X-Men: Apocalypse Review

Hey, this is Greg Berger and you are listening

to the Geekcast Radio Network. Today on episode

97 of the Cinema Geeks, we discuss the next video

game to be adapted into a major motion picture.

We react to the potential casting of Captain

Marvel. And in our main attraction, we give you

our take on X -Men Apocalypse. All that and more

coming up on episode 97 with the Cinema Geeks.

That's right. It's episode 97 of the cinema geeks

and I am one of your geeks optimists solo Joining

me as you heard in the introduction is hard candy

Mandy Yola What Yola is that a variation of Yolo

and Ola? My mind has been blown you only say

hello once Oh geez a movie of all Dan, how's

it going? Yeah, that's a guy Not too bad and

Fred Lee said good day, sir. Hi. I don't have

anything cool to say Amanda's inventing new trendy

replies apparently, so gotta get on her level.

Anyways, starting off today we're gonna get into

some new stories before we get into our main

attraction like we tease in the opening, which

will be our take on X -Men Apocalypse, the next...

comic book film to hit the theaters in 2016 but

let's start with some comic book news instead

and the first headline for today is about Captain

Marvel and I'm assuming that all three of you

are more familiar with that character than myself

and the news coming out this last week is that

Captain Marvel will probably be played. I like

that. Probably be played. I don't even know if

that's worth talking about, but probably be played

by Brie Larson. Dan will let you react first.

Obviously, Brie Larson made a lot of headlines

last year with her Oscar performance for The

Room. What do you think about her taking over

the role of Captain Marvel when it hits the big

screen? I like it. Definitely. I can see the

casting for sure. I mean, I have not read a great

deal of Captain Marvel. I don't know like nothing

I mean I enjoy her as a character well enough

but nothing about her really stands out a huge

deal but I do like Brie Larson as an actress

a lot even from like seeing her in Short Term

12 was the first thing ever the thing I noticed

her in so yeah I mean I think I could I could

see her working in that role and uh I know she's

not done anything along those lines action wise

but she's a solid enough actress that if she

could probably pull it off. Amanda you've seen

both short -term 12 and the room so you've seen

I've also seen her and a Showtime show United

States of Terror when she was younger. Okay.

So what do you think of her? putting on the tights

for Captain Marvel, I always mix up Captain Marvel

and Shazam, I think And Captain Marvel. They

both are the same. But that's DC's Captain Marvel.

This is Marvel's Captain Marvel. She also went

by Ms. Marvel for a while. She was Ms. Marvel

for like 40 years. Then I have no clue. So what

do you think about Brie Larson being in a superhero

film? Cool. Matt, you seem to know a little bit

more about Captain Marvel than myself and Amanda.

I don't know if you've seen much that Brie Larson

has done, but what do you think about Captain

Marvel coming to the big screen? Yeah, I guess

I'm like the exact opposite of Amanda because

I've seen nothing that she's been in. I'm super

excited about Captain Marvel, Ms. Marvel Carol

Danvers, Captain Marvel, whatever you want to

call her. I've read a lot of the books that she's

been in. I've got a handful of trades that are

her -centric, as well as she helmed my favorite

incarnation of the Avengers, the Mighty Avengers,

from like 2060, 2007 era. So I'm super excited

about that. I did, like, again, because I've

never seen this, I've seen the Brie Larson name

cropping up in relation to Captain Marvel, and

I was just assuming it was Brie Olsen, because

I've heard of her. And honestly, I think she's

got more of the figure that Captain Marvel has,

but probably not the acting chops to pull off

a Marvel movie. And so if you combined, if Amanda

and Matt, if your powers were combined, you'd

be able to give us a good... Good take, because

one of you knows everything about the actress

and one of you knows everything about the character.

We need like some psychic wonder trend, like

rings or something like that. Professor X helping

you out here. Alright, so I'm interested to see

how that goes. I mean obviously a lot of people

have been clamoring for a comic book film led

by a female star here. So why is a captain Marvel

then? Like what makes her a captain? Captain

Marvel was originally, a very original Captain

Marvel was a member of the Kree Empire and he

was a captain in the Kree Empire who led forces

and then yada yada he goes to Earth and fights

for Earth. That might be the second or third

one. There's been a bunch of them. There's been

like six Captain Marvels in the Marvel Universe.

And so she's just a legacy character where she's

like maybe it's time to step up away from Miz

and take the captain Although she's a full bird

colonel, I believe in the the Air Force So she's

actually a higher ranked than captain In earth

stuff, but in the cosmic she's the captain I

felt like the answer to all of these questions

was comic book comic books So all right, so moving

on to a different topic altogether Let's go into

the realm of video games since obviously we're

doing a video game spotlight We've already covered

three video game films and we've got another

one coming up soon So it seems like as soon as

we started that there was all kinds of more rumors

about additional video game films now let you

go first with this on the latest video game that

that is being rumored to be adapted to the big

screen is a tom clancy film starring jeepers

top tom clancy game uh... starting jake jillin

hall is the rumored actor to be uh... portraying

uh... main character in this film now you're

a little bit more familiar with the video game

i think that i am so what's your take on this

video game being translated into the big screen

uh... I haven't played it, so I don't know for

sure, but Tom Clancy games are all pretty much

one note. I could be wrong, and it could actually

be, this could be the PS4 exclusive MMO that

I've heard about, but I don't think that's true.

I don't know, it's gonna be a bunch of American

guys shooting people in their generic FPS way.

I can't imagine the story's gonna be too crazy,

especially because it's coming out of a Ubisoft

film. And Ubisoft, as a company, has been just

dropping the ball a lot, like in the gaming world.

So I can't imagine their film industry version

is going to be so much better. But Jake Gyllenhaal

is great as an actor, so, you know, fingers crossed

if you're a fan of the division. I mean, he was

in Jarhead, right? I mean, can't be too far off.

And Watch. Just trying to play a variation of

that character. Dan, if Assassin's Creed and

Warcraft and the rest of the video game films

this year fail, will The Division be the first

good video game film? You mean Double Dragon

wasn't good? And I just got, yeah, I don't even

want to, we'll talk about the other movie I was

just watching recently. So much pain. I don't

know. It's like, like Matt mentioned. I played

some like I played Splinter Cell, which was a

Tom Clancy game, which was I could see that I

think that was also being talked to be making

into a movie I don't know if that's still happening.

I know nothing about the division all overall

I also wonder if Tom Clancy knows anything because

I feel like his name's on so many things that

he doesn't even realize anymore It's like sure

I'll do that It's possible. That has to do with

some war people. We'll put Tom Clancy's name

on it. I mean, we have, you have like the Jack

Ryan series, which is Tom Clancy related. So

maybe there's a story there, but, uh, I don't

know. I'm hoping, I'm hoping, well, I'm hearing

not great things about Warcraft, but I'm hoping

Assassin's Creed gives us that. I mean, there's

still hope there. I think I'd, and I would probably

put more face in a Splinterers movie than I would

for The Division, but that's because I played

that and not that other one, because I... don't

have a Xbox 18 or whatever they are on now. I

feel like The Division could be just a film that

has nothing to do with that video game, and they

could just get away with it. Like, it could just

be, like, a war film, or something of that nature,

and they would have to do nothing else. They're

just gonna re -show Saving Private Ryan. Well,

I don't know if they'd go that route. They could.

