'13 Movies: 'X Men: First Class', 'Planes, Trains and Automobiles', 'Ballerina'

January sucks when you're working retail. After the craziness of the holidays, the stores completely empty out and you're left doing nothing but returns for angry customers who've just realized that their significant other spent only $12 on a hideous sweater that they can't even exchange for something pretty. And the hours are cut so badly that you start wondering if it's even worth it to spent the money to drive to work only to get yelled at by people and get a measly paycheck. Which is a long way of saying: I'm gonna spend a lot of time watching movies this week. And writing very short reviews. Or trying to, because just as with my Cannonball reviews I keep telling myself that I *will* post about this movie tomorrow...then tomorrow comes and I watch three more movies and forget to catch up. But I will try.

3. X-Men: First Class
This was a rewatch. I think it says a lot that I left it sitting on the table for almost two weeks before watching it. It's not bad movie--in fact, I liked it so much that I watched it twice in theaters and twice more at my father-in-law's house. It's just that it's not one for infinite rewatches, like The Avengers is. It's a great superhero movie, but the more you watch it the longer it seems and the sillier the younger people come off looking. I guess that's just what you get when put teenagers at the center of the movie. But it's worth it for every scene featuring McAvoy and Fassbender--and even Kevin Bacon kicks a little bit of ass in this. So, I still like it, but I think I'll be better off not watching it again for a while.

4. Planes, Trains and Automobiles

I can't believe I'd never watched this one, because it was hilarious. I think my expectations were lowered because I've seen way too many movies that want to be just like this one--the odd couples/road trip that is constantly meeting with disaster. But this was the original and this was the best, and I was constantly surprised by how much fun I was having. It's helped by perfect performances from Steve Martin and John Candy, who'll just crack you up by often not doing much more than just stand there crinkling his eyes. Definitely glad I watched it.

5. Ballerina
There's something so compelling about ballet documentaries for me lately. I don't even like ballet very much. But  this one and First Position from a while back just makes me want to watch more of them. I think it's just that it's fascinating to watch people so dedicated to an extremely rare and demanding pursuit, and how strange and interesting the life of dancers seem to me. It helps that it's another very well done documentary, where you're always glued to the screen and get completely caught up in the stories of the people in the story. I only wish it had been a little longer, but it was otherwise a very good documentary.