X-Men: Apocalypse (2016)

We’re eight movies into the X-Men film universe (nine if you count Deadpool, and hey, why not?), and while a fair number of critics are feeling X-fatigue, count me among the X-static – pun intended, because I’m happy about the way that the X-Men film franchise remains static in terms of its formula. With X-Men: Apocalypse, Bryan Singer is back for his fourth X-outing, a continued strong offering which introduces plenty of mutants, action, and character development to bode well as the franchise stands poised to move into double digits.

With Professor Xavier (James McAvoy) ushering his school for mutants into an era of peace, an ancient being known as Apocalypse (Oscar Isaac) awakens in Cairo and gathers his four Horsemen – Magneto (Michael Fassbender) among them – to bring about the end of this world. While Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) works to protect the mutants from humanity, it’s up to the next generation of X-Men – Jean Grey (Sophie Turner), Cyclops (Tye Sheridan), Quicksilver (Evan Peters), and Nightcrawler (Kodi Smit-McPhee) – to save the world from the threat of Apocalypse.

With the continuity reconstructed in the wake of Days of Future Past, Singer is free to carve out a path toward the present day with access to the full range of X-characters, regardless of whether they live, die, love, or hate in the other films. There’s something liberating about not knowing precisely whether Magneto is on the side of good or evil in this one, a line which Fassbender embodies even without much dialogue to lean on. Ditto for the introduction of Scott “Cyclops” Summers and Jean Grey, whose courtship (if one can call it that) is only just beginning; we don’t know if they’ll end up the squabbling starter-marriage from X-Men, but Turner and Sheridan are fun to watch and bring the characters to life with some very subtle yet comics-accurate hand gestures (Jean’s fingers on her temple, Scott’s dial-controlled visor).

And for all that X-Men: Apocalypse blusters on about the end of the world and the fate of mutantkind, it’s surprising that the film ends up being rather fun and incredibly human in its very personal scale. Like the Avengers movies, which have found great success in seeing its heroes out of costume, lounging about Stark Tower, X-Men: Apocalypse is at its most engaging when the X-Men recruit Nightcrawler for an impromptu trip to the mall as “a matter of national pride” (though an Avengers film might have showed said trip), or as Cyclops learns to master his abilities. It’s hard to say if there’s a real star in this film, because the X-Men are at their best when the ensemble cast is allowed to share the screen.

If this is the ensemble going forward, the more the better. While McAvoy, Fassbender, and Lawrence continue to powerhouse their way through the prequels, they’ve indicated they might not be back for a fourth outing together. It’d be a shame, to be sure, but I wouldn’t mind seeing the film continue to develop Storm and Jubilee, the latter of whom doesn’t get to display her powers just yet, and Singer’s recent tease that the next film will go to space is extremely promising for the wealth of source material on which he can draw. (Phoenix Redux, anyone?)

There have been some complaints about Apocalypse as an undercooked cliché of a villain, though I think that you need a colossal world-ending event to justify bringing together the X-Men, particularly after the last two prequels have dealt with less cosmic threats and more personal dangers (Kevin Bacon’s Sebastian Shaw, though looking to heat up the Cold War, was also a personal foil for Magneto). It is a shame to put an actor as talented as Oscar Isaac beneath all the prosthetics and makeup that go into Apocalypse, but Isaac acquits himself well with the villain’s ego and powers of persuasion. If you want a grounded superhero battle, Captain America: Civil War is still in theaters (and it holds up), but the X-Men demand something more fantastical.

To the heap of well-crafted, Singer-helmed X-titles, I have to add X-Men: Apocalypse, more fun than it promises and just as compelling as its predecessors. The final battle doesn’t leave much room for surprise (how many permutations of averted catastrophe are there?), but the road getting there is as good as anything we’ve seen yet. Singer proves himself the X-King; long may he reign.

X-Men: Apocalypse is rated PG-13 for “sequences of violence, action and destruction, brief strong language and some suggestive images.”

The Nice Guys (2016)

After two Iron Man films, Jon Favreau retired to a more personal film with Chef, which seems to have rejuvenated his creative batteries while remaining an entertaining movie in its own right. Likewise, three years after Iron Man 3 it’s Shane Black’s turn to scale back for a smaller film – misplaced, perhaps, in the summer blockbuster season (I can’t help thinking it’d have performed better financially in, say, October), but right up there with Hail, Caesar! in terms of laughs per minute.

Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling star as errant private eyes whose paths cross on a missing persons case before the case turns into an apparent murder (or, as it turns out, murders) reaching as high as the head of the Department of Justice (Kim Basinger). It’s a 1970s extravaganza, from the music and locations to the politics and pornography; hat-tip to Angourie Rice as Gosling’s daughter, overeager and spirited despite her father’s protestations.

