Moviefone Editorial

Author: Todd Gilchrist

  • 15 Things You (Probably) Never Knew About ‘Eyes Wide Shut’

    15 Things You (Probably) Never Knew About ‘Eyes Wide Shut’

    Warner Bros.

    Stanley Kubrick’s final film “Eyes Wide Shut” went misjudged and misunderstood by many during its initial release, but 20 years later, it feels like the perfect kind of cryptic grace note to a career that always kept audiences guessing. Outwardly the story of Dr. Bill Harford (Tom Cruise), his wide Alice (Nicole Kidman) and his nightmarish odyssey through a sexually-charged community of privilege and secrecy, Kubrick’s adaptation of the 1926 novel by Arthur Schnitzler touches on some important and uncomfortable truths about marriage, intimacy, gender roles and desire that prompt new interpretations with every viewing. To commemorate the 20th anniversary of the film’s release, Moviefone looks back at the legend that has grown around its epic production for a few of the lesser-known details about its making, its meaning, and the man who remains one of the greatest filmmakers of all time.

    1. Stanley Kubrick first acquired the source material, Arthur Schnitzler’s Traumnovelle in 1968 after completing 2001: A Space Odyssey.

    2. In the 1970s, he reportedly imagined it with Woody Allen in the lead role. In the 1980s, he re-conceived a version of the story as a melancholy sex comedy starring Steve Martin. Kubrick briefly considered Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger for Bill and Alice Harford as well.

    3. Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman won their roles after visiting the Kubrick estate during the shooting of Kidman’s film “Portrait of a Lady” in England. Meanwhile, Bill and Alice were given the last name “Harford” as a reference to Kubrick’s onetime desire to find a leading man like Harrison Ford for the film.

    Warner Bros.

    4. Harvey Keitel was originally cast as Victor Ziegler and Jennifer Jason Leigh as Marion, the daughter of Bill’s patient. Although shooting began with them in the roles, both had to drop out due to scheduling conflicts and they were later replaced by Sydney Pollack and Marie Richardson. Eva Herzigova was offered the role of Domino that eventually went to Vinessa Shaw, but turned it down because it required too much nudity (though there’s none featuring the character in the final film).

    5. Despite the film’s New York setting, Kubrick shot almost the entire film in London at Pinewood Studios, where he recreated Greenwich Village. Exteriors in New York were shot and rear projected behind Cruise for several walking scenes by second unit cinematographers such as Malik Sayeed (“He Got Game”).

    6. Kubrick reportedly sowed disharmony between real-life couple Cruise and Kidman on set, marrying art and life: after intimate therapy sessions whose contents were never to be disclosed, Kubrick forbade Cruise from visiting set while Kidman was shooting her erotic scenes with the Naval Officer in her character’s fantasies.

    7. Stanley Kubrick makes a small cameo in the film sitting across from Bill’s table at the Sonata Café.

    Warner Bros.

    8. For the sex scenes, Kubrick researched “Basic Instinct,” “Showgirls” and other erotic thrillers such as TV’s “Red Show Diaries,” primarily to evaluate how far he could push the film’s sexual content without running the risk of an NC-17 rating. Nevertheless, his final cut was considered too explicit my the MPAA, leading Warner Brothers to use CGI couples during the orgy scenes in order to minimize the explicit content. (The original unrated version is the one currently available on Warner Blu-rays.)

    9. Cate Blanchett provided ADR for the mysterious masked woman who approaches Bill at the orgy, rather than actress Abigail Good, whose English accent was too thick.

    10. A scene late in the film between Bill and Victor Ziegler reportedly took three weeks and nearly 200 takes to get right.

    11. “Eyes Wide Shut” won recognition from Guinness Book of World Records for the longest constant movie shoot, lasting 400 days.

    12. The extended shooting schedule wreaked havoc on the stars’ upcoming commitments, including “Mission: Impossible 2,” which was pushed back considerably.

    WB

    13. It was during the shooting of the film that Paul Thomas Anderson visited the set and offered Cruise the part of Frank “T.J.” Mackey in “Magnolia.”

    14. Stanley Kubrick died of a heart attack just four days after presenting his final cut to Warner Brothers. Various rumors and disputing accounts have suggested that the filmmaker was unhappy with the film or that additional changes needed to be made, but according to those closest to him, Kubrick was very happy with the film and showed Warner what he considered his definitive version.

    15. At $162 million worldwide, “Eyes Wide Shut” is Kubrick’s highest-grossing film.

     

  • Every Cameron Crowe Movie, Ranked

    Every Cameron Crowe Movie, Ranked

    20th Century Fox

    There are few contemporary filmmakers who have more successfully helped audiences navigate the treacherous waters of relationships than Cameron Crowe. After his illustrious time as a teenage reporter for Rolling Stone, Crowe began his career as a social documentarian of sorts — going undercover to report on the life of the modern teenager — where he seemed to learn quickly about the journeys that are common to adolescents. But each of his subsequent films has showcased not only his own maturity as a filmmaker, but that of viewers growing up with his films. Crowe became a chronicler, and a guide, for life’s twists and turns, imparting important life lessons via vivid, specific stories that are emotionally powerful and deeply relatable. To commemorate his 62nd birthday on July 13, Moviefone takes a look back at his body of work, ranking his various film projects as portraits, some more successful than others, of life’s big and little changes and how best to process and transcend them. (Crowe’s Elton John-Leon Russell documentary “The Union” is excluded from this list because it is currently unavailable to stream anywhere. Hopefully that’ll change)

    11. “Aloha” (2015)

    Columbia Pictures

    Despite featuring a lead character whose last name is very similar to this author’s, Crowe’s most recent big-screen effort proved to be his least effective. From its woeful but well-intentioned cultural representation (Emma Stone as half-Hawaiian Allison Ng) to its half-baked romance between Ng and military contractor Brian Gilcrest (Bradley Cooper) to its sociopolitical maneuvering (its climax involves a missile strike), this emotionally underwhelming dramedy (a passion project for the filmmaker that for many years existed under the title “Deep Tiki”) assembles a lot of intriguing pieces that never quite fit together.

    10. “Elizabethtown” (2005) 

    Paramount

    There are so, so many individual parts that work in this 2005 drama about failed sneaker designer Drew Baylor (Orlando Bloom), his father’s funeral, and Claire (Kirsten Dunst), the flight attendant so perky that she inspired the movie trope Manic Pixie Dream Girl, that it comes as no small heartbreak that they don’t add up to a truly special whole, undone by a repetitive story and some very bad casting decisions (Bloom might be many things but a romantic comedy lead is not one of them). But Crowe’s gifts for weaving moments of magical humanism remain sharp even if they aren’t as focused as in previous years.

