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Reviews: Flight 93. "Uglies", X-Men 3.
Today, have a nice dose of reviews -- two movies and one book. Might have some spoilers for the first two, definitely has spoilers for the last.
Flight 93: I saw Flug 93 (German name) because apparently the New York UN had co-sponsored its creation, and so they'd sent down 200 free tickets to the UN in Austria. My aunt got three of the tickets, then gave my father and me one each, so the three of us saw it together.
I thought it was pretty decent, actually. Very fictionalized, of course, due to lack of information but filmed well enough and with a good overview of how everything happened in different parts of America, including the control towers and army. My aunt thought the bit with the air traffic controllers was boring, but I liked it because it showed that they hadn't just been sitting by but actually doing something.
Another thing that I liked about the movie was the diversity in it. I seriously had been worried that it would be all Americanized with mostly white people on the flight and maybe a token black. And stereotyped hijackers, with turbans and everything. (One of the hijackers was extremely cute, for the record.)
I don't think it's the kind of movie that I'd be willing to see twice, but it was definitely worth watching at least once, though I'm not sure that I would have been willing to buy a ticket.
Uglies: Apart from that, I read an awesome book called "Uglies" by Scott Westerfeld. It's about a society in our future, where everyone at the age of sixteen gets surgery to turn them pretty but like in any society, there are people who rebel by running off and trying to stay 'Ugly' by surviving out in the wild.
Centered around a protagonist called Tally who's on the verge of turning sixteen, it's got a tight and complex plot with a clear, engaging writing style. The other characters are fleshed out nicely and though there's a certain degree of predictability involved in the whole plot, it's written well enough that you put aside the fact that you know what's going to happen in favor of seeing how.
I'd say one of the book's strongest points is the way that it details the new society. World-building interests of mine aside, the author did a good job of blending what we know of the current world with Tally's world, and all the little extras that she has like a talking room serve to make her world fascinating. Also, he built up a lingo for the world, and any book that remembers that in the future, slang is likely to have changed, gets bonus points from me.
Definitely worth reading. If you see it, buy it and read it. My only hesitation about reccing it is that it's only the first part of a trilogy, so I'm going to have to wait for the rest to come out before I find out what else happens. It's tied up neatly at the end, though, instead of being left on a cliff-hanger but still... I want the next two books to fall into my lap now, kthxbai.
X-Men 3: Another film that I saw on the day it came out! One thing about being in Europe is that I go to more films than I go in America.
So, what to say? First of all, the whole Jean-Phoenix thing was even more annoying than in the comics. I mean, in the comics, it at least makes some sense to me. The split-personality excuse that they gave in the movies was just bleh to my way of thinking. Too much of an easy out and a fallback to the boring old madonna/whore complex within one body, in my opinion anyway.
On a more positive note, I loved the gathering of mutants in the church and the scene with the tattoos. I thought that was actually really well-done and a tight little self-contained moment. The line about Magneto saying his greatest regret is that Charles had to die was also excellent, and some of the dialogue?
Baby, oh baby, there is NO sub about the text of that movie.Unless we're talking domination/submission.
Bobby and Pyro were especially cool as usual but I weep for Rogue. I can see why she'd want to get rid of her powers, since they do her more harm than good, regardless of what it could do for the team, but honestly, that just sucks in general though I understand they needed to show that even the heroes have regrets. Still, a small part of me was screaming that Bobby shouldn't have wanted to stay with someone that backed out of the fight, even though Bobby in the comics -- wrong fandom, I promised myself that I'd not compare the movies to comics canon because then I'd go insane.
Killing Scott and Xavier both off before the movie was even halfway through? That was a pretty daring move to make, let's put it like that. Warren seemed to steal both of my cousins' hearts (I saw it with Ranalie and Dinalie, ages 17 and 15 respectively) as well as![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
nefthoron's, though I was more on tenterhooks to see if Gambit would show, and what he'd make of Rogue. *avoided spoilers for the movie deliberately*
And as for the big death scene with Jean... ick. Seriously. Please tell me that I'm not the only one who had to fight back the urge to crack up at what a romance novel pose that was? Because it came off a cheesy pink-cover bonkbuster -- girl fainted with bodice ripped and baring breasts, man holding her in his arms while baring dressed. And incidentally, love the way that all his clothes melted off except the important bits. Clearly, Jean wants sex so badly that she couldn't bring herself to hurt those bits of him. Poor sex-starved Phoenix-chick. All fire, no satisfaction.
But while we're on that topic, the special effects were spectacular. I loved the scene of the bridge getting moved and they did a great job on Warren's wings as wel. Mystique was great, as usual (I refuse to believe that Magneto would just desert her like that, though) and Jean-as-Phoenix was scary cool. Wolverine getting burnt to pieces and healed at once absolutely rocked as well, and some of the new mutants were just plain cool.
Overall verdict? Watch it, even if only to see the trilogy concluded. I wouldn't bother rewatching it or getting it on DVD but I would say that you should see it at least once if you've seen the other two X-Men films, and that it's better in the cinema than rented on DVD.
