X-Men: First Badass

My wife surprised me by taking me to Ruby Tuesday (had a coupon) and the movies for Father’s Day.  Yes Father’s Day…what, do you think we’re waiting for next week when everything will be unbearably busy?

The movie that she chose to go to didn’t really surprise me TOO entirely much considering one of the men on her “list” was in it, Mr. James McAvoy: “X-men: First Class”.

I remember back when the first “X-men” came out as it was a VERY different time than it is now.  Superhero movies in the late 90’s weren’t a dime a dozen as they are today and comic book fans were anticipating the release of the adaptation with much skepticism.  We wanted our X-men to be as close to what made us fall in love with the comic to begin with, but we didn’t feel from the trailers that we would get it.  There was no spandex, Rogue was too young, Jean was too old, and Wolverine was too tall.  Professor X was ok though.

While not perfect, the X-men movie ended up being rather good and the sequel was an even better experience.

I want you, for a moment, to forget that the previous X-men movies existed.  Forget about the good and bad.  I want you to forget about the comic book that came before it.  

Can you do that?  Because I did.  SPOILERIFFIC REVIEW:

X-MEN: FIRST CLASS

I don’t want to dive, head first into a sea of hyperbole, but I can’t help it.  Not with this movie.

This is the X-men movie that we should have gotten in 1999.

There.  I’ve said it.  

The issues that I have with the first four movies in the series (“X-men”, “X2”, “X-men: The Last Stand”, and “X-men Origins: Wolverine”) were finally completely clear to me after watching “First Class”.  They were too safe, the performances were stilted, the dialogue was horrid, the action was poorly executed, and everything looked too new and sterile.  It was as if no one lived in the world that they were in as the sets were obviously brand new.

“X-men: First Class” falls victim to none of that.

The film starts out where the original does in Poland during the holocaust, but doesn’t stop there.  We learn so much more to what made Magneto the villain that he became.  In the context of this movie, typing that Magneto is a villain seems wrong.  I know why he feels the way he does and in many ways, you sympathize and agree to an extent.   Magneto didn’t become Magneto because he was a bad guy, but because he has seen the full extent of human evil and he can never forgive our race for what we had put him and others like him through.

This obviously has many undertones that are obvious as he is essentially writing every human being off as an enemy due to his experience and his turning point in the finale when he declares that he will never be subject to people “just following orders” is chilling and satisfying.  You understand, but it doesn’t make it right.

Xavier, who has become close friends with Erik over the months of working to prevent nuclear war, tried so hard to tie everyone together as a team, makes the ultimate sacrifice trying to save the very people who fear and mean to kill all of his kind, is just as sympathetic, but differs in his ideology.

Xavier, played by the fantastic James McAvoy, wants nothing more than to live in peace with normal men.  He can literally sense the good in mankind wants to share his gifts and hopefully convince those in power that he wants nothing more than to help.  In the heartbreaking final moments, he runs through the most emotional turmoil as he experiences the pain, the joy, and the futility of life and it is handled through the masterful performance with the kind of subtlety that makes me hope he is remember for an Oscar.

I feel that the performance is that good.

I know that I only touched on the performances and journeys of two characters, but they were the most important ones.  I think that FOX, with all of its idiotic ideas from movies past, has finally “gotten it”.  It truly saddens me that it isn’t making as much money as the other X movies.

“X-men First Class” doesn’t seem like a proper prequel for the X-men films because of all of the liberties that it takes with the continuity.  Sure, there are a lot of things that they do to explain the reality that they have created in this flick in relation to the existing X-Men movie cannon, but there is just enough where it wouldn’t make sense either.

The movie isn’t a retelling of any specific X-men story from the comics either.  A lot of back story is wrong, the characters are wrong, and the time frame is all wrong.

The truth of the matter is if you are a stickler for any of the above, or some sort of unreasonable fanboy who can’t handle change in any form, or even a nitpicker who will freak out at some of the choices being made, then you will hate this movie.

That, and you have no soul.

5 out of 5 X Genes

I Have Gas

I have news for you.  Gas prices are going up.  Oh, you already knew that?  Then I suppose it isn't news, but Fox News sure thinks it is.

