2016 Films: #11. Nice Guys

June 23rd in Sheffield, OH. This picture received a 91% Rotten Tomatoes rating and has grossed $35 million against an $11 million budget to date. The film is directed by Shane Black who wrote the first two Lethal Weapon films and The Last Boy Scout. The fact that he wrote The Last Boy Scout is convenient here because The Nice Guys is pretty much a Last Boy Scout remake. Hear me out, Ryan Gossling is Holland March, an ex-cop turned down on his luck private eye. He's a widower and single father who's just a fun enough dad to keep from being a terrible parent (make no mistake, he's a terrible parent). March has a drinking problem and a teenage daughter who's way too mature for her age, copes with her mother's death better than her father and is crucial in helping solve the case.

In Last Boy Scout, Bruce Willis plays Joe Hallenbeck. A disgraced ex-secret service agent turned down on his luck private eye, who is divorced, drinks too much, has a teenage daughter who's way too mature for her age and is crucial in helping to solve the case. He's not a terrible parent because his ex-wife has custody (he ends up being framed for her murder) but he's a delinquent dad. The similarities are too close to overlook. Both films deal with government corruption (a crooked in senator in Last Boy Scout and a crooked Justice Department prosecutor in The Nice Guys) and have a sadistic weirdo henchmen...

Milo from The Last Boy Scout.

"Blueface" from The Nice Guys.

That still leaves Russell Crowe and Damon Wayans. Crowe plays Jackson Healy, a muscle for hire thug type with a good heart who strives to do better than intimidate people. Damon Wayans played Jimmy Alexander Dix, a disgraced ex-quarterback for the fictional LA Stallions. Different characters sure but they both have a good heart, help March/Hallenbeck get back to the good standing they once had. Each character is also a better parent to the daughters of March/Hallenbeck. The Healy/Dix characters also embody characteristics in the March/Hallenbeck characters. March and Dix are more or less goof balls capable of courage when the moment arises. Healy and Hallenbeck are both gruff tough guys who aren't opposed to hurting people. When Healy first meets March, he breaks his arm. Hallenbeck has a signature catch phrase before belting someone. To be honest, Healy is pretty much Bud White if Bud had broken up with Lynn Bracken (Kim Basinger reference) and moved back to LA. Also, both films are whimsical despite being very violent

The convoluted plot of The Nice Guys revolves around the death of a porn star and her film crew. It seems the porn star and her crew knew about the pollution the auto industry is trying to hide in their upcoming trial against the DOJ. March and Healy follow leads that requires them to crash a Boogie Nights type party, dodge bullets, get involved with crooked government officials and uncover a larger criminal enterprise. All in a days work.

The acting is good, the pace of the film is fine and the 70's fashion was fun but there's a lot of talent going through the motions here. The film is set in 1977 but there are several background continuity gaffes. In one scene there's a Jaws billboard, a film released in 1975. There is a shot of Holly's (March's 13 year old daughter) room showing an orgy of evidence that she's a teenager in the 1970's. One such piece of evidence is a London Calling poster. That particular album by The Clash was not released until 1979. That's just the stuff that I remember. A 91% rating is way too high. This is not Shane Black's best work. It's very derivative. If you haven't seen this yet, wait until it comes out on HBO or Redbox. Don't pay full price for a film that's been done before.

2016 Films: #10. X-Men: Apocalypse

June 16th in Johnson City, TN. This is the latest installment of the X-Men franchise after 2014's Days of Future Past essentially wiped the slate clean of all the content that took place in the X-Men films between 2000-2009 (that's three X-Men films and the the hideous X-Men Origins: Wolverine if you're keeping score at home) and the other sub-par Wolverine stand alone film that came out in 2013. Presently, the franchise canon is this film, the previously mentioned Days of Future Past and 2011's X-Men: First Class.

This film takes place in 1983, 10 years after the events in Days of Future Past. Professor X's School For Gifted Youngsters is thriving and old student Alex Summers brings his little brother Scott (spolier: it's Cyclops!) to the Professor when is mutation manifests. Magento has taken up a simple life as a factory worker in Poland, complete with wife and child (why he chose Poland, a Communist country that's not quite as bad as the Soviet Union but still oppressive is beyond me) despite the fact that he's been wanted by every law enforcement agency in the world for the last 10 years. In Egypt, a powerful mutant has awakened after several centuries of hibernation and he's discovered by plucky CIA agent Moira MacTaggert (who definitely has not aged 20 years!).

While Apocalypse makes his way to Europe and hooks up with Angel, Pslyocke and Storm, Magneto is discovered. When authorities attempt to take him in, his wife and daughter (who seemed a little older than 10) are tragically killed (the way they die is borderline ridiculous but I'll let it pass because the filmmakers didn't want to belabor the point), Magneto turns to the dark side and becomes Apocalypse's fourth horseman.

Cue ominous music.

Back at the X-Mansion, Scott takes a liking to star student Jean Grey and Raven shows up with Nightcrawler, Apocalypse and is crew show up at the mansion to kidnap Xavier (Apocalypse plans to use Professor X carry out his plan to tip the balance of power over to the mutants) and the ensuing battle, there's an explosion, Quicksilver arrives to save everyone, there's a tragic good guy death and Stryker shows up to capture the students left behind.

Jean, Scott and Kurt (Nightcrawler's real name) stow away on a helicopter to Alkali Lake, run into a soon to be named Wolverine (surprise!), who slaughters his way to freedom, and rescue everyone. While the X-Men are making their getaway, Apocalypse gets Magneto to mess with the Earth's magnetic field in order to cause a lot of destruction where several landmarks are destroyed. Again. This sets everything up for the big showdown in Egypt.

The big showdown goes to form; the bad guys have the good guys on the ropes, just when all seems lost, the good guys rally. Professor X also gets his signature "chrome dome" look during the final showdown as well. Mutants save the Earth again.

There's a reason this film received a 48% Rotten Tomatoes rating. It's not that good. In fact it's lousy. I was bored. The plot was redundant. Apocalypse is a blow hard who really just spouts Magento's rhetoric from the films that are no longer in the franchise canon. The plot and character development suffer for the sake of giving you mutants that weren't in the 1st series of films. Angel gets no development whatsoever. He's there because he was a horseman for Apocalypse in the comic books. Storm joins the X-Men in the end so she might get a backstory in the next film. I felt that Psylocke was wasted as a character. She had some cool powers and the character could've been expanded on but I felt that any showcase she got was because of her outfit (Olivia Munn doesn't act so much as she's just in action sequences).

It's a nice ensemble sure. But not very useful when fighting.

Everything that Nightcralwer did on screen was pretty much the same as what he did in X-Men 2. Nothing new from him. The scenes where Quicksilver uses his power are still exciting to watch but they're really just expanding the scene not giving us anything new or interesting (like the ham-handed way we get the information that Quicksilver is Magento's son). Plus the effects for his powers are probably expensive so his powers get limited screen time. That leaves us Jean Grey. Sophie Turner is beautiful, she plays Jean very well but it's pretty much the same Jean Grey as Famke Janssen but younger and her Phoenix powers manifest in one film instead of over two. You can also see where the next installment is going to go as well. More Jean Grey/Phoenix and more Wolverine. To be fair, I am not looking forward to the next installment.