OG Mutant in Revolt

No end and no beginning....

Those lyrics by Madonna came to mind almost immediately upon leaving the theater, having properly kicked off the summer season – so sowy, Captain America et al., and Batman and Superman! – by catching X-Men: Apocalypse, the threequel to the prequel-sequel-movie-with-the-mequel. Y’ know (don’t act like you don’t), the second Bryan Singer-directed follow-up to 2011’s X-Men: First Class (the first being X-Men: Days of Future Past, which opened two Memorial Day weekends ago).

But why – why did that particular thought cross my mind?

Because, as the seminal and successful franchise stands, the future participation of new-gen stars James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, and Jennifer Lawrence is completely up in the air (all three were contracted for a reboot trilogy), yet that of next-gen X-Men like Sophie Turner (HBO’s Game of Thrones), Mud’s Tye Sheridan, Kodi Smit-McPhee (Dawn of the Planet of the Apes), Alexandra Shipp (she played Aaliyah for Lifetime), and newcomer Lana Condor – who respectively join the action as young Jean Grey, Cyclops, Nightcrawler, Storm, and Jubilee – is all but assured.

Also, because Simon Kinberg’s screenplay allows for quite the neat resolution to the destructo-drama that Oscar Isaac’s villain of the title brings about – no spoiler, since, after all, his character is named Apocalypse. Trust me, folks, to say this doesn’t constitute a betrayal. You don’t really believe that the mythical OG mutant the actor portrays – or tries to under a beyond-misguided, if necessary thicket of purple-ish blue make-up and armor like – comes out on top, right?

If you do, I have a bridge I’d like to talk to you about.

While it gets thisclose, the end of the world doesn’t take to be in this one, ’cause of the X-Men – although a heckuva lot of collateral damage is produced. Most of our young heroes live to see the rest of the ’80s (the action picks up in 1983, a decade after the events of the last blockbuster), and all is well on Earth, at least until the post-credits scene gets to rollin’ and you get to wonderin’ again).

X-Men Apocalypse has great strengths and greater weaknesses. It wisely gives J. Law’s Mystique a leadership role to sink her teeth into, albeit reluctantly, before she realizes who Apocalypse is or that he has awoken from a millennia-long slumber – a smart move that makes us think of Katniss Everdeen. It effectively introduces a new crop of X-Men that swiftly and somewhat smoothly becomes ready for battle (and good at it, too); Turner, in particular, is a standout. It even throws it back to First Class by giving us more Rose Byrne, whose CIA agent Moira MacTaggert becomes a grounding, welcome sight for sore eyes (an abundance of pop-y-colored visual effects will do that to ya) even if she’s made to repeat clumsy exposition, if memory serves.

Plus, there’s a sharp cameo at the halfway point everyone’s gonna love.

What’s cringe-worthy is how truly indistinctive the bad guy turns out to be – no fault of Isaac, for I am sure it wasn’t his idea to style the peacock, not to mention the character, to within an inch of his immortal life.

Potentially interesting baddies like Olivia Munn’s Psylocke and Ben Hardy’s Angel are treated like stock, barely uttering any dialogue and clearly in it to win it through sheer CGI-aided athleticism. (Actually, few characters handle the dialogue.)

To say that X-Men: Apocalypse is uneven would be obvious. It’s clear that, overall, this trio of movies has been better, much more thoughtfully conceived; the relationships among McAvoy’s Professor X and Lawrence’s badass shapeshifter and the Fass’s Holocaust-survivor Magneto have been a treat of intricate conflict that have chronicled actual growth. Ditto that this one’s just a tad overstuffed.

At least three storylines worthy of expansion compete against one another, what with Mystique out on her own in the world, rescuing oppressed mutants and Magneto trying to assimilate to regular Joe life with tragic results, and, of course, Apocalypse rising and the professor and his gifted pupils setting out to stop him (again, keep your eye on a certain redhead).

And at least one theme could have been further explored: feminism. Given that the powerful women in this are the ones to respect.

At face value, X-Men: Apocalypse is too much and, surprisingly, all fine and dandy. Just take it for what it is and you will enjoy. Fingers crossed, Singer, Kinberg & Co. will learn from their indulgences (Evan Peters is back as Quicksilver) and – paging Ms. Turner – triumphantly deliver the streamlined Jean Grey-centric new entry we all want in a few years.

