About these ads

Daily Archives: June 3, 2011

Countdown to X-Men: First Class – David Ward On Marvel’s Mutants Previous Movie Adventures

Jun 3

Posted by

How do I feel about the upcoming X-Men: First Class film? I’m excited as all hell. I think Matthew Vaughn’s film stands an honest chance of reviving the X-Men film franchise, if only for a single moment. His track record as a director is exemplary: L4yer C4k3, Stardust, Kick-Ass; before that, he’s well known as a producer on Guy Ritchie’s best films, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch. In short, the man has made, or has been heavily involved with, some of my favourite films of the past ten years.
He doesn’t have an easy task, however. After the major successes of X-Men and X-2, we all know what happened with X-3. Yes, Andy Burns has covered “number three” in film franchises before, so I’m not going to reiterate the same information. Just remember that “number three” in a film franchise, and this is particularly true of superhero films, is usually garbage or, at best, incredibly sub par when compared with its predecessors.*
X-Men, in short, revolutionized comic-book films. Some might say the same about Batman and Superman, but every other attempt in and around when those films were released was a colossal failure (The Punisher, anyone?). I consider those two films to be anomalies in an otherwise dead area of film. X-Men might have been a similar anomaly, but then I ask you to have a look at Spider-Man, which came out only two years later. The ball was rolling, and Bryan Singer started it through a mix of then state-of-the art digital effects, a strong emphasis on characterization, and a half-decent story that stuck quite closely to the original material. One of the smartest things he did, with three notable exceptions (Ian McKellen, Patrick Stewart, and Halle Berry), was cast relative unknowns in the roles of the heroes and villains. One couldn’t really complain about the casting of actors whom one didn’t know. The comic-book world and its fans can be unforgiving at times.
The second film, X-2, was a stroke of genius and is considered by many to be one of the best comic-book films ever. I’m inclined to agree. I was won over by nearly the entire cast of the first film, and they did a wonderful job of establishing the well-loved characters of the franchise. The second film was able to delve into a much meatier story, and it didn’t need to rely on introductions; it could just get on with the plot, and it did so admirably. Its introduction of the Phoenix storyline was done sublimely, with no need to drown in exposition—simply some flashes of fire and power and the sacrifice of Jean Grey. This was a point I quite enjoyed; the original storyline had Jean’s sacrifice and destruction as the Phoenix, meanwhile in Singer’s second film, Jean sacrifices herself to produce the Phoenix. This makes far more sense given its mythological nature. Wolverine, always a favourite, was given centre stage again, with more emphasis on his hidden origins and his loose-cannon role on the fringes of the team.
Then we end up with X-3 and X-Men Origins: Wolverine, two films that I can best describe as half-assed attempts. They’re not horrible films, and when you compare them with, say, Batman and Robin or the aforementioned Punisher, they’re quite entertaining. The problem is, the bar was raised so high by the first two films that these hodge-podges of plotlines and characters couldn’t help but feel like a schizophrenic mess. X-3 mixed the Phoenix storyline, the ascension of Storm as leader, the start of the Whedon Astonishing X-Men run, and then proceeded to throw more and more characters at the audience. It’s a mess. The same is true of Wolverine. While the title sequence showing Wolverine’s actual origin was interesting, the rest of the film feels like a pile of plotlines thrown into an automatic shotgun and the blasted haphazardly in every direction. Story and emphasis on character made X-Men and X-2 what they were. They were tight, clean narratives, and they didn’t try to bite off more than they could chew.
X-Men: First Class looks to put these emphasis back in place. Let’s hope it delivers.
*You cannot count The Lord of the Rings, because that is one story.

About these ads

Posted in comics, General, movies, Ogmios/David Ward, x-men, x-men:first class

Leave a Comment

Biff Bam Pop’s Box Office Predictions – Weekend of June 3rd

Jun 3

Posted by

Marvel’s merry band of mutants return to the movies this weekend, but just how well they’ll perform is something even Professor X couldn’t predict. I’m going to give it a shot.

On the heels of the blockbuster 2006 film X-Men: The Last Stand ($234 million in North America) and the slightly less blockbustery X-Men Origins: Wolverine ($179 million) from 2009 comes what some are calling a reboot and others view as a prequel – X-Men: First Class. However you choose to look at, the truth is that the Matthew Vaughan directed film has a lot of things not in its favour. Neither the previous franchise entries scored much love from critics or cinema-goers, regardless of their box office take-home. Missing in action in this latest edition are favourite characters like Wolverine, Kitty Pryde, Colossus, Cyclops, Jean Grey and on and on. Add to the fact that there hasn’t been much time between films to make audiences miss the franchise and I really think you’re left with a big question mark as to how X-Men: First Class will perform. On the plus side, advance word has been stellar for this 1960′s period piece and the trailers for the film have gotten increasingly better. On that note, my prediction is that X-Men: First Class will have a solid but not spectacular start of $65 million.

The rest of the top 5 will consist of repeat offenders:

Look for The Hangover 2 to have a pretty large drop from it’s incredible four day debut weekend
to land at number 2 with $40 million, still a great number no matter how you look at it.

I don’t think audiences are responding to the animated sequel Kung Fu Panda 2 in any sort of large way to keep it strong. I’m predicting a third place finish with an underwhelming $22 million. There’s even a chance another sequel might outperform it.

It’s funny that, even though Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides has grossed nearly $650 million worldwide, it’s still considered to be a letdown because of it’s performance in North America. Look for a fourth place showing and a $20 million gross in it’s third weekend as it inches its way to the $200 million mark.

Rounding out the top 5 will be another comedy hit, Bridesmaids. I’m predicting $12 million, and the R-rated comedy should safely cross the $100 million mark by the time the weekend is out.

Check back on Sunday to see how the weekend box office turns out!

Posted in Andy Burns, Andy Burns/Andy B, box office, box office predictions, General, x-men, x-men:first class

Leave a Comment

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 203 other followers

%d bloggers like this: