Logan, Not Your Average Superhero Movie

Seventeen years ago, Hugh Jackman became The Wolverine in the X-Men movie franchise. He was
an instant success. Despite some often panned movies, there was always Jackman's Logan, Weapon X, Wolverine...that fans loved. He is a fan favorite and will remain the iconic actor by which all who follow in the role will be measured. Even though Jackman's Wolverine never donned the famed yellow spandex of the comic book, He leaves us with his last and probably best of the X-Men movies ever made, Logan.

Logan is inspired by the comic book series Old Man Logan. It is loosely based on the alternative world series, but still, it works as yet another timeline in the X-Men saga. The movie is set in 2029. That does not mean it's the same timeline as the other movies since most of the X-Men movies are not sequential anyways. It is as Time puts it, perhaps the most complex timeline in the movie universe. It also doesn't actually mean that Logan takes place in any of the timelines.

Only a few minor spoilers follow. Nothing that isn't revealed in the exposition of the movie. 

Logan, who has tried to leave Wolverine behind him, drives a limousine in Texas. He has taken the now 90 plus year-old Professor Charles Xavier to live in an abandoned mill in Mexico. While he drives to make his living, Charles is cared for by mutant and one-time mutant hunter, Caliban, an albino. Professor X is suffering from a deteriorating brain disease which makes his powerful telepathic mind a danger. There are several veiled references to the three mutants as being in hiding because of an event in which Professor X lost control of his ability. There are also references that most of the other mutants have disappeared or died, but there is no reference or detail. Patrick Stewart returns as Professor X and has also announced that this too will be his last time in the chair.

Logan has finally begun to age. Something is physically wrong with the superhero but has he also lost his drive to do good? We will find out when Logan and Professor X are introduced to a young mutant named Laura. Laura is a mutant that was created through genetic manipulation using Logan's own DNA. In the comics, she will become Weapon 23 who donned the mantle of the Wolverine in the alternative world. In the movie, she is a child who was first trained as a weapon and killer.  She is played by the newcomer, Dafne Keen who plays a very believable child-weapon. They are confronted by villains galore. Most notably is the leader of the military team trying to recapture Laura, Donald Pierce (Boyd Holbrook) and evil mad-scientist Dr. Rice (Richard E. Grant).

Logan is a different superhero movie. Its tone is somber and often dark. Wolverine is not the man he once was. He is beaten by what he has witnessed by his long life. His only remaining "family" is Professor X and the albino mutant, Caliban, that once hunted him and others like him. It is this that drives the movie, and also makes it probably the best in the saga so far. I for one will miss Jackman and Stewart but I also look forward to the new. Logan is the perfect bookend to the time that Jackman has spent as The Wolverine and the best, I think, of the X-Men franchise.

Logan is rated R for language and its extreme violence. The rating truly matches the gritty tone of the movie. It also has no after credit scene. Don't despair. It makes perfect sense and if you truly miss the after credit scene, you get a brief preview of Deadpool 2 at the beginning.

I will buy the Blue-ray.

Single-Minded Action: John Wick, Chapter 2

Action hero, anti-hero, cold-blooded killer, ultimate killing machine...all fit the character of John Wick played by Keanu Reeves. There is something different about the action movie series John Wick. The first movie was the story of this ultimate assassin who gave up his legendary status in the underworld for love. When his wife dies, Wick is left with only the memory of his wife, the dog she gave him, and his car. When the car is stolen and the dog killed by a reckless member of the Russian underworld who attacks Wick in his home, Wick returns momentarily to seek vengeance and get his car back. The action sequences of the first John Wick film are, to say the least, astonishing. The movie was a surprise hit.


In John Wick, Chapter 2, Wick is once again forced to return to his old life as "The Boogey Man" when a member of the Italian underworld, Santino D'Antonio (Riccardo Scamarcio), demands his services using a marker or blood oath that in Wick's world is inviolate. Wick begs Santino not to call in this marker, but Santino will not be put off and destroys Wick's home and so many of the memories that Wick has used for his wife. And so, Wick meets his tormentor's demands and then turns on the tormentor. 

