Topic: Movies in the Theater (Read 106674 times)

teg · « **Reply #780 on:** June 14, 2011, 04:22:33 PM »

~~XXX-Men: First Ass~~ X-Men: First Class: starts off pretty cool and gets gradually dumber as it goes on. It's pretty hard to say anything about this movie that will get taken seriously since everything one could complain about is in all likelihood lifted directly from the pages of the source material. Pretty much every goofy stupid thing that makes the X-Men the X-Men is shoehorned in here (the entire ending dialogue between Charles and whatsherface could have been replaced by the two of them elbowing the camera and nodding knowingly) with any initial attempts to ground the story becoming more and more forgettable as the plot goes on. As the military influence gets bigger, the human figures in the military that we're supposed to care about diminish further and further into the background.

So yeah. Not bad overall' starts exceptionally strong, but gets kind of weaker throughout, crushed under the weight of trying to explain everything in the X-Men Universe, except why a guy who grew up in New York has an English accent.

Ocksi · « **Reply #781 on:** June 14, 2011, 05:26:43 PM »

We were supposed to care about anyone in the military?

teg · « **Reply #782 on:** June 14, 2011, 05:52:56 PM »

To at least some extent, since that whole Cold War thing is kind of important.

McDohl · « **Reply #783 on:** June 14, 2011, 06:33:08 PM »

I dig anything with psychic powers, so this was fun to see Xavier do things other than just play with Cerebro, lay in a coma, get somehow manipulated by the villain, or get fucked off in the most idiotic way possible.

Need a long coat so I can do that "one hand in pocket, one hand to temple" psychic power pose.

Or this.

Ocksi · « **Reply #784 on:** June 14, 2011, 07:12:12 PM »

Quote from: teg on June 14, 2011, 05:52:56 PM

To at least some extent, since that whole Cold War thing is kind of important.

The American and Russian military are presented as enemies or at least just atmosphere, though. I can't think of any part in the movie where you're supposed to care about anyone in the military.

McDohl · « **Reply #785 on:** June 14, 2011, 07:26:05 PM »

Moira was in the CIA, wasn't she?

If so, then, yeah, we're not supposed to care about anyone in the military.

teg · « **Reply #786 on:** June 14, 2011, 07:49:04 PM »

Quote from: Ocksi on June 14, 2011, 07:12:12 PM

Quote from: teg on June 14, 2011, 05:52:56 PM
To at least some extent, since that whole Cold War thing is kind of important.
The American and Russian military are presented as enemies or at least just atmosphere, though. I can't think of any part in the movie where you're supposed to care about anyone in the military.

Literally every character is affiliated with the military at one point or another. Like, every one. In the entire film.

Buuuuuut in terms of human characters, I get the distinct impression that we were supposed to care about Glasses Man, General McGrenade, and Code Name Mary Sue. At the very least, we were supposed to are about what the military (the only voice of human opinion in the film) thought of mutants.

Ocksi · « **Reply #787 on:** June 14, 2011, 09:02:16 PM »

The main characters were associated with the CIA, and even then, all but THREE MEMBERS of the CIA were portrayed as villains.

NONE of the protagonists had any ties to the military, and the military characters who got any lines were portrayed as bad guys.

The movie was actually X-Men against the world (with a very small supporting group). You're meant to side with the X-Men because the humans are bigots. Because it's the X-Men.

Joxam · « **Reply #788 on:** June 14, 2011, 10:07:41 PM »

Teg, I hate to be a jerk, but you really seem like the kind of person that dislikes something just to stand out. You wouldn't by any chance, be the type of person that calls Citizen Kane* their favorite movie and bitches about how cinema USED TO BE, would you? Because man, I thought people dispensed with that shit once they realized no one gives a fuck how 'cool' or 'retro' their taste in movies is.

Citizen Kane is a great movie, don't get me wrong.

Lottel · « **Reply #789 on:** June 14, 2011, 10:12:49 PM »

Quote from: teg on June 14, 2011, 07:49:04 PM

At the very least, we were supposed to care about what the military (the only voice of human opinion in the film) thought of mutants.

