'X-Men: Apocalypse' delivers an exciting but bland adventure

Over the last few years, the X-Men film franchise has enjoyed a rejuvenation with their prequels. Between 2011's First Class and 2014's Days of Future Past, the franchise has gotten better and reminded you why you love this family of gifted youngsters. Going into this year's installment, expectations shouldn't have been extremely high by any means but reasonable at the very least. But Apocalypse felt like a very middling chapter in this superhero franchise, featuring a cliched villain and heavy on the action end of the spectrum.

As the X-Men faithful have known since Days of Future Past's post-credits scene, the big bad for the next film would be (and is) Apocalypse. The world's first mutant - and possibly the strongest out of all X-Men villains - ruled over Ancient Egypt more than 5,000 years ago like a God. The backstory is where Bryan Singer's film promisingly starts inside of a large, gold-tipped pyramid, filled with Temple of Doom-like chanting and the usual ritual human sacrifice. Apocalypse looks like a darker blue version of Watchmen's Doctor Manhattan and almost nothing remotely like the great actor beneath the makeup, Oscar Issac. the mutant attempts to transfer his consciousness and myriad of mutant abilities into a new body but is stopped by a band of rebels and forced into hibernation...until he is roused from his sleep in 1983.

At this point, the existence (and possible of mutants is clear after the events of 1973 in Days of Future Past. The Reagan Era is in full swing and the Cold War battle of good and evil was clear-cut, more than the skirmishes involving the mutant population, including the X-Men. The first third of the film is spent introducing new mutants: Tye Sheridan's laser-sighted Cyclops, Sophie Turner's mindreading loner Jean Grey, Kodi Smit-McPhee's comic relief teleporter Nightcrawler, Ben Hardy's 80's rock-star inspired Angel, Alexandra Shipp's orphan weather wizard, Storm, and Olivia Munn's Psylocke, who has an epic, fuchsia lightsabery-sword hand that would make Mace Windu proud. Some of these new players are brought to fight for good at Xavier (James McAvoy)'s school; others for evil with the awakened Apocalypse. All of these team-ups should should familiar for anyone who sat through the Marvel Universe's other (and infinitely better) recent turf war, Captain America: Civil War. 

The familiar faces of the prequel series also made their return as Michael Fassbender brought more fury to Magneto, Jennifer Lawrence as the shape-shifting loner, Mystique, Nicholas Hoult as the furry but inventive Beast, and James McAvoy as a wiser Charles Xavier. Lucas Till even returns as Alex "Havok" Summers, Scott's older brother, and  McAvoy was able to deliver some breezy punch lines as Professor X but Fassbender's emotion on Magneto's new tragedy, while powerful, felt tiring because we've seen this before. With the arrival of Apocalypse, Xavier's untrained students snap into action to stop nothing less than the end of the world (Nothing like the possible end of the world to actually teach your kids how to protect themselves!). Lawrence's Mystique steps into a leadership role but I'm still frustrated by how central Mystique has become in this prequel series. Despite how menacing Apocalypse looked, it appeared that there was more to fear from his "Four Horsemen" he recruited than from the world's first mutant himself. Hiding under a cowl for most of the film, he spent most of the time sounding like a broken record, trying to recruit mutants over to the Dark Side.

The other problem that I had was the choppy pacing of the film, It felt as though Snyder was moving from subplot to subplot and theme to theme so frequently that it felt like he intentionally did that to prevent the audience from getting involved with any one character or one storyline, even the main plot of the film. From Xavier reuniting with Moira MacTaggert (Rose Byrne), Magneto's family tragedy, the new mutants trying to have fun along with controlling their abilities; it just kept coming in and out while still keeping the main plot relevant. Hugh Jackman's Wolverine does a violent drive-by for one scene and...just leaves. While I liked this phase of his storyline, I think it was just an insert to make sure we don't forget about him before his next spin-off and final appearance as the immortal badass. I didn't care for it that much but still liked seeing Jackman overall.