It's in a modern day, though, right? Yeah. I'm

sure a lot of people are streaming at their computers

because of how unknowledgeable we are, especially

for being a geek. Podcast I did I did a quick

Google the division is what I thought what I

was thinking I had not thought it was where it's

the the persistent online RPG shooter It's essentially

like destiny only set in like a more modern day,

but I think it's semi post -apocalyptic And I

know that it's really easy to troll people because

I think you have a physical presence in the world

and so you can block doors by just standing in

them and no one could go into that building and

you could ruin quests for people And by the way,

we don't have to be bashful about not knowing

about video games. It's a it's a trend that's

going around the network apparently The guys

took the guys took some heat for their top 50

video game the first episode because apparently

there was to do a lot of games they couldn't

speak too much of but The second half of that's

coming out and I've been assured that they know

all about those games So I would have been no

help because I didn't know any of them either

way. So Moving on to the third article. Let's

go to Star Wars. Why not a lot of people talking

about I've seen Star Wars so maybe we can talk

about this a lot of news and a lot of time spent

articles written or tweets sent about the Star

Wars Rogue one story that came out this last

week, which was about the nervousness Matt you

actually alerted us to it right away through

Twitter about the reshooting of part of Rogue

One and there's been like 17 follow -up stories

as to why they were doing that and I don't know

which one to believe and at one point there was

an article that was just like the you know the

powers that be saw Gareth Edwards film and was

like good lord what do we do and we need to redo

this or help us or something then there was like

other articles that were like well we just needed

to add a brief cameo of a very important character

so we're just doing that and now the latest article

that i read hopefully this is the true one is

simply stating that uh... gary edwards had a

very uh... somewhat grittier and darker tones

this film which is kind of what i think a lot

of us expected but because of the fact that when

they watched the film they were realizing hey

wait a second the role one film is supposedly

going to end literally ten minutes before a new

hope begins and there was some fear that because

they're butting right up against each other that

the feel of the one was not meshing enough with

the feel of the other so they wouldn't feel like

as connected as a universe so they were going

to try to add a little bit more and this seems

to be a trend this year as well, a little, lighten

it up a little bit and add a little bit more

possible humor maybe to the film to try to bring

it to the same level as A New Hope. Matt, since

you were the one that was right on this to begin

with, what's your take on the whole thing and

which story do you think's right about why they're

doing some reshoots? Oh, I don't know, because

like, it's one of those things where it's over

six months away, like, who knows? I mean, movies

go through reshoots, sometimes they're good,

sometimes they're Suicide Squad, and like...

It's hard to tell which ones are good or bad.

You know, The Force Awakens went through a bunch,

apparently. I didn't know about it until I found

out about this. I hope... if it is grim and gritty

and dark, which is one of those things we've

been complaining about a lot, is that that's

too much. But one grim movie in a universe that's

bright and colorful is very different from all

grit, all grim. Like, you want their war movie

to not be happy -go -lucky, so hopefully if that's

what they're doing is scaling that back, the

grimness, hopefully they don't mess that up.

But, you know, the trailer still has me hooked.

I still watch it at least once a week, so...

I mean, this whole film is basically based off

of one line in the original films about basically,

hey, everybody that tried to get this information

died, or a lot of people died trying to get us

this information. So I don't know how bright

and cheery we can hope for this to be. Dan, what

do you think about the reshoots, and what do

you think about the idea that this is going to

end so close to when the new hope begins? I mean,

I kind of could see that. I thought it was supposed

to be like years beforehand. I guess that's...

I don't know. Maybe it covers a vast amount of

time. I mean, I'm not too concerned about the

reshoots as of yet. It's a thing that happens.

It occurs. I feel like it probably happened in

the original Star Wars. I know the first original

Star Wars, I think, had notorious issues and

problems and whatnot. And sometimes... One of

the leads was on crack, so I mean... There you

go. Perfect. Yeah. Yeah. So you got... Is that

why she's fat, though? I don't know. I'm not

going to comment on that. Yeah, and then, you

know, Mark Hamill gets in his car accident after

that, so it's just, yeah, there's a lot of problems

there. So I guess I'm more concerned with the,

I think there was a Disney executive that came

out where it had pretty negative things to say

regarding the test audience's reaction to it,

which is unlike Disney because they're pretty

tight -lipped with that stuff, typically, so

I don't know if it was just a rogue agent, I

guess, you get it, because rogue, yeah, I apologize.

But I don't know. I feel like I've liked what

I've seen. I don't think the story is going to

really change my anticipation of the movie. So

I think this is one of those things with just

the culture we live in now where something of

this nature maybe gets a little bit bigger of

a story than it really, really is. Yeah, a little

blown out of proportion at times. The internet

likes to do that. Amanda, any worries about Rogue

One, or are you still on board? Yeah, I'm still

on board. I'm just sick of hearing about all

these. cry babies that can't handle things being

dark and gritty and when all these stupid reshoots

put humor in there, like shut up, just calm down,

get your panties out of the bunch that they're

in and just let us have the movie. Unless your

name is X -Nighter, then listen to some of the

cry babies. Anyways, we don't necessarily need

to talk about the next news story too much because

we've already talked about it in previous months,

but it is... I guess at this point actually confirmed

that we will have a Mary Poppins film. It will

be called Mary Poppins Returns, and it will in

fact star... It will in fact star Emily Blunt

as Mary Poppins apparently, or at least somebody

important in the film unless... I don't know

if she's gonna actually play Mary Poppins or

if Mary Poppins is gonna be like an older person

since she's returning or how that works, but

I guess timelines and age sometimes don't matter

in movies, so... Mary Poppins returns Danny flies

on an umbrella. Do you think she ages? I guess

not maybe I Just like if we it sounds like a

horror film like Mary Poppins returns for revenge

Spoon here. Yeah, it's been full of sugar. It

makes everything go down I love Emily Blunt,

so I think she's a good casting choice. And to

be fair, Disney, when it comes to these live

action, well, I guess Mary Poppins was always

live action, but them retelling some of their

classic tales, so Jurassic Park and Cinderella,

they've been doing a pretty good job with it,

so that does have me hopeful that this will be

good, too. And Emily Blunta has sung in some

films before, so she seems to be a good fit for

that role. Matt, you don't watch Disney films,

so I'm guessing that you've never seen the original

Mary Poppins. Dang. I have actually seen the

original one that said when I was like eight,

so I don't remember it. So Mary Poppins DVDs

are going to spike in sales here in the next

year as people try to watch it for the first

time in 30 years. Amanda, why are you giving

me that look? Just looking at you. Okay, that's

good. Let's go to some comic book announcements

and castings before we finish up with some Netflix

news. Thor Ragnarok has been making a lot of

headlines. There's been a lot of articles about

the tone, the atmosphere, the tone and the feel

of that film. A lot of people saying it's gonna

be almost like a buddy cop type thing or like

a buddy space travel film. Some other articles

that are stating from major Marvel people that

this is going to be a very important film in

the universe and it's going to be a game changer

almost to the point as Captain America Winter

Soldier was. There's a lot of important things

that will happen in this film that will shape

the universe going forward. And then of course

we have the confirmation that Jeff Goldblum will

be playing Grandmaster in the film and Carl Urban

will be playing Executioner. I don't even know

who those two people are, Dan or Matt, so can

either of you help me out with what those characters

are? Did you say Jeff Goldblum? Jeff Goldblum.

He's in Thor Ragnarok, yes. Can you say you don't

know who those people are? I don't know who Grandmaster

and Executioner are. I do know who Carl Erwin

and Jeff Goldblum are. The Jeff Goldblum casting

has me a little nervous. Why? I don't see how

you would fit. into a thor movie you don't see

how he would fit into like this other universe

because he's so like he's no he's just so him

i think he needs to stick to like dinosaurs and

aliens of that are coming to earth instead of

going in this other plane of existence with these

viking people most people are excited that jeff

gold blooms and why he was in the fly he played

like a creepy looking fly guy i mean um i don't

really know i the grandmaster i'm not aware of

the executioner is pretty much exactly what you

would picture if you think of the executioner

He's not really a all that if it's if I'm thinking

you know, I'm picking up I mean I like both those

actors I kind of do agree with Amanda though.

Jeff Globoom is very much Jeff Globoom all the

time So him having a conversation with Thor that's

something I like putting Kramer in like a space

movie or something like that As space as he would

be on earth him in a space movie doesn't fit

Matt do you agree or disagree? I disagree with

everything. No, I actually When I read Jeff Goldblum,

I was like, oh, he's just going to be like an

older Tony Stark. Because that's what I think

of when I think of Jeff Goldblum. But I don't

know the executioner. I know the grandmaster

a little bit. He doesn't show up that much. But

in my mind, he's just this blue dude with white

hair who's always playing chess. And it's always

cosmic chess for the fate of all humanity or

something like that. I think he and Corona. Play

chess against each other in the Marvel DC crossover

from the late 90s So he's of that level if you

know Krona Yeah, I think the idea of a buddy

cop movie where Jeff Goldblum plays a grandmaster

Who's trying to cosmically control the whole

universe sounds like a movie I'd see Yeah, I

mean I'm excited for the movie just in general

because I want to see what they what exactly

they go, what direction they go with it, and

especially if they're saying that it's important

to kind of the overall Marvel universe interested

to see what they do there. Hey, I'll sign up

to see what Jeff Goldblum's gonna do in this

world, even though I'm somewhat in agreement

with Amanda and Dan that it seems odd to picture

him in that type of universe, but from what you're

describing, Matt, I could picture him being this

guy that's just like this crazy guy playing chess

and doing that type of thing. I could see that,

so. Well, giving us this chaos theory. Exactly.