My Rating **1/2

Photo: 20th Century Fox.

Apocalypse Rising

Poor Jean Grey. No matter how she fits into the Xverse, the end of the world follows.

That is made clear from the outset of the first trailer for the upcoming threequel to the prequel-sequel-movie-with-the-mequel X-Men: Apocalypse.

Directed by Bryan Singer, the blockbuster will feature Oscar Isaac in the villainous title role and see Michael Fassbender’s Magneto sort of pawned into becoming one of his Horsemen – Olivia Munn’s Psylocke, Alexandra Shipp’s Storm, and Ben Hardy’s Archangel will complete the infamous quartet – while Professor X (James McAvoy), Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) & Co. (welcome back, Rose Byrne!) try to avoid obliteration for all (Sophie Turner from HBO’s Game of Thrones will be playing young Ms. Grey).

Check. Out. The trailer...now:



X-Men: Apocalypse is scheduled to be released just in time for Memorial Day 2016.

(Re)writing Mutant History

Movies about time travel can be such a mind-f---.

Particularly sequels, especially when you – Spoiler Alert! – think about it (too much).

Time travel tends to brush off things. It negates things. Yeah, OK...it does give you a second or third chance at something, but at the cost of having to pretend something didn’t quite happened the way you remember them in the previous movies. They require a lot of suspension of disbelief.

X-Men: Days of Future Past is no different.

Embattled director Bryan Singer’s much-anticipated prequel-sequel-movie-with-the-mequel, which marks his return to the Xverse as a helmer, opens in a bleak 2023, a decade after Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) was recruited by a back-from-the-dead Professor X (Patrick Stewart) and Magneto (Ian McKellen). You will recall that, at the very end of The Wolverine, the latter warned that dark forces...human forces were building a weapon that could destroy all mutants. And they needed his help, for they knew that the drone-like mutant-hunting Sentinels that Bolivar Trask (Peter Dinklage, from HBO’s Game of Thrones) had spent four decades developing were bad news.

And, boy, were the frenemies right. We see in this dysotopian future that the Sentinels, which were equipped to target the mutant X gene, have not only all but obliterated the mutant populace but they’ve also oppressed regular folk to the bring of extinction.

The last few mutants around (the aforementioned X-Men plus Halle Berry’s Storm, Shawn Ashmore’s Iceman, and Daniel Cudmore’s Collossus, and newcomers including Fan Bingbing’s Blink and Omar Sy’s Bishop) have been eluding death, sometimes by mere hours, thanks to warnings they’ve been sending themselves from the future thanks to Kitty Pryde’s (Ellen Page) power.

The outcome never changes, though, so they decide on a more drastic approach. Thus, they send themselves a warning 50 years into the past to 1973 by projecting Wolverine’s consciousness back into his younger self. He can heal. He can take the dangerous trip.

So off the boy with the claws goes to find the Charles Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr that James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender played in 2011’s X-Men: First Class, so together with these younger, troubled versions of his old friends – Charles is a bit of junky and his power’s muffled by these serum that Nicholas Hoult’s Hank McCoy is administering so he can walk; Erik’s in prison, accused of assassinating JFK – he can find Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence), and keep her from doing som’in’ that’ll make a better tomorrow impossible.

Yeah, this one’s that epic of a franchise reboot. So sit back, enjoy the action of the past above all; it has ’70s style and sociopolitical and emotional resonance. Watching Wolverine reassemble the splintered gang in the past is full of buddy-movie moments, which are made all that much enjoyable to watch by a cast clear that clear is fond of one another. Do not (over)analyze it (too much) or you’ll have no fun. Not that Singer will let ya: an undeniable highlight of the blockbuster is how inspiredly he handled Quicksilver’s (Evan Peters) contribution to the story, and his possible future significance as a franchise player.

After all the Apocalypse is coming, and in the end you will be happy the X-Men took this trip. They brought back some nice surprises, and the future’s never looked better.

My Rating ***

Photo: X-MenMovies.com.

Apocalypse Munn

To the surprise of many a fanboy, today brought the news that Psylocke will be part of the forthcoming X-Men: Apocalypse.

