The Fanboy Divide: 'Green Lantern' and 'X-Men: First Class'



Green Lantern slavishly adhered to the source material.

By Mark Frankland

This is the first time I have written something in quite some time so I do apologise if I start rambling a little bit.

Anyway to the point of this article, I think that this year marks a rather odd occurrence for geek culture; namely the divide that separates the critical and fan reception of Green Lantern and X-Men: First Class. This article will read something like a mini review of GL and X-Men as well as an exploration as to the reasons why there is such a divide.

Now to play catch up for those who may not know the issue surrounding these two films. Green Lantern has been met with a largely positive reception from the fans, whereas it has taken something of a beating from the critics. The opposite situation appears to be true for X-Men, where the fans generally dislike it but the critics (and myself included) think it’s brilliant. This is not to say that there haven’t been fans VS. critics conflicts in the past; all one needs to do is look at a film like Tron:Legacy which was widely received by fans as being one of the most interesting, intelligent, and not to mention damn pretty films ever made whereas the critics largely thought of it as an underwritten mess with underdeveloped ideas which tries to sell itself on spectacle not substance.

Now to make things clear I do not like Green Lantern. I think it is a poorly written and directed mess, where characters randomly change motivations for no other reason than to serve the plot so thin I can practically see through it. To give the film it’s due, the first 20 or so minutes are quite good and Ryan Reynolds delivers a very good performance, further cementing his rather odd position in Hollywood as being the best part of otherwise atrocious (see what I did there?) comic book movies whereas I think that X-Men: First Class is one of the best comic book movies to come out in the last 10 years easily beating 90% of the competition and only just falling short of my personal favourite Spider-man 2. It’s a very smart, well directed, superbly acted character-driven film which touches upon the complexity of growing up and the horrors we all carry with us.

Movie Review: 'X-Men: First Class'

By Don M. Ventura

When I refer to myself as “not an X-Men fan” I mean no disrespect to the mutant-centric comic books. I only mean that, while I have a reverence for many of the characters and teams, I must admit to having a difficult time recounting the rich history of the characters and intricate plotlines.

However I have found the Bryan Singer-helmed X-Men films to be extremely special adaptations that are faithful to the spirit of the source material. And this is key to all comic book films. Attempting to slavishly adapt storylines (Daredevil) or appease fanboys by sprinkling famous characters and elements from beloved runs (X-Men: Last Stand) can cause a crinkle in a comic book movie. X-Men: First Class suffers from the latter, though not nearly as sloppily as Last Stand.

If I were to put it simply, I’d say the film left me cold. By the time the end-credits appeared I found that I cared little for the characters and the world they inhabited for the past two hours. But I won’t blame the cast, not wholly at least, who are often quite superb here. Specifically, Michael Fassbender, James McAvoy, Nicholas Hoult and Jennifer Lawrence—these four lift the sullen script higher than its overstuffed story. They bring charm and sincerity to just about all of their scenes. But the script remains lifeless, and the fine actors at its core are unable to salvage the film.

X-Men Number One At The Boxoffice

The X-Men franchise is still going strong, taking the number one spot over the weekend with a solid 56 million here in the states and 64 million Foreign and in places like Genosha.

In this prequel, mutants come together for the first time to help avert The Cuban Missile Crisis.

Coming soon, look for our Special Movie Review Podcast as Don and I both have a lot to say about this First Class.

First 'X-Men' Reviews are First Class

There are two kinds of people: 1) People who check Rotten Tomatoes on the day they are going to see a movie, and 2) People who check Rotten Tomatoes about two and a half weeks in advance to see if any early reviews have come in for their genre-flick (“The first Thor review is up—it’s good”). Two weeks in and they’ll check it once in the morning and a second time towards the evening (“Six more Thor reviews. Holding steady at 97%”). One week prior to the movie’s release they are checking it intermittently (“Thor’s still looking good at 86%”), now checking it periodically like stock shares (“Still totally respectable at 83%”).

I’m in the second group. What can I say—when I want a movie to succeed, I really get behind it. That brings us the early reviews of X-Men: First Class. As of today, the film is garnering a 100% “fresh” score on Rotten Tomatoes with 15 reviews so far. This is still early in the game, but the reviews aren’t simply complimentary—they seem pretty enthusiastic about the film’s quality.

Daily Express

First Class takes the X-Men story back to its roots and is just the kick in the pants the series needed. It is smart, spectacular, never cheesy, often thrilling and always incredibly entertaining.

The Vine

X-Men: First Class is a rock-solid piece of storytelling.

Digital Spy

An action blockbuster with rollercoaster thrills and laughs that has a fundamentally intelligent core.

While none of the Top Critics have released their reviews yet, this is an encouraging start. X-Men: First Class opens nationwide on June 3^rd.

