"We want the same thing." "My friend. I'm sorry, but we do not."

In the 1960s mutants are yet to be discovered, however young Charles Xavier and Raven are asked to help CIA, with help of new friend Erik Lensherr and young mutant they try to recruit. But are they enough to try to stop Sebastian Shaw - a man whose plan is to have a nuclear war between the US and Russia, to get rid of humans and strengthen mutants?

X-Men First Class, even though it's the fifth film, was t he first X-Men movie I saw. Little did I know then how much I would love the franchise. And even though I've seen the movie quite many times, I still can watch it without being incredibly bothered by continuity errors - since it feels like this is the real one, and every other movie has the errors. 

I mostly watched this for the first time because I had just seen Jennifer Lawrence in The Hunger Games, and I had seem James McAvoy in Starter for 10. Also, it was directed by Matthew Vaughn, so hell yeah.  But mostly through the movie I was like "what the hell are mutants, who are these people". Obviously the writers didn't feel like explaining everything - but then again they never do - since it was the fifth film, so I had to learn while watching, and it was okay for me. The only character I recognised was Wolverine, who has one line ("Go fuck yourselves"). After recognising I was like "Woah, didn't knew he was in X-Men". After that; "How the fuck did I even recognise him?" Because seriously, I had never seen the movie version, just the comic book. I'm guessing it was the hair and the cigar.

But who was my first favourite character? (Did I give that away when writing a review for Days Of Future Past?) Charles Xavier. I'm pretty sure I fell in love with the character when he saved Erik, and talked to him via telepathy. It was amazing, McAvoy's voice charmed me. And of course there's the brutal ending, which I'm not going to give away. Of course you are able to guess the ending, if you are aware of Xavier's condition later, and you compare it to Xavier in the poster. So yeah, there you have it. 

Obviously I still love Charles with all my heart, even though, well, I have another favourite character. 

Watching it now was a bit weird. I'm used to the calm Xavier, the actual professor, the amazing teacher. And now I just witnessed drunken Xavier trying to hit on people by "We evolved from single-cell organisms via mutation. That's a very groovy mutation" and etc. It's so weird, it's like seeing your actual teacher doing that. Ouch.

But I love First Class! It's exciting and thrilling, full of action and fun. Also, it has what all the X-Men movies have that Avengers etc don't: another meaning than just being superhero movies. X-Men is about minorities. It's... amazing. I do love this movie with all my heart, I will love this movie and franchise so, so long. 

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

7 / 10

"Trust me, I've been through worse." "No you haven't."

Before joining the X-Men, Logan - also known as Wolverine - was part of a military team of mutants, until he decided to quite. Years after quitting he realises his brother is on the hunt for everyone who was previously on the team. After Victor kills the love of Logan's life, he has a chance to go to weapon X program, to get the only tools that can kill Victor Creed.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine has so much unused potential it makes me angry. I've read a comic book on how Wolverine became Wolverine. By some parts the movie is better, but yet it's filled with bullshit. Kayla's role wasn't necessary - in the comic book Logan seemed to be a loner, and was forced into the program. Also it was never mentioned in the comics that Victor Creed would be Logan's brother, so adding that to the movie was bullshit. But what I can't forgive is ruining Deadpool's character. I like Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool, he's very good. But the writers didn't make the character as good as he actually is. 

I hardly paid attention to the movie when I watched this. I, um, have seen it too many times, which is sort of why I don't like it that much anymore. That and... you know, realising all the things that are wrong with it. So yeah.

☆☆☆

3 / 10

"Teenage boys are physically attracted to naked women." "Our research doesn't support that, sir."

I think I've just witnessed the weirdest movie ever. Jesus fucking Christ. 

After being pranked by Baxter, Calvin and JJ set up a plan to prank Baxter - by making his computer very slow because of all the possible viruses they could get from a porn site. To Baxter they tell that they are looking for a movie called Movie 43, that is very banned, banned in everywhere. On their search for the non-existing movie they find different kind of films. A woman goes to a date with a handsome, rich man, who is single - no one really knows why. Maybe it's because of some extra appendages? How hard can homeschooling be? What would you do if you're about to propose, but your girlfriend has an unusual request? What happens when exes meet above a supermarket microphone? Superheroes probably get laid so much they don't need speed dating. When there's a new MP3-player in a shape of a naked lady, how come teenage boys get their dicks mangled? Would you want to get your first period in a house filled with only boys? What would you do to get your bro to stay living with you - kidnap a leprechaun! Also how would a blind date go when you go with "truth and dare" through the whole thing?

