James Review -Blade (1998)

 

The years before the genesis of the Marvel Cinematic Universe were not without comic book movies, especially Marvel films. The 80s saw the release of Howard The Duck, The Trial of The Incredible Hulk and a Punisher flick and the 90s had a Captain America film, even though there were some Marvel-related film projects in the 70s such Nicholas Hammond's Spider-Man movie despite the fact it was a pilot to a TV series. But, at the tail end of the 90s, after the failure of Warner's Batman & Robin, New Line Cinema released... Blade.

Vampires, alongside superheroes, have been pop culture staples for years and, in the early 70s, Marvel created the daywalking vampire hunter known as Blade. Blade aka Eric Brooks became a staple of Marvel mythology and, many years later, a movie would be produced with the title role going to Weasley Snipes. On release, Blade was a massive hit, revitalizing the comic book movie genre, paving the way for X-Men and Sam Rami's Spider Man trilogy and... eventually the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Blade is an R-rated action horror superhero flick, telling the story of Eric "Blade" Brooks and his crusade against the blood-sucking vampires who terrorize the innocent, leading to him coming into conflict with the man who bit his mother, leading to Eric becoming half-vampire. Fun fact, the people who worked on The Matrix actually worked on this movie, and I am not talking about the Wachowski Brothers. This film is full of story, visceral and engaging 90s action, wild CGI special effects, and remarkable acting from start-to-finish and some energetic music that kicks in during the movie's biggest moments such as the final battle. And the icing on top, every line delivered is powerful including the biggest quote of the ages: "Some motherf***ers are always trying to skate uphill." And delivered by Mr. Snipes himself.

I had the privilege of seeing this movie with my father on Disney Plus around Halloween season in 2025 and, as a vampire movie, it fits Halloween pretty well and I suggest to any brave movie-viewers to watch it during Halloween if you like. The score for Blade is a 9 and I will see the sequel when dad and I find the time. And if you didn't know, Weasley Snipes' Blade returned in the Marvel Cinematic Universe through Deadpool & Wolverine in 2024, nearly two decades after the final entry in the Blade trilogy known as Blade Trinity. See you later, fellas.

-James M

James' Review -Deadpool 2 (2018)

 

Happy holidays out there, folks. 

Remember Deadpool? Merc with A Mouth? Ryan Reynolds' top movie role? Sorta the Austin Powers of Marvel but R-rated? Who can forget him and his amazing first movie in 2016? Today, we're here to discuss his 2018 sequel, Deadpool 2. And, after that, no more Deadpool because I don't like Deadpool anymore. HA! KIDDING! There is no way I don't love Deadpool, you can't fall outta love with Marvel's most iconic folks. Anyways, so what is the story all about?

A while has passed since Wade "Deadpool" Wilson saved his fiancée Vanessa and killed Ajax aka Francis and the merc is killing bad guys. One night, he comes home to the girl of his dreams and plan to start a family, only for a criminal to come in and kill Vanessa despite Wade's efforts. Vanessa's death badly impacts Mr. Pool and he attempts to join her in the afterlife, but he can't die. After trying to blow himself up, Deadpool winds up at the X-Mansion when Colossus finds him. Long story short, Wade becomes an X-Man. An X-Man trainee, of course. One assignment sees him, Colossus and Negasonic Teenage Warhead go to an orphanage where Wade meets the abused pyro mutant boy Firefist aka Russel Colins. He starts killing the staff, but ends up incarcerated at a high-security prison... with Russel, after Colossus intervenes in Deadpool's attack.

Meanwhile, a cyborg from the future, Cable (played by Josh Brolin), arrives in the present day and eventually reaches the prison where Wade and Russel are at. And when Cable attacks, Wade steps forward to protect Russel from the cyborg and their battle leads to them blowing through the prison wall and Wade has another near-death experience. Following this, Wade begins putting together a "super-team" called the X-Force in another effort to stop Cable from killing Russel, who is soon being relocated from the prison that he and the merc with the mouth were in. However, the team falls apart pretty badly during their mission and, by fall apart, I mean they die nasty deaths while only Deadpool and Domino, whose superpower is luck, survive to intercept the transport and encounter Cable.

