CINEMA

X-Men 1st Class - Good Popcorn Fun

POSTED BY: SHINYGOODGUY
UPDATED: Tuesday, June 21, 2011 23:54
SHORT URL: http://bit.ly/momp9l
VIEWED: 5523
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Saturday, June 4, 2011 4:26 AM

SHINYGOODGUY


Just saw X-Men First Class (Opening night) and, although it didn't knock my socks off, it was quite good. It was fun, entertaining and it added to the X-Men folklore. You might think "I've seen this movie," think again. Mathew Vaughn takes a franchise and breathes new life into it. It was funny, without being slapstick. It was true to the characters we've come to know as the X-Men, but without being overly redundant.

Yes, some of the same themes were there. Mutants (those of us who are different and not fitting in to what most consider "normal") and humankind finding a way to co-exist in the same world, but it took a different approach. Acceptance of one's true self and body image themes (aimed specifically at teen-aged girls). There were a few brief scenes that were corny and unintentionally funny, but they were minor and did not detract from the main story - the origins of the X-Men and Magnetos group of misfits. It was really well done, they gave you something familiar but from a different point of view. The balancing act was quite striking, the audience did not have to re-learn anything about the characters and discovered something new within a familiar setting.

I don't want to give any spoilers here but, there were a couple of nice surprises. You will get a good chuckle or two. All in all it was good fun and well done, with a few minor flaws. I give it 3 out of 4 stars (Think Star Trek good). Go see it if you're a fan, or even if you're not - this film may sway you to become one. You can take the kids, but the young ones (5-8 yrs old) may get a little scared by the X-Men style violence.

Have fun!


SGG

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Sunday, June 5, 2011 9:02 AM

PRETTYXPISTOL


I can't wait to see it! ^_^

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Sunday, June 5, 2011 9:50 AM

EVILDINOSAUR


Just saw it, it was fantastic. For me, easily the best comic book movie since the first Iron Man. Definitely the best of the X-men movies.

Select to view spoiler:


I did not expect the Wolverine cameo at all, and it was fantastic, the whole theater laughed for a good minute at that one.



"Haha, mine is an evil laugh."

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Sunday, June 5, 2011 10:50 AM

ECGORDON

There's no place I can be since I found Serenity.


Quote:

Originally posted by SHINYGOODGUY:
Think Star Trek good.


Depends on which Trek you are talking about. There are a few of those films and series I wouldn't force on my worst enemy.



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Sunday, June 5, 2011 10:52 AM

ECGORDON

There's no place I can be since I found Serenity.


Give me time and I'll figure out what I'm doing wrong with my signature.



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Monday, June 6, 2011 2:38 AM

SHINYGOODGUY


The latest by JJ Abrams - Star Trek, or, as someone posted, as good as the first Iron Man.

"The Hammer is my penis"

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Monday, June 6, 2011 2:48 AM

SHINYGOODGUY


Regarding your hidden spoiler comment - Yep, same thing here, that scene got the loudest reaction and and the theatre buzzed for about a minute.

Another surprise for me: Jennifer Lawrence. I didn't know that she was in this movie and I was pleasantly surpised, she was quite good as Mystique. James McAvoy was excellent as Professor X and the actor (who's name escapes me) who played Magneto was also excellent.


SGG

"Osgood, I'm a man"
"Well, nobody's perfect"

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Monday, June 6, 2011 3:24 AM

ECGORDON

There's no place I can be since I found Serenity.


Quote:

Originally posted by SHINYGOODGUY:
The latest by JJ Abrams


Okay, I'll skip it then.



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Sunday, June 19, 2011 2:30 PM

AURAPTOR

America loves a winner!


Just saw it. Had some issues w/ it , but it was pretty decent.

My issues are both historical ( the Cuban missile crisis ) and w/ the story line of the characters.


Minor issues, I suppose, but the sort that really can lessen my appreciation of a decent movie.

( pardon the spoilers )

Select to view spoiler:



1st - The idiocy of how the Cuban missile crisis was portrayed. Both US and Soviet navies, lined up across from each other like WW 1 trench war-fare, waiting for a cargo ship w/ Soviet Nuke missiles, sitting in plain view, right there on the top deck..... Please.



Are our schools so poor at teaching history, that no one knows the missiles were already IN Cuba ?

Ok, trivial, movie theatrics. I get it.

Now, as for the characters.. I'm not up on my X Men canon, or how the comic book "original "story line went, some things just didn't sit well w/ me , w/ regards to how the other movies portrayed everyone. Such things like..

