Matinée
I heard someone describe this film as a mix of The Goonies, ET, and Jurassic Park. I have to agree. And they also had the similarity of a squat faced young blonde girl. I'm not sure why Steven Spielberg movies have that particular aspect in common. Maybe they remind him of a family member. Or he just has a different idea of cute children. But if you like Spielberg's earlier films, you will like this one. Overall it was a great mix of adventure, comedy and suspense. I didn't like how foul the young mouths were. I don't like swearing in general but it seems so much worse from kids.
This film had a lot of really good suspense. I even found myself jumping a couple of times, which is a rarity for me. I make a terrible haunted house date, I just don't know how to jump and cling like a good scared girl should. But I think the secret of what was in the train was timed well, hints and glimpses all along the way.
Of course I loved seeing Coach Taylor from Friday Night Lights (Kyle Chandler). And Joel Courtney was a great young lead. His friends were cast really well also. They made the comedy of the movie. The little Cary with his braces and unstoppable retorts was hilarious.
Even though the story is about kids, I definitely wouldn't call this a family film. It is pretty dark but very enjoyable.
Matinée
Well after taking a few weeks off, I am finally motivated to write again. Well work is really slow so why not. I went to see this on my vacation with my sister. I have to say it was my favorite X-Men so far. I thought the film was really well cast. I am a huge James McAvoy fan. Michael Fassbender was great as Magneto, and looked much more handsome than in Jane Eyre. The cast of first class students were all young enough and talented enough that Origins can become its own X-Men series. It was also fun to see January Jones, outside of Mad Men but still in the same time period. Well why not, it looks good on her.
The special effects were generally pretty good. There were a couple of moments, as when the young Erik sends the equipment of a lab flying, that could have been better but I thought they were good for the most part. I really liked getting to see Xavier as a professor, actually teaching the young mutants. It was made a really good sequence in the movie with some fun editing and split screens. I also really enjoyed getting to see why Erik and Xavier may fight constantly but still refer to each other as old friends. I feel like I understood Xavier a lot much in this film. Magneto was obviously jaded by the separation and death of his mother. This film showed a lot more of how he became so angry with such a strong vendetta. But I think the real mystery being revealed was Xavier. Yes he can probe peoples minds, but he not only sees, but feels what they went through. He truly felt everything Erik went through. He knew exactly why Erik became Magneto, yet still had the strength to stand against him. He also wasn't angry with Mystique for siding with Magneto. He can truly understand people better than anyone else.
It was strange to see Mystique and Xavier as children. They were so close in age, yet later in life seemed years apart. Even in the other X-Men movies she seems so much younger than him. But it was interesting to see their relationship, her own identity crisis and his part in it. The reason he often didn't understand Mystique was because he promised never to read her mind.
There were some good humorous allusions in this film as well. The reference to Xavier shaving his head, Xavier and Erik finding Wolverine only to have him tell them to. . . well to say it nicer than he did, to leave him alone. But I guess that makes Hugh Jackman the only person to make an appearance in all the X-men movies.
Overall I really enjoyed this movie. Great summer movie. If they do decide to make more X-Men Origins films, I won't mind.