X-Men: First Class

Why are you posting your X-Men review so soon, Chris?  Yeah, yeah...anyway.  The Wife and I saw this opening weekend and were both blown away by it.  I loved the original movies in the X series (YES, even The Last Stand) but wasn't really excited when I heard they were making X-Men: First Class.

I understand the movie studio wants to keep the franchise going and in fact, have a need to keep the franchise going.  Basically when Marvel started getting into the movie business, they signed away certain rights to the studios and the studios have to use the characters rights or else they lapse back to Marvel.  Hence why you have a Spider-Man movie coming out next year, a Daredevil movie in the works and a Fantastic Four reboot coming down the pipeline.

Anyway, I thought this film was really strong overall.  I loved the backstory and history between Xavier and Magneto...I think it could almost be considered a Magneto movie in a sense.  My least favorite part of the movie is when all of the X-kids get together and start showing off their powers.  I guess that is what would likely happen - it just seemed a little cheesy and an excuse for the movie to show the viewer what each character can do.

I loved the surprise cameos in the film and I came away from it all becoming a really big fan of Magneto.  You really start to sympathize with the guy and the reasons why he sees the world the way he does.  Will definitely buy this one on DVD when it comes out and am looking forward to future installments of the X franchise if they can pull off something like this again.

Hungover

I love how the cast of The Hangover had no problem working with a convicted rapist in the first film, but they all banded together to exile Mel Gibson from the sequel.  Way to develop a conscience after you made $467 million, you asshats.

Oscars

I think we can all agree that The Academy Awards more or less sucked this year. Children singing at the end?! Kirk Douglas stumbling through a presentation speech?! I heard two recent ideas that I think can help to fix the Oscars®. So while I can't take credit for either of these ideas, I would like to help spread them around.

First up, the Oscars® should reveal the final tallies of the ballots. Yes, The King's Speech won the Best Picture Oscar®, but what if it only won by a margin of 0.15%? Wouldn't it be interesting to see the final breakdowns like The King's Speech -- 22.3%, Inception 22.15%, Twilight 18%, etc.? Then even if an undeserving movie like The King's Speech wins, you can argue that it only won by a slight margin over a better movie.

Second, the Oscars® should have a 5-year minimum waiting period to be voted on and announced. Much like the athletes who become eligible for their Hall of Fame years after they've retired from their sport, we should have the opportunity to look back at the movies with some perspective. I think in another 2-3 years, we'd all like to take back the Best Picture Oscars® for Crash and Slumdog Millionaire. Consider that Forrest Gump beat out Shawshank Redemption for the Best Picture and think about which movie resonates with you more these days.

Michael Cera is Banned!

After watching Scott Pilgrim vs. The World this past weekend, I looked up America's beloved Michael Cera on Wikipedia.  I was scrolling through his body of work and realized, Holy crap!  I've seen five of his movies and liked a grand total of zero of them.  So on this date, February 23 of 2011, I do hereby declare that I am banning all movies starring Michael Cera.  I think part of it his him, and part of it is he acts in not-so-great movies.  (I was going to use the word shitty but my 4-year old nephew has this blog read to him verbatim).  Either way - I apologize to you, Mr. Cera but I will never see another of your films.  Even if (God forbid) you take over the role of Iron Man.

For those curious, here are the five Michael Cera movies I have seen and thoroughly not enjoyed - Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, , Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist, Superbad (aka the most overhyped movie of 2007), Juno (which I already complained about two years ago) and Year One (sadly, the best of his body of work).

Cashback

We watched the movie Cashback recently and I have to recommend it. I came across it while obsessing over movies involving time travel and/or freezing of time. Cashback is a British movie which started out as a short film, then expanded into a feature length which incorporated most of the short film seemlessly back into it.

It's about an artist named Ben who develops insomnia after his girlfriend dumps him. He takes a night shift job at a grocery store where his boredom forces imagination to run wild. He imagines time standing still and soon, he (seemingly) develops the ability to stop time at will. He develops a crush on his coworker, has some hijinks with his coworkers and boss and struggles to get past his insomnia.

I expected it to be artsy-fartsy, but it was sincere and actually quite funny. The Wife and I both ended up loving this film so kindly check it out, won't you?

Specificflix

Wow, Netflix. You're getting very specific with your movie recommendations.



I pretty much stopped going to Blockbuster because they didn't have a section for 'critically-acclaimed revenge movies from the 1970s.'

Second Skin

I recently saw a documentary about MMORPG gamers called Second Skin. MMORPGs are video games like World of Warcraft and Everquest where you create and develop your character, taking him from a novice to a pro. The game is played online where you make friends, join a guild, and complete quests together. Second Skin is very interesting and well put together, even for someone like me who has a waning interest in video games.

