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skywaterblueX-Men: First Class was fucking great. We went to the midnight screening and about fifteen minutes into the film, my brother and I looked at each other and said 'holy shit, we're going to see it again tomorrow'.
Also: X3, why did it take them a decade to make this movie? *G*
When your movie's main character is MAGNETO and the storyline is essentially his Mossad years, your film is destined to be a hit. Everyone loves seeing the Master of Magnetism wipe out Nazi scum. Things this movie does not have: anything more than the implication that Erik is Mossad. (Indeed, it's entirely possible he's on his own in this film, but where he'd get the money to do all this jetting around the globe is hard to say. Nazi gold, maybe.) There is no mention of Magda or his twins.
McAvoy does a very good job with the freewheeling Xavier of the 1960s. He's a smarmy git who's loose with the ladies and yet you can see the man he'll grow into from scene one. Underestimating the women has always been Charles's fatal flaw. The new revelations about Mystique-as-Xavier's pet mutant completely rewrite her backstory in interesting ways. Oh, Charles. Already sucking vulnerable young women into your snare?
Jennifer Lawrence is very engaging as Mystique - quite a bit of the film is about her quest to find a man to see her for who she is, but it's never played as if Mystique is a pawn between men. They may see her that way, but Mystique's quest is an entirely self-generated one.
January Jones remains incredibly wooden, which is a shame as Emma Frost is a character of great passion under her frosty exterior, but she executes her parts well and the character is recognizable. I particularly enjoyed seeing her telepathically trick an official into thinking she was fucking him, which is a trick Emma Frost regularly enjoys in the comics. I am excited that the film ends with Emma joining Magneto in the Brotherhood - since this presumably means that Emma and Mystique will get to talk in the next film.
(I am not sure this film passes the Bechdel test.)
I was genuinely surprised by the ending of this film. I rather thought they'd leave some of those big establishing moments in the bag in case there was a second film. And I suppose this film does not believe that X3 happened at all, unless Xavier and Magneto come to some sort of working relationship in the next one.
I do think the ending has a neat answer for 'why humanity would come to hate and fear mutants'. One of the most vivid depictions thus far.
There were some things I didn't care very much for, starting with Sebastian Shaw as Erik's sadistic camp doctor. I understood that they wanted to introduce Erik's quest for vengeance and what better way than to make the main villain his Nazi mentor, but it leaves a lot of gaps unfilled. The cheesy way it is introduced drops a lot of the pathos of having your main character be a camp survivor, something Marvel Comics has become invested in in a big way recently. (After years of going back and forth on if Erik was even a Jew.)
This is not much helped by the scant time spent on what exactly the Hellfire Club was, though this midnight audience in Las Vegas LOVED the shot of a vintage 1960s Fremont Street. One or two lines about being a secret society of mutants that secretly controlled humanity would not have been out of place, I think.
And the baby mutants, with the exception of Hank, are not drawn with anywhere near the loving delight that Xavier, Magneto and Mystique enjoy. The only black character dies. The only Latina character is a turn coat. (Though arguably, the Brotherhood is not evil, but rather antiheroic. Certainly quite a few members of the audience sympathize with them.)
The surprise cameos were great - one in particular got a HUGE AUDIENCE REACTION of delight.
In conclusion: I can't wait for the fic.
It is really funny that among the other comic book related movies previewed in front of this, one serious film: a Matthew Vaughn piece where Helen Mirren is an ex-Mossad agent who was tracking down Nazis. HOOK LINE AND SINKER.
Also: X3, why did it take them a decade to make this movie? *G*
When your movie's main character is MAGNETO and the storyline is essentially his Mossad years, your film is destined to be a hit. Everyone loves seeing the Master of Magnetism wipe out Nazi scum. Things this movie does not have: anything more than the implication that Erik is Mossad. (Indeed, it's entirely possible he's on his own in this film, but where he'd get the money to do all this jetting around the globe is hard to say. Nazi gold, maybe.) There is no mention of Magda or his twins.
McAvoy does a very good job with the freewheeling Xavier of the 1960s. He's a smarmy git who's loose with the ladies and yet you can see the man he'll grow into from scene one. Underestimating the women has always been Charles's fatal flaw. The new revelations about Mystique-as-Xavier's pet mutant completely rewrite her backstory in interesting ways. Oh, Charles. Already sucking vulnerable young women into your snare?
