Have you read the comic book?!

*HUGE SPOILERS HERE! Don't read until after you've seen the new Xmen movie!*
Yes, I'm going to use this whole post to whine about the new Xmen movie. I have read basically every Xmen comic for 4 years now, and I have read back issues as well as the books put out about Xmen and the history of Xmen. Yes, non comic book nerds, there are encyclopedias about different branches of superheros, and I have read the giant one about Xmen. When I get into something, I fully get into it. If you see my mom, ask her about my eary teen obsession with the Titanic. It didn't stop with beautiful Leonardo and the movie...I researched (hardcore researched) and read all I could about it. I constantly had new horridly depressing facts to share with Mom. She hated it...but at least I was learning what interested me. I digress. Rarely do I write a post about comic books, TV shows, or other things of the sort, but after watching Xmen: The Last Stand I was left with the question asked above, so I must get it all out here. Here it all is in categories, but it's not in any particular order.

Director
First it was obvious the film lost a lot by losing its director, Bryan Singer. Yes, he went to work on another super hero film. Yes, it's about Superman, and surely he must be making awesome work out of it all. I do believe there's merit to finishing what one started and not leaving it to someone else. No one can share your exact vision, and in my mind Singer left his vision in the wrong hands with someone who was half blind. I kept asking myself, "Did this man read the comic books? Did he do the research needed to make a movie with as complex a back story as X-men or any superheros for that matter??"

Storyline in GeneralDid anyone else feel there was too much story and too little time to smush it all in? Paul made a smart observation that the story of Jean/Dark Pheonix and the Cure could have been separate movies to give them the attention needed. I agree. It was too much. We needed more time to process each part.

Beast
I could have used a flashback to him kicking tail with the Xmen when he was first introduced. Since I know who he is, I was happy to see him, but people who don't read the comics could have been sitting there thinking, "ok so his mutation is that he's blue? Big whoop!" Explanation perhaps when Wolverine asked, "who's the furball?" would have been a good time for this. When we finally got to see him kick butt in the end, it was a great moment. Who knew Kelsey Grammer could pull off a mutant? Did he do his stunts? Anyone know? Because if so I've got a lot more respect for him as an actor.

Rogue/Bobby (Iceman)/Kitty/Colossus
In the comic books Kitty and Colossus are together (except during the whole Colossus is gay storyline which I choose to pretend isn't happening and/or never happened). There is no tension between Kitty and Bobby. Granted, Rogue is typically with Gambit (wish we'd seen him), but still I would have rather that sexual tension had been out, and the relationship between Kitty and Colossus would have been shown.

AgesThe ages of the characters are off. I won't go in depth, as the ages have been off for all of the movies, and that hasn't bothered me, but now I'm just annoyed, so I wanted to state it.

The CureFor starters, I don't think Rogue would have taken it. Actually I know she wouldn't have. Would she have considered it? Heck yeah! Afterall, she always struggles with the need to touch others. However, she's always been a hardcore Xman. She fights for the greater good, and she would eventually come to the conclusion that despite the romantic downfalls of her mutation, she'd want to stay a mutant.

In the comics it's Beast who considers the cure. He's the one who wants to not be a mutant, and we did get a glimpse of this when he told Storm, "you don't shed on the furniture."

Finally would they have really used it on Magneto? I'm like Beri, I don't think if they're truly the good guys that they would have. It's a real ethical question. I think it was a low blow, and there should have been other ways.

Oh yeah, and what the heck, they cured Mystique??? No freakin way!

Jean
That's not how the Pheonix, Dark or otherwise, came to be. It was a possession, not the professor. She has died (twice or more?) and come back.

I don't think even as Dark Pheonix she would have killed Scott or the professor. Also the whole veins in her face things was just weird...not how I pictured it, but I'll leave that to creative liscence (no, I don't leave much to that!).

Yes, in the comics Wolverine does take her out, and yes it breaks his heart. Thank you for sticking to that.

ActorsPaul also said it seemed some actors just didn't have the time to be in this movie. Rebecca Romijn and James Marsden definately. If you sign up for something that involves more than one movie, make time to finish your character enough to do him/her justice. Don't make the fans miss out because you're overbooked.

The Missing
X2 brought one of my favorite characters into view. I LOVE Nightcrawler. Aside from Gambit, he's my favorite Xman, and we saw a ton of him in X2. We get to the last movie, and where is he? He helped round out the last movie, and he's gone now? Also where'd Toad and Sabertooth go? At least Sabertooth...if you're making a movie centered on Wolverine (because face it, that's who the movie starred), why not have his archenemy in it?

