153. X-Men First Class

We have been packing furiously and preparing to move to Saint Joseph. It has even got so far that we have all our movies packed. Maybe that's why I was SO excited when my wife surprised me with X-Men: First Class on blu-ray! What a good wife I have!

If you have ever wondered how the X-Men got started then you should definitely watch X-Men First Class! By watching First Class you will find out how Professor X (James McAvoy) ended up in a wheel chair, why Magneto (Michael Fassbender) and Professor X ended up enemies, and more.

The movie itself was pretty awesome! Of course the uber x-men nerds out there will notice that there are some differences between the comics and the movie but that is to be expected. Overall I feel the movie was true to the comics and honored its roots. It is also set up perfectly for a sequel that would occur between first class and X-Men 1. I can't wait to see what they do with that.

If you have enjoyed the previous X-men movies then you are really going to enjoy this one. You definitely won't be disappointed!

I also liked that the movie made sense to people--like me--who aren't huge X-Men comic nerds. So don't fear that you will be lost if you don't know who Eric Lensher is or why the beast is blue. You'll find out soon enough!

147. Gnomeo & Juliet

So my wife finally talked me into watching Gnomeo and Juliet...a computer animated, kid friendly version of Romeo and Juliet portrayed by garden gnomes.

I think that I finally gave in because I like Emily Blunt (Juliet) and James McAvoy (Gnomeo). Needless to say the movie was really cheesy. However the music was good and the CGI was high quality. I think that the funniest character was the pink lawn flamingo, Featherstone, voiced by Jim Cummings. He was just plain funny!

I was surprised by the number of big names in this movie. The Blue Gnomes were led by Lady Bluebury (Maggie Smith). They lived in Miss Montague's (Julie Walters) garden. The Red Gnomes were led by Lord Redbrick (Michael Caine) and they lived in Mr. Capulet's (Richard Wilson) garden. For such big names I really expected the movie to be of a higher quality. I guess it was a decent children's movie but I was hoping for better. Kids movie doesn't mean that it has to be horribly boring!

The movie was about as bad as I expected it to be but I scored some husband brownie points and my wife loved it.

Final Verdict: I would never buy it. Not worth owning.

146. The Conspirator

The Conspirator is the story of Mary Surratt (Robin Wright) who was the lone female accused of being a co-conspirator in the Lincoln assassination. After Lincoln's assassination the nation was in an uproar. In order to restore peace and promote "justice" the military powers sought quick retribution for Lincoln's death.

As a whole the nation turned against Mary Surratt and everyone believed that she was guilty before her trial even began. Only one Senator even thought that she deserved to be represented in the military trial she was given. But even he backed out and forced his young associate, Frederick Aiken (James McAvoy), to take on the trial when the social stakes got too high.

Although he was almost certain that she was guilty, Aiken sought to see that Surratt had a proper defense and that the facts were presented truthfully. However, in their haste to see justice be done the truth seemed to be twarted at every turn often frustrating Aiken.

If you are anything like my wife this movie will really upset you. She was practically throwing things at the TV over the many injustices and run-a-rounds that Aiken and Surratt suffered in the name of Justice. I thought that it brought an interesting story to light but was not nearly as frustrated.

McAvoy did an excellent job playing Fredericks. His talent really shines through and it is a far cry from his first major role as Mr. Tumnus in The Chronicles of Narnia. I also think that Robin Wright, Jenny from Forrest Gump, did a commendable job in her role as Mary Surratt.

Final Verdict: Good watch but not worth owning.