It's not all bad, though. There are some funny in-jokes that you can detect, including a swipe at the terrible X-Men 3 (aka The Last Stand). Turner shows promise as Jean Grey, Evan Peters returns with another super-slo-mo showstealer (once you start to hear Eurythmics' period-appropriate jam "Sweet Dreams", you know it's on). Peters also had a slightly bigger role in this film. Munn (who wants Psylocke to return and possibly join Ryan Reynolds' Deadpool in a possible X-Force film) definitely showed that she can hold her own in a superhero film. All in all, Apocalypse stands as a second or third-tier X-Men movie that arrives at an interesting time when studios and filmmakers are stepping up to change or add to the status quo about superhero films and everyone needs to be at the top of their game. We know all the cliches and tropes of these superpowered films at this point but audiences know when they have been put on a ride of emotions and action and when they are just watching a popcorn flick. As an X-Men fan, I consider this to be a solid film but with some missing potential. I appreciate and loved the heightened stakes but Apocalypse is a film with way too much of everything we have already previously seen in an X-Men film and not too much of what we've rarely seen - creativity, novelty, and a bigger level of fun.

The Final Frontier pushes back in new 'Star Trek Beyond' trailer

Roughly five months ago, the first trailer for Star Trek Beyond was released onto the internet. It immediately grabs you with its Beastie Boys soundtrack of "Sabotage", starship destruction, and motorcycle action. Unfortunately, it failed to really impress fans, especially George Takei, who played Hikaru Sulu in the original Star Trek television series. With Justin Lin at the helm, who director credits include most of the Fast and Furious movies, the trailer's direction should not come as a huge surprise. Even Simon Pegg, who plays Scotty and co-wrote Beyond, was not impressed but promised the film is more than action. Last Satuday, Paramount released a new trailer and I think it delivered better than the first.

According to IMDB, the official synopsis reads: "The crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise is exploring the farthest reaches of space, where they encounter a mysterious new enemy who puts them and everything the Federation stands for to the test." From the trailer, we get more into the movie, which again reintroduced the scene of the Enterprise being attacked and boarded by aliens, forcing the crew to abandon ship. From there, it looks to be a fight for survival for the crew as they face down Krall (Idris Elba, Thor: The Dark World).

All of the original cast is set to reprise their roles from the previous movies. They add Idris Elba as Krall and Sofia Boutella as the mysterious Jaylah. This trailer lives up more to the legacy that creator Gene Roddenberry intended by defining who a character is, the unity of a crew, working with other species, and, of course, space travel. This trailer is definitely more of a deeper cut about what the film is but I'm still not sure how excited I am about this third installment into the reboot Star Trek series. I will hold off on an overall judgment until the film comes out. I love the Star Trek series: from the television series to the original movie series. The first reboot, directed by J.J. Abrams, was incredible and Into Darkness let me down so level expectations is where I'll stay.

Star Trek Beyond flies into theaters July 22, 2016.

Disney invites you to be our guest with 'Beauty and the Beast' Teaser Trailer

Disney has been on a roll in the last few years, opening their movie closet and dusting off their classic animated fairy tales to bring to a new generation. Remaking these classics into live action with digital effects and a little Disney magic has been well-received by fans, both old and new. Next year, Disney brings one of its most iconic and loved animated classics to life and they want you to be their guest - or, at least, an extremely welcome paying audience member.

Good Morning America unveiled this teaser trailer for the live-action remake of the beloved animated tale. This teaser gives us a first look at Emma Watson (Harry Potter film series) as Belle, showing her arrival at the Beast's castle. The castle's famous residents can also be heard during the dark screen phase of the trailer ("Look, it's a girl!...What if she is the one?). What will really pull viewers, especially fans of the animated film, is a piano version of the movie's iconic theme.

Beauty and the Beast stars Watson as Belle, Dan Stevens (Downton Abbey) as Beast, Luke Evans (Fast and Furious 6) as Gaston, Josh Gad (Frozen) as Le Fou, Ian Mckellan (The Hobbit series) as Cogsworth, Ewan McGregor (Star Wars prequel saga) as Lumiere, Emma Thompson (Nanny McPhee) as Mrs. Potts, Stanley Tucci (The Hunger Games) as Cadenza, Gugu Mbatha-Raw (Beyond the Lights) as Plumette, Kevin Kline (Silverado) as Maurice, and Audra McDonald (ABC's Private Practice) as Garderobe.

