"X-Men: FIrst Class" - in theaters

I've said before how I love me a superhero movie. But I've grown skeptical of the X Men franchise, simply because the third one was just so AWFUL. And although "Wolverine" was enjoyable, it was a bit heavy, and not your traditional summer fare.

Let me tell you something right now: This movie definitely rid me of the bad taste left in my mouth.

I mean, holy crap! It was awesome.

This movie begins in 1944, where you re-live that concentration camp scene from Magneto's childhood. But unlike the first movie, where you were brought to the present day, in this film, you actually saw where Magneto went after that experience. It turns out, he went to see Sebastian Shaw (Kevin Bacon), a Nazi doctor who was interested in human mutation. What follows is horrendous, and let's just say that when they fast forward 20 years, you understand why Magneto/Erik (Michael Fassbender) is hunting down every person who was ever associated with Shaw.

Charles Xavier's childhood was quite different. Raised in that giant mansion, one night he comes across Raven/Mystique, stealing food from his kitchen, and invites her to live with him. It's all innocent, seeing as how they're both 7 years old. Now when they fast forward, Charles (James McAvoy) is a student at Oxford, while Raven (Jennifer Lawrence) makes it by as a waitress, and it seems, Charles professional sister.

The plot is quite complex, but needless to say Charles and Erik get together (no, not in THAT way), and become friends and allies, working to stop Shaw from starting World War 3 (or as we now call it, The Cuban Missile Crisis). At that time, mutants were still in hiding, but the CIA, with the help of Charles and Erik put together a team to help stop Shaw. This team includes Dr. Hank McCoy (Nicholas Hoult), before he turned blue and became covered in hair, Havoc (Lucas Till), Banshee (Caleb Landry Jones, who frickin' rules, by the way), Angel (Zoe Kravitz), Darwin (Edi Gathegi), and of course, Mystique.

Now all the while, Erik is plotting how to kill Shaw (which seems impossible, but whatevs), but at the same time, starts to agree with his ideology. It's a conflict that he struggles with immensely, and it affects his abilities. It turns out, Charles is able to help him unlock parts of himself that allow him to use his metal-crunching powers to their utmost, and I think it's this piece that keeps Magneto from killing Charles later in life.

I'm pretty sure this entry doesn't make any sense. But I can't explain it any better. I do know that if you like hot men, then you will LOVE Erik, because Michael Fassbender is so freaking hot that he'll make your panties melt. Literally. Bring something to clean yourself up with.

On the CWeave scale, I give this movie a 9. I want to see it again so badly, I just might have to make it happen later this week. So to all of you, go see this movie. NOW. And keep your eye out for two cameos which are so awesome, you'll want to scream. Seriously.

"The Last Station" - in theaters

First off, I'd just like to state the obvious: Helen Mirren is a total bad ass.

Now that that's over with, let's get down to the business of talking about "The Last Station". As some may know, it features Oscar nominated performances by both Helen Mirren (best actress) and Christopher Plummer (best supporting actor). Both of these nominations are well-deserved, as the parts were played beautifully.

The movie is about the last year of Leo Tolstoy's (who wrote "War and Peace" and "Anna Karenina") life, seen mostly through the eyes of his new secretary, Valentin (played by the always adorable James McAvoy). Helen Mirren plays Tolstoy's wife of 48 years, who disagrees with pretty much everything Tolstoy has come to stand for. This includes the Tolstoyan movement, headed by a well-cast, absolutely revolting Paul Giamatti. It seems his character (Cherkov) wants nothing more than to make Tolstoy into an idol, one which would lead the Russian people into a new state of enlightenment. He also wants Tolstoy to sign a new will, stating that the rights to all of his books are to be given to the Russian people as a gift, making them public domain. This is where Sofya (Mirren) and Cherkov disagree the most, as Sofya only wants to secure the welfare of her family through retaining the rights (and the profits) to Tolstoy's work.

While the bulk of the movie revolves around this argument, there are also a number of small, poignant moments that are littered throughout that tell an even greater story about how love changes our lives. And in the end, that's what Tolstoy wants everyone to know: it's all about love.

The only issue that I had with this film were the accents. Most of the actors didn't even attempt to use a Russian accent. Mirren could have been playing the Queen of England (again) with the lilt she was using. McAvoy and Giamatti tried, but didn't really succeed. I just thought that it was funny that this film was about one of, if not the, greatest Russian author of his time, and no one thought about using his native tongue (or at least the twang that went with it). But as far as issues go, I'll let the language slide, since the rest of the movie was so well done.

At times humorous and heartfelt, sad and infuriating, "The Last Station" was nothing that I expected, and I loved it. So on the CWeave scale, I rate this movie a 9. Close to brilliance, but I gotta knock off a point for the accent thing...