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.

The Adjustment Bureau

When I speak of William Holden being the lead man of his era, I can say that Matt Damon is the lead man of his era. At only 41 years old, Damon continues to put out movies year after year that capture your imagination or your attention, regardless of its material. And he can also successfully slide over to television (Liz Lemon's boyfriend on 30 Rock).

The Adjustment Bureau is Damon's newest movie to be released on DVD (remember I rarely go to the movie theater. Too expensive and people just won't shut the funk up!)

In this movie, Damon is a young Congressman David Norris running for the U.S. Senate. While reflecting upon the day and mentally preparing for his speech, Norris runs into a young lady named Elise (Emily Blunt) and instantly falls in love. Norris' speach is considered a dramatic success, though he loses the election after some frivilous behavior is exposed.

All the while, the audience watches as these men in hats seem to be following him around. Several years later, Harry (Anthony Mackie), one of these hatted men, is instructed to make Norris spill his coffee so that he misses the bus. Harry falls asleep, Norris makes the bus and again runs into Elise. Then he runs into men in his office that seem to be lobotomizing his coworkers. After an unsuccessful flight attempt, Norris is detained and told that the hatted men are from the Adjustment Bureau, men instructed to keep certain people's fate in line. Norris, not wanting to be tied to a predetermined fate which he disagrees with, spends the rest of the movie trying to outrun and mislead the hatted men.

The Adjustment Bureau is based on the romantic science fiction thriller book The Adjustment Team by Philip K. Dick. This movie was captivating to me. I only intended on watching half of it one night and the other half the following night. Instead I found myself watching it through to 11:30pm, which is late for me. I suffered for it the next day at work.

In addition to Damon and Blunt, the movie also stars John Slattery from Mad Men, Anthony Ruivivar, who you may recognize from Third Watch, Michael Kelly, an absolute knock-off for Elliot "Spitz or Swallows" Spitzer, the disgraced former governor of New York. Oh, and left-wing liberal fake news comedian John Stewart's in it, too.

The Adjustment Bureau is an hour and 40 minutes long and Rated R for some strong language, violence, and some minor sexuality.

I really enjoyed The Adjustment Bureau and I think you will, too. You do not have to be a science fiction fan to appreciate this movie. There's romance, action, drama....something for everyone. I'll give The Adjustment Bureau 4.2 stars. Check it out.

Star Trek

This movie is a little late, but I finally got around to seeing it. As is the trend with most movies now, you show several iterations of it, then you go back and recreate how they got there. Remember the Star Wars double-trilogy, X-Men, to name a couple.

In this release of another Star Trek movie, we are taken back to when James T. Kirk (Chris Pine) is born, a brief glimpse of his youth, and his unflattering attendance at Star Fleet Academy. Meanwhile, they also parallel Spock's youth and his rise to an officer in the Star Fleet (Spock (Zachary Quinto) is a bit older than Kirk).

The plot is confangled and a bit difficult to summarize, but basically the Romulans have attacked the Vulcans and there's a time warp and some treachery going on. After the captain of the Enterprise is taken hostage, it's up to Kirk, Spock, Dr. McCoy, Uhura, Scotty, Sulu, and Chekov to save the Enterprise and Earth from Nero, the evil Romulan. The movie is full of action, pretty decent computer graphics, and sound effects.

The movie earned nominations for awards including a Grammy for Best Score Soundtrack Album, and several People's Choice nominations: Breakout Actress, Breakout Actor, Favorite Franchise, Favorite Movie, though the movie walked away from each empty-handed.

Directed and produced by J.J. Adams, Star Trek is PG-13 for science fiction violence and some minor sexual content. And when you get to that part, the color on your screen is correct. She's green.

Also staring in the movie are Eric Bana (Captain Nero), Leonard Nimoy as old Spock, Simon Pegg as Scotty, John Cho as Sulu (from Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle), Karl Urban as Dr. McCoy, Zoe Saldana as Nyota Uhura, Anton Yelchin as Chekov, and Winona Ryder as Spock's mother.

I really really enjoyed watching this movie and look forward to the sequel. I freely give this new Star Trek movie 5 stars. I will definitely watch it again.

