I guess this is talking about why they think people didn't go see it, and I guess the answer is - No Wolverine.
I'm in the "fantastic" boat. I thought it was clever and fun with touches of intelligence and only a sprinkle of unforgiveable moments. It was certainly as good as any super-hero movie ever made. That may be damning it with faint praise, since the genre stinks! I guess I didn't know it was recycled material from the Magneto Origin project, but that makes sense, since those early scenes of him hunting Nazis were awesome. -----Original Message----- From: Jennifer M. Smith <[email protected]> To: theuniquegeek <[email protected]> Sent: Mon, Jun 6, 2011 10:34 am Subject: Re: [The Unique Geek] X-Men First Class *** SPOILERS *** Great review! I totally agree. I tried to stay away from the hype that preceeded it and ended up in the "good, not fantastic" boat myself. I'm glad I saw it in the theater. Jen On Mon, Jun 6, 2011 at 12:28 PM, <[email protected]> wrote: It was very clearly intended to be a prequel to the series and not a reboot. There was footage from the old movies in the trailers, fer kurt's sake. This summary from boxofficemojo.com nails it. A good read! The best bits excerpted below, and the full link if you want to follow it below that! X-Men: First Class's opening reiterates the danger of rebooting a still prominent franchise without a clean break and the passage of a lot of time (Wolverine was just two years ago). While wanting to restart things after the quality issues of Wolverine and X-Men: The Last Stand was understandable, First Class was just a Wolverine-less prequel to the public and couldn't shake the baggage of those last two movies. First Class's marketing, which sent mixed messages by including references to the previous movies, didn't go into the movie's actual story. It merely focused on seeing what the X-Men were like when they were young and the brewing disagreement between Professor X and Magneto, which was already covered in the previous movies. All things considered, then, First Class's $56 million start wasn't too shabby and certainly displayed the continued popularity of the franchise. In its marketing, X-Men: First Class has straddled a murky line between prequel and reinvention. On the one hand, there's a see-how-it-all-started angle, replete with actual clips of Professor X and Magneto from the previous movies, and it's only been two years since the last movie, which was a prequel itself. On the other, there's a new direction, new cast and no Wolverine. It seems like a reboot should only occur when a franchise cycle runs its course and quite a few years have passed, but such a move is not unprecedented (James Bond rebooted withCasino Royale even though there was no lull under the previous regime). Despite hopes of starting over afterWolverine's dip from Last Stand, First Class is most likely to be seen as a prequel by the public. A reboot needs to be cleaner than this (like Batman Begins or Star Trek) and should start a new story continuity, otherwise it's weighted down by franchise baggage. As it stands, First Class will rely on the legion of X-Men fans to power its grosses. Prequels may be obsessively consumed in the comic book world, but they often amount to fanboy fantasias as far as the mainstream is concerned. If these back stories were so essential, then that's where the franchises should have started. The story needs to progress, not regress. First Class seems to mine territory that was covered in the previous movies, namely the back stories and conflicting views of Professor X and Magneto. To its credit, First Class is not as redundant as X-Men Origins: Wolverine, which was one of the most redundant movies of all time given how thoroughly Wolverine's origin was covered in the previous movies. But due to the ill-advised decision to make the third X-Men movie the final one, despite the franchise's rising popularity at the time, the franchise was sort of forced into prequel-mode in order to continue. http://boxofficemojo.com/news/?id=3177&p=.htm -----Original Message----- From: Jason Service <[email protected]> To: theuniquegeek <[email protected]> Sent: Mon, Jun 6, 2011 1:14 am Subject: Re: [The Unique Geek] X-Men First Class *** SPOILERS *** The more i think about what you mentioned, the less i can say you are able to take this film out of X-Men film continuity. *Emma Frost can turn into crystal...just like she could in Wolverine Origins. *Magneto's scene at the Nazi camps in WWII where he bends the fence is the same scene that we saw in X-Men *Rebecca Romijn is the 'older look' of Mystique as she attempts to seduce Magneto *The same look is given to the mansion, especially the 'bunkers' that we see in the X-Men films If this is supposed to be a 'reeboot' then it should have had none of the feel or scenes or even established characters that we have seen in the other movies. If it isn't a reboot (and this clearly wasn't) then this is a prequil, which means the X-Men films we have already seen are within continuity WITH this film. I chose not to read much press before the films, but the trailer i remember showed an empty wheelchair and Magneto's Helmet and something to the effect of Before he was the professor and before he was Magneto... On Mon, Jun 6, 2011 at 7:59 AM, Edward Crosby <[email protected]> wrote: Haven't seen the movie yet but I decided to read these post anyway even though it reads **SPOILERS**. You stated: "One of the issues that may have been at work here was the fact that you know none of these characters can really lose. We see many of them in 'future' films." Even though some have labeled this movie as a prequel, I was under the impression that it was known to the geek world that we were not to actually treat this movie as prequel since they have the continuity out of wack, as