Browse Tag: nicholas hoult

RECAP: X-Men: First Class

X-Men: First Class (2011): Matthew Vaughn

Following the less-than-stellar success of X-Men: The Last Stand (not to mention its ultimate title), Fox decided to reboot the entire X-Men franchise. Sort of.

They recast all the characters, but made a prequel set in the 1960s, a film that would show the origins of the primary mutants. The old actors playing Magneto and Professor X would be recast with Hollywood’s hottest young actors.

The movie was a box office mediocrity. The lowest grossing of the mutant ensemble movies, it might be the franchise’s best entry. When you hear critics and fans berating Hollywood because they want to see better movies with original ideas, remind them of the box office problems that befell X-Men: First Class.

ONE SENTENCE PLOT SUMMARY: Mutants assemble for the first time, battling each other under the guise of the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cuban Missile Crisis.  Continue Reading

RECAP: Mad Max: Fury Road

Mad Max: Fury Road (2015): George Miller

Imagine spending thirty years thinking about one creative project. You were ready to make this thing three decades ago, but forces of nature (and Hollywood, and Mel Gibson) conspired against you, always pushing back back back the thing you were trying to create. Imagine now that someone with some power somewhere gave you the green light, allowing you to unleash decades of pent-up ideas and energy, despite your seven decades of life. What would your creative work express? Imagine now that your long-dormant idea was a movie, a movie about the destructive nature of men, and a whole ton of things to blow up. Congratulations, you are George Miller, and you just made Mad Max: Fury Road.

ONE-SENTENCE PLOT SUMMARY: A renegade general steals an armored truck to ferry fertile females to freedom as her boss pursues her with his glut of gonzo gas guzzlers.  Continue Reading