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James Mangold's Logan is the definitive Wolverine movie. Somber, mature, reflective and destructive, Logan arguably could be called the best X-Men movie, period. It is, for sure, the Wolverine movie that lifelong X-Men, Marvel, and superhero fans have been waiting for Hugh Jackman to make -- the "Holy Grail" feature we've routinely been promised, right before something like X-Men: Origins -- Wolverine shows up and disappoints.

Yes, I fully understand that the previous two spinoff Wolverine movies centered around Jackman's version of the irritable, clawed mutant were: 1) Abysmal (for Origins), and; 2) Underwhelming (for The Wolverine). But as it turns out, those painful yet necessary steps provided teachable moments for Mangold, Jackman and anyone who has ever contributed to a Wolverine story. And with Logan, all of those lessons finally paid off.

The year is 2029. The majority of mutant-kind has been eradicated. Surly survivor Logan (Jackman) makes ends meet by working as a chauffeur, his superhero days as The Wolverine being in the rearview mirror. Logan's saving up to buy a boat, which he plans to use to transport his old teacher, Professor X (Patrick Stewart), off the main land and into the middle of the ocean... where he won't be in danger of harming anyone again. You see, Xavier's powers -- much like Wolverine's powers -- are failing with old age. Only, when Charles' powers malfunction, they put the planet at risk.

Part of the reason why Logan manages to be so emotionally effective is because it arrives late in the process for Jackman (and Stewart, to a lesser degree). The actor has been wearing the claws -- and carrying the baggage -- of this complicated character for 17 years, and he lets those miles show in every haggard look on display in Logan. Jackman full comprehends exactly what Wolverine needs to convey in each Logan scene -- whether its concern or compassion, remorse or berserker rage -- because he has occupied this character's skin for so long. It's second nature, and the decisions he makes along every painstaking step of Logan help ensure the movie's masterful success.

It helps that we've been carrying that baggage alongside Wolvie for nine films (including his various appearances in assorted X-Men movies over the years), as well. It's a happy accident of convenient timing and intelligent decisions that Jackman is playing a weary and worn-down version of Wolverine for his final cinematic chapter, because knowing this is Jackman's swan song in the role lends another layer of significance to the type of story Mangold chooses to tell in Logan. Our hero is old. Our hero is sick (and isn't healing the way he used to). Our hero is caring for an elderly father figure in Charles. And when someone in need comes knocking, our hero might be too tired this time to answer the call.

That someone is Laura (Dafne Keen), a fantastic addition to Wolverine's on-screen mythos who comes from the pages of Marvel's comics. Fans will know her as X-23 (and they'll get the connections that come with that reveal), but for non-comic fans, she's a variation of Wolverine, a byproduct of a similar experiment that coated Logan's bone claws with adamantium. Here, Mangold has discovered a brilliant and ferociously talented young actress who nearly steals away Jackman's triumphant farewell. Laura is feral and wounded, and Keen -- who is roughly 12 -- gives a steely, visceral and fully badass performance as the pint-sized warrior left in Logan's care. She is trying to ... let's just say "complete a task." And she needs Logan's reluctant help to do it. How they get things done is the meat of Logan, and I'll leave it up to you guys to enjoy it.

Logan doesn't follow the superhero blueprint, though that's a check in its favor. There are villains, yes, but the real antagonist staring down Wolverine is time, and fate. Cities aren't leveled in this movie's various fight sequences, and the consequences of major decisions aren't comically exaggerated. By grounding the film's action, and painting on a relatively small-scale canvas, James Mangold and Hugh Jackman raise the bar on the types of stories you can tell with superheroes -- thereby redefining what the term Superhero Movie even means in the year 2017.