One of the interesting things they touched on was the real world relationships that develop out of a simulated reality. Several people have met and fell in love because of this community. For a few of them, it's a welcome change to feel accepted by a group. Some may be considered "different" because they're in a wheelchair or they may not be the most "attractive." But they play the game online, talk to others and are accepted just based on the communication they have, not what they look like.

At the end of the movie, I felt left with question of where the bigger problem lies - is it with the gamers who are by all accounts addicted to the game and spend their free time playing it? Or is with society who still has issues accepting people that are different? I learn towards the latter as the answer, but if you're 35 years old and lost your job because you're too attached to levelling up your cleric troll named Targun, perhaps you need a look in the mirror as much as society does.

Avatar: The Last Airbender

The Wife and I were curious to watch the television Avatar: The Last Airbender since the movie is coming out soon. I had read really good reviews of it and luckily, the entire series is available to stream on Netflix. After plowing through all three seasons in about two weeks, the verdict is - this show is awesome. The series originally aired on Nickelodeon and its three seasons compose the entire arc of the series and characters. It is currently heading to the big screen this weekend, as adapted by M. Night Shymalan and hopefully he doesn't mess it up.

Back to the original, though - the story is about a 12-year old boy who is the current Avatar, the only person who can master all four elements (Air, Earth, Fire and Water). He's been missing for over 100 years, during which time the Fire Nation wiped out all of the Air Nomads, and is laying siege to the Water Tribes and Earth Kingdom. Two teenagers from the Water Tribe discover Aang frozen in ice, and help him out in his quest to master the elements and restore balance to the world.

Yes, the cartoon aired on Nickelodeon and I guess it's aimed at kids, but both The Wife and I were enthralled with the story. It's easy enough for kids to follow, but it isn't dumbed down to the point where adults would get bored with it. On the contrary, the story is engaging and I enjoyed many of the shows funny moments. Overall, this is a very clever and original television series, and with only three seasons to watch, it's a short term commitment. Check out an episode or two and judge for yourself.

I got that pretty cool wallpaper image from this site.

Movie Recommendations

Since Netflix stupidly removed (most of) the Friends compatibility feature on its website, I'll start posting my movie recommendations on here. Two movies we saw recently are totally worth checking out.

First up is a movie called Hoodwinked. Hoodwinked is a little bit Shrek-ish in that it's an animated movie drawing on fairy tale characters; it's also a like The Usual Suspects or Vantage Point, in that the same mystery / story is told through flashbacks and from differing viewpoints. It's very clever and funny, and well worth the 80 minutes.

My next recommendation is a flick called Appleseed Ex Machina. The Wife occasionally gets some anime movies off of Netflix and I find most of them too long, convoluted and/or boring but this one is sheer awesomeness. The animation is amazing and the story of a bleak future populated with genetically engineered humans is gripping.

Highly, HIGHLY recommend both of these.

Zombieland

I finally had a chance to watch Zombieland over the weekend and I really liked most of it. I think there's one point in the movie where the characters do something so stupid that the movie jumps the shark. I'll go ahead and throw in a SPOILER ALERT for those who haven't seen it yet, but basically what happens is these two girls travel to an amusement park they loved as kids. They have heard the park is zombie-free, and they arrive at nighttime. At this point, the movie gets ridiculous as they decide it's a great time to turn on the power to the whole place to go on the rides. Rather than wait for daylight just in case there are zombies around, they turn on a shitload of lights and power which attracts every single zombie in 10-mile radius.

From a movie-making standpoint, I'm guessing they did this because it's easier to film an amusement park when it's nighttime. No one is there, you have all night, etc. But from a story-telling standpoint, these girls have been very crafty and careful to stay alive in a world overrun by frickin' zombies that their decision makes zero sense.

The Expendables

I was reading about Bruce Willis the other day, who just might be my favorite actor ever (but that's neither here nor there). It says an upcoming project of his is called The Expendables which (sit down for this!) is written by Sylvester Stallone, and stars Stallone, Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Randy Couture, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin and Mickey Rourke.

Here's a rough outline of the plot: The U.S. along with other Nations secretly put together a squad of its highest trained military personnel to finally overthrow the dictator who has caused devastation in South America for over 20 years. The team sets out on its mission to complete the assassination, but with little help from the nations as they try to keep the mission secret.

Holy crap, this might as well be called Testosterone Movie. I swear if I ever get to the point where I need Viagra in my life, I'm pretty sure watching this movie would be an acceptable substitute.

Karate Kid

Saw a trailer for the remake of The Karate Kid. WOW does this look like a steaming pile of shit.

