Late to the party: ‘The Wolverine’ good mutant action

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I didn’t expect to like “The Wolverine” as much as I did.

I grew up loving “The X-Men” and other Marvel comics, although I had mostly exited before Wolverine made his entrance. Of course, the “X-Men” movies put the antagonistic outsider front and center and made him a leading man and household name.

Of course, with the charismatic Hugh Jackman in the role, who could argue that approach?

After “X-Men Origins: Wolverine,” though, I wasn’t sure I needed to see another Wolverine movie. Jackman redeemed the character with one line, however, in “X-Men: First Class.”

So with Jackman returning to the screen next summer, with much of the cast from the original “X-Men” trilogy as well as “First Class,” “The Wolverine” seemed like a natural intermediate chapter in the story.

Since the movie came out a couple of weeks ago – and I just got around to seeing it today thanks to vacation time and work demands – I’ll skip most of the plot recitation. Suffice it to say that Wolverine goes to Japan, accompanied by a winsome and deadly young mutant named Yukio (Rila Fukushima) sent to fetch him by a man whom we see Logan saving at the time of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki in World War II.

Logan gets an offer: If he’s tired of life – especially life alone – the young Japanese soldier he saved (now grown into Asian tech titan Yashida, played by Haruhiko Yamanouchi) promised he can make him a mortal man.

The rest of the movie finds Logan playing tag with an assortment of mutants and ninja warriors, in an effort to protect Yashia’s granddaughter, played by the lovely Tao Okamoto.

I think the movie benefits from being a fairly straightforward story punctuated by lots of cool action scenes. There’s not a lot of cross-cutting to other locations or storylines. Not even a lot of set-up for future movies (more on that later).

Random observations: I didn’t expect the end-credits scene, or “stinger,” to be so on-the-nose as far as its lead-in into “X-Men Days of Future Past.” (Spoilers if you haven’t seen it yet.) The scene takes place two years after the events of “The Wolverine,” and Logan is going through an airport, asking to be patted down rather than setting off ever metal detector in the place. Playing on a TV nearby is a commercial for Trask, the company that created the mutant-hunting robots the Sentinels in the comics and next summer’s movie. As Logan moves through the TSA checkpoint he realizes that coins and other metallic objects are moving around on the security tray. It’s Magneto (Ian McKellen) behind him in line. Wolverine pops his bone claws but Magneto tells him that “dark forces” are brewing and that he needs his help.

Why would I trust you? Logan asks, held in place by Magneto because of the remaining adamantium in his body. Magneto notes that he wouldn’t, but …. at that point, Patrick Stewart rolls up as Charles Xavier. Logan is startled to see Professor X alive. “You’re not the only one with gifts,” Xavier says.

Also about that end credits scene: Has anyone noticed that nobody is waiting until after the credits to play out their super-secret scene anymore? For most of the early Marvel movies, the scene (Nick Fury shows up in Tony Stark’s house, Agent Coulson finds Thor’s hammer in New Mexico) touting the coming of the next movie was after the credits. But beginning with “The Avengers” and the woeful version of DC’s “Green Lantern,” the scene has been partway into the end credits, usually right after the principal credits are done.

A couple of exceptions, of course: “Iron Man 3” and its love letter to the Stark/Banner bromance comes at the very end of the credits. And, as we know, “The Avengers” had two credits scenes.

Maybe filmmakers don’t have much faith that we’ve learned by now to stick around until after the last caterer, effects guy and music credit is listed.

Did anybody keep track of how many times Hugh Jackman gets knifed, sliced, skewered with swords and arrows and otherwise pierced in this movie? Surely that number is out there somewhere, Internet?

Ellis’ ‘Gun Machine’ a good cop thriller

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gun machine warren ellis

Warren Ellis is best known for comic books like “Red” and “Planetary,” but his book “Gun Machine” is a good and offbeat New York police thriller.