    9. “We Bought A Zoo” (2011) 

    20th Century Fox

    Based on the real-life memoir by Benjamin Mee, Crowe’s second meditation on grief and redemption is slightly more grounded than the first, but it still involves a dad (Matt Damon) who randomly decides to purchase and try and run a zoo in the wake of his wife’s death. He finds a budding new romance with a comely, very receptive young woman (Scarlett Johansson). While some of the idiosyncrasies of the plot are of course excusable because they actually happened, again Crowe doesn’t quite synthesize his story’s darker themes with his more whimsical ones, although the score by Sigur Ros mainstay Jonsi is genuinely lovely.

    8. “The Wild Life” (1984) 

    Universal

    Directed by Art Linson (“Where The Buffalo Roam”), this Crowe script marked his first original work after “Fast Times,” and it was a thoughtful if somewhat predictable comedy about postgraduate teens finding their way through life and love after high school. Better known as the show of promise that led James L. Brooks to bankroll his first directorial effort than as an especially memorable ‘80s teen film, it manages to offer some nice grace notes to a genre that wasn’t often marked by anything original, much less sensitive.

    7. “Vanilla Sky” (2001) 

    Paramount

    Hot off of the tremendous success (critical, if not commercial) of “Almost Famous,” Crowe reunited with his “Jerry Maguire” star Tom Cruise for this English-language reimagining of the Spanish film “Abre Los Ojos,” in which then up-and-comer Penelope Cruz would reprise her role from the original. Unfortunately, much of the dreamlike magic of the original is lost in translation, although again he conjures some truly unique moments on screen — including shots of Cruise running through a completely empty New York City — and the chemistry between Cruise and Cruz is absolutely undeniable.

    6. “Pearl Jam Twenty” (2011) 

    PBS

    Crowe returned to the music-oriented material that dominated much of his journalism career and ventured into documentary filmmaking in the last decade with this retrospective portrait of Pearl Jam’s debut album and the unconventional career that evolved for the band from that early, potentially overwhelming success. Bereft of too much drama — which the band seemed to have relatively little of — it feels less like a tell-all than a victory lap, but anyone who came up in the era of grunge will find plenty to entertain them.

    5. “Singles” (1992) 

    Warner Bros.

    After “Say Anything…,” Crowe evidenced his willingness to grow up on screen both as a storyteller and via his characters with this drama about young Seattle professionals at the time when alternative music was exploding into the mainstream. Kyra Sedgwick and Campbell Scott pay two lovers trying to work through their own anxieties and insecurities in order to be partners for one another, while grunge luminaries pepper the background of scenes to give the film prescient authority about a pivotal musical and cultural moment.

    4. “Jerry Maguire” (1996) 

    TriStar

    Crowe’s biggest box office success came with this Billy Wilder-influenced story about a failed sports agent who develops a debilitating conscience in an industry without one . The romance between Tom Cruise’s title character and his secretary Dorothy (Renee Zellweger, breaking through in a big way) is sometimes a little uneven, even bordering on disastrous, but the fact that the movie knows that it’s borderline disastrous — and errs on the side of hope rather than convenient happiness — is what makes this story such an inspiring and romantic crowd-pleaser. Crowe’s entire career has always walked that fine line between genuine and saccharine and here that line is razor-thin.

    3. “Say Anything…” (1989) 

    20th Century Fox

    Working with James J. Brooks (“Terms of Endearment”) in his corner, Crowe wrote and directed this great little movie about aspiring kickboxer Lloyd Dobler (John Cusack in a star-making role) and the overachieving classmate  (Ione Skye) he falls in love with. Crowe absolutely perfectly captures the awkward and delightful little moments of discovery between two people learning how to love one another, while also expertly chronicling that tough moment between school and adulthood where every choice feels like a life-changing moment.

    2. “Fast Times at Ridgemont High” (1982) 

    Universal

    Directed by Amy Heckerling in her own feature debut, Crowe’s adaptation of his own captures the fun, silliness and pain of high school via a colorful cast of characters based on the real students he went to school with while undercover in San Diego for Rolling Stone. An uncommonly serious and sensitive depiction of pivotal adolescent moments, including first jobs, class struggles and sex, Crowe’s writing offers what has become a familiar outlook for him about his subjects (one of ultimate hope) without shying away from tougher topics like heartbreak and failure as the characters embark on adulthood. How many abortions have been depicted on screen in the years since, especially in what was ostensibly a wacky teen comedy? Exactly.

    1. “Almost Famous” (2000) 

    DreamWorks

    Crowe deservedly won an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for this semi-autobiographical account of the former reporter’s earliest days working for Rolling Stone magazine. Dealing with an unrequited crush on Penny Lane (Kate Hudson in a role that broke out another promising actress) while trying to navigate the vagaries of reporting on bands that he once idolized, the filmmaker’s stand-in William Miller (Patrick Fugit) piercingly captures the optimism, dashed hopes, heartbreak and advancing maturity of a young man forced to grow up faster than he’s ready. Teaching us that “honest and unmerciful” is the best way to go through life, Crowe reminds audiences what it’s like to be young, and how to grow older with grace and sensitivity.

  • Giorgio Armani’s 10 Most Iconic Big Screen Looks

    Giorgio Armani’s 10 Most Iconic Big Screen Looks

    Paramount

    As important as what characters say and do in movies, sometimes the thing that speaks loudest is what they wear. Giorgio Armani understood this from early in his career, when he was designing for as many as ten manufacturers at a time, and especially after he introduced multiple lines under his own name and needed to communicate not just the apparel but the style (and lifestyle) that he wanted for his customers. Utilizing the essential relationship between fashion and cinema as a mutually beneficial source of promotion and creativity, Armani has worked with filmmakers for decades to clothe their characters and develop his own instincts as a designer. Commemorating the fashion mogul’s 85th birthday on July 11, Moviefone takes a look back at just a few of the incredible ensembles he’s produced over the years.

    “American Gigolo” (1980)

    Paramount

    Paul Schrader has always been skilled chronicler of alienation and loneliness, and Armani’s impeccable tailoring — his first-ever designs for the screen — effortlessly provide Richard Gere’s character with an impenetrable armor, a perfect façade that both protects him from the outside world and keeps him from fully experiencing it.

    “Phenomena” (1985)

    New Line Cinema

    Just a few years after making a splash with Schrader’s “Gigolo,” Armani turned his attention to decidedly different demographic by dressing young Jennifer Connelly in Dario Argento’s follow up to “Tenebre,” “Phenomena.” Not only did Armani dress Connelly in a number of absolutely iconic outfits (including the all-white ensemble she wears during the film’s climax), but he also draped actress Daria Nicolodi and several of their costars in amazing ensembles.

    “The Untouchables” (1987)

    Paramount

    Although Marilyn Vance was the credited costume designer for this 1987 Brian De Palma film, Armani’s influence ran deep in creating flashy, perfectly-tailored suits for both good and bad guys. Armani’s designs weren’t all period-appropriate, but the looks he helped conceive for Kevin Costner and Robert De Niro remain timeless even today thanks to the designer’s peerless refinement and classic style.

    “Ocean’s Thirteen” (2007)

    Warner Bros.

