X-Men - The Series (general; ALL the movies)

[jo]

Heavy reshoots involved, especially for THE NEW MUTANTS ?

www.darkhorizons.com/recent-x-men-delays-due-to-reshoots/

[jo]

DEADPOOL 2 is coming this summer ... and people are speculating who might do a cameo in the movie. It was said that a long schedule of reshoots was focused on possibly such a personality/character.

Cinemablend speculates on 7 possibilities.

Their top choice --

www.cinemablend.com/news/2394261/7-characters-we-hope-cameo-in-deadpool-2?story_page=7

[njr]

www.cinemablend.com/news/2394201/what-may-be-going-on-with-the-new-mutants-reshoots

Nancy

[jo]

The XMen to enter the MCU universe ?

www.joblo.com/movie-news/x-men-dark-phoenix-to-mark-x-men-s-entrance-into-the-mcu-313

[jo]

Will he or won't he -- more speculations about HJ joining AVENGERS 4 !

[jo]

http://instagram.com/p/Bg9XfdkjfDn

Spot as many XMen as you can --


Let's start with Logan and Laura ( X-23)

Mariko?

Jean and Cyclops

Bald Prof X and full-hair Prof X

Magneto

Rogue

Mystique

Beast (presumably with Beauty, in a yellow gown, from another world)

Quicksilver

Night Crawler

Storm (er...just guessing on that one)

Angel

[jo]

Past and ex-future castings as XMen characters --

No contention or second thoughts when it comes to Hugh Jackman as the Perfect Wolverine/Logan!


www.cbr.com/possible-x-men-casting/

[jo]

born2invest.com/articles/film-producer-lauren-shuler-donner/


An article on Lauren Shuler Donner, film producer extraordinaire --

*Among others, she started the reinvigoration of the superhero/comicbook movie genre, with the first X-Men film in 2000!

*Among her proteges was Kevin Feige who acted as her associate producer ( Feige is now Chief of Marvel Studios).


*And for us Jackman fans --

Lauren Shuler Donner was the talent scout of Hugh Jackman. She saw Hugh in Oklahoma! in the London revival. She pushed for Hugh's name when the film project found itself without Wolverine...and their association and friendship have stood many years - she also produced LOGAN!


She should have been recognized way ahead of the women who were mentioned in the first part of this article. She made her mark much earlier than those names! She suffered a serious health issue sometime ago...and we hope that is no longer an issue...and that she can continue to oversee great films in the future!


Jo

[jo]

Is this true ?

Via Chrome --

[jo]

http://instagram.com/p/BiEqxCyDE6_

[jo]

As Alice ( from Wonderland) would say --

I am getting curiouser and curiouser


Is there something these two ORIGINS XMen are planning

[jo]

Are they planning a musical together... as in " tomorrow...tomorrow...bet your bottom dollar"


Or better still -- how about a road trip comedy ( with a couple of old songs thrown in) for Hugh and Ryan?


Jo

[jo]

Graham Adams
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@firstclassmale
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5 hours ago


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Brilliant @gusworland is going to be so jealous. Deadpool in Hugh’s bed.

Gus Worland
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Replying to @firstclassmale @realhughjackman @vancityreynolds
I might have to have another word with Mr Reynolds!!! I’ve tried being nice!
3:41 PM - 27 Apr 2018

[jo]

Ryan has been hoping and hoping...

but Hugh says "the ship has sailed"!


www.tmz.com/2018/05/11/hugh-jackman-ryan-reynolds-deadpool-2-wolverine/

[jo]

http://instagram.com/p/BipILuLnE5N

[jo]

The time has probably already passed...

But if I were some film producer looking for an excellent project -- why not cast Hugh and Ryan together in a different kind of movie - could be action/thriller, could be comedy, could be a dark drama, could be a musical ( oops... no ANNIE, please)

[jo]

A case for the R-rating for XMen movies --

www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/deadpool-2-x-men-movie-should-be-rated-r-1114192


Excerpts --

All three of these movies have one important thing in common that separate them from the rest of the X-Men cinematic universe, and indeed most superhero movie fare: R-ratings.

