:: Venting Insanity ::

:: Monday, May 05, 2003 ::

movie review
X2, the sequel to X-Men, continues the story almost exactly where the first one left off. Rogue (Anna Paquin) has become more a part of the school crowd, Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) is still searching for his past at Alkali Lake, while Magneto (Ian McKeller) is still in his plastic prison and Mystique (Rebecca Romjin-Stamos) is still posing as Senator Kelly, looking for a way to free Magneto. In the meantime, someone from Wolverine's past (someone he doesn't immediately remember) emerges in the fight against mutants, actually having found a way to control them to do his bidding (even if it means killing each other). This William Stryker even goes so far as to force Magneto (still in prison at the time) to tell him everything he knows about Cerebro and the School for Gifted Children. Stryker than stages a raid on the school in an attempt to kidnap all the young mutants.

The special effects were excellent. Jean begins her transformation into Phoenix in this one, glowing with orange fire as she develops her powers through the movie. Nightcrawler's teleporting emits a blue smokey haze in his wake. The character developments kept you guessing. This plot even calls for Magneto and Mystique to join forces with the X-Men in their effort to rescue the kidnapped students, Cyclops, and Professor Xavier. As expected, that joining doesn't last the entire mission as Magneto tries to take advantage of the situation Professor Xavier is in and tries to kill all non-mutants. There's even a scene where we catch a glimpse of Mystique in 'normal' form. In otherwords, it's Rebecca without her blue make up. I almost didn't recognize her. LOL.

movie review ii
Dad and I spent some time right after we got home from the vet watching Novocain with Steve Martin (L.A. Story), Helena Bonam Carter (Twelfth Night, Planet of the Apes), and Laura Dern (Jurassic Park). Talk about a twist! It's a comedy in typical Steve Martin style, but with a mystery plotline about Frank the dentist (Martin) who runs his own practice. He's engaged to be married to Dern's character, but gets tangled in with a drug addict (Carter) who comes in for a root canal. Soon, missing office narcotics, false prescriptions, and murder find their ways into poor Frank's life, and he finds himself on the brink of losing his license.

Steve Martin is his usual funny self thoughout the movie. The plotline has a couple of really cute twists and the script offers up some really good laughs.