A total waste of 6 minutes 35 seconds indeed..... but well worth it! XD

Believe it or not, an actual comedy AMV to Serial Experiments Lain! XD

Never underestimate the power of the short story.

Misaki de basu wo orita hito (The person who got off the bus at the cape) is a one-shot manga that is perhaps the most powerful short story you'll ever read. It's from Yuki Urushibara, the creator of the highly-acclaimed Mushishi. Surprised? I didn't think so.

Just from the premise alone one gets the feeling that they're in for an interesting read. Mitsuko has inherited a shop upon her grandmother's death in which she spent most of her childhood. The shop has the most precarious of roles: It's the last stop for people looking to commit suicide by way of throwing themselves off a nearby cliff. This also means that the shopkeeper also has the opportunity to save many a life. Herein lies the dilemma for Mitsuko: Does she close up the shop for good? Or does she take it upon herself to be the last beacon of hope for people who've all but given up?

Grim, isn't it?

In spite of this, Urushibara does a masterful job of pacing this story to fit within an astounding 46 pages, without feeling rushed and without losing even an ounce of its impact. Not to mention she takes a grim subject and turns it into an uplifting story of deliverance, all while utilizing her trademark supernatural storytelling style.

Any doubts one has over the power of the short story will be eliminated upon reading this little gem. Heck, even reading or watching Mushishi should leave a similar impression -- just perhaps not quite as powerful an impression.

Overall: (out of 5)

Story:

Art:

The Wrestler

I never got around to seeing The Wrestler in theaters, so my brother graciously let me use his Netflix account to rent the film (I canceled mine due to the fact that I'd stopped using it).

Man, I am so glad I finally sat down and watched this. It's a film for the ages -- a richly affecting drama -- and Mickey Rourke's performance is spellbinding. Without Rourke, we probably wouldn't care a lick for Randy "The Ram" Robinson, the past-his-prime professional wrestler; especially if you're not a fan of pro wrestling like myself. Heck, we non-fans would more than likely be bored to tears without Rourke. But, his performance keeps us attached to him, to the point of the ending bringing many (including myself) to tears.

Yes, the film becomes somewhat predictable once Randy retires -- you know he's going to get back into the ring in the end, you know he's going to screw things up with his daughter, you know things aren't going to work out with Pam, etc., but the rich characterization and direction trumps all. Even all the questionable sexual content throughout is forgiven in the end.

The Wrestler is nigh perfection. Easily tops Slumdog Millionaire as the best film I've seen from 2008.

(out of 5)

Cristian Bale: The franchise savior

In all honesty I wasn't entirely sure I was setting myself up for a load of inability to understand a thing that was going on when I decided to watch this movie. I absolutely loved the original Terminator movie as well as T2, but unfortunately (or fortunately, take it however you like.... ) that's all I've ever seen of the Terminator franchise. I do hear the Sara Connor Chronicles aren't bad by any measure, but from what I understand about T3, yeah, not so much.....

Well to my pleasant surprise, I had no problems at all following this movie. It really is something in it's own right, telling the basic story of the resistance against SkyNet after the nukes fell, and their big heroic figure, John Connor, leading them towards victory. In a sense, it's basically a prequel if you will. Which is nice because it gives an opportunity for someone other than Arnold to step in and take charge, playing the ever so proclaimed bada** to be in John Connor. And boy did they ever pick the right person to play the role.

After Christian Bale quite literally rescued the Batman franchise from where that was headed, and with the Governator going the way he's headed in life (and all that muscle turning into fat for that matter..... )this was a real setup for something special. And it indeed was, as he played the role with all the awesomeness and intensity it called for. He's not the next Terminator or anything like that, but I do believe he has provided a way for the franchise to continue going within this particular storyline.

As has director McG, in fact. Now granted, this was far from a perfect movie. There were enough plot holes throughout and enough character development moments that could have been much stronger than they were that this probably does fall just shy of being a TRULY epic movie. But in it's own right, it was sill quite epic and quite engaging nonetheless. Action-wise I must say this is truly a very impressive movie, as all of the action sequences were handled with great mastery. At the very least it is a very exciting movie at least in that sense anyways, if nothing else. But what's probably one of the most impressive things about it though is in how it does send a few nice little winks to those familiar with the franchise. A couple of kinda cool (albeit a bit cheesy at the same time) usages of famous quotes in the dialog, plus the way it incorporates references to Sara Connor, and most of all what is quite possibly one of the most impressive and unique usages of CGI I have ever seen in how it incorporates a certain..... someone, if you know what I mean. ;) And the actual story of the movie itself ends in such a way that does indeed leave it wide open for more movies set in this particular timeline to continue.

