I loved Captain America: The First Avenger when it came out, particularly for this exchange:
Red Skull: What makes you so special?
Captain America: Nothing. I’m just a kid from Brooklyn.
Heh. So was I, Steve. So was I. It’s coming out tomorrow: can’t wait.
And so, adieu to X-Men: First Class. Which I also quite liked, for different reasons.
Moe Lane
I did in fact like X-Men: First Class: it was honestly made, had good actors in it, and didn’t suffer from being a prequel where you know how it’s all going to turn out in the end. All in all, not as awesome as Captain America, but then that’s kind of unfair. It’s coming out next week; I look forward to watching it again.
And so, adieu to Them! Which was also honestly made and had good actors in it. Plus, well, Them! Continue reading Movie of the Week: X-Men: First Class.
And on the Captain America and X-Men: First Class movies, no less. Will wonders never cease?
…No, seriously, it’s readable (don’t agree with it all, but it’s readable). Some interesting bits there on the entire mutant thing being a metaphor for the inability of minority groups to integrate into larger American society – and how it’s in marked contrast to the Captain America movie, which is all about how anyone can be initiated into the glories of the American Dream:
What really drives the Red Skull nuts is the idea that it’s not that Captain America is great, but the institutions that made him and the things he stands for. “Arrogance may not be a uniquely American trait, but I must say, you do it better than anyone,” he says, demanding, “What makes you so special?” expecting an answer he can laugh at or bat away. “Nothing, I’m just a kid from Brooklyn,” Rogers tells him, provoking an attack.
I can’t really argue with that (I also can’t argue that the Marvel Universe’s WWII US Army was blatantly a damn sight better-integrated than ours was, given that I was raising a pleased eyebrow at that historical revision myself). I must not be feeling well. Or possibly the writer (Alyssa Rosenberg) is simply essentially sound on superhero movies.
Moe Lane
I just got sent this:
It’s like it’s on the veritable knife-edge of Awesome, high above the Abyss of Suck. And there’s an untrustworthy wind growing. But that might just be because my startled first reaction was “They got Julian Assange to play Charles Xavier?”
