Quick Reviews...

Not enough time for complete reviews I am afraid....Too much on my head...But enough time to at least go to the movies...My recent viewings...Hangover 2, X-men First class and Unknown...

Hangover 2

The sequel of the pretty awesome Hangover was a movie I was not expecting much from.I was afraid that it would just be the same thing as the first. And my fears were well...verified. The movie is exactly, EXACTLY the same as the first. No surprises there...At all. It has many funny parts of course and a huge number of outrageous gags. But this is also its problem. It has nothing new to present so it is trying to be as outrageous as possible. And I am not referring to the strip club scenes.These were actually shockingly hilarious. But the other aspects. For instance the relationship of the gang with Alan. It begun from starch without reason. Something that did not really make any sense. And his character. Although catastrophic in the first movie he was still the lovable crazy person. In this movie they are trying to amp his act and they overdo it. Alan's character from the lovable crazy person became annoying at best or completely psychotic at his worst. He stops being funny and comes out as outright disturbing. And all the things that the main characters go through would make most people crack and they seem to handle it pretty well. The gangsters,  the shooting, the finger thing. In the end, after all that the movie ends with the classic comedy style of "in the end all is well". But it is not. There was actual harm done this time and the movie ends like an 80s sitcom...It really gives you a weird feeling in the end. Not the feel of the amusing relief of the first. All in all, an ok comedy but more disturbing than it should be to make sense.

X-men: First Class

I was exited  about this one from the first time I saw the trailer. It seemed interesting and well done. Completely different from the previous X-Men movies that were barely watchable. And  the movie completely satisfied my demands.That is until the end when it was completely ruined it for me. The movie is for certain the best X-Men movie until now. Characterization, well developed (main)characters and awesome performances. The movie is well paced and has some great action. The characters really act with sense and what they are doing is logical and the whole story goes forth really naturally.And a good villain too. If it was not the last 10 minutes it would be one of the best superhero movie ever made. I will elaborate...

 /*SPOILERS*/

The whole movie progresses as a very mature story not trying to cramp things faster than it would make sense. And it is good. The themes of Pr. X and Magneto's  Friendship/Rivalry and the whole discrimination against mutant point are plots that need time to develop. They were done greatly up until a point. The movie seemed to be going to end very discretely and seem to be heading to a finish were you could start to see the difference of the 2 friends and the first hints of fear against the mutants by the humans. And it would make sense like this. These things realistically take time. Yet instead of the movie ending like that , hinting the resolution to these plots, they just go all the way within the last 10 minutes. Suddenly within 10 minutes that Russians and Americans realize the existence of the mutants they agree to kill them even though they were working for them!!!And within months Charles and Erik become brothers and immediately without any remorse enemies!!!!It is like the last part of the movie was written by a 5 years old.The plot completely lost the creditability it was trying to gain until then.  That part completely ruined it for me. Too bad... I could really like this movie but I guess blockbusters cannot escape the temptation of oversimplification.

Unknown   

It has been a while since Liam Neeson has made a good movie and this one is finally a very good one. I will be brief because this I don't want to spoil it. I won't say anything about the plot because it  best for one to see the movie without knowing anything beforehand. I will just say that it is well crafted, well acted even to the slightest detail that will only be made clear in the end of the movie and the story is as good as one would expect for a mystery movie.Just good pace and suspense with the city of Berlin as its background. I enjoyed it very much.