For how amazing the trailers made this movie out to be, to tell you the honest truth, maybe it didn't quite live up to what I was expecting it to based off of that. Was it a disappointing movie overall though? Not by a long shot. Whatever the case though the most important thing that is for sure is that Christian Bale as John Connor was not only every bit as amazing as it was looking to be, and quite frankly the future looks bright if they do indeed continue to keep him as such.

Ratting: 3 stars out of 4, 8/10

Pinch me, for I must be DREAMING!

A new Yoshitoshi ABe anime is in the works!

Link.

This is the best news I've heard in a long, long time, made all the more sweeter by the fact that ABe will be working with many of the staffers from Serial Experiments Lain!

I am in a state of complete bliss.

New 9 Trailer

As if the teaser trailer wasn't fantastical enough. Hurry up and get here, September.

Original teaser is here if you're interested.

Vic Mignogna to direct .... Star Trek?

This is pretty cool, although it has nothing to do with the new Star Trek reboot.

Learned about this from AnimeVice, by way of Twitter.

Ikigami: The Ultimate Limit GN 1

When I got my copy of Fullmetal Alchemist volume 18 in the mail, Ikigami: The Ultimate Limit was advertised inside the front cover. I'd forgotten all about it ever since Viz first announced the license back in July. I ordered it straight away. I received it late last week and read it yesterday.

First thing I noticed upon flipping through this was the art. It's crisp and clean, and it makes good, if sometimes overenthusiastic, usage of shadowing. What really sells it though are the facial expressions. Motoro Mase is very good at depicting them, as each of them are easy to identify and he uses them quite well. I wouldn't say he's on the level of say, Hitoshi Iwaaki at drawing totally whacked-out expressions, but Mase can certainly hold his own. Mase does stoop to using shortcuts a bit too much though. Cutting and pasting bits of previous panels often when a character is recollecting something. Cutting and poasting is fine usually when used sparingly, but used too much it gets to be a bit distracting.

Just reading the back cover evokes thoughts of Death Note. Death Note also dealt (at least in the beginning) with the systematic decline of society. Interestingly enough, "Ikigami" translated means "Death Paper." However, the similarities are only skin deep -- Ikigami is a completely different. It isn't about an epic cat-and-mouse game that raises questions about morality -- nor is it about killing criminals -- it's a episodic examination of "regular" people who have been given 24 hours to live.

That said, the intricate system put in place by the government in order to randomly kill people is absolutely ludicrous. It's a mystery how the people of Japan were persuaded to go along with such a system, although it is only 1 out of 1000 people who are chosen and surviviors of the "victims" are compenstated with a "breavement pension." Regardless, there's no way real people would pass such a law. Nevertheless, that doesn't mean the system presented in Ikigami isn't interesting though. In fact, after suspending my disbelief in such an illogical system, I actually found myself becoming quite fascinated by this system as we learn about it along with the main character Fujimoto, whose job is to deliver Ikigami notices to those selected precisely 24 hours before their set time of death. The way people are randomly selected and how the killing are carried out is actually quite ingenious, to say the least.

Contained in this volume are the first two stories. The first leaves a little to be desired. It's about a guy who was bullied in his youth and seeks revenge upon his tormentors upon recieving his Ikigami notice. How many times have we seen a story like that? I'm not sure why Japan seems obsessed with bullying. Is it a problem in Japan or something? Still, the first story does have its disturbing moments. Moments that earned this volume a mature rating, although even then it's actually rather tame for a manga given such a rating. Probably could have gotten away with a 16+ rating.

The second story is much better. It's a sentimental tale of an aspiring musician who's run into hard times and his songwriter friend he'd left behind. Much of it is backstory as it were, starting from when Torio and his friend Hidekazu are mere street musicians before Torio gets swept away by music production agency. It's worth nothing that Mase makes the mistake of drawing Hidekazu to look too much like the Ikigami messenger Fujimoto, so at first I was a bit confused at first before Hidekazu was first introduced by name. That aside, Torio's actions just prior to dying are surprising, not to mention touching. All this makes for a good follow-up to the banal first story.