I’ve been a fan of Shane Black’s going as far back as my first viewing of Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and his clever screenplay on The Monster Squad. Of course, the former had a lot to do with Robert Downey Jr. in a starring role, but that has a lot to do with the fact that RDJ is naturally adept at delivering the kind of lines that Black writers – quick-witted, dryly sarcastic, and unapologetically buffoonish when need be. Throw in the buddy cop element (lest we forget, Black screenwrote Lethal Weapon), and you’re well on your way to The Nice Guys.

Another way to put it would be to think of The Nice Guys as “Thomas Pynchon’s Big Lebowski,” juxtaposing the neo-noir aesthetics of the Coen Brothers with Pynchon’s penchant for the absurd, Inherent Vice if it starred a pair of detectives. Yet for all the twists and turns that analogy might lead you to expect, The Nice Guys is never less than straightforward, its mystery meandering but never straying while wrinkling in a nice bit of ambiguity just because the final reel (in brief, is someone lying about the truth of the case?).

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang was a success because of the unlikely chemistry between the extreme personalities of RDJ and Val Kilmer (the latter in an uproarious turn as Gay Perry), and The Nice Guys continues that pattern by joining Crowe and Gosling in a successful combination of thuggish straight man Crowe and waggish clown Gosling. While Crowe gets in his fair share of punchlines and confident one-liners, it’s Gosling who runs away with the film’s funniest moments (some playing off his daughter, in an entry for “World’s Nuttiest Approach to Parenting”).

Unfortunately, it seems that The Nice Guys is flying under the commercial radar, though critically it’s hovering around 90% on Rotten Tomatoes. Perhaps The Nice Guys will find its audience on DVD, and hopefully so because this is a film that is a guaranteed bad-mood-killer. Hail, Caesar! gave me an unending grin on my face, but The Nice Guys goes for the comedic jugular and left me wheezing with laughter throughout much of the picture.

The Nice Guys is rated R for “violence, sexuality, nudity, language and brief drug use.” Definitely a hard R between the violence (gunfights, fistfights, people getting hit with cars and falling off buildings), profanity (F-bombs aplenty), and nudity (topless and nude women in the opening scene and in an extended party scene).

The Top 10 Posts I Could Have Written (But Didn’t)

Lest you think it’s all fun and games here at The Cinema King, sometimes it’s pretty difficult to come up with a post every week. In honor of the latest difficulty in generating content (meaning I didn’t watch a movie this week), we proudly present “The Top 10 Posts I Could Have Written (But Didn’t)!”

10. Another lame, yet pun-filled excuse. Something like “Mid-May Malaise” or “We Were Killed Off on Game of Thrones Last Night.” (Spoilers: we weren’t.)

9. A revival of the old “Trailer Park” feature, in which I reviewed trailers from YouTube. (Any interest in that, by the way?)

8. “The Top 10 (More) Books On My Shelf That Ought to be Movies.” (Now including Thomas Pynchon’s The Crying of Lot 49 and Colson Whitehead’s Apex Hides the Hurt.)

7. An in-depth thinkpiece about whether we’re at a place culturally where we need our heroes to be fallible, flawed, and addicted to substances. (I think we are, but why?)

6. A tribute to the late, great Darwyn Cooke. (Not quite cinematic, though I did review the adaptation of his Justice League: The New Frontier back in 2008, before I fully understood the potency in Cooke’s work.)

5. My review of Daredevil: Season Two. (It’s been a while since it came out; I liked it, and it didn’t do anything wrong, but it just didn’t hit it like the first season did.)

4. An update to my “Top 10 Marvel Cinematic Universe Films.” (Captain America: Civil War clocks in at #4, while Iron Man and The Avengers have now switched places.)

3. Playing with Blogger’s new “Featured Post” setting and airing a rerun today.

2. A “Monday at the Movies” comparing the different film version of Hamlet. (Someday!)

1. An announcement that I’m changing my name to The Cinema Doctor. (Receiving my PhD, though, hasn’t given me a swollen head.)

Hit the Comments below to tell me which one of these you would have liked to see, or if there’s one I forgot to include in my list. (For those playing the home game, that’s a post I could have written, but neither wrote nor listed in the list above.)

Captain America: Civil War (2016)

It’s been a wild ride here at The Cinema King, getting amped up for Captain America: Civil War by engaging ourselves in a Grand Marvel Rewatch of the twelve-picture Marvel Cinematic Universe. Marvel’s latest (and longest) film, Captain America: Civil War is also its biggest in terms of stakes, cast, and moral complexity, and it’s a dazzling super-triumph.

After years of operating unchecked amid several major global events, The Avengers find their powers under scrutiny by a United Nations resolution that seeks to oversee their operations. Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), feeling guilt over his complicity in the creation of Ultron, signs on almost immediately, but Captain America (Chris Evans) has grave reservations about signing away his liberty. The rest of their teammates are forced to choose sides in the conflict when Cap’s childhood friend Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) comes out of hiding, further splitting the team as regards Bucky’s responsibility for his actions as the Winter Soldier.