    By the third and final installment in this endlessly stylish series of heist films, director Steven Soderbergh had assembled a murderer’s row of actors and filmmaking talents to enhance and bring out the characters, good and bad, who keep its machinery going. Armani was far from the only designer to contribute to the looks in “Thirteen,” joining Paul Smith, Yohji Yamamoto, Dolce & Gabbana and many others to illuminate the differences between a cast of characters with such wildly different personalities.

    “The Dark Knight” (2008)/ “The Dark Knight Rises” (2012)

    Warner Bros.

    It comes as no surprise that Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) could and would wear one of the world’s premiere designers when not donning his cape and cowl as a crime-fighter. But working with Christopher Nolan’s costume designer Lindy Hemming, Armani put together some bulletproof ensembles for the billionaire industrialist, including a couple of grey two-button suits that any superhero should be proud to wear.

    “Inglorious Basterds” (2009)

    Universal

    Quentin Tarantino’s attention to detail is always a fascinating thing, mostly because he is willing to draw upon multiple sources of inspiration (often anachronistic ones) for his characters and their costumes. In this WWII epic, costume designer Anna B. Sheppard collaborated with Armani to design the white dinner jacket that Brad Pitt’s Aldo Raine wears while undercover as an Italian stunt man. Unfortunately, it can’t disguise his character’s irrepressible Southern accent.

    “Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol” (2011)

    Paramount

    Brad Bird was spared no expense on his first live-action venture, this brisk and endlessly entertaining thriller starring (of course) the indefatigable Tom Cruise. For a scene where Ethan Hunt crashes an Indian dinner ball, costume designer Michael Kaplan collaborated with Armani to evoke the cool style of 1960s James Bond with a midnight blue suit that makes the series’ hero both fit in perfectly and still stand out as the hero we can’t wait to see save the day.

    “Elysium” (2013)

    TriStar

    Neill Blomkamp was right to capitalize on the success he achieved with “District 9” by enlisting heavy-hitters both in front of (Matt Damon, Jodie Foster) and behind the camera for his follow-up. Costume designer April Ferry worked closely with Armani to create suits for Foster’s defense secretary, allowing the actress to look fierce and steely as she fends off Earthen riff raff from her orbiting world.

    “Wolf of Wall Street” (2013)

    Paramount

    Martin Scorsese’s depiction of real-life broker Jordan Belfort is a study in excess — the vagaries, and criminality, of bottomless avarice — and particularly for Wall Street wannabes, an Armani suit embodies the impossible levels of richness to which Belfort and his colleagues aspire. Armani revisited some of his own ‘90s designs for the wide-lapel power suit Leonardo DiCaprio wears in the film, paying tribute to the era’s flashy fashions both a literal and metaphorical representation of his character’s larger than life persona.

    “A Most Violent Year” (2016)

    A24

    For this story of an immigrant family trying to make its name during one of the most violent periods of time in the history of New York City, J.C. Chandor recruited Armani to dress not Abel Morales (Oscar Issac) but his wife Anna (Jessica Chastain), which led the designer to open his archives for a buffet of vintage designs that communicated the changing times as well as the aspirations of this powerful female character.

  • More Creepy ‘Crawl’-ies: 16 Creature Features to Watch After ‘Crawl’

    More Creepy ‘Crawl’-ies: 16 Creature Features to Watch After ‘Crawl’

    “Monsters” take many forms, especially in movies. Sometimes they’re otherworldly; frequently they seem to be superhuman. But movies like “Crawl” remind us that there are plenty of very real threats to our safety and security, even if the likelihood of an alligator getting trapped inside your own flooding living room isn’t very high. Of course, Alexandre Aja’s film is far from the first to pit man against beast in a battle for survival; but to commemorate the release of “Crawl,” we’ve assembled a shortlist of other entries in this venerated horror sub-genre (limited to creatures that either do, or at least plausibly could exist) to keep you frightened long after you’ve left the theater.

    “The Birds” (1963)

    Universal

    Alfred Hitchcock was hardly the first filmmaker to explore “evil” animals, but his 1963 film starring Tippi Hedren elevated the menace precisely by never bothering to explain why they started attacking in the first place. Meanwhile there’s plenty of really traumatic action involving Hedren and some unhappy crows, which somehow only enhances the unsettling psychological drama unfolding between the human characters.

    “Jaws” (1975)

    Universal

    Steven Spielberg’s blockbuster building block changed movies forever with this tale of a local police chief (Roy Scheider) who discovers that a New England 4th of July celebration is about to serve as a buffet for a great white that only a marine biologist (Richard Dreyfuss) and professional shark hunter (Robert Shaw) know how to stop.

    “Eaten Alive” (1976)

    Arrow Video

    Tobe Hooper followed up his benchmark horror film “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre” with this creepy film about a Louisiana hotelier whose guests check in but don’t check out, especially with a hungry pet alligator lurking in the swamp out front.

    “The Food of the Gods” (1976)

    American International

    Notorious schlockmeister Samuel Z. Arkoff produced this decidedly reductive adaptation of H.G. Wells’ novel about a food product that bubbles up out of the ground on a remote island, transforming all of the local animals that feed upon it into giant monstrosities.

    “Grizzly” (1976)

    Columbia Pictures

    Pretty transparently inspired by “Jaws,” this film transplants not only its concept but many of Spielberg’s techniques into a national forest where an 18-foot-tall grizzly bear terrorizes campers.

    “Squirm” (1976)

    American International

    In the fourth but far from last “deadly animal” movie of 1976, a surge of electricity drives legions of bloodthirsty worms out of their soil and towards the remote fishing village nearby.

    “Alligator” (1980)

    Group 1

    Lewis Teague (“The Jewel of the Nile”) directed this movie written by John Sayles (“Lone Star”) that is more or less literally an urban legend come to life, about an alligator flushed from a toilet into the sewers of New York, where it grows to a monstrous size and starts preying on locals. Come for the alligator, stay for Robert Forster talking about his hair plugs.

    “Cujo” (1983)

    Warner Bros.

    “Alligator” director Lewis Teague also directed this Stephen King adaptation about a friendly Saint Bernard who gets bitten by a rabid bat and becomes a bloodthirsty threat to an unlucky family that, like in “The Birds,” is also dealing with some complex interpersonal issues.

    “Of Unknown Origin” (1983)

    Warner Bros.

    Peter Weller (“Robocop”) stars in this oddball film from George P. Cosmatos (“Tombstone”) about a husband who sticks around to work on a business proposal after his wife and child go on vacation, only to find his life disrupted (and endangered) by an oversized rodent he becomes obsessed with destroying.

    “Razorback” (1984)

    Warner Bros.

    Australian auteur Russell Mulcahy (“Highlander”) made his directorial debut with this flashy, stylish thriller about a giant wild boar that terrorizes the Australian outback.

    “Arachnophobia” (1990)

    Buena Vista

    Frank Marshall (“Jurassic Park III”) directed this creepily relatable film about a small town doctor (Jeff Daniels) who’s forced to confront his fear of spiders after an entomologist discovers a new, deadly species of Amazonian arachnid and accidentally brings it back to the US.

