Oleg managed to find and photograph the illegitimate love child of Elvis and Wolverine.
Speaking of Wolverine, I went to see the movie last weekend with Shootin' Buddy. As a CGI-driven superhero punch-'em-up, it's not bad. If you are going to judge it by the criteria you'd use to judge normal movies, obviously it's a total flop: "I didn't feel they had enough character development for the flying guy who shoots death rays from his eyeballs." Right, Gene Siskel; Terms of Endearment is showing in the next theater over.
Occasionally you get a genre flick that works as an actual piece of cinema, but I think getting The Dark Knight and Iron Man in theaters so close together has spoiled some people.
Anyway, it probably worked less for me than for some other people because... don't tell anybody... I used to be a huge X-Men geek and totally crushed on Wolverine. I stopped following the books back in '95 or '96, but I know the back story of the comic book character (at least as of 15 years ago; they do a lot of retconning in comicsland), which is different from the movie. It was like watching The Ten Commandments and having Pharaoh lead the Children of Israel out of Egypt in dune buggies with a colander strapped to his face. Sure, it looks cool on the big screen, but that's not how the story goes in the book. Halfway in I was saying "But he was in the Canadian military! Where's the Lotus Seven? Logan drove a Lotus Seven!"
Although, when you think about it, the movie Logan's El Camino is an eminently more sensible vehicle for the setting; how many Lotus dealers are there in the Canadian Rockies?
It's hideous, yet I can't look away.
ReplyDeleteWait...Canada has a military?
ReplyDeleteYou correctly note that Lotus owners need to repair their vehicles frequently with your last line. However, if you are a competent person, as Logan surely was, and can do your own diagnosis and repair (on a Lotus, go to the carburetor first, second, and third), then you need not a dealer with a full-service mechanics shop, but an ability to order in new parts. So the correct question would be, "How many post offices are there in the Canadian Rockies?"
ReplyDeleteOther than that, good post. My son, another fan of the comic characters and an avid reader, reported that he went to the movie with very very low expectations and came away disappointed.
I was a fan in the late 70's so while watching the other three movie's I would have what the hell moments. But I still enjoyed them for what they are, popcorn movies.
ReplyDeleteMarko,
ReplyDeleteWe do indeed. With artillery, tanks and jet fighters even.
Of course it is a small little army, but it actually fights, unlike some other establishments in europe. Cough.
We even have cool unit names:
Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry. aka The Particia's aka the "PPCLI"
Lord Strathcona's Horse (That'd be light Armour)
The Royal Canadian Dragoons (Armour)
The Royal 22nd Regiment aka "The Vandoos"
The Royal Canadian Regiment aka RCR
Royal Canadian Horse Artillery
(mechanized artillery)
etc...
The combat enginneers get a Beaver on their badge, the Staff college, and Great Snowy Owl, plus we gets all that great symbology.
(and there are a bunch of storied units in, effectively, life support mode in the militia. Like the Montreal Black Watch Regiment, The Royal Newfoundland Regiment.)
Sounds like I'd enjoy it. I Still have a crush on Wolverine (okay...okay because of Jackman) and I know nothing about the comic story line.
ReplyDeleteIt's kind of like when I watch Harry Potter...I'm ruined for the movies because of the books. I keep saying "That didn't happen." or "They skipped a part!" and it drives hubby nuts. :)
It was definitely "Starring Hugh Jackman's pecs! Co-starring Hugh Jackman!"
ReplyDelete:D
Wolverine? Heathen. Gambit was -totally- hotter. I MEAN - I would never read comic books, they're a waste of time. Really.
ReplyDeleteI'm a DC-fan, so the tweaks they made/make to the X-Men movies don't bug me all that much, but I'll cheerfully froth at the mouth about minor details in, say, The Dark Knight.
Tam,
ReplyDeleteGood sentiment concerning the movie, "veiw it for what it is" this simple rule has lead me to many hidden gems.
That said there are some things that are unredeemable "Starship Troopers" springs to mind.
Marko... oy. I did note in the first movie that they got the ID plates right, as much as the two-piece rubber-silenced American ones are far more iconic.
ReplyDeleteJim
Huge jack what?
ReplyDeleteAnon 9:14:
ReplyDeleteHad the pleasure of attending a joint USA/Canadian exercise with 3PPCLI back in '89. Great bunch of troopers, in a laid-back, 'what-the-f*ck, eh?' sort of way. They were definitely generous with the LaBatt's, and we definitely appreciated their hospitality, much to the chagrin of our stick-up-the-ass CO.
And neither we nor they really seemed to care for the liberal Canadian government.
I've been reading the "Wolverine: Origins" series that they've been doing, as well as catching up on some of the issues I've missed since I stopped buying comics in the 90's now that they're digital.
ReplyDeleteStrangely, with as much as they've changed the Logan / Wolverine character and backstory over the past couple of years, I wasn't as disappointed in the movie as I expected. I've reached the point where the movies don't have to be canon, as long as they make some attempt.
Naming Logan "James Howlett" a few years ago was just brutal, though. I don't want to think of Wolverine as a "Jim" or "Jimmy".
Hey Marko, take a look at who has the longest sniper shot on record ;)
ReplyDeleteFor me, the movie did not have nearly enough Deadpool. Casting Ryan Reynolds for the part was genius, then they only have him for about 10 minutes? Fail.
Tamara, you're a nerd.
ReplyDeleteMy kind of nerd, admittedly, but... a nerd :-)
I maintain that everyone involved in making this movie should be fired forever for what they did to Deadpool.
ReplyDeleteNext summer's big hit: A remake of moby dick, except the whale is black now, has a jetpack that he flies to his fortress on the moon whenever he wants to relax, and he shoots fucking lasers out of his eyes.
Grumble grumble
Yeah, that was what I was trying to hint at without saying as much, because it is the closest thing to a "spoiler" in this movie's "plot"...
ReplyDeleteThanks for the "And don’t forget: It has Hugh Jackman. Also, Hugh Jackman." comment on my Wolverine review. I appreciated it a lot.
ReplyDeletePft, spoiler. More like warning.
ReplyDeleteIt was passable, but I really hope they do more with Deadpool (yeah, I saw the ending). I was hoping they would do more with Reynolds after Blade Trinity, but that never surfaced.
ReplyDelete