X-Men: The Last Stand

X-Men: The Last Stand is a pointless abomination that deserved to be retconned. The ending is quite possibly the greatest failure in logic ever to exist.

X-Men: The Last Stand is easily the worst X-Men movie I've ever seen. Maybe it's because Bryan Singer wasn't involved. I can definitely see why they retconned it.

The entire thing was just terrible. Wolverine's hair looked ridiculous for most of the movie, and Storm's wig was super distracting. Kelsey Grammer was a weird Beast. Nick Hoult is much better. I still don't like Halle Berry as Storm. I do still like Rebecca as Mystique, though. Knowing her backstory gave the character more depth than it probably had for people watching the movie when it first came out. And I still liked Ian, too. Magneto's entire team was more interesting than the X-Men. I don't really see them as villains.

X-Men 2

Nothing really astounding happens in X-Men 2, but I haven't seen an X-Men movie yet that I didn't like (except maybe The Wolverine), and I enjoyed it.

It's been like two weeks since I watched X-Men 2, so this definitely isn't the optimal time to be writing my thoughts. I saw the first X-Men movie when it came out. I guess this one just didn't grab my interest, because I hadn't seen it. I think I like watching pretty much anything X-Men related. Hugh Jackman looks so young here compared to in Logan. He's like a little baby. I didn't really like Halle Berry's Storm. I like it better when they go a more African direction with Storm. Rogue's Lousianan accent was cool.

I loved the interaction between Xavier and Magneto. I think watching First Class and Future Past before this one added some depth to their relationship, and also to Mystique's character. I still think Rebecca is a million times better as Mystique than Jennifer.

If I came in expecting it to be some epic Blockbuster movie, I would probably be disappointed. But a lot of cool stuff happened. And it's perfectly enjoyable as just another episode of the overall X-Men story.

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King is about the same as the other LotR movies. They changed some things from the book that I don't agree with, but it's still fun to be able to see the story.

I didn't think it was going to work out, but I actually managed to watch all three LotR movies in a row. I wonder what I would've thought of them if I hadn't read the books. There are a lot of things that don't make sense or are just wacky, like what goes on with Denethor, that don't bother me in the movies because that's just how it was in the books. I guess it doesn't all jive 100% in the books, either, though. I just kind of accept them for what they are. The story isn't perfect, but it's still interesting.

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers is obviously a middle movie. It's a little bit grueling, but they're on a long journey. It's still interesting, and it definitely leaves you wanting to see how it all ends. 

I actually saw The Two Towers a week after the first LotR movie, so it was a nice continuation of the story. I pretty much have the same thoughts about this one as I did about the first one. I like hearing all the language, and seeing how they represent everything. Liv Tyler makes a pretty good Elf. They changed a lot more things in this movie than the first one. I didn't think they were necessary changes this time, either.

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

I really liked seeing Tolkein's book "come to life," to be cliché, in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. I don't agree with some of the changes they made in the plot, but they did a great job visually. It does seem a bit dated, but so do the books.

I've wanted to see LotR since it came out, but I wanted to read the books first, and I didn't do that until a couple years ago, and by then I didn't have time to watch old movies anymore. I tried to read The Hobbit, and either it was the most boring book I've ever read, or it was one of maybe two books that was so terrible I didn't finish it; I can't remember which. Either way, I won't be seeing that series (and it's not supposed to be good, anyway).

I feel like an unusual amount of memes came out of this series, like "one does not simply walk into Mordor." And that wasn't even a big line in the movie. Why did it become so popular?

This movie has a weird look to it, like it was shot on old-school film, and it has a weird old-school fantasy vibe to it in general. But so did the books -- they were written in 1937-49, after all -- so maybe they were going for authenticity. The opening part in Hobbiton reminded me of Willow.