Stephen started off the show with a rant about how superhero movie franchises shouldn’t kill off characters in one movie and then have them somehow be alive in later movies and how you only need to do origin stories once, plus two more gripes. So I thought he and I would be on the same page about how bad this movie was. Boy was I wrong! He gave it 7.5 kernels/10 while I gave it 3.5.
Stephen Craig: “I liked the opening scene. It was suspenseful and set up the rest of the movie.” My reply: “Yeah, first scene was fine but it’s all downhill after that.”
Stephen Craig: “I liked Patrick Stewart much better as Professor Xavier. He had a lot more charisma and style than James McAvoy”
” My reply: “Oh yeah, for sure. Just like the movie as a whole. It lacked style and charisma.”
Stephen pointed out the problem with Magneto’s age and how he should have been much older given that the character was born during WWII. And I’ve seen that criticism on other movie site as well. https://youtu.be/J3yqo2175Po
To me, it was a disappointing finale for a movie franchise that has lasted for nearly two decades. “Dark Phoenix” was more character driven and complex than your typical superhero fare so I applaud director Simon Kinberg for taking a chance and making the titular character more nuanced and gritty than most superheroes but on the whole, he went overboard. Kinberg sacrificed too much action, energy and excitement for psychological development and emotional issues. There’s no Wolverine, the X-Men’s most interesting and likable character. And that wouldn’t been a such a huge deal had there been either a really cool mutant and/or memorable, stylish villain to fill the void. But that didn’t happen.
Consider the villains in this flick: the D’bari. I called them perhaps the lamest villains in the history of cinema. As one reviewer joked, the D’bari also run an Italian sandwich shop franchise as well. I mean they lack style and are so forgettable.
One of the issues is that as originally done, they were just like the Skrulls from “Captain Marvel”. So many re-shoots and editing was required to make them different from that alien race. Ultimately although powerful, they lack style and requisite panache`that is required for an X-Men villain in the final movie of an epic saga.
I do applaud Sophie Turner’s portrayal of Jean Grey. It was nuanced, complex and showed that the star of “GoT” can handle a starring role. The problem was there wasn’t enough action, memorable good-guy mutants and a stylish opponent to play off of.
To conclude, Stephen gave it 7.5 kernels and I gave it 3.5 kernels. While Stephen liked some of the F/X and the intricate plotting, I felt for a superhero movie it lacked action, cool F/X and a stylish villain.
And now onto “Brightburn”:.
We both loved the premise. It’s definitely a high-concept script. It takes the Superman saga and turns it on its head. It explores what might happen if Superman were evil instead of good. And while Stephen loved it, he gave the movie 8.5 kernels, I didn’t like the movie. I gave it 3.0 because, as I say in the episode, “As the leader of the firing squad likes to say, execution is everything.” And to me, the execution in “Brightburn” was lacking. My biggest gripes: 1) The victims were neither particularly interesting nor memorable; 2) Brandon’s parents were too slow to realize the extent of their adopted son’s evil nature; 3) The sheriff was too slow in going after Brandon; and 4) I thought it would have been more interesting if Brandon had struggled with whether to use his power for evil (like Jean Grey struggled in “Dark Phoenix” instead of him being purely evil and having no qualms about killing people. But on the last objection, Stephen made a good point about him being the anti-Superman. If you’re going to go down that road, then you should go all the way, so to speak, and have there be no middle ground. He’s pure evil and that’s that.
STEPHEN’S RECOMMENDATION
Frank’s RedHot is a hot sauce that is, as Stephen and the company claim, a perfect combination of flavor and hotness. Frank’s Redhot is well-known for their edgy slogan: I put that s___ on everything!
LEE’S JOKES OF THE WEEK
I had five total. Here are a couple of them:
1 ) Why did Levi’s hire Nightcrawler? Answer: He looks good in blue genes.
2) How many writers of an X Man movie does it take to screw in a light bulb? Answer: The # varies but no matter how many do it X Man fans will complain (bitch) about how they’re doing it.
And that’s it, people. That’s the end of this blog. Look for the next blog post to appear by next Tuesday or Wednesday. Thanks for reading and be sure to check out our show and if you like what you see, you know the drill: Subscribe and share with your online tribe. And remember, we’ll be watching (movies) for you!
The Movie Review Show starring Stephen Craig and Lee Eide 