During Wade's battle with the cyborg, Russel opens a cell and unleashes Juggernaut, a super strong mutant, who derails and smashes the transport, tears our red-black antihero in half and heads off with the pyro kid. While Wade recovers at Blind Al's place, Cable shows up and reveals why he is after Russel. As it turns out, Russel will kill the headmaster of the orphanage he was at and find enjoyment in killing people, becoming a full-blown terrorist, and goes on to kill Cable's wife and child. A nice little twist on the story this movie is parodying from Terminator. Cable is deadset on killing Russel, but is humble enough to let Wade have some time to talk down the boy.

After regrowing his legs, Wade, Cable and crew head to the orphanage right as Russel and Juggernaut are starting their rampage, leading to an intense battle. Colossus and NegaSonic Teenage Warhead arrive with the latter's companion Yukio to help and Colossus battles Juggernaut, the latter of whom is defeated with an electric shock to the backside. 

In the meantime, Russel is about to kill the headmaster until Wade talks to him. However, Cable opens fire on the boy and the merc with the mouth slaps mutant power neutralizer collar on his neck before jumping in the line of fire, making a friggin sacrifice play. Wade dies and is reunited with Vanessa, however, Cable uses his time device and rewinds time to before the start of the battle, slips a coin into Wade's Deadpool suit pocket and said coin ends up saving our, uh, protagonist's life. So Deadpool lives to kill bad guys and get into crazy stuff another day. The headmaster gets killed when he's run over by Dolpinder in his taxi, all is well, and then Wade fixes Cable's time device before going back in time to save Vanessa and one of the X-Force members named Peter Wisdom amongst other things as the movie ends.

While the first Deadpool was intense and action-packed with comedic beats, the second is more action-packed and intense while continuing to carry some comedic moments throughout. And coming out at a time when Logan had released a year prior, Deadpool 2 spoils the ending of the movie at the start with Wade commenting about how Wolverine got an R-rated movie and upped the ante by dying and this is while the regenerate degenerate is trying to, uh, find a way to die and join his dead girlfriend. However, despite the somber moments from Vanessa's death to Cable's tragic backstory, Deadpool 2 is nothing short of fun and full of charm for older Marvel fans and Ryan Reynolds' acting hits the right beats, even when some jokes fall flat. The first film made pops laugh 5 to, maybe, 6 times, this one got around 14 laughs from him. Sometimes, a sequel is better than the original. I hold this film in great regard and suggest it to anyone looking for a good R-rated action flick or an action-packed comedy movie.

See ya later.

Deadpool will return... in 2024's Deadpool & Wolverine in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

James' Review -Logan (2017)

 

For many decades, the team at Marvel Comics have created many iconic characters that have been viewed highly by fans in the pop culture community, from Spider-Man to Captain America to Iron Man. However, one character in the cast of the mutant team -The X-Men- has proven to be the most popular of all Marvel heroes; Wolverine aka Logan aka James Howlette aka Weapon X.

In the early 2000s, 20th Century Fox, with the rights to the X-Men characters, produced and released the first X-Men film, which starred Australian actor Hugh Jackman as Wolverine alongside Patrick Stewart as Professor X and James Marsden as Cyclops. Once again, out of all the heroes of the X-Men and other Marvel legends, Wolverine was popular and, in 2009, Fox released X-Men Origins: Wolverine, which focused on Logan. The film failed. A few years later in 2013, Fox released another Wolverine-focused movie directed by James Mangold and was somewhat more successful than its predecessor.

However, there was one issue when it came to Wolverine. The X-Men films were PG-13, geared towards a younger crowd, and the two Wolverine-focused movies received the same rating despite 2013's The Wolverine receiving an R-rated director's cut. In 2017, the game changed with today's topic, Logan. Set in the X-Men film universe (a version of it) and in the not-too-distant year of 2029, Logan follows Hugh Jackman's Wolverine on his final adventure as he fights to protect Dafnee Keen's Laura/X-23 from dark forces in a dystopian future where the X-Men are no more and mutants are near extinction. And unlike prior films, Logan was R-rated, allowing the Wolverine to be unleashed.

