Everything GREAT About X-Men The Last Stand!

I have run out of ways to talk about the X holding on screen. Let's hope Disney will let the Y stay a little longer for... So the entire plot is given away in these comic frames. If you had time-controlling powers, you could have spoiled the movie for yourself in theaters. Okay, seriously, you've all seen this trending. Let's, let's make this happen. All I want is these two bickering and solving mysteries together. Like grumpy old men but less ice fishing, more tea. Some props for 2006 de-aging that is at the very least on par with Michael Douglas in Ant-Man. Is it a compliment? Is it an insult? Nobody knows. Eric locking in his magneto colors in normal life. Apparently Stan Lee has always had trouble with psychedelics. Also Stan Lee is always a win. And Chris Claremont too. Oof, keeping the can-you-try-not theme going from X2. Days of Future Past fakeout. I don't get tired of unphased Logan, and it works for the danger room trick because we can believe this is how he'd act if it were real. Finally, Shadowcat front and center. Fastball special. Were they ever win? Wow, I forgot how much of a Days of Future Past fakeout this was. Compliments. I actually appreciate that it took Scott a few steps to come up with that comeback. Relatable. Turns out he did hear the blues a-callin'. I know this was mostly just for a cool transformation shot and to keep Mystique fighting in her own skin, but I love that it also falls in line with what Magneto pointed out to her in first class. If you're using half your concentration to look normal, then you're only half paying attention to whatever else you're doing. If she's focused on looking normal, she can't focus on anything else. Dear Lord, good thing I never told him about my mutant cure. Is it viable? Xavier's twin right there in the hospital bed. Never noticed the Stepford Cuckoos before. I love what you've done with your hair. You too. I know, finally. Got rid of her crazy hair and that accent. My boy, I have been fighting for mutant rights since before you had claws. Hi, I'm Logan and I've fought in every major conflict throughout America's history. Have we met? Oh, right, no, they're just meeting. Did he just call me boy? You talk pretty tough for a guy in a cape. Yeah, exactly, man. Don't be scared of the guy with tough guy tattooed on his forehead. Be scared of the guy who's secure enough to flip capes over his shoulder in public. Again, I'd like to restate that we should all be wearing capes regardless of what Edna says. Let me assure you, no needle shall ever touch my skin again. Oof, clearly he meant ink needle, but sheesh. I sure hope that's the last time this movie strangely brushes off some of its more consistent themes. When I get out of here, I'm gonna kill you myself. Super creepy ten-year-old death threats. Hugging. Open them. You can't hurt me. Ooh, that effect, like she didn't know exactly how far to hold his laser eyes back at first. You know, sometimes when you cage the beast, the beast gets angry. You have no idea of what she's capable of. The insinuation here is that Gene is far more powerful than Logan since he's using himself as the beast example, but really, he's also the one that brings her down, so maybe Charles should have been listening to Logan more. I had no idea what you were capable of. At least one thing's consistent across the Dark Phoenix movies, Xavier is the bad guy. I don't have to explain myself, least of all to you. Ben Foster's workout routine. I want to give Ben a Tom Cruise win here, because the dude actually did this stunt for some reason, all with the fear of heights and all. Badass bad guy. They barely ever hold Magneto's power back. Convoy of SUVs and a tractor trailer? No problem. I could use a man of your talents. I'm in. What could be better than multiple McSteamies? Rebecca Romijn is always a win for showing up to put that makeup on again, only to be cured half an hour in. Also sweet visual effects. Still, win removal for taking Mystique out of this movie. I don't care that she sacrificed herself. Hey! Only to then expose how cruel and two-faced Eric actually is, that he just immediately turns his back on her. Hey! I guess you're right. Ruthless and cold-hearted, Ian McKellen is always a win. She really was, which is a weird testament to how beautiful Rebecca Romijn is, since blue spiky makeup didn't change that. Yes, I'm sorry, adolescent crushes die hard. The most unbelievable thing to happen in Friends was when Ross chose not a dirty apartment over adorkable paleontologist Rebecca Romijn. Are you reading my thoughts? He's been known to crush a few souls with those legs. But this is exactly how Logan wished this scene in X1 had gone. And they are kind of a match made in heaven. Oh, just the ridiculous display of power. Going from disintegrating the door to smashing it back, just destroying it. Another mix of digital and practical. You can almost see Magneto shaping the cave out of nearby scrap metal. Not really caring too much how the walls look, just creating a layer. Love the changes that have occurred to Gene's house through time. Most people don't have the same window treatments after 20 years. Yep, I just said window treatments. Ha, he is heavy, so he wouldn't have stayed up on the second floor. Ah, Vinny, you played for a lot of clubs, but I'm gonna say go Chelsea, since I insulted them in a different video like 30 years ago. I'm just realizing that Kinberg reused the Gene pulls Charles out of the chair thing in Dark