David Vining's Blog, page 161

Logan

Outside of Joker, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a comic book film so obviously desperate to be taken seriously as cinema as Logan. It ends up caught between genres, though, instead of weaving them together. The serious character study is largely there, though it feels a bit shortchanged, and the exciting superhero adventure ends up playing catchup unconvincingly for long stretches. The clash undermines the whole experience taking what should have been a rather easy layup of a film into someth...

The Beguiled (1971)

A psycho-sexual thriller set in the Old South towards the middle of the Civil War, just before Grant begins his siege at Vicksburg, Don Siegel’s The Beguiled, based on a book by Thomas Cullinan, is a lurid tale of mistrust, manipulation, and sex that gets shockingly close to greatness but never quite gets there. A long-term professional who developed a good working relationship with the rising star Clint Eastwood, Siegel crafted a tense little tale with several interesting dimensions and sev...

X-Men: Apocalypse

I have a soft spot for this movie. If it weren’t for one extended sequence that seems horrendously out of place and pointless, I’d even go so far as to call this good. It’s not, but I’m almost there. This is such a big hearted movie with big spectacle and big emotions that I almost feel bad for not liking it just a little bit more than I do.

It starts audacious with a prologue set in Ancient Egypt as Ra, or Apocalypse as he comes to be known, is being carried to a pyramid where he will un...

Deadpool

Remove this film’s attitude and you have a structurally interesting, bare bones, and serviceable origin story of a super, well, super action personality with comic book origins. The attitude is really what carries it from beginning to end, and that attitude is almost all about Ryan Reynolds as the titular character. Reynolds takes the Merc with the Mouth from the comic book to the silver screen with a rapid fire set of quips that sometimes become quite witty from time to time that elevates t...

X-Men: Days of Future Past

This is probably the best the X-Men franchise is going to get, especially considering the ensemble approach most of the films take. I think there’s some unfocused storytelling going on that keeps it a hair’s breadth away from greatness, but overall this is the best balancing act the franchise ever pulled off, managing two different casts and timelines with shocking style and seeming ease. Bryan Singer really brought his A-game, making possibly his best movie here.

This franchise fits best...

The Wolverine

Finally, an X-Men movie with a hint of narrative focus. An offshoot film placed in the hands of the strong directorial hands of James Mangold, this individualized tale of Wolverine facing his immortality is surprisingly a heartfelt affair that may or may not give into ludicrous CGI by the end. However, pretty much everything up to that point is very good, solid storytelling with a surprising focus on character while putting a well-worn character in a new setting like Japan.

Taking place a...

X-Men: First Class

Matthew Vaughn has become a personal favorite modern action director. Kick Ass and the Kingsman movies embrace a certain anarchic spirit that matches well Vaughn’s visual sensibilities, and all of that is on display here in First Class. He had been attached to direct Last Stand before he pulled out due to personal reasons, going on to make Stardust instead. He came back to the franchise here after the rather dismal pair of Last Stand and X-Men Origins: Wolverine with an energetic, entertaini...

X-Men Origins: Wolverine

That was unfortunate. Gavin Hood is a quality director with several very good films to his name like Tsotsi, Ender’s Game, and Eye in the Sky. And then there’s this. This may not be the worst film so far in the X-Men series, but I feel bad for how bad it ended up. There’s an obvious eye on display throughout, and the performances aren’t bad. However, the movie takes on too many characters, too much story, and with too little consideration from what comes between the action scenes that the wh...

X-Men: The Last Stand

Oh, no.

What had held such promise so completely fell apart in the hands of Brett Ratner. Gone is any real sense of character, narrative construction, or even action chops. This is a dreary, uninteresting movie with too many movie parts, too many unfulfilled promises, and a complete misunderstanding of the story it does try to tell to the point where we have the wrong main character. Singer didn’t want to come back for a third movie. Matthew Vaughn left the production as director. So, Fox...

X2: X-Men United

Actually finding a way to anchor this sequel’s story in a single main character’s journey was a smart move. The first film was weighed down by a certain directionlessness that made it feel like a random series of events before pulling most of it together for a decent climax. The sequel, not needing to explain nearly as much to its audience or characters, is able to find surer footing from which to tell its story. It’s definitely a step up in storytelling with the spectacle gaining an appre...