ALL SCI-FI

[Bud Brewster]

Clever idea; a prequel with younger actors portraying the characters we've come to know and love.

The cast is terrific. It's easy to accept these guys as the younger versions of Professor X and Magneto, and watching the two of them enjoying the friendship we've heard references to in the earlier movies was a real treat. My favorite scene was when the two of them sat side-by-side as they leaned against the headboard of a bed, arms folded, smiling at the young stripper who showed them her hidden dragonfly wings.

A great "buddy moment".

Kevin Bacon is just fine as the evil Nazi who made a powerful enemy when he caused the death of Magneto's mother. Big mistake . . .

The historical events woven into the movie's plot were cleverly used, and the climax is very imaginative.

The movie took some liberties with the fashions of 1962 by putting the young ladies in miniskirts several years before they were actually popular. Even though they were first introduced in 1962 (the year I entered the 8th grade), the girls in my highschool didn't start wearing short dresses until about 1966.

I saw a lot more of them on the gals in 1971 when I got out of the Air Force after returning home from Germany, wandering around gawking at the Wide World of Wonderful Legs I was suddenly surrounded by.

If your memory of that era isn't as clear as mine, click on the picture below for further verification of this first class fashion phenomenon.



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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Bud Brewster]

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This is a very cool movie (with mini-skirts), and the trailer rocks, too.


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If you loved X-Men: First Class, you'll love this video that pokes fun at it. And if you hated it because you thought it was riddled with plot holes and narrative mistakes, you'll love the video even more.


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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Bud Brewster]

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______ How X-Men: First Class Should Have Ended


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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Bud Brewster]

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IMDB has several interesting trivia items for this production.
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~ To prepare for his role as Charles Xavier, James McAvoy shaved his head. He soon learned that the filmmakers wanted Xavier to have a full head of hair in the prequel. Throughout the first month of filming McAvoy had to wear hair extensions. He finally shaved his head for X-Men: Apocalypse (2016).

Note from me: I guess maybe James should have made a quick phone call to the director just to confirm his belief that his noggin needed to be bare!

~ Although they barely interact during this movie (and in fact are antagonists through most of it), according to Marvel Comics canon, Azazel and Mystique eventually have a child together: Kurt Wagner a.k.a. Nightcrawler.

Note from me: I had to look up Azazel; he's the crimson-skinned devil guy who can zap himself to anyplace he wants, like Nightcrawler does. It junior had inherited mom's chameleon ability too, he'd have been a truly awesome X-man. He could be anybody, and he go anywhere!

~ Stan Lee does not make a cameo in this film. He was unable to participate because "they shot it too far away."

Note from me: Hmmm. That excuse sounds fishy. I mean, they couldn't have shot something with Stan close to home and edit it in? Standard film-making practice!

~ The filmmakers had only two choices for the role of Sebastian Shaw: Colin Firth and Kevin Bacon. They decided to go with Bacon as he was American and seemed more menacing than Firth.

Note from me: Considering how likable Bacon can be when the role calls for it, he was certainly impressive as a dirty rotten Nazi bastard who deserved to have a floating coin pushed slowly through his evil, deceased brain! (Sorry. I got carried away . . . )

~ To prepare for his role as Erik Lensherr, Michael Fassbender studied Sir Ian McKellen's performance as Lensherr in the previous X-Men films, but also looked through the comics, as he decided to make his own version of Magneto.

"You want to respect what someone else has done, especially because the fan base really liked what Ian has done with it. But, while I could have gone and studied him as a young man and brought that to the performance, I don't think Matthew is very interested in that. So I'm just going my own way and working with whatever is in the comic books and the script."

Note from me: I love what the two men did with the character! Ian McKellen's version is calm, calculating, and careful to guard his emotions because of his tortured past.

Michael Fassbender's version is smooth, cool, confident, and gleefully ambitious.

~ In addition to his comic book persona, the character of Sebastian Shaw (Kevin Bacon) takes on qualities of Nazi scientist Josef Mengele. Mengele is noted for his eugenic experimentation and torture, often with children, to whom he would offer candy to gain their trust.

Note from me: I've never understood how a great nation like Germany could create a culture as cruel as the Nazis, and produce individuals as utterly satanic as Josef Mengele.

~ To prepare for his role as Beast, Nicholas Hoult studied Kelsey Grammer's performance as Beast in X-Men: The Last Stand (2006) and Grammer's early series Frasier (1993). He also underwent training in athletics, weightlifting and boxing.

