X-Men: Apocalypse Trailer - Review and Recap

The first trailer for the upcoming X-Men movie is here. And it looks promising.

After helming X-Men: Days of Future Past, Bryan Singer returns to the director's chair. As is typical of a X-Men film, this one has a large ensemble cast. Joining the regulars (James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Nicholas Hoult) are newcomers: Oscar Isaac as the titular antagonist En Sabah Nur/Apocalypse, Tye Sheridan as  Scott Summers/Cyclops, Sophie Turner as Jean Grey, Alexandra Shipp as Ororo Munroe/Storm, Ben Hardy as Warren Worthington III/Angel, Lana Condor as Jubilation Lee/Jubilee, Olivia Munn as Betsy Braddock/Psylocke, Kodi Smit-McPhee as Kurt Wagner/Nightcrawler and Tómas Lemarquis as Caliban.

Check out the trailer below:

The trailer manages to get one's attention without giving too much of the plot (or) crucial plot/character developments away.

Here is a synopsis of the trailer: Jean Grey is having visions of mass destruction across the globe. She is not comforted by Charles Xavier's assertions that her premonitions are just dreams and will not come to fruition. Moira informs Xavier about a mutant who could quite possibly be the very first one to walk the Earth.

Unfortunately, Jean was right in her thoughts and Apocalypse is here. He has a definite purpose in mind: to destroy the world and create a better one in its place. To this end, he recruits Magneto, Storm, Angel and Psylocke to be his four horsemen. Nice touch there with Moira contending that the Bible took this idea from the mutant himself and not the other way around as Havoc thinks.

We get a look at some of the destruction caused by Apocalypse and his horsemen as the X-Men struggle to prevail over such an powerful enemy. The trailer concludes with James McAvoy's Charles Xavier getting his full bald look. McAvoy makes a fantastic Xavier and I prefer his version over Patrick Stewart's. This decision by Bryan Singer wins brownie points for the trailer right away.

If there was one mutant who gets a bit shortchanged, that would be Michael Fassbender's Magneto. He has no dialogues at all (kind of like Henry Cavill's Superman in the Comic Con trailer for Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice).

On the other hand, if there was a mutant who gets too much attention, that would be Jennifer Lawrence's Raven (not Mystique). The significant aspect is that Lawrence does not have the blue body-paint at any point throughout the trailer. I guess the studio and producers want to capitalize on having Lawrence in the movie rather than the fact that she is playing Mystique. Even the first shot featuring her with others deliberately reminds one of her character Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games.

The trailer also gives us a look at the new and a younger X-Men team consisting of Cyclops, Jean Grey and Nightcrawler suited up for action. As a fan of Cykes, I enjoyed the brief but powerful scene of Scott Summers going full optic blast against an unseen opponent/obstacle.

Finally, we come to Apocalypse himself. He looks and sounds very much like what a God-like mutant would do. There were complaints about the character being not big enough in the promotional images so far. Bryan Singer seems to have paid attention and we get a beautiful shot of just how big En Sabah Nur can get if needed. His motto is: “Only the Strong will survive”.




Apocalypse is the main antagonist to X-Men just as how Darkseid is to the Justice League or Doomsday is to Superman. Warner Bros. and Zack Snyder seem to be either clueless or just plain lazy with regards to Doomsday as the recent trailer suggests. Bryan Singer shows us how to pull off such an important super-villain in the right way. Live and Learn, Warner Bros.

Other points of interest: More Quicksilver, which is a good thing.

Bryan Singer's X-Men released in 2000 started the current Hollywood craze for Superhero genre. It is also the longest running Superhero movie franchise. Despite a few hiccups here and there (mainly X-Men Origins: Wolverine), the series has produced some of the best movies in the genre.

Credit to Bryan Singer who has been the driving force behind these movies. He has been instrumental in making the casting choices that have made these movies so great - From the great Ian McKellen, Rebecca Romijn, Hugh Jackman and James Marsden to the current crop of actors including James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender and Evan Peters. Hoping that he would have the same luck with the new set of actors cast as the younger versions of mutants.

