X-Men, First Class: Single Perfect Tears
THAT WAS...KASDJHFKJH
First, a disclaimer, I've been crushing on Magneto since age six or seven thanks to Saturday morning cartoons, before I ever knew about WWII. Yes, I know he's sometimes rather villainous, but my other favourite is Cyclops up until Phoenix(not the movie version), so I figure the alignment balances out.
And Magneto's magnificent in this movie. The pain, the agony, the angst, the embryonic anti-hero, the power, and, now that I'm older, I also see the slash with Charles. Granted, I might've imprinted on their adventure in Dinosaurland anyways.
Michael Fassbender's been in everything these days and I think I've seen most of it except for his Mr. Rochester....but I'm finally seeing the attraction. All it took was to see him as a sordid mess of inner lonely anguish and unresolved issues who tries to be better.
I weep at ridiculous movies, and I did weep a little at the beginning concerning the concentration camps. Then he shows up, hunting Nazis with Nazi gold and was clearly trained AND alone. Frankenstein's monster has never been so fascinating but the metaphor's quite perfect for its irony because in the beginning, he's calling himself monster. Then, friendship and actually finding others like him changed that and it was others whom he found monstrous. Self-acceptance, the angry way...
Entitled and essentially empathetic but still unsympathetic Charles was wonderful, too. His geeky pickup paragraph, his relationship with Raven, and his sheer inability to really understand her. I don't see Charles/Raven because Charles is a brat and Raven, for all that she's "waitressing" (though that came off more of a choice than anything else- I suppose he has no adult supervision?) is one, too. Her slipping into Eric's bed is actually refreshingly non-gratuitous. I actually thought this movie manages to make X-Men less about adolescence and more about adulthood.
It wasn't just about "xenophobia because we are different from the others" but about dealing with the world while negotiating the perception of similarities and differences and their consequences.
Beast's self-loathing is utterly heartbreaking but understandable. Imaging if Peter Parker grew eight eyes and six more legs, the charms of having superpowers would considerably diminish. He may no longer be a 60lb weakling, but that's never quite the point of being..athletic. The movie doesn't sugarcoat the effects of his own..body dysmorphism or his dismissal of the future Mystique. It's clear that even on the plane, he's still not happy with his antidote.
Mystique's the one who made a decision. The beach scene where she walks toward Charles and Eric and chooses to go to Charles first is unexpectedly sensitive. For all the awful dialog, there's just such a feel to this film that makes it much more enjoyable than Wolverine or X3.
Also, Eric's so very...interesting. I usually don't have slash goggles, but this movie can practically be called Magneto's Awakenings. Him and Charles looking for mutants should allow for prolific fandom activity, right? That scene with them in the bedroom with Angel's just so...They're clearly comfortable. What in the world did they tell the establishment? And the bonding..oh, the bonding. And the parting. All that, I wouldn't have been convinced if not the scene AFTER the parting where Eric lovingly cradles his First Friend whom he just paralyzed, he showed up in a magenta cap, a dark red velvet suit, and the previously gun-metal gray is now painted with MOLDINGS.
NEON LETTERS, people. Now I see. My brother saw as well. They're difficult to ignore and read if the intent has been to enjoy the movie.
Somehow, going in to see this movie, I didn't know Kevin Bacon's getting so much screentime. He's sufficiently disturbing to make the villainy convincing and Emma Frost's disdain's charming. There is misogyny in the movie, of course, but the sense comes across that it's still for...historical references.
I really really loved this movie. The dialog's hilarious. The random minor characters are cringeworthy and ridiculous but I do actually like that Angel joined the other side first. She's POC but it would be odd for a non-POC character who was a stripper not to find these Others more convincing than the CIA.
Not quite brilliant, but still more enjoyable than Pirates.
First, a disclaimer, I've been crushing on Magneto since age six or seven thanks to Saturday morning cartoons, before I ever knew about WWII. Yes, I know he's sometimes rather villainous, but my other favourite is Cyclops up until Phoenix(not the movie version), so I figure the alignment balances out.
And Magneto's magnificent in this movie. The pain, the agony, the angst, the embryonic anti-hero, the power, and, now that I'm older, I also see the slash with Charles. Granted, I might've imprinted on their adventure in Dinosaurland anyways.
Michael Fassbender's been in everything these days and I think I've seen most of it except for his Mr. Rochester....but I'm finally seeing the attraction. All it took was to see him as a sordid mess of inner lonely anguish and unresolved issues who tries to be better.
I weep at ridiculous movies, and I did weep a little at the beginning concerning the concentration camps. Then he shows up, hunting Nazis with Nazi gold and was clearly trained AND alone. Frankenstein's monster has never been so fascinating but the metaphor's quite perfect for its irony because in the beginning, he's calling himself monster. Then, friendship and actually finding others like him changed that and it was others whom he found monstrous. Self-acceptance, the angry way...
Entitled and essentially empathetic but still unsympathetic Charles was wonderful, too. His geeky pickup paragraph, his relationship with Raven, and his sheer inability to really understand her. I don't see Charles/Raven because Charles is a brat and Raven, for all that she's "waitressing" (though that came off more of a choice than anything else- I suppose he has no adult supervision?) is one, too. Her slipping into Eric's bed is actually refreshingly non-gratuitous. I actually thought this movie manages to make X-Men less about adolescence and more about adulthood.
It wasn't just about "xenophobia because we are different from the others" but about dealing with the world while negotiating the perception of similarities and differences and their consequences.
Beast's self-loathing is utterly heartbreaking but understandable. Imaging if Peter Parker grew eight eyes and six more legs, the charms of having superpowers would considerably diminish. He may no longer be a 60lb weakling, but that's never quite the point of being..athletic. The movie doesn't sugarcoat the effects of his own..body dysmorphism or his dismissal of the future Mystique. It's clear that even on the plane, he's still not happy with his antidote.
Mystique's the one who made a decision. The beach scene where she walks toward Charles and Eric and chooses to go to Charles first is unexpectedly sensitive. For all the awful dialog, there's just such a feel to this film that makes it much more enjoyable than Wolverine or X3.
Also, Eric's so very...interesting. I usually don't have slash goggles, but this movie can practically be called Magneto's Awakenings. Him and Charles looking for mutants should allow for prolific fandom activity, right? That scene with them in the bedroom with Angel's just so...They're clearly comfortable. What in the world did they tell the establishment? And the bonding..oh, the bonding. And the parting. All that, I wouldn't have been convinced if not the scene AFTER the parting where Eric lovingly cradles his First Friend whom he just paralyzed, he showed up in a magenta cap, a dark red velvet suit, and the previously gun-metal gray is now painted with MOLDINGS.
NEON LETTERS, people. Now I see. My brother saw as well. They're difficult to ignore and read if the intent has been to enjoy the movie.
Somehow, going in to see this movie, I didn't know Kevin Bacon's getting so much screentime. He's sufficiently disturbing to make the villainy convincing and Emma Frost's disdain's charming. There is misogyny in the movie, of course, but the sense comes across that it's still for...historical references.
I really really loved this movie. The dialog's hilarious. The random minor characters are cringeworthy and ridiculous but I do actually like that Angel joined the other side first. She's POC but it would be odd for a non-POC character who was a stripper not to find these Others more convincing than the CIA.
Not quite brilliant, but still more enjoyable than Pirates.