And, to boot, Olivia Munn will be playing the character a.k.a. Betsy Braddock.

Among Psylocke’s powers? Telepathy. So put that in your pipe and smoke it.

X-Men: Apocalypse is due out next May.

Photo: CelebMafia.com.

As Young Nightcrawler

What...too old?

Alan Cumming will not be part of the forthcoming X-Men: Apocalypse.

Kodi Smit-McPhee will be, though.

The Dawn of the Planet of the Apes actor has been tapped to play the younger version of the teleporting mutant Nightcrawler, Cumming’s character in X2: X-Men United.

So, yeah...I guess Cumming is a bit long in the tooth for these new take-place-in-the-past stories....

On a related note, Rose Byrne will rejoin the Bryan Singer-led franchise by reprising her X-Men: First Class Moira MacTaggert character in the 2016 threequel to the prequel-sequel-movie-with-the-mequel.

Photo: Instagram.com/bryanjaysinger.

The Apocalypse Gets Hardy

Attention, all horny people – there is a hot, young British up-and-comer out there you might wanna get to checking out.

His name is Ben Hardy.

He’s an EastEnders alumnus.

And he is a cutie-patootie with quite a set of abs on him.

Just like we like ’em.

Hardy is said to be joining X-Men: Apocalypse, in a role TBC, although rumor has it he will play Angel, the role that Ben Foster originated in X-Men: The Last Stand.

Photo: Reveal.co.uk.

Channing’s Gambit

Sorry, Taylor Kitsch – you are not required to reprise your X-Men Origins: Wolverine role as Gambit.

That’s because Channing Tatum will be playing the part now, thankyouverymuch, in the 2016 blockbuster X-Men: Apocalypse.

I guess the powers that be really want someone who can open and carry a movie to box-office gold – John Carter was a bomb, cough, cough – to join the franchise....

Photo: PonyTricks.net.

Step Back In, Taylor Kitsch!

Rumor has it Channing Tatum may not be playing Gambit, after all. This in spite of the warm welcome he received at Comic-Con earlier this month (here he is, shaking Stan Lee’s hand on stage after a panel that gathered the lot of the Xverse).

See, the Magic Mike XXL star was tapped to star in a stand-alone movie about the mutant that’s scheduled to come out next fall, taking over a role that Taylor Kitsch originated in 2009’s much-maligned X-Men Origins: Wolverine. However, it seems that Tatum and the powers that be are not seeing eye to eye at the negotiating table.

Which begs the question: His deal wasn’t signed, sealed, and delivered?

Guess this means Gambit may not be teased in next summer’s X-Men: Apocalypse, huh. At least, maybe, not with Tatum as the card-throwing Remy LeBeau.

Your move, Taylor Kitsch. Pull a Cookie Lyon and get what’s yours, man.

Photo: Zimbio.com.

A New Jean Grey

Sophie Tuner is the new Famke Janssen.

Meaning Sophie Turner is going to play young Jean Grey in X-Men: Apocalypse, of course.

Indeed, the Game of Thrones player will take over for Janssen in the sequel-prequel-whateverequel, which already has Oscar Isaac on board as the villainous Apocalypse.

Tye Sheridan (Joe, Mud) will take on the Cyclops character (bye, James Marsden!), while Alexandra Shipp (Lifetime’s Aaliyah) will play a young Storm (portrayed until now by Halle Berry).

Photo: Independent.co.uk.

Apocalypse Is Coming in 2016

X-Men: Days of Future Past hasn’t even opened yet, but direct Bryan Singer is already looking ahead at a follow-up.

Singer took to his favorite social medium last week to tweet-tease “#Xmen #Apocalypse 2016!”

Which means more X adventure is coming up, on May 27, 2016, to be precise.

No word on which members of the sprawling cast of actors that make up the Xverse will be back for the threequel to the prequel-sequel-movie-with-the-mequel, but this much is easily inferred: The ancient mutant Apocalypse will be involved in the action.

Photo: NerdReactor.com.

Theranos’ Ms. Holmes

Jennifer Lawrence and Adam McKay.

It is an irresistible combo made even more so because McKay is now a serious filmmaker – not that he like, wasn’t before, but it’s not like Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby earned him his Oscar (The Big Short did) – and J. Law is fackin’ J. Law.

