Two movie reviews
We watched X-Men 2 in the theater (and were reminded, once again, why we prefer DVDs), and Catch Me If You Can on DVD.
I wish to thank the marketers for X-Men 2 for not displaying any scenes from more than 2/3rds into the movie. Because of their wise restraint, I thoroughly enjoyed the entire movie, knowing that about halfway through I had seen all the scenes featured in the various previews.
Above and beyond that, it was a very compelling, significantly longer (133 min), and stronger story than its predecessor (a very good movie itself, with a run-time of 104 min). The characters were real, the funny stuff was never obvious, and the enemies showed their human (mutant?) nature - sans the "arch-villain" labels. All in all, a very good film. I hope the next installment is as good as this one.
Catch Me If You Can was funny, touching, playful, and never predictable. Very enjoyable and highly recommended.