In the world of superheroes, mutants are individuals whose bodies have extraordinary capabilities — capabilities that are challenging to show off under the restrictions of a PG-13 rating.Though polar opposites in tone, the mutations at the center of Logan and the Deadpool series share at least some overlap in Wolverine’s healing factor and Deadpool’s inability to die. In both cases, their highly graphic nature is key to being able to explore the nuances of these mutations, either for tragic or comedic ends.

In Logan, graphic violence highlights the frailty of the human body as the once indestructible Logan is forced to come to terms with his own ultimate mortality. After nearly two decades of seeing Wolverine bounce back from being riddled by bullets and skewered by blades in his numerous PG-13 appearances with the somewhat sanitized discretion necessitated by that rating, the unflinching and explicit brutality of Logan forces the viewer into a different sort of relationship with the violence being depicted on screen. The graphic nature of how pain and suffering is depicted enables the film to achieve a unique degree of realism and urgency, reaching emotional depths unmatched by any other X-Men film...

[jo]

[jo]

VULTURE emerges with its own list of 30 Best Superhero Movies (since BLADE in 1998) -- and includes a few from the XMEN chronology.


Had the current wave of inclusion and political views not be as strong, I wonder if LOGAN would not have been voted as # 1 instead of second best superhero movie!

www.vulture.com/article/best-superhero-movies.html

Excerpts --

This list was first published in 2014, and has been updated periodically to reflect new superhero movie releases.
In 1998, predicting a fiscally and artistically rich superhero-movie industry would’ve gotten you laughed out of your local comics shop. Hell, the idea of an “industry” for movies about costumed heroes was ludicrous. No such thing had ever existed. Superhero movies had been few and far between throughout cinema history, and the then-most-recent superpowered flick had been 1997’s Batman and Robin — a movie so derided that George Clooney has spent 20 years apologizing for it. Then Wesley Snipes came along and changed everything. On August 21, 1998, Blade was released and audiences watched Snipes don the shades of the titular vampire-stabbing superhero (a longtime Marvel Comics staple). The picture earned more than $131 million worldwide. Quietly, a revolution began.

In the nearly two decades since, successful caped-crusader movies started trickling, then flooding, into theaters. Now we live in a world where the global film economy is largely built on them. The so-called Marvel Cinematic Universe alone has raked in more than $10 billion to date, and when a movie like Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice makes $872 million, it’s regarded as something of a disappointment. Studios announce their superhero slates like Stalin announced five-year plans. High-profile directors get attached to adaptations of comics few have ever heard of. It sure feels like we’re in a bubble, but there’s no sign it’ll pop anytime soon — and even when it does pop, there will be plenty of products of this spandex-clad era worth rewatching. Here are the 30 best superhero movies since Blade kicked off their modern renaissance (and if you’re wondering whether the latest super-flick, Incredibles 2, is on it, the answer is a resounding yes).

But first, let’s talk about the methodology of this list. Our criteria for what constitutes a superhero movie are as follows: It must (a) be about a do-gooder or group of do-gooders who have superhuman abilities or are more skilled at crime-fighting than any human possibly could be (Batman and the Punisher being examples of the latter); (b) be set primarily on Earth, which excludes sci-fi fantasias like Star Wars and Guardians of the Galaxy, as both are set in galaxies where superhuman abilities are commonplace; and (c) have been released theatrically. There’s also a certain amount of Potter Stewart–esque logic here: You know a superhero when you see one.

28. X-Men (2000)

In retrospect, it’s astounding how good the casting in X-Men was. At the time, superhero movies were still mostly a dead letter in Hollywood, and the marquee names of the day wouldn’t touch a movie like this. So Bryan Singer took the Moneyball approach: Almost everyone he snagged was either undervalued in the market (Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen), underestimated as a pretty face (James Marsden and Rebecca Romijn), or a near-complete unknown (Hugh Jackman). Sure, there are duds in the lineup (Tyler Mane’s and Ray Park’s presences here are best left alongside the Y2K virus as turn-of-the-millennium curiosities), but the synergy of this cast of misfits still provides a frisson of delight. It’s not a great film, but it was solid enough and exciting enough to rescue the superhero genre from obscurity. Although Blade came first, it was X-Men that really made the rest of this list possible.