The X-Men movies also enjoy a good blend of humor and pathos, like Richard Donner's Superman: The Movie and Christopher Nolan's Batman movies. Unlike both the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) movies that tend to be too jokey or the DC Extended Universe (DCEU) movies that are too serious for their own good.

In Bryan Singer, we trust.

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Justice League: Gods and Monsters (2015) - Review

Spoilers ahead. Readers who wish to avoid spoilers are recommended to skip the post.

I was not impressed with the companion web series (Justice League: Gods and Monsters Chronicles) that was released last month and was not sure about this movie.

This movie proved to be a pleasant surprise. Featuring alternate versions of Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman, the movie has an excellent script, screenplay, direction and astounding action choreography (as most DC Animated Movies do).

Superman is not the son of Zor-El, but of General Zod and is raised by Mexican immigrants.

Batman is Kirk Langstrom and not Bruce Wayne. In the Batman Canon, Kirk Langstrom is Man-Bat. In this universe, he becomes a pseudo-vampire in his attempts to cure his cancer. He feeds on the blood of the bad guys.

Wonder Woman is not the Princess Diana of Themyscira, but is Bekka. Bekka is a New God of New Genesis, the daughter of Himon and the wife of Orion.

A pre-credit sequence is set in Krypton. (DC fans can rest easy. The similarities with Man of Steel ends right here). Jor-El (Yuri Lowenthal) is about to imprint his DNA on his wife Lara Lor-Van's (Lauren Tom) using a machine to send their soon-to-be born son to Earth. General Zod (Bruce Thomas) intervenes and forcefully puts his own DNA instead.

The baby is adopted by migrant Mexican parents. Named Hernan Guerras, this version of Superman is a bit arrogant because of the difficulties he endures in his upbringing, 

Cut to the present. Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman are based at the Tower of Justice. Unlike the regular versions, these characters are ruthless when it comes to punishing bad guys.

The government, headed by President Amanda Waller (Penny Johnson Jerald) is not willing to take any steps to challenge the Justice Leaguers.

Trouble starts for our characters, when leading scientists are killed off one by one by unidentified assassins with the specific purpose of framing Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman. The victims include Dr Victor Fries (Mr Freeze), Ray Palmer (Atom) and Silas Stone.

The public's hatred of the Justice League increases, thanks to the media campaign run by reporter Lois Lane (Paget Brewster). President Waller is forced to execute “Project FairPlay”, which is a brainchild of Lex Luthor (Jason Isaacs). Lex has always been wary of Superman and has put plans in place to neutralize him and his colleagues, should they go rogue.

Are the heroes able to prove their innocence? Who is out to frame them? What happens when Waller initiates FairPlay?

I would recommend the readers to check out the movie for the answers.

The story is credited to Bruce Timm and Alan Burnett, both of whom have worked on some of the best DC Animated projects including Superman: The Animated Series and Batman: The Animated Series.

Like these classic shows, the movie also delves deep into the lead characters. Each of the DC Trinity characters get an extensive back story.

Considering that this is an animated superhero movie, the script manages to hold our attention for the most part, until the mystery is resolved. Kudos to Bruce and Alan for the excellent story and screenplay. 

The animation is done in Bruce Timm style which is refreshing after all the anime and other styles that have dominated animation in the recent past.

The action sequences are executed very well, especially the last one between Supes and the bad guys which is exceptional. The last 20 minutes has non-stop action and successfully combines great character moments and action beats.

This is classic DC Comics and a must watch for fans of Supes, Bats and Wonder Woman.

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Check out the trailer below:

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Jurassic World (2015) - Recap and Review

2015 seems to be the year of rebooting/revisiting old movie franchises. Not one but two of them. And both of them have one excellent movie in them, surrounded by others that range from above average to abysmal.

Before Terminator Genisys hits the theatres on July 01, the latest entry in the Jurassic Park franchise arrived couple of weeks back. Jurassic World has everything a moviegoer can ask for - a hero enjoying a hot streak in popular culture (Chris Pratt), a lot of larger than life special effects (CGI dinosaurs) and abundance of nostalgia to wallow in (courtesy of Jurassic Park and the evergreen John Williams score). It is no surprise that the movie has made gazillion amounts of money and broken several box office records.