Seven New 'X-Men: First Class' Clips

With only one week to go before X-Men: First Class hits theaters, Fox is beginning to release several clips from the film that should keep fans satiated before the film opens. Just from these brief glimpses of the film, it sure looks as though Matthew Vaughn has delivered a serious and exciting X-Men film even though the production was admittedly rushed.

After the jump you’ll find seven new clips from the film.

X-Men: First Class opens nationwide on June 3^rd. The film stars James McAvoy (Charles Xavier), Michael Fassbender (Magneto), Kevin Bacon (Sebastian Shaw), January Jones (Emma Frost), Jennifer Lawrence (Mystique), Rose Byrne (Moira MacTaggert), Nicholas Hoult (Hank McCoy), Jason Flemyng (Azazel), Zoe Kravitz (Angel Salvadore), Lucas Till (Alex Summers), Caleb Landry Jones (Sean Cassidy), and Oliver Platt (Man in Black). The film is directed by Matthew Vaughn.

Like a Good Neighbor, the X-Men are There

So that just happened.

With summer movie budgets growing exponentially, smart film companies look for synergistic advertising opportunities to cross sell one product while getting the name of their movies out to a sometimes fickle movie-going public. Typically we get a lot of automobile/movie ads. This seems easy to cross sell because cars can dramatically turns corners through seriously inclement weather—it’s easy to intercut action-packed superhero clips between these shots.

Thor had Acura, James Bond had Aston Martin, and Iron Man had Audi. X-Men: First Class has… Farmer’s… Insurance. Huh. That seems as snug a fit as Prego spaghetti sauce or Head & Shoulders shampoo. Well, whatever it takes to get the name of the film on the general public’s radar and recoup some of the production costs. Plus it’s always nice to see J.K. Simmons (hear as the instructor).

X-Men: First Class opens on June 3^rd, and you can find a Farmer’s Insurance agent in your area by calling (855) 287-2150.

New 'X-Men: First Class' Clip and a Ton of New Pics

We’re only a few weeks away from X-Men: First Class and I think Fox is done releasing new posters and trailers!

Instead we’re beginning to see clips of the different characters and a whole bunch of new photos featuring the entire cast. The clip released this week featuring Hank McCoy (Nicholas Hoult ) and Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) leads me to believe that this film will stay truer to what Bryan Singer had accomplished on his first two X-Men films—that being a focus on the human element of these characters.

After the jump you’ll find a butt-load (perhaps my favorite unit of measurement) of new pics from the film.

X-Men: First Class opens nationwide on June 3^rd. The film stars James McAvoy (Charles Xavier), Michael Fassbender (Magneto), Kevin Bacon (Sebastian Shaw), January Jones (Emma Frost), Jennifer Lawrence (Mystique), Rose Byrne (Moira MacTaggert), Nicholas Hoult (Hank McCoy), Jason Flemyng (Azazel), Zoe Kravitz (Angel Salvadore), Lucas Till (Alex Summers), Caleb Landry Jones (Sean Cassidy), and Oliver Platt (Man in Black). The film is directed by Matthew Vaughn.

More Drama! More Havok! More Cleavage! Another New ‘X-Men: First Class’ Trailer Debuts

The more I see from X-Men: First Class, the more I am absolutely thrilled to see it. Matthew Vaughn and team seem to be embracing what was important about the first, and especially the second, X-Men films: the human drama. Fans usually cry out for all of their favorite characters to get the big-screen treatment, but the thankless task of bringing a dozen super-powered characters into a single two-hour film often goes unnoticed. The trick for the filmmakers is to feature these men and women with amazing powers, and tell a compelling story, and ground it in enough reality that we’re not grimacing over the ridiculousness of the whole affair.

There have been a host of trailers for the film that opens in about a month, both international and domestic, and each one has different wow elements interspersed with strong dramatic elements. This is what an X-Men film needs to be.

X-Men: First Class opens on June 3^rd.

International 'X-Men: First Class' Trailer: 6,000 Degrees of Kevin Bacon

Fan trailers don't come out as often as X-Men: First Class trailers. I'm not complaining though, because each one seems to give us another cool shot or two that we haven't seen in previous trailers. In this latest international trailer we see two new scenes.

First, there a new clip of Banshee (Caleb Landry Jones) using his sonic scream to soar at super speed above the ocean. And it looks pretty damn cool. Next, although brief, we have a shot of Sebastien Shaw (Kevin Bacon) using a power that would give anyone above the age of 32 an immediate heart-attack (he can rechannel energy). Check out the screen shots after the jump.

X-Men: First Class opens on June 3rd.

New 'X-Men: First Class' Trailer Features More Mutant Goodness

It’s official! X-Men: First Class has more trailers than any movie this summer!

And that is not a bad thing. It seems to be the underdog comic book movie of the summer, but I have a feeling this film is going to get audiences excited for mutants again (after critical let downs X-Men: Last Stand and X-Men Origins: Wolverine).