Well, them and slutty coed chick who wanted to bang Hairy Charles. Mutant pride, remember?

the asshole you hate · « **Reply #790 on:** June 14, 2011, 10:16:03 PM »

Jox, I don't think anyone who goes against norms is doing so to spite even their own tastes. Usually it's just a sign of an awareness of how sheeplike most people are, and a distaste for it. Personally, I'm a huge sheep. I had a teacher say, "Never be a sheep! Thinking on autopilot is bad!" and I rebutted, "But how will I drive, then?"

So... meh. If the guy wants to hate stuff, I guess don't accuse him of doing it ONLY to be contrary, because there is an alternative that's more palatable.

Then there's always the third option of: raised in a very odd environment and so has totally 'inhuman' taste in everything.

...IMHO!!!!!111

Rosencrantz · « **Reply #791 on:** June 14, 2011, 10:59:16 PM »

I, personally, really enjoyed First Class. Not as good as X2, but better than the others, and a solid movie by itself.

teg · « **Reply #792 on:** June 15, 2011, 04:44:39 AM »

Quote from: Joxam on June 14, 2011, 10:07:41 PM

Teg, I hate to be a jerk

Well you seem to have a lot of practice in it.

Disliking something because it's popular is dumb. I don't even know if First Class is popular. I never checked Rotten Tomatoes, other peoples' reviews, IMDB, Wikipedia, or any of my usual go-to sources for these things. I went to the thater because I was bored, picked an action movie because I was in the mood for one, and went with X-Men because I don't think I care about Pirates Of The Caribbean anymore. Having no outside opinion of a movie going in is about as far from "it's popular now it sucks" as one can get.

And besides that, I thought it was pretty good for a superhero movie. The opening was really good. Most of Magneto's story was really good. It's just that as it goes on it gets more and more bogged down by Comics Lore, and trying to work with Comics Lore is like trying to ghost write for fifty different people who all had completely different and contradictory really stupid ideas.

Basically: It started out as a great movie and ended as a mediocre movie and just kind of balanced out to "well it was okay I guess".

Don't act like you didn't cringe when you heard Charles and Code Name Mary Sue make absolutely certain you understood where the name "X-Men" comes from.

also citizen kane is pretty awesome

Thad · « **Reply #793 on:** June 15, 2011, 07:20:08 PM »

Quote from: G on June 14, 2011, 10:16:03 PM

So... meh. If the guy wants to hate stuff, I guess don't accuse him of doing it ONLY to be contrary, because there is an alternative that's more palatable.

You say contrary shit just to be contrary ALL THE TIME.

Quote from: teg on June 15, 2011, 04:44:39 AM

It's just that as it goes on it gets more and more bogged down by Comics Lore, and trying to work with Comics Lore is like trying to ghost write for fifty different people who all had completely different and contradictory really stupid ideas.

Yes and no. Seems to me (and I grant I haven't seen the damn thing, so take it with the same grain of salt you reserved for all the people who had that massive argument about that Seth Rogen movie without seeing it) that it's bogged down by MOVIE lore. If it were bogged down by COMICS lore, the X-Men would be Cyclops, Angel, Beast, Iceman, and Marvel Girl and they wouldn't have to throw 4/5 of them out because it would contradict the other movies.

All amounts to the same thing; I say fuck continuity and just write a good story. I DO intend to see the movie.

Royal☭ · « **Reply #794 on:** June 16, 2011, 04:16:36 AM »

It'd be nice if they did do that, especially since this film still contradicts the other ones just by existing anyway.

Thad · « **Reply #795 on:** June 16, 2011, 03:31:55 PM »

Which in and of itself could be considered faithful to comics lore.

Royal☭ · « **Reply #796 on:** June 16, 2011, 03:44:55 PM »

I just want an explanation of why Beast turns into furry beast in this one even though in X2 he is clearly human! HARUMPH!

Thad · « **Reply #797 on:** June 16, 2011, 04:24:40 PM »

Beast was in X2?

Büge · « **Reply #798 on:** June 16, 2011, 04:30:52 PM »

For like two seconds.

On a TV screen.

Friday · « **Reply #799 on:** June 16, 2011, 04:31:53 PM »

Yeah, it was a cameo thing, and he wasn't being played by Kelsey. If you blinked, you missed it. Sort of like how Gambit and Omega Red were in that file Mystique hacked into.

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Author Topic: Movies in the Theater (Read 106674 times)