I've found a posted my reviews for the first two X-Men movies in anticipation of reviewing the latest entry in the series X-Men: The Last Stand. This third film is not horrible, but it doesn't live up to the first two for a variety of reasons.
I think it's rather obvious that the folks at Fox were a bit miffed that director Bryan Singer jumped the X ship to commandeer Warner's Superman Returns. If they were that attached to Singer, they would have waited (and probably should have) for him to be free. Instead they seem to have raced into production in an effort to not only beat the man of steel to the silver screen, but to throw in almost everything that Singer has talked about using from the comics and not having gotten around to yet.
The third film starts off with a flashback to when Professor X and Magneto first encountered a young Jean Grey. Through the use of CGI, we are shown that Patrick Stewart is not too old to play Captain Picard again. Then the "plot" starts. We see Wolverine and Storm training with the younger members (Iceman, Colossus, Rogue and Kitty Pryde) in the Danger Room (a holographic simulator...and take that Singer...you couldn't work it in to the first two films, but here it is...ever so briefly) against a Sentinel (a giant mutant hunting robot...another thing Singer talked about using...take that again...of course, we barely see it...only a severed head and glowing lights are really seen...after all, it's not really in the budget). And then we move on...
A depressed Cyclops is still mourning Jean's death. But he hears her voice and runs off to Alkalai Lake where she died to discover that she's still alive (Ahhh...the whole Resurrection of Phoenix storyline from the comics...minus all the aliens and such...another slap at Singer). But she's unstable and evil now, so she kills Cyclops before Storm and Wolverine arrive to take her home (where she can do more damage).
Meanwhile, a cure has been found for the X gene that cuases mutations. Multi-billionaire Warren Worthington II has been trying to "fix" his son ever since he grew wings (hey...it's Angel...yet another slap at Singer). This pisses off Magneto who gathers up other mutants who don't like the idea of being "cured" (including Jean Grey after she disintegrates Professor X) and then a giant battle ensues and the movie ends (but not before a scene at the end of the final credits which was so obvious in its set up earlier in the film it's not even funny...guess which character who "died" is still "alive" but can now be played by someone else).
The film is workman-like at best as it tackles way too many things. The look of the film is a mess. The script is all over the place. The only thing holding the film together is the acting (it's like watching a Cliff Notes version of 40 years of X-Men stories as acted by The Royal Shakespeare Company). Worth seeing once, but the repeat value that the first two films had is nowhere to be seen.
Capote is a gripping and fascinating film that deserves all the accolades it got. Don't have much more to say beyond that it would have made the top 5 of last year had I seen it in time.
Date Movie claims to be from two of the six writers of Scary Movie. If it is, its from the two that know nothing about comedy. There's an art to doing parody films. The good ones take the plot of a real film and then hang other pop culture refernces and funny jokes off of it. The bad ones turn out like this waste of time. Really...I've seen a lot of bad movies...and I rarely place movies onto my "Worst of All Time" List...but this one rises to the top of that list. It's badly written, badly executed and just plain bad. I always thought Alyson Hannigan could be a great comedic lead. If one were judging by this film alone, you'd think she could barely breathe let alone act or do comedy.
Mr. & Mrs. Smith turns out to be a fun film. Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie play a marriec ouple who don't really know much about each other. Turns out that they're both paid assassins and now they've essentially been pitted (pun intended) against each other. The leads have great chemistry and the action is just over the top enough to keep everything moving at a nice pace.
Debbie Does Dallas: Uncovered is a documentary that at first glance is like Inside Deep Throat, but turns out to be more like an episode of A Current Affair. The earlier, and better, film tackled the making of a classic porn film in relation to First Amendment issues. This one starts off in attempt to document how the film (and the pron industry) changed the lives of those involved. The problem is that the lead disappeared in the mid 80s (rumor has it she died, but many of the participants involved feel she just changed her life around and doesn't want to be found) and most of the other female leads have moved on and refused to be interviewed. So we're left watching middle aged men talk about porn. I used to own a video store where I could watch that on an almost daily basis. Luckily at 48 minutes it's little more than a blip on the radar.
The Ringer is an odd comedy starring the usually obnoxious Johnny Knoxville as a man who tries to rig the Special Olympics. This should be an odious concept (like when Cartman did it on South Park), but since Knoxville's character is doing this under duress and the friend he makes are so likeable, the film comes off rather sweet until the unrealistic ending (he still gets the girl even after a big "reveal" scene that should have had ended with him being lynched by a mob).
The Squid and the Whale is a well acted, well written small story about a family coping with divorce and change. Worth watching.
That's all for today...it was mostly catch up/clean out (there'll be a few more of these over the next couple of days). The next big (and up-to-date) piece will be published on June 27 (all about one year as a father) and another on June 28 (Superman Returns).
Be seeing you.
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