Without giving too much away, I'll say that by the end of Logan, I couldn't believe how much Mangold and Jackman were able to accomplish with this final, fantastic movie. I was floored by the film's impact on the legacy of this timeless character. I was deeply moved by Jackman's soulful, intense and, yes, Oscar-worthy performance, which draws from every appearance as the Wolverine but also puts a period on the end of the sentence that the actor started writing in the first X-Men movie. And I left Logan fully satiated by the totality of Wolverine's on-screen journey. When it comes to Hugh Jackman's unprecedented run as Wolverine, they saved the best for last.

Collide Movie reviews

It's almost impressive how Collide goes from being a cinematic tale void of any originality or personality to being so mind-numbingly stupid that you spend as much time checking your watch as looking at the screen.

As you can probably guess from that brief summation, Collide is not an enjoyable experience. With the likes of Nicholas Hoult, Felicity Jones, Ben Kingsley, and Anthony Hopkins in its cast, it would be easy to lay the blame firmly at Eran Creevy's door, as he directed the film and co-wrote it with F. Scott Frazier, who also devised the story.

In Collide, Nicholas Hoult leads the way as Casey Stein, a small time drug dealer that works alongside Matthias (Marwan Kenzari) for the Turkish crime lord Geran (Ben Kingsley). But after making googly eyes with bartender Juliette (Felicity Jones), Hoult decides to pack in his devious ways for a romance with the woman of his dreams.

There's just one little problem, Juliette needs a kidney transplant, and after leaving his job, the duo are quite a way short of the €250,000 they need for the operation. Casey decides to briefly return to his life of crime for one big score, as he and Matthias concoct a plan for Geran to rob millions of Euros of cocaine from Hagen Kahl (Anthony Hopkins).

Despite the ensemble's obvious talents, they fail to paper over Collide's many, many cracks. Sure the script is so far from great that it's actually diabolical, but there's a distinct lack of chemistry between Nicholas Hoult and Felicity Jones, which isn't helped by their horrifically generic American accents, as they fail to provide the necessary backbone to the story.

The responsibility for this failure rests on Nicholas Hoult's shoulders. After Jack The Giant Slayer, Warm Bodies, Kill Your Friends, Equals, and now Collide it has become apparent that he lacks the innate qualities to be a leading man. Don't get me wrong, he still has skills. His supporting roles in X-Men, Mad Max: Fury Road, and A Single Man prove that. But like Zac Efron, he can't command your attention as the main presence of a film. Felicity Jones actually makes more of an impression during the second half of the film when she's on the phone with Hoult and not sharing the same shot, even though her screen-time is more than halved.

But while Hoult can't really be criticized for being miscast, especially as he gives it his all, you can heap disapproval on both Ben Kingsley and Anthony Hopkins for their efforts, which are frankly so bizarre that they should hand back their Academy Awards for Best Actor at once. Let's start with Kingsley, who was clearly given free reign to play an eccentric Turkish gangster. Yet he goes so over the top and is so ludicrous that at times he is incomprehensible, while you end up dismissing his character and performance as indulgence gone wild.

Somehow, Anthony Hopkins' performance is even more bizarre. Most of the time he barely looks as though he's breaking a sweat, or more likely is barely remembering his lines. Only to then randomly and peculiarly give aggressive emphasis to certain words as a way of showing that he's trying.

It doesn't help that F. Scott Frazier and Eran Creevy's script is a mishmash of elongated soliloquies, soap-opera style plotting, and clichéd characterization, all of which is under-laced with an aura of pretension that makes the film hard to root for.

There is actually a brief period when Collide threatens to be enjoyable, as Nicholas Hoult has to do a daring escape, which is quickly followed by two car chases through a sleepy German town and on the autobahn, respectively. At this point Creevy's over-the-top direction, especially when it comes to car pile-ups, actually brings an unexpected fun to proceedings.

But this goodwill is short-lived. The henchmen become too inept, while there's always something just within reach to get Casey out of trouble, who never even comes close to being hit by a bullet even though he's under attack for a good half an hour. Plus there's always seemingly a sports car waiting for him to depart, and I've never seen a character escape so many crashes with so few injuries. A constant level of entertainment would have allowed me to overlook these failings, but Collide never comes close to do enough to justify them.

