Tuesday's With Movies: 12/3/13

Wolverine: I have heard so many mixed reviews on this, but I don't understand them. I thought this was a great movie - granted I didn't hate the Origins film, but this was still heads and shoulders above that one. Perhaps the reason was because of the great teaser at the end - which just got so many people excited for the next film. Either way, here is my review - I will definitely be watching this one again.

Smurfs 2: I was surprised by the first film, but I still have yet to watch it for a second time. That is usually the barometer for me if I really like a movie. But, I still have a seven-year old in the house, so I will be watching this. Hopefully it's at least as good as the first.

Mortal Instruments: City of Bones: I have to be honest, I have no idea what this is. Apparently some people in my family have been reading this book series and it is supposed to be the new Twilight or Harry Potter. I can't, however, believe they will be as big as those two franchises because the first film is about to be on DVD and I have heard pretty much nothing about it.

Drinking Buddies: This looks absolutely amazing and it has four amazing actors in it - including my girl Anna Kendrick. Definitely will be watching this as soon as I can.

All the Boys Love Mandy Lane: Well, on imdb it says this movie was made in 2006 - that cannot be a good sign about how good this film is. Either way, looks like a Scream-like film where a ton of classmates begin to drop like flies - and someone needs to figure out who is doing it.

Theater Review: The Wolverine

I know its sacrilegious to say, but I didn't hate X-Men Origins: Wolverine as much as everyone else. I think what it comes down to the most is that a lot of people that read the comics were upset about the way things came across and how characters were represented. I never read the comics, so I don't look at it as closely.

But, it is still the worst of the series, right behind X-Men: The Last Stand. And with those two combined, a lot of wrongs needed to be righted. We got a nice, fresh look with X-Men: First Class - and here they try to give us the Wolverine story we were supposed to get.

Hugh Jackman reprises his role as Logan for I believe the sixth time in The Wolverine. And, it is probably his best performance out of all three. He has truly embraced and become Wolverine.

The film takes place years after The Last Stand and Logan is now living as a hermit in the woods - still having trouble sleeping and reliving his actions against Jean Grey. He doesn't go into town often, except to get supplies he needs - and he has basically become part of the wild.

But, hunters in the woods have set him off - and he returns to town to approach one of them. Unleashing the Wolverine despite trying to keep him dormant.

About to do go crazy on some people in a bar, Logan is stopped by Yukio (Rila Fukushima), who for the past year has been trying to locate Logan for her employer Yashida (Hal Yamanouchi).

In a flashback, we find that Logan was in a POW camp in Japan near Nagasaki in 1945. The camp about to be bombed, Logan rescues and protects Yashida from certain death.

Yashida, with a new life granted upon him, becomes one of the richest and most powerful men in Japan and is the CEO if his own technology corporation. Now on his death bed, he has asked Yukio to bring Logan to Japan so he can thank him properly for saving his life - before he dies.

But, Yashida also has a surprise for Logan - he believes he has found the ability to take away his healing powers and allow Logan to live a normal life and die in peace.

Of course, that is just the setup. What would an X-Men movie be without a ton of things going wrong, and someone wanting to take something by force. And, we get a lot of great action sequences - and some great insight into Logan's life, and a new love interest, Mariko (Tao Okamoto), the granddaughter of Yashida - who Logan soon needs to protect.

And, he must protect her as his healing abilities begin to fade away.

This was by no means a perfect film, but it was probably the Wolverine movie we should have gotten in the first place. Jackman is outstanding as Wolverine, and can easily carry an X-Men film on his own - but I was definitely missing some of the old gang.

As good as the movie was - I was even more excited by staying and seeing the credit scene. A great scene that helps setup the next X-Men installment. And, I cannot wait now.

Grade:

Top 10: Summer 2013

Every so often there is a summer that is robust with films that I want to see. Occasionally, there is a pretty bland summer with just a few, but looking over summer 2013 it looks like another great year for movies.

I know that the summer movie season seems to be moving further and further into the spring (and sometimes end of winter) months, with G.I. Joe: Retaliation, Oblivion and even Jurassic Park: 3D being released already. But, I am only going to count the months of May-August for my list.

 So, here are my Top 10 movies I am most anticipating this summer.

Honorable Mentions: The Internship, Lone Ranger, Pacific Rim. All three of these movies look like they could be good, but as of now they did not crack my Top 10.

10) The Wolverine

This would probably be higher because of how much I have enjoyed the X-Men series, and I even liked the Wolverine origin story. So, I will no doubt enjoy this as well. But, the first couple trailers have not pulled me in as much as some of the other films on this list. Although I am anticipating seeing this, for now it is at No. 10.

9) Elysium

Last week this may not have even been on this list. I don't think I had even heard of it, but I finally was able to check out the trailer a couple days ago and it looks amazing. Although I wasn't as big a fan of District 9 as everyone else seemed to be, it did look great. This one, so far, looks like it may look great and have a good story to go with it.

8) Now You See Me

Probably the least likely film on this list out of all the summer blockbusters. However, I love me a good heist film - the Ocean's Eleven movies will always hold a special place in my heart. This looks great - using magic to pull off the heist. And, it has a ton of fun actors in it as well.

7) This is the End

This will be incredibly stupid, but also - I am hoping - incredibly funny. The red-band trailer that came out a few weeks ago was down-right hilarious and if all of the gags weren't in that trailer than this film should not disappoint.

6) Monsters University

Honestly, as much as I love Pixar, even I am getting a bit irratated about the amount of sequels they are churning out. But, if the story is funny and has that Pixar heart involved, I am definitely going to be checking it out. Knowing the main characters already just helps with the attachment to the film - and looks like some of the new ones will be just as funny.

5) Man of Steel

I guess it's a good thing that I have slowly gotten into superheroes, mostly because of my son, because there are an absolute ton of superhero movies being released. I really thought about making this No. 4, but as cool as Superman is there just has not been a great movie made about him, in my opinion. This one has the chance to be the first, but I was burned with Superman Returns. Hopefully, they got it right this time.

4) Fast and Furious 6

Though I might be more interested in Man of Steel in the end I went with what was more familiar and what has worked in the past. It's odd that we are now on the sixth film of this franchise (seven if you count Tokyo Drift) but, for the most part, all of the films are really enjoyable. And, with the gang back together it's even better.

3) Kick-Ass 2

Didn't check the first film out in the theater, and I think it took me awhile before I finally checked it out on DVD, but I absolutely loved it. Hit-Girl is an amazing character and I have probably watched the trailer for this movie 15 times. Very excited to check this one out.

2) Iron Man 3

As of right now, Kick-Ass 2 is pretty darn close to being No. 2 on this list - but my love for The Avengers last year and knowing how great the Marvel films have been I am still expecting a lot from this movie. I really don't think they will let us down with the first film after Avengers.

1) Star Trek: Into Darkness

Was there even any doubt? When Star Trek came out in 2009 I was so pumped - and for the film to not only live up to my expectations but to surpass them was amazing. One of the first films in awhile I absolutely had to see again as soon as I stepped out of the theater. And, I feel this new film may even have a chance to out do the original - which may have been my favorite movie in the past four years.