Save the date and Be Our Guest on March 17, 2017

Heroes deliver battles and emotions in 'Captain America: Civil War'

Part of the fun with the movies released in the Marvel Cinematic Universe has been having front row seats to seeing our favorite comic book heroes team up, pitching quippy, barbed insults at one another. When they are not taking on eccentric villains like Loki, the genocidal robot Ultron, or running their own world-wide missions, they seem to enjoy taking each other down a notch in their spare time. They are definitely a family. Even during the first Avengers film, you get the sense that, like most families, they didn't always like one another. All that underground tension has to reach a head. Despite this being the third entry into our favorite all-American hero, Captain America: Civil War is essentially a third Avengers movie (or Avengers 2.5) - it's also the best Marvel movie yet.

Directed by the Russo Brothers - who turned the last Captain America outing, Winter Soldier, into a surprisingly interesting espionage political thriller - the film is another timely parable during an interesting period in the real world. With our current election season underway, the U.S. electorate is as scarily divided as ever. In the Marvel Universe, the heroes face a similar issue in their form of a superhero registration act, titled the Sokovia Accords. After a casualty-heavy destructive mission involving the new team of Avengers in Lagos, Nigeria, at the beginning of the film (coming on top of Age of Ultron's floating heap of collateral damage in the fictional town of Sokovia), the world's governments seek to rein in the rogue crimefighters and put them under the watch of the U.N. This creates a moral and political rift between two superhero leaders: Chris Evans' Steve Rogers (Captain America) and Robert Downey, Jr's Tony Stark (Iron Man). This might sound familiar but Civil War writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely update the hand-me-down with airtight logic and freshness with the heroes - also bringing a sense of fun and joy among all of the heavy drama that was obviously missing from the other superhero face-off, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.

The divide comes when Stark, riddled with guilt over past mistakes, agrees to the U.N.'s leash-tightening plans, while Rogers, given his recent experience with the government and his morals, believes the Avengers should remain independent. With the moral lines drawn, the rest of the Avengers are left to choose where they stand: Paul Bettany's Vision and Don Cheadle's War Machine line up with Stark; Anthony Mackie's Falcon, Jeremy Renner's Hawkeye, and Elizabeth Olsen's Scarlet Witch side with Rogers. Rogers' long-time war hero and best friend, Sebastian Stan's Winter Soldier (now good guy Bucky Barnes), resurfaces, facing unfair judgment before his friend from Brooklyn rescues and recruits him. He also pulls in Paul Rudd's Ant-Man (who makes a hilarious outing) to his cause. Scarlett Johannson's Black Widow is stuck between her two comrades but does not get lost in the shuffle. To avoid things from getting stale, two long-awaited newcomers make their debut - Chadwick Boseman's Black Panther and Tom Holland's Spider-Man. I can't say enough about these performances, adding welcome doses of gravitas and light to the super-sibling battle. Marvel definitely did justice to each character, giving each a shining moment.

Chris Evans, in his 4th starring role as the character and his fifth overall, delivers another great performance as the heroic man out of time, Captain America. He's an honorable man, one you would definitely want in the foxhole with you. His honor and steadfast belief in his morals builds his characterization with his loyalty and dedication to his friends and humanity. Robert Downey Jr has become the biggest star of the MCU and the addition of him, not only as an "antagonist" but one fighting his own mistakes, propels Civil War into the stratosphere in popularity. Stark's motivation comes from his mistakes, most recently with the fallout from Age of Ultron, helps logically define the stance on superhuman registration for the audience. Downey definitely delivers in the emotion his character feels throughout the film, especially towards the end.

Plotwise, there is a lot of ground to cover in Civil War, just like the comic book story it's loosely based one. The Russo Brothers juggle all of the motivations and shifting alliances with impressive skill. While the previous two Avengers films were amazing in their own ways, there was always that tendency to feel a bit overwhelmed by the plethora of characters. There were too many balls up in the air, even for Joss Whedon to all keep juggling. Civil War generously gives everyone in the cast their own moment or just enough to do, whether it's showcasing their skills during the large comic book page collision and battle royal at the Leipzig Airport or having small character developmental conversations with the veterans of the mega-franchise. Even rookies such as Boseman's soberly but vengeful Black Panther and Holland's promising Spider-Man get their just do, leaving fans craving for their first solo movie outings. Marvel still has a villain problem outside of Loki as shown with the so-so villain, Daniel Bruhl's Helmut Zemo but he does serve his purpose. While you would like to think that no matter how heated things get, all will be forgiven in the end. Whether or not that's the case is not something I'm going to spoil for you here. You will just have to see the movie.

