Brief thoughts on my X-Men Movie Marathon

I’ve been casting around for something else to watch that fits my mood lately, and it suddenly struck me that I haven’t seen all of the X-Men movies. I did see the first one when it first came out (in 2000–wow!) and maybe the second one, but that’s about it. I remember liking it, of how it shone a light on those who are born differently and are discriminated against because of it. So I went to Disney+ and scrolled down to “Marvel Legacy Movies,” and started in. Here’s my brief opinions on the films:

X-Men (2000). A solid first entry, setting up the world and the characters. The history between Charles and Eric, the love triangle between Logan, Jean, and Scott, the mysterious past of Wolverine, and the political climate surrounding the Mutants. My favorite Mutant? Mystique, baby! She’s bad, but she’s SO cool.

X-Men 2/X2: X-Men United (2003) A worthy follow-up. The X-Men and Magneto unite to defeat Stryker, a man bent on annihilating all mutants; he also seems to know the particulars of Wolverine’s past. I liked Nightcrawler–he’s very sweet and his faith keeps him from being bitter. Jean Gray’s death was sad, but I feel like we haven’t seen the last of her.

X-Men: The Last Stand (2006) This was a fairly enjoyable movie, but there was something about it that was unsatisfactory. Bringing Jean Gray back from the dead as a ruthless monster? Well, okay. Not using that beautiful bald kid to stop her at the end? It didn’t make sense to me. Of course, it forced Wolverine to kill the woman he loves, and endure losing her a second time, a love that I never got invested in anyway. Not perfect, but a decent popcorn movie.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009) Now this was a great movie. We get Logan’s mysterious past explained, and why he can’t remember any of it. Interesting that he crossed paths with Scott (who was blind at the time, and so wouldn’t recognize him later). Another tragic love story for Logan. I was going to skip the Deadpool movies, as I wasn’t sure how they fit into X-Men, but of course I get it now, so they’re on the list, lol.

X-Men: First Class (2011) I loved this movie. I loved learning how the X-Men began, and seeing the young Charles and Eric forming their friendship and then diverging onto different paths. James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender are perfect for the roles. My favorite out of all of them, I think.

The Wolverine (2013) I’ll watch this one at a later date and post my thoughts.

X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014) This one was….strange, lol. Dark and weird and a little confusing, but I think I got the gist. I think. It was cool seeing the older Xavier and Magneto and the younger in the same movie, but the plot was kind of absurd. Even so, it changed the timeline, and everything going forward is different. I was a bit startled to see Peter Maximoff–hey, that’s the guy from Wandavision, who was pretending to be Wanda’s brother!–and it just kind of confused me. But I’m going with the flow, lol.

Deadpool (2016) I’ll watch this one at a later date and post my thoughts.

X-Men: Apocalypse (2016) At first I thought this one was going to be absurd, too, lol, but it turned out pretty good. Poor Eric just can’t catch a break, and my heart breaks for him. I kind of understand why he wants to destroy humanity, the jerks. Also, Peter Maximoff is his son???? I’m happy to see (younger) Nightcrawler back. And what’s up with the new Storm? At the end of Future Past, Halle Berry is there as Storm. More inconsistencies, but oh well. But most importantly, we see how Charles loses his hair.

Logan (2017) I’ll watch this one at a later date and post my thoughts.

Deadpool 2 (2018) I’ll watch this one at a later date and post my thoughts.

X-Men: Dark Phoenix (2019) Finally, aliens! This was a good new spin on Jean Gray. I was kind of hoping to see more of Peter Maximoff and maybe Eric finding out he’s his son, but I guess not. Interesting how Mystique became more Raven with these new films, a hero rather than a villain, but she kind of annoyed me. I preferred her as a villain, to be honest.

The New Mutants (2020) I have zero interest in this movie right now. It looks more like a horror film than an X-Men movie, which is fine but not what I want right now.

All in all, I really enjoyed this marathon. It’s fun to see the various mutants, and I love the complicated relationship between Charles and Eric. My favorite character (besides villain Mystique) is Magneto played by Michael Fassbender. My only criticism is that the films lack consistency and are kind of all over the place. I feel like the X-Men arc is kind of Marvel’s warm-up to its Avengers arc, which is superior in a lot of ways.

As I noted, I’ll watch the Wolverine and Deadpool movies later, and do a catch-up post on those.

Have you watched the X-Men movies? What are your thoughts? Let me know in the comments and we’ll talk about it!

My Entertainment Weekend Update

Happy weekend my friends!