Chaos theory. Moving on to the Netflix announcement.

Apparently, Netflix has signed an exclusive deal,

and it's with a whole bunch of different things,

but mainly all under the same umbrella, I guess.

And that would be the Disney slash Marvel slash

Lucasfilm slash Pixar universe. And I don't know

what that all will translate to. but they will

apparently be having a lot more of those types

of films from those studios that are going to

be available on Netflix. I don't know what it

will mean for Netflix, like original programming

or some of the things that they can do for that.

But Matt, I don't know if you have any more information

on the Netflix exclusive or what it might mean

for the future as far as what we might see from

them. Jurassic Park is going to be on there.

On Netflix now. Currently streaming. Well yeah,

clearly the article says we'll get more movies

streaming. Hopefully we get some more live action

things. I've heard nothing but good things about

Daredevil, Jessica Jones, and who here wouldn't

want that once proposed Star Wars live action

TV show Scoundrels or whatever they were talking

about doing an HBO level show where it's like...

You know the like Lando Calrissian Han Solo Boba

Fett type characters Right like I would love

to see that but we'll just have to wait and see

I mean just expect to see Disney movies on Netflix

And if you don't have Netflix, you're messing

up So that means Matt that you'll have even more

opportunities to catch up on some Disney films

Yeah, cuz I don't have them all in my basement

right now You have no excuses sir none and Dan

obviously This is part of the bigger movement

here with a lot of these streaming services bringing

in original content whether it be in TV series

or films. We have a number of different films

that we talked about in either our box office

predictions or more. I think so in our most anticipated

films that I think there's about three or four

of them that are coming to Netflix this year

instead of straight to the theater. So I mean

we had like one last year with Beasts of No Nation,

one major one. Seems like we're going to have

three, four, five of them this year. What do

you think of that trend? looking forward to being

able to stream some of these films straight from

Netflix. uh say like the war going because currently

right now there's a deal with stars like stars

it's all the the marvel movies and they you once

they come to tv they go to stars and you can

stream them there that this deal is just going

to basically mean it's not going to stars it's

going to netflix so they'll get like you'll be

able to watch them on there i mean if it means

more if they do run the go down the rabbit hole

of creating more live action content rather be

movies or TV and definitely before it I think

because there's maybe some characters that you

know couldn't do a live -action feature film

but would work well in a maybe like it made for

TV or made for Netflix movie or I mean the Star

Wars series would be great I think there's a

lot of potential there even animated or live

-action so I mean even more even in Marvel doing

some good and live -action or animated shows

because They had some good ones, but they cancelled

all the good ones for really garbage ones. So

I think there's some potential. I'm wondering

if they're starting with this, just starting

with the idea of just showing movies on there

and seeing how well those do. Netflix is very

about the analytical evidence and using it to

shape what movies and TV shows they end up making.

So maybe it's just the beginning of a bigger

plan for them in Marvel. What do you think Amanda

as far as what Netflix is doing and I looking

forward to More deals like this if this is the

tip of the iceberg like the ends talking about

possibly I've always watched Disney movies on

Netflix. There's not like a ton to choose from

but As far as you know new deals and some collaborations,

I think that's It's a smart choice. I mean, those

are two really huge powerhouses in the industry

right now and it just makes sense. Alright, that

does it for the news for today. We're going to

take a quick break and after the break we'll

be back with our thoughts on X -Men Apocalypse.

Stay tuned. Hey guys it's Dr. Masolo and Hard

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On the Simplistic Reviews podcast, we talk movies.

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Thanks for sticking with us. As we said, the

main attraction this week is our thoughts on

X -Men Apocalypse. Obviously, GeekCast Radio

Network has a site. People want to know what

we have to say about the comic book films. And

we've already had quite a few of them that we've

talked about this year. We're going to have to

see how this one stacks up against those later

on. But first, let's just go around the horn

here and get our initial reactions from X -Men

Apocalypse, starting with you, Amanda. What was

your initial take? on X -Men Apocalypse. Not

to love this one, actually, just because of the

slight decline that we've seen, I think. And

I went in skeptical, and I came out really satisfied.

I do have a couple little nitpicks that I'm sure

we'll go over. But overall, I super enjoyed it

and had a great time with it. What decline are

you talking about? I don't know. They kind of

got a little shady there for a minute with the

X -Men origins and this whole gambit thing that's

been a whole run around. I think as far as this

new up -serve, this cast, the younger cast and

stuff, it's definitely... Okay, I thought you

were saying that we were on a decline with First

Class and Days of Future Past. No, a whole little...

The stuff before that. Yeah. Okay. Thanks for

clarification. That way you don't get in trouble.

Dan, what was your initial take on X -Men Apocalypse

and how did you, in comparison, maybe the Days

of Future Past and First Class? I do think it

would be a decline from those two. I love First

Class. To me, it's one of the best Marvel films

and I like Days of the Future Past a lot as well.

For this, I overall had a positive experience

when it came to Apocalypse, though there were

some issues I had with it. I think it suffers

from a lot of the typical issues you see with

sequels and prequels at the same time. It's a

little bloated and there's some problems here

and there. I'm a huge X -Men fan. I love this

franchise. I mean, similar to Amanda, I grew

up with the cartoon and the comics. Apocalypse

is one of my favorite villains, but even though

he was decently comic accurate, I do think as

a villain, he led a lot to be desired. Though

that's kind of a problem we can probably get

into further. But at the end of the day, I would

probably put this in the middle when it comes

to this franchise. It's nowhere near the bottom.

It's nowhere near the problematic... with X -Men

3 or Wolverine Origins, but I don't think it's

to the level of the best of the franchise so

far. Matt, agree or disagree with where Dan's

placing it in the franchise, and how did you

initially react to X -Men Apocalypse? Yeah, I

don't think I could say anything too different

from either of them. Like, you know, I grew up

with the X -Men. I don't think I like mutants

nearly as much as they do. I think a lot of mutants

have been very poorly written over the last couple

of decades, maybe for forever. But at the same

time, for, I don't know, two, three years, the

only book I picked up regularly was a mutant

book. and so you know it was it's good it's good

i think i had Obviously, this is going to maybe

not make for the best conversation here because

I think I'm somewhat in line with all of you

guys as well. But I agree. I think it's a good

film. I think I had a positive reaction to it

and it was entertaining. But like Dan, I'm not

going to say it's anywhere near the worst of

the franchise and I don't think it's anywhere

near the best. We'll have to kind of get into

the details to see kind of why that is for each

of us and maybe we'll have some disagreement

there. My first question would be, obviously

it seems to be a trend, especially lately with

these comic book films to have larger and larger

ensemble cast and a lot of characters involved,

you know, obviously when this when we first started

with even the Batman films the Dark Knight films

and With the original couple Iron Man's and with

the first Captain America I mean we only had

a few characters to deal with now that we've

gotten Avengers Avengers 2 Civil War whatever

you want to call Batman versus Superman and This

one, well with all the X -Men films, I guess

that's just kind of standard for X -Men films

because there is a lot of mutants to deal with.

How do you guys feel like the ensemble worked

here as far as what were the strengths and weaknesses

dealing with this many characters? Did you feel

like any characters were kind of tossed to the

side a little bit or not given enough attention

to? Did we spend too much time with any of them?

And how did the development kind of go with that?

I'll start with Matt on this one. So how do you

feel like they handled the ensemble aspect of

this cast? You know, at the time, I didn't even

think about it, but there are some characters

that definitely need more time. I didn't get

that Angel was really all that injured for, I

don't know, the majority of the movie, half of

the movie. It was one of those things where he

got hit, and he just kept fighting, and then

he disappears for 40 minutes, and then shows

up, and it's like, oh yeah, he's a wreck, he's

been ruined. And I was like, oh, he did? In that

fight? But I mean, like, you know, it does have

so many characters, and when you gotta have five

villains minimum, and then you also have to have

this whole underground mutant situation, it is

just bloated with characters, many of which don't

get, like, why is Psylocke so super powerful?

Like, she has a sword, like, why was he instantly

attracted to her? Because there's not enough

time to develop her, why she's interesting to

him. Right. And there also was not enough time

to visit any mutants that you didn't pick. Yeah.

