X-MEN FIRST CLASS (PG-13)

X-MEN FIRST CLASS (PG-13)

MOVIESAL'S GRADE: A

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
	James McAvoy		Charles Xavier
	Michael Fassbender	...	Erik Lehnsherr / Magneto

Let's start with the obvious, here. This is not The Dark Knight. Nothing can ever be The Dark Knight. But, it's a darned good movie.

The plot  spans from WWII to the Cuban Missile Crisis. It is best if you go into it knowing as little as possible, so I won't even try to recreate it here. Needless to say, it involves mutants. And lots of explosions. And a revenge vendetta. And betrayal...or is it really betrayal? At the center of the story are Erik and Charles, two young men with very different paths who meet under explosive circumstances and are almost immediately bonded for life by some force neither of them really understand. They are friends and rivals, completely opposite in their approach to life. They respect each other and their powers, but as they continue to fight for the same goals, they begin to understand that their differences will soon outweigh their bond.

What I like most about this movie is that both the "good" guy and the "bad" are right and wrong. Charles is a little naive and far too forgiving and hopeful. Erik is cynical and cruel, but hey. The dude has some good points, as does the real villain of this film. (I don't want to tell you who he is in case you've been living in a cave and don't know who he's played by). The questions asked by this film are deep and complicated, and the answers are not given easily. I like that I left with questions and not many solutions. Very few movies can do that.

There have only been a few times when I have been in a full theater that was dead silent. One of those times was the last twenty minutes of this movie. The entire audience was completely riveted by the wrap-up. I admit I was surprised by the emotional resonance. I didn't go into it expecting the story to be so human, but it really was. It was tight and exciting, filled with enough twists to justify the run-time. I wasn't bored for a moment, and I didn't know the ending in the first ten minutes. It's not flawless by any stretch of the imagination. Lots of questions are still unanswered, and we need at least one more prequel to see how this ties into the first X-Men movie, but all of that was forgiven and forgotten by the time the credits rolled.

THE BOTTOM LINE:

Entertaining: Yes, very.
Enlightening: Yes. Human nature is on trial.

Summary: Engrossing, intelligent super hero movie. Definitely not your Fantastic Four or Green Lantern.

The Art of Getting By (PG-13)

THE ART OF GETTING BY

MOVIESAL'S GRADE: D

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
	Freddie Highmore	...	George Zinavoy
	Emma Roberts	...	Sally Howe
	Sasha Spielberg	...	Zoe Rubenstein
	Marcus Carl Franklin	...	Will Sharpe

See Freddie Highmore brood.

Brood, Freddie, brood.

If you like thoughtful dramas about teenage angst, this isn't the movie for you. If you think Twilight was really deep and Deathcab for Cutie speaks to your soul, you might like it. Only you can make that call, but let me try to help you along.

Freddie Highmore is George, a directionless high school senior with a home-life that's in shambles and a killer talent for art. We know he's talented because everyone in the movie tells him so. He's also a slacker who walks through life without doing a single lick of school work. You'd think this would have some kind of immediate consequence, but it garners nothing more than empty threats and clucking from indifferent teachers.  We also know he's deep because he frowns a lot and obsesses about death. Oh, yeah. Also his bangs hang in his eyes. Can we as a society just disabuse ourselves of the notion that brooding and whining equal character depth? And can we please stop accepting scripts in the Kevin Williamson school of teenagers who talk like particularly douche-baggy philosophy majors all the time? For Heaven's sake, they even text in full sentences. When's the last time that happened?

Anyway, the plot is pointless. There's the perfect girl (Emma Roberts), or maybe she isn't perfect. Or maybe she is. Or maybe we just don't give a crap because not a single character in this movie is engaging, authentic, or interesting in anyway. Somewhere along the way, there's a threat  that George's slacker ways will get him expelled from school. I don't want to give anything away, but the plot ends with a graduation ceremony wherein we're not sure whether or not our lead will actually be able to collect his diploma.

His last name is Zinavoy.

I kid you not.

Zinavoy.

Are we really supposed to buy this?

THE BOTTOM LINE:

Entertaining? Hell no.
Enlightening? Maybe if you're six and haven't read Catcher in the Rye or seen a single 80's comedy.

SUMMARY: Boring, dull, whiny, and douchey.