Its biggest shortcoming is saved for its painful conclusion, though. That's because Collide isn't just a giant waste of time that only brings the worst out of the impressive cast, but it unforgivably takes an eternity to end and put you out of your misery. By the time the credits finally roll I had long been dreaming of my exit. Save yourself the hassle, and don't even bother making an entrance.

Zhang Yimou is not a director who makes boring movies. Rather, his past films have sustained a long record as being beautiful, occasionally flamboyant, and frequently epic -- including his visually stunning wuxia titles Hero, House of A Thousand Daggers, and Curse of the Golden Flower. And yet, while there is certainly a flashiness to his latest, The Great Wall -- particularly expressed through a series of large-scale action sequences -- the most accurate adjective available to describe the blockbuster is dull.

At the core of the film's greatest problem is the fact that the high-concept script feels like it was developed after a two minute pitch meeting. ("What are your thoughts on a fantasy movie about the origins of The Great Wall of China?" "What if it was built to keep aliens out?" "Here's your check.") Centering on your basic rogue named William (Matt Damon) who has yet to discover the hero within himself, the story kicks off during China's Song Dynasty as the protagonist and his companion (Pedro Pascal) find themselves at The Great Wall in hopes of both finding and stealing the infamous and heavily sought-after "black powder." What they don't account for, however, is that the monumental structure is packed with a highly-trained warriors, and that their timing lines up with the long-awaited arrival of a horde of monsters called Tao Tai. Coincidentally, William is actually better at killing these beasts than any other fighter in the place, and while his companion continues to plan a heist of the army's greatest weapon, he does what he can to try and stem the alien invasion.

Rote as all that may read on paper, it's even more lackluster packaged into a 103 minute runtime. The lack of anything new, original or creative within The Great Wall's narrative completely undercuts any stakes that develop at any time, as it's easy to predict everything that's going to happen moment to moment. With the exception of Matt Damon (who is handed the simplest of arcs), none of the other actors in the ensemble are given anything to work with on an individual level, and there isn't a standout relationship between any of them. At the very least it doesn't take itself too seriously, with a handful of funny lines squeaking their way into the dialogue, but that's hardly a compliment to hang a hat on.

Thanks to Zhang Yimou's terrific style and impressive aesthetic eye, it's all but exclusively the big action sequences that give The Great Wall its biggest sell, but even in that department there are both steps forward and backward for the movie. The director's love of stunning, bright color is on full display in these sequences -- with the ranks and skills of the warriors at the Great Wall identified with beautiful reds, blues and golds in their armor -- and there is also some tremendous choreography on display, particularly executed by the Crane Corps, who operate by essentially bungie jumping at the enemy with long spears in hand.

Not quite as lovely are the thousands upon thousands of monsters attacking The Great Wall - and by that I mean there are some serious visual effects issues in play. Moving beyond the fact that every single monster looks exactly the same with the exception of "The Queen," making every stampede look like a loop, they also never succeed in looking anything near realistic. This is a fairly serious problem, considering it's hard to be at all invested when heroes are just killing or being killed by blurry collections of green pixels. There admittedly are moments, specifically quiet ones, when you're given a chance to really examine the Tao Tai, and they do actually look interesting as an individual design, but those moments are few and far between.

The sad end story of The Great Wall is that pretty much everyone involved with the project, given previously established talent, is capable of so much more. In that, the film is not only boring, but also disappointing. It could perhaps simply be enjoyed as mindless entertainment, but with so much other great material out there, it's ultimately just not worth the time.