There was not a single time where he was like,

oh, this one's no good, let's go, except for

Angel, but it wasn't that. Dan, you already made

the bloated comment. Is that what you're referencing

to? Is the characters and the amount of stuff,

or are you talking more about thematic things

that they're trying to cover? I think it's a

combination of both. I think... there are some

characters here that they do do some great things

with but especially the villains do seem under

underdeveloped Psylocke is a good example of

that kind of like pointless in a lot of ways

like even when it came to the motivations of

why some of those characters would even join

apocalypse and like side with him it seemed a

little bit lacking some of the new additions

for like The hero side, I think, do fare a little

bit better, like the Ty Sheridan and Cyclops.

He does get his own little intro with his origin,

and I do think he has a little bit more development

in Jean Grey as well, though even some of them,

there's just a lot going on here. Some of the

major stories though, some of the returning characters

I feel are left a lot. Like I think Magneto has

a lot to do in the first act, but by the third

act, he's almost a forgotten character. And similar

to like Beast and Mystique, they're there and

I just feel like they just, in a lot of ways,

I just feel like there's not much more development.

for some of these characters. I don't know what

more you could do with Mystique. I feel like

she hasn't changed much from last film to this

film. She feels like a character that's just

running on a treadmill development -wise. There's

not much difference with her. Magneto, I like

his story, but again, it feels very similar to

what he's done in the past. He has a tragic event

involving his family. He loses his morality,

and he goes through that adventure again. So

it... I think some of the newer heroes do fare

better, but there are a lot of problems overall

with just like too many characters. I think less

is more sometimes. I'm glad you brought that

up with Magneto because I haven't heard that

from many other people, but I... Well, watching

the film, I could not stop the thought process

of, I've seen this at least two to three times

now, where he has that. He goes down the dark

path, and then Xavier has to convince him, or

somebody has to convince him, and then all of

a sudden at the right time, he turns and helps

him out, only to walk off into the distance by

himself. encounter another tragic event, go crazy,

get convinced to come back, etc. So I am a little

worn out on that. And I agree, it seems like

a lot of the characters get forgotten for good

chunks of the film, which I don't know how else

you do that when you're tackling this many characters.

I don't even know if I could count the number

of lines that Psylocke and Angel have. I don't

even know if I need more than one hand to count

their lines, because I can't remember anything

that they say. And it does seem like outside

of Magneto, the motivations, especially for...

Psylocke and Storm are not that great for joining

Apocalypse. I can see maybe a little bit on Angel's

side and I can see obviously a lot on Magneto's

side for where they're going but the other two

seem very very convenient with how quickly they

decide yeah this guy seems like a legit person

that I want to follow he's not crazy at all and

I think though what you mentioned is with a couple

of those younger characters that seems to be

where the film's strength is. Looking at an aspect

of these characters that we haven't seen at least

in the film universe with Sansa Stark because

I can't call her anything else apparently and

Cyclops like and even Cody Smith McPhee the all

those guys that seems to be where the most interesting

Character development happens because it's it's

younger versions of these characters We haven't

seen that aspect of them and you get to see a

little bit of how they develop and what makes

them tick and a little bit You do get great character

development with Magneto, like you said, for

about the first half of the film. And then, again,

he seems to disappear for a while, just like

Matt was talking about, where Angel disappears

for 30 minutes or something like that. So it

did seem like it wasn't the best juggling routine

that we did with all these characters. Not saying

that that necessarily ruined the film or anything,

but I couldn't help but notice that. Amanda,

I know you were very positive about the film.

Did you feel like there were some characters,

though, that did get a little bit left behind?

Definitely. I think that was one of the biggest

downfalls. As far as my opinion goes, I wanted

a little bit more than what we got. And I understand

there's a ton of characters. You don't have a

ton of time to develop every arc that you're

going to come across, especially in just this

one movie or maybe even the two, three movies

that we've had a couple of these characters in.

Just because of the back and forth and the weird

timeline. Something's happened and some things

didn't I don't know I'm still confused on that

but as far as like the four horsemen or whatever

or the three how many four horsemen I really

didn't see them as super powerful mutants that

That did anything really even after they got

it, you know imbued with these these more potent

powers or whatever Basically, yeah, and I liked

angels wings as the right just the original wings,

and I know they got beat up or whatever, but...

He couldn't shoot those out and stab people.

But he didn't even stab anybody with them, like...

They were like, look at all these awesome blade

wing things feathers, and then they never used

them. I never stabbed anybody with them. I liked

Storm's backstory, I liked Scott's backstory.

I thought it was a cool introduction of a young

nightcrawler, he looked pretty dope, and it had

some pretty cool scenes, as far as like showing

of his powers and stuff. Jubilee, again, we saw

her, and nothing with her powers. I know they're

weak, whatever, but I still wanted to see them,

and it didn't happen. I think there was a couple

times where I just wanted to see a little bit

more, like, showing of abilities and stuff besides,

like, Magneto just going, oh, hey, I can bend

more metal or whatever. And then, like, Quicksilver,

we don't need any words for him. He's just awesome

and amazing, and I love all his slowdown scenes

and stuff. I wanted a little bit more of interaction

between him and Magneto. And without going into

spoilers, that's really all I'll say right now,

but I was a little sad that there wasn't more

development there. And I don't even think they

interacted at all. And then I think as far as,

like, dealing with all the characters, I didn't

ever feel confused as, you know, what was going

on with each character. Like I knew what was

going on with each character, even if it wasn't

enough sometimes. So that was okay for me. It

didn't take me away from the film too much. But

also the little bit that we get one of the main

characters back for a little bit there. I thought

that was pretty legit and I was pleased to see

that as well. We'll get into that in a little

bit later. With Quicksilver, I think I will give

him a pass on not interacting too much more with

Magneto because I think that leaves at least

some, you gotta leave some things to be done

in future films. Don't bring it up to me and

be like, yeah, no, we'll talk, but it'll be next

movie in three years. My only problem was he's

in a situation where like literally they're trying

to destroy the world. I don't know if there's

a better time to be like... Okay, I got to get

over whatever I'm getting over and say something

to this guy to try to stop it more than just

I'm in it for my family like at that point. I

don't know if I'm pulling any punches I'm probably

just leveling with Magneto and and trying to

get him to stop what he's doing a little bit

more forthcoming with that going into the you

mentioned his slowdown scene I wanted to talk

about that a little bit, and I don't think that's

any necessarily Spoiler or anything. I mean we

saw him have a slowdown scene in the other movie

I think we could anticipate that he's gonna have

some type of way to show his powers and effects

here I want to get you guys take because I've

heard a lot of people that love that scene and

a lot of people that hated that scene I do like

the slowdown effect, but My problem is for as

fast as he is that slowdown scene was very long

And I don't know if it was as effective as what

we got in Days of Future Past Dan were you a

fan of Quicksilver's scene or not? Yeah, I think

so. I think it mostly because it comes at a pretty

good time When like you need needed a like good

dose of levity it I could see it running a little

bit long, but it's that you know the classic

SQL syndrome of having to do it, you know, you're

in better though I thought it was to me one the

bigger highlights still but I thought it just

Had some good imagination. It kind of took what

they did last time and did little tweaks here

and there. I still think the one in the future

patch was probably better, mostly because it

was more unexpected and something that we weren't,

you know, something that was brand new. So it's

hard to try to repeat that success, but I thought

they got as close as possible. I ate that shit

up. I loved it. Matt, what about you with Quicksilver,

that scene or with his interaction with Magneto?

I thought the scene was fine, I didn't think

it went on too long, although thinking on the

things that they didn't do, maybe it did go on

too long in the grander scheme of things, but

while watching it I didn't get bored or tired

of it. You know, sometimes it would raise a question

like, ah, is that guy really gonna survive that

fall that he got thrown out of, but I mean, it's

a superhero movie, so I can't really dwell on

that. I don't know, I liked that moment, or like

the moments with Quicksilver and Magneto. if

only because it was like character development

rather than just everyone just being like I'm

doing this and then they do it and I'm doing

this and then they do it like at least this showed

a character who had to think about his actions

and and do I do this do I don't it like and what

effects will that have on me versus the world

like so it might not have been the happiest of

everything but it at least was a believable and

uh interesting take Another thing I wanted to

get to you guys is feedback on Dan with the theater

scene coming out of Star Wars and the trilogy

or the third film in the... Is that a needed

moment of levity or is that just have no place

in the film and kind of just shoehorned in there

to make a joke? Actually, you know what's interesting

when they went out and they like went out to

the mall into the theater I thought like that

is for some reason because I've watched the trailer

and I know of the Clip of them like escaping

and I thought that was going to be leading into

that like that'd be the moment that they get

captured So I don't know it was fine. I guess

it seemed a little bit Unnecessary is the word

that kind of came to mind and I was like, are

they trying to is that a dig at x3? Are they

or is it self -deprecating? They're saying this

is the third one that franchise so it's not as

good not sure but I think overall it was more

of an issue because of the overuse of a lot of

the 80sness in a sense where they just had like

every major pop culture reference just kind of

in your face from that Knight Rider to Pac -Man

and mostly with the clothing like that And then

the fact of walking out of Return of the Jedi,

it was a little bit on the nose, but it wasn't

a big deal to me. I was like, eh, well that happened

and then that's about it. The next film I'm going

to have to have a notebook to try to jot down

all the 90s references that we get to see which

one has more of their decade references. My only

issue with that, I did kind of feel the same

thing that it might not be necessary or a necessary

scene, but I was also wondering if they were

talking about their own movie, if they were talking

about X3 or... My initial reaction was wait a

second. I think saying that the third Star Wars

film is somehow the worst one I'm not following

that but Matt well Yeah, my very first thought

was wait are they they shouldn't I don't turn

the Jedi What I'm which you don't do like I don't

hate the Ewoks. It was a good movie And then

I and then I assumed it was self -deprecating.