District 9

I finally got around to watching District 9. The previews present the movie as a suspenseful science fiction movie of intellectual proportions. But they didn't show the bugs.

The first 10 minutes of the movie had me glued. It was really well done and, indeed, was very suspenseful. It was basically a series of interviews about the events looking in hind site.

Then they showed the bugs and then the Wikus Van de Merwe character (Sharlto Copley). Is it just me, or did he seem like one of Eric Idle's characters from Monty Python? I could totally picture him pitching commercials or being the tourist in European Vacation. And this made me laugh.

And then the people starting communicating with the "Prawns", who did not speak English, but rather a guttural squeaking. Fortunately, everyone understood each other. And I laughed some more. Is this a comedy? And then the Nigerians moved in. Hysterical. And I'm pretty sure this was not the intent.

On a serious note, I did find a parallel between the treatment of the Prawns and the treatment of illegal immigrants, which our government prefers to call undocumented workers (what if they're not working???).

Nevertheless, the movie is about how the South African government has decided to move in to District 9 where the Prawns are living and move them to an alternate location in an effort to rid the area of crime and alleviate the health concerns. However, during the search, seizure, and removal, Wikus is infected by some liquid and slowly becomes one of the Prawns. Now the government wants him, too, but for experimental purposes.

Now Wikus must fight for his life and has a different perspective on the life and adversities of a life as a Prawn.

Directed by Joe Carnahan (Smokin' Aces and the upcoming A-Team movie), District 9 is 112 minutes long and is rated R for bloody violence, language, and bugs.

Also starring in the movie are Jason Cope, Nathalie Boltt, and Sylvaine Strike, all actors I've never heard of.

I got a good laugh at the expense of this Sci-Fi movie, but the storyline isn't too bad. If you have time, you may get a kick out of it on multiple fronts. I give District 9 3 stars.

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

What a tag line. "More Alien Robots. More Explosions. And Much Much More Megan Fox." Who's this movie really about anyway? They certainly know who the target audience is.

The latest installment of Transformers hit the market this week on DVD. I watched this one compliments of Netflix Well, not really compliments. I paid for it. But nonetheless.

The movie has the same cast of characters including the weenie-turned superhero Shia LeBeouf (pronounced wee'-nee), the super-hot Megan Fox (she sure is), and some other actors that most people don't care about.

After the first movie, everyone assumed the Autobots had won the battle against the Decepticons. However, it turns out that Hollywood's insatiable appetite for money-raking sequels to successful movies has proven that the Decepticons were not all eradicated and have come back to Earth for revenge. In fact, for Revenge of the Fallen.

Sam (LeBoeuf) attempts to go off to college, but a magical metal chard has fallen that activates future Decepticons and all hell starts breaking loose. Now it's up to Sam to save the world, and for some odd reason, the United States military fully cooperates with this 18 year old kid because they know he can save the world. And they know that if his hot girlfriend tags along in a spaghetti string top that reveals a lot of her cleavage, he'll have more success.

This Transformers sequel is full of destruction, explosions, violence, explosions, lasers, bombs, explosions, bullets, missiles, rockets, and did I mention more explosions? The Decepticons are very good at said destruction and wreak havoc all over the planet. It's starting to not look good for the human race and world-wide tourists attractions and the Autobots seem to have met their final match. Fortunately, someone always has a trick up their sleeve that can turn the tide of battle.

I'm sure you can figure out how it will end. The good guys all die and the Decepticons take over the world, right?

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is 2 and a half hours long and was Directed by Michael Bay and produced by Steven Spielberg. It is rated PG-13 for explosions, violence, language, some crude behavior, and a sexual situation that will whig you out.

Though a non-stop action movie, the plot of this sequel is thin and at times too convenient. Someone asked me about Megan Fox's acting. Acting? She just runs around being sexy and tough. Not much dialog for her. I doubt that she'll win an Oscar for this one. But she got some good posters out of it.

Additionally, the sound effects, for some reason, didn't capture my attention like they did in the first movie. Perhaps they dummied them down. It seemed like more banging and less metallic, gear-shifting as they changed from vehicles to robots. Furthermore, what should have been heart-thumping explosions from missiles and other artillery were more like muffled tin-like noises that you would expect from the weird kid on the bus that was into Sci-Fi.