If possible, the action sequences are even more astonishing than the original. John Wick, Chapter 2 is an action movie in every sense of the word. What makes it work is not just the seemingly continuous action sequences that are seamlessly staged, the movie gives the audience moments to breath filled with often dark humor. Wick is played by Reeves not as some sociopath but with a certain moral code and empathetic feel. He is not just good at what he does, he is the most efficient in the world. John Wick, Chapter 2 is an enjoyable, over-the-top movie that is a fun watch and every bit as much fun as the first. John Wick, Chapter 2 is rated R for extreme violence and brief nudity. While Lionsgate has not officially green-lit Chapter 3, it is pretty clear from the end of Chapter 2, Keanu Reeves and director, Chad Stahelski, that it is already in the works and both actor and director are looking forward to making the third installment of the franchise.

Hidden Figures: A Story that Should Always Be Visible

I always approach movies that start with "based on a true story" with a bit of trepidation because far too often the statement should also include "with a lot of fictional stuff too." Hidden Figures is astonishing at capturing an astounding and often shameful era in our history. What makes Hidden Figures different is that, aside from the creation of a few fictional characters who are more composite characters, it strives to show a culture which many would like to think of as long past. Sadly, even today, we still see such beliefs rise up again and again. 

I was born in the late 1950's. When I first learned of the idea of separate but equal and things like "colored only" bathrooms or drinking fountains, it was beyond my understanding. Yes, it's true. I grew up in a small town in Colorado which had no African Americans, and we were sheltered from the Civil Rights movement. I'm not saying that there were no people of color in my life. I would no sooner think of my Hispanic buddies as needing a separate fountains or bathrooms than I would a family member. The point is that such an idea I still find foreign and that is what makes Hidden Figures important. It brings to life a time that we must always guard against.

Hidden Figures is the story of three remarkable women from the early days of NASA. It is the story of Katherine Johnson (Taraji P. Henson), a NASA mathematician who calculated flight paths for the early space flights including John Glenn's historic orbit, Alan Shepard's first flight into space, the flight path for Apollo 11 and was involved in solving the problems of returning Apollo 13 safely home; Dorothy Vaughn (Octavia Spencer), NASA's first African American and woman supervisor of the new IBM computer systems; and Mary Jackson, (Janelle Monáe), the remarkable first African American NASA engineer who won the right to attend White college extension classes in segregated West Virginia. These three ladies crossed lines of race, gender, and profession to not only work with the some of the greatest minds of the mid-Twentieth Century but became leaders of those teams tasked with the space race to the moon in the 1960s. It was a remarkable time of great change and turmoil and Johnson, Vaughn, and Johnson were astonishing people. 

While characters like Al Harrison (Kevin Costner), Vivian Mitchell (Kirsten Dunst), and Paul Stafford (Jim Parsons) are actually composite or even symbolic of people from the era. Al Harrison is actually a composite of three supervisors, and Stafford and Mitchell are symbolic of the problems that the three mathematicians or computers had to face. It gives us a chance to see that the people like Stafford and Mitchell weren't evil or villains, they were a product of the era.  The problem of societal racism is one that still exists. The movie shows how easy it is not to be aware of the problem. As Mitchell tells Vaughn, "Despite what you may think, I have nothing against y'all" (meaning African Americans), it is Vaughn's revealing reply for all to heed, "I know you probably believe that."

If you don't cheer, tear up a bit, or feel a burst of joy at the accomplishments and tenacity of these three "hidden figures," you have no heart. It is a wonderful story of tenacity and power. While some of the stories are a bit of fiction and some of the characters are fictional composites and symbols, Hidden Figures is a movie that not only reminds us of the problems and glory of our history but also reminds us that we must always guard and fight against becoming that society. Hidden Figures also offers us something else. It shows us hope and joy that we can become the society we should become. It is a story that should always be visible.

La La Land: A Tribute to a Gone By Era

I am not sure why I like La La Land, but I do. It is both a tribute to musicals of the Golden Age and a modern, bitter-sweet romantic comedy. La La Land is built around the simple and classic premise of boy meets girl. They both have dreams. They get their dreams to come true, but it is not necessarily the happy ending of the old musicals. Yet, the ending is uplifting in its way as the time flies in an impressionist tribute to the way time moves and how if La La Land were a 1940's musical it could have ended. The movie isn't that 1940's love story though, and so we remember our first loves but like time life flows onward.

Writer/Director Damien Chazelle, whose credits include the intense movie Whiplash, creates a love letter to the fanciful era of musicals like Singing in the Rain when people burst out into song. It is fun and lively and, like the musicals it pays tribute to, has a storyline that is fairly predictable. Chazelle even manages to show his love of jazz and the conflict that drives jazz as a music form just as he did in Whiplash. 


