blog: Can't remember the last time I used my "x-men" tag.
So, this guy said some dumb stuff about women writers, which you don't really need to read because it's dumb, but then we get fun stuff like a quiz to see if you can guess a writer's gender or a computer program that calculates an author's gender based on a selection of text. It's pretty sure I'm a dude.
In mostly unrelated news, I saw X-Men: First Class on Friday and really, genuinely loved it. This isn't too spoilery, but ... It was an interesting, stylish movie with fun action, (mostly) terrific acting, and moments of unabashed brilliance. I've never actually seen anyone that I'd describe as "smoldering", but Michael Fassbender fits the bill. It's possible I just have a thing for villains or tall, angular men (yes, I have a type, shut up). The super slashy angsty chemistry between Charles and Erik was delicious, and not in a distracting "omg was this intentional?" kind of way (see 3:10 to Yuma, the new one. seriously). Their interactions are well written and sincere, and their relationship really is at the core of the film. As a result, though, all of the dynamics between/with other characters feel a little tacked on.
In fact, the other characters is where some of the movie's problems come in. There are only three characters of color in the film. Two of them are evil, and one of those doesn't have a single line. The one Black character, who is a good guy, dies fairly early on. This is not cool. They also changed some character's nationalities so that (whether intentionally or not) all of the "good" guys are (white and) American. In the comics, doctor Moira McTaggert is an accomplished Scottish scientist. Here, she's an American CIA agent who, in her first scene, undresses and walks around in her underwear for a while. Now, I'm not complaining about getting to look at Rose Byrne, but really? Really? Also, Banshee is supposed to be Irish, and I don't understand why he isn't, in this. I mean, you could say that, since they're working for the CIA, they could only recruit American citizens (which should really mean that minors are out, too), but then why not just use a character who was American to begin with? Speaking of which, wtf was up with Azazel's accent? Is he supposed to be Russian? In which case, that would mean that, aside from Emma Frost, the "bad" guys wind up all being either not American or not white. I'm not even going to talk about Emma Frost. She looked fabulous, but that's about it.
That being said, I actually quite liked most of the characters. Oliver Platt's character was fantastic, what little we saw of him, and Kevin Bacon actually managed to make Sebastian Shaw both charming and terrifying, as opposed to being kind of gross and creepy, which is how I always thought of Shaw. Havok and Beast were adorable, even if Beast was a little to naive to be believable. The only character I had a problem with was Mystique, and that's mostly down to Jennifer Lawrence just being straight up wrong for the part. I understand that this is a young Mystique we're seeing and that she's meant to be a little awkward and uncertain, but, in the moments that we do see the strength and composure that comes to define the character, Lawrence just doesn't have the presence to deliver. She's not bad. She'd make a great heroine in some teen comdey/drama, and that's exactly how she plays Mystique. Yeah, not so much.
Overall, it's a really good movie. I was definitely more impressed with it than I have been with the other big releases so far this summer. (Thor was a badly written film carried by phenomenal acting and gorgeous effects. Pirates 4, if you haven't seen it, is a rental.) The script could have done with one more edit, mostly for pacing, but it was generally great. It's worth seeing, and worth seeing twice.
Incidentally, I was looking at old journal entries and found one from 2006 where I said, "Robert Downey, jr has been cast to play Iron Man. I... am not sure how I feel about this." I kind of want to pat my 2006 self on the head and say, "Oh bless your heart!"
Now, I'm going to go watch Doctor Who and finally learn the secret of River Song. Geronimo!
In mostly unrelated news, I saw X-Men: First Class on Friday and really, genuinely loved it. This isn't too spoilery, but ... It was an interesting, stylish movie with fun action, (mostly) terrific acting, and moments of unabashed brilliance. I've never actually seen anyone that I'd describe as "smoldering", but Michael Fassbender fits the bill. It's possible I just have a thing for villains or tall, angular men (yes, I have a type, shut up). The super slashy angsty chemistry between Charles and Erik was delicious, and not in a distracting "omg was this intentional?" kind of way (see 3:10 to Yuma, the new one. seriously). Their interactions are well written and sincere, and their relationship really is at the core of the film. As a result, though, all of the dynamics between/with other characters feel a little tacked on.
In fact, the other characters is where some of the movie's problems come in. There are only three characters of color in the film. Two of them are evil, and one of those doesn't have a single line. The one Black character, who is a good guy, dies fairly early on. This is not cool. They also changed some character's nationalities so that (whether intentionally or not) all of the "good" guys are (white and) American. In the comics, doctor Moira McTaggert is an accomplished Scottish scientist. Here, she's an American CIA agent who, in her first scene, undresses and walks around in her underwear for a while. Now, I'm not complaining about getting to look at Rose Byrne, but really? Really? Also, Banshee is supposed to be Irish, and I don't understand why he isn't, in this. I mean, you could say that, since they're working for the CIA, they could only recruit American citizens (which should really mean that minors are out, too), but then why not just use a character who was American to begin with? Speaking of which, wtf was up with Azazel's accent? Is he supposed to be Russian? In which case, that would mean that, aside from Emma Frost, the "bad" guys wind up all being either not American or not white. I'm not even going to talk about Emma Frost. She looked fabulous, but that's about it.
That being said, I actually quite liked most of the characters. Oliver Platt's character was fantastic, what little we saw of him, and Kevin Bacon actually managed to make Sebastian Shaw both charming and terrifying, as opposed to being kind of gross and creepy, which is how I always thought of Shaw. Havok and Beast were adorable, even if Beast was a little to naive to be believable. The only character I had a problem with was Mystique, and that's mostly down to Jennifer Lawrence just being straight up wrong for the part. I understand that this is a young Mystique we're seeing and that she's meant to be a little awkward and uncertain, but, in the moments that we do see the strength and composure that comes to define the character, Lawrence just doesn't have the presence to deliver. She's not bad. She'd make a great heroine in some teen comdey/drama, and that's exactly how she plays Mystique. Yeah, not so much.
Overall, it's a really good movie. I was definitely more impressed with it than I have been with the other big releases so far this summer. (Thor was a badly written film carried by phenomenal acting and gorgeous effects. Pirates 4, if you haven't seen it, is a rental.) The script could have done with one more edit, mostly for pacing, but it was generally great. It's worth seeing, and worth seeing twice.
Incidentally, I was looking at old journal entries and found one from 2006 where I said, "Robert Downey, jr has been cast to play Iron Man. I... am not sure how I feel about this." I kind of want to pat my 2006 self on the head and say, "Oh bless your heart!"
Now, I'm going to go watch Doctor Who and finally learn the secret of River Song. Geronimo!