17. X2: X-Men United (2003)

Real talk: The first five minutes of this movie are better than most of the superhero movies ever made. If X2 could sustain the raw cinematic thrill of Nightcrawler’s teleported invasion of the White House, it would have no peer on this list. That White House scene sets the tone for the movie’s exemplary superpower sequences, which are unfailingly elegant and free of post-Bourne action filmmaking’s choppy-chop-chop confusion. Consider, for example, Ian McKellen’s Magneto calmly levitating a hapless guard whose blood has been filled with metal. Or Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine using his claws to skewer a black-ops soldier into a refrigerator. The action is pulse-pounding and the story is just compelling enough. And c’mon, how great is Brian Cox as Svengali mastermind Stryker? (Has there ever been a bad Brian Cox performance?) Plus, there’s a bit of dialogue between Mystique and Nightcrawler about passing that, though brief, is more boldly progressive than virtually any other scene in the superhero genre. Now, if only the X-Men had more nonwhite, non-straight people on their team …

16. X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014)

Photo: TM & �� 2013 Marvel & Subs. TM and �� 2013 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. All rights reserved. Not for sale or duplication.
In the wake of 2016’s flaccid X-Men: Apocalypse, it’s become fashionable to say the lo(ooooo)ng-running X-Men franchise needs to be taken out back and shot. But just one movie prior, it produced its best installment. Days of Future Past is like a mixtape of all the best parts of its predecessors: vividly choreographed fight sequences (Fan Bingbing’s Portal-aping, mostly silent turn as Blink is particularly great), terrifically offbeat comedy (c’mon, who doesn’t love that Quicksilver scene?), sensationally weird period-piece touches (JFK being a mutant, Mystique showing up at the Paris Peace Accords), and — perhaps most important — the endless charms of Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, and Ian McKellen, who had settled into a loving synergy with one another 14 years after they first shared the screen. The gentle final scene would’ve been a perfect capstone to the franchise. For now, it feels like a shame that it wasn’t.

2. Logan (2017)

Photo: 20th Century Fox

There are two factors that might lead you to conclude that James Mangold’s Logan doesn’t deserve top billing on this list. First is the fact that it doesn’t totally stand on its own — you need to at least have seen the 2000 X-Men kickoff to understand its leads and their world. Second is the violence — the film is a charnel house of severed heads and bloodstained claws. But these are ultimately merits, not missteps. At its best, the superhero genre makes an art out of the notion of the franchise, by assembling different installments into a mosaic that takes on an aggregate shape when seen from a distance. Logan is a shining example of that storytelling method, benefiting from the fact that it doesn’t have to waste time on exposition — in fact, it entrusts the viewer with nearly all explanations of what has transpired before the curtain’s rise — and rewarding our existing adoration of the title character by sending him out on a high note.

And the gore is both aesthetically rich in the mode of Peckinpah and Psycho, and purpose-serving: It serves as a visceral metaphor for our awful planet and the struggle to be a good person amid the temptations of joining its cruel inertia. Plus, the ultraviolence is something of a subversion and commentary on superhero cinema. All of these flicks are filled with despicable brutality; Logan just shows us what punches actually feel like, rather than cleaning it up for the kiddies.

Indeed, the movie is one of the only superhero pictures that feels meaningfully adult. Logan grapples with the burdens of middle age: caring for elderly parents, reconciling oneself with defiant children, confronting the meaninglessness of one’s profession, and living inside a body in decline. But though those topics may be weighty and dense with misery, the film is defiantly hopeful and believes passionately in humanity’s capacity for empathy. As the man once known as Wolverine traverses a cursed earth, we watch him overcome the hypnotic seduction of cynicism and choose to feel vulnerable. What’s more, the movie is almost deliriously funny at times, and the humor comes not from cheap pop-culture references or silly banter, but rather from naturalistic vignettes about parents and children.

Everything feels urgent and bone-deep: the dialogue, the iconography, the world-building, and the subtle rebellions against our present political situation, which never feel preachy. Plenty of super-stories are about overcoming immense obstacles, but the reasoning is usually based on negation: The hero needs to fight against evil. Here is a rare story about a superpowered individual fighting for something: love. When I use that word, I mean it not as the romantic eros, but as a curious, bloody version of the expansive agape, the embrace of our flawed species as a whole. Sure, our hero kills plenty of folks, but that’s a fine metaphor: Who among us doesn’t have trouble loving? We can only hope to move in the right direction. Logan is a tale that grabs you by the face, pulls you close, and whispers in your ear, “We’re all in this together.” Not bad for a story about a guy with big ol’ knives in his knuckles.