Why put in random, made up mutants when they could have put in some obscure or newer ones that the die hard fans would have recognized? The boy flying the paper airplanes with his hand/mind is a good example of when it would have been nice to see Hellion run by or see Golden Boy Josh pass with Laurie. At least they gave us Leech, but give us diehards something more to see in passing and figure out from our knowledge of the comics!

Sum Up
I just felt let down at the end of this movie. The characters didn't follow their true nature. Xmen have been around for decades, and their characters have built up over countless comic books, and then this movie is made that throws a lot of who these characters are away.

I know that there is such a thing as creative liscense, and with Harry Potter movies I'm more forgiving, but I think it's because the directors there stay true to the core of the characters. Should this have followed a specific comic book or strain of the comics? No. Should it have stayed true to how each character would have acted? Yes.

Redemption
The humor was good. I appreciated some of the places where I was actually able to really laugh hard. I loved the first interaction with Beast and Wolverine. The Juggernaut and Kitty at the end was fun as well. The moving of the bridge was great, and some of the new mutants they pulled in were really fun. I loved Quill's to cool for school vibe. Wolverine was, as usual, so HOT and perfectly sarcastic with his devil may care attitude. Storm finally got a good haircut that didn't look like a bad wig. Beast looked awesome. The camera shot at the end when the Xmen took their stand gave me chills. Angel's flight looked realistic instead of like a bad stunt. In fact all the stunt work was good.

Will I buy it on DVD? Yes. I want them to continue to make superhero movies, so I will support them to encourage it. Will I watch it again? Yes, because I want to search it for more redemption. Do I regret seeing it? No. When it comes down to it I love Xmen. I don't really regularly read any other comics, so anything with then is golden in my book. I blame this on the director change and the lack of research done.

Apologies
To anyone who knows more Xmen facts than I do, and notices I got stuff wrong in my superlong whine...sorry. Deal, love is pure, but sometimes memory is not. For those of you who could care less about this movie and it's inacurracies, sorry, deal with it. It's my blog. To those of you who read this whole thing, sorry you're so bored, but thanks for paying attention!

Heavy Stuff

Paul has already written on the VRCC and CCC possible merger. Everyone has commented on his site about it, but I want to say some stuff about it too. My first response on Sunday was to cry, so I didn't fight it and simply cried about it. Part of that is a comment Paul made to me as I was crying that "change is scary." Yeah, it is. Part of it is that I feel like I just found my place at VRCC and if we merge I'll have to find a whole new group of people to find my place with. It's scary to be single and make a place for yourself. I'm not identified with anyone else (well except for someone's sister and another's aunt). Other issues have been raised by Kent and Randy that I hadn't thought of, and those issues scare me even more. I'm going to the ice cream social, and I'm going to see what there is to learn about this option, but all in all, my initial thought right now at this very moment is that I'm apprehensive and not sure this truly is the answer to our situation.

Not much else is going on. There's a new Lost tonight, and I've got lots of junk to do until the end of the school year. WHOO HOO only about 3 more weeks until summer! I've never looked forward to the end of the school year as much as I do right now! It's a whole new world and a whole new outlook being a teacher. One last thing and then I will sign off:

I told LaRae last night that I'm really wanting to go back to being called by my full name: Joanna. Granted, I can't really do that at school (one because I introduced myself as Jo and put it on my paperwork, and two because there's another JoAnna, and that's confusing!), but I can do it at church. There is a complication with Katelyn bc she knows me as Jo. OF course we are adding Aunt to that later, so it won't be hard to elongate to Joanna I don't think. Now, finishing on the discourse about my name -- I would love for my friends to start calling me Joanna again, but I want to bring two things to your attention (which are part of the reason I liked going by Jo anyways):
1. It's spelled Joanna. The first "a" is lower case; it is one word; there are no spaces.
2. My name is pronounced (pardon my really bad phonics) Joe-anne-ah. There is an a at the end of it for a reason, and it is to be pronounced.
Yes, my name carries some pet peeves, but I believe that knowing how to say and spell a friend's name is important. It shows you care about them enough to know their moniker, and it shows you pay attention. I love you all, and I would love for you to go back to calling me Joanna, but if Joanna is too hard, feel free to stick with Jo.

There's my heavy thoughts as of late...go figure that they're really not that heavy...