Honestly, I can't say enough about this movie.  It changed up their formula and showed that even a superhero film can pull at the hearts of fans and it's not always against good versus evil. I am unapologetically Team Cap and still am after this film. The morality and honor Steve displays just makes you want to join his side. However, going towards the end, you understand each side and can sway even the most loyal of followers on either side of the argument. The repercussions of this movie will have significance in the rest of the Marvel Cinematic Universe; to what extent, we won't know yet. I would recommend seeing this movie. Marvel has hit the ground running with Phase Three of their universe. I would rate this at least a 9.5 out of 10. Please leave any questions or comments and what you thought of the film once you see it, no matter if you are Team Cap or Team Iron Man!

Summer's Most Anticipated

This Friday, May 6, 2016, officially begins the Summer Movie Season with Earth's Mightiest Heroes battling each other in Captain America: Civil War (#TeamCap!). This superhero ensemble film will begin the summer movie season with a bang as the heroes work out their issues. That seems to be a running theme in some of the other high-profile movies of the summer with Matt Damon raging again as Jason Bourne, Idris Elba unleashes fury on the Enterprise  in Star Trek Beyond, the Suicide Squad's anger issues, and some nasty ghouls challenging Melissa McCarthy and Kristen Wiig in Ghostbusters. Thankfully, this summer is also packing plenty of joy and magic, too.

So here is my list of the 10 most anticipated films of this summer.

10) Central Intelligence - June 17

Movie Megastar Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson has been making a lot of noise in recent years in Hollywood, becoming one of its most bankable stars. Teaming up with one of the funniest men on the planet will seriously test his comedic chops in this action-comedy. Bob Stone (Johnson), a one-time bullied, overweight geek has grown up to be a lethal CIA agent enlists the help of the former "big man on campus" Calvin (Hart), now an accountant who misses his glory days when they attend their high school reunion that turns into more either of them bargained for. No doubt this movie will be an enjoyable laugh-riot of a film.

9) The BFG - July 1

The first theatrical adaptation of Roald Dahl's novel is directed by Steven Spielberg (E.T., The Adventures of Tintin, Jurassic Park) and tells the tale of a young girl named Sophie (Ruby Barnhill) who befriends a friendly giant named the BFG (Mark Rylance) as they set out on an adventure to capture the evil, man-eating giants who have been invading the human world. This is a return to audiences seeing the childlike imagination of Spielberg and giving children not familiar with his earlier works a showing of the wonders in magic, fantasy, and imagination.

8) Star Trek Beyond - July 22

Justin Lin (Fast and Furious 3-6) assumes the director role of the third installment of the Star Trek reboot series. Little has been revealed about the third film but from the initial teaser trailer, Idris Elba's big bad Krall is going to take it to the crew of the Enterprise and Captain Kirk (Chris Pine) like no one has before. The Enterprise herself looks to face certain doom and the crew seems to be stranded on a planet where they will have to fight to survive. Let's hope another trailer will come out between now and then.

7) Ghostbusters - July 15

Another reboot is set to launch this summer and...I'm still on the fence about it, personally. Kristen Wiig and Melissa McCarthy (Bridesmaids) are Erin Gilbert and Abby Yates, two women who co-authored the book about the paranormal but are laughed at for their belief. When ghosts attack Manhattan (gotta love New York!), the two team with a nuclear engineer, Jillian Holtzmann (Kate McKinnon), and a subway worker, Patty Tolan (Leslie Jones), to save the world. I already know that this will be held to the standard of the original Ghostbusters, fair or not, so I might go into this with level expectations.

6) X-Men: Apocalypse - May 27

I should have put this in my top five and I honestly considered it but I tried not to have a competition in judging these films. The X-men film series is one of the most successful film franchises and I have a deep soft spot for these mutants since I was a child. The reboot series has renewed my faith in how 20th Century Fox is handling these Marvel Comics pillars. Now, Professor X (James McAvoy) and Raven/Mystique (Jennifer Lawrenece, in her final X-men film) will lead a young team of fan favorite characters against the greatest and most powerful mutant of all, Apocalypse (Oscar Issac), and must contend with his "four horsemen", including an all-powerful Magneto (Michael Fassbender). I hope this movie continues to build on the success the reboot series has already made.