 

The book follows NYPD detective John Tallow in the days following the on-the-job killing of his partner. The two had been responding to a call about a man in a run-down apartment building with a gun when the unhinged man shot and killed the partner. Tallow looks through a hole blown in an apartment wall and finds the place is full of guns – and not ones that belonged to the unhinged man who took out Tallow’s partner. The elaborate display of guns from over a couple hundred years is fetishistic, almost a temple dedicated to the firearms within. But who could their owner be?

 

In a city plagued by too much violence and too many cases to clear, Tallow’s fellow cops and CSIs greet this discovery with scorn and hostility, all of it directed at Tallow. That’s because every one of the discovered guns tested in police labs turns out to be a gun used in a separate, unsolved murder case. Tallow has stumbled across a horrific secret: The lair of a particularly prolific and bent hit man.

 

Working with CSIs Scarly and Bat, Tallow pulls at threads and tests limitations, including those of himself and his superiors. That’s because when some of the guns turn out to have been used in historic crimes, it becomes obvious that someone hasn’t just been hoarding random guns. Someone has been funneling guns – including the revolver used by Son of Sam – to the killer.

 

Although the plot is grim and involves not only high-level corruption between the police department and some high-level NYC corporations, there’s a lot of humor here. Most of that comes from Bat and Scarly, Tallow’s initially reluctant but increasingly enthusiastic partners. Bat is something of a geek cliche but one that’s well done. Scarly is a lipstick lesbian in a deeply committed but deeply odd relationship with a formidable partner.

 

I’ve read that there’s some thought to making “Gun Machine” into a TV series and I suppose that’s fine. But I wouldn’t want the book to be turned into TV’s typical police procedural with quirky characters. There’s a lot of potential for more stories about Tallow, Bat and Scarly if they do them right.

 

 

Classic ‘Buffy’ – ‘The Wish’

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buffy the vampire slayer the wish

“Buffy the Vampire Slayer” had already long established itself as a groundbreaking TV classic before “The Wish” aired as the ninth episode of the third season, debuting in December 1998.

But “The Wish” was among the episodes of the series that helped distinguish “Buffy” as more than that show with an unlikely name.

During the first season, viewers of Joss Whedon’s series about a teenage girl who reluctantly becomes the foe of vampires, demons and other monsters were treated to imaginative and funny but somewhat conventional “monster of the week” episodes. “Prophecy Girl,” the final episode of the first season, elevated the show as Buffy put an end to the Master with the help of her friends.

In “The Wish,” written by Marti Noxon, “Buffy” returns to elements from that first season but gives them an alternate reality twist.

The unlikely couple of Cordelia (Charisma Carpenter) and Xander (Nicholas Brendon) has just ended when Willow (Alyson Hannigan) and Xander kissed in a moment of crisis. Cordelia, who often transcended her petty attitudes with heroism, gives into those baser instincts here and unknowingly falls in with new student Anya (Emma Caulfield), a vengeance demon who entices her into making a wish. That wish happens to be that Buffy had never come to Sunnydale.

The result? Sunnydale is controlled by vampires. Giles (Anthony Stewart Head) and a small group of non-super-powered demon fighters try to take on the vampires, but they’re outgunned by the Master and his minions, including vampiric versions of Xander and Willow.

The plot is nicely twisty – we think Cordelia will be key to reversing the alternate reality but, surprise, she gets killed – and full of foreshadowing, intentional or otherwise, of what’s to come: Vampire Willow returns in a later episode, of course, and Willow herself makes some momentous moves of her own as the series continues.

Random observations:

The Master (Mark Metcalf of “Animal House” fame) is lip-smackingly fun here.

It’s fun to spot the connections between “Buffy” and the cheerleading movie “Bring it On.” Here, Nicole Bilderback, one of the snooty cheerleaders in the movie, is a Cordelia/Harmony hanger-on.

Larry Bagby III, who’s made appearances as classmate Larry, gets to be one of the good guys in GIles’ Buffy-less Scooby Gang.

Caulfield returns as Anya, of course, later in the series. And we loved her.

Pop culture classic: ‘Galaxy Quest’

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I’ve heard the argument made, online, that “Galaxy Quest” is the best big-screen “Star Trek” movie. “Star Trek” reboot director J.J. Abrams apparently said as much. While I think the claim is made somewhat facetiously, there’s a lot to be said for the light-hearted 1999 sci-fi comedy.

