Midnight Movie Madness

As any film nut would do, I saw Pacific Rim again. The film is still getting shafted state-side, but on the international scale, box office returns couldn't be better and Japan's still waiting for its release. Mechs and monsters have always found a safe haven in their market. Legendary and Warner Bros are near breaking even. Once the film hits the remaining regions, I expect them to start generating a profit. Pacific Rim had plenty of hype and advertising for sure. My only concern was its timing and the fact that the Jaegers needed more action. This can be easily done with an anime prequel or with action figures I'll soon have on my shelf. Family-friendly films usually rack up easier than robot-on-monster beat 'em ups. I said it before and I'm saying it again. How Grown Ups 2 managed to topple Pacific Rim is still beyond my level of comprehension. In the long-run, Sandler will be forgotten as usual and del Toro will be remembered for dishing out a graphically pleasing, well-written action movie. Worthy of an Oscar? Perhaps not. Worthy of the public's attention? 

Buddy Jesus seems to think so

Moving on with cinema news (since that's all I ever seem to mention), The Wolverine berserks his way onto the silver screen against the Silver Samurai tonight. Some trash-talk has been done on Wolverine in the past. X-Men: The Last Stand and Wolverine: Origins were a wee bit hard to watch. This, however, isn't because of Hugh Jackman, but Brett-f*cking-Ratner and the geniuses who thought it a great idea to over-saturate Wolverine on-screen. I'm sorry, but all I want to see is Weapon X tearing through droves of mindless henchman and then a boss battle. 

I kid, I kid. Similar to The Dark Knight and Man of Steel, Marvel's heroes do need a certain level of severity or solemnity to bring their comic-book counterparts down to reality. Twentieth Century Fox hasn't done this in the respect Marvel Studios has with the Avengers line-up movies. These characters were grounded in this world and (in Thor's case) on Asgard. 

Let's go through the list of disappointing Marvel movies*. It may take a while: 

Hulk

Daredevil

Electra

Fantastic Four

Rise of the Silver Surfer

X2: X-Men United (everything but Wolverine going berserk in the mansion)

X-Men: The Final Stand

Spiderman 

Spiderman 2

Spiderman 3

The Amazing Spiderman (let's face it, the Lizard could've been done better)

*those distributed by Twentieth Century Fox

X-Men: First Class was decent because of Matthew Vaughn's direction. His work on Kick-Ass assured me he knew how to handle comic book movies. And this scene still gets me: 

Classic Wolverine

Reviews I've read thus far regarding The Wolverine have been promising. Trailers can be misleading. Horror flicks in the past ten years have proven that as fact. I'm as confident with James Mangold directing The Wolverine as I was with Matthew Vaughn and Bryan Singer with their respective X-Men films. It's midnight movie madness for me tonight. My own review depends solely on how well the film was for me and those who go along for the show. Thirty minute post show discussions can go either way. We'll see how Jackman's latest performance fairs against movie-goers growing increasingly tired of superhero movies. This much can be said of our generation. 

We are children of the comic books. The 80s brought original films by the dozens. Thirty years later and we're neck-deep in Marvel movies, the occasional DC, and reboots/remakes to last until the Rapture. 

If you don't believe me, then take a gander.

Bridesmaids? Seriously? 

I'll be honest. That graph just made me start crying. While I go take care of that, go see The Wolverine and decide yourself if he still has a chance. 

Still don't have a blue robe? Tough luck. This one's mine.