The Hansons and their toy cars

Today's films:

The Wolverine (2013)

Slap Shot (1977)

The Wolverine (the one set around Japan) fits between Iron Man 3 and Thor Dark World in my fake MCU+, obviously. I really enjoy this take on Wolverine that nearly drops old man Logan into realism... except for the acid lizard lady. Everything else in this is a fun time, ninjas attacking Wolverine in a rustic Japanese village, a future samuri will with an old man, a fight on top of a speed train, but the acid lizard lady doesn't seem to fit in.

I think this is actually promising for Deadpool's stand alone movie. Deadpool has the chance to be entertaining, with cool special effects and enough story to move the film between action sequences. In all seriousness folks, The Wolverine is a good Marvel movie even with just one Marvel hero in it.

I also watched Slap Shot which is still a very nice comedy carried by the wacky characters but I always get a little confused about what the point of it is. It's another cold weather film for me in what will probably be a series of The Shining, Hateful Eight and Slap Shot in the future (Although the movie about Shackelford was also one of the coldest films I've seen, although half of that was from watching that rather long movie in a very cold house). I think the moviemakers got a little confused and just went with it when they realized the Hanson Brothers were stealing the show. It seems to be a con-man/ sports/ comment on sexuality in the 1970's but the story points fall apart by the end, a fact that is glossed over by comedy of the Hanson Brothers. The music would not be too bad if they didn't repeat some of the songs that sound very dated now.

Paul Newman's character is a con-man, or a compulsive liar who cons his team into thinking they are moving to Florida and when that lie falls apart and he is exposed by the owner, he is not exposed by the team, and the General Manager of the team seems to have worked out a way to get opportunities for all the players the next year. Newman's character probably isn't moving to Minnesota for the next season, we have no reason to believe him, but he also might. Perhaps he has learned a lesson... although he doesn't seem like he has been one to learn lessons from his failings the rest of the movie.

It is a movie about a team trying to win their eay into relevance and exposure for the players but in the end they win the championship because they are playing against the dumbest team ever. The ref warns one of the players if he pulls any more crap he will forfeit the game, and the player promptly punches the ref in the back of the head. The Chiefs had no impact on the outcome of the game aside from not punching the ref first.

Slap Shot is a comment on sexuality in many confusing ways. It's a film where the characters taunt each other based on their sexuality, but Paul Newman is sympathetic to one lover who was exploring lesbianism after leaving her husband and he mentions that some day he too could retire and find himself having sex with old goalies. Then he shames the husband of that woman by taunting him about her sexuality. He also blackmails the General Manager of the Chiefs by threatening to out him as gay and a cross dresser. Additionally, Many of the players romanticise their monogomous relationships yet everyone is casually sleeping around in a way that is seen in 1970's films more than anywhere else.

And the Hanson Brothers take their toy cars with them on the road.