The story is about the love affair between a struggling actress Mia (Emma Stone) and struggling jazz pianist Sebastian (Ryan Gosling). We follow them on a romp through LA as each seeks their dream. Mia dreams of becoming the great actress and Sebastian of opening a jazz club where he will renew the dying art form. While neither Gosling nor Stone are powerhouse singers or dancers, there is chemistry and magic in their performance. Emma Stone's performance is a tour de force of her talent.  If her charm and big eyes don't reach you, you have no heart. Ryan Gosling is perfect as the struggling jazz artist who is torn between a modern world and the music of a past era. the music of a past era.

La La Land has the feel of a stage style musical or one of those old MGM musicals. It starts with a rather strange song and dance number on a freeway in LA that makes you wonder what on Earth have you've let yourself in for, and then draws you into its embrace. By the end, you will want to sit in your car and lean on the horn. It is one of the better movies of the season. 

Collateral Beauty Critics Will Hate It

Yes, I know the Christmas movie Collateral Beauty is about out of the theaters but it is still showing two or so shows a day in a few theaters or you can call this my DVD review or maybe go see it when it goes to the Dollar Cinemas. Collateral Beauty is one hundred percent schmaltz. That's a good thing.

Yes, I know. Professional critics have for the most part universally panned the movie because it is melodramatic, it is sentimental, and it has heavy-handed pandering to our feels. It is why you should go see it. This is not new. Professional critics, as a rule, hate certain kinds of movies. They are going to hate most movies that were adapted from comic books. They are going to hate most remakes. - Okay, I'll give ‘em the remakes one. Most of those are pretty bad. - Most of all, professional critics hate movies that tug at our hearts or manipulate our emotions. For the most part, critics universally hated It's a Wonderful Life, The Wizard of Oz, and Home Alone, just to mention a few. Heck, even Psycho got mediocre reviews. 

Collateral Beauty is everything a movie like this should be. It is sentimental. It is predictable. It manipulates our emotions. It is well acted. It seeks to give us an uplifting message. In this time, we need a feel good time. If there is anything Collateral Beauty lacks is that it could have easily expanded the roles and perhaps even the side stories of it stellar cast. I could have easily had more from the edgy Time character (Jacob Latimore) or Love (Keira Knightly), and of course, who doesn't always want more of the stunning embodiment of acting, Helen Mirren who plays "Death"?

Collateral Beauty is the story of Howard Inlet (Will Smith) who has become a shell of the man he once was. Once a vibrant man, he has become a withdrawn human when his six-year-old daughter dies. He now uses his time at his business to build complicated domino fall rows and writes letters to Time, Love and Death.  His three partners, Whit (Edward Norton), Claire (Kate Winslet) and Simon (Michael Peña) need to sell the business if it is to survive. They must convince Howard, who has the controlling stock that he must move on. They hire, or so they think, three actors to become Howard's objects of his letters. Oddly, each of the partners must also deal with their own ghosts of time, love and death. They all must learn. While it will never be okay, Howard will learn to deal with the loss of his daughter, just as his partners learn to deal with their own demons. 

In perhaps the heaviest handed symbol in the movie, life becomes like those falling dominos. Beautiful, fragile, interconnected, and having impact that is a moment of Collateral Beauty. If you go see it, take my daughter's advice, "Bring a hanky."

Assassin's Creed Overly Broad

As a sometimes gamer, there is a hand full of video games that I love to play. One of those is Assassin's Creed. One of the things I've loved about the game is one it has a serious plot, an interesting character to play and a broad scope based on history. It is this that causes trouble for Assassin's Creed the movie.

Let's face it; most movies based on video games have problems to overcome. Most video games have little in the way of a usable movie plot or characters that are paper thin.  Then there are games like World of Warcraft which is basically huge in scope and reliant on a character the gamer creates. No real plot but a series of loosely related adventures. A few video games are the opposite problem. The scope of the game is huge and has a cast of characters with one or two fleshed out characters and the rest basically included for gaming action. No back story really needed. They exist because without them the game character has no one to challenge him or her. What this all means is that for the most part, video games turned into movies seldom work. 