far as some of the characters goes (Havok, Emma Frost, etc.) . At least when I plan on seeing this movie this coming weekend, I wanted to go in thinking this was a stand alone film and has absolutely nothing to do with the previous X-Men movies, even though this is a X-Men film. ---------------------------------------- Have a Better One, Edward Crosby http://about.me/edwardcrosby On Mon, Jun 6, 2011 at 7:50 AM, Jason Service <[email protected]> wrote: Saw it on Sunday and it was...good. Not great. The 60's feel was fantastic. That feel permeated the film. Raven nailed it when he said it was "an early James Bond movie with super-heroes." Initially liked January Jones (Emma Frost) but the more i think about that, the more i realize she was playing a different character in the wrong place. January Jones plays Betty Draper on Mad Men (where she is fantastic BTW) and her portrayal of Emma Frost was just her portrayal of Betty Draper. That character works on Mad Men but the dynamic character of Emma Frost needed to be stronger. Lots of nods to the comics, which i loved. Great cameo by Hugh Jackman to say one line as Wolverine. Whole theater erupted in laughter. Overall i had a good time but by NO means would i call this the best superhero film ever. Iron Man or Batman Begins or even the Dark Knight woudl still be superior to this movie. I wanted to see where the story went, but i was never heavily invested in any of the characters. Wait, i was very interested in Magento and following his character through the film was fantastic, but Charles, McCoy/Beast, Raven/Mystique, Havok and Banshee...meh. One of the issues that may have been at work here was the fact that you know none of these characters can really lose. We see many of them in 'future' films. There was just never a point where i was on the edge of my seat, concerned for the consequences of what may happen. Everything that they faced, was clearly able to be accomplished from the very start. I never felt that they were exposed to any great danger, and if in my head, as the film is running i can say, "yeah Charles can make them appear invisible, or Magneto can hold up the shells and rockets" why would i fear for the security of these characters? Good, not great. On Mon, Jun 6, 2011 at 2:48 AM, <[email protected]> wrote: of course that should read "too many characters." PS - Banshee's intro made exactly zero sense. Very poorly handled. What did he do to the fish? How did he do it without breaking the glass? Did he kill them? It was very very confusing and...off. Then, a few minutes later, we meet Darwin, and he shows off his power by sticking his head in a fish tank. TOO MANY FISH!! They also made it seem like that was his power...having gills. It's not explained until later when they're beating him with the chair, which is fine, but...also not. Very strange choices there. Really liked how Xavier couldn't disguise his disgust for how Mystique looked. Like, that was great character stuff. He's the best of all the good guys but he can't pretend she's not gross. Just very...real. Also...loved loved loved Beast. Super cool in both incarnations. -----Original Message----- From: ravenface <[email protected]> To: theuniquegeek <[email protected]> Sent: Sun, Jun 5, 2011 7:38 pm Subject: Re: [The Unique Geek] X-Men First Class *** SPOILERS *** Saw it. Thought it was excellent. Loved the 60s vibe. It was totally an early James Bond movie with super-heroes. They managed a huge cast pretty well. There were aaaalmost to many characters, but everyone had a place. A few terrible effects but many amazing effects. Kevin Bacon was great great great. Hated Mystique, but thought everyone else was cool. Emma Frost was...not the best actress in the world, but they seemed to know that and minimized her. Well paced, and only two or three really stupid moments. Exciting, unpredictable and Ham Tyler too! Hard not to put it in the top three super-hero movies ever. Really fun. Every time it tried to make itself suck, it pulled itself up and ruled instead! -----Original Message----- From: Michael Bailey <[email protected]> To: theuniquegeek <[email protected]> Sent: Fri, Jun 3, 2011 8:24 pm Subject: Re: [The Unique Geek] X-Men First Class *** SPOILERS *** IT WAS SO FREAKING GOOD! I have a few plot hole problems and the woman playing Emma Frost was God awful, but I am with Shag...this might be the best super-hero movie ever. On Fri, Jun 3, 2011 at 11:25 PM, Cary Preston <[email protected]> wrote: Fantastic movie. Some reviewer said it's not a good comics movie, it's a good movie. Very apt. On Jun 3, 2011, at 11:18 PM, <[email protected]> wrote: Okay folks... question for those of you that saw the film. Was this just the best X-Men movie ever, or the best superhero movie ever?!?!?!?! OMG! I LOVED this movie! Admittedly I just saw the film and I'm riding high on adrenaline right now. I'm might change my opinion once this buzz wears off, but I don't recall being this jazzed right after seeing a film since I was a kid. Who cares if it didn't match X-Men comic continuity. It was simply an awesome movie!!! The Irredeemable Shag http://firestormfan.com http://onceuponageek.com http://twitter.com/onceuponageek -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "The Unique Geek" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/theuniquegeek?hl=en. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "The Unique Geek" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/theuniquegeek?hl=en. -- This post/e-mail was written by Michael Bailey, Superman Apologist -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "The Unique Geek" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/theuniquegeek?hl=en. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "The Unique Geek" group. 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