Last week I finally got the opportunity to see Aeon Flux. Now, you have to understand that I was HUGE fan of Peter Chung‘s animated series on MTV (back when MTV still actually played music videos) and also of the animated shorts that were featured on Liquid Television. I wasn’t sure what to expect, having heard not great things about this, but as sci-fi fans know well, science fiction takes a lot of flack. It doesn’t have to be high cinema, it just has to be an entertaining movie with a plot that doesn’t cause you to lose IQ points. Here is a pretty decent review of the movie. The hard-nosed critics gave it a very reasonable B, boosting it above B-grade status.
I have to give it to Charlize Theron, she is the most amazing chameleon I have ever seen on any screen. She just forms to whatever role she’s playing, adapting the necessary spider-like qualities to portray the Monican agent more fully than I could have imagined. With the sheer amount of special effects, it would be really easy for the effects to steal the show, but Theron keeps an iron grip on the character, the story and even the underlying themes throughout the whole thing, without basking in some ego-driven spotlight.
I have the original series on order from Netflix, so I’ll be able to share them with Spawn while re-familiarizing myself with them. I’m very much looking forward to that.
This weekend, Spawn and I joined Princess and another friend to see X-Men, the Last Stand. I’ll be completely honest, I had pretty low expectations for this movie. I was very concerned that they would sacrifice the pseudo-political themes and the intelligence of the other two for effects, and, to a certain extent they did, but the movie didn’t suffer for it.
First, though, a bit about the experience.
I forget now what Regal calls it, but when it was Hoyt’s it was called The Twenty. What it is, for those of you who live under a rock, is the commercials and cleverly disguised commercials they subject you to for twenty minutes before the previews start. So, if you want to get there in time to get decent seats, you are forced to watch this mind-numbing garbage that actually makes the time DRAG. I think my IQ dropped just from watching that drivel. And, as much as it pains me to say it, the actual Twenty was more entertaining and less consumer advertising. The behind the scenes stuff was better. This stuff just hurts.
Also, TOO YOUNG TOO YOUNG TOO YOUNG. Why don’t more movie theaters have age limits for PG-13 and R-rated movies? Obviously there are too many parents who cannot make rational decisions regarding their children, or maybe it’s just that the wallet-rape by the ticket counter and concession stand means that most parents simply cannot afford to see a movie and hire a babysitter for those couple of hours.
I think that the stadium seating and the "OMG is it getting BIGGER?" screen are not worth the IQ -lowering, wallet-raping, shut-that-kid-the-hell-up experience that the mainstream theaters offer. I think I will save a couple of bucks and hit the smaller, independently-owned theater for my mainstream movies instead. Bonus points for the cafe next door and lack of "no outside food or drink" restrictions.
Ok, on to the movie, and because this is already long and I’m likely to spoil *something*, you gotta choose to read on from here:
First things first, NOT ENOUGH BEAST. Well, that’s not quite accurate. They did such a kickass job with Beast in the tiny bit of combat we got to see, all it did was make me want MORE. I wanted to see Beast in action. I wanted to see him training in the danger room. The movement was so fast-paced that I think I’m going to need to get the DVD and slow that stuff down. They did Beast right, and while I wasn’t overly concerned about it, I was incredibly impressed at the end result that was Beast.
I think that there are a lot of people out there who, looking at the entire trilogy are going to take exception to how far these movies have departed from the original comic series. Those who became familiar with the X-men through these movies, or even from the cartoon show, will likely be very pleased with this final installment, however, I fear that those who have followed the X-men through Storm’s many hairstyles, through the various team make-ups, through multiple illustrators, will probably be pickier with this movie than with others. I think it’s not entirely true to the characters that the characters are based on, though it stays pretty true to the characters as developed in the movies themselves. If that was confusing, I apologize. I hope some people were able to follow it.
I knew there would be deaths in this movie. I knew who one of them would be, but I was not expecting the WAY that the deaths (two in particular) occurred. Make a point, when you go to see it, to stay for the very short scene after the credits. There are bootleg copies of the scene on the internet, but how busy are you that you can see a 2 hour movie, but can’t stay an extra 5 minutes? I mean, really.
The problems that I had were minor in nature and have more to do with my familiarity with the comics than anything else. It would probably go over the heads of most people and it’s mostly petty and minor.
I have to say, Magneto is the absolute coolest villain, ever. I mean, think about it, in the last movie, he pulled the iron out of his blood and this time (spoiler spoiler spoiler) he stole a bridge! Talk about villainy. He so totally could have come up with several hundred different solutions to that particular problem, but noooo… he stole a bridge.
Casting? Check. Continuity? For the movies themselves, check. Special effects? Not overdone, very appropriate, well done. Check. All told, I thought it was a good movie, not great, but not a waste of money either. The only way it could have been better would have been if they had taken much of the plot in a completely different direction. I’m satisfied with the ending, such as it is, and I think that’s it’s been wrapped up to such an extent that if TPTB decide to make more X-men movies, they need to start over with a new cast and not try to pick up where this left off, since too much of it was a little too final to try to rewrite.
Now that we’ve entered Summer Blockbuster season, it’s all about the mainstream movies. Not that there are all that many I’m interested in, and the overall experience at the Regal theater has certainly turned me off of the ginormous screen and insane prices. I’ll block the busters, but I’m going to do it on MY terms. The few I feel I need to see on the big screen (or those that Spawn cannot live without seeing), well, we’ll go ahead and support the smaller theater – with our snobbish coffees in hand.