Select to view spoiler:


Charles Xavier and Raven met in their youth, and were life long best friends ? Oh, and she doesn't look as old as he did in the later movies, because... ? The fact that Wolverine can have near immortality makes sense, but Raven ? ( though I did like his cameo... )

Magneto - Dude became the very guy he hated. It's no less idiotic than Conan turning into Thulsa Doom himself. And who no mention of the NAZIS killing his father ? Oh, Dr . Shaw shoots Erik's mother himself, but didn't his dad die also ?

And along that same theme, much of what we saw, even the same words, which we saw in the 1st movie were brought up in XMFC. I find that lame. It's like nothing happened for nearly 40 years. Hard lines were drawn right then, and there, and yet in the 1st XMen movie, we see things being presented as if it was just NOW on the verge of developing.



They won't accept us, we're different...

There's a war coming, you're either with us or against us...


yeah, heard it before.

Select to view spoiler:


Oh , and Beast... he too had a crush on young Raven. I understand there was a bit of 'socializing' between the different characters in the comics, but sheesh. The whole back story, and that everyone has such an involved history with each other, sure wasn't played out too well in the first 3 movies. It reminds me of Lucas, pre-establishing characters in the Star Wars prequel, like Chewbacca, and the droids. I mean, is this epic sooo small that we must keep seeing the same characters , over and over again ?



Anyways, I was a bit underwhelmed. It could have been better, but then I could be picking nits, out of ignorance. I knew there was a back story to how Charles became wheel chair bound, but did that story ever get told in the comics? And was it anything like what was shown in XMFC ? Good drama, either way.

I'll give the movie a B-

And I like Rose Byrne, a lot. She's smokin'.


" I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they defend. "

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Sunday, June 19, 2011 5:27 PM

KEEP


I thought in the comics Proffesor X was paralyzed in some kind of alien battle in the future... I dunno, just don't quote me on that ;)

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Monday, June 20, 2011 12:00 AM

LWAVES


Quote:

Originally posted by AURaptor:
Just saw it. Had some issues w/ it , but it was pretty decent.



I too liked it in a 'it was pretty good but not fantastic' way and I wasn't really expecting to like it much at all after X-Men Last Stand and Wolverine.
I thought it was great that they kept the two leads played by Brits and they did a good job seeing as McKellan and Stewart are a tough act to follow.

I'll give my opinion of some of your spoilers in spoilers. Just in case.

Quote:

Select to view spoiler:



1st - The idiocy of how the Cuban missile crisis was portrayed. Both US and Soviet navies, lined up across from each other like WW 1 trench war-fare, waiting for a cargo ship w/ Soviet Nuke missiles, sitting in plain view, right there on the top deck..... Please.




My reply:

Select to view spoiler:



Hollywood has rewritten history so many times that it has long believed that it's version (or whatever version they currently wish to portray) is the right one. But yeah, it's movie theatrics and to show the good guys and bad guys on screen at the same time.



And another....
Quote:

Select to view spoiler:



Charles Xavier and Raven met in their youth, and were life long best friends ? Oh, and she doesn't look as old as he did in the later movies, because... ? The fact that Wolverine can have near immortality makes sense, but Raven ? ( though I did like his cameo... )




My reply:

Select to view spoiler:



I don't know X-Men canon either, all I know about them is what I've learned from the movies. Wolverine's lack of ageing was mentioned in the previous movied so, as you say, that makes sense.
As for Raven/Mystique then I always saw her ability as sharing base properties with Wolverine. Her ability is more than just purely visual, her body physically changes (at least externally). Her and Wolverine both seem to generate new cells/tissue etc, one to heal, one to change appearance so it stands to reason that if Wolverine doesn't age because of this then Raven would have something similar. Maybe everytime she changes it effectively gives her a new skin/body so allowing her to stay younger.
Or it could just be filmmakers wanting to put a naked blue chick in the film.



and again....
Quote:

Select to view spoiler:



And along that same theme, much of what we saw, even the same words, which we saw in the 1st movie were brought up in XMFC. I find that lame. It's like nothing happened for nearly 40 years. Hard lines were drawn right then, and there, and yet in the 1st XMen movie, we see things being presented as if it was just NOW on the verge of developing.