I didn't even think about X3 and how terrible

that movie was, which even if it is like trying

to be a jab at the other movie that you made,

maybe don't point out the movie in your franchise

that is the worst one, or not even the worst

one, but a bad one, and one that's trying to

be a good one. Sort of like why Gungans aren't

parading around in Force Awakens is because it's

like well, maybe we move on and learn from our

mistakes And then the joke might have been good

if I hadn't seen Muppets most wanted like two

years ago where they made the exact same joke

and it made sense because they're fucking Muppets

Well, that's a different type of Muppets I usually

my Muppets are not Oh, they always have a giant

hole at the bottom. That's why that TV series

this year got canceled so fast. But getting into

another thing that seems to be a point of contention

for a lot of people when they're trying to find

a negative about the film, let's talk a little

bit about the villain here, Apocalypse, as played

by Oscar Isaac. First, just what's your initial

take on the character of Apocalypse? And then

I have a follow -up question. Let's start with

you, Amanda. What did you think about the look

and the Oscar Isaac's performance and just kind

of his role in the film? I think that I was definitely

excited to see him in a villain role especially

after seeing him in like Mojave and I think he

was in Drive as kind of not a great guy I think

that he's he does have the ability to be really

like menacing and scary and the look of him I

was little distracted by just like you would

like open his mouth and I could see like what

was his lip and what was like the prosthetic

face stuff and it was a just a little jarring

but I didn't let it take away from me enjoying

his character and I like what they did with his

voice sometimes it was really cool sounding and

you know made him seem as powerful as he was

supposed to be and I think that his his mentality

and like kind of how he went about things was

kind of cool, but I wouldn't say he was my favorite

villain of all time or anything. Din, you said

previously that you are a big fan of Apocalypse,

whether it's the cartoon series or comic book,

just as a general villain. Were you pleased with

how he was portrayed here or were you disappointed?

Honestly, like I thought I probably could have

in this it's it's challenging because the character

of apocalypse I think it works probably better

on the page than he does on the screen I mean

he very much is a By all means a kind of a one

-note villain or a villain. That's very basic

in what he he's survival of the fittest He's

you know what destroy the world like with the

age of apocalypse of infamous like X -Men storyline,

he's basically ruling like a decayed world, like

a dystopian future almost in a way, but he's

okay with it because it's stronger surviving

and that's very much who he is. And the movie

does get that essence of him. The look of him,

I actually kind of like the look. I thought it

got close enough to the comics and it wasn't

exactly there. I like what they did with the

voice and key moments, but as a movie villain,

it's... wasn't all that exciting. There's not

that much depth there. It's hard though, I think,

when you get a team like this with the X -Men

trying to create the big bad, the one that's

going to be able to kind of be so powerful that

he can overcome that of the X -Men and be a threat

to them. It's hard to have that at the same time

of having a character that is multi -dimensional

and so that's a challenge for sure. I think mostly

the bigger issue to me was just the the inconsistency

in his powers and how ill -defined they were

and how it almost seems like he was so overly

powerful like how did he ever not succeed like

if he can just basically make people fall into

the earth with a you know blinking his eye how

is this even a contest so i think that was my

bigger biggest issue with him is just the inconsistency

of figuring and that's honestly very much the

comic like each story his powers change they're

never really been well defined but in this it

was problematic because it was just hard to really

see what the real threat is what is it really

trying to do so i don't know i was left there

was a lot left to be desired for me with him

math agree or disagree with some of dan's points

there uh yeah i i really agree with uh like what

could he do what couldn't he do and i think like

We all saw that initial picture where he looked

like Ivan Ooze before, and that was very upsetting.

And I have to admit, since I had seen that when

I went into it, I had way low expectations, and

it looked way better than that. Whatever filter

or CG they applied to him in post made his costume

look fine. It's not perfect to what I remember

the 90s cartoon apocalypse looking like, but

I can get over that. Yeah, the inconsistencies

really bothered me. I feel like if they had given

him two movies, like made the first movie, like

have him be a background character, like slowly

gaining power and followers and have that first

movie just be that Magneto story of, oh, my wife

got killed and now I need to go on a murder spree.

And then just make it a Magneto villain movie

and then have Apocalypse building up. And we're

all like, why are we doing Apocalypse? And then

the next movie, do Apocalypse. And we've gotten

the explanation. We've seen the strong mutants.

He can maybe take some of Magneto's followers.

And so we get to see them be good and strong

so we know why he wants the survival of the fittest

of them. Like, they really could have done better.

Yeah, they tried to pull off a lot with one film

there. And I agree that His powers are inconsistent.

I also think it's a hard thing to pull off when

you're trying to like dance up You're trying

to create this big bad that can go against this

entire team of x -men because basically they're

all united outside of this four horsemen grouping

and You're trying to create this big bad But

then simultaneously as like the the moment that

most the most fighting is going on You have your

big bad line on a table trying to transfer power

from one guy to him. Like, I get that would have

made him even that much more fierce, but it's

like a weird thing to try to pull off when he's

not involved at the height of the action, it

seems like that was the most crucial part. So

I thought that was kind of weird. But the one

thing I did like his look, and I've heard a lot

of people question and say that his motivations

were weak or that they didn't buy necessarily

his motivations for what he was doing. And I

don't get that because... They set it up right

in the beginning in like the little narrative.

Well, yeah, that and then also like number one,

what Dan's saying, even not knowing much about

Apocalypse, like that's literally seems to be

like what he's about is destroying things and

this whole survival of the fittest. But I think

also, even if you just take this movie in like

a... vacuum and have no other knowledge you basically

have this guy who was a God like figure and one

you know at this one point in time he's betrayed

and conveniently this pyramid is able to be destroyed

in one of the most ridiculous fashions that ever

concocted for a film and sorry that was like

it was like a home like a what is that called

home alone type of like we're not going to go

for it yet it's just like well i shouldn't be

possible i totally fitted with anything in like

the india jones aesthetic rare future but but

my point is that okay he's like this guy like

figure at that time and he's betrayed and buried

and you know down there for uh... you know hundreds

and hundreds of years obviously when he comes

to and he's seen this world that he was supposed

to be part of them the molding of this book this

world and he sees a world that is he had nothing

to do with and is just you know I don't see why

you would need any more motivation if you have

the power to just be like, wait a second, this

is not how history was supposed to play out.

I was supposed to be the ruler. I was supposed

to create this world. So we need to start over

and I need to go back in time and basically try

to create this again for myself. So I didn't

need any other motivation than he wakes up and

is like, oh, this is not how I had this play

out. So let's hit the reset button. We're going

to do this again. Like that was enough for me.

So I didn't have any problems with the motivations

of apocalypse. Matt or Amanda, did you have any

problems with this? with his motivations or why

he was doing what he was doing? Not him, no.

Yeah. Somebody else? Yeah, yeah. Who else did

you have a problem with the motivations? Just

his horsemen or what? Yeah, just his horsemen.

Okay. Well then into like, I'm still not really

sure how I feel about Jennifer Lawrence as Mystique.