    “Anaconda” (1997)

    Columbia Pictures

    Jennifer Lopez, Ice Cube and scenery-chewing Jon Voight star in this pulpy thriller about a documentary crew that encounters more than they bargained for after the skipper hijacks their boat in order to hunt down a super-sized Amazonian snake.

    “Lake Placid” (1999)

    20th Century Fox

    Steve Miner (“Friday the 13th, Part 2“) directed this script from David E. Kelley (“Big Little Lies”) about a salt water crocodile terrorizing a sleepy Maine community. It’s as funny as it is scary.

    “Snakes on a Plane” (2006)

    New Line Cinema

    David R. Ellis directed this film that seemed like a meme before the internet knew what those were, about an FBI agent (Samuel L. Jackson) trapped on a flight from Hawaii to Los Angeles with hundreds of deadly snakes slithering around.

    “Primeval” (2007)

    Buena Vista

    Writers John Brancato and Michael Ferris (“The Game”) adapted the true story of a giant, man-eating crocodile named Gustave into this taught, bloody thriller starring Dominic Purcell, Orlando Jones, Brooke Langton and Jurgen Prochnow.

    “Piranha 3D” (2010)

    Dimension

    “Crawl” director Alexandre Aja delivered his first dose of animal-themed terror with this brutal, way-the-hell-over-the-top horror comedy about a group of bloodthirsty piranha that are accidentally unleashed into a lake during Spring Break, endangering co-eds by the hundreds.

  • Scares All ‘Midsommar’ Long: More Great Folk Horror Films

    Scares All ‘Midsommar’ Long: More Great Folk Horror Films

    A24

    From zombies to slashers to demonic possessions, horror tends to be a seasonal genre. It’s also one where the little details make all of the difference between success and failure; some times that means tiny tweaks or exceptional style in the execution of a classic formula, and others it’s a subversion or full-on reimagining of everything audiences have come to expect. But those ideas have all existed in one form or another, for decades, and they evidence the durability of the genre itself and the sometimes overdue opportunity to breathe new life into a combination that has fallen out of fashion.

    Ari Aster’s 2018 debut “Hereditary,” for example, explores the devastating depths of a family dealing with extreme loss and its own troubled legacy, but the young filmmaker does so while touching on elements of psychological horror and demonic possession. And his follow-up, “Midsommar,” arriving this week, looks mercilessly at a grieving young woman and her estranged boyfriend as they encounter a mysterious, bohemian community while vacationing in Sweden. The new film echoes the considerable tradition of a sub-genre known as “folk horror,” where pagan traditions and ancient rites claim the souls — and bodies — of the skeptical and unwilling. In our own pagan celebration, Moviefone offers a primer on just a few of the films that may have inspired the film (and others that share its folky DNA).

    “Haxan” (1922)

    Criterion

    Benjamin Christensen’s documentary-style classic was the most expensive Scandinavian silent film ever made, and certainly one of the era’s most controversial because of its depictions of torture, nudity and sexual perversion. Not only was its “nonfiction” approach groundbreaking at the time, but Christensen’s film, an anthology, provides a uniquely academic and yet incredibly visceral look at the dangers of superstition in misunderstanding disease and mental illness.

    “The Virgin Spring” (1960

    Criterion

    This Swedish film famously served as inspiration for Wes Craven’s “The Last House On the Left,” but by itself Ingmar Bergman’s rape and revenge story offers plenty of complex and very powerful moments that don’t necessarily require the kind of graphic depictions of brutality that would come later.

    “Witchfinder General” (1968)

    American International Pictures

    A film that has only grown in mystique since director Michael Reeves’ death from barbiturates just a year later, this obscure title helped establish many of the tropes of British folk horror while adapting Ronald Bassett’s novel of the same name, about a 17th-Century witch hunter and his heavily fictionalized exploits during the English Civil War.

    “Blood on Satan’s Claw” (1971)

    Cannon Films

    Though it sounds like one of Mario Bava’s Italian horror odysseys, this underrated gem is actually a “Witchfinder General” follow-up (they’re both from the same film production company), about an English village taken over by demonic possession.

    “The Wicker Man” (1973)

    Rialto Pictures

    This film completes what has become known as the folk horror “Unholy Trinity” (along with “Witchfinder General” and “Blood on Satan’s Claw”) and is by far the most famous film of that sub-genre ever made, famously described by Cinefantastique as the “Citizen Kane” of horror films. Robin Hardy’s film follows a police sergeant investigating a girl’s disappearance who becomes ensconced in a community that has abandoned Christianity for Celtic paganism. Eep.

    “Children of the Corn” (1984)

    New World Pictures

    Fritz Kiersch directed this adaptation of Stephen King’s short story of the same name, about a small Nebraska town under the control of “He Who Walks Behind The Rows” and his 15-year-old disciple Isaac (John Franklin), who leads his fellow children in a murderous revolt against their parents and other adults.

    “Kill List” (2011)

    Optimum Releasing

    Ben Wheatley co-wrote and directed this incredible, mesmerizing film about an ex-military man drawn into a mysterious and deadly game involving human sacrifice and a religious ritual he unwittingly becomes a part of. Featuring shocking violence and a devastating, unexpected ending, Wheatley’s film is shrouded in terrifying ambiguity. If you haven’t seen it, stop reading and go watch it now.

    “The Witch” (2015)

    A24

    Robert Eggers’ film about a 1600s English family and the plague of maladies that befalls them is, like “Kill List,” an entrancing journey into the perils of superstition and suspicion. Anya Taylor-Joy perfectly captures the restless energy of a young woman eager to explore the adult world only to be blamed for events over which she has no control — because, of course, something more sinister is afoot. Or is it?

    “The Ritual” (2017)

    Netflix

    David Bruckner (“The Signal”) directed this adaptation of Adam Nevill’s novel of the same name about five college friends who encounter increasingly strange phenomenon after reuniting for a hike through the Swedish wilderness.

    ‘Apostle‘

    Netflix

    This oddly overlooked chiller from “The Raid” mastermind Gareth Evans was in production at the same time as “Midsommar” and takes a more classically autumnal approach to folk horror. Dan Stevens plays a man in 1905 London who travels to a forbidden island to rescue his sister from a secretive sect. (Trust us when we say that is the tip of the iceberg.) Profoundly disturbing, “Apostle” really goes for it in ways that few horror movies do these days, and even though it was only released last year, seems ripe for rediscovery.

  • 12 Things You Didn’t Know About ‘Spider-Man 2’

    12 Things You Didn’t Know About ‘Spider-Man 2’

    Sony Pictures

    If they’re worth their salt, every new superhero movie raises the bar on what audiences can expect from comic book adaptations, which makes it easy to forget that it was Sam Raimi’s “Spider-Man 2” that set that bar in the first place. Released on June 30, 2004, the film elevated Raimi’s work on the first “Spider-Man” to new levels, combining the brisk, visceral action of his origin story with an emotional and thematic complexity that quite frankly few people thought movies like this one could possess. As much as it may seem quaint in comparison to the rambling MCU films that followed in its footsteps, Raimi and his collaborators created something truly special that continues to hold up brilliantly today.