[jo]

2. Logan (2017)

Photo: 20th Century Fox

There are two factors that might lead you to conclude that James Mangold’s Logan doesn’t deserve top billing on this list. First is the fact that it doesn’t totally stand on its own — you need to at least have seen the 2000 X-Men kickoff to understand its leads and their world. Second is the violence — the film is a charnel house of severed heads and bloodstained claws. But these are ultimately merits, not missteps. At its best, the superhero genre makes an art out of the notion of the franchise, by assembling different installments into a mosaic that takes on an aggregate shape when seen from a distance. Logan is a shining example of that storytelling method, benefiting from the fact that it doesn’t have to waste time on exposition — in fact, it entrusts the viewer with nearly all explanations of what has transpired before the curtain’s rise — and rewarding our existing adoration of the title character by sending him out on a high note.

And the gore is both aesthetically rich in the mode of Peckinpah and Psycho, and purpose-serving: It serves as a visceral metaphor for our awful planet and the struggle to be a good person amid the temptations of joining its cruel inertia. Plus, the ultraviolence is something of a subversion and commentary on superhero cinema. All of these flicks are filled with despicable brutality; Logan just shows us what punches actually feel like, rather than cleaning it up for the kiddies.

Indeed, the movie is one of the only superhero pictures that feels meaningfully adult. Logan grapples with the burdens of middle age: caring for elderly parents, reconciling oneself with defiant children, confronting the meaninglessness of one’s profession, and living inside a body in decline. But though those topics may be weighty and dense with misery, the film is defiantly hopeful and believes passionately in humanity’s capacity for empathy. As the man once known as Wolverine traverses a cursed earth, we watch him overcome the hypnotic seduction of cynicism and choose to feel vulnerable. What’s more, the movie is almost deliriously funny at times, and the humor comes not from cheap pop-culture references or silly banter, but rather from naturalistic vignettes about parents and children.

Everything feels urgent and bone-deep: the dialogue, the iconography, the world-building, and the subtle rebellions against our present political situation, which never feel preachy. Plenty of super-stories are about overcoming immense obstacles, but the reasoning is usually based on negation: The hero needs to fight against evil. Here is a rare story about a superpowered individual fighting for something: love. When I use that word, I mean it not as the romantic eros, but as a curious, bloody version of the expansive agape, the embrace of our flawed species as a whole. Sure, our hero kills plenty of folks, but that’s a fine metaphor: Who among us doesn’t have trouble loving? We can only hope to move in the right direction. Logan is a tale that grabs you by the face, pulls you close, and whispers in your ear, “We’re all in this together.” Not bad for a story about a guy with big ol’ knives in his knuckles.



1. Black Panther (2018)

Photo: Marvel Entertainment
Most superhero movies are fundamentally conservative. Not necessarily politically — though all too many of them are, what with their affection for violent maintenance of the status quo. They’re artistically conservative, rarely taking risks that would challenge corporate conventional wisdom, and typically harking back with nostalgia for the past. They rarely try to invent anything or push the genre forward in a substantial way. Then, it’s 2018, 20 years into the present superhero boom, and here comes writer-director Ryan Coogler, a fierce-eyed Afrofuturist, preaching to us the gospel of the Black Panther. The character’s eponymous film is so stunning that words fail in the immediate aftermath of a first viewing. You’ve seen something not conservative, not even progressive, but downright revolutionary.

On a purely superheroic level, it fires on all cylinders. Chadwick Boseman’s titular protagonist is an instant icon thanks to his tentatively regal charisma, contemplative speech patterns, cryptic smile, perfected body, and profoundly evocative eyes. His rival, Michael B. Jordan’s Erik Killmonger, is among the best villains to ever grace the superhero genre in any medium, presenting an intimidating swagger and a persuasive master plan. Their conflict is Shakespearean in its themes, epic in its dialogue (though also prone to delightful dips into vernacular), and jaw-dropping in its climactic action. The CGI and practical effects are near-perfect and the costuming and production design, with its mix of pan-Africanism and the Apple Store, looks unlike anything we’ve seen before. Although it’s billed as a solo flick, it’s really about an African superteam, most of whom are women: Lupita Nyong’o’s Nakia, Danai Gurira’s Okoye, Letitia Wright’s Shuri, Angela Bassett’s Ramonda, and the nameless legions of the all-female fighting force known as the Dora Milaje are vividly imagined and endlessly engaging. And it’s funny as hell, to boot (Wright is a particular standout in this regard, and an early moment when she quotes an internet meme leaves one who gets the reference in tears).

