R.I.P. Sir Patrick Stewart

Yesterday while doing housework I got a notification on my phone that yet another beloved actor had passed away, Sir Patrick Stewart. Anytime this happens lately I get scared that someone else who I adore is gone. That always seems to be the case. I wish that someone who is in their 80's, who is a terrible person, who is ruining our country would be who the news was reporting on. But nope. It feels like it is one icon after another. It was Dolly Parton and Tim Curry. The actor who voiced Optimus Prime has passed. And now Sir Patrick Stewart.

This stinks. I am a bit of a later fan to Stewart's work. I never watched any version of "Star Trek". I don't know much about his other early work. Much like most of my generation, my first encounter with Stewart is the "X-Men" movies where he plays Charles Xavier. And I didn't even watch those until the late 2000's. His work in those movies is second to none. He is just as much Charles Xavier to me as Hugh Jackman is to Wolverine. Stewart embodied Charles Xavier. We named our dog after his portrayal. He was such a perfect casting for that role. The fact that he was already bald was great. Anytime I hear someone say Charles Xavier, if I'm not talking directly to my dog, I think of Sir Patrick Stewart. And he has done this role in many different "X-Men" movies to great success. The best version of this for me was his performance as Professor X in "Logan". To play this iconic character, this mutant that can read minds, going through dementia was a tour de force. Portraying this incredibly brilliant person suffering a debilitating disease that attacks your brain, Stewart was completely on point. I go back every so often and watch "Logan" simply to find new things I like about Stewart's performance. Putting him and an aging and dying Logan together, so they can both go off this mortal coil, was dynamite, and Stewart did such a fantastic job pulling this all off.

I also remember watching him in David Lynch's "Dune". I watched that movie within the last five years for the first time because I love Villenuve's "Dune" movies. So I figured I better go back and see what Lynch did. I don't care too much for his version of "Dune", but Stewart did some solid work. He was one of the few actors that I trusted in this movie. He wasn't too young like Kyle McLachlan, or a musician like Sting. Stewart was an actor asked to play a pivotal role in a movie based on one of the best science fiction books ever written. Of course he jumped at the opportunity. And in that mess of a movie, Stewart's performance is one of the better ones. RD mentions this on the podcast, but seeing him go to war with the Harkonnens with a pug in his hand is rad. That is one of the few cool scenes in Lynch's "Dune".

I also want to shout out his performance in the highly underrated thriller "Green Room". To this point in his career I had only known Stewart to play heroes, or people who you would walk away from the movie cheering for. He does the total opposite in "Green Room". He plays a Nazi who happens to own a punk rock bar where people steal and try to kill bands that come and play at their venue. Stewart is menacing and mean. He plays a vile human being in this role. There's no redeeming qualities with this person. And when he gets his in this movie it is so satisfying and glorious. I think it felt like such a relief because Stewart was playing this villain so well. You don't actively root for someone in a movie to get theirs unless they are playing someone truly vile and doing a good job at it. That is exactly what Stewart achieved in "Green Room".

I also want to point out a story that my wife told me years ago that she read about Stewart that makes him even more endearing. I guess he was in a hotel a long time ago and was flipping through the channels and came across whatever version of "Star Trek" he was on. When he got on that channel someone knocked on his hotel door and he went to answer. When he answered it is was room service and Stewart invited the person in. I guess he forgot that he had "Star Trek" on the tv and he told the interviewer at the time that this room service person must have thought he was so egotistical because it appeared as if he were watching himself on tv. That is hilarious to me.

In the end I think it is fitting that his last movie with be "Doomsday", where he will be playing Professor X. It only makes sense that he goes out on the role that I first noticed him for, and is probably one of his most career defining roles. I will be waiting for him to show up in that movie now more than before since he just passed away.

This one hurts almost as much as Dolly Parton for me. I like Sir Patrick Stewart. I have enjoyed his acting, and by pretty much all accounts he was a good person while he was here on this planet with all of us. Rest in Peace Sir Patrick Stewart, and just know that I, along with million so others, were big fans and we will sorely miss you. 

Ty 

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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Better Late than Never on the Incredible "Logan"

"Logan" is now out on various forms of DVD and On Demand. This piece will spoil many parts of the film. If you have not seen "Logan", go watch it, then come back and read the article.

I finally got a chance to see "Logan", and boy oh boy was this movie incredible. RD, and everyone that was telling me how great it was, were one hundred percent correct. I have been pretty clear here on SeedSing that I despise "X-Men Origins: Wolverine", and that I am one of the few people that enjoyed "The Wolverine". But, "Logan" completely blows both of them out of the water.

