X-men: First Class pics!

Some official X-men: First Class shots have been released - personally, I am not that impressed. It's cool that they are trying to go for those retro, first-run comics from the 60's, but a prequel seems pretty unecessary for a series that ended with a dud; why not just go straight reboot without trying to shoehorn a mythology that was, frankly, very forgettable. 

Matthew Vaughn, the director of one my favorite movies of 2010, Kick-Ass, has even stated that Fox Studios time-crunching pace to get the movie released this summer has been stressful (they are still filming). 

Really, I would rather seen an X-Men movie done right - and I know people weren't clamoring for this movie to be made. I guess in this economy, the studio is more interesting in turning a buck.

Meh, you guys be the judge. 

Hobo-gloved Xavier stares into your soul...

Crap, Crap, Boobs, Crap

 

If he's going to become Sir Ian McKellen, that wrist better hang limp!

Blue Tiger? Asshole-Face? Goth? Acne? Pedophile?

Wolverine 2 NOT a sequel?

Hit Fix has a few intriguing details as to why Wolverine gets a sequel - and why the hell Darren Aronofsky would even WANT to direct it.

Well it appears that Wolverine 2 is not actually Wolverine 2, but The Wolverine - a "one-shot" standalone flick based on Wolverine's attempts to claw-shiv ninjas. It's based on a esoteric story-arc that had Wolverine basically assume the roll of a wandering Samurai at the turn of the 20th century and "bone-clawing" things up as a pre-Weapon-X badass.

Aronofsky, though, seems to have modernized the tail a bit (ala Iron Man), to make up for Hugh Jackman's aging Wolverine.

I really wasn't a fan of Jackman's last solo-Wolverine flick (which he got producer's credits for), due to the lameness of the action and anachronistic placement of mutants just for the sake of a few extra box-office bucks. If you are going to do a solo-wolverine movie, you have to just let him go into feral badass mode and bring the "slice n' dice."

Obviously, the best X-Men movie, X-men 2: Wolverine Stabs the Fridge, had a couple of scenes that encompassed what any normal human would want and expect out of a "good" Wolverine movie.

Exhibit A:



Exhibit B:



Is more of that TOO much to ask? The new movie will probably confuse people since they are using the same actor but placing him outside the established movie-canon; that might not be a bad choice since the last 2 movies have pretty much destroyed the entire mythos. With the "X-men: First Class" looming as a "reboot/prequel" with Hugh Jackman also making a cameo as Wolverine, the whole franchise may be on its last legs (with Marvel Studios hopefully getting back the movie rights from Fox) unless both new movies deliver on some level. It's hard for me to trust a studio like Fox which has bungled things before.

Wolverine: wtfamnesia?

It really is hard for me to say that an X-Men movie sucked.

Wolverine is, at best, an exercise of Fox Studios once again rapaciously whoring out a Comic-property for money. What's ironic is that they probably could have made a decent movie with the money they supposedly spent. You know, those types of movies that not only stood on their own, but maintain some semblance of quality as well.
Good Things:

- Shriber pretty much embodies what Sabertooth should be, not some def-mute with a mane

Crappy Things:
- It could have used less awkward romance with Wolverine's girlfriend. The fact that she tells him some Native-American(Canadian) story about how the wolverine is in love with the moon, thus naming him...well made be yearn for more people getting shanked with claw-shivs. In fact, I would have just cut out that whole section of movie. All it is is Jackman trying to cash in on his fem-popularity by trooping around in a lumberjack outfit. Whore.

- Deadpool. Where do I begin? How about that the end battle for Wolverine is pretty much what you would see in boss battle out of Mortal Kombat. Yeah, they turn Deadpool into a rich-man's Baraka. Hey wouldn't it be cool if Deadpool had Cyclopse's power? Well you're not alone, because the studio thought so too! I guess they thought it fit to pull some more mileage out of Cyclopse's rotting corpse (thanks X3). Teleporting roundhouse kicks to the face: priceless.

- I didn't think it would be possible, but the FX appear sub-par to even the original X-men. Wolverine's claws look like a Disney cartoon they are so poorly animated.

- Amnesia. Such a convenient way to have Wolverine lose his entire life. The movie ultimately makes itself metaphorically irrelevant thanks to a few adamantium bullets to the head. Like a game horse, the movie puts itself down. Question: If I woke up and didn't know anything about my life, I think I would react a little bit more...insanity. I mean, you don't know who you are, and then claws shoot out of your hand. Hell on earth.

-Cliches:
Fall to your knees screaming, holding the bloody mess of your lover's corpse? Check.

Walk away slowly while everything explodes behind you? Check.

You're arch-enemy older brother coming back to team up with you at the final fight and exclaiming, "I'm the only one that can kill you!" Check.

Next time Fox, just do us all a favor. Just make a teen comedy. Thanks.