    To commemorate the film’s 15th anniversary, we dug through its history for a list of some of the little details that were both discarded along the way, as well as some of the ones that made it the masterpiece that it became.

    1. Not long after the first film’s release in 2002, Sony hired Michael Chabon (“The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay”) to rewrite the story conceived by Alfred Gough and Miles Millar. He reimagined Otto Octavius as a peer of Peter Parker’s who develops an infatuation with Mary Jane (Kirsten Dunst). Not only was it revealed in Chabon’s script that Octavius bred the genetically-enhanced spider that bit Peter in the first film, but his battle against Spider-Man is primarily driven by the desire to replace his own spine with the web slinger’s, who can handle the weight and the pain of being fused with his mechanical limbs.

    2. Director Sam Raimi eventually dug through the various drafts of earlier scripts and enlisted Alvin Sargent (“Ordinary People”) to cobble them together into the version that appears on screen. Inspired by “Superman II,” Raimi wanted a story that explored the cost of Peter’s double life that would take him on a journey to learn how to appreciate his powers and be happy as a hero.

    Sony Pictures

    3. Nevertheless, much of the story is also derived from “The Amazing Spider-Man” No. 50, titled “Spider-Man No More,” which the filmmaker drew from directly for several shots including when Peter throws his suit in the trash. Meanwhile, Raimi jettisoned the idea that Octavius would be a peer or colleague and made him a mentor to be saved rather than competed with, which added complexity to the villain and eliminated a love triangle subplot that was already explored once in “Spider-Man.”

    4. Prior to shooting the first “Spider-Man,” Tobey Maguire injured his back on the set of “Seabiscuit,” and Jake Gyllenhaal was recruited to step into the role in case he didn’t recover. Maguire however rebounded and took back over the role that would become one of his signatures. Gyllenhaal got his time in the Spider-verse 15 years later playing Spider-Man’s adversary Mysterio (opposite Tom Holland) in “Spider-Man: Far From Home.”

    5. During shooting, Maguire reportedly did several of his own stunts, including a flip over a car that Raimi deemed more naturalistic than the one performed by a stunt man. Rosemary Harris similarly did several of her own stunts, but Alfred Molina said that he was eager to leave that work to the professionals, although the stunt team supposedly “tricked” him into performing a few himself.

    Sony Pictures

    6. Raimi stacked the emergency room scene in which Octavius’ tentacles “come to life” with references to his own “The Evil Dead” films, including point-of-view shots of the tentacles like the evil force that chases Ash in the trilogy, and an attack on a surgeon with a mini chainsaw. The shot where a female physician leaves grooves with her fingernails while being dragged away was achieved by making the floor out of wax.

    7. Molina worked with an extensive team of technicians to bring his costume to life, including one operator per tentacle. He nicknamed each tentacle — Larry, Harry, Moe and Flo, the latter operated by a female grip to perform tasks like removing his sunglasses and serving him beverages.

    8. The technicians were skilled enough to give the tentacles individual personalities, but also to dovetail their behavior into Molina’s in the role. At the time of shooting, he was also performing in a stage version of “Fiddler on the Roof,” and in a scene when he is humming “If I Were A Rich Man,” the operators moved his tentacles in time to his singing.

    9. The alley where Peter discards his Spider-Man suit is the same set where he and Mary Jane shared their upside-down kiss in the first film.

    10. In the scene with the apartment fire, the actor who tells Spider-Man that there’s someone trapped on the second floor is the same one who throws trash at Green Goblin in “Spider-Man” to protect ol’ web-head during the bridge fight.

    Sony Pictures

    11. Raimi used 16 large-format cameras to capture the action in the train fight sequence, then one of the most ambitious ever undertaken. Throughout the film as a whole, he also made more extensive use of the “Spydercam,” used only in one of the final scenes in “Spider-Man,” which allowed the filmmakers to create a more visceral sense of the superhero’s movement as it could “swing” more than 50 stories shooting only six frames of film at a time to increase the sense of speed and fluidity.

    12. “Spider-Man 2” was nominated for three Oscars and won one, for Best Visual Effects. A longer version, “Spider-Man 2.1” expands several scenes to make them clearer and the relationships more nuanced. However, there has still never been a satisfying explanation for the “chocolate cake scene” between Peter and his landlord’s daughter, in which — crucially — the cake isn’t even chocolate!

  • Every Mel Brooks Film, Ranked

    Every Mel Brooks Film, Ranked

    Warner Bros.

    Mel Brooks has been a fixture in the world of entertainment for longer than most people reading this article have been alive. His entertainment career started in earnest in 1949 when his friend Sid Caesar hired him to write jokes, but even as a teenager, he would perform routines at a pool near his Brooklyn home, and enjoyed his first opportunity to become a comedian at 16 when an emcee at a local club fell ill. His first project as a director wasn’t released until 1967, when he was 41, and he hasn’t slowed down since then, moving back and forth between television, film and the stage, earning not just one but all four of the most coveted prizes in Hollywood — an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony. That’s right, he’s an EGOT.

    To commemorate the comedian, filmmaker and storyteller’s 93rd birthday on June 28, we’ve decided to rank all of Mel Brooks’ movies as a director. Some of the superlatives are easy to pick, but there are some surprises in his filmography that have more humor and charm than many audiences may remember.

    11. “Dracula: Dead and Loving It” (1995)

    Columbia

    As the last film he directed, Brooks was chasing after his own imitators, including the Zucker brothers and other blockbuster parodists, which may account for why the film just feels like an endless barrage of bad, bad jokes. Worse, it much more openly pauses to acknowledge anachronisms and other punch lines — something his earlier films only did sparingly, if at all. Exactly how Leslie Nielsen could become a parody of himself remains a mystery given how many comedies he’s been in, but relinquishing the deadpan commitment to a role that he brought to the first “The Naked Gun,” he reduced what was a timely but potentially funny concept to shameless, laugh-free mugging, in a film that felt like Brooks poorly Xeroxing his own “Young Frankenstein.”

    10. “Life Stinks” (1991)

    MGM

    Mel Brooks has always sided with the proletariat — even when he sometimes made fun of them. But in playing callous industrialist Goddard Bolt in order to thoroughly lampoon upper class insensitivity, this rare excursion into comparatively straightforward moviemaking (it’s not a parody and he never breaks the fourth wall) fails to make an impact either as social commentary or just a straightforward comedy. Remarkably, it’s not his worst film, but it’s probably just his least.

    9. “Robin Hood: Men in Tights” (1993)

    20th Century Fox

    Brooks’ instincts were beginning to get rusty by the time he decided to lampoon “Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves” (Brooks’ movie has a title even structured like that 1991 blockbuster). Although this film has a few solid laughs (and is notable for giving Dave Chappelle his first major role) it marked a downward trajectory into more zeitgeist-y humor that doesn’t hold up as well today, much less five minutes after the movie ends.