I was recently in the break room eating my lunch when the TV nearest to me flashed and a title card warning me of a "News Alert" appeared.  I wondered what had happened that warranted an alert of such magnitude when it just turned out to be another one of those stories that do every day telling us what we already painfully know: Gas prices are going up.

I understand why they would want to report on this, but why treat the situation as if it has never happened before and we all should be shocked by this information? 

I couldn't hear what she was saying, but the anchor had a smile on the whole time she was talking about this.  This isn't good news, so I hesitate to imagine what she was thinking while she was reporting on this terrible news.

Then they cut to some "expert" in the field, like they always do.   Do these experts EVER say anything that is different for the reasons behind the gas prices?  Do they ever accurately predict what will happen with the situation other than a vague, "It's going to get worse?"  Why are these talking heads necessary to explain to me something I already know?  It's as if they hired an expert guest to explain to me that the sun had come up and this is why and now I'll speculate if it will do it again tomorrow. (Spoiler: It will)

The whole time this is going on, there is freshly shot footage of people filling up their cars at the gas station.  Now, I did notice that a lot of people shake the pump before finishing up and that is news to me, but I know that the process for fueling my vehicle is.  Why waste money shooting other people doing it and then looping the same thirty seconds of footage over and over?  I know you have more.  I know over the years that there are entire vaults with nothing but footage of people shaking their dribbling gas nozzles into their tanks, so why not use that footage?  In fact, I would like to see this footage and I hope it dates back to the late 70's with people shaking their nozzles into a nice 70's Mustang and shaking their heads because they have to pay for gas that was a whopping $1.05.

I know this is a little off topic.  I'm broke and gas has a lot to do with it, but I just wanted to get this observation off my chest.

I get it news people, gas is expensive.  Leave it alone and report on something that we can do about it.

Watch this spot and hopefully, I can write my impressions of the Gears 3 Beta and the new Foo Fighters Track Pack 4 for Rock Band 3.

From Zorro to Zero

When I was a kid, I watched a lot of the Disney Channel.  Not the Disney Channel as it exists today, but the one that was so awesome that you actually had to pay extra for it.  Every so often, you would get a free weekend and John Larroquette would explain just how awesome the channel was and then we'd even hear from "Alice", one of the many operators that were "standing by".

During these free tastes of greatness, the Disney Channel would roll out it's best programming, so even if you already paid for it, you would still look forward to it.  In between movies like , "The Boy Who Could Fly" and "Not Quite Human" (strangely staring the same guy), you would get Disney's version of the swashbuckling "Zorro". 

Starring the charming Guy Williams in the title role, "Zorro" was one of my favorite things about the Disney Channel.  It was a fun show with good action and likable characters and as a kid, I loved it.

I'm not the only one who holds a special place in my heart for the character as in Batman comics, the movie that Bruce Wayne and family were watching just before the tragic rendezvous with the mugger was, "The Gay Blade of Zorro" and was intricle in why Bruce does what he does.

Why am I waxing nostalgic about this iconic and recognizable character?

According to this story , Zorro is going to be rebooted.  This shouldn't be news to most people as everything is getting rebooted, but what Fox has planned is remarkable in how it aims to not only redefine how we view Zorro, but to redefine the character itself.

If you remember correctly Don Diego del LaVega was a wealthy aristocrat in Mexico controlled California and when he saw injustice done by the very Dons he socializes with, he goes into action as the mysterious Zorro- leaving his mark behind in the process.

In Fox's reimagining, Zorro is an angst-ridden man looking for vengeance in a post apocalyptic future.

So yeah, NOT Zorro.  The word is that he will trade in his sword for more contemporary weapons, which could translate into messier calling cards. 

At this point, they have deviated so much from the original character that there is no real reason to call it "Zorro".  Heck, they could change the character from a Latino and I'm sure Fox management wouldn't flinch.

I think Fox should look at the most successful comic book movies of all time.  Batman, Spider-man, Superman, etc. have the same thing in common- that they didn't stray too far from the source materials.  Sure there are some creative licenses being made, but it is always in service to the medium being presented.

So in conclusion I want to appeal to those in Fox...you know?  The people not reading this.  I would like to say that if the screenplay is stron enough, please make this movie, but do NOT call it Zorro.  You will alienate anyone who has even heard of Zorro.  At this point, this includes nearly everyone.