X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009, U.S.)

Let's face it. Hugh Jackman is a badass. I don't know if anyone else could have pulled this film off. The plot was a bit confusing at places and strained credulity at others, but it was still pretty awesome.

Aside from Hugh Jackman, the rest of the cast was pretty amazing. Dominic Monaghan and Will.i.am I thought were especially good, but Ryan Reynolds just stole the show. Considering that they all had such minor roles in a story that revolved around Jackman's character, it was especially impressive. (Side note: two of my favorite Aussie actors made brief appearances... Wish they were longer!)

The special effects were also jaw-dropping. Fight scenes were over-the-top, but pretty cool and well-choreographed.

One last thing that especially impressed me was the score. Of course, I've love Harry Gregson-Williams since the first time I heard the Kingdom of Heaven score. (Other good work of his includes Shrek and Gone Baby Gone.) Normally superhero-type movies have cheesey, over-the-top scores, but this one was perfect. It used some of the stereotypical action stuff, but it also had some truly beautiful parts too. That man sure can compose.

Overall, I think this is a good addition to the X-Men films (perhaps the best one), and I look forward to the other Origins films they're planning to make.

Rating: 3.5

X-Men (2000, U.S.)

I can't lie, I was confused for most of this movie. Partially because I was talking to Jeff through most of it, and partially because I never read or watched X-Men as a kid. Mostly I wanted to watch the trilogy so that I could watch and understand Wolverine because a) I have become a Hugh Jackman fan (especially since he hosted the Oscars) and b) Aaron Jeffrey is in it!

Still, I thought it was pretty sweet. For starters, the aforementioned Mr. Jackman was awesome, and the rest of the cast was great too. The special effects were really believable, which is sometimes all one can ask of a movie like this. One thing that did really bother me was when the script obviously dropped the ball. For instance, Storm is letting herself (and everyone else) get beat up, and I assumed she just couldn't use her powers inside. Then five minutes later, she uses her powers to save the day. Why couldn't she do this earlier? I don't know.

So yeah. Good casting, good special effects. That pretty much sums it up.

Rating: 3.5