Following the success of the X-Men trilogy, lead actor Hugh Jackman who had gone from a veritable nobody to an A-List star was given his own spin-off film. X-Men Origins: Wolverine directed by Gavin Hood of Tsotsi fame, was a moderate success taking $373m from a budget of $150m. Its success was probably harmed by a pirate copy of the film being distributed on the internet … [Read more...]
Spider-Man 3 (2007) review by That Film Guy
Completing Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy of films is Spider-Man 3. Production of Spider-Man 3 began almost immediately after the release of Spider-Man 2, which itself was a massive box office success. Raimi wanted to concentrate on the theme of 'forgiveness' and had plans to conclude the Green Goblin story and introduce Sandman as the major villain. After much protracted … [Read more...]
X-Men: The Last Stand (2006) review by That Film Guy
After the phenomenal success of X-Men 2, Fox studios immediately green-lit a third instalment to complete the X-Men trilogy. Bryan Singer, director of the first two films was too busy working on Superman Returns and stepped down. Initially Darren Aronofsky and Joss Whedon were both attached to the project, but a series of clashes with other films forced their withdrawal and … [Read more...]
X-Men (2000) review by That Film Guy
Based on one of Marvel's most popular titles, X-Men directed by Bryan Singer was one of the first highly successful comic book films of the modern era. It spawned two direct sequels and a host of spin-offs and prequels having taken nearly $300m at the box office from a budget of $75m. Loosely based on the early X-Men stories shown in the 1990s cartoon it focuses on mutation as … [Read more...]
Review: The Avengers (2012)
Ever since Iron Man was released in 2008, Marvel have been building toward a huge ensemble film called The Avengers. Members of SHIELD (Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division), notably Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) and Agent Coulson (Clark Gregg), have appeared in all of the Marvel films involved, including Captain America: The First Avenger, The … [Read more...]
Review: Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance (2012)
The original Ghost Rider was released in 2007 and took its time to tell the origin story of the flaming skulled demon rider from Hell. Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance follows on from the original, but with a few notable changes that make it almost a reboot of the character. Nicolas Cage is once again cast as daredevil motorbike jumper Johnny Blaze. This time the script and … [Read more...]
Review: Ghost Rider (2007)
After the explosion of comic book films that followed the incredible success of Superman: The Movie, Batman and Spider-Man, a lot of lesser known characters had their stories adapted to the silver screen. One such film, released in 2007 was Ghost-Rider, starring Nicolas Cage as Johnny Blaze, the man who sold his soul to the Devil to save his father's life and became the demon … [Read more...]
Review: Iron Man (2008)
[pullquote cite="" type="left, right"][amazon text=Amazon&template=carousel&chan=that film guy&asin=B0089TNZ2E][/pullquote] In the summer of 2008, a Marvel blockbuster took huge returns at the box office and announced the arrival of one of Hollywood's most notorious ˜bad boys' back on the scene. Iron Man forms part of Marvel comics The Avengers that includes … [Read more...]
Review: X-Men: First Class (2011)
[pullquote cite="" type="left, right"][amazon text=Amazon&template=carousel&chan=that film guy&asin=B006E09G1E][/pullquote] When George Lucas and Steven Spielberg released Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom in 1984, they successfully popularized the term ˜prequel' being a film that predates it's original in chronological order. Since then prequels have become an … [Read more...]
Review: Spider-Man (2002)
[pullquote cite="" type="left, right"][amazon text=Amazon&template=carousel&chan=that film guy&asin=B007I1QUYE][/pullquote] Director Sam Raimi cut his teeth in the film world with the cult horror trilogy Evil Dead. His blend of horror and comedy worked perfectly for the low budget adventures of Ash, but in 2002 his skill was tested with a bigger budget and the start … [Read more...]