I hadn't heard a lot about Movie 43, I just knew it was a collection of short films. But of course I was curious - lot of actors I like! There's, well, there's Hugh Jackman, Liev Schreiber, Anna Faris, Kieran Culkin, Emma Stone, Uma Thurman, Chloe Grace Moretz, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Halle Bery, and blah blah blah. Yes I really had to mention all of those. Another nice surprise was to learn that "Happy birthday" -piece was directed by Brett Ratner. Awesome!

But anyway, how come I witnessed a weird movie? My not so short summary doesn't sound so weird? Belive me, it is. It's weird and partly sick and creepy, and it's completely a "what the fuck" -experience, or a "??????" -experience. And those aren't the same thing. But I think we can all agree that sometimes sick or weird humour is really fucking hilarious, which is why I partly liked Movie 43.

Partly liked? Well... Even if the movie is hilarious and fun, and basically completely my humour - except for the parts when it was simply disturbing, like the first story, oh my god - it still wasn't a very good movie. Sure, it wasn't that horrible to watch. .. Maybe a bit, but not all of it, only the really disturbing parts. But it still isn't a movie I'd watch again - at least any time soon. Maybe I'd see it again two years from now. Maybe it seems even worse then. But that will be then, now is now, and I'd say this movie is worth 

☆☆☆

3 / 10

"Side by side to end this war, before it ever begins..."

IMDb claims that the premiere of this movie here in Finland is 23rd. Anyway... I went to see it yesterday. So IMDb is not always correct.

After the Sentinels were created, mutants started to vanish, until only a fistful is left. Sentinels have also started attacking humans carrying the X-gene, so basically only pure humans are surviving. The world is almost completely destroyed, but those few mutants are still fighting for their existence. Their last chance is to send Logan, a.k.a. Wolverine to the past, where he can try to change the situation which resulted into Sentinels taking over. But can Logan change the future in time, or is this the end of mutant race?

The closer the 21st got the more nervous I was. Mostly because Internet is flooded with negative comments about this - most of them given before seeing the movie. Mostly those comments are about the biggest change in the story - well probably was not really the biggest, I mean I've read the thing. People are getting annoyed how Wolverine replaced Kitty Pryde. In the original story, Kitty was sent in the past. Now Kitty is the one sending Logan in the past, which is kind of weird, I have to admit - her character was given powers she doesn't have. 

But even if I push aside my love for Logan's character, I can totally see why he is made the hero. He is the best known character, and basically having a well known character as the protagonist means fans who haven't read the comics can also enjoy the movie without being bothered because they don't know the protagonist at all. And basically - Wolverine means money to the firm. And that's the point of making movies - money. So of course they use Wolverine. And I'm glad they do. He is my favourite character, and Hugh Jackman is easy on the eyes.

The movie was just as good as I expected - probably even better, since I was very worried. I'm pretty sure I had the goofiest faces when I watched the movie.

Movie didn't actually introduce new characters, apart from Peter Maximoff, whose story wasn't even told properly, only implied. ("My mom knew a guy who could do that.") But otherwise there were few new mutants in the very few mutants fighting in the future, and we didn't get to know them much. Most of them were called by their names, though, but there was nothing specifically mentioned about their powers - we just saw them and we have to just assume that's all there is to know. (That's not true to. They told nothing about Bishop. I don't even know much about the character but I know enough to know that there was more than what was shown.) So I guess X-Men movies almost always introduce too few mutants or too many of them. (X-Men Origins: Wolverine. So many new characters.)

Other thing I noticed was that... it was like X-Men Origins: Wolverine had never happened. Whenever glimpses were shown on Wolverine's past, it was always from X2, never from X-men Origins. That was kinda weird. But maybe the director had noticed how shit Origins was. I mean, it was full of lies. 

Anyway, I liked the movie. And fuck yeah, I'm going to go see it again. I felt so alive after seeing it. 

