X-Men: First Class

I went into this movie with not refreshing myself with any of the previous films; which i have not seen in a few years; and without any hope of enjoying it. There i find myself mistaken.
Had i refreshed my memory on specific details of the previous X-Men films, no doubt i would of noticed a lot of little discrepancies, just like in  X-Men Origins: Wolverine. However, nothing major jumped out at me. 

The new replacing the old?

Since we are seeing some of our favourite characters from the days when they were young, we are forced to to relinquish the roles of Patrick Stewart's Professor X to James Macavoy, Ian Mckellen's Magneto to Michael Fassbender, Kelsey Grammer's Beast to Nicholas Hoult, and Rebecca Romijn's Mystique to Jennifer Lawrence.

There was nothing wrong in James Macavoy's performance, the script was even right for the part of Professor X. Yet however, i could not believe he is supposedly professor X as a young man. Especially with the whole ladies man picture they were painting towards the beginning of the feature. Once again, Nicholas Hoult's performance as Beast was well portrayed. However, i could not bring myself to believe that this was Beast as a young man. For me, a lot of Beast's personality was portrayed in his expression, and although Hoult performed a perfect sad, determined, smart, etc. face. It just didn't have the right look for me. However, Lawrence's performance as Mystique...i didn't see the difference, it was like she truly was a young Mistique, i don't know if it was the make-up that helped me with the transition or some amazing acting skills coming from her.
 At these conclusions during the film, i realise, as much as I am enjoying the film and am truly interested by what's happening. I'm just not connecting with these actors, and it has nothing to do with the performances they are giving. Me as the old fuddy duddy that i am, cannot let go of the Patrick Stewart's and Ian Mckellen's of the previous films. My brain could understand that obviously younger actors would be needed to play the young versions of the originals, and that the performances are more than up to par. However, my heart could not bring me to connect with them as they have done before.

Its all in the eyes

Personally i loved seeing the friendship...no, kinship between X and Magneto develop. How it began, how they parted. Obviously we had been told pretty much what happened between them by the other features. However, seeing it, having more detail, to see how they were truly like brothers. If anything, i wish we had been able to see them connect more. Not just have the fast forwarded version. Considering, really, this is what the film is about, i would of thought they would of focused on it a bit more. Instead we are bogged down with other people's stories...that in themselves are interesting enough to know,  but not really what we're there to see.

Now graphics ... I can be a bit of a graphic snob. I don't know much about them, however, i do know we have the ability to make things look completely real/realistic, therefore i expect this when CGI, etc. is used.
At times the graphics fit in, and you don't blink twice at them being in the picture. Other times they stand out like a sore thumb. Its as if they wanted us to notice the special effects they've used by screaming out 'hey, look! I'm not real, I'm done on a computer!' A prime example of this, is when young magneto is moving the surgical/torture room around.

The film has no twists or turns when it comes to plot line if your not a stranger to the x-men series, and to be honest, what are the chances of that? You know at some point X is going to be paralysed, the only question is when. You know Magneto and X are going to part sides, You know Mystique is going to side with Magneto despite everything. So the guest appearances are really all you have to look forward to in terms of the unexpected, oh wait, no! They show them in the adverts. However, lets face it, we're not going there for the twists and turns. We're they're because 1) we truly want to see what went down between X and Magneto 2) we cant resist seeing the X-men kick some butt. Which sadly, there is very little action sequences. Only a lot of preparation for action.

The way its meant to be :)

I have to drop this is, absolutely LOVED seeing the yellow lycra suits, just like from the cartoon series/comics making an appearance! They were truly missed in the other films!

I seem to differ with the opinions of many. Many believe X-Men and X-Men 2 are the best and only decent films of the franchise, however i remember preferring X-Men: The Last Stand and Wolverine. Now i find myself enjoying X-Men: First Class. Although its far from the best, i do hope that it has reached the good opinion of all X-men fans, be them the first half fans or the latter half fans like myself.

