It was a movie weekend for us–an event that’s become increasingly rare now that we have a Bluray player and decent Netflix subscription (and enough to keep us busy until stuff comes out that way).
Friday night we hit up Wolverine. I have to say, as always, Hugh Jackman absolutely owns this role. He’s always been my favorite X-man, and he didn’t disappoint in this. A surprise of sadly brief duration was Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool. I really enjoyed his character, and I seriously hope that rumors of a Deadpool movie aren’t an exaggeration because I thought Reynolds did a really good job. Leiv Shrieber made an interesting Sabretooth, and it was interesting to see the dynamic between them as brothers. They totally screwed up Gambit. Man is supposed to be CAJUN, not just southern. And I don’t remember him having a staff… The timeline did feel a little bit off in conjunction with the original Xmen movies, and I felt like in many places they relied on cliche and action rather than plot, but it’s worth seeing for backstory. And hey, just under 2 hours of Hugh Jackman is always good in my book. I won’t say anything more, as I don’t want to spoil things for those of you who haven’t seen it yet.
Sunday afternoon, after dispensing with all Mother’s Day related duties, my hubby, FIL, and I went to see Star Trek. DH and I went in decidedly skeptical. The original series was campy and funny and certainly not an example of technological/action awesomeness. We were concerned, given what we saw in the previews, that they were taking themselves WAY too seriously and were going for all splash and boom instead of funny in order to revamp it for a 21st century audience. I have to say I was honestly very surprised how much I enjoyed the movie. Yes, they had all the action packed, sensory overload kind of effects that modern, ADD audiences expect, but they still managed to insert the funny, using most of the favorite cliched lines. Zachary Quinto was really awesome as a young Spock (totally believable as a Vulcan and actually managed to make me think “Spock” instead of “Sylar”), and Chris Pine really captured the cocky, charming essence of Kirk without trying to immitate Shatner. Karl Urban did a delightful job as Bones, and Simon Pegg was hilarious as Scotty. Overall, I have to say I approve of what J.J. Abrams and crew did with this version, and I’ll happily go see any sequels they make.