Like, my problem is I watched like the first

X -Men movie on repeat almost and so the first...

exposure that I get to Mystique in movie form,

I always keep comparing Jennifer Lawrence to

that Mystique, and I like to try to see, you

know, what point in her life that she's at at

the moment, what she's going through, how she

got to be at that point in her life, so sometimes

her motivations are a little unclear for me,

but... as far as, like, apocalypse goes, yeah,

that was not an issue. I'm afraid to say anything,

because I don't want to come across as someone

who just likes to rip on Jennifer Lawrence, but

maybe it was the writing, but her performance

in Days of Future Past and her performance here

are night and day to me. Like, I don't know if

it was just because she didn't have that much

to chew on, but I thought that she was just kind

of sleepwalking through this film. Maybe that's

just me, but... I liked her performance a lot

better in the other two films. Any other performances

that you thought were weak from an acting standpoint,

Dan, or was it strong across the board or anything

like that? I thought the guy who played Nightcrawler,

McPhee, I can't think of his full name. Cody

Smith McPhee. Cody Smith McPhee. I actually thought

he did a pretty good job and he had a lot of

small little moments I liked, like his countdown

of the three and I don't know. So I did enjoy

him. I don't know if there are any other... ones

that are notable. I did like the guy who played

Caliban. I liked that was a very they changed

that character a lot from the comics and comics.

He's almost like he's like the intelligence of

Hulk in a way. But I like kind of like the twist

they put on him. It's a very small, small scene.

But none of the other performances really stood

out positively or negatively. I mean, McAvoy

and the Fassbender brought it like they normally

do. But in But no, like I said, the new cast

I think had moments for sure. Or the new young

cast, I guess. New young cast of old stars. Right.

The other thing that I've heard people rip on

is Xavier going bald. I like that. I don't understand.

Do you not expect that to happen at some point?

Like, we're getting closer and closer to the

original X -Men film. Like, this is in the 80s.

The original X -Men film is less than 20 years

from that. So, I mean, we have to get to a point

where the two are somewhat melding together.

So, I don't understand why anyone would have

a problem with the way he lost his hair. I don't

know. I mean, like, I never... What is the thing

that happened again? I didn't see him try to

like go through male pattern baldness and try

Rogaine Subplot of him losing his hair if it

happens in a freak accident That's fine. Okay,

that makes I thought I was gonna have the last

movie like with like with somehow but it whatever

I mean it had to get to that point in some instance,

right? I think some of the things that I couldn't

get past either was Like, when they destroy all

these, like, huge landmarks, and I'm like, no,

because I know that it's still there. Like, I

couldn't believe it. Like, I can be like, they

didn't rebuild Auschwitz. Like, I know that that

shit's still there. Like, that is fine. No, don't

try to force feed me that - But they showed it

at the end that they are very easily - capable

of recreating everything as it was. Oh yeah,

you can build a mansion hella easy. It's best

not to think of the timeline and continuity you're

looking at, because it just hurts. I was in Oshwoods

in like 2008, I know that that shit is still

there. Well trust me, we had like a 40 minute

conversation of timelines after we got home from

this building. And I still am confused. Well

X -Men 3 doesn't exist. basically they didn't

pay attention to pretty much anything in X -Men

3 except for they kind of did with Jean Grey

but whatever and Wolverine Origins they just

completely didn't exist and then he also forgot

the fact that Mystique or the striker at the

end of Days of Future Past eyes turn yellow and

he's really Mystique but I guess that wasn't

the case he just had contacts or something I

don't know yeah there's a lot of things continuity

wise doesn't like Angel for example is Completely

different than last time we showed up and Alex,

you know Havoc being Scott Summers brother I

guess kind of works out. I don't know but it's

I didn't feel anything when the stuff happened

surrounding Havoc I think there's more there

because you don't see a body something tells

me there's more there especially considering

the What where the movie ends up at the very

very end? I think they're I think, I don't know,

something seems afoot to me, yes. Interesting.

All right, well, let's go real quick one more

time around the table, give final thoughts and

grades, and then we'll spend a couple seconds

just doing a very brief spoiler talk so we can

talk about one other character that, I mean,

most people know he's there, but we'll get into

a little bit more of his actual goings -ons in

the film. So, Amanda, anything else that you

didn't get to talk about, and then what would

you give this one out of 10 for a score? I think

I just want to reiterate that I wanted to see

a little bit more showcasing of some of the character's

abilities. I definitely wanted a little bit more

of Jean Grey. I think I was just really interested

in that and her character in general. But as

far as the grade goes, I think I'm going to give

it a seven and a half. All right. Seven and a

half for Amanda. Matt, anything else that you

didn't get to talk about and what score would

you give X -Men Apocalypse? Oh, I mean, I could

talk at length, but it's not as bad as Batman

v Superman. I gotta say that. I think this is

the most likeable a Jean Grey has ever been between

comics and movies and even TV shows. So yeah,

more of her would be great. I had forgotten Oscar

Isaac was even in this movie and they had enough

makeup on him that I didn't realize it until

they did a close up in the last, I don't know,

20 minutes of the movie and I was like, oh hey,

it's Poe Dameron. And if I were to give this

a rating, I'm gonna say six. I'm gonna say, I

think I, either on par or a little bit below

Street Fighter. Ouch. That's not a good comparison.

It doesn't fail as a movie. It's not the worst

thing ever, but I think I would rather watch

something that's campy that I'm gonna smile at

than this. Alright. I overall enjoyed the film.

I think when I'm looking at the comparisons to

maybe some of the other comic book films this

year, the one thing that stands out to me that

I probably preferred in Captain America Civil

War was I actually preferred the action sequences

in Civil War over this one. Outside of a few

badass folding people into pretzels and throwing

them against walls that happened fairly early

in the film, I didn't necessarily... I wasn't

blown away by any of the action in Apocalypse.

So that was kind of like my biggest downfall

for this film. But overall I enjoyed it. I did

like seeing the characters, but like Dan said,

there's a lot of continuity things. There's a

lot of characters that we don't get development

on. So I mean, there are a lot of things that

you could point out, but I think overall I still

had fun as far as like... you know, just a summer

popcorn flick. I'd much rather watch this than

any of the live action Transformers or Teenage

Mutant Ninja Turtles films so far. So I'll give

it that. I'm just hoping for a little bit of

some differences going forward. I'm hoping, you

know, as we move forward we can get away from

the whole Magneto Xavier... thing over and over

and over again and kind of move on to something

else as much as I love those characters and Love

the actors that are playing them. So I'm with

Matt though. I would give this one a Well, I'm

gonna go slightly higher. I give it like a six

and a half out of ten I guess so just barely

above you Matt with six and a half Dan. What

about you? Again, I still were all like because

it has what I really adore about the X -Men films

and it's the relationship between a lot of these

characters and the team dynamic which I always

found is probably the strongest out of all the

different Marvel films or really comic book films

in general. And I know you said go away from

the Xavier Magneto relationship. I actually think

they should double down on it. I think the movies

are, the franchise is on it at its best when

that's a primary part of it. I guess not necessarily

the relationship, but I don't need to see the

same cycle, I guess is my point. I think it would

have made more sense if Magneto wasn't a horseman,

but it was more of a team up with him and Xavier

and they could have. kind of gotten into that

direction. But yeah, recycling the same him being

bad and good. That is very much the comics when

it comes to Magneto. He'll, you know, basically

commit genocide, but then he'll be the leader

of the X -Men in a few years. But overall, I

did like it. I do think it's kind of missing

some trademark moments or missing like something

that really makes it stand out as like, okay,

this is what I'm going to remember when I leave

this movie. Like if I think of X -Men. If I think

of the Nightcrawler sequence, if I think of first

class, there's actually a lot that I could take

out of that. Days of Future Past, the first Quicksilver

sequence. For this one, I can't really think

of, okay, this is really where this movie is

able to gain its identity. It's really not having

that. as much as I would like. But I am optimistic

of what the future holds for the franchise, considering

some of the new cast that we have. So I'm actually

going to go go six out of ten. So I guess I'm

going to write in line with Matt. I enjoyed it,

but I think it's it is not to the level of what

Singer has done previously. And I, you know,

I think hopefully with maybe simplifying things

going forward, we can get a movie back on track

for the next one. Alright, so those are our scores

for X -Men Apocalypse. Real quick spoiler conversation,

so if you don't want to hear any of that, skip

ahead a couple minutes. But obviously we do need

to talk about the other character that has a

brief appearance, and that would be of course

Wolverine. Just giving you guys a quick take

on his appearance, if you liked it, if you didn't

like it, if you thought it... fit with what they

were doing if you thought it was not needed and

shoehorned in or how that all works? Amanda,

what did you think about Wolverine showing up?

