Ich habe mich dazu entschlossen, den Blog zu überarbeiten und die Sprache wieder zu Deutsch zu wechseln.
Ab jetzt geht es nicht mehr nur um Filme, sondern auch um Serien. Ich ich mich auf Staffelreviews beschränke, oder auch einzelne Episoden rezensiere, ist noch nicht raus. Seid gespannt und wartet ab!
Cast: Lorraine Stanley ("Kelly"), Johnny Harris ("Dereck"), Georgia Groome ("Joanne"), Sam Spruell ("Stuart Allen")
Review: Kelly and Joanne are on the run. Kelly has a bruised eye and Joanne is crying. Joanne is 12. They're running away from Dereck, Kelly's pimp. He needed a young girl for one of his clients and so Kelly took Joanne off the street and convinced her to go "play" with an older man for 100 quid. They get on a train to Brighton to hide from Dereck. When Kelly works the streets of Brighton to get money for another train, Dereck gets a visits from Stuart Allen. He seems to be very angry and wants Dereck to find Kelly and Joanne. Dereck finds them eventually and once he is in Brighton he takes them hostage and waits for further instructions.
I bought "London to Brighton", because I wanted to get to know the contemporary British film. Apart from the Spanish and sometimes the French film, the British film is supposed to be the best in Europe. "London to Brighton" emphasises this propostion. I didn't really know what to expect, so I just went for it. Director Paul Andrew Williams first feature is surprisingly good, but also shoking. The way prostitution and paedophilia is shown here is remarkably realistic which is the reason for the viewer's shock. Joanne, a 12-year-old, smokes, claims to have had sex before, lives on the street and tries to be tough, even though you quickly find out that she still is a 12-year-old girl. Kelly doesn't seem to know anything except prostitution, although she is quite a good soul. Derek seems to be a living cliché: He is brutal, he swears constantly and doesn't care for anybody than himself. Stuart Allen is the mysterious character in this drama. He reminds me a little of Tony Soprano, only being active when it is absolutely necessary. He is a cold man with no visual emotions. The pictures of the movie are strong and also disturbing and therefore Paul Andrew Williams deserves the credit he got from the critics in Britain. "London to Brighton" is a quiet yet strong movie with good actors and a more than solidly told story and a surprising twist at the end.
Cast: Matt Dillon ("Randy"), John Goodman ("Detective Dehling"), Paul Reiser ("Carl Harding"), Michael Douglas ("Mr Burmeister"), Liv Tyler ("Jewel Valentine")
Review: We meet a guy named Randy, who works at a bar, when he walks into a bingo place to meet a man named Burmeister. Randy sits down at his table and starts to tell him a story about a woman recently met and lived together with. He tells him the story of how they shot her ex and robbed several houses so that she can fix Randy's house. Than we jump to another scenery. We're in a shrink's practice where another guy, Carl, tells the shrink the story of a woman he met. She is his cousin's girlfriend and he fell for her the first time he saw her. She made a move at him at a barbecue at his house and they ended up having bondage sex. We jump yet to another place. Now we're at a church, where Det. Dehling tells his friend Father Jimmy about this woman he met during an investigation who looks just like his dead wife. He tells the Father that he filed a restraining order against the woman's husband because he was hitting her and that he found out that the husband killed a man. They obviously talk about the same woman: Jewel. They're all in love with her but she only wants to find a house that she can make look like the house she's been dreaming about forever and so she sleeps with every man who has a house to get it. But actually she sleeps with every guy that could do her a favour. And so she ends up sleeping with Randy and steals his house, his cousin and wants him to help her keep it, and with Det. Dehling to make sure that Randy is going to jail. Everything seems to be working out, but Mr Burmeister is a killer and randy hires him to kill Jewel. At the same time, Carl and the detective both are at Jewel's house to surprise her. Carl is all b0ondaged up in her bedroom and the detective is preparing a romantic dinner when they see each other. Then Randy joins the grotesque scene asking them what they're doing. To top it all Utah's twin brother steps into the house to take revenge on his brother's death....