First off, I was thrilled by the fact that is was rated R. Wolverine, and his powers, are brutal and vicious. This has only been shown in snippets in all the original "X-Men" movies and the 2 other stand alone Wolverine movies. Well, in "Logan", they show what those adamantium claws can do. There was an incredible scene to open the movie when some guys are trying to take Logan's tires off his car, and after he gets shot a few times, he then unleashes hell. He starts to get all angry and mad, his claws come out and he just obliterates these guys. He puts his claws through one guy's arm, he is holding a shot gun, and cuts it clean off. There are a couple of other guys that get claws through their head and brains. The other guys, they get the claws to the gut. It was brutal, bloody, violent, and I loved every second of it. I was immediately hooked. The movie is violent, there is cursing and I knew this wasn't going to be your typical super hero movie. When James Mangold directed "The Wolverine", it was off the beaten path, but with "Logan", this was like a modern, bloody Western. I am a big, big fan of modern Westerns. I love how brutal and unforgiving they are, and that was "Logan".

From the opening scene, we come to find out that Logan has become a drunken old man that is basically a taxi driver. The movie jumps to 2029, but other than the time change, nothing is really that different. Well, one thing is very different. Patrick Stewart, coming back as Professor X, is now in his 90's and is clearly suffering from an Alzheimer's like illness. He has done something horrible, wherein his mutant ability, and his deteriorating brain, caused him to kill a lot of people, including seven X-Men. Patrick Stewart is absolutely incredible in this movie, and I will voice the same sentiment RD has said, if he doesn't get, at least nominated for an Oscar, it will be very upsetting. He was incredible in his final role as Professor X. The scenes where he has his "seizures" are some of the most nerve racking, brutal and nail biting scenes I've seen in a long time. Stewart was amazing.

Stephen Merchant, as Caliban, the mutant that can track other mutants, was really good too. I've only known Merchant as a comedic actor, but he was really good in a pretty dramatic role. There was no real funny stuff from Merchant. His story is quite brutal, but he does go out like a god damn boss.

The main bad guy, Pierce, played by Boyd Holbrook, was a bad dude. He was very quiet and menacing in this role, and I loved it. He greets Logan early on, telling him what he needs from him, and it was very scary and very well acted. Holbrook, with his metal arm and all, was great throughout this entire masterpiece. He was such a bad guy, I'd put him up there with Bane in "The Dark Knight Rises".

The other bad guy, Dr. Rice, played by Richard E Grant, was basically a scientist gone mad. He was creating new mutants in a lab. In "Logan", especially after what Professor X did, the mutant race was all but gone. There weren't many left. In fact, the only three they showed in the movie were Caliban, Professor X and Wolverine. But, this doctor was creating an army of young mutants that he was going to use as weapons. One of these was a younger, more brutal, most vicious and more of a killing machine than the original Wolverine. They called him X-24, and he was a total badass. It was amazing to watch the scenes he was in. He was such a brutal killing machine.

There were a lot more younger mutants, but the one that stands out most was Laura, played brilliantly by Dafne Keen. She was Wolverine's daughter, essentially, because she was built with Logan's DNA, filled with adamantium and had claws in her hands and feet. She was a violent killing machine, akin to X-24, but she was only 11. This was an incredible performance by a first time actress, and I couldn't believe how awesome she was. Now, as a father to 2 young kids, I would've never let my children be in this movie, but props to Keen's folks for letting her do this because this was a once in a lifetime performance. I'd go so far as to argue she deserves an Oscar nod as much as Patrcik Stewart does. Her fight scenes were a thing of gore and beauty. The karate, the running, the fighting, the claw slashing, everything was just dynamite. She was the heart and soul of this movie.

Then, we have Hugh Jackman's last performance as Wolverine. I already stated at the top how violent he was, but Jackman went out with a bang. This was, by far, his best performance as Logan/Wolverine. He was the moody loner that fought for what he thought was right. He was also great as the reluctant "father figure" to Laura. He didn't want to be a dad, but when he needed to help her and his friends, he did what he could. Spoiler alert, but when X-24 kills him, I cried. I cried for 2 reasons. I will miss Jackman as Wolverine. He will always be Wolverine. No one else will be as good as him at that role ever. I also cried because he finally got his peace. He has seen so much death, to family, friends and loved ones, and had to live through it all. Well, when he says, as he is dying, "this is what it feels like", I was almost happy for him. He finally gets to be with all the people he lost.

"Logan" was amazing. It is probably the best "super hero" movie ever, and that is because it wasn't really a super hero movie. It was a Western with Wolverine in it. Much like "The Dark Knight Rises" is a crime movie, "Logan" is a Western. Both just happen to have super heroes in them. Much like RD, I will talk about this movie all year long, and it will most likely be my number one movie of 2017 when I do my year end stuff. "Logan" is an incredible display of film making. It is glorious.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He forgot to mention the part where Wolverine and Deadpool team up and star in a buddy cop film. That may be just a dream. An awesome dream.

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