About midway through the latest trailer we get some new clips featuring Banshee (Caleb Landry Jones) flying into action and more of that awesome fight scene with Azazel (Jason Flemyng) giving unsuspecting agents some tail. Director Matthew Vaughn was under a tight schedule to get this film in theaters on time—however, nothing I’ve seen so far seems evident of a rushed film.

X-Men: First Class hits theaters on June 3^rd.

Another New 'X-Men: First Class' Poster

While I have not become vitriolic in my condemnation of the X-Men: First Class posters, I suppose I can understand why fans of the franchise have been disappointed with some of the choices 20th Century Fox has made to publicize the film with their theater art. For me, the worst has been the silhouettes of Magneto and Professor X with the faces of Michael Fassbender and James McAvoy, respectively, peering through.

This latest poster is reminiscent of pretty much all of the X-Men film posters that have come before it. I've never really been a fan of the awkward "walk" towards the camera that feels wholly unnatural. Now, I've just come to expect it. So forget the lackluster posters and keep the wonderful trailers firmly at the forefront of your memory when thinking about the latest entry into the X-saga.

X-Men: First Class hits theaters on June 3rd.

Fanmade 'X-Men: First Class' Trailer is First Class

X-Men: First Class Title Sequence from Joe D! on Vimeo.

We're still about two months away from Matthew Vaughn's X-Men: First Class. While this is not a new trailer, this is a first class project of its own. It's a fanmade trailer for the film that pays homage to the stylish opening credits of many 60's films (the last modern film to employ such a style may have been The Incredibles, but I'm going off memory here). There is a lot to enjoy here, but my favorite part comes at about 1:25 when the cigarette smoke turns into Azazel.

Now if I could only put my finger on that haunting score.

X-Men: First Class hits theaters on June 3rd.

X-Men Red and Blue

Woot Woot...

Check out Empire Magazines Red and Blue covers featuring the cast of X-Men: First Class.


Charles Knows What You're Thinking...



...Emma Frost Is Looking Tight



Russian 'X-Men: First Class' Trailer: Shot-By-Shot

About two weeks ago the Russian version of the X-Men: First Class trailer was released and—surprisingly—included several clips that were not a part of the American version. Everything I see about this next X-Men movie has me more and more excited about what might be the least talked about comic book film of the summer.

There has been a fair amount of criticism that the film strays from the source material by not including the original five students of the Xavier Institute. I think there are a couple of reasons for this. First, the movie appears to be less about the students and more about Charles and Erik. Second, and more importantly, if the movie clicks 20^th Century will want to do future installments. If there are plans to also do more adventures set in present day, you can’t feature Cyclops, Jean Grey, Angel and the rest if they were featured in a 60’s-era X-team.

That’s my two xents.

Russian 'X-Men: First Class' Trailer

Is another good trailer, da?

Da.

A Russian X-Men: First Class trailer appeared online today, and we get more of the goods in this second offering that has less frenetic cuts than the first. We get plenty more of Magneto’s story here and some glimpses of more of the mutants and their powers. I couldn’t be happier with the character design for Beast, who looks surprisingly true to his comic book counterpart.

X-Men: First Class hits theaters on June 3^rd.

New Emma Frost 'X-Men: First Class' Photo Appears Online

Well they aren't getting along smashingly at all in the comic books these days, but X-Men: First Class is set squarely in the past, where Emma Frost and Sebastian Shaw shared a more amicable relationship. This appears to be some really snazzy lair fit for only the nastiest of narcissists. While the first official photo from this film was less than awe-inspiring, every photo after and that brief but snazzy trailer has done nothing but instill confidence in me that we are thisclose to getting a fun new X-Men film.

X-Men: First Class lands in theaters on June 3rd 2011. 

New X-Men First Class Posters Reveal the Future

Wouldn't it be great if when you saw your reflection you'd see the future...

Erik: Hey cool...I'll be wearing a cape. What about you Chuck. ?

Charles: hmph

Erik: Aw, it can't be that ba....oh, damn. Sorry Chuck. 

Movie Poll

Newsarama is asking what Superhero film are you most excited about?

These are the results so far....

And Green Lantern is in the lead with 42.27% of the votes.

GO DC!


PS: there is another poll about 2012 and The Dark Knight Rises is in the lead with Superman in 2nd place.

'X-Men: First Class' Trailer: Shot-By-Shot

I was initially somewhat lukewarm to the idea of the X-Men: First Class movie mainly because it seemed as though Fox was rushing the film into theaters. After X-Men: The Last Stand and X-Men Origins: Wolverine, I was hoping for a little more care to be taken in bringing one of Marvel's biggest properties to life. Director Matthew Vaughn (Kick-Ass) has also mentioned in an interview with the Los Angeles Times that he felt under the gun to deliver this film on time. Now that the first trailer is here I think we may have something good here.

Pretty damn good actually.

X-Men: First Class Trailer

What do we think? Are we X-Cited? Huh Huh?

Film opens June 3rd.

Source: CBR