Ikigami: The Ultimate Limit is certainly worth checking out. Based upon the first volume, it's probably not going to win an Eisner award, and I can't really say Death Note fans will eat this up either, because Ikigami is not going to give the reader a non-stop thrill ride with self-contained, simpler and more realistic stories. Ikigami stands on its own and serves well as good, thought-provoking entertainment.

Overall: (out of 5)

Story:

Art:

More random linkage

A couple of really good friends of mine showed me these back on Saturday, and they're fricken hilarious! XD

Random Linkage

Star Trek: Jay Gee's Take

Darn it, Jim! I'm a doctor,
not a freakin' RIDER OF ROHAN!

I'll preface this review this this statement (and also some "backstory," if you will): I am not a die hard Star Trek fan. You probably can't even call me a casual fan.

I've seen a good portion of the movies, having seen Star Trek I-IV, VI, and Star Trek: Generations. I've seen bits and pieces of Star Trek: The Next Generation as well growing up, since you could call my parents "Trekkies." Just never really caught on like Star Wars did. Really the only reason why I was interested in this movie in the first place was because of Zachary Quinto (of Heroes fame) playing Spock.

Once the trailers starting rolling in, I figured that the movie looked pretty good from a visual standpoint, but I had my worries about the story. That added a second thing to want to see the film for besides Quinto.

Then the torrential raving reviews starting pouring in. The film was at a 100% Tomatometer on Rotten Tomatoes (RT) after 30+ reviews before someone brought the lengthy string of positives. It was then that I became excited about seeing it, since I use RT as a gauge to how much I'll any given film. I usually agree with the general consensus, and the higher the Tomatometer, the more I like a movie is how it usually goes. It's quite simple really, and when I went to see Star Trek, the Tomatometer was at 96% (as of today it is 95%).

All that having being said, I am pleased to report that J.J. Abrams and crew churned out a slick and highly entertaining film; perhaps the best film of the summer. Strangely enough, it felt like I was watching a Star Wars film, or, to a lesser extent, even Battlestar Galactica for that matter.

I do have misgivings with [Star Trek's] story, but thankfully not very many.

First, I'll discuss the casting.

Starting off, I have to say that Karl Urban's performance as Leonard "Bones" McCoy is hands down the best of the bunch. From the very first scene he was in, it was evident that he'd absolutely nailed the role. It was almost as though a younger DeForest Kelley were playing the role. Yes, Urban was that good.

... it felt like I was watching a Star Wars film, or, to a lesser extent, even Battlestar Galactica for that matter.

Zachary Quinto's Spock is also terrific although he doesn't hold a candle to Urban. Quinto also nailed down the role quite well. Especially since I never once thought of him as Sylar. I thought of him as Spock the whole time. He had Spock's mannerisms down darn near pat.

Chris Pine probably felt the least like the original character, but he did a great job of making young Kirk his own, although in the film it felt more like he was portrayed as a thrill seeker, rather than as a risk taker. This makes sense, however, since he's much younger than his older counterpart.

.... the pacing is near impeccable.

Simon Pegg's Scotty and Anton Yelchin's Chekov were equally enjoyable. I enjoyed how the computer wasn't able to understand Chekov's accent briefly. Thought it was a very nice touch.

Zoe Saldana's Uhura pretty much had the role of looking pretty. Certainly not a bad thing at all though, as Saldana is quite the gorgeous lady -- she certainly does NOT look her age (31 going on 32? Seriously?) Look forward to seeing more of her in future installments.

Star Trek is, at long last, fun again.

The special effects were terrific as well. Although I new much of it was CGI, Industrial Light and Magic did such a superb job that if I didn't know any better, I could have sworn it was all real. I new it would be a treat seeing Star Trek with the technological advances of today and the visuals didn't disappoint in the slightest. Seamless integration also made it all the move believable.

The story was also surprisingly strong for a blockbuster. I do have misgivings with the story, but thankfully not very many. Kirk up and enlisting in Starfleet so quickly was a little odd, and I would have liked to have seen more of Kirk at Starfleet Academy. Also, Nero was maybe a little underdeveloped as a villain, and it was perhaps a bit too easy for Kirk to cause Spock to breakdown emotionally. Otherwise it is a well-crafted screenplay. It features a smart script, ripe with loads of witty humor. It does fall to the convention of utilizing the usual Star Trek science-fiction mumbo jumbo, but it isn't without some interesting ideas (like the Red Matter, for instance) and the distortion of time was explained in a manner that wasn't too hard too hard to understand, and it wasn't a concept that hasn't been touched upon before either. Not to mention the pacing is near impeccable. It moved along at a brisk pace, yet it didn't feel like too much was crammed into two hours either. I was never bored, nor was it moving so fast that I couldn't keep up.

