Movie reviews: X-Men and A Million Ways to Die in the West

So, over the past few weeks I've seen both of these films.  I also saw Godzilla a while back, which--okay, the people were kind of lame, especially after they killed off Bryan Cranston, but the monsters?  Amazing.

Okay, X-Men: Days of Future Past.  I never saw the original reboot, so to speak, I was overseas at the time and just haven't gotten my shit together, but I love James McAvoy and everything he stands for and I collected the comics for a long time, so I was willing to give it a go.  And apart from the magical ways in which no one in this cast ever seems to age (Hugh? Patrick? Srsly) the plot was actually quite tight (in a superhero plot kind of way), some of the scenes were hilarious (the acid trip line--I just loved it) and most importantly, I really felt something for the characters.  This movie was obviously a challenge to put together, something that should defy coherency for the sake of special effects and super powers, but it didn't.  It gave just enough moments for connection and weakness and pain and hope that the action scenes were a boost to the characters, not a foil for them.  Great ending, for those of us who like a good HEA.  Also, Quicksilver is amazing.

Then yesterday I saw A Million Ways to Die in the West.  Could have seen Maleficent, didn't, now I regret it.  There was so much potential there for funny, and most of it fell way flat.  Some jokes were ruined because they took too long to get to the punchline, others because something funny transitioned into something grossly graphic...McFarlane got away with a lot of stuff using an animated bear in Ted that he couldn't pull off with actual people in this film, and it suffered because of his incessant attempts to be Bigger and Grosser and Funnier than EVER!!!  I wouldn't bother seeing this in the theaters.  Or rather, I did bother, and I shouldn't have.  Learn from my mistakes.