Movies: X-men: First Class (2011)

By D. Caraccioli |

Thursday, June 16, 2011

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Director: Matthew Vaughn

Runtime:  132 minutes

Cast: James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Kevin Bacon, January Jones, Nicholas Hoult, Lucas Till and Zoe Kravitz.

Plot: Before Charles Xavier and Erik Lensherr took the names Professor X and Magneto, they were two young men discovering their powers for the first time. Before they were archenemies, they were closest of friends, working together, with other Mutants (some familiar, some new); to stop the greatest threat the world has ever known. In the process, a rift between them opened, which began the eternal war between Magneto's Brotherhood and Professor X's X-MEN.

My first ever 5 star review and it’s excellent, the movie of course. Let me tell you that at first it sounded like a good idea to do a prequel of the saga but somehow I wasn’t that much interested in this movie. It just seemed that some CGI effects weren’t easy on the eyes at first. (When you first see Beast as Beast is not easy either but you get used to it, because the movie is sooo good)

The Characters

What makes a difference between this movie and the originals is that is has character depth in big like in some small characters. The most deep character was Erik Lehnsherr aka Magneto. Michael Fassbender excelled as Erik and gave one of the best performances of the movie as a total badass but with a heart, and that makes him seem relatable in some sort of way. Charles and Erik’s relationship is more profound than in other movies (obviously cause they seemed to focus more on Wolverine on the others) but it is a relationship that is relatable and charming. Another role that impressed me much was Raven aka Mystique, played by Jennifer Lawrence. Mystique is fresh and young and fun but also wants to be herself, who she really is and wants to be accepted. The other mutants have funny bits and specially when training. Charles Xavier was pretty much good but I think that Erik overshadowed him a bit, James McAvoy definitely did a good job and the last scenes are proof of that. Kevin Bacon was surprisingly good, haven’t seen him in a good movie in years, and may I just say that he kinda spoke like 5 languages on this movie, nah kidding he just spoke 3, I think.

The Settings

Even though the movie was filmed only in UK and the US, the movie settings are in US, UK, Russia and an island that seems to be Cuba or close to it. The setting was great and being set in the early 60s the writers had time to play with the historical and political events at that time. Personally I love the movies that are set in the 60s because they have this style that is true of those days and this film does achieve a good setting.

Mutant and proud

Now about the movie, overall the X-men saga’s movies have always been about accepting and this is not untouched in this movie. The little mutants (Charles and Erik’s team) feel like segregated kids and when they find other people like them they feel comfortable like at home. Mystique is a way to improve this theme here. At the end they are accepting who they are and being proud of it or as Mystique would say: “Mutant and proud”.

So this was longer than I thought but X-men: First Class is just worth your time. It is very long but it doesn’t drag, it will not make you dull and will maintain you excited in every minute. So go enjoy it now, and here I leave you with the X-men: First Class trailer. Hope you enjoyed.

Movies: Kung Fu Panda 2 (2011)

By D. Caraccioli |

Sunday, June 12, 2011

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I haven't been here for a while so I probably forgot how to write a review, forgive my misspells and my incoherent thoughts

 Director: Jennifer Yuh
Cast: Jack Black, Angelina Jolie, Dustin Hoffman, Gary Oldman, Jackie Chan, Seth Rogen, Lucy Liu, David Cross and Danny McBride.
Runtime: 90 min
Plot: Po joins forces with a group of new kung-fu masters to take on an old enemy with a deadly new weapon.

So its that time of the year when blockbusters arrive, and this movie may remember us of one of the best summer years, 2008. 

The first Kung Fu Panda was released on that year and yet it was a funny movie but not like a PIXAR movie of course. This one its a little bit better, in my opinion. It might be a tearjerker for some people but the plot line of Po wanting to know his origins is pretty adorable and with some laughs in between. The second part is no Pixar again but its one of the best achievements of Dreamworks since they only make funny movies but with no bigger story, excepting for How to train your dragon (which I still haven't seen). 
Again I cant talk about the actors work cause I watched them in Spanish but its first part was the only kids movie I've seen on English and not in Spanish, so I was a bit wowed at first with the dubbing. 
The villain is pretty kickass (duh it's Gary Oldman it's obvious it's a great villain), Lord Shen the peacock who wants revenge and it's pack of wolves. 
The animation is great, and the visuals are great aswell, you remember of how I said that the colors in Rio did reminisence of Rio de Janeiro, well this picture has great colors like how Asia is. 

Now talking about the 3D, I've seen a couple of movies in 3D but I think that they really utilized very well the 3D in this movie. It's not Avatar but it really gets close to it and it has more scenes that use 3D. It's worth your money to see it in 3D. 
And talk about the music, the soundtrack is as the visuals, reminiscent of Asian features of those countries and well, it's Hans Zimmer. 
In the end its a pretty good movie with lots of laughs and a pretty good story. Go see Kung Fu Panda 2, it's a family movie that grown ups can see too.
Now I leave you with the Kung Fu Panda 2 trailer.