Overall, this movie was entertaining, but not of the same caliber as the original movie. If you're looking for fast-paced pure destruction then this is your movie. If you want cerebral science fiction, you'll have to look elsewhere. I'll give this second leg of the series 3 stars.

Stay tuned as the third segment will be out in a year or two. And for the Megan Fox crowd - keep your fingers crossed that the next Transformers movie is a soft-core porn\science fiction.

THX 1138

Ever see the beginning of a movie and the far away to close sound check with THX is on the screen? Ever wonder what that is? Well, it is part of George Lucas' production company. And THX was the character in one of his earliest films.

THX 1138 was a character played by Robert Duvall in the movie of the same name. Lucas started producing the movie in 1969 and it was shown in 1971. It is a very futuristic science fiction movie. Many of the scenes do not appear to go together and there is very little dialog. For those of you who don't like thinking movies - stay away. Stay far away. This movie makes you think. And it's the actions of the characters that make you think. Or perhaps the lack of dialog that make you think.

One thing that I thought about during the movie is how similar this could be to George Orwell's 1984. It definitely appeared as if the government was in charge of everything, including mind control, destiny, and prescription drugs, though that may not be far off from the current truth.

In the movie people are drugged up and not allowed any free thought or action. Instructions are given by "Big Brother" throughout the movie. One day Duvall decides to not take his mind controlling drugs and then hooks up with a girl, which is illegal. Both are removed and sent to some sort of endless walled prison. Duvall then spends the rest of the movie trying to escape.

I found it interesting that during the chase Big Brother was providing budget statistics for each action, which determined future actions. Another point of interest was during an explosion at the police manufacturing plan (where they manufacture police robots). After the clean-up, a friendly Big Brother voice informs the other workers that the explosion killed x amount of people, bringing that group' death toll to 200 and some, which is lower than their department's death toll, so keep up the good work!

The only reason that I got this movie was because I knew that George Lucas had produced it in or just out of film school. If I had watched this movie without any knowledge, I would have thought it to be totally nuts. However, knowing that it was a Lucas production, I actually caught glimpses of Star Wars in the making. A lot of the settings and electronic communications reeked of Star Wars. I'm not sure if it is worth watching the movie to see this, but I found it interesting.

THX 1138 is rated R for sexuality, nudity, and scientific confusion. The movie is 88 minutes long, but seems a lot longer since there is very little dialog. I gave this movie 3 stars, but would have given it 2 1/2 if Netflix would have allowed it. It's not the kind of movie that I would normally like, but science fiction fanatics would probably love this movie.

Earth Girls Are Easy

In typical 1980's comedy style, Earth Girls Are Easy is set in Southern California during the Valley Girl era and shows a lot of hot pink, yellows, and day-glow greens. Also in typical 1980's style, the movie stars Jeff Goldblum and Geena Davis. But don't let this porn-sounding name trick you. There is no nudity or sexual escapades. The movie is rated PG.


In the movie, a spaceship has some mechanical trouble and must land on Earth and get repaired. The three characters on board resemble hairy Teletubbies. Geena Davis discovers these hairy freaks, but realizes that they are friendly. She takes them to a friend who happens to be a beautician - because everyone in L.A. is a beautician. After some trimming and makeup, out come 3 hot guys - Mac, Wiploc, and Zeebo, more commonly known as Jeff Goldblum, a young Jim Carrey, and Damon Wayans.


The problem now is that the 2 girls are falling for these hot guys, and wouldn't you know it - Geena Davis already has a boyfriend. Now she must help them repair their ship, but also party with them without getting caught.


This movie is quite silly. Jim Carrey's character doesn't say much, but certainly acts goofy. Goldblum's character is apparently the big studly guy of the movie - yeah I don't get it either. And Damon Wayans is just there. I wouldn't say the movie is particularly funny. Just silly.


I saw this movie on Comcast OnDemand because there was nothing much on. I wish I would have gone downstairs and cleaned the basement instead. Fortunately this movie from 1989 was only 100 minutes long. I give this movie 2 stars. It wasn't so terribly horrible that I had to pluck out my eyeballs as I did know most of the actors. However, if you're bored on Saturday and this is one of the options, clean the basement instead.