Worth Another Look -- Speed Racer

I initially had no interest in seeing the movie version of Speed Racer. I was never into the cartoon and the trailer looked a little bit lame. The Wife got this movie off of Netflix and we both ended up loving it. Just from a visual standpoint, the storytelling is interesting. The wipes and transitions from scene to scene are cool. The car races themselves are, of course, impressive. There are some funny moments to the movie and the overall story is pretty good. We were both really blown away by this movie and if you wrote it off without seeing it like we did, it's worth another look --

Best Movie of 2009 (IMHO)

I was looking over a list of the top grossing movies of 2009 to remind myself of what movies came out in '09. It's amazing how many bad ones there were that I blocked out of my memory, like Inheart. There wasn't a lot I saw this year that really blew me away so trying to pick a best movie out of the bunch came down to three. My pick for the best movie of 2009 didn't do very well at the box office, or with critics, but I have to pick Surrogates as my top choice.

Surrogates stars my main man, Bruce Willis, as FBI Agent Tom Greer in a world where most people rarely leave their house. Their life experience is lived out through the use of remotely-controlled robotic bodies, known as surrogates. The handicapped are able to walk, the disfigured are able to look beautiful and the lazy...are allowed to continu being lazy. Damage done to the surrogate is not felt by the operator so it is seen as a better and safer method of life.

Murders start happening and there is a group of humans who refuse to live surrogates who live on the outskirts of town. Greer eventually stops using his surrogate to investigate the murders and figure out what's going on. Overall, it's a really intriguing concept and I think they pulled it off rather well, unlike my pick for Worst Movie of 2009.

My other top movie choices of 2009 were The Hangover and Star Trek. The Hangover was funny and easily the best comedy of this year. Star Trek did a fantastic job of introducing these characters to an audience that knew very little about them (me) and having the story make perfect sense.

Worst Movie of 2009 (IMHO)

For me, the worst movie this year has to be District 9. It's the polar opposite of my top movie of 2009 in that it has a great concept yet fails to deliver on it. D9 tells the story of aliens who crash land in South Africa, who are then captured and kept in camps while scientists try to study them and their technology. It's a much more "real world" take on what would happen if aliens did actually land here and weren't out to completely destroy us, like in every other alien movie. Where the movie fails, though, is in its main character who makes completely nonsense choices in his actions.

The movie also starts off in a pseudo-documentary style which is cool but then it just degenerates into a generic, over budget action movie. The main character becomes despicable by the end and you're left to wonder what happened to such a wonderful concept.

Honorable mention for the worst movie goes to Disney's A Christmas Carol in 3D - a story which didn't need to be told yet again, and certainly not in 3D.

Transformers

After being incredibly disappointed by the first one, and reading the plot description of the sequel, I can safely say I have zero interest in seeing Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.

I recently saw a shirt with a weeping Autobots logo and underneath it said "Michael Bay raped my childhood." I was never much of a Transformers fan but that is well said, Mr. 40-year old man-looking-at-Transformers-toys-even-though-you-hated-the-movie-anyway.

Something occured to me about the Transformers universe, too. They take the shape of vehicles and such to blend in with humanity. So...why don't they all take the shape of fighter jets? Think about it - if Optimus Prime is chasing Starscream, but they're both trying to blend in, Optimus is a big rig while Starscream is a jet. Guess who can't cross the ocean on wheels or their robotic legs?

Movie Theaters

Dear Everyone,

If you're going to see a movie on opening weekend starring a character from a film series that's grossed over $1 billion, could you please not show up to the theater 2 minutes before showtime? I'm trying to watching the previews and you walking up and down asking if seats are taken is annoying. Did you think Wolverine was some indie art house movie no one was going to see on opening weekend?

Thanks,
Chris

Conan Punches a Camel...Twice

I watched Conan the Barbarian over the weekend and it was pretty long and incredibly slow in parts. I wouldn't recommend it, but this clip below is easily the most random and funny part of the movie. I don't know where the second clip is from, as I fast-forwarded through a majority of the movie. I think Mortal Kombat should incorporate the Conan Camel Punch in the next edition of their game.

17 Going On Big 17

So, I saw a commercial last night for the new movie starring Matthew Perry and Zac Effron called 17 Again. In the movie, Matthew Perry gets to be a teenager again. I think I liked this movie concept better when it was called 13 Going on 30, which I liked better when it was called 18 Again!, Dream a Little Dream, Big and Freaky Friday. Seriously, Hollywood? Rehashing crap makes it crap twice over.

IMAX

So, fiancee and I suffered through Watchmen over the weekend in IMAX. The funniest thing to me, though, was the pre-show commercials that touted the IMAX and its superiority. CRYSTAL CLEAR PICTURE! PERFECT SOUND! THE MOVIE VIEWING EXPERIENCE!

Except when the movie started, the sound was off by about a half a second throughout the entire movie.

FAILMAX!