Welcome back to Derry, Maine. Population around 33,000, plus one terrifying monster.
James McAvoy
Bringing a reported close to the nearly twenty year cycle of X-Men movies for Twentieth Century Fox (although, depending on where you draw that line, it could only be nine years for the end of this cycle), Dark Phoenix caps things off with a half-hearted shrug of a climax where no one involved – in front of or behind the camera – seems like they want to be there very much.
Enter now for a chance to win one of three copies of writer and director M. Night Shyamalan’s Glass on Blu-ray.
Atomic Blonde succeeds as a thrill ride and another triumph for Charlize Theron, but not much else. It’s enjoyable and often quite rousing, but the highs are fleeting and somewhat hollow. If it wasn’t so streamlined, it would feel like a test run for a much better film waiting to burst through at any moment. It’s fine as it stands, but Atomic Blonde also smacks of missed opportunities.
There’s a long list of ways in which M. Night Shyamalan’s latest thriller, Split, could have gone horribly wrong, but thanks to outstanding work by James McAvoy and a script that’s surprisingly thoughtful it’s just crazy enough to work.
The third and final trailer for Bryan Singer’s X-Men: Days of Future Past launched earlier this week, and it’s a big one, whether you’re a fan of the original comic books or coming in brand new.
Lazy Friday News is a weekly round-up of stories from across the spectrum of entertainment, or whatever happens to tickle my funny bone. This week: Zack Snyder has taken Superman’s underwear right off in Man of Steel; Waterworld might have been awful, but we may see it again; vegetables stand in for the new RoboCop; two past X-Men stars are coming back in X-Men: Days of Future Past; and the good and bad news about film piracy.
Arriving this week on Blu-ray and on DVD: James McAvoy is the young and dashing Charles Xavier trying to save the world from evil mutants in X-Men First Class; Saoirse Ronan stars as a 16-year-old reclusive killer in Hanna; and a look at Brian DePalma’s notorious Scarface on Blu-ray.
Opening in a theatre near you this weekend: James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender star in the comic book reboot, X-Men: First Class; Owen Wilson stars in Woody Allen’s latest romantic comedy, Midnight in Paris; plus a look at the dramedy, Submarine.
Earlier today I had a chance to screen Matthew Vaughn’s X-Men: First Class, and all I’m gonna say so far is that the hype is fairly accurate–it’s an awesome film, but it was seriously deficient in the cameo department.