But is box office success a true indicator of the quality of a movie...

It is park time again and people are flocking to the latest Jurassic park attraction at Isla Nublar. The man in charge, Simon Masrani (Irrfan Khan) holds the ideals of the founder, John Hammond close to his heart. Dr. Henry Wu (B. D. Wong) and his team of scientists have cooked up a new dinosaur, Indominus Rex that combines the characteristic traits of several animals.

Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard) is the park's operations manager and is too busy with her work to even remember her nephew's names. These lads,  Zach Mitchell (Nick Robinson) and Gray Mitchell (Ty Simpkins) are sent by their parents, Karen (Judy Greer) and Scott (Andy Buckley), so that they can be the movie's dudes-in-distress, to be rescued time and again by Claire and the alpha male, Owen Grady (Chris Pratt).

Owen is the trainer of the Velociraptor pack (Blue, Charlie, Delta and Echo). Simon hires him to use his expertise in handling the as-yet-untested Indominus Rex. Like any sensible action blockbuster movie hero, Owen warns the park management that the new dinosaur is a disaster waiting to happen. And like any greedy businessmen would do in a big budget movie, they insist on going ahead with their plans.

Yes, all hell breaks loose and the Indominus Rex escapes its enclosure using a rather ingenious plan. It fools the authorities (including Owen) into thinking that it has already escaped by not only camouflaging itself from the sensors but also inflicting scratch marks upon the gate. Of course, the fact that the gate is still intact and not trampled upon or bent in any way is conveniently overlooked.

Rest of the movie is strictly a by-the-book affair: Lovers are reunited, people realize the value of families and the Evil Dinosaur dies.

Jurassic World represents the typical escapist entertainment that Steven Spielberg has perfected since the 1970s. Ever since he single-handedly doomed the future of Great White Sharks with Jaws (1975), he has been churning out Man Vs Nature nonsense at regular intervals. The most famous example, obviously being Jurassic Park (1994) and its sequel, The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997). He did not direct Jurassic Park III (2001), even though that did not stop him from reaping the profits as an executive producer, just like he did on this movie.

Well, at least unlike the unfortunate sharks, the dinosaurs are already extinct. So nature lovers need not fear any public upheaval against these animals. But Spielberg is not done with sharks yet... To show the sheer size of the Mosasaurus, he has the huge lizard jumping out of water and swallowing a fully grown shark whole. This was the money shot used in the trailer to get public's attention right from the start...

As Spiderman's uncle Ben Parker used to say: “With great power comes great responsibility”. Spielberg's motto seems to be: “Screw responsibility. Demonize Sharks/Nature and with that comes a great fortune”.

Moving on to Chris Pratt... He has to be one of the luckiest actors to work in Hollywood. After earning the lead role in a Marvel movie, now he is the lead actor in the movie that has grossed over 1 Billion USD in 13 days. I am sure Taylor Kitsch must be cursing his luck..

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Ron Howard's attempts to make his daughter Bryce Dallas Howard a big star in Hollywood have finally paid off. Bryce has been in a number of high profile movies over the past decade (Spider-Man 3, Terminator Salvation, The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2, Lady in the Water). She must have had a very special Father's Day yesterday.

As to her performance in this movie, it is as bland and unappealing as she has been in the other movies she has done before. Her character is quite unrealistic and can only exist in a movie for the sole purpose of turning over a new leaf and becoming a normal human being by the end.

The kids in peril role are essayed by Nick Robinson and Ty Simpkins. Nick's character (like Bryce's) does not believe in family relationships and... abracadabra! he has a heart-to-heart talk with Ty's character and they are brothers forever. Cliched scenes and plot development like these abound.

The special effects are adequate and not exceptional as was the case with the original movie 21 years ago. The director, Colin Trevorrow (no doubt under the supervision of Spielberg) shrewdly reuses the memorable John Williams soundtrack at crucial scenes in the movie. There are also other nods to the original movie.