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

7 / 10

"Break out the L-word." "Lesbian?" "The other L-word". "...Lesbians?"

Scott Pilgrim's life is good - he's dating a high schooler, his band is doing well. But things change when he meets a girl he saw in his dream. The girl is Ramona Flowers. For a while everything with Ramona seems so simple and almost perfect - until a random encounter attacks Scott and claims to be Ramona's first evil ex. Scott realises, that if he wants to date Ramons, he has seven evil exes to defeat.

To be honest, I like the movie. I've seen it several times, and it still doesn't fail to amaze me. It has been edited wonderfulfully and the effects are nice. I love the surreal feeling the movie has - the world seems to be our world, but then again there is some fantasy kind of shit going on - vegans have psychic abilities etc. But then again, when you think about it, the story is more like a game. You need to defeat people and you get experience, and then there's the boss fight etc. And in games, there are some weird powers etc. and it sometimes seems completely natural, even if the world wouldn't be so special. I don't know.

One thing that bothers me though is Ramona. I love her, she's amazing, but I think she's just a plain manic pixie dream girl. I don't know, it's like she is just there to make life a bit more amazing for Scott. The character has no apparent personality of her own. But apart from that - yeah, I truly like her. She's very cool.

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆
7 / 10

EUROVISION SONG CONTEST 2014

I really haven't watched movies this week, I've been too excited about Eurovision to watch new movies. (I did watch Kick-Ass 2 now that I finally bought it, but I don't think I had anything new to say about it. ((Now that I think about it - I would've! After reading the comic book! Fuck!))) 

There might be someone reading this who is not from Europe, and therefore not familiar with the concept "Eurovision Song Contest", but I don't think I will start to explain about it. But basically now that Europe has calmed down from all the wars, they have this way to fight wars. And when it's time to give the points, there might be... real anger there. Like I last night: "What the hell, Sweden gave us six points? We better not give them any more than that!"

I had few years where I didn't watch Eurovision, but last year I started to watch them again. This year was actually pretty good - I knew the winner already in the semi final. Also, not every year can you see kids from your school to be 11th in the grand final of Eurovision Song Contest!

But congratulations for the beautiful Conchita Wurst! Beautiful person and beautiful song both deserved the win! Amazing!

My favourites of the year:

Armenia - Aram MP3: Not Alone

Austria - Conchita Wurst: Rise Like a Phoenix

Azerbaijan - Dilara Kazimova: Start a Fire

Belarus - Teo: Cheesecake

Finland - Softengine: Something Better

France - Twin Twin: Moustache

Georgia - The Shin And Mariko: Three Minutes to Earth

Germany - Elaiza: Is It Right

Israel - Mei Finegold: Same Heart

Malta - FireLight: Coming Home

Switzerland - Sebalter: Hunter of Stars

"When you said you'd been in worse situations than this, were you lying?" "No. When we were falling toward the planet and the engines cut out? That was worse."

Medical vessel Nightingale gets an emergency distress signal. When they locate the signal, they lose their captain. There is more trouble, when they get one person as a patient, and they find a weird, alien artifact, which seems to have weird effect on some of the crew members. What is going on, when suddenly two crewmembers aren't on board anymore, and the new captain is left stuck where the patient and weird artifact came from?

Okay, I had really hard time concentrating on this movie tonight. I guess it's partially because I couldn't find subtitles. Yes, I'm helpless, I need subtitles, because if I don't have them, I might miss something important, when I can't understand someone's pronouncing. 

Supernova is not the best science fiction movie out there. It's well written, the idea is great, but something about it ruins the whole package. Now science fiction thriller - that's something I've loved ever since I saw some of the scariest episodes of Doctor Who. Supernova is exciting and thrilling, but it's not exactly scary. Not the way that some Doctor Who episodes are.

To be short, the movie had a lot of potential, but somehow that potential didn't make it through the movie. That's all I really want to say about the movie. (But I have to add, muscular James Spader was easy on the eyes.)

☆☆☆☆☆

5 / 10

My favourite TV shows

I feel like I haven't done a post about TV shows ever. So yeah, I thought I'd do one now. And include several TV shows. Hell yeah. I tried to keep these in order, but I'm not into trying to correct the order, because that would mess the whole post - which is the reason that sometimes Blogger really sucks.