Note from me: Being a huge fan of Fraiser, I was impressed by how well Grammer portrayed a large, hairy, blue mutant with the same suave dignity as Dr. Frasier Crane!

~ Morgan Lily, who played the nine year old Mystique, wore a slip-on bodysuit and facial appliances which only took one hour and a half to apply, as subjecting a child actor to the extensive make-up was impractical.

Note from me: And by God, the kid was adorable — yellow eyes and all! The scene between her and young Charles Xavier is touching.

~ Though ostensibly a prequel to the entire "X-Men" film franchise, this movie deliberately ignores continuity points of X-Men: The Last Stand (2006) and X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009).

Matthew Vaughn explained his intention was to "make a good film that could stand on its own two feet regardless of all the other films" and also that could "reboot and start a whole new X-Men franchise".

Writer Jane Goldman looked at the film as an "alternate history" for the X-Men - though a reboot, the writers did not want to go fully "against the canon of the X-Men trilogy", citing the various approaches the comic had in over fifty years of publication.

Note from me: What this says to me is that to make a movie like this, the film makers can't just regard the previous films as the "gospel". They have blend several decades of comics and movies into something that pays homage to them all.

It's a nearly impossible task, but I admire them for their sincere efforts.

~ Rebecca Romijn admitted that she wanted to say Hugh Jackman's one line in the film.

Note from me: If Rebecca Romijn said those two words to me — especially if she whispered them softly, close to my ear — I'd probably faint dead away . . .

~ Matthew Vaughn wanted the film to resemble the productions of the 1960s, with "very traditional framing, and camera movement when it needs to move, not just throwing it around and whizz-bang", and using the anamorphic format "to create a widescreen experience, is emblematic of '60s movies".

Vaughn had to hire five cinematographers - with sole credit being given to John Mathieson, who came halfway through the shoot and did half of the film - and four assistant directors to successfully convey the look he wanted for the film.

Note from me: I don't really understand what all that means, but I own the DVD, and the next time I watch it I'll be more aware of the way it was shot — in comparison to the modern methods that director Matthew Vaughn wanted to avoid.

~ Many of the palm trees during the finale beach scene kept dying due to the cold, having been shot during December. Space heaters were hidden throughout the beach to keep them warm. Eventually, set dressers had to spray paint the dying palm leaves green to keep up appearances.

Note from me: Wouldn't it be easier to just slap plastic leaves onto the threes and be done with it? Geez, directors can be so anal-retentive!

~ Jason Flemyng didn't want any more make-up heavy roles after playing Calibos in Clash of the Titans (2010), but made an exception for Azazel as he liked working with Matthew Vaughn.

Note from me: I haven't watched the remake of Clash of the Titans. Can anybody recommend it?

~ The X-Men's plane bears a striking similarity to the Lockheed SR-71, an American supersonic reconnaissance plane. However, the original plane was not able to depart vertically or even hover in mid-air. It was used for several high-altitude penetration missions deep inside Soviet territory.

Note from me: To me, that aircraft's design has always seemed like a variation on the X-15 — which is a beautiful rocket plane!





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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Pow]

Longtime X-Men comic book fan, so seeing the characters adapted to the big screen in a lavish live action movie (series of films actually) was a dream come true for me.

Interesting to see the same actors appear as different heroes from the DC Comics Universe movies as well as the Marvel Comics Universe movies.

Ben Affleck was Matt Murdock/Daredevil in the "Daredevil" film from 2003. He has been Bruce Wayne/Batman in "Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice," (2016). And repeated the role again in "Justice League" in 2017.

Lawrence Fishburne was the voice of the Silver Surfer in the "Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer" in 2007.

He played news editor Perry White in "Man of Steel" in 2013.

J.K. Simmons played ornery news editor J. Jonah Jameson in "Spider-Man" in 2002. He was Police Commissioner Gordon in "Justice League."

Beautiful Zoe Kravitz who played mutant Angel Salvadore in "X-Men: First Class," has just finished filming her role of Selina Kyle/Catwoman in the upcoming "The Batman" movie.

Good to see that the movie studios aren't always so rigid in their casting practices that they will consider actors who appeared as superheroes in a DC movie for a Marvel film and vice versa.

[Bud Brewster]

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Yep, the Studio Suits are finally using their noggins by making sure that actors who are loved by the public will bring in more ticket buyers if certain names are in the cast.

To paraphrase the tagline from Field of Dreams —

"If you cast him, they will come . . . "
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)