But what truly sets Black Panther apart is that it envisions something no superhero movie — no major studio blockbuster of any kind, really — has ever even come close to contemplating: The complex intersection of black joy and black liberation. In the fictional African nation of Wakanda, Coogler & Co. grant us a utopia in which white colonialism never happened and people of color reached unparalleled excellence. And in the form of Killmonger, it goes one step further and asks what it means to build a utopia and keep it to oneself.

It raises urgent questions about comfort, advancement, and privilege, challenging audiences of any ethnic background to wonder whether they’re doing enough to overturn the systems that make some lives convenient at the expense of the bodies of the oppressed. If you’re watching it right, you finish the movie and feel thrilled, but also stirred to action. It forces you to think not just about the usual superheroic themes of heroism and self-sacrifice, but also about the very nature of social existence. Much in the way that 1978’s Superman made audiences believe a man can fly, Black Panther makes them believe a superhero movie can be explicitly about something.

It seems to me that BLACK PANTHER is being hailed as more of a Birth of a Nation revolution rather than the way certain individuals gifted with certain extraordinary powers use these gifts either for the betterment of fellow mankind or as destructive forces within society... and how the movie works within the current mood re social justice issues. Are both movies truly comparable?

LOGAN is the end-story of an enduring saga of how one individual gifted or burdened by extraordinary powers travel through time and interact with different kinds of members of society and emerge as a reluctant champion. Yet it is also a very human story and talks of inner conflicts within himself or with the ones he cares about. There lies the appeal of LOGAN - a man born to conflict but redeems himself at the end because of the inner peace he has found. That it works on every human emotion is testament that it is a movie that touches the soul and the heart! The amount of tears shed upon seeing that final scene of the inverted cross was not expected but it became the symbol of how the saga of Wolverine has had its impact to an audience which saw his role in the superhero movie revolution clearly defined!

The movie itself is intimate and does not fall within the usual spectacle of superhero movies (It even works as a film noir!). Yet the filmmaking efforts of the creatives ( script/directing/cinematography/production design) and the performances of the three major figures are outstanding and effortlessly compelling. That it broke through the Oscar barrier for awards for screenplay-writing affirms that this movie is a noteworthy contribution to the world of filmmaking, and not just for superhero movies. Had the social justice issues ( which favor giving attention to the less-honored sectors) not cropped up during the past Oscars awarding, the performances of Jackman, Stewart, and Keen could easily have been recognized!

It is also to be said that it was the XMen franchise which started the fight towards inclusion in a society that find individuals of a different kind unacceptable. But it was more evolution than revolution, as Jean Grey once told an assembly!


Jo

[jo]

You may want to check out the other movies included in the list, from the link.

It looks like that in this ranking, there is no room for FIRST CLASS ( of which I have always raised eyebrows about its being hailed by some as the best XMen movie) or DEADPOOL.

Jo

[jo]

A very good retrospective on the contribution of the XMEN franchise to the superhero movie genre -- as it marks its 18th year today.

comicbook.com/marvel/2018/07/14/x-men-movies-18-years-modern-superhero-movies/

[jo]

Fans join in with their memories of the first movie



wegotthiscovered.com/movies/fans-take-twitter-celebrate-18th-anniversary-x-men/



forever!!

[jo]

Do check out the photo gallery (15 photos) for the world premiere of the first XMEN movie --

www.yahoo.com/entertainment/red-carpet-flashback-first-x-191246963/photo-the-x-men-cast-1464381000329.html


They look so young...and unaware that the movie will start a franchise that is still going on after 18 years


And Hugh probably never even thought that this movie will bring him worldwide fame and allow him to chase his dream among many cinematic genres and theatre stages! Of course there was OKLAHOMA! - but that served only to open a certain door for him. Even if XMen producer Lauren Shuler Donner and future WME/Endeavor Co-chairman Patrick Whitesell had not seen him in that London production -- his talent would have likely taken him in the direction of Hollywood and Broadway!

Jo

[njr]

That outfit of Hugh’s left a lot to be desired though! 😂