Phoenix. It's creepy and uncomfortable there, and here it's like a statement about how much more powerful Gene is at this point. Even after all his posturing, he still doesn't want Charles to die. It's a friendship win. Worst kind of brutal. But still, that smile makes me think it's all gonna work out. Patrick Stewart is always a win. Flirting, but bad flirting. At the very least, insensitive flirting, so no win. Logan the Libertarian. You know, you'd think Eric would have taken the cure shadowing here and just went home. There's the Gollum pitying Gandalf that was missing from X2. Whatever, CRT TVs weren't even that heavy. Fun fact, Logan's got a real bee on his shoulder. Even Xavier's tombstone has a furrowed brow. I feel like I can't trust Ginger and I'm worried about Stanley getting Holly back and I keep waiting for Gabriel to blow something up. It's all very confusing. Also, Logan and Storm had a love sea story that got cut, so maybe it's not my fault. I'd know that gunnery sergeant voice anywhere. Now that's an entrance. And practical again from Jackman. I know it's not anything new after X2, but I'm never going to complain about seeing Wolverine run through the woods slashing fools. And the quick cuts back and forth between him and redshirt mutant number five put so much energy into the scene. There's something in here about becoming the thing you hate most, but really I just love Ian McKellen and we know now that his booming voice in Lord of the Rings wasn't magic, just Ian McKellen. How many of you were sitting in the theater trying to remember if there was an off chance you forgot this movie was R and maybe we'd finally get to see the adamantium removal we'll probably never see in live action from Disney unless Deadpool can convince Mickey Mouse. So actually, you never know. And now they're doing her this dirty? No, no. Raven knew she was working with Magneto all along. Plus, we all knew the cure was temporary, so Rebecca Raven is still wandering the FMCU calling people I like that it's totally obvious to people that no multiple man exists. They're all so uncomfortably evenly spaced. Well, you used to be a lot more British and wiry, so... Although, even though it's still not perfect, I love the touch that Hank was part of the X-Men back in the day with his vintage suit, so it was never comic accurate. But honestly, the black leather is a staple of the original films and seeing Logan in it again is pretty satisfying. Even Kitty with her pink accent piping. Logan the leader. Super bummed I can't figure out what this game is. Looks like a Zelda knockoff, but now I need to play it. Badass bad guy? Yeah, ultimately goofy yet iconic. Can't hurt to try. I know I always talk about his capes, but Magneto's whole getup is freaking tight. I'm not saying that I want to be a bad guy. It's just that throughout the entire series, Eric Lencher has always had the clothes I'd most want to rock. Okay, that's a hard you're welcome right there, invisible skin guy glob. And the arc light stands went wild. It's a special thing to get named in these movies. And the beast stands went wild. He does say that. Now that's an entrance. And a bunch of Deadpool approved superhero landings. That's a yup shot. Let's just take a moment and honor Dr. Frasier Crane for his contribution to the X-Men universe, dressing up in blue fur and running around making animal noises. One of the sins does that in Shazam, and I really should retract that win and give it to Kitty. So there's two. Sorry, David, you lost the win. Grow those back. But now we're just stealing K's jokes too. You're the next transporter off this rocker. I'm going to shoot you where it don't grow back. Don't you know who I am? I'm the Juggernaut, bitch! I can never decide if this is the best or worst line. Like, it only works if you know the YouTube video it's based on. And rather win Kitty pulling him into the floor. Everything's going to be okay. Brutal. I'm the wrong guy to play hide and seek with. Who's hiding, you d***head? She's not wrong. We already know what happens when Toads get struck by lightning. Same thing that happens to all lip studs. Teamwork? We work as a team. Best defense is a good offense. Callback? Best defense is a good offense. Finally, full Iceman. Full Iceman headbutt! You never learn, do you? Actually, I do. So, if you remember, the problem with Logan's fastball special in the Danger Room was that he wasn't working as a team. So I love that the fakeout was that he was again being reckless, but it actually was teamwork misdirection. I'm one of them. Oof. Callback burn. No, don't shoot! I've got my issues with this movie, but having Gene be on the precipice with the possibility of just walking away only to be undone by the soldiers proving Magneto's point This is what they want for all of us. is a good way to get her into the battle. Gene's backlit hair as if it's glowing and on fire. Okay, they held back enough. It's Phoenix Trashes Everything time. No one's safe. And I love that it's just complete chaos. She's even pulling water out of the ocean with no real purpose. Although it has been shown that she messes with gravity when she's upset. And this still goes down as one of the most brutal things movie Logan has gone through. Even if it's not as graphic as the X-Men number 25 fatal attractions lovers would want, it's hardcore to be disintegrating and still moving forward. Also, I joked about Logan being as powerful as Gene earlier, but after seeing this, I'm pretty sure Gene is just holding the Phoenix