    8. “High Anxiety” (1977)

    20th Century Fox

    Critics in the late 1970s already found many of Alfred Hitchcock’s films bordering on self-parody before Brooks took aim at them, which may account for why this send-up was less well received than many of his others. Nevertheless a fun proof of many of the scenes and sequences that helped make Hitchcock the “Master of Suspense,” it continues to work best as a showcase for Brooks’ gifts as a stylistic copycat and satirist.

    7. “The Twelve Chairs” (1970)

    UMC

    Brooks proved to critics that he was a legitimate filmmaker with this, perhaps one of the most famous adaptations of the Russian novel of the same name. Its longevity hasn’t endured as vividly as some of Brooks’ other films, but it remains a skillful and funny (if uneven) comedy bolstered by solid performances from Dom DeLuise and Frank Langella.

    6. “The Producers” (1967)

    Embassy Pictures

    Brooks’ writing and directing debut earned him a Best Original Screenplay Oscar for this wild and unforgettable comedy about a fraudulent producer (Zero Mostel) who enlists a neurotic accountant (Gene Wilder) to help him mount a play that’s destined to fail in order to cover up some sketchy finances. The breakout film went on to become an even better-known musical, but only Brooks could make a truly great film about a truly awful play and have it live on for decades as one of the most impressive “first films” in Hollywood history.

    5. “Silent Movie” (1976)

    20th Century Fox

    Featuring only one audible line of dialogue (notably, from renowned mime Marcel Marceau) Brooks’ take on films from the silent era once again leaned on his intimate knowledge of filmmaking and storytelling conventions from that era. Though the film was incredibly prescient in its send-up of a studio system that touts star wattage and box office clout over characters and stories, “Silent Movie” remains one of the director’s successes that feels like lives on via word of mouth, so to speak, rather than being shouted from the rooftops as a masterpiece.

    4. “Spaceballs” (1987)

    MGM

    For a generation of moviegoers who grew up with “Star Wars” as part of their childhoods, Brooks’ parody is as iconic as George Lucas’ franchise. This is thanks largely to a vivid and instantly memorable cast of characters, the film’s slapstick-y reinterpretation not only of its mythology (“The Schwartz”) but the conventions of big-budget moviemaking (apprehending the lead actors’ stunt doubles), and the filmmaker’s indefatigable parade of jokes that just hammer viewers into side-achy submission.

    3. “History of the World, Pt. I” (1981)

    20th Century Fox

    Brooks kicked off the 1980s with a much-needed goof on not just a genre or the industry as a whole, but on humankind’s legacy itself, creating an anthology that pokes fun at a number of very dark times in history. Simultaneously a parody of several different genres (including sword and sandal epics and period costume dramas), Brooks got ahead of the times for a story whose lessons about humility and vigilance fell on deaf ears in a decade that was obsessed with forging ahead at all costs.

    2. “Young Frankenstein” (1974)

    20th Century Fox

    I’m not sure what’s more impressive — that Brooks made another film the same year as “Blazing Saddles,” or that it’s almost as good. Brooks turns his astute, merciless eye towards classic horror for this portrait of Dr. Frankenstein’s grandson as he attempts to escape the shadow of his mad grandfather, only to succumb to the same obsessions — albeit to decidedly more hilarious effect. Gene Wilder conceived the film and Brooks co-wrote it with him, finding the seemingly endless possibilities in the story of a well-intentioned scientist who wants nothing to do with the wackos who made his last name a punch line.

    1. “Blazing Saddles” (1974)

    Warner Bros.

    A start-to-finish masterpiece that breaks down more than just the Western genre, Brooks’ first parody set a template for an entire comedic sub-genre while also dismantling some deeply uncomfortable truths about the fabric of America itself. Telling the story of an Old West town and the black sheriff (Cleavon Little) that its people reluctantly install to maintain order, Brooks turns conventions upside down and inside out with this anachronistic, endlessly clever, and flat-out hilarious classic.

  • 11 Times We Fell in Love with John Cusack

    11 Times We Fell in Love with John Cusack

    20th Century Fox

    I’m not sure if it’s in spite or because of the wildly varied career that he has had, but it feels hard to overstate how beloved John Cusack is to a certain segment of the moviegoing population. In recent years he’s appeared in a number of thrillers and genre films that haven’t received as much attention as his earlier work, but Cusack’s palpable intelligence and unforced charisma on screen were absolutely iconic in a spate of 1980s and ‘90s teen comedies and coming of age stories  where he either played the guy that you wanted to be with, or simply the guy you wanted to be. As we commemorate the gifted and charming actor’s 53rd birthday on June 28, Moviefone takes a look back at just a few of the films that made us fall in love with John Cusack.

    “The Sure Thing” (1985)

    Warner Bros.

    After small but memorable roles in “Class” and “Sixteen Candles,” Cusack got his first big role in Rob Reiner’s follow-up to “This Is Spinal Tap,” a romantic comedy about two bickering college students (Cusack and Daphne Zuniga) who make a cross-country trip to meet their perfect partner, only to discover that the one they’re looking for is right in front of them.

    “Better Off Dead” (1985)

    Warner Bros.

    A decidedly goofier look at teenage romance than “The Sure Thing,” Savage Steve Holland’s story about high schooler Lane Myer (Cusack), his best friend Charles De Mar (Curtis Armstrong) and the girl (Amanda Wyss) that broke his heart  remains one of the most madcap and irresistible comedies of the 1980s. Plus, Diane Franklin of “Last American Virgin” fame plays Monique, the French exchange student who deservedly wins his heart.

    “Eight Men Out” (1988)

    Orion Pictures

    John Sayles was a powerhouse storyteller in the 1980s, and in this recount of MLB’s 1919 Black Sox scandal, Cusack plays Buck Weaver, a shortstop whose career ended in disgrace after taking the fall for his teammates when they attempted to throw the World Series. Cusack’s quiet resolve — but also his solidarity in not revealing the fix — provides a perfect counterbalance to the tragic consequences of this stain on Major League baseball’s history.

    “Say Anything…” (1989)

    20th Century Fox

    Few characters have ever been as universally beloved as Cusack’s Lloyd Dobler, the kickboxing-loving high school graduate who falls for valedictorian Diane Cort (Ione Skye) in Cameron Crowe’s unforgettable directorial debut. The two them make an adorably awkward pair as their love finds footing against the backdrop of his aimless future and her escalating family troubles. Plus that boombox scene is just iconic.

    “The Grifters” (1990)

    Miramax

    Cusack is both the genius and the fool in Stephen Frears’ adaptation of the Jim Thompson novel of the same name. Playing Roy Dillon, the estranged son of veteran con artist Lily (Anjelica Huston), Cusack gets to exercise his oiliest charms as well as his stone-faced gullibility when they make a tenuous pact with his girlfriend Myra (Annette Bening) for a long con that tests loyalties and promises deadly consequences.

