Ever HAd?

Ok.. first off… This is my half-rant, half review of X-men 3. This WILL contain minor and major SPOILERS… You HAVE been warned… proceed with caution.. and either agree or disagree with me later… they don’t call it Freedom of Speech for nothing…

I’m pretty sure more than half of Generation Y grew up with those Saturday Morning X-men cartoons in the 90s.. then the comics and action figures followed for the more initiated… then..the first movie hit and it smashed expectations.. not only for not making it look silly (like say.. Batman & Robin… *shudder*..) but making it fit into the real world as well as being highly entertaining, paving the way for many other comic book movies to come .. (although it is debatable that Blade deserves that praise..)…  then X2 followed and took it to a whole new level…in other words.. it rocked..

Now… on to X-men 3… As any other movie buff who followed the progress of the movie.. I was shocked when I heard that the principal director Bryan Singer(the dude who also did the last 2 movies..). had left X3 to direct some other dinky comic book movie.. (i.e. Superman Returns..) .. he was replaced by Matthew Vaughn who directed Layer Cake (which was a good movie btw..).. and I thought there was some hope.. then he was replaced by Brett Ratner.. now.. he’s the guy who directed those Rush Hour movies and saved the Hannibal Lector movies by directing Red Dragon and was once attached to direct Superman Returns… so there was probably more so a glimmer of hope than Matthew Vaughn.. so .. did he succeed?

Did he carry on Bryan Singer’s vision and stayed true to the theme of the last 2 movies? Did he craft a movie with equal thought and entertainment? Or a better question.. .Did he F**k it up?

Well.. yes and no..  X-men: The Last Stand.. is an entertaining movie.. but a crappy X-men Movie..

Now.. b4 u chastise me all you want.. hear me out here… I walked out of that cinema with the same feeling I had after I watched Star Wars Ep1: The Phantom Menace and Matrix Reloaded.. slightly entertained.. but mixed with a feeling of letdown-ess…

This is where the spoilers start.. tread with caution here..

They brought up one of the most controversial X-men storyline.. the cure for mutation.. coupled with the Dark Phoenix Saga..  When you couple 2 great storylines into 1 movie that only clocks in at less than 2 hours.. convolution’s gonna happen.. at the attempt to make it an epic.. it ran the risk of capsizing on its own weight… But hey, it’s an X-men movie.. it shouldn’t just focus on one mutant.. it needs to focus on all  the mutants.. generating the ultimate question in the x-men-verse… if you could give up your mutant condition, would you? I mean.. if you’re a bad ass like Wolverine or Gambit.. why should you.? But if you have a sucky power like Rogue’s (pun not intended..).. that’s the kicker.. ultimately, it all comes down to whether you wanna feel special about yourself or blend in with the rest of the ‘normal’ crowd..

I think, most dissapointingly.. is the Dark Phoenix arc, which has been reduced from an all out comic book epic of Earth and Space proportions to a mutant who has a split personality issues..

Then the characters.. not much development going on in this one.. what you guys got in the last 2…it’s what you’re gonna get in X3.. one of my major gripes with the x-men movies is the level of involvement of Cyclops.. I mean… he didn’t really have much to do in the last one.. now.. he’s given jack all in the new one.. Wolverine might be the poster boy for the X-men.. but Cyclop’s the residential and token boy scout leader of the team.. he’s given much more complexity in the comics.. he makes harsh and hard decisions and always pulls through for the team.. while not making him the most popular character.. it doesn’t make him obsolete either.. otherwise, they would’ve killed him off in the comics a looooong time ago..

Kelsey Grammer did a good job with Beast, Halle Berry gets to do more here than ever and Famke Jansen’s gets to schizo as the Dark Phoenix and Jean Grey… Hugh Jackman is his usually feroscious self as Wolverine but he gets a plain treatment here with zip development at all.. most likely saved up for the Wolverine prequel being planned (although I still stand by the fact that he’s a bit of a woman basher.. Mystique in the first.. Lady Deathstrike in the second..and the third..you’ll have to find out..)…Mystique gets to fulfill every fanboy’s dream by showing more skin than usual..   Ian Mckallen is his usual charismatic self alongside with Patrick Stewart.. and the other junior X-men do fine in their small roles.. with kudos going to Ben Foster for his portrayal of Angel.. Vinnie Jones is pretty much the pseudo comic relief..although his portrayal of Juggernaut leaves much to be desired..(can that guy play any other character other than an angry man with a Brit accent?!?!?!).. the fact that some principal characters are killed off in this one, doesn’t open a whole drawer of options with anymore pending sequels.. (although in usual Hollywood fashion, they’re probably gonna slice and dice some classic stories together anyway…)..

