ScreenFish

where faith and film are intertwined

X-Men

5.19 Unleashing our Inner DARK PHOENIX

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With the release of Dark Phoenix, Fox officially wraps up its X-Men franchise by retconning one of their most famous storylines. After having been exposed to an other-worldly energy, Jean Grey finds herself battling unlimited power and her own inner demons. As Charles Xavier, Magneto and the rest of the X-Men attempt to help her contain her abilities, a mysterious new foe seeks to unleash its full destructive power upon the world. This week, ScreenFish Radio welcomes back returnees Miriam Ibrahim and Matthew Cimone to discuss the legacy of the franchise, what went right (and wrong) with the film and the power of emotion.

You can also stream the episode above on podomatic, Alexa (via Stitcher), Spotify or Soundcloud! Or, you can download the ep on Apple Podcasts or Google Play!

Want to continue to conversation at home?  Click the link below to download ‘Fishing for More’ — some small group questions for you to bring to those in your area.

5.19 Dark Phoenix

4.18 DEADPOOL 2 and the New F-Word

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The Merc with the Mouth is back… and he’s got babies on his mind! In DEADPOOL 2, the hero without rules wants to settle down and start a family with Nessa, the love of his life. However, when tragedy strikes, Deadpool must try to rescue a young mutant who’s being hunted by Cable, a deadly assassin from the future. (Insert Terminator 2 joke here.) This week, Peter Adourian joins Steve to tackle the new F-Word (family), Deadpool’s cultural relevance and his God-complex.

Want to continue to conversation at home?  Click the link below to download ‘Fishing for More’ — some small group questions for you to bring to those in your area.

4.18 Deadpool 2

Thanks Peter for joining us!

3.14 Losing LOGAN

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This week on the show, Steve reconnects with Arnaldo Reyes and Peter Adourian to talk about purpose and hopeful death in James Mangold’s LOGAN.  (We may even answer the eternal question: Why Arnaldo doesn’t like Jackman’s Wolverine!)

Want to continue to conversation at home?  Click the link below to download ‘Fishing for More’ — some small group questions for you to bring to those in your area.

3.14 Logan

Thanks to Peter Adourian and Arnaldo Reyes for joining us on the show!

Logan: The Case for a X-23 Spin-off

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WARNING:  If you haven’t seen Logan yet, there will be spoilers below.

Character History

First appearing in the animated series X-Men Evolution, Laura Kinney (X-23) quickly became a fan favorite. Created by the top secret organization tasked to duplicate the Weapon X program (the same program that gave Logan his Adamantium bones), Laura was the 23rd experiment to clone Wolverine. Although female, she was exactly what they wanted. In fact, she was better. Trained from birth to be a weapon, she was a deadly assassin before hitting puberty. Whether she wants to or not, she is forced to kill (we’ll get to that below). The program developed what they call a “trigger scent” that drives X-23 into a rage, causing her to kill everyone in her sight until it wears off. Throughout her young life, she was forced to kill many people, including her mother. Before her mother died, she told her she’s not just an experiment and that her name was Laura.

From there, Laura spent her time as a runaway. Being used and abused, she sold her body to survive, even hurting herself just to feel something. This led her to find Logan (initially fighting him and blaming him for everything) and then, eventually, land herself in Xavier’s school. Just like Logan, there she learned about friends, love, family and who she really is. At times, she needed to go out on her own and, at times, she was back to where she was, a weapon. Throughout her history, she was exactly what one would expect from the daughter of Wolverine. However, she was much better (something Logan would admit). Just like Logan, she had to live with a broken past and spend her life making amends. Over time, she would encounter setbacks, trials and loss. Now, she has the mantle of the man that taught her the most about herself. She isn’t just playing dress up, but she is The Wolverine.