Legit as fuck when they let him out of that little

enclosure there or whatever. I thought that that

was a super cool touch that I didn't expect to

see and I liked the tie -in and I liked the interaction

that he had with the new characters even though

it was pretty... brief as far as the exchange

goes, but I really enjoyed that. I liked it.

As far as more spoilers go, I think there were

some pretty cool freakin' deaths in here in the

beginning. Like, full mad dude up in a pretzel,

like you mentioned. Those were some really cool

shows of power in the beginning, of people we

never even see again. I wish they would have

had some more awesome displays of power like

that in the characters we see, more so than what

we got. I think that, um, my... oh shit this

is awesome moment in this movie was when gene

finally releases the phoenix that was always

like my favorite part of her character like especially

like the cartoon i'm like just let that bitch

out just let her out and let her cause some some

chaos here i thought i loved um how like animalistic

she was and very primal and she just you know

wants what she wants and doesn't matter if it's

right or wrong it's what she wants and so that's

what she's gonna get and she's gonna do what

she wants and if you piss her off then you know

you're fucked kind of thing and i thought it

was a really really cool display of the releasing

of the phoenix and it went in line with the the

cartoon where i actually like see the flame bird

the phoenix behind her and i thought that was

really awesome like i literally got goosebumps

in that scene Alright, Matt reaction to that

or the like I said the Wolverine appearance?

Wolverine appearance is one of those things where

it's like yeah, they made Wolverine look very

Wolveriney do Wolveriney things. He kills a bunch

of people. That's you know they did that right

and the having her connect with him is great

if they're going to go the route of Wolverine

and Jean Grey as a love interest. I don't know

if they're gonna do that since there's like a

40 year age difference between the actors in

that movie. I think just like I think Apocalypse

was rushed, I think this was rushed for Phoenix.

I think this should have been a thing hinted

at and then brought out even one, two, or three

movies later. But it wasn't a terrible thing

they did and they still have room to play with

it. They didn't like solve it immediately. Well,

it leaves room for them to now know that it's

fully there and what it's capable of and to have

him, you know, Professor X, actually have to

trap it. Yeah, maybe I mean it depends on what

they do with it again like they could have done

it way worse than they did Yeah, Dan your thoughts

on either of those issues Well, I thought the

Wolverine cameo or scene was fine, but unnecessary

It was kind of it just it just seemed it's like

you could take that entire like them going to

Acolyne Lake and William Stryker showing up out

of the movie and You changed nothing So it's,

I don't know, it was just there. It wasn't, I

get it. They need to show Wolverine. I guess

maybe that will tie into something else, but

it felt very much like, I don't know, the thing

that maybe comes to my mind would be like when

Falcon shows up in Ant -Man, though I think I

like that more. It's just like, okay, we're going

to have a cameo. And I just, I don't know, for

some reason, even the scene itself didn't work

great deal for me. I really liked what it did

to Apocalypse 2. Like he got fucked up and it

looked super awesome. For what? Oh, the phoenix.

Oh, the phoenix. Oh, okay, sorry. Jumping streams.

That was fun. I do, like, that's always a challenge,

again, when you get, like, more and more powerful

characters. Like, where do you go with it? And

do you have to, like, do they do Dark Phoenix

next? And I guess the thing that has me interested

is, I don't know, like, at the end, you see this

Essex corpse, which very much leads into the

character of Mr. Sinister, who has a lot of ties

with Apocalypse, so, and with him getting the...

blood, I'm assuming that means we're going to

get some sort of cloning or maybe an X -23 showing

up in the next movie, which I am kind of excited

about because they're going to need to find a

way to replace Jackman in some way. But other

spoiler stuff, I actually, one of my favorite

moments in the movie was the sequence where you

had Xavier being the telephone for the entire

world and at the very end he kind of turns it

around and, you know, kind of... disobeys that

of Apocalypse. I like that moment and the mental

telepathy battle between Xavier and Apocalypse,

like how it references like Apocalypse ability

to grow really big, which isn't very much a huge

part of him in the comics. And that was one something

I've always wanted to see with the franchise,

with the X -Men franchises, you know, like the

Xavier being a telepath, like you always would

see him and like using the astral plane to try

to combat People and I thought this is the closest

they've come to that. I know with first class

They were gonna have a sequence but it didn't

end up getting it got caught because I guess

it was very similar to something that happened

in Inception so they didn't want to kind of seem

like they were copying but I did like that that

sequence and like the overall how the finale

all worked where you had all these different

pieces like coming together fighting apocalypse

and Finally the phoenix shows up and just goes

crazy because that's what that's how she be But

yeah, so I guess I don't know. I can't think

of anything else spoiler -ish that I wanted to

talk about. I just want to say that as far as

the Wolverine character goes, I mean, I'm fine

with the scene. I'm fine without it. It didn't

make a huge difference to me. I assume that there's

going to be some connections going forward. I

do have to call out, though, anybody out there

that's complaining about Hugh Jackman being Wolverine

in the last three films or the fact that he's

the older guy and all these other ones have been

recast into younger versions. I don't think you've

quite been paying attention to the timeline and

how Wolverine actually went back as himself and

those types of things. So I mean, I don't think

they've had... there was no option for them to

recast him as a younger version of Wolverine.

That would totally not fit in anything they're

doing. Not that you should try to make sense

of the timeline, but... Mean I just mean like

Jackman looks better than he looked look at him

in the first x -ray of he looks like just a normal

dude now He's like freaking like Arnold Schwarzenegger

big and huge So yeah, I just don't think there

was I don't think at wanting him to be a cast

as a younger version like we've gotten with storm

and Jean Grey and then Cyclops all that makes

an absolutely no sense if you follow days of

future past so That just doesn't seem to be a

good complaint to me All right, so if you agree

or disagree with our takes on X -Men Apocalypse,

let us know. We're pretty much somewhat in unison

for our scores. Amanda a tiny bit higher and

myself at six and a half and Matt and Dan at

six. So if you agree or disagree, let us know

and let us know which things about our discussion

that you did agree or disagree with specifically.

Just doing a real quick bullet just to give people

a quick... Take because I know you saw a 2016

film Dan this week. I don't know if you saw more

than one But we'll just do a real quick shots

here. You saw midnight special What did you think

of it in a nutshell? I'm in nice. Yes. I did

see midnight special and I you know was very

much anticipating and I love Jeff Nichols's mud

and take shelter and So I had I was highly anticipating

it and does seeing him try to deal with science

It was like our human powers. I was unfortunately

I was rather disappointed with it it There's

a lot about it. There's elements of it that I

think are brilliant. There are some sequences

that are really well made, but it's a movie that,

for me, like it's need to, it's mystery in a

way got in the way of me really enjoying it.

Like I felt the characters were underdeveloped,

the story itself was... Wacking and at the end

of it when I was supposed to be wowed when it

was supposed to be this like amazing moment I

just it didn't it did not work for me and I felt

very underwhelmed and I think you know There's

potentially or I like what it says metaphorically,

but as a movie as a whole I just there wasn't

there enough like I need to have a character

that I care about or understand and I get it

on the most basic premise, but overall I just

thought it just left a lot to be desired on almost

every level, so I still think it's worth watching

and I could see a lot of people loving it, but

for me it was unfortunately probably my most

disappointing movie of the year so far. Alright,

so a disappointing film for Dan with Midnight

Special. Amanda, disappointment or not with Alice

Through the Looking Glass, which is one of your

most anticipated films of the year, how did it

work out or not work out for you? Oh, shit. Um,

it did not work out for me. Yeah, I can probably

shit all over this movie. It felt like at the

end of the last Alice movie near I I was excited

and I had like a desire to see a second one I

was like ready for it, but then this one hit

and it just felt like they were like Oh, he remember

the first one and we had that one character that

Johnny Depp played and everybody fucking loved

Let's just make another movie and then make him

the most important thing but then not really

do anything with anybody else and really not

do much at all in the movie and I was really

let down, and I loved the Hatter. I loved Johnny

Depp's Hatter. I mean, his look and everything

was super awesome. The color, the costuming,

all that stuff, really awesome, but you didn't

see shit from Underland. You spent too much time

traveling through time. I think time himself

was pretty cool. He's probably one of the best

parts of the movie as played by Sasha Baron Cohen

He was pretty legit even although the fun little

puns about time and things like that but then

it just like you show up in the in you know under

land and all of the characters even the bandersnatch

is just there waiting for Alice and Just nothing

happens with them at all and it was really disappointing

and and just not worth it at all. That film could

have had four characters in it and achieved exactly

what it achieved with, like, dozens. There was

probably at least 12 characters in there that

served no purpose whatsoever. And I haven't read

all of the Looking Glass novels, so, I mean,

it's like a collection of them, right? I don't

know how many there are, but I haven't read them,

so I don't know, you know, how this played along

with that storyline or anything, but... It just,

as a movie, it didn't do it for me. Most disappointing

film of the year for you so far? Man, I would

say, yeah, because I've had quite a few that

I wasn't expecting to like and liked, and then

this was definitely the ones that I had high

hopes for and got crushed. Ouch, two of the most

disappointing films for you guys, so that's depressing.