Boston Legal is a drama comedy about a law firm called Crane, Pool and Schmidt. The show is a spin-off of the Practice, which I've never watched, and I'm not interested in watching. A big part of Boston Legal's charm hides in characters Alan Shore and Denny Crane, played by James Spader and William Shatner. I like the show because most of the episodes have more than one plot - there is more than one case. I'm usually more interested in one of them, and I'm more eager to see what happens in that case, even though I didn't care so much about the other cases. I guess that's the point of having several cases. Anyway, this show is a bit sneaky, I mean it tricks you into thinking that the show is completely harmless and silly, and you don't even realise how much you like actors unless something horrible happens - like Shore's night terrors in season 2. 

I'm currently watching the second season. 

I'm not even sure if I need to explain Breaking Bad. It's a show about high school chemistry teacher, who turns 50, and realises he has a lung cancer. Realising he's family won't be left with a lot of money, he starts cooking meth with his ex-student. I really like the TV show, it's a very fine drama, and I can totally understand how come it's won so many awards. (I don't know if it's many but some people are actually making fun of the show winning awards.) The show is very well written and acted. I think my friend Lotta had a lot more to say about this show.

I was watchign the third season, but somehow I never finished that. So I should start again.

Hannibal is about.. well, Hannibal Lecter. Most of us know who he is, so I guess I don't need to explain more. This show is responsible for making me love the original movies, and in some weird way it's also responsible for making me love a certain actor, whose movies I've been watching all week. Oops. I love Hannibal because of the interesting characters, perfect use of music, and fantastic cinematography. I like the show very much, even though during this new season I've found myself a bit disappointed. I remember how I started watching this - I saw one episode, thought it was good, and didn't watch it again, until it started to show here in Finland. And then I watched it every week. But now I'm catching up on what they are showing in the US.

I'm currently watching the second season.

How I Met Your Mother is currently the only sit-com I love. I don't know why I like that show when there are many other shows out there, but somehow it stands out. Maybe it's like Friends for my generation. ... Except that many of my generation watch Friends.. Anyway, the show is about Ted Mosby, telling their kids the story of how he met their mother. For some reason though, the mother seems to never be in his stories, which are mostly about his and his friends' adventures in New York. I like How I Met Your Mother, because it's well written, has hilarious jokes, and also some devastating moments, that have ripped my heart out. I've cried more than once a season while watching this show. I'm very attached to all the characters. And I seem to be the only one who wasn't disappointed about the ending of the TV show. This TV show will always have its place in my heart.

I've finished all the seasons.

Lie To Me is about a small firm, that specialises with detecting lies, so they help in many different crime investigations. I'm very fond of the show, and its characters, and even though I know all the episodes - not by heart but still - I can always return to them and watch them again. Sometimes I hope I knew people who watch this, apart from my dad. I don't even know how I started watching this - I guess I saw one episode from the third season on TV, and didn't watch it after that. And then I went and bought the first season, watched it several times before I got the rest of the show. I really love Tim Roth's performance in this show, and I really like the actor.

I've finished all the seasons.

Misfits is about youngsters in community service, when suddenly a weird storm starts and they gain superpowers. They aren't the only ones, though, and there seems to be a lot of people like them all around the city. One of my favourite things about the show is how different the characters can be, even though they are in the same situation. Also, I love how most of them aren't happy with their powers. I love the show, and it also has ripped my heart out several times. The music in this show is also amazing. 

I've finished three seasons.

Blacklist, Blacklist, Blacklist... where do I begin? I hardly watch TV, I buy TV shows on DVD. But I saw a commercial for Blacklist and I thought "That's so my scene". So I started watching it - missing the first episode, and oh I was in love. The show starts when one of the most wanted criminals, Raymond  Reddington, turns himself in to the FBI. He then makes a deal - he knows which criminals are important and FBI should try to find, so he gets immunity. His other condition is, that he will only talk to Elizabeth Keen, a new FBI profiler.The two main characters remind me somehow of the relationship between Starling and Dr Lecter, but fortunately it's not so simple, and there's so much mystery wrapped around that - and the whole character of Raymond Reddington! But the Starling/Lecter -thing is why Hannibal is resposible for making me love James Spader. 

