Monday, February 25, 2013

E3 and X-Men First Class Jun 08, 2011 11:01PM PST

E3 Impressions: might as well be done in run-on sentence train-of-thought, since I have only basic knowledge of what happened, starting with
Wii U: Looks very interesting, but how much do those controllers cost? I'd imagine a lot, but then again
PS Vita: is only $250 or $300 plus tax with 3G capabilities so... it actually might beat out
3DS: which has a lot of games and a concept I like, plus the possibility of portable 3D Netflix and Super Mario 3D still have me giving it a serious look, since at this point I'm not going to buy
Wii: even if it does have a golden controller coming for Skyward Sword, if anything I'm more interested in where that 25th anniversary Zelda symphony is going to be this summer; of course music is also the only interest I really have in
Kinect: since Dance Central looked very fun, but the laggy motion controls in more hardcore games weren't as fun-looking, and I really don't remember much about
Sony's press conference: except the fact people hate AT&T and
Microsoft's press conference: again, had a lot of Kinect and I guess a Bioshock thing?
Anyway
X-Men: First Class
is one hell of a fun Bond film featuring mutants and Nazi Kevin Bacon. Seriously, the 60s camp (albeit the fact many people have brought up that this doesn't faithfully recreate 1962 very well, more a general fictitious account of the 60s) is blasting through this whole affair.
It's a fun movie with a lot of social commentary thrown in, though there are some flaws, mostly stemming from oddly rushed and non-sensical character reactions. Seriously, having sex with someone once does not cause you to betray a life-long anything in quite drastic the fashion portrayed here.
This flaw is odd, because due to its character jam-packedness, X-Men has always relied on characters to tell a compelling story. Personally, I had no idea who any of the main villains were except for a vague idea that the red devil guy was probably related to Nightcrawler somehow. Their low profile among people like me who never read the comics and really only remember the 90s cartoon for its theme song doesn't make them totally uninteresting, but the relationship between Professor X and Magneto is definitely a more interesting plot point than anything the villains bring.
There are also some low-profile heroes, a couple with cool powers, but for the most part they just exist to drive the plot along and continue to show Hollywood's racism even in a movie series with a very obvious Malcolm X vs. MLK angle. At least we get to see what looks like Ron from Harry Potter if he was more gangly and younger use screaming to fly.
Speaking of which, Magneto's backstory is what I would expect (other than a moment in the beggining where my two thoughts were "why didn't you kill that guy?" and "my God, this child actor can not scream convincingly to save his life") but Professor X starts out as a playboy from a wealthy family.
Now the wealthy family part I get, it explains where he got his giant castle school (unrealistically, but that really can't be a complaint here) but the playboy part... interesting, but I really always saw Professor X as a bookworm. Then again, I never pictured Professor X as the guy from wanted with a "groovy" bent either, and had fun with it anyway.
The climax is very well built up because the movie does a great job of making the stakes really high in that final situation, though this is also where the rushed betrayals happen. The special effects sell this and the rest of the movie very well, though, and the action is exciting.
By the way, the cameos have gotten a lot of buzz recently, but I only recall spotting one? Were they all during that montage with Professor X and Magneto? Anyone?
I know this review is written poorly, but taking Physics and Geology summer courses has necessitated that I use the side of my brain that normally functions quite poorly (science/math are not my thing, but don't worry: when I'm not taking so much of that in I can write competently I swear).
So what were your impressions on E3 and any recent movies?

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