"One Night at McCool's" is a bitterly black comedy with a funny plot and solid actors. The idea of telling the story from various perspectives makes it both funny and a little bit grotesque. Everyone describes himself, of course, better than the others and has a slightly different view on everything, but they all love the same woman. It's like "There's something about Mary' with a way hotter female character and with another level of idiocy. Unfortunately there is nothing really new and surprising and the acting is no more than solid, except for Michael Douglas as a sex-possesed killer. Normaly I'd give the movie a 7.1 - 7.3, but since Liv Tyler is even hotter as a redhead we are at a
I have not been able to watch another movie for a week! which is kind of sad. I'm trying though. :-) But I finished Six feet under yesterday and I was devastated. But in a good way. I've never been touched be a TV-show like this before. It was a perfect show and a perfect finale. But it surely makes your eyes watery and have a lump in your throat. I'm planing on writng a review about the show in general sometime, but I haven't decided yet if i want to watch it again before I do so. Just wanted to give an update. I'm really stressed by trying to get to start my term paper so I can't get myself to watch a movie. Let's just wait and see. Farewell!
If you feel like you want to go on a holiday you should watch this video and close your eyes!
What a game that was yesterday evening. Germany v Finland 3:3! Miroslav Klose is finally scoring again. I hope that'll keep going on Saturday in the Bundesliga. But that's not why I'm writing here, is it? So: Here. We. Go.
Natural Born Killers
Director: Oliver Stone
Cast: Woody Harrelson ("Mickey Knox"), Juliette Lewis ("Mallory Knox"), Tom Sizemore ("Det. Jack Scagnetti"), Robert Downey Jr. ("Mayne Gale"), Tommy Lee Jones ("Warden Dwight McClusky")
Review: Mickey and Mallory Knox are killers. Mass murderers. They met, fell in love and started killing people. Their first victims were Mallory's parents. Her Dad abused her ever since she was a child and her mother dared to help her. They start out to travel the country and wherever they go they kill people and let only one person live to tell their story. But when they drive through the desert and get lost they stumble across an Indian living in a small hut. They both fall asleep in front of the fire, but Mickey has a nightmare and shoots the Indian. Mallory freaks out, because in her eyes the Indian was their friend who did nothing wrong. She runs out into the desert but gets bitten by a snake. When Mickey tries to help her he gets bitten as well. They manage to drive to a drugstore, but they are out of antidote. When the employee recognizes Mickey he calls the cops. Mickey kills the employee and tells Mallory to wait out by the car, but when she gets out the police is already there and they take her into custody. Mickey can't fight them off and is taken in as well. One year later, Wayne Gale, the host of the TV show American Maniacs who has already made an episode about Mickey and Mallory, visits Mickey in prison. the Knox's are about to be transferred to an asylum to be "reconfigured". Gale wants to interview Mickey again and Mickey accepts. They air live after the Super Bowl. In the middle of the interview a riot starts in the prison and the mentally instabile warden McCLusky orders his men to stay with Mickey and goes to help stop the riot. At the same time Det. Jack Scagnetti, the detective who took Mickey and Mallory in, is in Mallory's cell to talk to her and to have sex with her, but Mallory starts to kick the shit out of him and can only be stopped by two guards who waited outside the cell. Mickey manages to escape his guards and takes Gale and his crew to Mallory's cell where they kill Scagnetti and try to flee. The guards aren't able to control the prisoners and so Mickey, Mallory and the TV crew make it through the prison with the help of Owen, another prisoner who knows some secret passages. They fight their way towards the gate of the prison with the help of Gale who feels alive after shooting some of the guards himself. Near the gate they're cut off but McClusky and his men, but they can escape anyway. The warden and his men are left to deal with the rest of the prisoners. Mickey, Mallory and Gale escape with a broadcast van and end up in the woods where Gale finishes his story. But instead of going with the Knox's they shoot him and escape to lead a normal life.
"Natural Born Killers" is a disturbing and intense movie. The story is always highlighted by images of other movies, cartoon versions of what is happening and different red and green filters. This makes it even more intense and creates an unique atmosphere. The violence is shown explicitly yet it is never used just to show violence. It always seems to be some sort of superior art object. It's bloody but no splatter. The performances of Woody Harrelson and Juliette Lewis as the psychotic couple is very intense as well and they both show a certain amount of mental illness within their performance. The rest of the cast, namely Downey Jr. and Tommy Lee Jones, are as convincing and crazy as Harrelson and Lewis. Downey Jr.'s portay of the viewer ratings obsessed Wayne Gale is hilarious and brilliant. He screams, he swears and he changes throughout the riot in a way that hasn't been before that often. I have never seen Tommy Lee Jones portraying someone this intense before. He swears as Downey Jr. does and he spits while he screams and he gets into a rage that was new for me as a fan of Lee Jones. So to conclude, "Natural Born Killers" is a challenge for the viewer to watch, but once you get into the southern accent and the way the movie is made, with all the different images you see, you will either like it or turn it off after half an hour. I did enjoy it!
