The Kid Who Would Be King Is A Fantastical Delight

Leaping lizards, somebody finally made a modern-day fantasy movie that isn't a realistic reimagining or oppressively gloomy! Hooray for The Kid Who Would Be King for just doing a straightforward fantasy movie and never feeling insecure about its fantasy trappings. In this movie, people fight undead skeletons, use magic and wield swords without feeling the need to constantly wink at the camera. Instead, the newest effort from writer/director Joe Cornish (frequent Edgar Wright collaborator and the guy behind Attack the Block) is just concentrated on telling a good story in a fun manner. Consider me more than onboard for that!

John Mulaney Is In Rare Inventive Form In His Hilarious New Comedy Special John Mulaney: Kid Gorgeous At Radio Hall

For his fourth stand-up comedy special, John Mulaney: Kid Gorgeous At Radio Hall, comedian/tall child John Mulaney decides to take the old adage "If it ain't broke it., don't fix it" to heart for various aspects of the show. His cadence, which is best described as the voice of a crisp radio announcer from the 1920's, that was abundant in past specials is very much kept intact, which is a delight to listen to simply because of how well Mulaney uses that natural voice of his to his advantage to help punctuate numerous jokes. His observational style of humor from prior stand-up specials is similarly prominent here as is his tendency to delve into extensive and hilarious stories about his childhood experiences.

Logan Lunges Into Thoughtful Heavily R-Rated Storytelling Territory

If there's one thing I can ascertain about James Mangold after watching his two Wolverine movies (The Wolverine and the subject of this review, Logan) it's that he's truly enamored with a version of Wolverine dealing with the character separated entirely from the X-Men team and living a life as a battered recluse. Mangold seems to be fascinated by the questions posed by Wolverine's weariness as he ages ever onward and Logan makes a strong case for why he'd be so enamored with that side of the character. Here, James Mangold and company go full-on R-rated in their exploration of Wolverine in an older, sicker and battle-weary form.

The First Teaser Trailer For Logan Makes Hugh Jackman's Last Wolverine Movie Look Very Different And Emotional

The final X-Men movie to feature Hugh Jackman as Wolverine is on its way for March. It's got a title (Logan, a nice little contrast with the title of the last solo Wolverine movie The Wolverine), a cast that includes Patrick Stewart, Stephen Merchant and Boyd Holbrook and now it's got a teaser trailer. Check it out below and prepare to see something very different from past X-Men movies and American blockbusters in general.

Green Room Review

You know all the hype you've heard about Green Room for the past month or two? All of that deafening praise surrounding the newest movie from director Jeremy Saulnier? Well, I'm here today to say all of that chitter-chatter was....more than well-earned. Yep, Green Room is indeed a superb thriller, one that's packed to the gills with bloody mayhem and strong screenwriting as well as a turn from Anton Yelchin that cemented him in my eyes as a more than viable leading man.

Grab Your Thunder Buddy And Watch The Trailer For Ted 2!!!

Alright, I know I'm going to alienate tons of people here, but honestly, I'm a huge fan of the Ted. The film hit just the right note of over-the-top humor and surprisingly fleshed out characters (the friendship between Ted and John was nicely realized). Seth MacFarlane's last film, A Million Ways To Die In The West, underwhelmed me, since it played into many of the filmmakers worst tendencies that Ted somehow managed to avoid. Still, I have been looking forward to MacFarlane's next film, Ted 2, which just got a trailer that you can you watch below!

X-Men: Days Of Future Past Review

Welcome to The Future

The X-Men face their most terrifying threat yet; Sentinels...and bad photoshop

The future is very rarely an idyllic place in the world of movies. Even family movies like WALL-E make sure it looks terrible, while R-rated movies go to the most extreme ways possible to prove just how deplorable the future is. The X-Men likely think everybody from Max Mad to Robert Neville got it easy though, as their future consists of giant adaptive robots killing every mutant in sight.

The opening scene of X-Men: Days of Future Past, which introduces us to those robots (called Sentinels), is a thing of beauty, as it beautifully sets up how miserable this future really is, as mutants are killed off in a casual manner that makes one sick. Besides setting up an impressive action and tone-defining sequence, the opening also shows off one of the movie’s greatest assets; it’s ability to make any character that pops up immediately memorable. The unique powers that comes with each of the many mutants we meet in the film are so darn cool that it’s hard not to root for them (my personal favorite is featured in that opening; Bishop, played by Omar Sy).

Soon though, Wolverine (still played terrifically by Hugh Jackman) is off to 1973, where he hopes to get younger versions of Xavier (James McAvoy) and Magneto (Michael Fassbender) to help prevent the creation of those pesky Sentinels. The arc Wolverine’s undergone in six of these seven movies has had it’s ups and downs, but it all culminates nicely here, as he has to take responsibility and be more of a helpful presence to the younger versions of Xavier and Magneto. Jackman handles this thoughtful side of the character in fine fashion, while also delivering an immensely quotable one-liner and awesome fight scene in similarly successful style.

The 1973 seen in this movie is a dazzling place that sucks one in due to the insane amount of detail here. That year really wasn’t that long ago, yet it feels like an entirely different world compared to the one we have today. Thankfully, they play up these differences to their maximum potential, as everything from Pong to Richard Nixon is given time to shine.This era also gets us to McAvoy who absolutely brings it as young Xavier, a tortured soul who’s now a drug addict and a recluse. McAvoy does do an excellent job making sure his character comes off across as damaged, but not unlikable, a tough balance that he pulls off nicely.

McAvoy and Fassbender had some terrific chemistry in X-Men: First Class (for me, still the best X-Men movie) and perhaps the film’s only disappointment is the lack of time the two spend together. The one major scene they do get is gripping, but soon Fassbender does some things that feel abrupt and unwarranted; I get why they did him, but they could have been executed better, especially since they come at the cost of Fassbender interacting with the spectacular ensemble cast. It doesn’t help that Fassbender does some stuff in the finale that feels….weird and a little over the top considering the circumstances he’s acting in. Add in some questionable actions involving Beast and Wolverine, and some of the climax of this feature does slightly underwhelm, though it’s saved by some final few set pieces that being the film back to glory.

Oh, and lest I forget, the rest of the ensemble cast, by the way, is thankfully well balanced, with Halle Berry and Ellen Page getting nice cameos while (contrary to the public consensus) Jennifer Lawrence does a superb job handling all the complexities Mystique has to endure in this film. By the way, you’ve likely heard by now about Evan Peters landmark action sequence as Quicksilver. Spoiler Alert: it more than lives up to the hype.

Really, some underwhelming aspects of the finale notwithstanding (which still pale to The Wolverine, which I was overly generous with last summer) X-Men: Days of Future Past is still excellent moviemaking that shows how good storytelling mixed with superb action is an extremely potent mix.