In books this week, I’ve finished Loki: Where Mischief Lies on my Kindle. I’ve since ordered the sequel called Loki: Where Mischief Ends, and since it’s only available in paperback, I ordered the first book in paperback, too, for a matching set, lol. Can’t wait to start the second book.

I’m about two-thirds done with The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey. I love this book; it’s lovely and strange and keeps you wondering “What is the truth?” I’ll probably finish it by Monday, when we have our first book club meeting about it.

Well, unfortunately I’ve set Revan aside for now. I’m just not into it right now. It’s the first time in over a year and a half I’m not reading a Star Wars book. I’d been looking forward to Queen’s Hope, by E.K. Johnston, the third in a Padme Amidala trilogy. It was originally set to come out this November, but it’s been pushed up to April 2022. 😦 So now I’m not sure what’s next for Star Wars reading. Stay tuned.

Why Tajin From Star Wars: Visions Sounds So Familiar — The Elder was one my favorite shorts from Visions. I love this Jedi Master (whose name I can’t remember, lol). He reminds me of Qui Gon Jinn, who is one of my favorite Jedi.

So I’ve just finished watching Visions, and it was…interesting. As I’ve said before, I’m not an anime fan, so it was mostly out of curiosity that I watched. And as I suspected, it was hit or miss with me. There were a few that were quite good and that I enjoyed: The Duel, The Ninth Jedi, and The Elder were my particular favorites. Only one was painful to watch, and that was Tatooine Rhapsody. Unbearable, lol. The rest were fine, but didn’t wow me overmuch. I know there’s a novel called Ronin that will continue the story began in The Duel, and it may end up on my Star Wars reading list. We’ll see. I’m probably going to do a brief post of my thoughts on each short sometime soon.

So, Marvel: I absolutely loved the latest What If? episode, about party boy Thor. It was light and funny, and Frost Giant Loki is probably the best thing ever, lol. But it really punctuates how relationships have a huge impact on who we become. Without Loki as a mischievous brother competing with him for their father’s attention, it was Thor who became the mischievous, irresponsible one. And his relationship with Frost Giant Loki, his “brother from another mother” is swell. And Loki actually seems happy for once (thank you, Marvel!). I got a hoot out of Captain Marvel’s “Hey Whitesnake!” which you probably won’t get unless you’re familiar with 80’s hair bands. It was just a fun romp, the total opposite of the tragic Dr. Strange episode (which I also loved). This show can really do anything, and it’s gold, lol. Oh, and I have no idea what those robots at the end were. Even the Watcher was surprised.

How Did Thor Grow Up Without Loki on Marvel's What If..? Episode 7 — This made my heart happy.

So my X-Men marathon isn’t quite complete, but I’ve watched all the major X-Men-centric movies, up through Dark Phoenix. I haven’t watched The Wolverine, Logan, or the Deadpool movies yet. Since they’re not on Disney+ I have to pay for them individually on Youtube, which is fine, but I’ll space those out more. Really enjoying these movies, no matter how corny some may be. I’ll watch anything with Fassbender in it, lol.

Finally, I just want to do a shout-out to our lovely Ewan McGregor for winning the Emmy for Halston. The series isn’t for everyone, but I loved it, and there’s no denying he fully deserved the award for his amazing performance.

That’s it for this week. What’s been entertaining you lately? Let me know in the comments and we’ll talk about it!

My Entertainment Weekend Update

Happy weekend, my friends!

So my book club picked a new book to read this coming month, and it’s The Snow Child, by Eowyn Ivey (and yes, she was named after the Tolkien character). It was a finalist for the Pulitzer in Fiction, and it’s about a childless homesteading couple in Alaska in 1920. Life is hard, but in a moment of levity they build a snow child during a snowstorm. The next day, the snow child is gone, but a real child appears seemingly out of nowhere to enter their lives. It just sounded intriguing and magical to me, and I’m a few chapters in and I like it already. I can’t wait to dig deeper into this story and find out what happens.

I’m sad to say I haven’t gotten very far in the Star Wars book Revan. It just hasn’t captured me, at least not yet. I’m going to continue trying to get through it, just out of pure stubbornness, but we’ll see how it goes.

Another book that I’ve been reading that definitely captures me is Loki: Where Mischief Lies, by Mackenzie Lee. I read it a few months back and really enjoyed it. I’ve since read a few other Loki books and want to write a post about them, but wanted to refresh my memory on this one. I’d also like to read the sequel soon, called Loki: Where Mischief Ends. These are books about Marvel Loki, who we all know and love, and really is my favorite version of Loki, though he’s only very loosely based on mythological Loki (who is also quite fun and naughty, of course).

