The Uncanny Rankings Of The Astonishing X-Men Films

And here we are, at the end of the X-Men retrospective.  A series that is hitting 5/7 really.  And in this retrospective, the one I didn't care for the most, I found an angle and some things I overall liked with it.  As I've said before, when it comes to superhero franchises that matter most to me, its these crazy mutants and Batman.  And that's mainly because they're the ones I got closest to and were a part of my comic book, film geek upbringing most of the way.  I was incredibly satisfied with the most recent entry and am looking forward to Age Of Apocalypse as well as Channing Tatum as Gambit (yes, I'm a C Tates fan, dude will be just fine in the role.  You'll see).  As a matter of fact, I was so high on DOFP that I'm leaving it out of the rankings as for me, its too early to have a complete thought on where it stands here and I'd like to see it a couple more times before I make up my mind.  Right now though, it'd easily fall somewhere 1-3 for me.  I loved it.  But without further adieu...as always...the ranking!

Review: X-Men - Days Of Future Past

X-Men: Days Of Future Past

2014

Starring: Hugh Jackman, James MacAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Peter Dinklage, Nicholas Hoult, Halle Berry, Ellen Page, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellan, Shawn Ashmore

Rated: PG-13

I don't want your few-cha!

          ~Charles Xavier

X-Men Retrospective: The Wolverine (2013)

The Wolverine

2013

Director: James Mangold

Starring: Hugh Jackman, Tao Okamoto, Rila Fukushima, Svetlana Khodchenkova, Hal Yamanouchi, Famke Janssen

Rated: PG-13 (but go for the Unrated cut)

Today is not my day

     ~Yukio

X-Men Retrospective: X-Men - First Class (2011)

X-Men: First Class

2011

Director: Matthew Vaughn

Starring: James MacAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Kevin Bacon, Rose Byrne, Oliver Platt, January Jones, Nicholas Hoult, Lucas Til, Caleb Landry Jones

Rated: PG-13

Peace was never an option.

     ~Erik Lehnsherr

COMMENTARY: X-Men

Hey, I got to do another awesome podcast commentary for Out Now With Aaron & Abe (what's new, right?).  And this time we're talking over the original X-Men.  Along with myself, host Aaron Neuwirth, Jim Dietz and the diabolical Scott Mendelson lend our mutant power of being obsessed movie geeks to discuss the original film in the franchise.  Whether ye be working, working out, driving, sitting around or watching X-Men, click to the link below to listen!

http://www.hhwlod.com/podcasts/on/771-out-now-commentary-x-men

X-Men Retrospective: X-Men Origins - Wolverine (2009)

X-Men Origins: Wolverine

2009

Director: Gavin Hood

Starring: Hugh Jackman, Liev Schreiber, Taylor Kitsch, Will.i.am, Danny Huston, Lynn Collins, Kevin Durand, Dominic Monaghan, Ryan Reynolds and Scott Adkins as Ryan Reynolds

Rated: PG-13

Nobody gets to kill you but me!

      ~Victor Creed

Back to back!

      ~Logan

Podcast Guest Spot: Out Now With Aaron & Abe Celebrates Its 150th Episode!

The podcast I frequently guest on, OUT NOW WITH AARON & ABE has just hit the 150th episode milestone.  For this podcast, they brought on me, Scott Mendelson and Maxwell Haddad to discuss some of our all time favorite films (a top 20 mind you).  Jake Destree, you asked for this awhile back and you have received.  Granted, this is not a set list for me, as there's glaring omissions, stuff I would've liked to put on there but didn't have room, yada yada yada...its tough, okay?  haha.  Anyway, below is the link for your listening pleasure.  This is one the absolutely best film conversations I've had the pleasure of taking part it.  Its a longer episode, but it really wasn't long enough :)  Thanks for having me once again, Aaron & Abe!

http://www.hhwlod.com/podcasts/on/765-out-now-150-spectacular

X-Men Retrospective: X-Men - The Last Stand (2006)

X-Men: The Last Stand

2006

Director: Brett Ratner

Starring: Hugh Jackman, HALLE BERRY, Ian McKellan, Famke Janssen, Patrick Stewart, Anna Paquin, Ellen Page, Shawn Ashmore, Ben Foster, James Marsden, Kelsey Grammar, Rebecca Romijn, Vinnie Jones

Rated: PG-13

Hello, Moira...

  ~Charles Xavier

X-Men Retrospective: X2 - X-Men United (2003)

X2: X-Men United

2003

Director: Bryan Singer

Cast: Hugh Jackman, Brian Cox, Ian McKellan, Patrick Stewart, Famke Janssen, Anna Paquin, Rebecca Romijn, James Marsden, Halle Berry, Alan Cumming, Shawn Ashmore, Kelly Hu

Rated: PG-13

You know all those dangerous mutants you hear about in the news?  I'm the worst one.

                              ~Pyro

X-Men Retrospective: X-Men (2000)

X-Men

2000

Director: Bryan Singer

Starring: Hugh Jackman, Anna Paquin, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellan, Famke Jannssen, Halle Berry, James Marsden, Rebecca Romijn, Bruce Davison, Tyler Mane, Ray Park

Rated: PG-13

Do you know what happens when a toad gets struck by lightning?

                        ~Storm

Ranking The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Franchise

Forty years and 7 films.  For a well known horror franchise, that's kind of on the light end.  But, we should really be counting that from when the 2nd one came out.  Making sequels to this sort of thing weren't thought of back in 1974.  And with the end of the retrospective comes the wonderful ranking.  This franchise only contains 2 terrible movies for me.  So 5/7 isn't too bad.  For the common observer though, I think its probably significantly less as a few are acquired tastes and/or grow on you over the years.  But, no matter how bad it got, nothing will ever taint the original film.  It stands large and tall over the remainder of this series, much like Halloween towers above the rest of its franchise.  This series started off with one of the greatest horror (and low budget) films of all time.  So, nothing that follows is likely to have that same impact. That doesn't mean there isn't fun to be had with these movies.