The fight scenes are well done with the 6 X-men taking on the army of Brotherhood.. and we get to see Iceman doing the full icebody in this one while going on a one on one with Pyro… (although, I would have like to have seen Colossus fully duking it out with the Juggernaut..).. Beast doing his fighting while quoting poems.. and Storm really gets to do some major lightning damage here.. Wolverine’s fighting is pretty much the same as the last one.. slicing and dicing while screaming…

And you get the usual.. Human/Mutant Rights Movements thrown in.. this time, protesting about the cure.. (although it is unclear as to who’s doing the protesting.. the mutants or the humans..).. and the government as to whether they should start an all out war with Magneto…

All in all though.. like I said.. it’s a pretty decent entertaining movie.. but a real crappy X-men movie.. it’s gonna depend on how much you loved the last 2 movies and the whole X-men mythos that’s gonna decide whether you like this one or not..

I hope now that they’re not gonna f**k up Spider-man 3.. cos I would reeeeaaalllly be pissed off!

Forgive me, for I have sinned…

I knew the consequences of my actions but I gave into temptation..

But how could I resist?? Given my history with the subject at hand..

Despite telling myself that the satisfaction will only last momentarily

And yet…

Here I am with my confession..

I promise to punish myself for this…

I will find redemption eventually…

And I will resist with an iron will the next unfortunate time when I’m presented with the temptation..

I will resist… its lure…

Its addictiveness…

I will resist…

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Buying another packet of Smith’s Thinly Cut Original Potato Chips that could mess up my whole gym routine with it’s evil carbs and 25% less saturated fat….

In the name of Ronnie Coleman.. I will add one extra set to my workout for a whole week as my punishment…

Ever Had a fake name you give out to complete strangers…? I do.. I mean.. if random people come up to you and you have no idea who they are or what they want… giving out fake names are justified…

This is what happened 2 weeks ago after Metros closed for the night..

Two random white guys (RWG) came up to us… they sat down and chatted with us.. could tell they were both drunk.. and they asked our names…

RWG1: So what’s your name, mate?

Me: Name’s Arthur

RWG2 (turning to Ben): What’s yours?

Ben: Julian…

-_-

So much for the element of secrecy…

The Jackass Paradox…an assumption that when 2 highly annoying individuals come into direct conversation, what would seem like a normal, healthy conversation whilst it is in actual fact the opposite truth.

Of course, this paradox is total BS… I got it from a television sitcom a few years back.. however, I had the unfortunate chance of seeing it in action. The background to this is… my Job. I don’t HATE my job… but I don’t actually Love it either.. I do it to learn about the business and to get the experience.. and make my career moves from there… it’s been a looong year… but I’m still standing…  I’ve learnt that in a job… one of the important factors that makes you either stay or leave is the people you work with. Unfortunately, I’m reaching my breaking point with some of them.

Never in my life, have I ever met 2 such individuals who nonstop complain and irritate the hell out of each other as well as the people around them. And these are like people who are like friggin late 20s getting close to 30 and still act so friggin immature… Grow Up! The world doesn’t bloody revolve around you.. if you don’t like the way your life is going.. then DO something about it… don’t put your blame on other people and blame this on your ‘medical’ condition… BooHoo! There’re other people with far worse medical conditions and they’ve learnt to make the best out of their situation… And don’t go around stabbing and bitching about your workmates behind their backs! If you’ve got a problem with the way I work… then confront me about it.. I don’t shy away from confrontation like you.. because unlike you 2.. I know that I’m not perfect.. and seriously of all the things you could have complained about me… you’re bitching that I drink too much water??!?!?!? That is by FAR, THE MOST LAUGHABLE complaint ever… !

Well… I suppose I should thank you for this… because I’m making it a VITAL point in my life to NEVER turn out as bitter, self-centered and loser-ish as the both of you…