My reply:

Select to view spoiler:



Yeah I felt that it seemed too rushed to get to that point. I always assumed that this reboot (or whatever) was planned as part of a series, not a one-off. It probably will be a series as it's done quite well. I could have understood the rush more if it was a one-off as they would want to get in as many themes and links as possible. I felt it would have been better to have Charles and Eric disagreeing and maybe have Eric start to move in his own direction but still keep them friends and basically on the same side. Any further developments could be explored in a following movie.



End Of Spoilers. Whew.

Quote:


I knew there was a back story to how Charles became wheel chair bound, but did that story ever get told in the comics? And was it anything like what was shown in XMFC ? Good drama, either way.



I can't say for the comics but I always assumed from the first movie that Charles was paralysed because of the same character shown in XMFC. I never knew a reason how or why, just always thought it would be that person because of their connection.

Quote:


And I like Rose Byrne, a lot. She's smokin'.



Yeah, Rose is and another Brit. For once they are paying someone who isn't a baddie or in a Bond movie.
But I thought Jennifer Lawrence was better and better than Rebecca Thingymajig from the other movies. Jennifer was hot in blue. Is that wrong?



"The greatest invention ever is not the wheel. It's the second wheel." - Rich Hall

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Monday, June 20, 2011 5:29 PM

RIONAEIRE

Beir bua agus beannacht


I too saw it this weekend. The reason Mistique looks younger than Prof X in the original movies made sense to me as told in First Class, it was good that they mentioned it because otherwise I would have wondered. I liked the movie, it was entertaining and interesting, I even cried, yeah, I cry at movies easily. But yeah, I'd recommend it because it was interesting and, sure some of the historical facts weren't right but then again you have to think of this as an alternate universe, where there are mutants and where the missiles aren't already in Cuba. So it worked for me. And it was good to see how Prof. X ended up needing to use a wheelchair, one of those things that people wondered about. I enjoyed the film though it wasn't my favorite X Men movie.

"A completely coherant River means writers don't deliver" KatTaya

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Monday, June 20, 2011 11:39 PM

LWAVES


Quote:

Originally posted by RionaEire:
The reason Mistique looks younger than Prof X in the original movies made sense to me as told in First Class, it was good that they mentioned it because otherwise I would have wondered.



I obviously missed the bit where they mentioned it. Would you mind telling me the reason they gave? Please?



"The greatest invention ever is not the wheel. It's the second wheel." - Rich Hall

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Tuesday, June 21, 2011 1:20 AM

AURAPTOR

America loves a winner!


Quote:

Originally posted by RionaEire:
I too saw it this weekend. The reason Mistique looks younger than Prof X in the original movies made sense to me as told in First Class, it was good that they mentioned it because otherwise I would have wondered.



If the comic book story has Mystique and Prof X as childhood friends, then I guess my issue is with how they were portrayed in the 1st 3 movies, and not this one. My thought was that they simply wanted her in this movie, and whipped up the back story of them meeting as children, so as to have a starting point with which to carry on in First Class.

The act of simply interjecting a character into a prequel, because the audience already has come to know and like that character, really irks me.

The droids and Chewbacca, in the SW prequels, stands out. I really hated seeing that. Don't get me started...

Wolverine, though I sorta cringe at how his ties to Prof. X keep cropping up, prior to them finally meeting properly, in the original movie. There is an out, I suppose, as I think it's Prof X who states " you don't remember... " or some such. Small point, but it's something.








" I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they defend. "

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Tuesday, June 21, 2011 5:38 AM

STORYMARK


Would Xavier even really remember a 10 second meeting, in which Wolverine didn't even fully face them, after 40 years?

"I thoroughly disapprove of duels. If a man should challenge me, I would take him kindly and forgivingly by the hand and lead him to a quiet place and kill him."

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Tuesday, June 21, 2011 11:42 AM

CYBERSNARK


Quote:

Originally posted by lwaves:
Quote:

Originally posted by RionaEire:
The reason Mistique looks younger than Prof X in the original movies made sense to me as told in First Class, it was good that they mentioned it because otherwise I would have wondered.


I obviously missed the bit where they mentioned it. Would you mind telling me the reason they gave? Please?



Hank noted that her cells don't age like normal peoples' --by the time she's 50 she'll still have the telomeres of a teenager.

-----
We applied the cortical electrodes but were unable to get a neural reaction from either patient.

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Tuesday, June 21, 2011 11:54 PM

LWAVES


Quote:

Originally posted by Cybersnark:
Hank noted that her cells don't age like normal peoples' --by the time she's 50 she'll still have the telomeres of a teenager.



Thankyou kindly.



"The greatest invention ever is not the wheel. It's the second wheel." - Rich Hall

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