X-Men: First Class (2011)

Tags

Action, Drama, James McAvoy, January Jones, Jennifer Lawrence, Kevin Bacon, Michael Fassbender, Movie, Nicholas Hoult, Oliver Platt, Rose Byrne, Science Fiction, X Men First Class

damn paparazzi...no pictures!

PG-13

James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Kevin Bacon, Jennifer Lawrence, Rose Byrne, Oliver Platt, January Jones, Nicholas Hoult

Stryker:  There is a war coming, John.
McCone:  Yes, but a war with who?
Emma Frost:  Excellent question…though I wouldn’t call it a war, exactly.  That suggests that both sides stand an equal chance of winning.

Erick Lehnsherr (Fassbender), who will later become known as Magneto, is out for revenge on the man, Sebastian Shaw (Bacon), who killed his mother.  Along the way, he crosses paths with another mutant, Charles Xavier (McAvoy).  Together they recruit other mutants while Shaw plots to start World War III.

Slightly better than the first X-Men, not as good as the second one, and…well, we won’t even mention the third one.

There are moments here that are very good, and I definitely liked most of the casting, but at times it just feels overlong.  It gets bogged down with too much “mutant and proud” talk.  That territory has been covered quite extensively in the other movies, and while it’s certainly relevant to the young mutants here, that doesn’t make it any more fresh.

The other thing that didn’t work too well for me was Kevin Bacon as the villain.  His presence seemed too gimmicky, which undermined the seriousness of the movie.

Now on to the things that I did like.  Rose Byrne.  If you’ve read my other reviews, you may know of my love for Rose Byrne.  This movie did nothing to change that love.  She’s awesome.  McAvoy and Fassbender are good too, and the younger mutants are played well enough.  Michael Ironside even makes an appearance near the end of the movie, which is always a welcome sight.

One quick aside about the cast though.  In a movie that’s all about promoting the acceptance of everybody no matter what their appearance…there are not a whole lot of minorities present.  Plus…I don’t want to be Mr. Spoiler, but…they kill off the black guy first…seriously?  And then the other minority character is the first to turn into a villain with very little persuasion needed.  Even for something set in the 60s, it’s a very white movie.

But hey, there’s some good drama, good action, a few funny moments, and…well, Rose Byrne.

What more do you need?

Mutant and proud!

10 – .6 because I didn’t like Kevin Bacon as the villain – 1.7 for getting bogged down in too many repetitive scenes  = 7.7

Super (2010)

Tags

Action, Comedy, Ellen Page, Kevin Bacon, Liv Tyler, Michael Rooker, Movie, Nathan Fillion, Rainn Wilson, Sean Gunn, Super

hahaha! it's funny cuz he died...

R

Rainn Wilson, Ellen Page, Kevin Bacon, Liv Tyler, Michael Rooker, Sean Gunn, Nathan Fillion

Frank: People look stupid when they cry.

After his wife is sucked back into the world of drug addiction, Frank (Wilson) decides to invent a superhero and fight crime on his own, with hopes of getting his wife back.

Holy uneven tone, Batman!

This movie is all over the place.  I really didn’t know what to think from moment to moment.  Is it sad and depressing?  No wait, it’s (supposed to be) a comedy!  Hmm, or maybe it’s a super-violent action picture?  Touching love story?  Yikes, nope, depressing and disturbing!  That’s what I’m going with…

I can theorize about what writer/director James Gunn was going for, but I can’t be sure.  It seems like a sort of more realistic spin on what The Watchmen and Kick-Ass were attempting.  That is, average people trying to become superheroes.  Kick-Ass started off with a sort of realism, as we see Dave fail miserably at fighting crime, as he probably would in real life.  But eventually that movie turned its regular people into more comic book like superheroes, which was a little disappointing.  That doesn’t really happen in Super, at least not to the same extent, but that alone doesn’t make it a better movie.

In fact, it’s not a better movie than Kick-Ass.  It could have been, if it had pulled off what it was trying to do…but it just doesn’t.  I like the more realistic approach to violence, even if it’s hard to watch.  Instead of cartoonish action sequences (like an 11 year old girl dodging bullets and leaping around like she’s in the Matrix), in Super, people are stabbed to death, have their heads bashed in on bricks, get blown up by pipe bombs, or just plain shot.  No real theatrics…just blam, dead.  That adds a very dark tone to the movie, which would be fine if the rest of it worked.

It doesn’t.  It’s just not that funny when it’s trying to be funny, and despite a few sweet flashback scenes, I never really bought the relationship between Frank and Sarah (Tyler).  Frank and Libby (Page) have a little more chemistry, but that’s probably just because both of them are borderline psychotic.  Actually, Libby has probably crossed over that line.  I will say, though, it’s good to see Page doing something pretty radically different than what she’s done in the past.  I don’t know from what depths of her soul she found the maniacal laugh she uses as she kills people, but it kinda creeped me out.

I guess the real issue here is that Super is just not a fun movie to watch.  It’s depressingly dark and mean, and after watching it I just sort of felt…bad.  Maybe the movie is right about what sort of person probably would dress up as a superhero and how they’d act.  Maybe it’s right about how the whole situation would eventually turn out.  Maybe the point is, “this is not a good idea!”

Point taken…

Leave crime-fighting to the professionals…like Batman.

10 – 2.4 for a wildly uneven tone – 2.5 for just not being all that funny + .2 because Ellen Page is so darned cute = 5.3

Diner (1982)

Tags

Comedy, Diner, Drama, Ellen Barkin, Kevin Bacon, Mickey Rourke, Movie, Paul Reiser

should we get Reiser in our final group shot? nah...he didn't even have a backstory...

R

Mickey Rourke, Steve Guttenberg, Daniel Stern, Kevin Bacon, Ellen Barkin, Paul Reiser, Tim Daly

Billy: I love you, Barb.
Barb: You’re confusing friendship with a woman and love…it’s not the same.

It’s 1959, and a group of young men (college age, supposedly) spend a lot of time hanging out at a diner discussing relationships and other aspects of life.  They’ve been coming to this diner for a long time and know that gradually they will be leaving it behind and entering into adulthood…and responsibility.

I could almost approach this review one character at a time because my enjoyment of the movie usually depended on what character was on screen at the time.  I liked Daniel Stern’s performance and his story.  Mickey Rourke was playing his usual soft-spoken, too cool for school, yet troubled character.  Paul Reiser was just there for comedy relief, which he was usually successful at.  Tim Daly was dull, and his story line had no real energy or resolution.  Steve Guttenberg can’t be anything but Steve Guttenberg, and I’m not sure that’s a good thing.  Ellen Barkin was fine in her role, but the character wasn’t all that interesting.  Lastly, Kevin Bacon’s character was interesting, but I thought his performance was a bit over the top at times.  He’s a smart, but unmotivated, guy who is a disappointment to his rich family.  He wants something more out of life, but isn’t sure what he wants or how to get it, so he spends most of his time drunk and goofing off.

The movie is quite funny and interesting at times, but also slow and uninvolving at other times.  Boogie (Rourke) has a gambling problem, but his problem, and the troubles resulting from it, never felt very authentic to me.  Nor did Kevin Bacon’s drunk episodes.  It seemed like hollywood drunkenness rather than real life drunkenness.

Overall, there’s some good performances, clever dialogue, and a few interesting moments, but it all gets bogged down with a couple contrived situations, dull moments, and an uneven tone throughout.

The Baltimore Colts original colors were green and grey…

10 – 2 for never really meshing together with a good flow to the story – .8 for a couple not so great performances – .5 for some dull moments = 6.7