X-Men: First Class 2.5/5
Despite some great character moments and an undeniably cool climactic battle, this film felt too disjointed to be good. The story was confusing and all over the place, and not even great performances by all involved could keep me interested. Plus, the team depicted in the movie is not the ORIGINAL X-Men team, as would be expected, but rather a clusterfuck of no-namers and third tiers such as Havok (lame) and Banshee, coupled with some laughable perversions of history (who knew Angel was a girl?).
To the young actors' credit, they take what they are given and work with it, making the viewer invested in their characters. For example, Nicholas Hoult (Marcus of About a Boy, all grown up) does an excellent job with the only original member here, Beast. The same can be said for Banshee and Havok, which go beyond their "arrogant jerk" and "emo teen" personas to deliver believable performances. However, as stated, these bits are not enough to save the meandering story, and not even the sight of January "Emma Frost" Jones's scrumptious backside can make it otherwise. Sad, really.
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Rango 3.25/5
Johnny Depp as a talking lizard. Are you sold yet? If so, good, because this movie, while not stellar, does deliver good entertainment. The first third in particular is hilarious, moving at a hyperkinetic (but not annoying) pace, and with every joke hitting its mark, which is rare for animation these days. Behold, if you will, a film from Nickelodeon studios where somebody saying "pull my finger" does NOT result in a fart joke. This type of grown-up approach to animation is symptomatic of this movie's mentality, where animals behave like animals, not talking humans, and even more juvenile moments such as whacks to the face or belts falling down actually manage to be funny. Overall, this could have been a 5/5, if not for - again - the meandering story.
Now, I watched the Extended version, which might have something to do with this point, but the fact is, the story twists and weaves so much that it becomes uninteresting. While the animation is grittily gorgeous (and as close to realistic as you can get in a film about talking Old West animals), the exceedingly complicated plot ends up dragging, and is sure to put the kids (and some parents) to sleep. Which is a shame, because even in this portion, the movie continues to deliver great vocal performances and stunning animation.
All in all, Rango could have been one of the modern-day animation greats, but sadly, its desire to overreach and excel ended up being its greatest flaw instead. Still, it is worth watching, if only because it stars freakin' Johnny Depp as a freakin' talking lizard.