"X-Men: Apocalypse" A Mutant-Filled Joy Ride that Lacks Depth; "Neighbors 2" Better Than the First; "The Nice Guys" is Pure Awesomeness

   

It's been sixteen years since we were first blessed with an X-Men film. Director Bryan Singer delivered one of the coolest comic book movies to date with 2000's "X-Men" and followed it up with what I think is the best X-Men movie to date in "X2: X-Men United". "The Last Stand" was a blunder (though I kind of enjoyed it) and "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" showed no promise of a return-to-form to what we saw in the first two. These first four remind me of the Batman Anthology, in that Tim Burton's films were fantastic, the third by Joel Schumacher was, eh; and "Batman and Robin" was a joke. Weird.

   Then the tide turned. Michael Vaughn's "X-Men: First Class" was such a breath of fresh air that it took a stalling franchise and gave it legs once again. I loved "First Class", a lot. It was so different, and yet it fit right into the X-Men family. "The Wolverine" had mixed reviews; not so much an X-Men movie perse but a definite follow up with the character of Logan. It was a fun, somewhat forgettable addition, but it didn't cause the franchise to sputter. Brian Singer returned to direct 2014's "X-Men: Days of Future Past", arguable one of the better films. DOFP however had the balls to do something drastic with the franchise. It essentially erased the past films. This time-bending adventure allowed for stinkers like "The Last Stand" to fizzle into oblivion and paved the way for new and exciting stories to behold. Bryan Singer rolled the dice once more with his fourth X-Men film, "X-Men: Apocalypse", and in a nutshell, it was pretty good.

   Set about ten years from the events of DOFP, the film finds our favorite mutants in the midst of attempting to live normal lives. With the emergence of the world's first mutant, Apocalypse, the X-Men must unite to defeat his extinction level plan. The origin of Apocalypse is intriguing and the prologue to the film does enough service to that origin to get things rolling. Oscar Isaacs plays the menacing antagonist and frankly I think he did alright. Some say that he's under-utilized. He is an acting force to be reckoned with, but I think he did a fine job portraying the ominous, all-powerful mutant god, if you will. Power-wise, the guy can pretty much do anything, and the way he dispatches people in his way is nothing short of creative. It's fairly clear what his motives are. I'll give you three guesses, but you'll only need one: world domination. He wants to rid the world of weakness and leave the strong behind, but really it's all about domination.

The trademark aspect about Apocalypse is that he keeps a posse of four followers with him, nicknamed the four horsemen. When he wakes in the time period of the film, he recruits a young Storm (Alexandra Shipp), a winged cage fighter named Angel (Ben Hardy), a stunning assassin named Psylocke (Olivia Munn), and our troubled metal-wielder Magneto (Michael Fassbender). Manipulated by his omnipotent charm, the four horsemen essentially follow Apocalypse around like a bully's posse, ready to defend their new-found leader from any opposition. Apocalypse shows them their true potential and they can't help but fall in line.

   On the side for good you've got the return of many of our favorite mutants, including Professor Xavier (James McAvoy), Beast (Nicholas Hoult), young Cyclops (Tye Sheridan), and young Jean Grey (Sophie Turner). Jennifer Lawrence returns as Mystique and in a weird way. For starters, she's barely in her blue form and she's somehow a beacon of hope, a hero for other mutants to strive to be like. She's a baddie in the comics, so...it's kind of weird the way she's used in the movie, but oh well. All in all though, the acting was really well done, top to bottom. The best moments come from a young Nightcrawler (Kodi Smit-McPhee)--who's character (portrayed at the time by Alan Cumming) was arguably one of the best parts of "X2"--and Even Peters' Quicksilver, who has a much larger role in this movie and has one of the best scenes of the film, rivaling his iconic scene from DOFP. There's also a cameo by a certain mutant that was probably my favorite scene in the film. You'll have to see the movie to find out who it is, but I'm sure you can guess.

   This movie has a big story to tell and as fun as it is, I think it was a bit too big. Apocalypse could easily be used throughout an arcing storyline through multiple films, much like Thanos in the MCU. But, as most of these films are, it's a one-off and doesn't allow for much character growth. It's cool to see all these mutants in action and this movie has some of the coolest action scenes within the franchise, but the movie overall isn't anything new. There's still the pitted moral dilemma between Charles and Erik, a growing fear of mutants in the world, and a revolving door of mutants to keep track of. Don't get me wrong though, it's completely enjoyable and a lot of fun. To be honest, as the movie ended, I was like "Okay, I like these new versions of the characters. Now let's see what they do from here". The universe they're building is intriguing, and this movie only adds to the intrigue of what that will offer in the future.

   
IN A NUTSHELL...

   Comedy sequels typically aren't as good as their predecessors. It's only once in a blue moon that a sequel will actually be better than the film before it. That's the case for "Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising". Much like the first movie, the couple played by Rose Byrne and Seth Rogen are pitted against a hurdle that might cause the pending sale of their house to fall through, that hurdle being a new sorority hell-bent on breaking the rules and partying hard. Chloe Grace-Moretz leads the conception of said sorority and much like the first film, hijinks insue between the two sets of neighbors. Zac Efron returns to aid the couple he tortured in the first movie, which brings a level of comedic drama.

   What I think was really cool about this movie was that even though it was a raucous comedy, it had a nice message to it. It spoke a lot about the empowerment of women and standing up for yourself. The moral at the end wasn't cheesy and it gave this movie that much more of an edge over the first film. Both films are hilarious. If you like Seth Rogen and his style of comedy, you get loads of it here. All in all the movie was pleasantly appealing and for once it was nice to see a sequel best the film before it.

   In keeping with the comedy topic, Shane Black's "The Nice Guys" is one of my favorite movies of 2016 so far. It stars Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling as a mismatched pair of private eyes who investigate the apparent suicide of a fading porn star in 1970s Los Angeles. As the spool of the story unravels, the investigation unearths a much larger conspiracy than just a simple murder. The duo of Crowe and Gosling is nothing short of brilliant. These guys are some high caliber actors, and both harness this comedic side of themselves with such audacity that it's truly entertaining.

   The story is simple, almost campy at times, but that doesn't really matter. The structure of the story is what's engaging. It feels a lot like "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang", another fantastic film by Shane Black. This guy, I don't understand why people don't like his films. He's made some memorably pieces for sure, even dabbling in the comic book genre with directing the highly underrated "Iron Man 3". In the case of great filmmaking, "The Nice Guys" is one to check out. The story, acting, writing, and overall deliverance is pure fun and engaging.