Civil War manages to be both sweepingly epic and deeply personal, with far-reaching consequences stemming out of what is essentially a clash of personalities, a philosophical difference of opinion about the nature of individual power. And what’s really striking – shout-out here to directors Anthony & Joe Russo and screenwriters Christopher Markus & Stephen McFeely, because they deserve it – is that the film never sacrifices one for the other. We get wonderful character beats and big-scale action sequences. One minute we’re in the kitchen with Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) and Vision (Paul Bettany) as hosts of an adorable impromptu cooking show, and the next we’re in Leipzig for the airport sequence which is even more awesome than the trailers let on. (Honestly, the airport scene might be Marvel’s best action sequence to date, worth the price of a DVD, and eerily reminiscent of Whedon’s two 360-degree shots of the Avengers collaborating.)

And yet, for as much as the film valorizes character development, delivering some of the least opaque motivations for superhero characters yet, I really must quibble with the title of this film. Captain America: Civil War is not quite a Captain America movie – at least, not in the way that Captain America: The Winter Soldier was. In some part, this is due to the inclusion of RDJ as Iron Man, because Downey steals the screen whenever he shows up, but it’s also because the script is uncannily fair to both sides of this conflict. Both Stark and Cap have lines that might convince a fair-minded viewer to change their own opinion, and the film has neither a cop-out “villain orchestrated it all” twist nor any out-of-character beats like the comics source material (in which Tony Stark put Daredevil in a space prison). Civil War is balanced, and it may be difficult to digest for that reason, and kudos to the filmmakers for never cheapening the weighty debate.

Indeed, a better title would have been, simply, Marvel’s Civil War, for the film is unmistakably a waypoint for the franchise as a whole. There are beats in here that pay off all the way back to 2008, bringing everyone from Ant-Man to Thunderbolt Ross into the fray, and Civil War introduces Spider-Man (Tom Holland) and Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman) to the MCU in ways that make me incredibly excited for their standalone films. Holland in particular is the new definitive Peter Parker, capturing the webslinger’s inability to keep quiet without letting us forget that he’s perhaps too young for this. Civil War feels very much like a slice of a universe, but while Cap is undeniably a star it’s difficult to say he’s the star.

Ultimately, this is not actually a bad thing. It’s at worst a misnomer, but I’d rather have a film with a handful of fantastic characters than a film that limits its focus unnecessarily. I think we can all agree, for example, that The Force Awakens didn’t necessarily need more Luke Skywalker, especially if it cost us a few scenes with Poe Dameron. Whether it’s Captain America 3, Iron Man 4, or Avengers 2½, Civil War is too exciting, too much fun, and too engaging to write off on a technicality. It leaves you wanting more, a sage move for a ballooning franchise like this one. It sends you out of the theater debating over which scene was the coolest, to be sure, but it also sends you away with a moral question that’ll take up most of the car ride home.

Captain America: Civil War is rated PG-13 for “extended sequences of violence, action and mayhem.” There’s a lot of running/jumping/shooting/punching sequences, several extended; a few explosions and scatological profanities; and a few shots of bloody people. More of the same, really, from Marvel.

The Grand Marvel Rewatch: Marvel One-Shots

Face front, true believers! Welcome to the final astonishing addition to “The Grand Marvel Rewatch,” designed to get us all sufficiently amped up for Captain America: Civil War, which comes out May 6, 2016. Each Wednesday, The Cinema King casts his eye back upon the twelve films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and offers five salient observations about the caliber of the films and the way they might play into Marvel’s latest installment in America’s favorite franchise.

Today’s fantastic feature film isn’t a feature film at all – we’ve got five “Marvel One-Shots,” short films released as special features on various Marvel DVDs. Where do these all fit in, and why haven’t we seen more than five? Read on for the answers!

