Movie Review: Slow West (Blu-ray, 2015)

Review By: James D.

Let’s talk about a genre that may need resurgence, the western. We had A Million Ways to Die in the West which was hit and miss, and now Slow West. Slow West is like if the Coen Brothers directed Quicksilver. Slow West has a wealth of depth in both the characters and story, that being said it is shocking that this film is by a first time director.

The flow of this film is executed well, which I feel the director had the feeling we would feel like that so he changed things around scene to scene to keep us off-guard. The film has moments of predictability but that does not take away any part of how effective this film comes across. This is a film that gets the spirit of the old west thru the history of films about it and just nails it on every possible level. If I was to have any sort of negative beside the predictability at times, it would be that this film does not have a bigger audience and was not given a run at the box office. Which both do not reflect anything that is being shown on the screen. The script I felt was so well written and gave the characters such flair and personality, that you invest in this story. The flow of the film is disrupted by some unpredictable moments that I feel if we discussed would spoil the beauty of this film. All the players in this film would be so worthy of an Oscar mention.

Movie Review: X-Men: First Class (2011)

Hey, look. We're sorry about that whole The Last Stand thing. Oh, and Wolverine? Yeah, we really don't know what happened there. Just, please, let us make it up to you. We'd like to extend a goodwill gesture. It has an origin story, and uh, oh, just to make sure it's good, we let the guy who made Kick-Ass direct it. I know, right? So, we really hope you'll accept our apology, and just for kicks, we'll throw in Kevin Bacon. We cool?

Buy X-Men: First Class [Blu-ray] or DVD

That's basically what it felt like the people at Marvel were saying when they served up X-Men: First Class. As for me, apology accepted. Origin stories can be great, or they can be ham-fisted attempts at explaining every detail of a character's being. This was very smooth and organic. Several origin questions are answered, and it all stays true to the preceding trilogy. This is not a reboot or remake. This is a prequel in the same line of films. This movie actually fits into the X-Men series quite well.