alias_sqbr: the symbol pi on a pretty background (bookdragon)
Two graphic novels:

The Dark Phoenix Saga by Chris Claremont and John Byrne:
So glad I put off finishing this until after watching Xmen: First Class, since both it and Xmen 3 took parts of the plot and mangled them beyond recognition.
Anyway: The Hellfire Club tries to manipulate Jean Grey into releasing her full potential and being under their control, but in doing so creates THE DARK PHOENIX!!!! Written in 1979, and the art and writing are full of 70s mainstream comics cheese, but really good for what it is. Does do the whole "Woman is forced by evil men to be powerful, can't control it, may doom them all" plot, which I really don't like, but does focus on how Jean feels about the whole thing. Also Storm, who keeps talking about how much she loves her (I'm just saying) Reminded me how much I love Storm and Nightcrawler.

Logicomix by Apostolos Doxiadis and Christos Papadimitriou, art by Alecos Papadatos and Annie Di Donna: Bertrand Russel and the doomed search for a complete logical underpinning to mathematics. Readable with nice art, probably would have been more enjoyable if I was less familiar with the material, but has an awful lot of men explaining things (especially maths) to women. Like, a lot, even in the stuff set these days.

Three books I didn't finish:
Rosemary and Rue, Magic Bites, Fledgeling )
alias_sqbr: Torchwood spoilers for various episode numbers: Jack dies (torchwood spoilers)
So, I had heard from various sources that this movie was
a)Primarily about the slashy love of Professor X and Magneto
b)Enjoyable
c)A rehash of old plotlines from the previous movies
c)Very, very racist and sexist

And it was all of those things. If I hadn't have prepared myself the movie probably would have majorly pissed me off, but as it was I just sat there watching each character that wasn't a white man trying to figure out what horrible direction their plot would take (which still pissed me off, but not so much it entirely ruined the film). The only one I really cared about was Mystique, and her arc wasn't too bad given that she had to end up consistent with what we saw in the other movies, though given that she only looks like a teenager(*) there was no reason for her to act so much like one.

As someone with a lot of affection for the Xmen franchise (and the Charles/Eric dynamic in particular) but a sketchy knowledge of canon I thought it did a reasonable job of exploring and setting up the backstory, though the characterisations were often paper thin.

I do not recommend this movie to anyone who finds images of the Holocaust upsetting, even if Magneto does get to beat up some Nazis later.
Spoilery thoughts )
(*)She ages really slowly, which on the plus side makes the Magneto/Mystique relationship in the later films less squicky.
alias_sqbr: the symbol pi on a pretty background (Default)
So I think it doesn't count as a spoiler to say: Wolverine doesn't have his adamantium skeleton at the start of the movie, then partway through he gets it and becomes more baddass.

The thing is, we never actually see any really negative explicit downsides to his regular skeleton, apart from a generally being less unstoppable. His claws break once but it doesn't actually change the outcome of the fight, and none of his other bones are ever shown breaking. The opening credits show him being shot but cut away quickly.

Now I realise they were trying for a lower rating so couldn't show gore. But in my perfect version of this movie you see his arm break and hang wrongly and he's incapacitated for a few seconds(*) until it heals, or his head is half blown off when it gets shot and it's a major inconvenience. Then the way bullets just bounce off once he gets the adamnatium would actually mean something.

Also there's various plot holes and Feminist issues (not a wide variety or significance of roles or dialogue for women in this world..) but I went in expecting that. I decided to try to enjoy it purely as brainless action and thus those are the grounds I criticise it on :) Mostly I liked it well enough though, even if it doesn't hold up well against actually good comic book movies.

(*)Or whatever, the speed of his regeneration being "at the speed of plot" :) And thinking about it, why does his body regenerate the adamantium after being blown to dust in X3? Wait, I'm thinking about X3 *blanks it out again*

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