I'm currently watching the first season.

"Julian, who the fuck do you think you're talking to? You're a junkie."

Less Than Zero is based on a novel written by Bret Easton Ellis, who has written also American Psycho. While the original novel apparently does not have a clear plot, the movie version is centred around Clay, Blair and Julian. They are old friends, but Clay hasn't spoken to Blair or Julian since he came back from college, and realised Blair has been fucking Julian. Six months later, Blair asks Clay to visit his old hometown, which Clay does. What he didn't know was how deep in trouble his old friend Julian is.

Well I mostly watched this movie because James Spader is in it. I think I'm starting to have problems.

But Spader wasn't the only actor I knew! Nuh-uh! Of course there's Robert Downey Jr. who played Julian. He did marvellous job, as always. He's very good. I... there was a time I didn't like him, but now I guess I'm starting to like him again. I blame 80's movies.  Andrew McCarthy played Clay, and I've seen him before in.. Pretty in Pink. I don't like him. I don't know, maybe he's a good actor, but something about him is not very... likeable. I guess it's the characters.

I really don't know what to say. Well, the story was interesting, but it... it was so different from the text I'm used to reading, you know, texts written by Bret Easton Ellis. But then again, apparently, the plot was changed very much. Maybe I should try to get the real story and read that. As soon as I get my reading problems fixed. 

Again, I find myself... not so sure what I should say. I mean I wasn't ready to write this review, but I felt like I had to. The movie was nothing special. I mean it was alright but... doesn't stand out, you know? Like Layer Cake.

One thing bothered met he most: Clay goes to Rip, the drug dealer I suppose, and tells him to stay away from Julian. I mean sure, sure, sure: drug dealers are bad and blah blah blah, but I don't think it's their job to prevent drug users from.... using. I mean they make money selling drugs. If they don't sell drugs to a certain person, somebody else will. So I don't understand Clay going up to Rip. I mean Julian was the real problem here. Of course Rip wasn't exactly a good guy, but then again I understand that 50,000 dollars is a lot of money. If someone owes you that much, you want to get them back.

☆☆☆☆☆☆

6 / 10

"You know, he said the purpose of fiction was to combat loneliness. -- Well, on the other hand, spending most of your time with an 1,100-page book tends to put a dent in your social life."

I watched Liberal Arts again. I bought it from London. I've seen it once before, and I loved it. I loved it so much that I guess the review was my first really long review. But now I don't think I will do that long review. I won't even start to do a plot summary, because I couldn't cover that in even ten sentences.

First of all, this is the first drama movie I started to like. So this is really close to my heart. I love this movie.

First of all, I love Radnor's writing so much. The movie is so amazingly written. Almost every line in the movie is so quotable. That's why I'm wondering... why isn't this movie more popular? People keep quoting Mean Girls and Juno, when there's a gem like Liberal Arts? It feels like Radnor has thought long and hard before writing a word. Because I don't think there's one line in the movie that isn't good, that is useless. 

But this tie I figured out something new about the movie - what it really was about. It was about living and aging, I think. Most of the time it's really about age. Jesse goes back to his alma mater, and of course that's the closest we get to travelling back in time. Zibby feels like her older self is looking at her younger, more incomplete self. In the end Jesse and Ana are talking about getting old. Jesse talks to Dean about how he shouldn't die young but die old. But what's most important is when Jesse's old professor says he still feels like a 19-year-old, and he has to remind himself that he is not. "Nobody feels like an adult", he says. 

And I love how warm relationship Liberal Arts has with books and music. Everyone describes books and stories and poems so warmly. It's nice to listen to Zibby and Jesse's letters about music, when they adore the music. It's so relatable, even though you can't put your feelings about music and books in the same words. But it's good that Radnor knows how to use words, so we can just listen (or read subtitles) and be like "Yes, yes, that's exactly how I feel about this.)

And thank god for a movie that can poke fun of liberal arts education, but still doesn't judge people when they study what they love. I hate it when art students are made fun of for following their dream and all that stuff. 

