We have, at this point, dozens and dozens of superhero films. I think you could stack the overall quality of the genre against any other in filmdom, but that doesn’t mean we haven’t had our share of devastating missteps along the way. Watch Mojo has two videos categorizing the most egregious times comic book movies deviated from the source material or were poorly received by fans. The greatest hits are here: Spider-Man 3’s disco striding evil Peter, Iron Man 3’s Mandarin switcheroo, Superman II’s amnesia kiss, and Batman vs. Superman’s Martha madness. Some of their entries feel like stretches. Yes, The Killing Joke was an abomination, but were people overly upset Thor: Ragnarok was funny? X-Men Origins: Wolverine’s treatment of Deadpool was awful, but did anyone actually expect more than what we got out of Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (the Bay edition)? What moments are missing from WM’s lists?
WhatCulture delivers an intriguing list: Top 10 Awful Movies With Awesome Openings. I have to slap a GRAPHIC VIOLENCE warning on this one, as-shockingly-a lot of these disappointing films happen to be horror movies. Shocking indeed. This is a great idea for a list as moviegoers have all experienced films that start out surprisingly well for what they believed they were getting into only to have the film then do a graceful swan dive right into the ground so viscerally that you can actually hear the studio laughing in your head that they got your money. I’ve seen most of the films on this list and have no problems with any inclusions other than Super Troopers, which I think is uneven after it’s superb opening rather than an awful film. The rest: yes, undoubtedly.
What movies started off well for you and then exploded in front of your eyes?
X-Men: Apocalypse hits theaters tonight, and it will be following the KT Readers’ pick for Best X-Movie of All-Time: X-Men Days of Future Past. Just edging out this year’s Deadpool, DOFP captured the crown in voting that saw nods to six of the eight existing entries (someone voted for X-Men Origins: Wolverine….I want to find you). My favorite film in the series is X2 followed by X-Men: First Class, but the readers have spoken and DOFP is our official answer to The Mutant Question.
We are now two weeks away from X8 or X9 if you count Deadpool as an X-Men film. I do, because there’s no way he’s not going to be woven into the fold in the future. Though X-Men: Apocalypse is not getting the kind of reviews we’ve come to expect from a Brian Singer X-Men film, the franchise will go on, and hopefully to better things. It’s a shame though that probably the best villain never to make it on the big screen is going to be wasted and thrown in the “Mr. Freeze bin” of tainted blue dastardlies. Vote for your favorite X-Film and we’ll have the results when Apocalypse opens on May 27, 2016.
With the news that an Apocalypse film is following X-MenDays of Future Past, you have to wonder how many more Wolverine films Hugh Jackman has in him. Maybe he’s not a part of Apocalypse, but that’s hard to imagine if it follows Days of Future Past so closely. I was one who really enjoyed The Wolverine and if they hadn’t have awkwardly jammed Viper into the mix, I think it would have been fantastic. I’m glad Mangold and Jackman are reteaming. The following is an excerpt from a ComingSoon talk with Mangold about his plans for the sequel.
20th Century Fox is looking to get another Wolverine movie made, and director James Mangold is in the process of developing it. In an interview withThe Wall Street Journal the director talked about the first film, as well as the sequel. He talks about the themes and ideas that the sequel explores, and he addresses the iconic costume. Here’s what he had to say about the first movie,
“With the movie I just finished, I think that I very much focused, when I went to Fox and presented, I told them I was interested in making a movie about someone who feels like anyone they love will die, not only that they are cursed but that anyone they become attached to becomes cursed. That film was about Logan’s jaundiced view of society.”