In other Marvel news, the latest What If? episode concerns Killmonger. I never liked Killmonger at all, and I still don’t. What a jerk, lol. Like every episode, it was still quite good, but the only question I have is….then what? Pepper and Shuri are on to Killmonger, and that’s great, but I want to know what happens. And because Tony is dead (again) does that mean they’re doomed by Thanos? Probably, like all the other timelines. We need Tony to snap his fingers.

In my X-Men marathon (in release date order), I just finished X-Men: First Class, the first one with the young Charles Xavier and Magneto, played by the lovelies James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender. I loved it, though it introduced a few inconsistencies with the original movies; I can live with them, though. Next is The Wolverine (not to be confused with X-Men Origins: Wolverine, which came just before this–also great). I’m really enjoying this marathon!

Lastly, I want to mention the Hawkeye trailer. I’m so happy that Hawkeye is getting his own show, he’s one of my favorites. I think it takes place when Clint absents himself from the Avengers during Infinity War to be with his family. But of course, it’s not all domestic bliss, as he seems to be pulled away from them by more bad guys. And he’s training someone new to take his place. I love the Christmas vibes; and is that an Avengers musical I see? Lol. Awesome. I think this one will be somewhere below Loki and Wandavision, but above The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. Can’t wait!

That’s it this week. What’s been entertaining you? Let me know in the comments and we’ll talk about it!

Weekend Update

Happy weekend, my Star Wars friends!

Since I finished four books last week, I had some decisions to make on what I wanted to read next. With all the hype about the rebooted KOTOR game coming out, I decided it was time for me to delve into that era of Star Wars. So I ordered the book Revan, and I’m a few chapters in. Too soon to really make any pronouncements, but people keep telling me I’ll love it. I hope so! I’m not a gamer, so I’ve never played the game and don’t know much about that period; the book will be my source for the story.

This contains: Revan: Star Wars Legends (the Old Republic) by Karpyshyn, Drew

I also started and finished the second book in Lyra Wolf’s Loki series called The Order of Chaos. I’m really enjoying this series, and this second installment had me ripping through the chapters, much more quickly than the first book (although that was quite good, too). This one sees Loki escaping from his 500-year torment of dripping snake venom, bent on getting revenge on the gods through Ragnorok–until he finds out Sigyn is still alive. Then he must work to stop what’s already in motion, meeting up with his children along the way–Hel in the Underworld, Fenrir the Wolf, and Jormangandr the Snake; all the while trying to win Sigyn back from an Elf named Falael (who Loki calls “Falafel”). For me it was a real page-turner.

In Marvel, the What If? episode with Stephen Strange was so good I had to rewatch Dr. Strange. It really is quite wonderful, and I can’t wait for the next Dr. Strange movie (next March, I think?). He shows up in the Spiderman movie in November, too, but there’s something afoot there, lol. Can’t wait to find out what it is.

The latest What If? was….interesting. I suppose it had to happen sometime–zombies. I was a Walking Dead fan for awhile, and have nothing against zombies, but it just seems like a cliched sort of subject these days. But after I rolled my eyes, I settled in to watch and enjoyed it nonetheless. I especially loved Scott Lange’s head with Dr. Strange’s cape, lol. This is really turning out to be a fun show.

So I was casting around for another show to watch that fit my mood and was scrolling through Disney+ (the only streaming service I have) and decided to do another Marvel movie marathon but this time with X-Men. I had seen the first X-Men movie in 2000 (wow–21 years ago!) and it was one of the very few “comic book” movies I’d ever watched. I remember really liking it; I loved how it showcased people who are born differently and the discrimination they face because of it. I might have seen the second one, but not many more after that. But now I want to watch all of them! I watched the first one the other night, and really enjoyed it. It helped that there are some fabulous actors involved that I just love (Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellan, and Hugh Jackman, just to name a few). So really looking forward to getting these Marvel “Legacy” movies under my belt! Not sure about the Fantastic Four yet–we’ll see, lol. But once I’m done with watching X-Men, I’ll do a post on what I thought of each film (briefly), similar to what I did with my last Marvel movie marathon.

Looking ahead to some Star Wars shows, I’ll probably check out the Lego Halloween special Terrifying Tales. I’m not a huge Lego fan, but I loved the Holiday Special last year, and if this one is anything like that, it’ll be great. It centers around Poe Dameron, who I had wanted more of in the Holiday one, he was so funny. And of course, there’s Visions. Again, not a huge anime fan, but I’ll be tuning in out of curiosity.

So that’s it for now. Hope you have a great weekend and see you next time!