Assassin's Creed has the last problem. The story is just too vast. Even though the movie tries to condense the story, it has the problem of dealing with the world that gamers are immersed in while playing but movie viewers aren't. The movie is entertaining and has some really good action sequences, but it has so many stories it wants to tell that it fails in the end to become the action movie it wants to be. Its cast is a stellar one with Michael Fassbender as the assassin Cal in the present and Aguilar in the past. The problem is that because of the dueling timeline stories, we don't really get the relationships that the assassins seem to share in both past and present. The creation of characters that don't exist in the video game also doesn't really lessen this issue. 

Then there is the bad guy, Rikkin, played by Jeremy Irons. Irons is always a great villain. Assassin's Creed utterly fails to use this talented actor. The final conflict between Cal and Rikken is, to put it bluntly, anti-climactic. It is clear that the movie was supposed to be good enough that its sequel will be automatic which according to rumors is already in the works. Maybe the sequel will help, but the scope of the story needs work.

The movie was enjoyable enough if you like solely action sequences and amazing CGI. The movie does also capture some of the more amazing scenes that are straight out of the game. That flavor is there, but Assassin's Creed is just too sprawling in the story it wants to tell to succeed in what it wants to accomplish. 

Passengers: A Bit Thin

THERE BE SPOILERS HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The movie Passengers is an entertaining enough as a movie. The actors do their job. Chris Pratt and Jennifer Lawrence have really good chemistry on screen. It also has a visually a nice look, but I wouldn't waste the money on 3-D. 

Passengers also has a multitude of problems if you spend any time thinking about a movie that has a very thin plot and characters lacking any sort of depth. The problem is that Passengers suffers from one of those misleading advertising campaigns that don't really capture the film. 

FINAL WARNING, SPOILERS LIE AHEAD

The premise is fairly simple. Five Thousand souls plus crew are placed in animated suspension on a 120-year journey to a new life. The problem is that the ship runs into a huge meteor storm which causes one of the systems to fail. This failure results in waking Chris Pratt's character Jim ninety years too soon. What the trailers don't tell us is that Jim lives on the spaceship for just over a year before considering suicide and then falling in love with one of the sleeping passengers, Jennifer Lawrence's character Aurora. In his desperate loneliness, Jim struggles with whether he should awaken Aurora. He, of course, does awaken her and for a while pretends that she too has been brought to consciousness by accident. The suspension chambers are only meant to keep them asleep but do not have the capability to re-initiate the process once someone awakens. After another year, Aurora discovers what Jim did and of course hates him for it.

At its core, Passengers is a love story. The decision whether to awaken Aurora is the moral problem, unfortunately, it is not enough to drive the movie's plot which is more than a bit predictable. Jim is capable of fixing things and building things like robots and even opening the occasional locked door. Yet, Jim who is a mechanic with incredible abilities cannot seem to open the doors he needs to enter or even reprogram food dispensers to give him a better coffee even though he has convinced the computer that he can have access to better rooms and can bypass other systems on the ship like sleeping pods.

They live on a ship that has an amazing human-like android bartender (Michael Sheen) but has waiters that look like, well, robots. It is a ship that has no robots or androids that can repair systems when they go awry. It doesn't even have instructions to awaken a crew member when major systems fail. I think you begin to see the problems with the plotline. After establishing that Jim and Aurora are unable to access the bridge, the crew quarters, or get answers from the computer, we meet Laurence Fishburne's character Gus. In order for the plot to move forward, another character, this time a crewmember finds himself conscious. He helps Jim and Aurora discover what needs to be done to save the 4998 sleeping passengers plus crew. Gus then dies since his sleeping pod failure apparently causes catastrophic physical failure by its sudden awakening that didn't happen to Jim or when Jim bypassed the programming to awaken Aurora. 

The characters have little to no backstory for us to become involved in. We never understand how it is Jim described as a mechanic can do some pretty amazing things but fail at doing other things. Aurora is the wealthy daughter of an apparently famous writer. She is a self-described journalist. That's it. It's all we know about Jim and Aurora. Gus could've been a great character but he is little more than a plot point. Arthur the android and somewhat humorous bartender too is unused and has a great character possibility. Should I point out that Sleeping Beauty's name in the Disney film is Aurora or is that too much?

Passengers is entertaining enough but it is a simple love story. It is built around the moral choice of Jim, and Aurora has to learn to deal with that choice when she finds out. It doesn't make for a strong movie, just an okay one.