In a nutshell: Resist the need to indulge in nostalgia and revisit the original movie instead. Even better, watch a documentary featuring real animals and enjoy Nature.

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Justice League: Gods and Monsters Chronicles "Bomb" "Big" - Recap and Review

Spoilers ahead. Readers who wish to avoid spoilers are recommended to skip the post.

The second and third episodes of Justice League: Gods and Monsters Chronicles debuted online few days back. This series features alternate versions of Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman.

The first one, “Twisted” featured Kirk Langstrom (the Man-Bat) version of Batman.

The second episode (“Bomb”) features a Superman, who is not the son of Zor-El, but of General Zod and is raised by Mexican immigrants.

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This Superman is not a friendly one and the Government has created Brainiac to keep the super-powered being under check. But plans do not go as expected and it is Brainiac who needs to be controlled. As can be expected, military and other forces are unsuccessful in their attempts.

The Government led by Amanda Waller is forced to take Superman's help. Brainiac is a lost child, unable to control his powers. Superman has no choice but to kill him. This decision pains Superman, but nevertheless does it in order for the greater good.

This was a pretty boring take on the Man of Steel. I am saying this as being a long time fan of the character. The scenes between Superman and the infant Brainiac were very cliched.

The animation and voice work was OK.

The next one, “Big” focussed on the Bekka version of Wonder Woman (WW). Bekka is a New God of New Genesis, the daughter of Himon and the wife of Orion.

The entire episode is how she saves Steve Trevor from Kobra and the big android, Giganta - essentially one long action scene. The Batman episode too had a similar simple plot, but at least it had a far more interesting setup and a villain.

But this one has no such redeeming factors. The only characterization for WW is that she is a nymphomaniac. This is so strongly emphasized that at the end, WW forces Trevor to have sex with her. This is what I called “Elementrification” of a classic character.

To clarify: Elementary is a CBS TV show that is supposedly an adaptation of the classic literary character, Sherlock Holmes. Instead, it is just a mockery of the character and the genius of Arthur Conan Doyle. Jonny Lee Miller's version craves for sex with as many women as possible (sometimes even having threesome) while the original version did not trust women and kept a safe distance from them.

Here's hoping that the movie will be better than what we have seen so far.

Update: I saw the movie and enjoyed it. Click here to read my review of the movie.

Click here to read all my posts about DC Comics.

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Justice League: Gods and Monsters Chronicles "Twisted" - Recap and Review

The upcoming DC Universe Animated Original Movie is Justice League: Gods and Monsters. The movie features alternate versions of Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman.

The story is credited to Bruce Timm and Alan Burnett, both of whom have worked on some of the best DC Animated projects including Batman: The Animated Series and Superman.

Spoilers ahead. Readers who wish to avoid spoilers are recommended to skip the post.

As a sort of prequel/primer to the characters, DC Entertainment has released a companion series consisting of three videos. The first one, “Twisted” is focused (no surprises here) on Batman. In this universe, it is not the human Bruce Wayne but Kirk Langstrom (the Man-Bat) who is Batman.

He arrives at a house whose family members have been brutally killed by an even-more-crazier-than-usual Harley Quinn. Batman does save one remaining family member just as she is about to become the last victim. Batman subdues Harley, but instead of taking her to the police, takes a bite out of her.

This series has a strong tone of horror. The animation was OK. Not bad, but not exceptional either. Hopefully, the movie will fare better.

The next two will feature Superman and Wonder Woman. Like Batman, they too have been given a twist (pun intended). Superman is not the son of Zor-El, but of General Zod and is raised by Mexican immigrants.

Wonder Woman is not the Princess Diana of Themyscira, but is Bekka. Bekka is a New God of New Genesis, the daughter of Himon and the wife of Orion.

Click on the link below to buy your copy:

Update: I saw the movie and enjoyed it. Click here to read my review of the movie.

Click here to read all my posts about DC Comics.

If you enjoyed this post, please subscribe to this blog by email or RSS by clicking here.

Image Sources: DC Entertainment, Warner Bros. Animation, Warner Premiere 

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