So I finally get to watch "The Dark Knight" again. And this time in English. So without further ado:
The Dark Knight
BE WARNED BEFORE YOU READ THIS: THERE WILL BE SPOILERS IN THE REVIEW!
Director: Christopher Nolan
Cast: Christian Bale ("Bruce Wayne/Batman"), Heath Ledger ("The Joker"), Aaron Eckhart ("Harvey Dent/ Two-Face"), Maggie Gyllenhaal ("Rachel Dawes"), Gary Oldman ("Det. Lt. James Gordon")
Review: A year has passed since Batman has freed Gothma City from "Scarecrow". But in this time Batman has gone from hero to being disliked and feared. He still is trying to support Det. Lt. Gordon to catch the mobster of the city, but there are impersonaters now, who don't fight for the good cause. But a bigger problem has occured: A villain named "The Joker". He kills and robbs for no apparent reason. He just wants a better class of criminals and, most of all, to unmask Batman. When The Joker makes a deal with the crime syndicaat of Gotham City Batman faces his biggest challenge yet. To make Batman show who he really is, The Joker threatens to kill people each day that Batman doesn't show himself. And he starts by killing a judge and the police commissioner. But this time Batman has another ally: District Attorney Harvey Dent, the shining knight of Gotham. They even manage to take The Joker into custody, but he gets away and even manages to kidnap Harvey and his girlfriend Rachel, who has been Bruce Wayne's girlfriend before. The Joker threatens to blow them up and since they are in two different buildings, only one can be saved. So Batman goes to safe Rachel and Gordon tries to save Harvey Dent. When Batman arrives at the destination he has to find out that The Joker lied to him because he is at the house where Harvey Dent is tied up. Batman manages to save Harvey, but Rachel dies in an explosion. The house where Batman saved Harvey is blown up as well and the explosion ignites the oil on Harvey's face which burns his flesh to the bones. The day after that The Joker has planted bombs on every bridge that leads out of Gotham and threatens to blow up a hospital and after that he wants to blow up more buildings. So the whole city tries to escape with ferries, but when the ferries have set off the engines stop and The Joker tells the people that he is going to blow up two off the ferries at midnight. Until then the people on board of each ferry, normal citizens on one of the ferries and prisoners on the other, have the trigger for the bomb on the other ferry. So whoever pulls the trigger first survives. The Joker is watching all this from a nearby building. When Batman arrives at the building and manages to get to The Joker the time is up, but both ferries are not blown up, because neither of the two were able to pull the trigger. But before The Joker can pull his trigger Batman can overpower and stop him. But The Joker has another ace up his sleeve: He went to talk to Harvey in the hospital and told him that the police were responsible for Rachel's death and that he can't save Gotham. So Harvey becomes Two-Face and wants his revenge. Therefore he kidnaps Gordon's family and threatens to kill them. When Gordon arrives at the place where Harvey holds his family hostage, the same building where Rachel died, he has to choose which one of the family will die. Two-Face takes Gordon's son to kill him but Batman appears and can fight Two-Face off. Two-face falls down the building and dies. When Gordon and Batman talk about what to do, Batman tells Gordon that he should blame him for all the chaos, so that Harvey can be remembered a hero and give people hope. Batman turns into a "Dark Knight". Nolan's second movie of the new Batman era is propably the best movie I've seen so far this year. Everything seems to be perfect here. The effects are very impressive, but they never feel unreal. An explosion looks like an explosion and not like a chinese firework. Hans Zimmer's soundtrack is good, yet it kind of sounds like "The Rock". But that's a Hans Zimmer problem. ever since "The Rock" most of his soundtracks sounded alike, which is not really bad, but getting boring. The plot is the real strength of "The Dark Knight". What I wrote above is only about one third of what actually happens. A real synopsis would be much longer. There are a lot of twists and spectacular scenes in the 151 minutes which make the movie thrilling and exciting the whole time. The Nolan brothers really made a perfect job on the script. The other big strength is the cast: Christian Bale, Aaron Eckhart, Morgan Freeman, Michael Cane, Gary Oldman and Maggie Gyllenhaal are all very good and talented actors and all of their performances are very good to extraordinary, but Heath Ledger is the most outstanding actor in the movie. His version of The Joker is brilliant. Beginning with his make-up over his facial expression to his his body language. Everything seems to fit perfectly. You really believe that he is mentally ill yet a mastermind. What always bugged me about Ledger was he constan mumbling, but even this he can control in "The Dark Knight" which makes him a very promising candidate for the "Best Supporting Actor" Oscar in 2009.
