Three Movie reviews/ amazing spiderman/ x-men future past/ maleficent

             Also coming back from art school got me to see more new released movies. So here are my brief thoughts about the recently seen movies: "The Amazing Spiderman 2, X-Men: Days of Future Past, and Maleficent".

                       First off, The Amazing Spiderman 2 was a good transitionally comic book hero to get back into the superhero movie franchise this summer. Probably one of the best times to experience adventure and thrill because of the unique characters that play around in our portrayed environment. Especially the perspectives as you swing around as Spiderman, I do love the animation that is put in the scenes and really captures the motion and weight of the protagonist.
             Secondly, I really like the romantic relationship between Peter and Gwen; both being believable and supportive in this movie. Every time they appeared on screen, it was just adorably cute to see them interact with each other. It was really nice that they perfective that when they were building it up from the First Amazing Spiderman. In fact, I wonder if the movie would hold up if it was just about their relationship more than the Spiderman sub plots. There seems to be a lot to swallow in order to imagine the upcoming sequel but I rather see them together. And yes, I was heartbroken about Gwen's death, making it so accurate from the source material and strongly be impacting to the ending.
                 The only faults that I didn't like were the design for the villains. They seem out of place in this world and even too CGI to look at. Like the Green Goblin, why couldn't they go with the comic book costumes. There are more believable and identifiable for the audience. When I first saw the appearance of the Green Goblin, it looked a lot more like the book character Max from "Where the Wild Things Are" instead covered with green face paint. Unless they update his costume in the next movie, I couldn't take it seriously. Only thing I found beneficial to Electro was the music complement to him. The use of dub-step or EDM worked very well in this instance as it expresses his electric powers pumping through his veins.


                Next, I went to see "X-Men: Days of Future Past" with a bunch of my friends which made us switch from one theater to another because of the midnight release of "Maleficent". After finding a next closest theater, we finally got to see it. First thing I could say about is that I really felt the number of deaths. Maybe because it's being displayed on large movie screen it more overwhelming but I could actually feel every punch, shock and stab of the main heroes. It does it very tensive when your childhood heroes get axed off. You will see a lot of that in the far beginning and ending of this plot.

                The overall plot of someone going back in time to prevent a powerful army of weapons isn't a bad plot as all. It is easy to follow the goal and the addressed conflicts, including the main villain Magneto that released. By the way, most of my favorite screens came from the break in of the pentagon. However, there were a few things that I was confused with like young professor x's relationship with Myst, or why he was hiding out in a school, or what was Myst doing. There were a lot of holes of the past that the audience knew or didn't. I felt like I had to watch the newer wolverine or first class movie to understand these questions. Or I have to do some research because Myst really plays a strong role in the series than I was lead to believe.


 

            Lastly, I got to see "Maleficent" last night with my close friend which actually surprised me. All the time, I always predicted the movie to be like Wicked, showing how the Disney version of "Sleeping Beauty" was wrong and misleading. It actually has a strong relatable plot about young love, betrayal and the transition to opening one's self up to emotions. You can even see some of the dark psychology emotions emerge out the characters, much like the emotions that Shakespeare's Macbeth portrayed.
               Mostly I enjoyed the fantasy creatures that were created in this world. For computer generated creatures, they were beautiful and could fill the screen perfectly, along side the protagonists. Clever idea with the mermaid like sprites or swamp dwellers that inhabit this kingdom. I even how they down played the three good fairies with the flower like elements.
              As for Angelina Jolie performance, it was pretty good. She did a good job presenting this newer Maleficent side while being over exaggerate the recognizable scenes from the original hand drawn animated "Sleeping Beauty". Those parts were very unusually to see because they don't really fit with her characteristics but they were put there to bring the nostalgic feeling to the older viewers. I even like the added element with her crow companion since these two actors really depict the relationship of a couple. Also, I kept getting the sense of Lady Gaga in this role. Every time the phrase "Good night beasties", I keep thinking of Lady Gaga as she acknowledge her "little monsters".