X-Men First Class

I have not seen any of the other X-Men movies, except for the Wolverine movie, which I think is a little different anyway, so I think I come into this movie sort of like someone would come into Star Wars Phantom Menace without seeing A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi. I have no idea what the other movies are about.

I expected X-Men First Class to be like the wave of other super hero movies that have been in the theaters the past 5-10 years. And in many ways it is. Lots of computer-animated graphics. Lots of special sound effects. Unrealistic cinematic action. But this movie has something that the other movies didn't have - Kevin Bacon.

X-Men: First Class takes viewers back to World War II when the first mutants were discovered by evil Nazi scientists. Now they, the mutants, are older and various groups of mutants are discovering each other and banning together. Also in the mix are the bad mutants that are ready to take over the world.

Now set in the early 1960's with the Cuban Missile Crisis looming, the bad X-Men plan to use this to their advantage. Their weapons are deception, fear, and intimidation. Or were those the weapons of the Spanish Inquisition?

Also starring in this movie are James McAvoy as Dr. Charles Xavier, the chief of the good X-Men, Michael Fassbender as Magneto, January Jones as Emma Frost, Zoë Kravitz as Angel Salvadore, and Oliver Platt as "Man in Black Suit". I could list another dozen more of the actors playing super heroes. But I'm not going to.

There was one glaring flaw in the battle scene with the computer animated graphics. Any Navy man would probably notice it. Other keen or trained eyes may catch it, too.

X-Men: First Class is Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence, language, some sexuality, an some partial nudity. Apparently naked aliens counts as nudity now. Maybe only if she has breasts. Blue ones.

Overall, I was impressed with X-Men: First Class. I didn't expect much from the movie, but it was actually not that bad. So if you like or can tolerate science fiction movies, I think you'll like this movie. I give X-Men: First Class 3.6 stars.

Wanted

I used to think that Angelina Jolie was pretty hot. She's still okay, but many fine young ladies have pole-vaulted in front of her. But that doesn't mean I won't watch a good Jolie movie, even if she has 15 kids of every different color.

Wanted is about a fraternity of hitmen (and women, but not drunk college kids) that assassinate people around the world as they are instructed. One day Wesley Gibson's, played by James McAvoy (Last King of Scotland, Atonement, and Narnia) father is assassinated. Gibson finds himself targeted and recruited at the same time while trying to live his normal boring pathetic life.

Jolie and Sloan (Morgan Freeman) recruit Wesley into the fraternity of assassins, but Wesley finds out that life as an assassin isn't quite what he thought it was going to be.

The movie is more fantasy than anything, but it is certainly action-packed. From bullet bending, to leaping from building to building, to an outrageous and unbelievable car chase, this movie should keep your attention for the full hour and 40 minutes. I was a bit surprised by the ending, which I love. I can't stand it when a movie is super-predictable. This movie is not.

Morgan Freeman again does a good job as the bad guy. (Remember his work in Lucky Number Slevin?). Jolie is tough, sexy, and unflappable. You'll find yourself cheering for McEvoy as he goes from LOSER to tough villain back to the point where he wonders how he got to where he is.

The movie is rated R for tons of violence, including frequent slow-motion bloody bullet shots to the head, language (pervasive language according to MPAA), and some sexuality. I think we got a fair shot of Jolie's butt as she was getting into the tub.

The movie is directed by Timur Bekmambetov who has brought you nothing that you ever heard of. I give this movie a 4 star rating. Good plain fun movie.

Penelope

What do you do when your daughter receives the brunt of a family curse and ends up with a pig nose? Fake her death and hide her in a home in the country, of course. Christina Ricci stars as Penelope, the cursed girl, who has come of age and is seeking an acceptable suitor who will help end the curse.

Penelope's parents, Catherine O'Hara (the overbearing obnoxious one) and Richard E. Grant (the passive and honest one), arrange for gatherings with male suitors who flee at the first site of her. Unfortunately, Edward Humphrey Vandermann III (Simon Woods - Rome), the son of rich businessman, is one of those suitors and he, like the others, flees when he sees her, but runs to the police to report a monster living in the burbs. Reports of a pig-like ogre with huge fangs that attacked him spread through the newspapers.