Star Trek is, at long last, fun again. Best Star Trek movie I've seen since The Wrath of Khaaaaaaan.

Star Trek: a return to greatness

Well seeing as how JayGee has failed to get to the review before I could ( :P ), let me start out this review by giving a very impressed shout out to Bad Robot, the production company behind this movie. They're also the production company behind Cloverfield as well, and I must say based off of that, it's a company that really seems to excel at producing movies with a superb atmosphere of drama and intensity. And they didn't even need to use the first person camera style to do it this time. 8-)

In any case, at the most basic level I can basically say that this movie really got the major boost the Star Trek franchise needed. Not since First Contact have we seen a Star Trek movie this awesomely good. It was exactly what it needed to be: a movie that still catered to doing the franchise justice while at the same time could still be a movie in it's own right, doing it's own thing rather than the same old thing too many times over, like where the old movie franchise seemed to be heading at it's final run there. And it's own thing worked very, very well.

Like I was talking about before, probably the best thing about this movie had do definitely be the overall atmosphere. Not only does it get a real boost in the area of modernization with a younger, more relatable to cast and technical movie effects, but it gets a real boost as just simply being a really awesome and exciting movie as well. In a lot of ways I couldn't help but think that I indeed got a Cloverfield-esque feel of how engaging everything was, from the characters themselves to the dire situations they found themselves in, and how much you really cared about them. Of course it wasn't as overwhelmingly engaging and intense as Cloverfield was, and most certainly not for the same reasons, but the actual feel of the engaging material just seemed to have very much a Cloverfield-esque feel to it.

But epic intensity isn't the only area in which the overall atmosphere of the movie excelled. Along with having it's fair share of more dark moments, there was a lot of lightheartedness to it as well, most namely in the area of humor. There was a great amount of humor based around giving nice little winks out to fans of the Star Trek franchise, and at the same time it played a part in a great amount of just simply witty, well written humor as well.

The acting in this movie was every bit as superb as well. Unlike a good portion of the rest of the cast, Chris Pine's Kirk didn't quite offer us pretty much the same mannerisms of the original actors, he pretty much just does his own thing with the role. But he doesn't need to do any sort of imitation, because he fits very much into the role so perfectly without having to do so. As far as some of the other roles doing so however, well, not only do I see that as great acting in and of itself to be able to pull off a lot of what they were with that, but at the same time those actors very much so makes them their own roles. Even so though, the fact of the matter is that you don't even think of Spock as Sylar from Heroes or McCoy as Eomer from Lord of the Rings, and that there is enough a testament to how great they were.

Probably the only thing I could say negative about this movie is that the story probably could have been a bit more well handled than it was. But in all honesty I only really see that as a very, very minor inconvenience in the midst of how great the rest of the movie was. Simply put, I guess at the very basic level I could say that this was just a very enjoyable movie in the sense of being very epic and exciting while at the same time offering plenty witty humor. And quite frankly that's all it needed to be, because it was all so well handled in so many ways that you don't even really think all that much about anything else.

In the end, I think I can definitely say that Gene Roddenberry would be very proud of the end result of this movie. The greatness of his original work was honored and preserved, and at the same time it got the very well handled boost of energy and enjoyment it was in need of. What adds onto that is also the fact that in a very brilliant way did it set itself up for what could be an actual series of Trek movies just like it, as the world of Star Trek and it's characters also got a very interesting change of it's timeline as they are now all basically in an alternate universe where basically anything can happen from here on out (in a way I won't spoil for anyone, of course ;) ). Needless to say, the future of the Star Trek movie franchise looks very, very promising indeed.

Rating: 9/10, 3.5 stars out of 4.

Historie 5 + Chapters 48-53

Finally got caught up reading this fantastic series. I read all of volume five, plus six extra chapters that have yet to be collected in tankōbon volumes. It had been quite a while since I finished reading volume four, so it was a bit awkward jumping in again after such a long break.