    “Grosse Pointe Blank” (1997)

    Disney

    Cuscak co-wrote this comedy, directed by George Armitage, about a hitman who comes home for his ten-year high school reunion. Revisiting the choices of his past — the biggest being the abandonment of his girlfriend Debi (Minnie Driver) on prom night — Martin Blank goes on an explosively fun journey that ends when he discovers either that he’s still in love with Debi or he develops a newfound respect for life.

    “The Thin Red Line” (1998)

    20th Century Fox

    The number of people whose roles Terrence Malick cut down or completely out of this James Jones adaptation are reportedly legendary, but even in a small part of this operatic, meditative war film, Cusack leaves a very distinct impression as an army captain whose quiet authority prompts his ambitious, volatile superior officer (Nick Nolte) to reward his men after they mount a successful attack on a bunker at the cost of dozens of lives.

    “High Fidelity” (2000)

    Disney

    Cusack’s second outing as a co-writer created a decidedly less flattering portrait of love and relationships, but this adaptation of the Nick Hornby’s novel remains a seminal work in his filmography. His Rob Gordon serves as an iconic and transformative character after what was previously a mostly uninterrupted spate of nice guys and charmers.

    “Serendipity” (2001)

    Miramax

    Cusack retreated to the familiar territory of rom-coms to play another irresistible leading man for this inventive film about two people (Cusack and Kate Beckinsale) whose fates become intertwined after they attempt to purchase the same pair of cashmere gloves for the partners they don’t know yet are just an obstacle to finding each other.

    “Hot Tub Time Machine” (2010)

    MGM

    Cusack’s longtime pal Steve Pink directed this trip down memory lane for the onetime ‘80s heartthrob playing a down-on-his-luck guy who gets magically transported back to his youth to fix some of the mistakes that led to his unhappy adulthood.

    “Love & Mercy” (2014)

    Lionsgate

    Beach Boys co-founder Brian Wilson had such a fascinating life that not one but two people had to play him in this unconventional biopic. As the middle-aged Wilson, coddled into inactivity by a manipulative therapist, Cusack provides compelling layers of charm and humanity that elevate a performance that could easily have been doddering and aloof.

  • Jim Jarmusch Don’t Die: Ranking His Films

    Jim Jarmusch Don’t Die: Ranking His Films

    Sony Pictures Classics

    It’s easy to see where, when and how Jim Jarmusch inspired a whole generation of filmmakers. He arrived at the earliest days of the independent cinema movement of the 1980s and ‘90s and  even after almost four decades, there’s still no one like him as a director. Where his imitators are unfocused, Jarmusch is simply unhurried; where their conflicts can be narcissistic, his remain introspective. He has skillfully maintained a wry, philosophical deadpan that others mistake for ironic detachment, and then twist into hipster superiority. And without venturing towards mainstream adulation, he has become one of cinema’s enduring and beloved voices, even when his creativity occasionally risks being too cryptic to engage anyone but himself.

    To commemorate the opening of “The Dead Don’t Die,” his latest film – and possibly his most commercial – Moviefone ranks his filmography.

    Cinesthesia

    12. “Permanent Vacation” (1980)

    Shot with scholarship funds meant for NYU film school, Jarmusch’s debut is quintessentially unfocused as a dual byproduct of the filmmaker’s budding aesthetic and his yet-unrefined gifts as a storyteller. He leveled up quickly from here, but this mostly showcased determination from his earliest days to tell exactly the kinds of stories he wanted to, regardless how out of step they were with anyone else.

    Focus Features

    11. “The Limits of Control” (2009)

    Even working with cinematographer Christopher Doyle (“In The Mood For Love”) and what was then becoming an expanding repertoire of actors (Isaach de Bankole, Tilda Swinton, Bill Murray, John Hurt), Jarmusch couldn’t bring this spy mystery into focus. Beautiful but largely indecipherable, which might be exactly the way he wanted it.

    MGM

    10. “Coffee and Cigarettes” (2003)

    Of the filmmaker’s many anthologies, this is easily the shaggiest, combining short films he made over three decades with new vignettes that are frequently too improvisational to congeal into real payoffs.

    Focus Features

    9. “The Dead Don’t Die” (2019)

    The director’s latest feature is also one of his most polarizing, a wry zombie movie that combines a number of his featured players (Swinton, Murray, Adam Driver), some unexpectedly pointed political satire, and some extremely self-aware flourishes (they’re too good — and too weird — to give away here). Anyone expecting something on the same level as his other horror exercise will be disappointed, but those looking for a shaggy good time should be delighted.

    Fine Line Features

    9. “Night on Earth” (1991)

    Jarmusch finds a wonderful conceit for this 1991 anthology about cabbies and their passengers, but the quality only averages out to so-so thanks to Jarmusch’s uneven treatment of material that is, depending on the story, whimsical, slapstick-y, or melancholy, but too seldom in the right measures.

    Orion Classics

    8. “Mystery Train” (1989)

    Jarmusch won Best Artistic Achievement at Cannes for this, his first proper anthology, exploring the lives of a small group of individuals over the course of one night in Memphis. Tied together by a Night Clerk (Screamin’ Jay Hawkins) and his bellboy (Cinque Lee), the stories intersect in understated ways to create a vivid and compassionate portrait of humanity that successfully balances humor, tenderness, and wry melodrama.

    Cinesthesia

    7. “Stranger Than Paradise” (1984)

    The filmmaker’s first professional feature won him numerous awards with the story of two friends Willie (John Lurie) and Eddie (Richard Edson) whose lives are quietly affected by the arrival of Willie’s cousin Eva (Eszter Balint). The trouble they get into is strictly low-level mischief, but Jarmusch’s tenderness in rearranging their relationships via small twists of fate established him as a major talent with a unique vision.

    Miramax

    6. “Dead Man” (1995)

    The filmmaker’s natural deadpan style gave Johnny Depp to inhabit one of his finest performances in this postmodern Western that touches on some interesting sociocultural issues while exploring and deconstructing genre tropes with his typically poetic sensibility.

    Focus Features

    5. “Broken Flowers” (2005)

    Bill Murray was still enjoying the career bounce of “Lost in Translation” when he joined this film about an aging bachelor who revisits five of his old girlfriends after a mysterious letter arrives announcing that a woman from his past has given birth to his son. Swinton, Jessica Lange, Frances Conroy and Sharon Stone bring to life not only the character’s past, but illuminate the journeys we all take — often unexpectedly — to become who we are.

    Island Pictures

    4. “Down by Law” (1986)

    Working with Lurie, Tom Waits and Roberto Benigni, Jarmusch created a quaint and beautiful story of three convicts fighting boredom in a New Orleans jail cell. Juxtaposing goofy empowerment chants (“I scream you scream we all scream for ice cream!”) with simple, poetic observations (“it’s a sad and beautiful world”), “Down By Law” finds Jarmusch at his most romantic, and his most elegant.