In an effort to get her pictures to the press, they evil dudes hire Max (James McAvoy - Atonement, The Last King of Scotland, Narnia), to woo her and take the pictures. Only problem is, standard Hollywood script requires him to fall in love with her and eventually renig on his promise to help cage this monster.

Despite her encounter with Max, Penelope is totally despondant and decides to leave her parents and set out on her own with her mother's stolen credit card. She meets Reese Witherspoon (check out those beautiful eyes) at a bar and who wouldn't want to meet Reese Witherspoon at a bar. They befriend each other until the hired authorities catch up with her. Edward has an evil plan that will help destory her. Will Edward's plan work or will Max be able to win her back? Or will Penelope figure it all out and find love and happiness on her own? Will the curse be broken or will she learn to love despite the curse?

This movie is geared to preteen girls, but adult enough that parents would not be disappointed. My 8 year-old daughter loved the movie, but my 10 year-old nephew who was staying with us for the week did not like it. He was hoping for more high speed car chase scenes and some battle ax fights with snakes and volcanoes. And my 6 year-old son fell asleep 5 minutes into it, which was good.

Penelope was produced by Reese Witherspoon. It is rated PG for some language and mild violence and a scarry pig nose on an otherwise attractive Christina Ricci. The movie is 89 minutes long, just long enough to start and have it end when the kids are good and ready for bed. My daughter gave this movie 4 stars. I probably would have given it 3 stars, but the movie was not intended for me, so we'll go with the 4 stars. (Editor's note: my daughter has never rated a movie less than 4 stars)

Atonement

I am sucker for any movie set during World War II. And I'm a sucker for Keira Knightly (Pirates of the Caribbean movies). And had this movie missed any 2 of these elements, it probably would have been one that you could just forget about.

In Atonement, Keira Knightly stars as Cecilia Tallis, the older sister of Briony Tallis (Saorise Ronan, the 13 year-old version of Briony, who absolutely sucks as an actress, as does Romola Garai, the adult who plays the older Briony later in life.) Briony sees several events at their palatial home during the late 1930's that shape her views and opinions of others.

The movie shows several events from Briony's point of view and they do seem scandalous. However, the events are then replayed from the point of view of Cecilia, and they are not quite what they seem. In what will probably be the most memorable scene from the movie, Knightly dives into a large fountain in a sheer slip to retrieve a piece of a broken vase, only to get out of the fountain to reveal what she's got.

It doesn't help Robbie's (James McAvoy) case later in the movie when he writes an apology to Cecilia for their unfortunate encounter earlier in the day, but then also writes a second erotically-charged version in which he writes Cecilia that he wants to taste her cunt (the movie's words, not mine), which happens to be the version that he gives to Briony to give to Cecilia.

The movie flashes forward and backward constantly, giving the viewer an absolute dismal time of trying to keep up with events. On a nighttime search for the missing twins, a common event in many classic English movies, Briony witnesses a rape of a young girl, but only briefly gets a glimpse of the perpetrator. She immediately suspects Robbie whom she has seen with her sister several times in the misinterpreted moments. Hours later, Robbie returns with the missing twins looking bewildered at the lack of enthusiasm for the safe return of the young lads. He's immediately arrested and sent to prison for several years.

The movie transitions to later in life and Robbie is serving in the military trying to escape Europe during the evacuation of Dunkirk. Cecilia and Briony are both nurses, though Cecilia refuses to speak to her sister. Briony at this point has a sparking drive to deliver penance to Robbie and Cecilia realizing her mistake. Neither will have anything to do with her and she never sees them again.

The movie ends with Cecilia as an old woman talking to a reporter about her latest and final book, Atonement. She tells how her sister died during the bombing of London and Robbie died during the evacuation. So, ironically, the miserable wretched Cecilia, who wrongly accused Robbie of raping a girl and denied her sister true love, gets to live a long life while everyone else died. How wonderful.

As mentioned previously, the historical reference to the evacuation of Dunkirk sparked my interest, as did the passionate love scene between Knightly and McAvoy, as witnessed by Cecilia.

Overall, I gave this movie 3 stars. The Briony parts of the Oscar-nominated movie are clear 1 or 2 star parts, the Cecilia parts are definitely 5 star parts, so I averaged the two ratings. The movie is 2 hours long and is rated R for containing some disturbing war images, and some undisturbing sexual images.