Anyway, last time I gave this eight stars. I was about to give it a full ten but then Silence Of The Lambs screwed everything up. Anyway, I'm still pretty happy about my first review of this movie, so if you want to read more than this review, which feels really short, go ahead and read that. However, I'm still not giving this movie a full ten. Maybe in few years.

☆☆☆☆☆

5 / 10

(Note: Yes, I edited the score now, in 2015 because I've realised the movie is stupid and clichéd as fuck. I need to make another review, but I couldn't stand looking at my blog and seeing 9 stars for the movie.)

Also I thought now I could let you know the ratings I gave to a bunch of movies I never did a review of. Mostly because those movies were very bad or I could not think of anything to say about them. Anyway. 

Hitchcock: ☆☆☆☆☆ (5/10)

Pretty in Pink: ☆☆ (2/10)

When Eight Bells Toll: ☆☆☆ (3/10)

"You're crazy." "Crazy? You want crazy? Well, I'll show you crazy."

Sure, I checked last night that The New Kids was a thriller movie. But still, the name sounds quite harmless, doesn't it? Anyway, I didn't expect sitting here as horrified as when I saw Silence Of The Lambs for the first time.

The New Kids is about Abby and Loren. After their parents die they move to Florida, to live with their uncle, who is building an amusement park. Local gang starts to coax Abby, since they had a bet on who would get into her pants, but when Abby turns them down, they start tormenting them both.

And again I feel like I don't give the writers justice by my stupid summaries.

One thing that bothered me was how the music was used. Most of the time it was very well used, but sometimes it just didn't work. And sometimes that's good, like it gives some weird contrast. But here it was... just... really bad. Like if it's a really terrifying scene, you shouldn't use some almost cheerful music just to... I don't even know what they were trying to accomplish with that choice of music.

Another thing was how Abby mostly had to rely on her brother and kind of never stood up for herself. It's kind of depressing, it sends out the idea that girls really can't do that, they have to have an older brother or something. I mean sure, there are a lot of girls, who probably couldn't stand up for themselves if some crazy high school gang was trying to get them, but if that's mostly what's shown in the movies it's... well it doesn't really send out a good message, you know. But then afterwards Abby did stand up to herself, but it was mostly when a certain somebody was there. I'll get to that character later.

Well, I was comparing this to The Silence Of The Lambs. Mostly because these two have been the only thrillers that have made me squirm in my chair going "no no no no no no no". Well obviously The New Kids isn't as good as The Silence Of The Lambs, but I think it might be more terrifying. Because in Silence Of The Lambs, the scariest people are serial killers. The chances encountering one - especially as tremendously imaginative and sick as Dr. Lecter and Jame Gumb. But in The New Kids... somehow everything seems like something that could happen - and is probably more likely. Even though the "bad guys" aren't exactly serial killers, they might be as sick as those. There are men, who really... well they turn from nice to almost scary when a woman turns them down. (That might also work both ways, but still, which happens most often?) But that hardly goes as far as the whole situation in The New Kids. 

And the gang... There are four brunets, who together are just annoying and hostile. Of course they can go as far as being scary. But what was really scary about the gang was the leader (who's name is so weird I don't remember it, I have to check it.) - Dutra. I mean the other ones would be disorganised and probably a lot less dangerous if it wasn't for him. But Dutra seems to be dangerous, violent and almost organised. And when the four are beating Loren up, I got a lot more concerned when Dutra showed up. And that happened several times. Alone the four are something Abby and Loren might have handled, but then there's Dutra and everything is fucked up. 

Once I thought that I was actually scared of Dr Lecter. That was before I was introduced to Dutra. The difference is that there is absolutely no one out there who is like Lecter. So that's a relief. (Well I guess there could be, but they wouldn't have all the features that make Hannibal Lecter as scary as he is.) But Dutra... There could be people like him, probably there are. If you take one regular, everyday misogynist, violent person, and just get them a bit more fucked up, that's Dutra. But yeah, wow, James Spader was absolutely marvellous, I mean it's weird how different he can be from Tuff Turf - movies came out same year, and Spader is like a totally different person. ... Which is actually actors' job...

If I can describe this movie in three words, they would most likely be: "What the fuck". 

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

8 / 10