Dawn of the Civil War's Awakening.

Big budget blockbusters! We love them. Well some of them. How much do we love them? Well take Spectre. I'm not a huge Bond fan and certainly Spectre did nothing to convince me I'm wrong about that but already the enormous budget of €245m has been paid back to the tune of €752m and counting. That's how much we love them. We certainly love talking about them and given that  Captain America Civil War and Dawn of Justice clips came out recently I'm all blockbustered up! Add to that, we're a few weeks away from The Force Awakens!!!

Let's start with Star Wars. As far back as I can remember, George Lucas has occasionally been a bit of a dick when it comes to his own fans. Not always... but occasionally. His latest dig came when he was talking about why he wasn't allowed direct Episode VII. The studio said they wanted to do something for the fans. Lucas: "I wasn't interested in doing a movie for the fans". Now, maybe I'm being a bit precious but that just seems like a bit of a cuntish thing to say. I mean, if you're going to make a new Star Wars movie, who are you making it for if not the fans who put you in your ivory tower in the first place? Not that it matters. Common sense prevailed, the studio picked a director who knows what he's doing and all of Georgie boys ideas were rejected by the director. This may seem a little harsh on the guy who created the whole fucking thing but given how disconnected he has become from what made Star Wars great in the first place, perhaps we shouldn't be too surprised. Think I'm wrong? Check out his own reaction to The Phantom Menace:

Ultimately, I'm very psyched for The Force Awakens. I got everything I wanted. I got the characters I love back. I got the director I wanted. I got George Lucas removed from the project and I got a sense of hope that was so violently taken away by the wretched prequels. Excitement level: Very high.

Let's do something franchises do to rescue themselves from horrid entries and go back in time. Let's talk X-Men. Now, anyone who knows me knows I don't read comics so I don't wanna hear any of this "If you'd read issue #347 of the Mystique is actually Magneto chronicles, you'd understand the movie more" bullshit. I go to see these movies at face value and as a movie goer I expect to be catered for. A few years ago I went to see X-Men First Class...was kinda dragged actually but I'm glad I was convinced to go because I got a powerhouse of a movie with excellent performances. First Class had everything an X-Men movie should have but it also had a cool factor thanks to the presence of Michael Fassbender and James McAvoy. Kevin Bacon didn't hurt either. As you know, the movie is an origin story. How did Magneto emerge? Why is Professor X in a wheelchair? Unlike most "hero" movies it also makes you consider the possibility that the bad guy, Magneto, actually has a fucking point. Or as I tell anyone who'll listen, Mathew Vaughn perfected in one movie what George Lucas fucking destroyed in three.
First Class was well received and on the back of this Bryan Singer had a bit of a whinge and set about wrestling control of the sequel. He got his boxers in a twist when Brett Ratner was going to make a Superman movie while he was prepping for X-Men Last Stand. They swapped, both movies disappointed...
So Singer went back to his X-Men pals and while I was disappointed that Vaughn wasn't given the gig after his excellent work in FC I did allow that Singer had made two really good X-Men movies previously so I was on board. I went to see Days of Future Past and I enjoyed it well enough. BUT, and this is huge for me, fucking time travel. It's just a horrid device. Now, it's okay in a movie like Back to the Future which is solely about time travel but no matter which way you cut it, it's used here to erase the awfulness that is X-Men: The Last Stand. Maybe that's not an issue for everyone but it kills tension... there's nothing at stake if you can fix it with time travel. First Class didn't need time travel, it got by on excellent writing and great scenes like the one posted.



Apologies for the shaky camera there, it's the only one I could find. The scene is wonderful. The acting is top drawer, the relationship between these two would be enemies is laid out raw for all to see. There's nothing like this in DOFP. In its defence, it looked great and the fx delivered but that's kind of a given these days. What I want, and what I suspect comic book fans want, is more of a focus on the relationships between the X-Men. Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart did their best with limited time in DOFP. Guys of that calibre need to be used more. And so X-Men: Apocalypse is coming next year and Bryan Singer is at the helm again. Can he match Vaughn's magnificence? I doubt it. Excitement level: Luke warm.

So we've all seen the new Captain America: Civil War trailer by now. Like Winter Soldier, the movie looks like a lot of fun. What's pleasing me about this movie is the absence of so many characters. The movie will have time to play some jazz with these guys. Of course there are sub characters but by now we've spent time with all of them and so we're at least somewhat invested in them. Obviously we care more about Black Widow than Scarlet Witch but at least I know who she is now. I had no idea who she was in Age of Ultron. Actually, we really should talk about Age of Ultron as it was huge! Not as huge as Jurassic World but huge all the same. I quite liked Age of Ultron. But my enjoyment of it was tempered with frustration. Firstly, I'd no idea who some of the characters were. Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver and Vision were all new to me. I still don't really understand Vision's origins or what he's supposed to be but he's there now so I guess I just need to shut up and get used to him. The other two baffled me completely. I actually had to go to imdb to get Quicksilver's name. Scarlet Witch I remembered... not sure why. But they were a huge part of AoU and I simply didn't care about them. The more characters added, the more bizarre the storylines get, the harder it will be to retain anyone but the real die hard comic book fans. The next Avenger movie will be a huge challenge for all concerned. Too much of a good thing is still too much and it's probably why I preferred Ant-Man to AoU. Ant-Man was a truckload of fun and everyone got a chance to make you like them. Mind you, Paul Rudd is always likable. As for Civil War, I really think it'll be a great movie. It has all the tools needed to deliver. The bar was set pretty high by Winter Soldier but I expect this to clear it. Excitement level: Very high.

And so to Batman v Superman. I've watched and enjoyed the first clip but I backed away from what came out since as I want some mystery when I sit in my IMAX seat. Batman will hopefully be a little sneakier than Zod in his quest to tame Super-man and given how Man of Steel ended I think we can look forward to something different to the usual stoicism that Super-man has been trapped in for years. There's a gravity about these two characters that demands your attention. I know Aqua-Man and Wonder Woman are in there too but they are not why I'm buying my ticket. This is rightly being billed as a scrap between the two biggest super heroes there has ever been. Affleck as Batman is fucking inspired casting and I cannot wait to see what he brings to the role. Excitement levels: Very high.

So this is where my attention will be for the next six or seven months. Obviously I'd love to go to the cinema to see more movies but having a kid really eats into that free time so whenever I get to the cinema it tends to be for an event movie with one or two exceptions. If I'd known about Krampus sooner, I'd have organised a babysitter :)
Cheers,

G.