Conclusion: It is a good film. I wouldn't turn up with your X-Men trivia in full tact, it may ruin some of it for you. Story line is a bit jumpy at the beginning and looses some momentum half way through, however, it holds you attention and your not left wondering what the time is. The professor X and Magneto kinship is well portrayed and you can definitely see the yin and yang between the pair. All in all worth watching.

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides

The Pirates franchise as a whole, i am a fan of. Obviously Pirates Of The Caribbean: The Curse Of The Black Pearl is in a completely different league to the two sequels. However, Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest and Pirates Of The Caribbean: At World's End never lost the feel or the magic of the original. I cannot say the same for this one; Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides; I cannot but help think this is mostly down to the change of direction.

Rob Marshall has two of my favourite films under his directional belt; Chicago & Nine; both which have a dark directional edge to them. Just what the Pirates franchise would require of their director. However, what we were delivered is the complete opposite. The original characters; excepting for Gibbs; all kept the core of what their characters have always been. However, no matter what was happening on the screen, with all the characters, i could not see past how light it all looked/felt. Other than the obvious brightness of all the surroundings, the film never reaches any real deepness. The story line permitted a lot of it, yet somehow, it never quite managed to portray the darkness of the moment. 
    Having Marshall as the direct, does however, explain why we had the extremely corny and ridiculous dance scene between Jack Sparrow and Angelica Malon. It was just up his street, directing dance sequences is most certainly a skill of his. However, this did not fit in with the film, and seemed nothing more than a very cheap Disney gag. Considering his skill in this area, i would of thought 1) The dance scene would of been better and 2) There would of been more combat scenes, of a one on one nature with some decent choreographing, yet alas, these were seriously lacking.

One of things that i loved about the pirate films is that they haven't had the trade mark 'I'm a Disney film' feel about them when you watch them. To find out that they were truly a Walt Disney production was nothing more than a shock to me. Sadly i cannot report the same for the latest production. It was a classic Disney sequel, the characters repeating key phrases from the original, a week plot line being covered up with a tidal wave of cheap jokes.

Barbossa unfortunately taking a lot of the jokes.

Johnny Depp was at his usual brilliant standard, once again capturing the very essence of Jack Sparrow and bringing well and truly to life on our screens. Although, Sparrow did not appear to have the same wit about him, or cunning which he had in the previous pirates. Penélope Cruz i felt delivered the best performance her limited character could give. Although the moments where she was soft, felt too soft for my liking. Geoffrey Rush's character of Barbossa  was the one to suffer the most for the Disney-isation of the whole film. The cheap gags, the repetitive lines seemed to all hit him. Which was a dying shame, since Barbossa was one of the brilliant characters from the movies. He had great depth, and cunning. However, luckily as the film goes on he becomes more like the Barbossa the previous pirate's gave us. I know partly this is due to the plot line and the  direction the character had taken. Yet it seemed too much fundamental bit of his character were changed.Ian McShane is an actor, i must admit, that i haven't really come across before. His portrayal as the infamous Blackbeard was very convincing and well done. Although, it didn't seem like the kind of part that really needed much acting. Saying the lines and making your eyes wide whilst wearing mascara is all that seemed to be needed for this role. Kevin McNally once again played Gibbs, and he played him well. To be honest though, i did not see much point in adding Gibbs into the story line, it seemed he was more there just because he was so well liked in the previous pirates. Sam Claflin, an unknown, new to our screens actor. Cant say i saw any flaws in his acting, although i cant honestly say i saw anything special about him. Obviously put in to be the replacement 'eye candy' which supposedly Orlando Bloom brought to the mix. It didn't work for me. I know she was not a key member of the cast, nor was she the only guest star; far from it really; but i cant help but mention Dame Judi Dench, although her part was small, it was definitely worth seeing!

Please don't get me wrong. It is a good film. Its just no more than that, its is just good. Maybe if this was an original; as opposed to being 4th in a series of films; it could be seen as more.

In Conclusion: Good film. Seen in both 3d and 2d... don't waste your money in 3d. Well acted, however story line could of done with more development and really should of stuck with original director. Worth going to cinema to watch, worth owning on DVD for £3 or less.