I won't talk about anything that was... being

expected or anticipated in any way shape or form

my one quick shot will be I will just mention

that there is a film a 2016 film entitled exposed

starring Keanu Reeves and please please please

please even if you are doing laundry or cleaning

or some other mundane task in the house do not

watch this film super reminiscent, like it's

trying to be Pan's Labyrinth, but the back of

the movie case sells it like a cop drama. Like

I thought I was getting in a cop drama and it's

not that really at all. It is currently the worst

film I've seen in 2016, so Exposed should not

be seen by anybody. I just wanted to get that

warning out there. I think that does it for what

we've been watching this week unless, Matt, you

have anything that you wanted to bring up. I

watched movies, but they weren't 2016. Does that

count? Give us one movie that you watched and

recommend it or not. I watched, oh, I think it's

Missed by a Dollar. It's, I believe, the tenth

loop on the third TV special slash movie. I'm

gonna try to, well, you know, I've got like,

I don't know, 15 of them. I'm gonna try to watch

all of them and try to figure out the best one

to show you guys so you get a better, because,

you know, you guys didn't get the right exposure.

But that said, I would recommend it. It's a lot

of fun. Excellent. So, better than Calliostra?

Uh, yeah. As far as the Lupin universe and being

an example of that, not necessarily just a film.

No, both ways. Both? Okay. Alright, we've got

to go through some Blu -ray releases for next

weekend just because people need to know some

of the stuff that's coming out because there's

a whole bunch of stuff that's coming out that

may be of interest to people that listen to the

GeekCast Radio Network and this is how we'll

kind of close the show here. But for new releases

for Blu -ray we have Hail Caesar which is a 2016

film. We have 45 Years which got a lot of buzz.

We have Zootopia. Those were kind of the main...

Main ones from this last six months that came

out, but there's a whole bunch of other random

releases that are coming out We have Ghostbusters

1 and 2 in the the 4k ultra high -definition

whatever Blu -ray disc fantastical Special Edition

version I guess there's an apocalypse now triple

feature. I don't know what that consists of I

didn't do the research on that There's a blu

-rays of Game of Thrones for season 3 and 4 some

type of special edition of that here's one that

i think some people in the gas radio network

would be interested in star trek the next generation

complete series blu -ray sets it's uh... retailing

at around two hundred dollars That's a lot of

Star Trek, but that would be awesome to add to

anybody's collection. Roots, the complete series.

The Other Side of the Door, which I know, Amanda,

you were interested in watching. And apparently

an extended edition of The Martian from last

year, which I'm interested to see what exactly

that consists of. And I didn't know that they

were doing sequels to Jarhead, but apparently

Jarhead 3 The Siege. is out on Blu -ray this

Tuesday. Outside of the Blu -ray releases, we

have Coming to Theaters, Me Before You, Teenage

Mutant Ninja Turtles, Out of the Shadows, and

Popstar, Never Stop, Never Stopping. And then

the limited or video -on -demand releases, we

have Urge, which is a Pierce Brosnan thriller.

We have Approaching the Unknown, which is the

Mark Strong science fiction film. Hunting Glue,

which I just wanted to mention because it stars

someone named Boo Boo Stewart. Time to Choose,

which is a documentary on climate change narrated

by Oscar Isaac. There's another documentary called

Art Bastard. There's a martial arts film called

The Final Master, and an Alec Baldwin science

fiction film called Andron, which that just shouts

Oscar nominee right there. So out of all the

stuff coming out to theater, video on demand,

or Blu -ray, Amanda, anything that you would

be most interested in? Definitely The Other Side

of the Door. I'm checking that one out. All right,

not Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, huh? I want

to get scared. All right. Matt, anything that

tickles your fancy on that list of stuff? Actually,

I kind of really want to see Hale Caesar. Amy

and I were to go see it on Valentine's Day, but

then something happened. She had to go work all

day, so we didn't do anything. Alright, so the

early release from 2016 that had a lot of buzz

early on. Dan, what about you? Well, Turtles,

of course. No, I don't hate myself. Actually,

Popstar. I do like The Lonely Island, so I have

heard good things and I like the trailer, so

it's probably the one I watch the most. I am

somewhat interested in Me Before You, even though

a lot of people are saying it's just a silly

romantic comedy or romantic drama, but... I'd

be interested in that. If I had all the money

in the world, I'd buy Star Trek The Next Generation

Complete Series, but I don't. If I had to pick

one, I guess I'd go with the extended edition

of The Martian. I'm interested to see what else

is there and what they added to that extended

version. You've got to read that book first.

I need to read the book first. All right, as

far as some feedback, real quick, last week we

did our list of shame, our top ten films, and

we put some polls on the website and asked you

guys to help us figure out which film we should

not... off of our list first and we're going

to do a quick update on the results of that so

far to see what you guys have told us. So Dan

start wherever you'd like but what's leading

the polls on each of our individual lists of

shame? Well Kevin I have yours up first so I'll

start with you. A lot of variety for you, but

I think ultimately you actually had one kind

of run away with it at 26 percent The iron giant

was the one people voted for the most the one

the one in second place Which was actually the

rocky franchise with 18 percent. So iron giant

was the clear winner for you Iron Giants up next

for me. What else you got? So for Amanda's race

is actually a lot closer It came down to the

wire for her and it looks like though the person

I get the movie that ended up winning was the

Godfather a franchise with 22 % and the Breakfast

Club we came in second with 20 % so there's only

actually a Vote difference between those two.

So I literally The other night we were gonna

watch a movie and I picked out five movies for

her to pick from No, four of them were from her

list of shame and one was not and she picked

the one that was not All right from Matt so Matt's

also very close with his super close even like

there's like four within striking distance of

winning, but the movie that squeaked out and

took it all was Fight Club with 19%. The second

place was the Casino Goodfellas Godfather trifecta

with 18 % and Tron and all the Disney films were

very close with 15 % so a lot of films are right

neck and neck with one another. And Amanda you

just had a news article for Disney related news.

What was that that you just showed me? It said

it's gonna start streaming every Disney movie.

On Netflix. Oh, hey! Not that you don't have

them all on your shelf. What about you? Do they

have Fight Club? I don't know if they have Fight

Club streaming currently or not. We'll have to

check in. I want to see the Fight Club Disney

movie though, that'd be me. What about your poll,

Dan? So for me, looking at mine, with 16 % was

Casino, ends up winning it. Coming in second

was Wayne's World with 14%. plane strain of automobiles

and got the good uh... gone with when or retired

next with twelve percent so surprise with a surprise

at the number of votes wayne's world that i don't

think that would be up at that time but uh...

i'm not saying it's not a good film i'm just

saying compared to the other ones on the list

but uh... all right so we'll have to report back

as we start watching some of the list of shame

films uh... as for what's coming up obviously

we're going to be uh... doing our june preview

next week uh... a little bit uh... Probably a

few days into June as we get that going but we'll

give you what we're looking forward to in our

predictions for June with our next episode and

Then we should have time for another Miyazaki

film after that to continue that spotlight as

we inch closer to episode Thanks as always for

tuning into the Cinema Geeks this week. You can

contact us and get in touch with us in a bunch

of different ways. First of all, visit the website

geekcastradio .com. Find the Cinema Geeks post

and comment there. We always appreciate all the

comments that you guys leave and like interacting

with you there. You can also keep up to date

with all things Geek Cast Radio related by visiting

the Facebook page. Just search Geek Cast Radio

Network and they give you updates on everything

that the network puts out. You can interact with

us individually or via the show on Twitter. The

show handle is at CinemaGeekCast. Mine is at

OptimusSolo. Amanda, your Twitter handle is?

HardCandyMandyEyesNoWise. Dan, your Twitter?

I'm at MovieRevolt. And Matt, what's yours? I'm

at FridleyCent. All right, so that is it for

us. Interact with us on Twitter or in any of

those other ways. And then, as always, be sure

to check in next week for another chance to listen

to the CinemaGeeks.