I've been struggling back and forth whether or not "The Dark Knight" deserves a rating of 9.4 or higher to become one of the best movies that I've ever seen. I still don't really know if it is the right choice, but I'm going to give it:
9.4 out of 10 crazy laughs
This makes "The Dark Knight" the second best movie that I've rated so far and it enters my personal "Top 10" of the best movies ever.
So it's Sunday evening. Yesterday Germany defeated Liechtenstein 6:0 in very good and entertaining match. Lukas podolski seems to get his right form. Let's see if they can keep it up on Wednesday against Finland. Ever since I was a child I was always very good at daydreaming. That's propably the reason why I like movies so much, because they give you the chance to dream and fantazise about a world you may never get into but want to get in really bad. And tonight I watched a movie that might be described as a chick flick but I would describe this kind of movies as sentimental drama and I love these movies, because they always make you end up in a very emotional place and that's what I need from time to time. So here we go:
Review: It's not easy to be a teenager. Especially not when your Dad has left and your mother doesn't want to life in small-town Wisconsin. That's Ann's life. Her mother, Adele, is a very ambitous woman who leaves her second husband, because she's bored in Bay City, Wisconsin. She decides to move to Los Angeles with her fifteen-year-old daughter Ann to have an easy and successful life. But Ann doesn't like the idea from the beginning. She likes Bay City, because her stepdad, her grandmother and her best friend Benny live there. So she's reluctant to go, but she has to. When they finally are in L.A. they rent a small apartment and try to live a normal life in California. Unfortunately it doesn't work out, because Adele's job as a teacher is in a rather bad neighbourhood and Ann misses her friends and family very much. But when her best friend Benny visits them she feels a lot better and even Adele is beginning to have some luck. She meets a young man who takes her out to dinner and spends the night with her. But then everything turns around. Adele's new love turns out to be an asshole who just wanted to sleep with her and then they a call. Ann's grandma had a stoke and Benny got killed in a car accident. And things get even worse. Back in Bay City for the funeral, Adele quarrels with her brother and Ann, who wanted to catch up with her father for so long, calls him and finds out that he doesn't want to have contact. So the two are devastated. While Adele is still unemployed she sends Ann to an audition because she always wanted her daugther to be an actress. When she sneaks in at the audition she sees Ann playing her mother. This is the point when Adele realizes that Ann doesn't like her life. A couple of days later Ann gets a phone call from one of the boys from her class. He has been trying to date Ann ever he has first seen her and tells her that he wants to kiss her. So she invites him over and asks him to undress. When he is in his boxers he tells her again that he wants to kiss her and lets him. They kiss and hug each other and Ann cries, for this is the first time since Benny died that she is being comforted by anybody. Two years later. Adele is working at a nursing home. Ann works at a grocery store as a bagger after school and she has applied to Brown University behind her mothers back. When Adele finds a letter from Brown in her mail she opens it. Ann comes home and finds the opened envelope. Adele tells her that she should read because she will surely be happy, but Adele hasn't read the entire letter, because Brown only pays for half the tuition and the rest has to be paid by Ann and Adele. Ann is devastated again, but the next day when she comes home Adele hass sold their Mercedes so that Ann can go to Brown. "Anywhere but Here" is, in my eyes, one of the more underrated movies of the late 90's. It may be slow in plot development and the story in general might seem trivial, but it is not trivial in any way. The story is about the struggles of parents to let their children go when they grow up. It's about realizing that you don't own your child and about the difficulties you have when you're a child and can't make your own choices because your parents won't let you. The strength of "Anywhere but Here" is definitely the cast. Susan Sarandon and Natalie Portman are both very strong and expressive women who make you feel what they want you to feel. Sarandon embodies the role of the overly possessive mother perfectly. Her presence is perceptible throughout the whole movie and her expression us very good. Natalie Portman will always have a bonus with me. I just love her as an actress. She is blessed with so much talent and emotions and in addition to that she is one of the most beautiful and smartest young actress worldwide. When she feels pain in a movie, you feel pain as well. When she cries, you want to cry either. And when she smiles or even laughs, you never want to see another smile again. She has a magnetic aura and she always makes me feel warm and happy. And all of this occurs in this movie. Therefore the movie is carried by both, Sarandon and Portman. It made me feel like I was on an emotional trip and that's always a good thing. Even though everything is perfect when it comes to the cast of "Anywhere but Here" there are some flaws: 1.The film only lives from the two female leads and this makes the other characters seem a little bit out of place. 2. There is no real explanation why Bay City is so boring. Adele justs leaves her home, because she wants to live in Beverly Hills. Why this is the case is never really explained.