Why X-23 needs her own film

After 17 years we finally got the real Wolverine on screen…and SHE was amazing! Yes, Hugh Jackman was great in his sendoff as well, finally giving us the Wolverine we’ve been lacking. After 17 years, it’s hard to view anyone outside of Hugh Jackman as Wolverine but this is why Laura is the perfect person to take up the mantle. From the first moment on screen, when we see her walk out of that plant and attack those pursuing her, I knew that James Mangold (director) and Dafne Keen (X-23) got it right. You saw the deadliness in her. Then, you see the video that Logan was watching, how she was made, how the nurse tried to teach her more than just being a weapon. When you see that, and you see the quiet girl that in a split second can go berserk, you know that the spirit of the character it’s there. You see her brokenness in trying to connect with Logan while being helped by Xavier in observing what life should be. In the final scenes, where she goes toe to toe with X-24 in order to help Logan out, you can see again how great she is in that role.

Putting her deadliness aside, the moment where Logan is dying and she tearing away at the tree that he’s impaled on though is where you say she needs her own film. She cries for a dad she just met. His eyes, his last words telling her not to be what they’ve made her. Then, when her and the other kids bury him, when she turns the cross to resemble an X and they head out into the mountains, I’m left wanting more. I want to know what happens next. Moreso, we need to know.

She is going into a new world with new mutants created to be weapons and on the run from facility that made them. Eventually, someone will come looking. In the comics, she was forced to kill because she had a handler. In the movie, she tells Logan she has nightmares because people hurt her. Her handler, Kimura, is one of Laura’s worst enemies in the comics. A solo film bringing her in to go after Laura would be a great first film. Also introducing the trigger scent, causing her to do harm and seeing her come out of it and rise from being used again and emerging a hero. Laura deserves more than just a walk into the mountains with her friends. She’s as complex a character as Logan and, by keeping her in this same gritty type of film, they can properly display all the elements of her character.

Although Jackman is done, Wolverine lives on and, given her youth, she will do well for another 17 years as well!

Logan – Will the Real Wolverine Please Stand Up?

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There’s much to be said about an actor playing a particular role in film nine times.

In a way, he/she must’ve done something right and even made that particular role nearly iconic. Hugh Jackman has done that, to my dismay (or dislike, however you want to call it). It’s not that I’m not a fan of his. It’s just that I’ve never been a fan of his portrayal of Wolverine. Only twice have I felt that the character that I grew up admiring and loving was captured as he should be, but most of the time it was someone else. This is probably more on the studio and scripts than it is on Hugh. After X-Men Origins: Wolverine, I completely gave up on them. (In fact, it wasn’t until two weeks ago that I finally saw The Wolverine because there was nothing else to watch on TV and, even then, I found myself playing games on my phone rather than watching the movie.)

So here I am, I paid to see the film on a Thursday night for two reasons: It was Hugh Jackman’s last hoorah and it was the live action appearance of my second favorite Wolverine…X-23 (aka Laura). When I first heard she would be in the film, I cringed. I felt that, not only had they ruined Logan, but now they were going to ruin Laura as well. When the trailers came out, I felt a little more optimistic yet still apprehensive. With all this, I bought my tickets, went to the theater, leaned back the comfy recliner and, finally, I saw the real Wolverine.

Logan is set in a distant future. Mutants are basically no more (as was said in the trailers) and Logan himself is a mess. Running away from a life he wants to forget, his life is turned upside down with the discovery of a young girl just like him. Throughout the film you see a man that has taken everything life has thrown at him and quite frankly doesn’t want to live anymore. Yet, even in a broken state, there is the kind, good man. I felt previous films failed to show Logan’s brokenness but this film finally captured it extremely well. He isn’t the prototypical hero and, even with healing factor, he isn’t invulnerable. Logan is a multi layered character that basically has dealt with crap his whole life and has always survived. In this film, we finally see that Logan: the one that wentthrough hell and back and yet still shows why he is the best at what he does.