1. The Consultant. If you’ve wondered how Tony Stark got to his postcredits cameo for The Incredible Hulk, The Consultant has your answer – he’s a patsy, sent by Phil Coulson and Jasper Sitwell to sabotage the World Council’s attempt to get Abomination on the Avengers. So much clicks into place here – Stark’s recruitment, apparently too early, of the Hulk is here recast, and we know the World Council has been infiltrated by Hydra, so it makes sense to see them pushing this shadowy agenda. Plus it’s a real treat to see Coulson and Sitwell working together (even though we know the latter is Hydra) in a very mundane fashion, sipping coffee at a diner while guarding the sanctity of the free world. 
2. A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Thor’s Hammer. Okay, this might be my favorite One-Shot, set between Iron Man 2 and Thor (as the title indicates). We get to see Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg) in action, playing with the effortless charm and unassuming physical dexterity required to rescue a gas station from an everyday holdup, even without the help of his firearm. It’s the intrusion of the super on the quotidian, a recurring theme in the MCU, and it’s shouldered by Gregg’s endearing portrayal of a man who’d rather contemplate donuts than deadbeats, but he’ll happily work on both if the occasion calls for it. Did this short demonstrate the potential for Coulson to lead Agents of SHIELD on ABC? It wouldn’t be the only One-Shot to spin-off into the television realm. 
3. Item 47. A worthy epilogue to The Avengers, Item 47 puts Jasper Sitwell on the tail of two civilians (Lizzy Caplan and Jesse Bradford) who’ve recommissioned an inert Chitauri weapon to aid them in a series of bank heists. It’s also the short that introduces us to Felix Blake (Titus Welliver), a recurring figure on Agents of SHIELD. But why we haven’t seen more of Marvel’s Bonnie & Clyde (here, Claire and Bennie – the initials can’t be an accident) is our loss. Depicted as entering SHIELD by the end of Item 47, Claire and Bennie’s fate remains to be revealed. Did they fall to Hydra, as Sitwell did? Or are they still among the angels? Heck, are they even still alive? 
4. Agent Carter. Though Thor’s Hammer is a personal favorite, Agent Carter is ostensibly the greatest One-Shot, not least because it led to a television show of the same name. We get to see Hayley Atwell strut her stuff as Peggy Carter, stick it to the patriarchy, and save the day while sidelining postwar sexism. No wonder they greenlit this for two full seasons! It’s infectiously fun, too, with a compelling narrative that sees Peggy pick up a case. Its microcosmic nature, which sees Peggy promoted to the head of SHIELD in twelve minutes, doesn’t quite jive with the canon of the series, but no one says she has to accept right away. Bonus points for the post-credits shot of Dum Dum Dugan (Neal McDonough) appreciating the innovative swimwear known as “the bikini.” 
5. All Hail the King. To those who, like me, were less than enthused about the decision to turn The Mandarin into a farting drug-addled Brit, you’re in luck – All Hail the King revisits Trevor Slattery (Ben Kingsley) in prison to reveal that there’s a real Mandarin out there who’s none too pleased about the (mis)use of his moniker. Now, it’s unlikely that this’ll ever really be followed up on in great detail, but it does draw a bit more connective tissue between Tony Stark’s abductors from Iron Man and the true Mandarin. But it’s always a treat to see Sir Ben in his element, and a nod to Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell) confirms that maybe, just maybe, Marvel isn’t done with those Stark nemeses.

Well, folks, that’s it. Another stellar series from the Monarch of Movies, your Cinema King. Captain America: Civil War opens on Friday, so be sure to see it before coming back here on Monday for the full review of Marvel’s latest superhero flick. As always, there won’t be spoilers in the initial review, but if you want to join the conversation you’ve gotta get a ticket! Subscribe above to make sure you don’t miss a single review, Top 10 list, or our next special series. Excelsior!

Monday at the Movies - May 2, 2016

Welcome to another installment of “Monday at the Movies.”

Elvis & Nixon (2016) – Here’s a film that can best be described as rivetingly peculiar, as if the Coen Brothers turned their eyes on the most esoteric corners of American history to say, “Gee, wasn’t that strange?” It’s director Liza Johnson, though, who helms this look at the famous photograph of Elvis Presley (Michael Shannon) and Richard Nixon (Kevin Spacey), and how it came to pass that these two met to discuss drugs, popular culture, and the fate of the nation. Elvis & Nixon takes the strangeness of that sentence and runs with it from the word “go,” with even the supporting cast musing how curious all of this is and doubting its veracity. Whether the film is accurate – based on a conversation with my resident Elvis expert, it’s pretty close – isn’t of chief concern, so much as the film wants to give Shannon and Spacey a chance to revel in the weirdness of their roles. Spacey’s is something of an exaggerated caricature, maybe not the best Nixon impression we’ve seen, but he performs exasperated better than most. It’s Shannon, though, who steals the film with a bizarre portrayal of Elvis by way of Michael Jackson, surreal in his aloofness and his disconnect from the way the world works outside of Graceland. The film seems told through the eyes of his friend Jerry Schilling (Alex Pettyfer), who lets us see Elvis from outside the head of the King, but even scenes without Schilling allow Shannon to bring Elvis to life with all his quirks, eccentricities, and sequined outfits fully intact. Elvis & Nixon might be Amazon Studios’ second film, but it’s star power like Shannon that will make the studio a successful one.

That does it for this week’s edition of “Monday at the Movies.” We’ll see you next week!

BUT – face front, True Believers – we’ll continue to Make Yours Marvel this Wednesday with the final installment in “The Grand Marvel Rewatch,” so check back then for a look at all five Marvel One-Shots. Or subscribe above, and receive those missives right in your inbox. Nuff said!