Thursday, June 2, 2011

I didn't take any pictures last night after all. Mark did
some stuff for work and then helped with some BSG work
- though we called it quits fairly early, as we were both
obviously very tired. Mark fell asleep on my bed while I
watched more BSG deleted scenes from Season 2 - which
are going to rock in the extended cuts. There were some
major chracter / plots bits that just never made it to the
screen. Sad, but exciting that I'll have inclusive cuts to
watch and share with my friends who love the show like I
do.

I later slept well. Got up around 1pm again. I did
Farmtown and then got pounded by a massive migraine
with no warning. I took some Excedrin Migraine and a
scalding hot shower. Later I noticed that Gen had posted
some pretty insulting stuff on her page but chose not to
retaliate.

Yesterday I rewatched X3, though I forgot to mention that.
I still think it's mostly good. I think people disliked it for 2
main reasons. 1: it's sense of closure. Rather than being
part 3 of 100 it chose to be part 3 of 3, featuring the
"deaths" of major characters and the depowering of
several important mutant characters - yet at the same
time, it made it perfectly clear that characters that were
presumed dead may have survived and that the 'cured'
characters powers were likely to return - making a 4th
entry possible - so I'm not clear on why this point bothers
so many people. 2: People weren't happy with the changes
in continuity from the comics to the screen such as the
Phoenix Saga and Juggernaut being a mutant...these
changes didn't bother me though because I think the
Phoenix Saga is overrated, and the movie version made
sense within the movie continuity - and Juggernaut being
a mutant in the movie (and not Xavier's brother) is a lot
more acceptable on screen than Xavier's brother finding a
magic helmet that grants him super powers. There's 1 or 2
things I don't like but it's a pretty cool 3rd part of a story -
and is currently chronologically part 5 of 5 - and I'm cool
with that. I've heard really good things about the new
prequel ("First Class") and I MIGHT go see it in the theater;
I've seen the previous 4 in the theater as well. Here's how
I'd rate the ones I've seen so far:

01 X-Men: First Class ???
02 X-Men Origins: Wolverine ***
03 X-Men ***
04 X2: X-Men United *****
05 X3: The Last Stand ****

"Wolverine" was good though I had 2 complaints - 1
involving a special effects sequence which looked terrible,
and the other being a really horribly stupid line of
dialogue - which in the grand scheme of things are pretty
minor complaints.

"X-Men" was a good introduction to the world and
characters but the storyline is sort of silly, there's a
continuity flub, and the movie is very short.

"X2: X-Men United" is probably my favorite superhero
movie and the best of the sequels in my opinion. It has a
huge cast of characters but uses them well and to great
effect and the story hits several high points I wasn't
expecting.

"X3: The Last Stand" is better story wise than either
Wolverine or X-Men, yet it doesn't quite reach the heights
of X2.

Everything I'm hearing about "X-Men: First Class" tells me
that it's on the same level as "X2". I hope it is too. This has
been my favorite series of superhero movies and I'm
happy that a new entry is getting such high praise and
that future installments are in the works as there is talk of
a "First Class" sequel, a sequel to "Wolverine", a Deadpool
spin-off which may or may not be in the same continuity
as the other films - and there's talk of a sequel to "X3"
which would be very, very welcomed.

When I say the X-Men movies are my favorite series of
superhero movies I should, I suppose, be clear about what
I'm comparing them to. I've not seen most of the Marvel
Cinematic Universe which is building up to "The Avengers"
next year; I've only seen "Iron Man" but I'm excited to
watch the other entries in that series and I have high
hopes for those 6 movies ("Captain America: The First
Avenger", "Iron Man", "Iron Man 2", "The Incredible Hulk",
"Thor", "The Avengers") and the future installments as well
(there are talks of several future installments including
"Iron Man 3", "Thor 2", "Hawkeye", "S.H.I.E.D." & "Black
Widow" among others). Here's how I'd rate the other
superhero films I've seen:

Batman ***
Batman Returns ****
Batman Forever ****
Batman & Robin *
Catwoman *

Batman Begins **
The Dark Knight ****

Blade ***
Blade 2 ***
Blade Trinity *

The Crow ***
The Crow: City of Angels **
The Crow: Salvation *
The Crow: Wicked Prayer *

Daredevil *
Elektra ***

I know people hated Elektra but I thought even with the
horrible miscasting it was far more enjoyable than
Daredevil - plus Jennifer Garner did a much better job with
the character her 2nd time out.

Fantastic Four **
Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer ***

Hellboy ***
Hellboy: The Golden Army ***

Hulk ***

The Punisher (Lundgren) ***

Sin City *****

I'm not sure Sin City belongs on this list but it's fucking
AWESOME.

Spawn *

Spider-Man ***
Spider-Man 2 ***
Spider-Man 3 ***

Though the Spider-Man movies are 'ok' I don't love any of
the characters and in fact, most of them annoy me.

Superman ***
Superman II ****
Superman III ***
Supergirl **
Superman IV: The Quest For Peace *
Superman Returns **

Watchemen ****

Watchmen would have gotten 5 stars yet it removes a lot
of the LGBT content from the book and actually inserts
more homophobic crap that wasn't there - it's still
inclusive and it's still a cool movie - it just could have
been more than it ended up being.

I also watched bits of Resident Evil 2. We have Resident
Evil 1, 2 & 4. I'd never seen 4 though I'd seen the first 3 in
the theaters. I thought 1 was good. I thought 2 was kind
of stupid at first because the way the zombies were
presented didn't seem scary at all but then it hit me later
that part 2 isn't so much about zombies but it about Alice
& Nemesis and the fallout of 1 and then I liked it a lot
more when taken on those terms. I thought Part 3 was
bad, but I've only seen it once and might like it more a
2nd time. I'm not sure. I'll probably rent or buy it
someday. I started Part 4 ("Afterlife") a bit ago and so far
I'm enjoying it at least as much as Part 1 and more than 2
or 3. They're working on Part 5 which is supposed to be
out in September of 2012. I'm going to eat and watch the
rest of the movie. I'll comment on it when I'm finished.

   posted by Bald Jason at 05:23 PM
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