However, Logan really isn’t the highlight of this film. X-23 gets the origin story in film that Wolverine never really got. I won’t sugar coat it, she is extremely violent, she is hurt, abused and, later, redeemed. She is everything like Logan, and if you know her history then you know why. Throughout the film, she is trying to fight what she is while also trying to figure out who she should be. She’s chasing freedom, but discovering something much more. Her life has been nothing short of awful, yet the hero she is meant to be runs through her blood. She is the one that helps Logan find his way back and remind him just who he is and she also finds out who she should be. She’s Laura and she’s not a mistake. She’s her father’s daughter and she’s the best at what she does.

In such a bloody film (yes, it’s bloody, that’s why it’s rated R), it’s amazing to find so much heart. ]Logan is a film that teaches us that life is rough and no matter how hard it gets, we need to remember one thing, the importance of family. Family is the rock we can lean on to get us through this journey called life. It’s no wonder Jesus calls us His brothers and sisters, because He desires us all to be family and He understands the importance of it. The Lord created family for a reason because without it we are nothing. Logan and Laura discover it and in their way teach us what truly matters.

Logan is a great film that was well done in every way. I would say I only had two complaints that I won’t spoil since they serve major roles to the actual film, but I really felt on those two parts they should have expanded a little more.

Furthermore, there is an amazing short film (if we want to call it that) right at the beginning, so don’t miss it. However, there is no end credits trailer, so don’t bother staying till the end. All and all, I will again say that, even though it took nine attempts, the real Wolverines did stand up.

And they were amazing.

Podcast: Surviving the [X-MEN] APOCALYPSE

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This week on the show, ScreamFish auteur Jason Norton and newbie Sue Banik join Steve to take on X-MEN: APOCALYPSE! Plus, they face off in the ultimate trivia challenge: the X-Off!

Want to continue to conversation at home?  Click the link below to download ‘Fishing for More’ — some small group questions for you to bring to those in your area.

2.17 X-Men Apocalypse

X-Men Apocalypse: Just Let Go

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X-MEN-APOCALYPSEThe year of blockbusters continues as FOX offers it’s latest franchise entry into the mix. Although technically a “Marvel” film, the X-Men have long been under the FOX umbrella (thus the reason no crossover with Avengers… yet). After 15 years of the X-men franchise–and depending on whether or not you count Deadpool—X-Men: Apocalypse is either the 8th or 9th film entry into the Fox canon. Over the years, the films have been both up and down in terms of quality. Still, the modern day superhero films owe X-Men (2000) a great deal of thanks in laying the groundwork for today’s films. (Of course, we can all pretend that X-Men: The Last Stand and X-Men Origins: Wolverine  don’t exist, can’t we?  After all, Bryan Singer certainly does…)

Even though they’d likely deny it, X-Men: First Class was definitely a reboot to the franchise. Even with its flaws, it was very much welcomed after the two aforementioned disasters. After Days of Future Past (DOFP) scored high praise with both fans and critics, we have received X-Men: Apocalypse, the third film for this particular cast. The films has received mix reviews, ranging from ‘horrible’ to ‘amazing’ but I, however, fall in-between. The film has an interesting story with amazing visuals, but it lacks any depth or character growth. However, if they had taken a little more time in fleshing out the characters (especially the villains), the film could have been really great. Unfortunately, the film ends up being only entertaining with nothing really memorable (outside of their sad attempt to poke fun at their two weakest entries).

X-Men Apocalypse takes place ten years after DOFP and begins with Xavier’s school thriving, Mystique having become a mutant liberating hero and Magneto trying on the life of a family man. Although the world knows about mutants, it is still weary of their power. Some treat them horribly wrong, while others attempt to live in harmony with them. However, an ancient evil arises and begins to leave destruction in his wake . His goal is to rid the world of the weak (mainly humans) and create a new world ruled by him. He recruits four mutants to be his horsemen (think the four horsemen of the Apocalypse) with the most powerful of them being Magneto. From there, the X-Men band together to stop him before he destroys the whole world.