    Artisan

    3. “Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai” (1999)

    Fascinated by martial arts and hip-hop culture, Jarmusch borrows from a more than 200-year-old Japanese book to tell the story of a modern-day assassin who honors an ancient warrior’s code. Forest Whitaker provides a thrilling combination of physical presence, intellectual cool and emotional gentleness as the title character, while RZA’s first work as a film composer demonstrated his aptitude for transforming Wu-Tang rhythms back into indelible movie themes.

    Amazon Studios

    2. “Paterson” (2016)

    This might in fact be his best film but it feels too soon to proclaim it: Adam Driver plays a New Jersey bus driver and poet who lives with his restlessly creative girlfriend (Golshifteh Farahani). The events of his life are decidedly minor — the biggest threat to his happiness is his girlfriend’s mischievous dog — but it evidences Jarmusch at his most meditative and humane, showcasing the simple pleasures of normalcy even as his characters (and he himself) aspire to a higher plane of consciousness.

    Sony Pictures Classics

    1. “Only Lovers Left Alive” (2013)

    Marking his best play on genre tropes, Jarmusch explores the disaffected and philosophical lives of a vampire couple (Swinton and Tom Hiddleston) who must navigate their way through immortality as the world constantly changes around them. Mia Wasikowska (“Stoker”) plays Swinton’s younger sister, a troublemaker named Ava, who tests their resolve as a couple — and their lifestyle as vampires — as they attempt to maintain joy and enthusiasm for the eternity they face.

  • Fanfare for Fox’s ‘X-Men:’ The Franchise’s 13 Best Action Scenes

    Fanfare for Fox’s ‘X-Men:’ The Franchise’s 13 Best Action Scenes

    20th Century Fox

    Simon Kinberg’s “Dark Phoenix” marks the culmination of almost 20 years of groundbreaking superhero movies. Despite the series’ ups and downs, Fox’s franchise not only popularized but legitimized modern comic book adaptations on the silver screen thanks to stories that created larger than life adventures while touching upon real-world issues. Of course, they also delivered some of the coolest and most thrilling action sequences of the past two decades. So as the franchise comes to an end (before they eventually phase over to the MCU), Moviefone takes a look back at the best of the best — the brutal fights, chases and showdowns that changed the way we look at superheroes.

    20th Century Fox

    “X-Men” (2000) – Statue of Liberty Torch Battle

    Bryan Singer’s original film feels almost primitive at this point, made before the proper technical advancements could bring these sequences to life (fully), but the filmmaker still delivered an incredible final set piece as the X-Men fight to save world leaders atop the Statue of Liberty. It’s a scene that vitally emphasizes their individual strengths and even more importantly, their cooperation and teamwork.

    20th Century Fox

    “X2: X-Men United” (2003) – Nightcrawler White House Assassination Attempt

    Singer threw the audience into the action in the second film with this bravura sequence where a mind-controlled Nightcrawler (Alan Cumming) teleports his way past White House security to make an attempt on the President’s life. Breathless and beautifully composed.

    20th Century Fox

    “X2: X-Men United” (2003) – Stryker’s Assault on the X-Mansion

    Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) always seems like he’s about one hangnail away from berserker mode, but in this siege on X-Mansion, we really get to see him cut loose (pun intended) on Colonel Stryker’s (Brian Cox) men as he protects Xavier’s more vulnerable students.

    20th Century Fox

    “X-Men: The Last Stand” (2006) – Magneto Lifts the Golden Gate Bridge

    There are some mutants whose powers are so strong it feels like they can do anything, but the movies don’t always reflect their omnipotence. But Brett Ratner beautifully depicts the magnitude of Magneto’s (Ian McKellen) abilities in an attack on Alcatraz that starts when he literally lifts the Golden Gate Bridge as a conveyance for the evil Brotherhood.

    20th Century Fox

    “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” (2009) – Helicopter Chase

    Director Gavin Hood’s spin-off is not an especially successful first installment of what became a terrific parallel franchise, but he combines the poignant and powerful in this scene where Agent Zero (Daniel Henney) kills the elderly couple protecting Logan after he escapes from Stryker’s (Danny Huston) lab, and the future Wolverine returns the favor by destroying the soldier’s helicopter.

    20th Century Fox

    “X-Men: First Class” (2011) – Cuban Missile Crisis

    Matthew Vaughn took a real risk by integrating real-world history into the fictional background for the X-Men, but it paid off in this climactic sequence where the world’s nations launch missiles to end a potentially explosive conflict between warring factions of mutants.

    20th Century Fox

    “The Wolverine” (2013) – Funeral/ Yakuza Train Fight

    James Mangold’s follow-up to “X-Men Origins” makes a substantial leap in quality,  thanks especially to Mangold’s skill in constructing sequences like the funeral assassination that leads into an incredible showdown between Logan and would-be Yakuza kidnappers atop a Japanese bullet train.

    20th Century Fox

    “X-Men: Days of Future Past” (2014) – X-Men vs. Sentinels 

    Far be it from me to cheer the deaths of our beloved X-Men, but Singer’s return to the franchise showcases the deadly power of one of the team’s most iconic foes, the Sentinels, as they defeat and literally dismember the team in a distant post-apocalyptic future.

    20th Century Fox

    “X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014) – Quicksilver Prison Break

    As incredible as the core X-Men are, the introduction of Quicksilver (Evan Peters) gave the franchise an incredible jolt of energy, especially in this show-stopping set piece where he stops a room full of security guards in a matter of seconds, all set to the tune of Jim Croce’s “Time In A Bottle.”

    20th Century Fox

    “Deadpool” (2016) – Highway Battle 

    To be fair, the highway chase in “Deadpool” takes up a good 35 minutes or more of screen time in the character’s first outing as a solo, uh, anti-hero. But the opening sequences that unfold in slow motion, making fun of not just superhero theatrics but the very filmmakers responsible for creating such an irreverent adventure, still rank among the best moments ever in a superhero movie.

    20th Century Fox

    “X-Men: Apocalypse” (2016) – Quiksilver Saves the X-Men

    Singer’s final outing as director marked a depressing nadir for the series, but in trying to duplicate the success of its predecessor, he still created one sequence that, if familiar, was at least entertaining, as Quicksilver springs into action to rescue the X-Men as the mansion explodes.

    20th Century Fox

    “Logan” (2017) – Logan and Laura Escape His Mexican Hideout

    Mangold had considerably more success than Singer revisiting the material he made his own in this, widely regarded as the best X-Movie ever made. But in this early sequence, Logan discovers that his young charge has her own powers — plus a nasty temper — as they attempt to escape in a fight that leads into a messy chase, and eventually, evasion by the skin of their teeth.

    20th Century Fox

    “Deadpool 2” (2018) – X-Force United

    Deadpool’s irreverence reached its peak in this amazing scene from the sequel where the character’s freshly-assembled team meets its demise almost immediately, but he and the lone survivor, Domino (Zazie Beetz), find themselves in the midst of a battle atop a runaway convoy that also happens to be carrying the Juggernaut.