are have fought wars through the ages, always having each others backs. But as time goes on, they find themselves divided after Victor grows blood thirsty and Logan is tired of bloodshed. Logan settles down but that good enough for Sabretooth, who kills his wife, sending Logan down the path that would get him his famous claws and…ugh.

I have to be honest, this movie is the epitome of misguided bullshit. These movies ass-squirts characters out left and right and no one is really that well developed except the few main characters, which ain’t done right either. Honestly, I don’t think the writers or the directer did jack shit when it came to research. Every Marvel fan knows the violent rage we felt when Deadpool, Merc with a mouth, had his fucking mouth sewn shut and given Baraka blades, heat vision and a bunch of shit powers because…reasons! Sabretooth was not only miscast, but royally screws the continuity but of course, this movie flips that little thing off. The effects are mainly crap with ok parts throughout. I will say Hugh Jackman, Ryan Reynolds, Taylor Kirsch, and Liev Schrieber try there asses off to help pull this through but unfortunately its not enough. I don’t recommend this to say the least. Pick up comics, discover the awesome, dark, and graphic tale of Wolverine and Weapon X and ignore this watered down, ignorant bull crap. In the end, friends don’t let friends watch X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

Brave New Jersey (2016)

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A long time ago, in 1938 Orson Welles wrote a radio broadcast heard by millions, that started with something like ” We interrupt this broadcast with a special news bulletin, martian have invaded New Jersey” or something similar. People went nuts and began to flea their homes in Panic. That at least is how the story goes, tho there isn’t much evidence to support it. There are some news headlines that have largely been accepted as the news papers attempt to discredit the newly emerging radio news.

This movie however tells the story of a small town in New Jersey as it gave into this alleged hysteria. The movie is quite interesting and paints an amazing picture of just how some people may have acted. Most period piece movies can’t seem to find that line between realism and interesting enough to keep modern people interested, but Brave New Jersey managed to do both. While the movie does have its downtrends and you pretty much know the ending from the opening credits for those interested in history it is a fun movie to watch, tho I wouldn’t recommend it to everyone. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

X Men: The Last Stand

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Director Bryan Singer was given a choice after coming off of his sucess with the first two X Men films: do X3 or hope on to the WB and do Superman Returns. He went to Superman and damn you can tell.

How does the mutant community react when the government develops a cure? Magneto takes the amount of outrage from the news to gather a remarkable army with his young protege, Pyro. Meanwhile, Rogue is thrilled. Many of the X Men are still mourning over the death of Jean Grey, taking it the worst is her fiance Cyclops who is suffering a grand amount of depression. But something is telling him to see her, and he discovers Jean is alive. Here we discover Jean’s secretly ultra powerful and Prof X has had to tie her powers down mentally, but they are now unleashed as…ugh…the Phoenix. So Wolverine must ban together with X Men young and old for a final stand to save the cure and stop Phoenix….

Ok, I don’t hate this movie. If you want a straight up action flick, it is pretty entertaining. Kelsey Grammer is another amazingly perfect casting as Beast. Where the movie begins to fail is the fact they are essentially cramming two giant ass plots into a movie that’s just two hours, not really giving either the depth they deserve. Also, Wolverine becomes the main focus of the movie, the other X Men are just minor characters like Storm and Beast, or just there like Rogue, Iceman, Angel, or Cyclops. There are two times I feel the effects go overboard but other than that, they are solid. In the end, being the worst of the original trilogy, it is still a solid movie. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

X2: X men United

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This was one of the first times I was ever was pumped for a sequel. As a kid I was obsessed with the first film. It was slick, it was deep and it was epic. So how did the second of the original trilogy come out?

When a mutant named Nightcrawler attacks the president of the US, the shit hits the fan. A new foe named Stryker uses this attack to launch on Prof. X’s school in order to capture and detain mutants. Meanwhile, Wolverine returns to the school just in time after not finding answers to his forgotten origins, escaping with Rogue, her boyfriend IceMan, and there friend Pyro. Stryker wants to use Xavier to exterminate mutant kind so it’s up to the X men, Magneto and Mystique to stop him while Wolverine learns his true origin…

X2 is nearly a superior sequel. There are more badass action scenes, cool characters, and great dramatic scenes. What begins to become apparent is the favoritism towards Wolverine starts to creep in but in this case it isn’t a hindrance yet. Also, I’m not a fan of the blatant Jean Grey sacrifice to open the Phoenix plot line nor do I like the Lady DeathStrike portrayal. Despite these grips, it is a great movie and I recommend it. May the gaming gods bring you glory.