It is also a throw back to the horror movies of a bygone era. With its rampant gore, buckets of blood and entrails o’ plenty, it most certainly lives up to its R rating. It’s an unadulterated blast to see. David Harbour (Stranger Things, The Newsroom) presented a take on the red one that came across a little off the mark in the trailer but in full movie form, he seems a much wiser choice. Having the gravitas of Ian McShane as Professor Broom is also a major addition.

Expanding the storyline to join with the myth of Merlin and King Arthur gives the film the chance to feature some cool English settings, accents and fish and chip jokes. Hellboy is every bit the wise ass he’s always been but now is given the room to develop more into the conflicted character that the comic books so richly present.

This is the kind of crazy no holds barred film making magic that the PC police have tried their best to expunge from our cinema going experiences for years now. It harkens back to a time when anything goes but it is on point with female characters that are strong and kick butt without being just window dressing. This is a closer movie realisation of Mignola’s vision than anything that has come before.

Rob Hudson
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Searching to regain his spice for life, as well as a flux capacitor, Wade must battle ninjas, the yakuza, and a pack of sexually aggressive canines, as he journeys around the world to discover the importance of family, friendship, and flavour – finding a new taste for adventure and earning the coveted coffee mug title of World’s Best Lover.

Directed by David Leitch, Deadpool 2 releases May 31, 2018!
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So with that in mind, it’s great to see Marvel relax the reins on Spider-man: Homecoming a bit and tell a story more character driven than special effects driven. The film’s lighthearted touch with an emphasis on humour makes it much more accessible than some of the recent overly serious Superhero films. It easily lives in the MU while comfortably standing alone. It even features a crazy credit at the very end of the film that sells laughs instead of product.

Peter Parker in comic book form has always been a geeky kid and the new Spidey, Tom Holland gets those nuances just right. He plays awkward as endearing. The story starts right after the Battle of New York and we get an early view of both Spider-man’s progression (further along than the radiated spider bite) and the political machinations that helped to create his new nemesis.

The thoughts of restarting the franchise again are rapidly lost as the charm and humour of this latest edition sweep you away. It gets the balance of action, storyline and character development just right and as such is a blast from beginning to end.

Rob Hudson
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The great thing about the Wolverine spin off films is that they’re more humanist drama/action movies than they are traditional comic book adaptations. This applies even to the much-derided X-Men Origins: Wolverine. They represent a maturation of the comic book films that are freer to explore other genres outside the literally derived, primary-coloured storyboard format.

James Mangold’s two Wolverine films – this one and its predecessor, The Wolverine – are a particular case in point. Absent are the ridiculous spandex suits which would be more at place in Strictly Ballroom, and in their place are civilian clothes, gritty drama, bloody violence and even (gasp) boobs! The gratuitous brutality and potty-mouth language are more at home in a Tarantino flick than an X-Men movie and that’s not where the comparisons with Tarantino end. Interestingly, Mangold’s films share much with Kill Bill Vol. 1 & 2 with his first Wolverine film being an ‘Eastern’ (samurai/kung fu) and his second, a Western featuring our favourite grumpy lone wolf bladeslinger reluctantly defending those in need. Indeed Mangold even goes so far as to explicitly cite the Western classic, Shane, as if to drive home the reference. This does, however, make these two films an admirably unique duo within the Marvel film canon.

Both Hugh Jackman and Patrick Stewart have publicly confirmed their departure from the X-Men franchise with this film and Logan is a good one to go out on. Largely casting off the shackles which usually restrict seasoned thespians in these types of roles, both have the freedom here to explore the idiosyncratic minutiae of their respective characters, allowing them to shine as performers like no other Marvel film before it. And we know from Jackman and Stewart’s performances elsewhere that they are certainly up to this task.

The other standout is young Dafne Keen who gives a performance reminiscent of Natalie Portman in Leon. While she may not say much, it is a fine internalised performance with much depth. There’s a future career to look out for.

There remains a couple of major plot point omissions (continuity errors, perhaps?) such as how on earth did Wolverine get his adamantium claws back after they were so dramatically excised in the previous solo film? And there still hasn’t been a straightforward explanation as to how Xavier returned from being obliterated by Jean Grey in X-Men 3: The Last Stand. (Yes, I know they implanted his mind in another body – but the same crippled body…?) Given that these are two major features of the story arc, it’s amazing that Mangold manages to get away with it. But it’s a measure of his overall level of quality that we can so easily turn a blind eye to these seeming blatant oversights.

Stuart Jamieson
www.facebook.com/TheWolverineMovie

Big Hero 6 is all just a bit ‘kiddie’ and twee compared to its contemporaries. Yes, this is a kid’s movie but after all the intergenerational ‘kids’ movies we’ve had from Pixar and others, a plain ol’ kids movie barely cuts it anymore. The beauty of intergenerational children’s films is not just that they entertain the kid’s parents but that children will find them enriching as they get older and the adult themes open up to them. Pixar’s Up being the prime example thus far. So there are few reasons not to do it.

The other issue with Big Hero 6 is that it follows what are probably the story’s least interesting characters. Baymax is a benign creature with a benign personality, not a great start for creating a character of interest. Sure, he’s kind of cute, but that wears thin quickly. And Hiro (our hero) is an off-the-rails orphaned youth with authority issues who, after the death of his brother, finds direction in his life. It’s an oft-used narrative that adds little to a well-traipsed formula beside said benign robot.

The female characters in it, however, GoGo and Honey Lemon, are both more interesting characters and perhaps the film would have benefited from revealing more of their back-stories. Given that Big Hero 6 is clearly the origins of a new franchise, there is scope to explore these characters further and so maybe future films can build positively on this foundation.

The short film, Feast, which precedes the feature, however, is a masterpiece, following the ups and downs of a human relationship from the perspective of the family pet. It’s full of heart, truth and will quite possibly make you cry. Just brilliant. Perhaps the strength of the short undermines the weakness of the feature.

Stuart Jamieson
www.movietimes.com.au/Movie/Big-Hero-6