Flight 93: I saw Flug 93 (German name) because apparently the New York UN had co-sponsored its creation, and so they'd sent down 200 free tickets to the UN in Austria. My aunt got three of the tickets, then gave my father and me one each, so the three of us saw it together.
I thought it was pretty decent, actually. Very fictionalized, of course, due to lack of information but filmed well enough and with a good overview of how everything happened in different parts of America, including the control towers and army. My aunt thought the bit with the air traffic controllers was boring, but I liked it because it showed that they hadn't just been sitting by but actually doing something.
Another thing that I liked about the movie was the diversity in it. I seriously had been worried that it would be all Americanized with mostly white people on the flight and maybe a token black. And stereotyped hijackers, with turbans and everything. (One of the hijackers was extremely cute, for the record.)
I don't think it's the kind of movie that I'd be willing to see twice, but it was definitely worth watching at least once, though I'm not sure that I would have been willing to buy a ticket.
Uglies: Apart from that, I read an awesome book called "Uglies" by Scott Westerfeld. It's about a society in our future, where everyone at the age of sixteen gets surgery to turn them pretty but like in any society, there are people who rebel by running off and trying to stay 'Ugly' by surviving out in the wild.
Centered around a protagonist called Tally who's on the verge of turning sixteen, it's got a tight and complex plot with a clear, engaging writing style. The other characters are fleshed out nicely and though there's a certain degree of predictability involved in the whole plot, it's written well enough that you put aside the fact that you know what's going to happen in favor of seeing how.
I'd say one of the book's strongest points is the way that it details the new society. World-building interests of mine aside, the author did a good job of blending what we know of the current world with Tally's world, and all the little extras that she has like a talking room serve to make her world fascinating. Also, he built up a lingo for the world, and any book that remembers that in the future, slang is likely to have changed, gets bonus points from me.
Definitely worth reading. If you see it, buy it and read it. My only hesitation about reccing it is that it's only the first part of a trilogy, so I'm going to have to wait for the rest to come out before I find out what else happens. It's tied up neatly at the end, though, instead of being left on a cliff-hanger but still... I want the next two books to fall into my lap now, kthxbai.
X-Men 3: Another film that I saw on the day it came out! One thing about being in Europe is that I go to more films than I go in America.
So, what to say? First of all, the whole Jean-Phoenix thing was even more annoying than in the comics. I mean, in the comics, it at least makes some sense to me. The split-personality excuse that they gave in the movies was just bleh to my way of thinking. Too much of an easy out and a fallback to the boring old madonna/whore complex within one body, in my opinion anyway.
On a more positive note, I loved the gathering of mutants in the church and the scene with the tattoos. I thought that was actually really well-done and a tight little self-contained moment. The line about Magneto saying his greatest regret is that Charles had to die was also excellent, and some of the dialogue?
Baby, oh baby, there is NO sub about the text of that movie.
Bobby and Pyro were especially cool as usual but I weep for Rogue. I can see why she'd want to get rid of her powers, since they do her more harm than good, regardless of what it could do for the team, but honestly, that just sucks in general though I understand they needed to show that even the heroes have regrets. Still, a small part of me was screaming that Bobby shouldn't have wanted to stay with someone that backed out of the fight, even though Bobby in the comics -- wrong fandom, I promised myself that I'd not compare the movies to comics canon because then I'd go insane.
Killing Scott and Xavier both off before the movie was even halfway through? That was a pretty daring move to make, let's put it like that. Warren seemed to steal both of my cousins' hearts (I saw it with Ranalie and Dinalie, ages 17 and 15 respectively) as well as
nefthoron's, though I was more on tenterhooks to see if Gambit would show, and what he'd make of Rogue. *avoided spoilers for the movie deliberately* And as for the big death scene with Jean... ick. Seriously. Please tell me that I'm not the only one who had to fight back the urge to crack up at what a romance novel pose that was? Because it came off a cheesy pink-cover bonkbuster -- girl fainted with bodice ripped and baring breasts, man holding her in his arms while baring dressed. And incidentally, love the way that all his clothes melted off except the important bits. Clearly, Jean wants sex so badly that she couldn't bring herself to hurt those bits of him. Poor sex-starved Phoenix-chick. All fire, no satisfaction.
But while we're on that topic, the special effects were spectacular. I loved the scene of the bridge getting moved and they did a great job on Warren's wings as wel. Mystique was great, as usual (I refuse to believe that Magneto would just desert her like that, though) and Jean-as-Phoenix was scary cool. Wolverine getting burnt to pieces and healed at once absolutely rocked as well, and some of the new mutants were just plain cool.
Overall verdict? Watch it, even if only to see the trilogy concluded. I wouldn't bother rewatching it or getting it on DVD but I would say that you should see it at least once if you've seen the other two X-Men films, and that it's better in the cinema than rented on DVD.