QUICK REVIEW: Logan (NO SPOILERS)

Howdy ladies and gents how’s it going? So after months of waiting with really solid trailers and ominous black and white imagery, we’re here in March with the release of Logan, one of the most notable blockbusters of the year. I’ve been hyped for this film since the first trailer and with the early reviews I got really excited to see the end result, so after checking it out last night I’m ready to pass judgement.

The story can described as the following:

“In the near future, a weary Logan cares for an ailing Professor X in a hide out on the Mexican border. But Logan’s attempts to hide from the world and his legacy are up-ended when a young mutant arrives, being pursued by dark forces.”

What I appreciated about this film was how different it was. The best way to describe this film is that it is an emotional rollercoaster from start to finish, you’ll be laughing one minute and be super sad the next or be shocked one second and super tense later on, this film covers every emotional base. Tonally it’s not only different to the rest of the X-Men films, but also comic book films in general, the direction and approach to story, character and drama felt dark, mature, melancholy and surreal. If it weren’t for mentions of mutants, verbal and visual cues to previous films and the use of Hugh Jackman and Patrick Stewart, you probably wouldn’t guess this was an X-Men film at all, and that could be a good or bad thing depending on what kind of fan you are of this film series. The overall story is solid and unfolds in a lot unexpected ways, if I had anything I would nitpick about, and I mine the tiniest nitpicks would be that the film’s story unfolded differently than I expected and there’s a few questions the film presents that never get enough clarification, but otherwise I really enjoyed this story.

The cast as excellent and all did great in their roles. Firstly thee’s Hugh Jackman as Logan/Wolverine and he kills it in this film. Jackman’s been fantastic in this role for the last 17 years and has only gotten better with each film, and he we get Logan at his lowest point, he’s troubled by his past, is in bad shape, not healing properly and his lifestyle is hardly ideal but he has no other choice. Jackman really channels the core elements of what makes Wolverine such an interesting and endearing character in the comics not through the physicality of his performance but also through dialogue and facial expressions. Patrick Stewart’s return as Charles Xavier/Professor X was incredible, while I’ve always liked what Stewart brought to this role, in this film because of Xavier’s old age, condition and certain story elements we get to see a totally different side to this character, one that is fun, strange and hard to watch at times and as usual Stewart puts his talents to good use here. Oh and of course we have to talk about Dafne Keen as Laura, good gravy, I dunno where Jame Mangold and the casting people found this girl but she was damn good! Laura is an interesting character not only because of her origins but also due to her interactions with other but in the conversational type and physical type, she’s quiet yet feisty and she doesn’t say much but says a lot though facial expressions and kicking ass and Keen is such a humourous little badass but also quite serious too. Boyd Holbrook was really good as Donald Pierce, Holbrook was always physically intimidating, charming and cool as the tenacious villain, Stephen Merchant was also very interesting as Caliban, he had a more substantial role than I expected and I liked his interactions with Logan too, and finally Richard E. Grant was also quite memorable in the film too.

When it comes to the presentation it was really solid. Visually the film was damn good, the cinematography was really good with some lovely landscape shots, good angles and tracking shots during the action scenes and a good use of colour too. But I seriously have to commend the filmmakers on the action, holy crap this film was gorgeous. This film puts that 15/R-rating to good use as people get cut and stabbed left right and center, there’s brutal gun fights and explosions, and it is handled with great style, violence and brutality. Wolverine and Laura go to work in this film with some of the best choreographed action scenes in the superhero genre, plus some of the kills are some of the best, most filthy and creative material I’ve seen for a while. And the film score from Marco Beltrami was pretty solid, at times it was really impressive, dramatic and had presence in the action sequences for sure, that being said some of the instrumentation felt a little too heavy or strange in parts.

In conclusion Logan was a pretty dramatic session with a lot of unexpected elements with the story and characters. Loved the action, violence and quiet character moments, it isn’t your conventional comic book film, but it’s definitely the Wolverine film fans have wanted for years and I would recommend it.

So are you going to watch Logan or if you’ve seen it what did you think of it? Be sure to drop me a comment below and I’ll see ya on the next review, laters! 😀

 

A Walk Among the Tombstones Mini Review

Yo people of the internet, time for another mini review and today I’ll be talking about A Walk Among the Tombstones. Now Initially I wasn’t going to watch this film purely because it looked like Taken 3 from the way it was advertised and while I love Liam Neeson, I’m tired of the whole ‘I’m a hard man who runs around with a gun beating up bad guys and stuff.’ But then I started hearing good reviews about the film which surprised me, so last night I watched the film with my dad to see what the fuss was about.