Nevertheless is "Anywhere but Here" a nicely calm and yet still emotional film about mothers and daughters.
Hello everyone. Great news: Dido is going to release her new album in November. I'm really excited because of this. It's been 5 years since "Life for Rent" was released, so I hope "Safe Trip Home" is going to be as good as the first two albums were. And the best thing: If you go to Dido's homepage you will get "Look no Further", one of the tracks on the new album, for free until September 7th. So hurry. But to get started:
Thank You for Smoking
Director: Jason Reitman ("Juno")
Cast: Aaron Eckhart ("Nick Naylor"), J.K. Simmons ("BR"), William H. Macy ("Senator Ortolan Finistirre"), Katie Holmes ("Heather Holloway"), Cameron Bright ("Joey Naylor"), Robert Duvall ("Captain")
Review: Nick Naylor is a lobyist for the tobacco industry. But he's not just a lobyist. He's the best lobyist. The first time we meet him he is on a talkshow persuading the audience and the rest of the participants of the discussion that the tobacco industry is not happy that a 17-year-old boy is dying of lung cancer, but that they are sad to loose a customer. And he is the clear winner of the discussion. When his son, who lives with his mother and only sees his father on the weekends, asks him why he is such a good lobyist Nick tells him that being good at discussions doesn't mean to be right, but to prove that the other person is wrong. But the tobacco industry is still in trouble, because the senator of vermont, Ortolan Finistirre, is trying to put pictures of a skull and crossbones on cigarette packets to visualize the danger of smoking. When Nick and the senator are on a TV show a viewers calls and threatens to kill nick within the next week. Meanwhile Nick is having an affair with Heather Holloway, a reporter of The Washington Globe. She is writing a story about Nick, but since she has "glorious tits" they end up in bed together more than once. When Nick travels to California to meet with an Hollywood agent to make smoking sexy in movies again, he is called by the Captain, the last tobacco mogul. He tells him that Lorne Lutch, the Malboro Cowboy, is dying of lung cancer and wants Nick to go to him and give him money to shut him up. Back in Washington, Nick is kidnapped after a weekly lunch with the M.O.D., the merchants of death, a group of lobyists working for the alcohol industy, the firearms industry and the tobacco industry. While his kidnappers tie him up in a van, they pave his body with nicotine patches to kill him, but Nick suvives since he was used to nicotine being in his blood. He was saved by cigarettes, but if he ever smokes again he will most propably die. After he returns from the hospital the article about is published and destroys his career since Holloway used everything Nick told her when they were having sex in her article. He attends the hearing about the pictures on the cigarette packets anyway and outguns Senator Finistirre by saying that if they put visual warnings on cigarettes, they should put visual warnings on the famous Vermont Cheddar Cheese as well, because more Americans die of heart attacks and other cholesterol linked death causes than of smoking.
"Thank You for Smoking" is an ethical dilema. On the one hand you totally symphatize with Nick's work, because he is a smart and charming guy and he is really convincing with words. On the other hand you ask youself if it really is morally ok to try and make the tobacco industry look good, since smoking is dangerous and bad for your health. But besides from the sides of the moral medal "Thank You for Smoking" is a highly entertaining and funny movie with an interesting statement: "Do what you love and think about everything yourself. Don't let other people think for you." And this is the cleverness of the movie. It may have a controversial topic, but it makes you think on your own. And that's what makes good movies. Apart from this the cast is really good for a movie with such a small budget. ($7,000,000 according to Numbers.) Aaron eckhart might not be the top earner in Hollywood, but he surely is very talented and has a unique presence on camera. William H. Macy and especially Robert Duvall are clearly the stars of the casts and their performances are solid as well, as is the performance of Katie Holmes in one of her last roles since she married Tom Cruise, which is a shame, because I loved Katie from the day I first saw "Dawson's Creek". Holmes has a natural beauty that is rarely found, I can only think of Natalie Portman, and I really like Katie's voice, which makes me feel good for some reason. Another thing worth mentioning is the look of the movie. Even though everything looks a little bit too clean and perfect it has a very real and bright look. One point to criticize are the dialoges. Some of them seem a little bit too artificial and sometimes unneccessary. Nevertheless it can be said that "Thank You for Smoking" is a good, maybe very good, movie with the intention of making people think about the decisions they make in life.