In volume five, we meet up with with Eumenes again just as we'd last left him waaay back in chapter five as the flashback has finally come full circle and things begin moving forward once again with the brilliant revelation regarding Antigonus's true identity. Describing what happened in the chapters following this revelation could potentially spoil his identity for those who haven't read these chapters yet, so I'll just leave it at that.

Still, Historie continues to wholly impress me. This is truly Iwaaki's masterpiece as his writing remains just as bold and ambitious (not to mention consistent) as in previous volumes. The scope is as grand as ever, and he obviously knows the direction he's going to take this series well in advance, because the command he has over his storyline is impeccable. Certainly extremely well-planned, and executed beautifully.

Keep up the great work, Iwaaki-sensei. Can't wait to read more.

Casshern SINGS

Just updated the music player. Now featuring the soundtrack from Casshern SINS!

And no, Casshern doesn't really sing.

Enough is ENOUGH!!

I've had it with Brett Favre. Does he seriously want to come out of retirement for the SECOND TIME?

Brett Favre to meet with Vikings.


I can understand the fact that he loves football and he is certainly a Hall of Famer, but this never-ending drama is just plain stupid and childish. Not to mention it tarnishes his legacy.

You're not a little kid anymore, Favre; hell, you're not even in your prime anymore.

Just. Make. Up. Your. Freaking. Mind.

Ohikkoshi

Folks who know me may should be aware that Solanin is one of my favorite manga of all time. What does that have to do with Ohikkoshi a relatively obscure manga from Hiroaki Samura (of Blade of the Immortal fame), you ask? Well, not too long ago I noticed a thread on ANN entitled "What to read after 'Solanin'." Upon reading it, I noticed that Ohikkoshi was mentioned a few times, so I decided to buy it, along with a few other manga that were mentioned. I read Ohikkoshi first, since I am familiar with Samura somewhat, having read the first volume of Blade of the Immortal recently.

I hate it when a movie or a book breaks the fourth wall.

First things first: Ohikkoshi is NOT Solanin, nor it is quite as good. It's similar, yes, but yet it's completely different.

Anyway, Ohikkoshi is broken up into three stories. The main piece, "Ohikkoshi," is what was most similar to Solanin. It's a musically-themed slice-of-life story about a group of young adults in or not in relationships stuck between childhood and adulthood trying to decide what to do with their lives. Basically Solanin in a nutshell, only "Ohikkoshi," is a whole lot quirkier.

I had a hard time taking "Ohikkoshi" seriously because it tried to be funny too much. It never evoked an actual laugh out of me (takes a lot to get me to laugh out loud), but that doesn't mean that I didn't find it funny. Oh yes, I certainly found much of it funny. Whether I smiled or not (I'm not one to show a lot of emotion while reading), I still found plenty of things to be humorous, although there was something about the comedy that never worked: It kept breaking the fourth freaking wall! UGH!!! I hate it when a movie or a book breaks the fourth wall. Not only is it rarely funny, it annoys the heck out of me and never fails to break my concentration by causing me to roll my eyes. Still, it had some poignant things to say and I really liked how it ended. The cloying humor kind of ruined it for me though because as I made it hard to take seriously as I already said. Solanin found a nice balance of humor and drama, while "Ohikkoshi" kept tipping the scale in the wrong direction (though it wasn't all bad).

Samura's art is perhaps the best part, which is saying a lot since crisp and clean art is more to my liking.

The second story, "Luncheon of Tears Diary," I liked the most out of the three stories. It's about an aspiring female manga artist whose dreams are dashed, leading to quite the crazy life. She does it all. From working as a waitress to spending five years in prison for murder. It's such a crazy mash-up of genres that it ended up being highly enjoyable. Also, since I'd gotten used to the tongue-in-cheek nature of this book, I found it easier to get through.

The third story, "Kyoto Super Barhopping Journal," did nothing for me. In hindsight, I should have gone with my gut and just skipped it.

Samura's art is perhaps the best part, which is saying a lot since crisp and clean art is more to my liking. Samura always draws this book in his trademark rough style, but he demonstrates his uncanny ability to use shadowing and rough lines to his advantage. It works well with his style of storytelling.

Ohikkoshi may not have lived up to the high expectations I had for it, but I still have to recommend this very good manga quite highly.