So the story goes like this:

“Private investigator Matthew Scudder is hired by a drug kingpin to find out who kidnapped and murdered his wife.”

The story is a familiar one within this genre, but it does enough unique things to stand out from other films and is entertaining for the most part. I was surprised by how many people came into play with the main murder, I thought it would be a similar case that just involved one party, but there were many people tied together because they were in the same line of business and had suffered similar losses. It was pretty cool to see some detective work being done and see how so many pieces of this crazy puzzle came together. I do feel like the story did drag its feet a bit and some things came together very conveniently for my liking.

When it comes to the cast I feel like they all did a great job. Liam Neeson was great as Matthew Scudder, the reason why I liked Neeson’s performance was because he had to do more than just talk tough and beat up people, he actually had to try and do some acting and this film reminds me of why I love the guy in the first place. Scudder is a man who is scarred by the actions of his past and now tries to do right, even if his methods aren’t always legal. I like how he is detached from people and operates on his own, but has some great interactions with other people in this film. Brian “Astro” Bradley was also good as TJ, this kid is someone who sees the world for what it is, he’s smart, blunt and only cares for himself, however, once coming across Scudder and having interactions with him, he finds more to do with his time. I thought Bradley was cool, interesting and very funny at several points in the film.

A big shout out should go to David Harbour and Adam David Thompson, who play as Ray and Albert, as they happen to play two of the creepiest individuals I have come across in a film in a while, they play quite despicable and disturbing individuals who really are the lowest form of human beings (if you can call them that). Especially when it comes to Ray, that guy, just the look on his face, the way he speaks and conducts himself is just unsettling in every way. Other good performances came from Dan Stevens as Kenny Kristo, Boyd Holbrook as Peter Kristo and Sebastian Roché as Yuri Landau (who I liked very much, but if was distracting how much he reminded me of Gordon Ramsay).

In conclusion A Walk Among the Tombstones is a nice thriller with Liam Neeson giving a good central performance. The film is a bit of a slow burn and some Neeson fans will be disappointed by the lack of action, but if you’re willing to give this film a chance then you’ll find a smart, dark and interesting thriller here.

Rating: 7/10

So, A Walk Among the Tombstones, have you seen it and what do you think of it? Leave your thoughts in the comments below and I’ll see ya on the next review. Laters. 😀

 

Four More Actors Up For Harry Osborn Role in The Amazing Spider-Man Sequel

Just when I thought the hyped around Harry Osborn was over, a few more actors join the fray. Here’s the report from superherohype yo:

“On the heels of last week’s report that suggested three actors reading for the role of Harry Osborn in Marc Webb’s upcoming sequel to The Amazing Spider-Man comes, also via The Hollywood Reporter, another four names said to be auditioning today. The new list includes Douglas Booth (Noah), Sam Claflin (Snow White and the Huntsman), Boyd Holbrook (The Host) and Eddie Redmayne (My Week with Marilyn).

The update seems to now contradict the trade’s earlier notion that the role would have a “dark & edgy” bent to it and, instead, a charismatic and athletic Osborn is being sought.

Played by James Franco in Sam Raimi’s original trilogy, Harry is the son of Spider-Man’s arch-foe, Norman Osborn (aka the Green Goblin). In the comics, Harry assumes the Goblin mantle after his father’s death.

Whoever is cast will join the returning Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone along with Shailene Woodley in the part of Mary Jane Watson.

The Amazing Spider-Man sequel hits theaters on May 2, 2014.”

(Photo Credit: PBI / Lia Toby / Brian To / WENN.com)

Unfortunately none I haven’t seen any of these guys to any great degree to judge their acting skills. I did see Snow White and the Huntsman but I do not remember Sam Claflin in the film at all. In terms of the people who I think have the right look I would say it’s between Holbrook and Redmayne, Holbrook has an interesting look to him, while Redmayne has the rough and aggressive look which would really work well if the filmmakers decided to play on Harry’s darker side and get him involved with drugs. Booth just looks too pretty in that photograph for me to imagine him as Harry Osborn and no offence to Claflin but I don’t see Harry Osborn there at all.

Well there’s my two cents on this, what’s your opinions folks?