The formation of the X-Men group, the first class.  First, I know there's some that are boycotting this film and I'd list the reasons, but after asking a people on other a few other boards why they are boycotting there turns out there are numerous reasons. Some reasons make sense to me, others, I found a little out there.

In any case I enjoyed this film. I though McAvoy did a great job as Charles Xavier, while Michael Fassbender I thought was brilliant as Erik/Magneto.  And Kevin Bacon played the "cool badass" villain to a T.  The storyline was great, and there were some great scenes.  One thing that bugged me was I couldn't tell about the special effects, if that 60's look just made them look cheap or if that was the intention.

Either way I don't think that it took too much away from the film. After seeing Matthew Vaughn's other films:  Layer Cake and Kick-Ass, I'm starting to like his directing style.

While I did warm up to 'Stardust' a few years ago, I do recall two things:

1. I thought Layer Cake was garbage. I outright hated it.

2- I thought Kick-Ass was the biggest overrated movie of last year. I didn't give two hoots for the film.

That said, I enjoyed Stardust.

And even though First Class was a bit uneven, it was enough to get me to like it overall. I liked it quite a bit, in fact. Michael Fassbender stole the film.

A lot of folks harp on January Jones' Emma frost. She looked hot, that was her requirement. Interchangable, any actress could have played the part. Anyone.

X Men First Class was average entertainment. Fassbender was great, except at the end on the beach where his accent slipped, what the hell was all that about and why didn't anyone spot it and redub it?? Some of the mutants they chose were very dull.

Although I can't argue that this wasn't "average" entertainment, it was garbage.

Too many characters, too many plots, too many minutes of running time, and a whole lotta nothing at all happening.  Lame mutants, confused production design, boring dialogue, shiftless direction, and occasionally inexplicably poor editing.

Kevin Bacon was great, as he always is.  Fassbender was competent, as he always is (say, watch Fish Tank instead of this film!).  But none of it mattered the least little bit because there was nothing interesting going on between the main characters.  Nothing.  Absolutely zero zip zilch nothing.  Xavier didn't do anything.  Lensherr didn't do anything.  The writers tried to convince us that they were doing things by having them perform a lot of actions, but in fact they just weren't doing anything.  No progression.  No arc.  No interest from me.

The cameo was funny.

Edit:  Oh and January Jones is seriously the most terrible actress.  Her work in this and in Unknown is cringe-inducing.  Sorry Darren :)  I know a lot of actresses that are both hot and capable actors.  And frankly, looking hot was the only apparent requirement for any of the characters, except maybe looking black and being the first guy to die or looking like a stripper and turning evil.  Hee hee!  More great work from the writers.

Quoted from Heretic Oh and January Jones is seriously the most terrible actress.  Her work in this and in Unknown is cringe-inducing.  Sorry Darren :)  I know a lot of actresses that are both hot and capable actors.

Why apologize? Didn't you read the comment? I said Emma Frost could have been played by any actress (in fact, it almost did, but Alice Eve passed...wonder why. Hmmm) and Jan Jones basically acted with her bosoms. Sure, there's plenty of reasons to watch Mad Men - she is not one of them.

Hah I was apologizing for being yet another of the lot of folks who harp on Jones' Emma Frost.  I agree that it could have been any actress!  Writer's fault again...

I went into this one with a pretty open mind since the reviews were decent.
I'm not a fan of Stardust and I too thought Kick-Ass was overrated.
Save for Nicholas Cage, who single-handedly made that movie a hoot.
When he channeled his inner 60's Bruce Wayne, I smiled lots.
Love him or hate him, when he puts it out there, he's fun to watch.

Anyway, I was surprised they rushed this installment into production.
Matthew Vaughn started shooting 11 months before the release date.
And they started without a complete script, well, mostly there.
Not to mention they canned two long sequences in the Danger Room.
Vaughn cited they were "too close" to Inception to be used.

I felt the first two acts were pretty engaging.
I liked the whacky set design and the 60's guitar twang tinged score.
Kevin Bacon sets a fine tone with his German swagger.
January Jones does her best Mirror Ball Galore, leading with her breasts.
Something she should've done to keep us awake in "Unknown".
Fassbender has a Sean Connery Bondian vibe that I dug.
I could watch him skulk around national monuments for 15 minutes in vintage attire.

I was settling in for a good ride, then, the third act happened.
Sebastian Shaw is reduced to a douche with a helmet.
The other X-Men stand around and watch Magneto screw with the sub for 20 minutes.
And Michael Ironside watches the X-Men watching Magneto.

I felt like the third act was phoned in from X-Men 3, sans the overblown death scenes.
Every bit of charm and style was abandoned during the climax.
James McAvoy looks sincere enough as Xavier, but that's all he's given to do.
He's like Uhura in ST:TOS, always extolling humanity, but she has a nice mini-skirt.

Too bad, a decent vibe and set up ruined by blockbuster mentality.

E.D.