X-Men: Days of Future Past

“Are we destined to destroy each other, or can we change each other and unite? Is the future truly set?” 

-(Patrick Stewart as Professor Charles Xavier)

The Michael Fassbender and Jennifer Lawrence fan in me just had a visual frenzy. I have finally made it to the theater to see X-Men: Days of Future Past, and I was not disappointed. Considering the huge letdown that X-Men: The Last Stand was to comic book fans everywhere, I was overjoyed to see some of my favorite characters killed off by Brett Ratner brought back to life by Bryan Singer.

The film begins in the distant future (perhaps 10-15 years from where The Last Stand left off), revealing familiar characters such as Kitty (Ellen Page), Bobby/Iceman (Shawn Ashmore), Professor X (Patrick Stewart) and Magneto (Ian McKellen). After Seeing Stewart and McKellen on stage at the Berkeley Rep in their breathtaking performance of Pinter's No Man's Land it was fun to see them back on the big screen as these iconic characters. I have always attributed fatherly characteristics to Stewart's Professor X, seeing him as the center of all X-Men plots despite the series often being nicknamed “Wolverine and Friends”. Perhaps we should rename it “Professor X: Badass with Gifted Pupils”. Whatever the movie is called, I am a very happy camper to see him returned to the screen in one piece after Phoenix blew him up.

I was pleased with some of the new characters introduced into the series, such as Quicksilver (played by “American Horror Story” actor Evan Peters), Blink (Bingbing Fan) who is the Portal of all X-Men characters, and Warpath (Booboo Stewart) who I embarrassingly recognize from the Twilight Saga. Quicksilver was a terrific comic relief throughout the first half of the film, lightening the mood at appropriate times with hilariously written scenarios. He also seems to stash away a lot of Hostess© products, which I wish I could relate to. I was very fond of the scene in which he goes around rearranging all of the security guards limbs at the Pentagon into amusing positions that knock most of them out while “Time in a Bottle” plays in the background. 

Michael Fassbender is quickly becoming one of my favorite actors, primarily because of his role in Inglorious Basterds and Prometheus. His portrayal of a younger Erik Lehnsherr truly channels the pain of being a young, Jewish child in the Holocaust, losing his parents, and then losing many of his mutant friends. The anger pours out of his eyes upon realizing the current President (Nixon) has turned against his kind years after he attempted to save JFK, who Erik states was “one of us”. He is also, of course, a devilishly attractive man and plays a psychotic very well. 

I find James McAvoy's young Charles Xavier to be even more believable, and can truly see him growing up to be Stewart's Professor X. He is compassionate, heart broken, and eventually comes around to realize what he must do to keep the war on mutants from occurring. When he finally gives in to his injuries and accepts that he must live in a wheelchair in order to utilize his gifts the movie really began for me. I was less than enthused about sad, mopey, Charles and much enthused when he hooked into Cerebro. 

I can't wait to see it again. Will write more later!

Thoughts on My Favorite Films: Part I

As a student I am constantly asked what my major is by friends, family and coworkers, to which I reply “film studies and criticism”. Their next questions is usually “what is your favorite film/movie?” I think it is impossible for me to answer with a sole title in that every movie that I love, I love for a different reason. So, I am beginning on a path to understanding what my favorite films are, and why they became so in comparison to all others.  Do not hold me to this, but I think I have managed to narrow it down to a short list of my top five films.

They are as such (in no particular order): The Godfather, Schindler's List, American Beauty, Never Let Me Go and V For Vendetta.

I am going to spend the next couple months rewatching these films, writing tid-bits on my first viewing of these films, and comparing my original interpretations to my most recent. However, I would like to focus on what impacts me so greatly about each particular film. I know my favorite films are not "the greatest films of all time," whether you rate that based on Rotten Tomatoes, box office ratings, or by listening to the critics. However, each film left a mark on me, leading me in the direction of truly exploring and appreciating cinema. Cheers to that.