Normally I focus on films that people probably haven’t seen, but I made an exception for X-Men. The superhero flick came out nearly eleven years ago (that makes me feel old) to a relatively lukewarm response. Even as a kid I understood why, X-Men was okay, but a bit underwhelming. My opinion of the film only strengthened after it was released on DVD and until last week, I probably hadn’t seen it in almost eight years. My decision to watch X-Men came solely as a result of boredom, but to my amazement I enjoyed it more than I had in theaters over a decade ago. This struck me as odd but I think I know why.
Reason #1:
Unlike many big budget movies, the original X-Men didn’t rely on computer graphics. There are some CGI sequences and those definitely look dated, but only one scene struck me as looking particularly bad. In that scene, Wolverine uses his claw to swing around a point on the crown of the Statue of Liberty. Wolverine looks like something from a Playstation 2 video game, in other words, awful. But other than that, most of the action sequences hold up surprisingly well.
Reason #2:
Since the original X-Men, there have been four additional films about the team of superheroes (X2, X3, X-Men: Origins, X-Men: First Class). Those films, especially the most recent two helped to flesh out the reasons for the conflict between Magneto and Professor X as well as Wolverine’s past. Magneto and the Professor aren’t just two old guys who like to battle each other with teams of mutants. They used to be good friends but have different views on how to best serve the mutant community. Wolverine isn’t just an angry d-bag; he has a long, colored past explored in X-Men: Origins (even if it sucked). The extra background makes the characters far more interesting. I loved the final scene of the movie where Professor X and Magneto play chess against each other, something they did as friends during First Class.
If you feel like giving X-Men a second chance (which you should), hurry because it will be removed from Netflix Instant on July 6th.
The Pixar Story is a surprisingly entertaining documentary about the history of the animation studio. On a couple of occasions I have mentioned how large of a (figurative) boner I have for Pixar, so I am biased, but I think most people will enjoy the lighthearted documentary.
When Pixar was still in its infancy, John Lasseter (one of Pixar’s founders) would work late into the night, sleep on a mattress under his desk for a few hours, then wake up and keep working. All of the other Pixar employees interviewed had the same level of passion about making great-animated movies. I found their enthusiasm absolutely infectious and easily the highlight of the film.
Considering that The Pixar Story is a pretty thinly veiled promotion for the company, I still had a great time with it and think there are definitely worse ways to spend an hour and a half.
Mad Men
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| I don't know who these people are, but it should be illegal to look this fly |
Starting on July 27th the critically acclaimed AMC TV series, Mad Men will be available to stream on Netflix. I have never seen any episodes of the series but I’ve heard people rave about it, so I’m pretty excited to finally see if the show lives up to all the hype.
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