Beyond the trappings of the movie, which looks at a group of has-been actors living off the fame of their cult TV show 20 years later, there are a lot of subtle and not-so-subtle nods to “Star Trek” the show, its cast and fandom.

The movie, directed by Dean Parisot, shows us the cast of the former “Galaxy Quest” series in the only setting in which they can thrive: Fan conventions. While the show’s captain, played by Tim Allen, basks in the glory of his adoring fans, the rest of the crew – Sigourney Weaver as the ship’s eye candy, Alan Rickman as the Spock stereotype, Daryl Mitchell as the kid actor grown up, Tony Shalhoub as the perpetually befuddled and hungry engineer and Sam Rockwell as a glorified extra who comes along for the ride – seethe with jealousy.

From convention appearances to openings of electronic stores – where Rickman, so dry and sarcastic, has to trot out a modified version of his catchphrase: “By Grabthar’s Hammer … what a savings!” – the actors bicker and scramble for jobs.

When an oddball group of fans – led by Enrico Colantoni of “Veronica Mars” and including Rainn Wilson of “The Office” in a small role – asks for their help, they think they’re appearing in some elaborate fan-made performance. Soon enough they learn that the “fans” are aliens, come to Earth to find the heroes of the “historical documents” they’ve been watching in space. They’re seeking help in fighting off an evil alien conqueror.

“Star Trek” fans will find a lot that’s amusingly and comfortingly familiar here, from the perils of guiding the huge ship out of space dock to the ridiculous design of the craft itself.

Not to mention the ghettoized duties and personalities of the crew – Weaver’s character gets to repeat the computer’s pronouncements -and the backbiting behavior of the actors, all of who are resentful and jealous of Allen’s very Shatner-esque commander.

It’s easy to overlook Allen’s laid-back performance, but he really captures the bravado of a once-hot actor who still expects to be treated like a star.

Rickman is so good as the irritated Alexander, whose resemblance to Leonard Nimoy and his frustration at always being identified as Spock is dead on. Tony Shalhoub has some of the movie’s biggest laughs as the bemused engineer and Rockwell is wonderful as a bit player who would have given anything to have what even the cast of this cult TV show has.

“Galaxy Quest” might not be the best “Star Trek” movie ever made, but it sure is the best movie about “Star Trek” ever made.

Peter Capaldi is the new Doctor

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A woman would have been nice, as would a non-white actor.

But there’s almost universal acclaim online since the announcement, a little more than a half hour ago, that British character actor Peter Capaldi would play the Doctor, the traveling time lord in the 50-year-old British TV series “Doctor Who.”

Capaldi – who played a WHO (World Health Organization) doctor in “World War Z – is best known as another kind of doctor – a spin doctor – in the BBC series “The Thick of It.”

We’d heard a lot of possible new Doctors – the 12th in the run in the series, including a one-shot TV movie starring Paul McGann but not counting the version played on the big screen by Peter Cushing – to replace Matt Smith. Capaldi had apparently become a favorite in recent days.

Since the modern “Doctor Who” era began in 2005 when the show was revived with Christopher Eccleston in the title role, I’ve caught the series a few times on SyFy or BBC America.

My real background with “Doctor Who” goes back to the 1970s and early 1980s, though, and the heyday of Tom Baker as the Fourth Doctor.

This was before the age of home video, so the only way to catch the show was when it aired, usually on some obscure cable channel.

I remember watching “Doctor Who” with friends up near the Region (for those of you who don’t know, that’s Northern Indiana) and enjoying Baker’s scarf-wearing escapades.

The modern-day Doctors have been younger romantic lead-types. The 55-year-old Capaldi brings a slightly older, more distinguished feel to the role.

One additional thought: It’s funny that Twitter was alive this afternoon with anticipation and reaction to the announcement of the new Doctor. The changing of the series’ lead actor has drawn some attention in recent years, but for much of the show’s early history, the change didn’t get a lot of notice around the world and especially here in the states.

