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X-Men: The Last Stand, a review by Dragonfire

My Thoughts

This movie is entertaining, but I don't think it is as good as the first two X-Men movies.  Nightcrawler is done and there is no explanation for where he is after it seemed like he was going to stay with the X-Men at the end of the second movie.  Gambit is still missing.  The plot, or should I say plots, had potential that they didn't reach.  After all the set up for the Phoenix/Dark Phoenix story in the second movie, the way he was dealt with in this movie failed.  The origins of Phoenix is completely different, though I suppose the explanation in the movie is easier for people not familiar with the source material to follow.  Jean/Phoenix ultimately ends up not doing much and the chance to do a story about Phoenix is wasted.  The plot connected to the cure is interesting, but it also isn't that developed.  It could have been a more powerful plot if there was more time devoted to it and how some of the mutants were tempted by the cure...or struggled with the decision to get it.  As it was, mutants were just shown showing up and waiting in line to get the cure.  The impact of the cure - specifically as it relates to a few characters - isn't fully dealt with it.  Each of the stories would have worked so much better if they had been in their own movies instead of crammed together into one.  I still wonder how much the change in director played a part in the plot.  There is an interesting scene after the credits that seemed to have potential for future movies that so far haven't happened.

Overall, the movie is entertaining, but it isn't as good as the first two movies.

 

I did get a review posted on Epinions after first seeing the movie in the theater.

X-Men: The Last Stand

(From Dragonfire: What I've Been Watching on May 29th, 2009)

Aquamarine, a review by addicted2dvd

Aquamarine
It's the end of summer and Claire (Roberts) and Hailey (Jojo) have a major problem. In just five days, Hailey's family is moving halfway around the world! These girls need a major miracle, and get one in the form of Aquamarine, a beautiful mermaid who washes ashore in a late summer storm. Sweet but clueless to the ways of romance, she offers to grant the girls one wish if they help her find the boy of her dreams. But when they attempt to reel in the cute local lifeguard, the result is something none of them expect...and they discover that sometimes what you wish for isn't what you really want after all.

My Thoughts:
I promised my daughter Brittany that I would watch one of her movies with her this weekend. And this is what was picked out. It is a cute enough movie... but definitely strongly geared to the teenage girl. But all the same it was entertaining. Most the characters likable... at least the ones you are supposed to like. It is worth checking out at least once.



(From Weekend Movie Marathon: 5/22 - 5/24 on May 24th, 2009)

Babylon 5: Marathon, a review by DJ Doena

Synopsis: A Centauri agricultural colony is attacked by the Narns and taken over. The head researcher of the Centauri happens to be the nephew of Centauri embassador Londo Mollari and the Narn have no intention of giving the colony back. Meanwhile unarmed transports are raided by people who seem to know exactly when and where a transport will be.

My opinion: This episode is somewhat of a second pilot. While it doesn't introduce the station or the characters it sets certain things in order and makes changes to the staff and the appearence of certain aliens (e.g. Delenn, the Minbari ambassador). It also introduces the concept of a primary and a secondary storline to this show, a concept that many of the following episodes will use, too.
It's not that great an episode but it shows the mutual hatred between the Narn and their former oppressors, the Centauri. But I loved Lt. Cmdr. Susan Ivanova from the start and while Lt. Cmdr. Takashima (from the Pilot) was ok, Susan seems much more powerful from the beginning.


Synopsis: An alien unknown to mankind "stumbles" through the jump gate and lands himself in the infirmary. To other aliens his kind is known as Soul Hunters because they catch the soul of people the moment they're dying. And this particular Soul Hunter has come for a certain ambassador.

My opinion: I liked this episode because it discussed the different belives of what happens to a soul when the body is dying. And everyone was certain that his/her concept alone was to be the correct one and than one should act accordingly.
I also liked the hints that Delenn is hiding something from Sinclair and the first mention of Dukhat, although the events leading to his demise are not revealed yet.


Synopsis: Londo falls in love with a Centauri exotic dancer and doen'st care much about his duties as ambassador of the Centauri Republic. Meanwhile someone uses illegaly the high priority communication channels known as "Gold Channel" and security chief Michael Garibaldi is determined to find him or her.

My opinion: I really liked the insight of the Centauri society because it showed that the Republic is more like an aristocracy with houses and titles and slaves. I also liked. We also learn more about Ivanova and that she is russian. OK, since Star Trek's Chekov this is no new concept but I was always a fan of the idea that not every human in space is of american origin.


Synopsis: Babylon 5 has its second birthday and Sinclair is trying to evade from a InterStellar Network (ISN) News reporter. But more danger to the station are some artefacts from a world long dead and the realization that not one person of a species is a pure being of that species.

My opinion: I love enemies who mus be defeated in the great Star Trek tradition of "talk them to death". While ST often used it on computers and confused them with logic, it works with bio weapons, too. And we learn that there are deserted worlds and civilisations long gone and the earth company InterPlanetary eXpiditions (IPX) sponsors such expiditions.

(From Babylon 5: Marathon on August 4th, 2007)