X is For X-Men First Class

 A to Z Challenge

A Month At The Movies

This year I am copying from a myriad of other A to Z  challengers by reprinting the same synopsis about my theme with every letter.  You can skip over this part if you want to.  

I love movies and have decided to share with you a movie each day that I have enjoyed to one degree or another.  With each entry, I'll give a brief synopsis of the film, share a positive and negative review from Rotten Tomatoes ( a website, I didn't use much at all until preparing for the challenge), discuss its resiliency (the theme of the A to Z challenge this year), and other tidbits like whether the film may appear in my top 100 film list, which I have been revamping this year. I think that's enough in the way of introduction, considering you'll be reading it (hopefully) 2  more times this month.

Film:  X-Men: First Class (2011)

Director: Matthew Vaughn

Positive Tomato: Great action, riveting drama, real dilemmas, and interesting characters... X-Men: First Class is fun all the way. Nikhat Kazmi - The Times of India 

Negative Tomato:  Worst of all, the movie doesn't even look that great for all the money that went into it. David Harris - Spectrum Culture

The A to Z Challenge has, well, it's challenges.  One of those challenges is choosing topics for certain letters.  X is a very difficult letter to pick a topic for.  When I was in Highschool the movie Xanadau came out.  I remember watching it, but I don't remember much else about it, except I didn't think it was very good.  I was planning on reluctantly watching it again, but then I remembered the X-men franchise and decided that any of those movies would be better than watching Xanadu again.

I did not see this movie in the theatre but watched it on t.v. a few years after it came out.  It tells the story of how Professor X and Magneto formed the X-Men and then went on their separate ways.  It Stars James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, and Kevin Bacon.

I think it was clever to set the film during the Cuban missile crisis, the height of the cold war.  There are some aspects of the movie I wasn't too fond of, but overall it's decent entertainment.

Resiliency: Xavier has 2  major setbacks handed to him at the end of this film.  As this movie was set in the past and is based on well-known comic book characters, we know that Professox X had the resilience to get beyond both setbacks.  

Top 100: I will have 2  possible 3 superhero movies in my top 100, this will not be one of them.

A To Z Connection: This is one of two movies in the challenge that concerns itself with genetics (Gattaca).

 

Next Time: Your basic class comedy.

W is for When

 A to Z Challenge

A Month At The Movies

This year I am copying from a myriad of other A to Z  challengers by reprinting the same synopsis about my theme with every letter.  You can skip over this part if you want to.  

I love movies and have decided to share with you a movie each day that I have enjoyed to one degree or another.  With each entry, I'll give a brief synopsis of the film, share a positive and negative review from Rotten Tomatoes ( a website, I didn't use much at all until preparing for the challenge), discuss its resiliency (the theme of the A to Z challenge this year), and other tidbits like whether the film may appear in my top 100 film list, which I have been revamping this year. I think that's enough in the way of introduction, considering you'll be reading it (hopefully) 3  more times this month.

Film: When A Man Loves A Woman (1994) 

Director: Luis Mandoki

Positive Tomato: Here is a wise and ambitious film about the way alcoholism affects the fabric of a marriage. Roger Ebert - Chicago Sun-Times

Negative Tomato: Does her husband notice her addiction? How could he not? Does he care? Who knows! Jonah Koslofsky - The Spool

I've decided to alter the format of today's entry a little bit. I'll still tell you a brief synopsis of the 1994 Rom Dram but after that I'm going to type a transcript of a conversation I had with my wife earlier this week about the film.  The movie stars Meg Ryan and And Garcia as a working couple with 2 children.  Ryan has a drinking problem and the film examines the couples relationship as she seeks treatment and he copes with the aftermath of her addiction.  

Dave: Amy we've talked a lot about qualities that  movies my top 100 list would have and one of them is re-watchability.  You definitely think When A Man Loves A woman is rewatchable.  What makes it that way?

Amy: It's a really good movie.  It's a good depiction of both an alcoholic and an enabler and how those two things together make a storm.

Dave: How does that make it rewatchable?

Amy: Watching the pain get resolved.  The dual depiction gives it a unique perspective.

Dave: What do you think of Andy Garcia's character?

Amy: We see him as a tough guy at the beginning of the movie who has to help Mag Ryan and realize that he is as powerless as she is in rectifying the situation.

Also, watching the way he loves his children and communicates with them is very beautiful

Dave: Do you believe that this is a Meg Ryan vehicle, and that the title is a little misleading?

Amy:No, I think they beautifully create a movie where  there are two equal stars.  I think Andy's story is just as gripping as Meg's.

Dave: Were you a little surprised that I didn't have When Harry Met Sally as my W?

Amy: Yes! You like that movie a lot more than this one.  But then again, I don't fully  understand your selection process.

The conversation veered to different paths from there.

Resiliency:  If I would have asked Amy about the theme of resiiency in this film, I think she would have said something like that this movie examines the resiliency of this marriage through the lens of addiction and recovery. I didn't aske her, so we may never know.

Top 100: This movie would definitely be in Amy's top 100.  I like the film and enjoy watchingit with her, but at this point I would not consider it for my top 100. 

A to Z Connections: Like Ordinary People, this movie depicts a family in crisis.  Vertigo and Gattaca along with When a Man Loves a Woman were all primarily filmed in california.

Next Time: Xciting time travel movie.  

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