back at this point, trying to let Logan get close to her. And it's so Logan to keep moving forward, even though he knows he might not make it. You would die for them. No, not for them. For you. Even if you hate everything about this movie, the climax of their relationship here might still crush you. Granting her wish was the best way to show her that he loved her. Gene even switching the request from kill me to save me. She knew it had to be done even then, but has realized that the mere concept of killing her wasn't going to work for Logan. So she rephrased it. And he really does save Gene from Dark Phoenix. I love you. Logan the lover. Giving Rogue the choice to take the cure is bold. I can't say I really love it. But there are exceptions to every rule. This is one. She hated her powers. They'd been used against her. And obviously she watched what she'd been missing with Bobby all movie, which I give them credit for no big blow up. Bobby sort of sucks, but she takes matters into her own hands. And when your cure is from someone who only cures mutants when they're near him, meaning temporarily, it makes sense it would only be a temporary fix. Look, just because Charles wiped her memory in first class, it's not insane to think that she would have heard of him in the next 40-ish years. Yeah, I don't know. Deadpool was probably right. So after I did that Spider-Man 3 video, I was surprised at how much I liked that movie more than I remembered. Popular discourse had seeped in and I was convinced it was trash. The last stand ended up being the opposite. Apparently I had Phoenix colored glasses for this movie. I know why. It's because the parts that work work really well, but then there's a bunch of filler in between those parts. And I guess my brain just switched which part was bigger. Some movies are better than the sum of their parts. Others just have some great scenes. I still don't hate this movie. It's just so... What was the point? If it had been made by a single creator, I'd say, why did you do the Dark Phoenix saga when you don't seem to care about it that much? We know the truth is again, studio meddling. They wanted the gifted storyline about the cure. So it's just, it's not that simple. So my memory wasn't entirely accurate. The Jean scene stuck in my brain, but holy cow did she just stand in the background for the entire third act. I stand by what I said. Famke is fantastic in the small parts she has. And I love her split personality, even if it's not a perfect comic adaptation. And this scene just sort of sticks with you beyond all the... Blech. And it's really only blech because the Phoenix is right there. I get it. Magneto had a whole plan and unleashing her too early would, whatever. It's just a bit of a letdown. I looked at the runtime here to see that there were only 16 minutes left and she was still doing this. And I defended her reason for going full Dark Phoenix. It's just, that was the point of this movie, right? So if she hadn't, this movie would be nothing. It sort of tries to talk about the question of whether mutants should take the cure or not, but it ends up muddling the message after X2's very clear allegory. Especially since Rogue decided to take the cure and then mutants, the same mutants saying there's nothing to cure, weaponized it against other mutants. And Magneto's story arc was just... My only other big complaint is that the score often feels phoned in. Jean's theme is somewhat tragic, I guess, but there's nothing sinister in it at all. And don't get me wrong, John-Paul is the man. How to Train Your Dragon series, The Bourne series, those are killer scores I can hum right now. Even Face-Off's score is more memorable than what we got here. I don't like saying mean things. This isn't about whether John is talented or not. I'm not sure what happened here, but the main melody line is very Mask of Zorro. I will say I really like his piece during the confrontation at Jean's house. The tone is still weird, but I like this piece. Enough of what I didn't like. I think they tried to give the final chapter some weight with Cyclops and Xavier's deaths, and it escalated Jean to a scary threat. I also think the cure half of the story raised some interesting questions. Questions they all thought they'd answered for themselves. Magneto seeing it as a threat to his entire species is on-brand, and he solidifies his hatred for humans when he turns his back on Raven. And it's totally believable that the movie universe Rogue would take the cure. I also think the mix of CGI and practical effects in this movie is awe-inspiring. Every scene has such a solid blend that you lose track of what's real and what's digital. Like these leaves. Bet you didn't know these leaves were digital. Also, these two cars are real and these two are digital. Ah, did I trick you? No. Anyway, it's a good mix. Long story short, the visuals are solid, the performances are stellar. Really, I wouldn't say anyone phoned it in at all. It's just less of a character-centric film than the previous movies. It's still fun, and I'll always love Famke's Dark Phoenix. It left an impression on me. Even made me remember the movie more fondly. So, I'm just gonna go back to that. Thanks for your patience over the last two weeks. Next week is a big one, long movie, big one for me. And so, I think it'll be done next week, but I'm sort of leaving the schedule a little more loose these days to cut back on my own stress. Either way, I'll have something for you soon. You didn't see that coming?