Which is why the Academy Award-winning actress – currently in theaters with X-Men: Apocalypse – is set to make like Jesse Eisenberg in The Social Network now that she has attached herself to star as Elizabeth Holmes in McKay’s new drama about Theranos. You know, the once-hot privately held Silicon Valley health-tech and medical-lab services company that is now under criminal investigation by federal prosecutors and the Securities and Exchange Commission. (Holmes founded the company in 2003, in order to streamline and standardize blood tests by creating an easy and handy device.)

At one point, Theranos was valued at an impressive $9 billion. Not a bad self-made story...until myriad controversies erupted earlier this year and the company’s cachet, not to mention Holmes’, came tumbling down. 

With Lawrence, I definitely will study up some more on Holmes and Theranos now.

Photo: NewsOK.com.

Apocalypse Found

You know the big bad that was teased at the end of last summer’s X-Men: Days of Future Past?

Well. He is going to be played by Oscar Isaac.

Indeed, the A Most Violent Year star has signed on to play Apocalypse in the Bryan Singer-directed 1980s-set May 2016 blockbuster.

Apocalypse, btw, is an ancient immortal mutant who is dead-set on conquering the world.

Isaac is poised to have a massive end of next year-beginning of the following year, huh. Why? Oh, I dunno – perhaps, because dude is also going to be featured in a little movie known as Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens.

Good going, Miami boy!

Photo: Indiewire.com.

Confirmed Angel/Archangel Situation

As expected, British up-and-comer Ben Hardy is going explode stateside.

A little bit...somewhat. Eventually.

Blockbuster director Bryan Singer has confirmed that the EastEnders alumnus will be playing Angel – or, rather, Archangel, perhaps – in X-Men: Apocalypse. This at right is the concept for his costume.

If he is portraying Archangel then that means that Hardy will be one of the Horsemen of Oscar Isaac’s villain of the title. Just FYI.

The threequel to the prequel-sequel-movie-with-the-mequel is due out next May.

Photo: EW.com.

What He Needs Is Love

This sounds promising.

Next time we see up-and-comer Ben Hardy, he just might speak.

See, the X-Men: Apocalypse set-filler has landed one of the lead roles in Sierra Burgess Is a Loser, a modern-day telling of the Cyrano de Bergerac story. The project will explore a case of mistaken identity that brings about unexpected romance between the most popular girl in school and its biggest loser, this after they band together to win over each other’s respective crushes.

Because, sometimes, what you need is right there in front of ya.

Photo: VJBrendan.com.

Ready Player Tye Sheridan

Mud’s Tye Sheridan could be Steven Spielberg’s new muse.

Not surprising. Kid’s got dem chops.

The young actor – soon to be seen as young cyclops in X-Men: Apocalypse – has been cast in Ready Player One, in the lead role.

The project is an adaptation of the Ernest Cline cult novel, which shall co-star Olivia Cooke (Me and Earl and the Dying Girl) and Ben Mendelsohn (Adore).

Photo: havasunews.com.

Granite Mountain Hotshot

No Exit Granite Mountain keeps padding its cast, even when it can’t quite firm up a title.

Oh, Hollywood....

Ben Hardy (X-Men: Apocalypse) is the latest eye-catcher to join the project, a telling of the story of the Granite Mountain Hotshots, a group of firefighters that, in 2013, attempted to put out the Yarnell Hill Fire in Arizona, which claimed 19 of 20 crew members.

Hardy joins a cast that already includes Taylor Kitsch and Oscar winner Jennifer Connelly.

Photo: Standard.co.uk.

Jesus v Jesus

Ewan McGregor as Jesus?

Yes, please. I have been waiting for this for quite a bit now.

McGregor is starring in next month’s Last Days In the Desert, the new film by Rodrigo García (Albert Nobbs), an imagined chapter from Jesus’s 40 days of fasting and praying in the desert featuring the actor as the son of God and the son of the Devil.

Ciarán Hinds (HBO’s Game of Thrones), Tye Sheridan (X-Men: Apocalypse), and Ayelet Zurer (Netflix’s Daredevil) co-star.

Last Days In the Desert is set to open on May 13.

Photo: EW.com.