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Showing posts from December, 2011

(Not) A Movie Review of X-Men: Why We Love Wolverine (Even Though He's Kind of a Jerk)

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Previously, I wrote a post about some of the reasons why the X-men story works . In this post I want to focus on the characte r of Wolverine and why many X-men fans will choose him as their favourite.   Using example scenarios from the movies X-men, X-Men 2, and X-men 3, here are some of Wolverine's faults... and why we find ourselves so forgiving of them: Jerk Symptom 1 He looks out for number one. In all three movies, we hear other characters repeatedly complain about his tendency to ditch everyone at a moments notice. He often makes it clear that he feels he doesn't owe anyone a thing (lack of memory might add to this attitude), and is happy focusing on solving his own problems. But That's 'OK' Because : When push comes to shove, he will join, and even lead the team . Sure it may take circumstances to force him into leadership and teamwork... but he wouldn't, say, leave a bunch of school kids to fend for themselves outside when their school has

(Not) A Movie Review of X-men: Why the Story Works

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I am a big fan of the X-men universe. The comics, cartoon series (old and new), I dig them all... especially the movies!  The most attractive trait about the X-men is that it is about a group of outcasts. Anyone who has ever been a teenager knows the feeling. And everyone wishes they had hands that could freeze your opponent instantly... or a handy set of kitchen knives popping out of their knuckles when the going was tough, or any other number of awesome powers shown in the X-men universe. From a writer's perspective, I love the X-men stories because I can only imagine the effort and planning it takes to work with so many different characters, and yet allow them to all have their say (without stepping on each other's toes) in two cinematic hours.  So this is not a review.   It's my own subjective analytical view as to some of the reasons why the story works. Taking a look at one scene from the first X-men movie, (which personally, I would have called "Scene 7: