X-Men: First Class

matt: Hola, amigo!

josh: hola

matt: So shall we talk about X-Men:First Class before it fades from our memories forever?

josh: ok
so, x-men first class: i thought it was fantastic

matt: Great, me too, I think we're done!

josh: see ya

matt: Ha ha... So, what did you like most about it?

josh: i liked the vibe
just what I liked about the original x-men film
it felt like heightened reality
fantastical things, but in a fantasy
when it started out in nazi Germany like the 1st film, i knew it was going to be a good ride
not that I like nazis
i love to hate them
the characters felt like they had real emotions

matt: Yes, I think the fantasy element was really aided by the 1960s setting - it let them do a heightened, stylized version of the 60s.

josh: true, yeah
they were real people, and mutants are people too

matt: I think that also lent a whole Bond vibe to the Magneto sequence where he's tracking down the Nazis

josh: totally
i didn't think of that before, but I liked it in the same way

matt: This completely cleansed my palate of the bad taste left by Wolverine:Origins and X3.

josh: absolutely
aided by the Logan cameo
it was just good storytelling
they didn't hit you over the head with anything
the dialogue alluded to things and there was good subtext
not dumbing down to the audience

matt: But curiously, it still took a few liberties with comic continuity. It was so much fun though, it didn't seem to matter. And maybe the 60s setting helped with that too.

josh: what in particular stood out to you that way?

matt: You mean what parts strayed from the comic continuity?

josh: yeah

matt: Well, I'm going to sound like a real nitpicker, and none of these things were any barrier to my enjoyment of the movie, but since you asked... pretty much all of the characters were pulled from different eras of the X-Men comic, and this was the first time, to my knowledge, that they were together in the same team...

josh: true, but, yeah, they had to pick the best characters for the movie

matt: This didn't really bother me at all. Since seeing it, a couple of people have pointed out to me that in the Cerebro sequence the camera focuses on two kids who look like young versions of Storm and Cyclops. This would be the closest the movie came to annoying my inner continuity nerd, simply in the respect that we've already featured them in previous movies, and the age difference between them and Xavier has already been established
But now contradicted here.
I actually missed that when I watched the movie, and so was taking it as a "movie universe" continuity, separate from the comics.
It's when a movie contradicts its own internal structure that I start to find flaws...

josh: yeah, but i think it kinda swayed even a bit from the past movies
as if "yeah i know this isn't quite in continuity, but we want to throw that in."
they needed some recognizable people in there for even the people who aren't so savvy
i LOVED the Cerebro intro
i thought it was great all around how everything seemed like it was the beginning of what we are familiar with

matt: How did it differ from the previous movies, in your opinion?

josh: differ on a whole?

matt: Well, you said you thought it "swayed a bit" from previous movies - do you have specific examples or is this just a comment as to the tone?

josh: no, the tone i'd say was dead on...
i guess like you mentioned, that Storm was there
but if she's some African goddess like implied in the comics, maybe she doesn't age the same
also, Mystique & Xavier's relationship
which I loved, but there was no real reference to that at all before, but there was also nothing that said it couldn't happen that way

matt: That was one part that I thought fit in well

josh: it did fit in well..
i'm just sure that it was thought of for this movie
I'm such a nerd for the 1st movie that the fact that Magneto's mother looked so different from the original actress, it kept taking me out of it
but it fit in with the other movies so well because we see where erik's point of view comes from
the things he said in the previous movies that Shaw says in this one

matt: The stuff that worked WITH the existing movies - at least X-Men and X2 - I liked. There was so much good stuff that did work, and took the "here's what you didn't know", Back to the Future 2 position, that, like I said, it outweighed the stuff that didn't quite work for me.
I even feel weird saying that stuff didn't work for me, because it's been one of this summer's highlights for me

josh: me too. i don't think anything didn't flat out work

matt: I mean, that final battle sequence was just spectacular

josh: it really was, and it finally made the character of Banshee look cool
he was one of my favorite things in the movie
i wanted to see more of him
they really made a cool character out of him too. i never really knew too much about him, hope they do more with him in future movies, and with that actor. I didn't care that he wasn't Irish or Scottish or whatever he was in the comic, he obviously was decent. he had the look

matt: Yeah, I agree. They really got him pretty perfect as far as costume and FX scenes

josh: I didn't like how the winged chick turned so easily

matt: You mean turned bad?

josh: i took it as "she's a stripper and been objectified and "abused" so much that she doesn't trust anyone enough to be a hero for them"
but strippers are people too. Whatshername on heroes had a good heart

matt: oh ok now I'm with you
One thing I thought worked really well was the exploration of Charles and Erik's relationship. Probably my favorite part of the movie, actually
The scene where Charles helped him focus his power to turn the satellite dish was really strong, and great acting from both men, but it has to be Fassbender for the win, there
IMO

josh: McAvoy & Fassbender really stayed true to the respective characters Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellan brought to life
You could see how Erik could have been raised in such a dysfunctional but somewhat stable environment could make him what he was, and how he was brainwashed. people don't just become "baddies" they develop into them.
and as you said, their friendship was a great payoff.
that's what i always liked about the earlier movies. thinking about how their friendship played out and what it was like.
i think that's what really won it over for me, i was waiting for that and it didn't disappoint

matt: Not at all. I loved how Xavier's pick up line about "groovy mutation" was a version of the speech he gives at the very beginning of X-Men! Great touch.