Overall:

Story:

Art:

In case you're wondering, the other manga I purchased after reading that thread were Monokuro Kinderbook, Town of Evening Calm, Country of Cherry Blossoms, and Blue. I've read the first two and am working on the last. I will post reviews of the first two later this week and Blue's review will be up at some point after I've finished it.

The Soloist

Ah, The Soloist. Yet another example of me being drawn in the by the great trailers, only to be disappointed in the actual film.

The main misgiving I had with the movie? JOE WRIGHT'S DIRECTION. Gah! It made me want to pull my hair -- what little I have -- out. It served to give me a very detached feeling while watching much of this movie as the pacing just zips along from scene to scene, cutting away many times when we think we're going to have a nice character building moment. Many times it jumps back into Nathaniel Ayer's (Jamie Foxx) past without warning, then cuts back into present day. The lack of focus ends up causing to the film to lose much of it's impact, but it is still quite a sobering experience (though it could have floored me potentially). Still, having a very hard time getting into the film for probably about 3/4 of the way is certainly not a good thing. The movie would have been a much more worthwhile experience had I not had so much trouble getting into it.

Joe Wright was the wrong director to handle this film.

What carries the film is the acting from the leads. I can see Foxx garnering another Oscar nod for his performance, and Downey's performance as Steve Lopez is fantastic as well, although not on the level of Foxx's. Foxx through himself headlong into this role and is one of the few brightly shining elements of the film; the others being the beautiful classical music and the cinematography. Being a musician myself, getting to hear the all the wonderful music was quite calming, given the heavy, even creepy nature of the film.

The lack of focus ends up causing to the film to lose much of it's impact, but it is still quite a sobering experience.

Despite the fact that Joe Wright was the wrong director to handle this film, the movie is still a good one that is well worth seeing for the actors' performances. It's saddening to think that it could have been a film I could have recommended highly in good conscience had been in different, more capable hands -- perhaps even Oscar bait.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine or: I Miss Bryan Singer

Ever since Bryan Singer deserted the X-Men franchise to make the under-appreciated Superman Returns, it just haven't been the same. With X-Men: The Last Stand, all the intelligence of the first two X-Men films was shoved under the rug, and what we get was a sub-standard action flick, although not without some interesting ideas.

We finally get to see Gambit on film.

Then comes X-Men Origins: Wolverine (henceforth known as "Wolverine"). My opinion on The Last Stand (TLS) notwithstanding, I never thought Wolverine would be good from the first trailer, as it looked like it would be an average popcorn flick (which is more than I can say for TLS). When I went to see it opening day, that was exactly what I got.

Hugh Jackman certainly gave the film his all in his reprisal of the role that made him a star ...

One thing that hurt the film was predictability. Much of this couldn't be avoided since the film is the origin story of a previously developed character, but so much of the story was so unabashedly clichéd that I had hard time getting involved in it all. Not to mention the writers made quite the egregious error in the beginning. As my brother pointed out to me, the Canadian Territories weren't established until the 1870s, yet as a child Wolverine lived there in a mansion. Huh? That doesn't really add up, if you ask me. Also, the action sequences lacked the necessarily verve to make the film entertaining, and the humor was embarrassingly dry. I rolled my eyes plenty of times at the action and the dialogue that tried to be witty but failed, despite Hugh Jackman's and the remainder of the cast's best efforts.

I couldn't help but think of how much better the film could have been in Bryan Singer's hands ...

Still, the film wasn't a total loss. The scene in which Wolverine was having the adamantium attached to his skeleton was very well done. Despite knowing he'd survive, my heart was racing nevertheless. Hugh Jackman certainly gave the film his all in his reprisal of the role that made him a star, and there are some nice little winks at fans of the original films and the comics scattered throughout. It was also cool seeing the nicely edited opening sequence in which Wolverine and Sabertooth are fighting in several wars from the Civil War to Vietnam. We finally get to see Gambit on film; it was fun recognizing the younger personas of Cyclops and company; and there's even a brief cameo by Patrick Stewart as Charles Xavier (although his makeup was a bit odd).

... much of the story was so unabashedly clichéd that I had hard time getting involved in it all.

When it all comes down to it though, I couldn't help but think of how much better the film could have been in Bryan Singer's hands and weep internally as I watched the movie. At least Wolverine wasn't flat-out awful like TLS.



Oh, and before anyone calls me on this: I'm fully aware that I'm using an image of the French movie poster. Not only do I prefer it over the US poster, I felt that it mirrors my frustration with the film quite nicely.