Loosely based on the comic "Old Man Logan" and influenced by old western movies, Logan is a deep, dark and somber action movie that doesn't hold back on the action and the moving plot. Patrick Stewart returns as a dying Professor X and Hugh Jackman plays both Logan and his clone X-24, who kills Charles midway through the movie and is the final enemy for Wolverine. Initially, this film was intended to be the end of Hugh Jackman's time as Wolverine in the X-Men films, but plans changed once Deadpool & Wolverine was in production and Hugh returned to play an alternate version of the character. The end of the movie is a gut punch as Wolverine dies after a grueling and brutal battle with his clone and he shares a touching moment with Laura, who is his daughter.

Prior to the release of Deadpool & Wolverine, I was planning on watching this film as perhaps one of the only R-rated comic book adaptations and, before seeing the aforementioned DP&W, I saw this with my dad a few months after we saw Deadpool 2 (which dropped a year after Logan) and it's available for viewing on Disney Plus. Despite the gritty tone and the extreme bloody violence depicted throughout, Logan was nothing short of fun to watch and the action scenes were pretty incredible. 

Next to Hugh, Dafne and Patrick, English actor Richard E. Grant shows up in the movie as the villain and it was thrilling to see him there, especially after I saw him in Loki season one, which dropped a few years after this film released. And watching this a few years before the year it takes place, it's pretty special. My score for Logan is 4.5 stars and I kinda want to see some of the wild west movies that influenced it, cowboys are always the best next to aliens. See ya around, folks.

-James M

Inglorious Basterds (2009) movie review

 

World War II was the darkest of conflicts in human history, lasting for six years, and it saw the most horrific acts ever committed in human history. We know how it ended, and what the cost was. And we know what the name Adolf Hitler means, just as we know what Nazism truly is. And yet, in the following decades, the global film industry has produced many incredible movies set during the war. Saving Private Ryan, The Longest Day, The Monuments Men, and Der Untergang.

However, one special movie deserves to be covered, and that is 2009's Inglorious Basterds by Quinten Tarantino, starring Brad Pitt, Christopher Waltz, Daniel Bruhl (of later MCU fame) and Michael Fassbender and guest-starring Mike Myers. The story follows a pair of Jewish Allied commandos on a mission in Europe as they take on the Nazis, and begin making plans to take out Adolf Hitler and his inner circle when circumstances fall into place.

Despite being intense, with many grizzly scenes, Inglorious Basterds is a fun action flick with wonderful writing and good special effects. The start of the film was a highlight for me, especially as it draws you in. I want to focus on that for a bit, especially as it starts on a farm in the countryside of Nazi-occupied France, and the film's main villain, SS colonel Hans Landa, visits the French farmer Perrier in his search for a hiding Jewish family. 

In just the first ten to fifteen minutes, you are drawn into the film, especially with Landa and Perrier's conversation. The highlight of the scene is when they start talking in English after speaking in French, but you can't deny how suspenseful the opening is. Perrier gives away the Jews that Landa is hunting are hiding beneath the floor, and Landa pretends to leave as he brings in his men. Obviously, the Nazis shoot through the floor, but what really cements this as the best opening scene for an R-rated movie is that... we don't see any blood in that moment.

Yes, there is blood at various points in the movie, but the opening only shows the soldiers shoot through the floor, with no blood flying everywhere. Mr. Tarantino is undoubtedly a visionary, and his style has to be respected. Even fifteen years after its release, Inglorious Basterds deserves a world of respect. Adolf Hitler does makes an appearance in the movie, played by German actor Martin Wukke. The movie depicts Hitler wearing a cape for a time in the movie, which is pretty funny, and he has gone on to become an online meme within the world of Hitler-related memes. Really, Hitler's first scene sees him banging his fist on the table and screaming "no" about four times in German. 

Oh, and he gets shot and killed in a theater at the end of the movie, just like Abraham Lincoln in our world. Inglorious Basterds is an alternate history WW2 film, folks.

My dad and I watched it on YouTube months ago, and it was a fun experience to see it. Inglorious Basterds is a must-see for anyone who likes watching crazy World War II movies, and if you're into alternate history in general. My score for the movie is a 9.8/10, and I was fortunate to see this one. Have fun out there, people.

-James M