josh: yeah, it really rounds off a good trilogy now if you take off the last film
Kevin Bacon was good, and I liked how they changed Shaw's character
they wanted to use him, but they also had to fit him in to the story
better than a macho foppish costumed throwback with really cool & tough super powers
i like how they interpreted his power
as i also did with Havok
oh yeah, that was another liberty, how Havok is now old enough to be Cyclops' father instead of little brother
but they kept it in the family as if it could have been his uncle
i liked that
and as i said, i like how they handled his power: like it was hard to control so they developed a device to wield it
and Hank invented it, right along with what his character would do
the dynamics between the new mutants was good too, would have liked to have seen more of it but it would have made the film too long.

matt: So, if there was another film, what characters from the comics that we haven't seen on film yet would be your "dream cast"?

josh: hmmm
Cyber!!!
just kidding
hm, i don't know
i'd like to see more of who was in this one, explore the characters more, not just have them around for "gags" and devices
i liked Gambit in the Wolverine movie a lot more than i did in the comic
like i said, i'd like to see what hank does now that he's Beast, and Havok and Banshee
have them actually deal with things in the world, not just origin after origin
Oh, yeah i also forgot---
I always had a hard time understanding exactly what happened in the Cuban missile crisis...
it took a friggin' X-men movie to make me finally get it.
they should show it in schools
as a history lesson
and psychology class

matt: I don't know who Cyber is...did you mean Cable? But I would love to see Cannonball or Sunspot from the New Mutants comic, purely to see what the FX would look like. Jamie Madrox, the Multiple Man would be fun if they played him like Peter David's take on him in the current X-Factor comic (every duplicate embodies a different personality trait).
Also, I'm glad knowledge of history is not an essential life skill, for your sake...

josh: yeah,
Cyber is the kid who spoke to Warlock or was meched with him
he controlled computers
Sunspot'd be cool. Can't quite remember Cannonball, i'll look him up

matt: That was Cypher - he was able to speak any language

josh: oh, i get it - Cypher

matt: Actually, now that you mention it, Warlock would be a great visual character for a film, but even in the comics, his inclusion on the team was a bit of a stretch, so it might be confusing for a general audience
Cannonball's lower torso turned into a rocket-like jet/flamey thing, enabling him to fly, and as he said in almost every issue "ah'm invulnerable while ah'm blastin"

josh: oh yeah, the tall skinny blonde guy
very Art Adams

matt: You know, with all these great Marvel movies, we've yet to see one do a decent live-action "kirby dot/ crackle" effect - something I've always wanted to see on film

josh: i'd like to see more of the classics, Colossus, Kitty Pryde,

matt: Yeah they definitely sold them short in X3 - Colossus is one of my faves so that was a disappointment

josh: yeah
all in all the X franchise is back i think
as long as Bryan Singer is there
and Matthew Vaughn at this point
i liked the use of Azazel, so we got some Nightcrawler stuff there, but i read his bio online and it's pretty silly
i'll just ignore it and consider him a normal mutant

matt: Yeah, that's what I did. I would definitely love to see Matthew Vaughn direct another 60s X-Men film. He's a director who I think is just going to get better and better, judging from what he's done already.
And this film really left me wanting more, which is the best way to leave the theater, I think

josh: yeah, i was ready to walk back in and see it again, but not cuz i didn't get enough
i also wanted to mention how i liked how they handled the violence

matt: How do you mean?

josh: that it wasn't cartoon violence or dumbed down for youngsters
it was satisfying for an adult

matt: Hmm, yes, I think it definitely felt like the violence had consequences, but I think you almost have no choice but to go that route in a movie where a main character was a holocaust survivor and the movie starts in a Nazi death camp.

josh: yeah, that's what i really liked about it.

matt: Hard to go cartoony with that

josh: it felt like the real world.
SPOILER ALERT!!!
were you surprised Oliver Platt didn't stick around longer?

matt: Wait, am I not recalling correctly? Didn't he survive until the end?

josh: no. he was dropped by Azazel
Azazel's name is just as lame backwards as it is forwards btw
i also liked Mystique's character and her relationship w/ Charles

matt: Oh, along with the rest... uh, no his death didn't really affect me since they didn't even really name his character.

josh: it really fleshed her out and made her role in the other movies more poignant
i was just surprised cuz he was a big name

matt: Yeah that was the kind of stuff I loved in this one, the parts that filled in gaps in the existing story

josh: My only real gripe is that in the end battle, I didn't think that when Beast was fighting, he did anything all that specified to him. what he did was cool. the effects were great on him, i loved his character, and there were a lot of specific things to him throughout the film. in the end, though, that could have been anyone throwing that punch and such. no real "only Beast could have pulled that off" moment for him. in the end fight that is. and that's Taback's Monday Morning Director Moment Of The Week

matt: Ok, Well, I don't have anything else to say about X-Men.

josh: any last comment on my last comment?

matt: Well, I can't really remember what Beast did in the final battle.

josh: exactly

matt: Alright, well I'm going to go watch some tv

josh: great chat. thanks