REEL CRITICS:

Top three things I learned about Wolverine in “X-Men Origins: Wolverine:”

 James Logan, a.k.a. Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) has been around since before the Civil War.

 He has a mutant big brother Victor (Liev Shreiber) with even bigger anger-management issues.

 His sideburns, like his high-tech claws, are indestructible.

That’s the whole movie in a nutshell. Our insanely buff, part-animal, part-machine superhero races through time pummeling and pulverizing whatever stands in his way, all the while wearing the same expression (and undershirt) throughout. Yawn.

As watchable as Jackman is, he can’t do everything. Hello? How about a story that makes sense! I’m still not sure what happened to Victor. Even the special effects at times look a bit hokey, especially the finale on Three Mile Island.

There is some fun in seeing the other mutant characters, notably Ryan Reynolds as testosterone-laden Wade Wilson (a.k.a. Deadpool) and will.i.am as John Wraith, a decent guy who literally zips in and out of the movie all too infrequently. Danny Huston, as Stryker, was born to play bad guys with style and quiet menace.

Ah, poor Wolverine: still hot, still an enigma. If only he had the wit to match those razor claws. He always leaves ‘em scowling, but it’s not necessarily a good thing.

Film on death, aging unfolds with subtlety

The fate of a grumpy old man becomes intertwined with the life a young boy in this small gem of a film: “Is Anybody There?” Bill Milner is outstanding as a boy fascinated with the scientific aspects of death and the afterlife. His parents run a boarding house for elderly people on pensions. The tenants die of old age on a regular basis giving the boy ample opportunity to explore the mechanics of dying.

Michael Caine is excellent as an aging magician turning into a cranky curmudgeon near the end of his days.

He lands at the boarding house and slowly befriends the boy. They interact with equal amounts of emotional vinegar and sugar spicing up their relationship.

The story quietly unfolds with soft precision. The low-key screenplay unexpectedly provides a gradual escalation of the human issues at stake. Major events suddenly intrude on the ordinary lives of the players. The new circumstances turn up the heat and alter the possible outcomes. This is a subtle movie that’s not for everyone. But it will bring a smile to a discerning viewer who has a generous helping of life experience.

SUSANNE PEREZ lives in Costa Mesa and is an executive assistant for a financial services company. JOHN DEPKO is a Costa Mesa resident and a senior investigator for the Orange County public defender’s office.