Scene-stealing characters tend to work best in small doses. No one needs an entire movie starring, say, Matthew McConaughey's chest-thumping weirdo from The Wolf of Wall Street, or Alec Baldwin's bullish corporate shark from Glengarry Glen Ross. But we instantly smile when we think of them, because in the valuable minutes of screen time they were afforded, they made a huge splash. The same went for Will Arnett's delusionally egotistical Dark Knight from the 2014 smash comedy The Lego Movie. The whispering crime fighter was an undisputed crowd-pleaser, but would a solo movie centered around his exploits suffer as it stretched familiar jokes over the course of two-hour spinoff?

Thankfully, Chris McKay's The Lego Batman Movie is way more interested in being a top-notch Batman movie than it is in being a Lego Movie clone, and in so many aspects, it wildly succeeds. This is the best pure Batman movie since Christopher Nolan's masterpiece, Batman Begins. (The Dark Knight is a Joker movie. You know that to be true.) The script has an incredible grasp on the rich history of the caped crusader, exploring facets of the hero's damaged psyche while also cracking jokes that will tickle fans with intimate knowledge of Batmen, past and present. (There's a "shark repellent" gag, for example, that references a rubber shark sequence from Adam West's 1966 Batman TV movie, so yeah, you better brush up on your trivia if you want to giggle at every rapid-fire Bat joke.)

And giggle, you will. Because The Lego Batman Movie is consistently funny. The jokes start immediately -- like, during the logos that precede the opening credits. At worst, the movie's sarcastically self-aware, skewering long-time Bat-cliches about the moody and broody superhero preferring to work alone as he fights criminals and mourns his family. At best, though, The Lego Batman Movie is screamingly hilarious, ladling pop-culture references and comic-book punchlines with blistering speed and pinpoint accuracy. One joke, involving a pivotal scene from Cameron Crowe's Jerry Maguire, made me cackle until I cried. So yeah, this movie worked very well for me.

I probably couldn't relay the plot of The Lego Batman Movie, concocted by five screenwriters, but I know it wasn't important to the overall enjoyment of the feature. In lieu of a story, The Lego Batman Movie places a microscope over the Batman we met in The Lego Movie, and delights in his comedic intricacies. A proud loner, Batman (voiced, again, by Will Arnett) repeatedly risks life and limb to save Gotham from the invading forces of Bane (Doug Benson), Two Face (Billy Dee Williams), Catwoman (Zoe Kravitz), Harley Quinn (Jenny Slate) and, of course, The Joker (Zach Galifianakis). But the Clown Prince is bothered because, despite the fact that they have been quarreling for decades, Batman still won't recognize The Joker as his arch enemy.

Meanwhile, back home on Bat Island, Alfred (Ralph Fiennes) worries that his charge is too focused on being The Bat, and encourages Bruce Wayne to ditch the cowl and possibly assume a sidekick. Enter Robin (Michael Cera), an orphan mistakenly adopted by Wayne who, of course, becomes the first member of a growing Bat family that eventually includes Barbara Gordon (Rosario Dawson) and Alfred, as well.

It wasn't until seeing The Lego Batman Movie that I realized how underserved The Dark Knight has been on screen in his own movies over the years. Outside of Tim Burton and Christopher Nolan's first two Batman movies, respectively, the sequels placed far more emphasis on developing villains, turning the caped crusader into a co-star in his own franchise. Not so with Lego Batman, which makes hilarious observations about the egotistical hero while also breaking off brilliant jokes about his classic canon. There are great jokes about previous Batman movies. There are great jokes about how lame some of Batman's villains are. There are so many great jokes, period.

With the Lego format, anything is possible, and The Lego Batman Movie -- similar to the Lego Movie that inspired it -- does buckle a tad over the everything-but-the-kitchen-sink approach to the pop-culture onslaught... particularly in its final act. However, Batman fanatics will soon be able to see a Batman movie filled with surprising things they never have seen on screen before (I'm holding back, for the benefit of spoilers), and for that reason, The Lego Batman Movie gets a huge thumb way up.

THE LEGO BATMAN MOVIE CREDITS