X-Men: First Class
Probably the best super-hero movies I've seen since The Dark Knight. I like that instead of just being "here's about of fast-edit action scenes and explosions" it actually works towards having an emotional core, and the way its tied into to real events and real people gives it a sort of weight that most action movies just don't have. Great acting from the three leads [McAvoy, Fassbender, and Bacon] goes a long way as well, though I kind of wished they'd developed Shaw a bit more. It seemed like there were some aspects of his character that were missing. Still, kind of a minor complaint and he was suitably evil for what his role called for. My biggest problem is that, at times, it feels like the were writers were going through the X-Men universe checklist and just checking boxes. I know it's an origin movie, but that's kind of the point. It's an origin movie and all that entails. It just felt like they were going a bit too far at times and digging out too many of those "Hey, ever wonder how X happened? Well, here you go!" moments. Too much getting out the board, setting up the pieces, and reading through the rules, not quite enough actual payoff. Gives it a bit of ding, but doesn't stop it from being a good movie.