It’s further proof that the geeks have inherited the Earth.

‘X-Men’ – Meet the Sentinels

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The Sentinels are finally ready for their close-up.

The three-story tall robots, in case you’re not familiar with them, are the hulking menaces used by the government to try to to exterminate mutants in the “X-Men” comics.

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They were introduced in “Uncanny X-Men” 14 in November 1965 and were created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.

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They’re nearly as much the archetypal villain for The X-Men as Hydra is for Captain America.

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The Sentinels were apparently on the “no-no” list at Fox during the years the “X-Men” movies were being made, although I’m not sure why. The only appearance of the robots in the initial round of movies is in a Danger Room practice in “X-Men: The Last Stand.” Wolverine beheads one in a training session after being thrown by Colossus.

They apparently figure prominently in “X-Men: Days of Future Past,” the 2014 feature mixing the classic and new movie casts. Their creator, Bolivar Trask, is played in the movie by Peter Dinklage.

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Could that ‘stache be any cooler or more 1970s period?

At top is a shot from the movie, featuring a Sentinel watching over the Reagan inauguration in the movie’s fractured timeline.

RIP Michael Ansara

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michael ansara kang star trek

Another great Hollywood character actor has left the stage.

Michael Ansara has died at age 91.

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Ansara was born in Syria and had an extensive career in Hollywood playing good guys and bad guys, often with an exotic edge. He played the Djinn on TV’s “I Dream of Jeannie,” opposite wife Barbara Eden, and starred in the series “Broken Arrow.”

He is best known for playing Kang, a Klingon captain who was Kirk’s equal and counterpart, in the original “Star Trek” series.

It was a role he returned to in later series, including “Deep Space Nine” and “Voyager.”

Thanks, Mr. Ansara, for your memorable presence.

New ‘Thor: The Dark World’ poster

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There’s something old-fashioned, almost “Star Wars” or “Raiders of the Lost Ark” -like, about the new poster for “Thor: The Dark World.”

Maybe it’s the lack of photoshopped photos of the cast, standing in random poses and staring off at nothing.

No, it’s a nicely done and composed poster – not unlike that for “Captain America: The First Avenger” or “Iron Man 3” – that shows the ever-growing cast, including Christopher Eccleston looming as villain Malekith the Accursed.

We even get Idris (“We are canceling the apocalypse!”) Elba as sturdy Heimdall.

“Thor: The Dark World” comes to theaters on Nov. 8.

Thoughts after a week of travel

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detroit airport tunnel

Not to sound like 1990s era Jerry Seinfeld, but what is the deal with travel?

If you wondered what happened to the author of this blog for more than a week: I was traveling on a family vacation that took me to the Grand Tetons National Park. More on that in a future iPhoneography entry.

After five airports in as many states in about as many days, I’ve been negligent in blogging. But I have been keeping track of some observations. So this morning, happily at my kitchen counter, I’m recalling the most memorable travel moments of the past week.

The Jackson Hole airport in Wyoming is pretty small but, like a true western chic airport, has more hydration stations for refilling water bottles than it has gates.

For an airport that sprawls over several buildings and has a tram, the Detroit airport is short on people-friendly space. There are not enough seats, leading to many instances of people sitting on the floor. And Fuddruckers in Concourse C, feel free to stop pretending you’re a real restaurant. You’re a counter where patrons can order by touchscreen and then struggle, loaded down with their luggage, to get their orders and get out.

Also, much has been made of Detroit’s oddball tunnel, with multi-colored lighted walls surrounding people-movers. It’s kind of disorienting. But hey, it has its own Facebook page: That Creepy Tunnel at the Detroit Airport.

The Minneapolis/St. Paul airport looks like a mall. Really. There are entire stretches of the airport that are recognizable as an airport only because of the occasional screen updating the status of arrivals and departures.

Here’s a good reason (although not the real reason) I didn’t update my blog in the past week: Airport wi-fi is usually slower than 3G cell coverage, which makes the free wi-fi offered in most airports a nice but mostly useless attraction.