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The Good

As I said, the story is interesting, even if it does carry with it elements of stories done before. Apocalypse is mysterious and powerful. Furthermore, his plan to purge the world because man seems hopeless and needs a savior is parallel with many other stories (most recently Avengers: Age of Ultron). It carries similarities to the Bible where as man is truly hopeless and in need of Jesus to be our Saviour. However, in Scripture, the difference is that God has mercy and grace and died on our behalf so that we could be saved.

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The visuals again are great, and the slow motion Quicksilver scenes are the highlight of the film (as with DOFP). There is even a Wolverine scene that (almost) fixes what went so horribly wrong in Origins. To finally see the REAL Wolverine on screen and not the watered-down version that has always been done (insert my Wolverine fan bias here, of course) was a sight for sore eyes.

The Bad

Although the movie was interesting with some parts, you still leave the theater without caring about anything that has just happened. If Apocalypse is so strong, why does he need horsemen? There is nothing explained as to why he needs them, nor is his true origin really touched upon or fleshed out. In the comics, Apocalypse is one of the most intimidating foes and, even though he is shown to be powerful, he wasn’t intimidating. Sure, his power was like no other, but his presence was merely… well… ‘meh’. I don’t just want to see him do powerful things, I want to tremble at his sight and fear him. Unfortunately, they really missed the mark in bringing such a powerful foe to life.

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Going back to character growth, there really isn’t any in this film. As a huge X-Men fan, I know my opinion can be biased at times. I love Jennifer Lawrence as an actress, but I am sick and tired of them trying to make Mystique and Magneto good. Let them be fully bad, not just bad when it is convenient to them. She was the focal point of the film in a leadership role and, to be honest, she really sucked at it. She was there, she had the “role”, but that was about it. Personally, I prefer to see the bad Mystique all the way through, not one who is part of the X-Men.

The Ugly

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I guess Apocalypse could fit here as well but, ultimately, the ugly consists of all the surrounding characters. The Horsemen, Cyclops, Jean, and Nightcrawler were all bad. Their action sequences were  good visually but, as far as fight scenes go, one of the worst I’ve ever seen. The characters themselves were one dimensional and underdeveloped. I ask above why Apocalypse needs horsemen, and with three out of the four he chose, I’m left wondering why. The choice of Magneto makes sense, but what made the others so worthy? They showed nothing that really stood out and screamed “powerful” and, they were weak and outmatched by mere students that had no training whatsover. Again, why do I care about them?

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Speaking of students, Cyclops went from being picked on, to all of a sudden being a rebel, to now being part of the team to stop Apocalypse? Meanwhile, Jean was timid and unsure of herself as she tries to keep her deeper powers (Phoenix) under control and Nightcrawler seems to have been included only to add more CGI. None of these characters actually showed any kind of development, unless you count Jean (by direction of Professor Xavier) finally “letting go”. Is it because she needed to so we can see what scares her, or because we needed to again hint at the failure that was X-Men: The Last Stand? I say the latter.

Just Let Go

Speaking of The Last Stand, where poking fun worked with Deadpool, it seemed out of place in this film. In an attempt to give Hugh Jackman more money, the bad thing about his Weapon X scene is that it served no purpose in the film. The whole idea of Stryker and Weapon X being in the film was absolutely pointless and that time could have been spent in actually developing the key characters of the film. So as I appreciate the attempt, what was the point? And continuing to hammer throughout the film the failure of these two films just leaves one thinking, just let go. This likely was Singer’s last stand, so he left it all out and took his shots on what he was not involved with. But ultimately, FOX needs to come to the same realization that Sony did regarding the Spiderman franchise, just let go. Find a common ground with Marvel Studios and allow them to bring the future X-Men to life within the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

This will benefit all involved, and more importantly, the fans.