Jennifer Lawrence is very engaging as Mystique - quite a bit of the film is about her quest to find a man to see her for who she is, but it's never played as if Mystique is a pawn between men. They may see her that way, but Mystique's quest is an entirely self-generated one.
January Jones remains incredibly wooden, which is a shame as Emma Frost is a character of great passion under her frosty exterior, but she executes her parts well and the character is recognizable. I particularly enjoyed seeing her telepathically trick an official into thinking she was fucking him, which is a trick Emma Frost regularly enjoys in the comics. I am excited that the film ends with Emma joining Magneto in the Brotherhood - since this presumably means that Emma and Mystique will get to talk in the next film.
(I am not sure this film passes the Bechdel test.)
I was genuinely surprised by the ending of this film. I rather thought they'd leave some of those big establishing moments in the bag in case there was a second film. And I suppose this film does not believe that X3 happened at all, unless Xavier and Magneto come to some sort of working relationship in the next one.
I do think the ending has a neat answer for 'why humanity would come to hate and fear mutants'. One of the most vivid depictions thus far.
There were some things I didn't care very much for, starting with Sebastian Shaw as Erik's sadistic camp doctor. I understood that they wanted to introduce Erik's quest for vengeance and what better way than to make the main villain his Nazi mentor, but it leaves a lot of gaps unfilled. The cheesy way it is introduced drops a lot of the pathos of having your main character be a camp survivor, something Marvel Comics has become invested in in a big way recently. (After years of going back and forth on if Erik was even a Jew.)
This is not much helped by the scant time spent on what exactly the Hellfire Club was, though this midnight audience in Las Vegas LOVED the shot of a vintage 1960s Fremont Street. One or two lines about being a secret society of mutants that secretly controlled humanity would not have been out of place, I think.
And the baby mutants, with the exception of Hank, are not drawn with anywhere near the loving delight that Xavier, Magneto and Mystique enjoy. The only black character dies. The only Latina character is a turn coat. (Though arguably, the Brotherhood is not evil, but rather antiheroic. Certainly quite a few members of the audience sympathize with them.)
The surprise cameos were great - one in particular got a HUGE AUDIENCE REACTION of delight.
In conclusion: I can't wait for the fic.
It is really funny that among the other comic book related movies previewed in front of this, one serious film: a Matthew Vaughn piece where Helen Mirren is an ex-Mossad agent who was tracking down Nazis. HOOK LINE AND SINKER.
no subject
Date: 2011-06-05 05:26 am (UTC)I'm still weirded out that they went out of their way to include characters of color, which they could completely have justified eliminating by 'they're not in the comics' (I don't approve of this approach, but it's not uncommon) and then went for the dying/defecting cliches. That was pretty damn tone deaf.) I agree that Angel's defection was portrayed fairly sympathetically, but 'almost all the POCs are Brotherhood' was an uninterrogated problem with the 3rd movie, and this just seemed to replicate it.
no subject
Date: 2011-06-05 07:13 pm (UTC)So what we need is a House of M/Genosha storyline. The Sentinels /did/ mass-murder the mutant homeland Magneto created. Magneto was right.
no subject
Date: 2011-06-05 08:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-06-05 11:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-06-05 11:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-10-16 06:11 am (UTC)Last year, Burberry and WPP/BrandZ by Interbrand named as the world's four fastest-growing brand, following those of Apple, Google and Amazon.Years of encouraging growth 24%, at last year's annual report, Burberry Outlet (http://onlineburberryoutletsuk.com) Chief Executive AngelaAhrendts has revealed that this year will be opened a new store in Regent Street, "this item has been included in our latest ideas. ”Market speculation, Burberry, or during the Olympic Games in London offering the brand history's Burberry Outlet Online (http://onlineburberryoutletsuk.com) largest stores, covers an area of 25,000 square feet.Plus a quarterly disclosure of double digit growth, ushered in the capital "spree".Though, this store is still on the Regent Street "All his geese are Swans", official not yet disclosing specific opening times.
no subject
Date: 2012-10-16 06:13 am (UTC)