5) Finding Dory - June 17

In 2003, Disney/Pixar released a film about a lost clown fish called Finding Nemo. The film became critically acclaimed and a fan favorite with children and adults (speaking personally). It also gave birth to a fan favorite character named Dory (voiced by Ellen DeGeneres). Thirteen years later, DeGeneres reprises her role of the forgetful blue fish in this sequel. Set six months after Finding Nemo, Dory suddenly recalls her childhood memories and sets out to find her family. Albert Brooks reprises his role as the father clown fish, Marlin, who joins his friend along with his son, Nemo. I'm unsure if this movie will meet the same success as its predecessor, but it's sure sure to be another classic for children and adults to enjoy this summer.

4) Independence Day: Resurgence - June 24

 Speaking of long awaited sequels, it seems as though a generation has waited for this one to finally arrive. In 1996, the world witnessed the box office hit, Independence Day. It set the bar for global disaster films to follow and made sci-fi cool again. After languishing in developmental hell in Hollywood for twenty years, we finally see the world after the defeat of the aliens. The Earth is more united and has a global defense force using weapons reverse-engineered from the remains of the alien forces from the previous film. While we had twenty years to prepare, the aliens did as well. And they return to Earth looking for payback with a larger and more powerful battle fleet. The sequel features returning stars Jeff Goldblum, Bill Pullman, and Vivica A. Fox. It welcomes Liam Hemsworth (The Hunger Games film series), Sela Ward (The Day After Tomorrow, CSI: NY), and newcomer Jessie Usher (Starz TV series Survivor's Remorse) as the adult stepson of Will Smith's character. This film will most likely be a financial success and while it would have been great to have Will Smith return, I doubt he's worried since his summer movie slate is already covered.

3) Suicide Squad - August 5

DC Comics is really getting traction on its DC Extended Universe and, depending on how this film goes, it could really get going. Despite how some comic book fans and critics think, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice was a financial success. Suicide Squad seeks to build on that. A secret government agency, led by Amanda Waller (ABC How to Get Away with Murder's Viola Davis), assembles Task Force X by recruiting imprisoned supervillains to execute dangerous black ops in exchange for clemency and saving the world from an unknown but powerful threat. The trailer has not revealed this threat but we do know the team runs into a lot a danger on this mission. It's still unknown the purpose that the Joker (Jared Leto) will play but I'm sure it'll be prominent, especially with Batman (Ben Affleck) making a cameo. The trailers remind me of Marvel's successful Guardians of the Galaxy whenever I watch it, especially with the music selection. Let's see if this film, starring a cast that includes Will Smith and Margot Robbie, will be as popular.

2) Jason Bourne - July 29

The name of the movie says it all. After nine years away, Matt Damon reprises his role as the dangerous spy, Jason Bourne. From the first trailer, Bourne has been in hiding since the events of Ultimatum but something bring him out and Jason seems to be as dangerous as ever. The world Bourne is entering is not the one he remembers as the world is faced with unprecedented instability. In my opinion, this world is coming at an excellent time as far as how the society we live in now can affect a person. Julia Stiles returns with Damon and they are joined by an all-star cast that includes Tommy Lee Jones, Vincent Cassel, and Academy Award winning Best Supporting Actress Alicia Vikander (The Danish Girl). At first, Damon wasn't going to make a return without Greengrass and a good script but Greengrass returning as director, I doubt this film will disappoint.

1) Captain America: Civil War - May 6

No surprise here, right? In my opinion, the number one movie of this summer is four days away on May 6. The thirteenth film of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, third in the Captain America film series (potentially final), and the beginning Phase Three of this film franchise finds the heroes facing a surprising enemy: themselves. After the events of Age of Ultron, Captain America (Chris Evans) and his team of New Avengers face a government-issued registration act that fractures the team into opposing factions: one being led by Steve Rogers against the act, another led by Tony Stark/Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr) for the act. The trailers have been action packed, showing the standpoint of the two heroes and how we need to prepare of an amazing story of accountability, right and wrong, and friendships, and family. The Avengers, for all intents and purposes, are a family so this will be one reunion that will leave a lasting impression on the Universe. No matter the outcome, I doubt the Marvel Cinematic Universe will be the same ever again.

I hope you all go out to see these movies this summer. If there are any I missed, and I'm sure there are more than a few, please share them in the comments.

Enjoy, moviegoers!