Deadpool – The Romantic Merc With The Mouth

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deadpoolEver since the atrocity that was X-Men Origins: Wolverine, it has been Ryan Reynolds’ mission to give fans the perfect Deadpool movie. For years, FOX has put it on hold. Maybe they didn’t want to go the R rated movie route, or maybe they weren’t confident in the character. But one would think, with FOX’s track record of more duds than good X-Men films, that a change would be welcomed.

And then, the “leaked” test footage came out.

Suddenly, social media exploded and Deadpool fans went crazy over how great it was. Let us not be fooled, FOX gets about 10% credit for Deadpool coming to the big screen. The film, the character, the marketing was all Ryan Reynolds. This was either going to be a major fail on him, or it was going to be the role that defines him.

I am happy to say that it was the latter.

Deadpool is a hilariously funny movie that is filled with humor, heart and–since it’s rated R–vulgarity. The thing is, the film never went overboard on the vulgarity. There is definitely strong language and some graphic violence, all expected with a character like Deadpool, but the “so called” nudity is very little. Ryan Reynolds could have easily went overboard on the vulgarity, but he reeled it in.

Deadpool tells us the story of a man who is more of an anti-hero than anything else. He’s a mercenary, with a non-stop wise cracking mouth. He will help the little guy with all their needs, for a fee of course. At the same time, he also has a heart and a soft spot. When he meets someone who’s as crazy as he is, your love story begins…and then quickly ends. After being diagnosed with rapidly spreading terminal cancer, he can’t think of anything else but to leave his woman in order to spare her the pain of watching him die…but she refuses to allow it. When he’s given an opportunity for a cure (even though it meant becoming the one thing he never really wanted to be), he takes it, if only for the chance at love it offers. Of course, nothing that sounds that good ever actually is. All of a sudden, the wise-cracking man is left disfigured, but with a power that allows him to heal or regenerate (like Wolverine). Disgusted in himself, and thinking that his love would never accept him how he is, his mission becomes finding the person who did this to him and get a cure. Throughout the film, he leaves a trail of dead bodies while still being the wise cracking “merc with the mouth” that fans have come to know from the comics. He has a run in with two X-Men, and also enlists their help to save his girl. It is a high octane, comedy-filled film that is a love story at it’s heart, as only Deadpool can tell.

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Though, the big question is how can a R-rated Deadpool film have any redeeming qualities? I had that question going in, and as the movie went on I started to realize that you have to scale back and look at the story on a whole. Colossus was there as a moral voice in the film, but the film was more than just that. We have a love story in it’s true form. The film is a journey of how many view their lives when God calls them. They feel that they are too disfigured and too dirty and God would never accept them. The sickness of sin is so deep that they think they need to find a cure under their own will and power. Along the path, they constantly fail and take two steps back rather than a step forward. Meanwhile, that moral voice is there letting them know they can be more, if they just listen and ask for help. In the end, you come to a point where you have to come face to face with God and say sorry.

I’m sorry I walked away.

I’m sorry I stopped calling.

I thought I could fix me, and it turns out I can’t.

We don’t want Him to look at us, but God says “remove the mask, I accept you how you are because My love runs deeper”. Deadpool isn’t the ideal character where we would think we can find redeeming values, but then again, isn’t that how Jesus operated?

Deadpool does a great job in being a comic book film that doesn’t take itself too seriously, and rightfully so. Deadpool breaks the 4th wall, makes fun of X-Men films, Ryan Reynolds films, Wolverine and even Hugh Jackman. It’s what you expect Deadpool to do. The opening credits scene has you laughing from the get go and throughout the film there are several moments that make you want to fall out of your seat. Ryan Reynolds has found his role to the tone of Robert Downey Jr and Iron Man. TJ Miller was a great supporting actor in adding to the comedy. Stan Lee has his expected cameo and even Bob from Hydra (if you are a Deadpool fan you know who he is) makes an appearance.

The honest truth is, Deadpool is everything you will expect from a Deadpool film.

It’s up to you to figure out if that’s a good thing or bad thing.

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