Hello to all of you! So this weekend was kinda nice. As usual I watched a lot of football (soccer for all of you Americans). On Friday Mainz 05 won 4:2 and they now are first in the 2. Bundesliga, the best second league worldwide! Then on Sunday Bayern Munich won 4:1 against Hertha BSC Berlin. Their first victory in the Bundesliga since Jürgen Klinsmann is head coach. It was a very good and entertaining match with two totally different teams. Bayern on the one side were totally dominant and had chances to win even higher and Hertha on the other side were completely harmless. Only Marco Pantelic was able to score after the only mistake that happened in Bayern's game. I start to look forward to the season even though there still aren't enough players in Klinsmann's squad. But to come to today's review:
X-Men
Director: Bryan Singer
Cast: Hugh Jackman ("Logan/Wolverine"), Patrick Stewart ("Prof. Charles Xavier"), Sir Ian McKellen ("Eric Lensherr/Magneto"), Famke Janssen ("Dr. Jean Grey"), Anna Paquin ("Marie D'Ancanto/Rogue"), Halle Berry ("Ororo Munroe/Storm")
Review: Before I write a lot about the movie I have to confess that until today I had only watched X-Men 2 and X-Men 3. I started watching X-1 once but I didn't really feel what all the fuss was all about. But when I bought X-2 and X-3 I had to buy X-1 as well because i wanted to have them all. But I only came to watch it today.
The movie starts with a conference in which Jean Grey talks about mutants. there has been a discussion about whether or not mutants should be considered dangerous. One of the most aggressive leaders against mutants is Senator Kelly. He wants mutants to be imprisoned. Present at the conference are also Prof. Charles Xavier, headmaster of a school for mutants, which is kept from the outside world, and Eric Lensherr aka Magneto. They both want mutants to leave without fear but where Xavier wants to achieve this with diplomacy, Magneto's way is war. We change the scene to Canada where teenage girl Rogue meets Wolverine, a mutant who can heal himself and has been implanted with adamantium, an unbreakable metal. Rogue has run away from home because she is a mutant herself. She literally sucks the life out off people when they touch her skin. After Rogue hides in Wolverine's car they decide to travel together, but they are attacked by Sabretooth, one of Magneto's associates. Wolverine gets knocked out during the fight and Rogue is stuck in the crashed car. When Sabretooth is approaching the car Rogue and Wolverine are saved by Storm and Cyclops who work for Xavier. The take them to Xavier's school where the professor tries to find out what magneto wanted with them. At the same time Magneto's right hand Mystique, a chameleon mutant, kidnaps Senator Kelly and takes him Magneto. Magneto has build a machine which mutates the genes of normal people with the help of radiation. When Senator Kelly, already a mutant, escapes Magneto he runs to see Jean Grey at Xavier's. He is getting weaker and weaker and dies by turning into a puddle of water. At the meantime, Magneto kidnaps Rogue. With her help he wants to mutate all politicians of the UN who are on Ellis Island at a conference. Magneto has put his machine into the torch of the Statue of Liberty and wants to use Rogue to activate the machine, because she can absorb his powers and multiply them. Of course the X-Men, that's what the kids at Xavier's school call Storm, Cyclops, Jean and Wolverine, try to safe Rogue and stop Magneto....
When I first tried to watch X-1 I thought it was boring and it didn't really get to me. But now that I've seen x-2 and X-3 I liked X-1. It's a nice and yet action-packed first part of a trilogy. As an introduction it is very well done even though the other two movies are better than X-1. The plot is nice and entertaining, but it misses a little bit of dramaturgy. This was done better in films like Iron Man or Batman Begins which also started a new series of movies. What I like most about the X-Men films are a): the special effects and b): the actors. There's not much to say about the special effects, I simply think they are nice even though they increase in quality from movie to movie. The actors on the other hand stay on the same level in each film. But this level is rather good for a comic book adaptation. But it's not only the acting, but the actors themselves whom I like. Hugh Jackman is on son-of-a-bitch and that is meant as a compliment. He's just extremely cool. Ian McKellen has been one of the greatest actors for me since I've first seen him. I can't remember which film it was but just has the charm of a fatherly person. But my favourite in X-Men is, of course, a woman. Famke Janssen is one hot foxy lady. She may be already in her forties, but damn this woman is hot. Maybe it's the fact that, as a native Dutch, she speaks German, but I really like the looks of her. The rest of the cast, including Halle Berry whom I normally dislike, is good as well. They all deserve to take credit for a nicely done movie which is definitely worth watching, although the trilogy gets better with each film.
