Wherein Knuttel Points Out "X-Men: First Class" Raises More Questions Than Answers

I recently saw the movie mentioned in the title, and I'm just gonna keep saying movie from now on to save time and reading and etc; anyways, I saw it, and it raised soooo many more questions than it answered.  As a prequel, it is supposed to do the opposite -- fill in back-stories and flesh out character and plot points from earlier movies.  It sets the stage after the fact.  I'm going to try and do this all as within movie context as possible -- I shouldn't try to judge it against Marvel comics or any other medium because, well, each medium deserves to exist as its own entity.

Without further ado, let's dive into this--

Why does Charles speak in a British accent?  He's from New York.  He's upper crust, sure, but that would mean a bi-coastal accent, like Kelsey Grammer or Franklin Delano Roosevelt, if anything not purely American.

Continuing with languages, how does everyone in the cast seem to know, equally well, English, Spanish, German, Russian, and French?

Why did the Hugh Jackman Cameo last longer than 5 seconds?  That scene was done almost immediately, and yet it lingered as if Quinten Tarantino was directing it.

How does Hank McCoy find shoes big enough for his feet?  If they are truly like hands for feet than he would need like Shaq sized shoes, which would definitely be by custom order in 1962.  Unless expert shoemaking is one of his mutant abilities, someone else would know he is a mutant.

How does Moira McTaggert get to stay with the X-Men after they leave the CIA compound?  She is CIA and the project was terminated by the government.  She should be effectively gone.

How does Magneto crack Emma Frost's diamond form?  If diamonds are the hardest substance then the metal rods of a bed stand should never be able to crack it.

How does Mystique know about Shaw's telepath proof helmet?  He hasn't shown it to anyone outside of his team at this point besides Magneto.

How does Shaw know the helmet makes him immune to telepaths?  How did he test it?  Is there another telepath that the Soviets keep locked up?  If Shaw is doing this all to help mutant kind, he probably would have rescued this telepath and made him/her part of his cadre.  Emma Frost is in his team, but knows not of the helmet or its abilities.

Either Mystique physically shows ageing or she doesn't -- she is a shape shifter.  So any age of shape shifting characters should be available to her, or only age appropriate ones.

Havoc's energy blasts were completely unexplained.  Nothing further.

If Darwin's power is "reactive evolution", he should be able to withstand any amount of energy Shaw throws at him -- perhaps not do anything with it afterwards, but survival seems to be key to this power (like maybe in order to hold the energy back he is stuck in stone or metal form for a very long time, or even permanently, but shattering definitely seems to be out of the question).

If Cerebro helps them track down ALL of the mutants on earth at that point, what made them settle on that particular group?  Were they the only ones who didn't say no?

How is Hank McCoy completely oblivious to his physical speed and strength besides being able to hang off things with his feet?

Why is Angel the only mutant to defect to Shaw's group?  Mystique has shown a much larger identity issue at this point.

Why did Angel have to undo the back of her top to let her wings out, despite not having to do this later, and how would her top stay on completely ungrasped and untethered?

Charles and Erik's deep relationship of the previous movies seems boiled down to a business partnership in this movie -- a business partnership that Erik never had any intention of holding onto.  Where did all the Charles and Erik time go?

Did anyone direct January Jones' acting?  She seemed bored throughout the whole thing, and not bored in that upper-class "is that all there is, I've seen better" kind of character she is -- bored as in "I am reading my lines for the first time off this cue card".

Trying to explain how Banshee uses his screaming power to fly only raises questions about who's idea was this in the first place (actually throwing this one back on the source materiel instead of the movie).

How does Magneto throw everyone around at the end?  He's shown no propensity for being able to do this before hand, and no one is really running slowly, so it can't really be metal in the new suits.

The "Children of the atom" theory has no basis within the context of the movie.  Shaw already has his powers as an adult, and Raven, Charles, and Erik have theirs as children all DURING the war (not to mention Hugh Jackman's Wolverine is showing being in-universe, and was born in the 19th century)-- predating any atomic bomb being detonated.  It would only apply to characters under the age of 17.

If Havoc is in prison, arguably for the terrible things he can do with his power, why do the upper levels of the CIA doubt the existence of beings with mutant powers?

Yeah, I'm done with this.  It wasn't bad -- in the top 3 as far as X-Men movies are concerned, but almost everything is better than either Wolverine or X-3.

-- Knuttel

Goddamnit, Man Up America

http://www.avclub.com/articles/casting-agents-say-superheroes-are-played-by-briti,51246/

From a pure casting standpoint, I only really care that Captain America be played by an American, and I would prefer Wolverine to be played by a Canadian.  Last time I checked, Captain America is being played by an American, and Wolverine, well, let's not go there.

The fact that Supes isn't played by an American now, I mean, ok, the character is supposed to have that all-American aww shucks kinda demeanor, but that's just acting.  Superman is kryptonian.  He isn't American.  And as far as Batman being played by a Welshman, whatever so long as the acting chops are there.  Side note, it would be interesting if Bale used his natural Welsh accent for Batman.

As a trend, this is disconcerting, for all of the reasons listed.

I submit myself, adonis that I am, to rectify these issues.

I know, you may say, but Knuttel, your acting experience is minimal, you should be utilizing your talents behind the camera.  -- I KNOW THIS.  But this situation needs to be fixed, so I'm gonna have to do some Orson Welles up in this bitch.

-- Knuttel

The Deadpool Cometh

Coming to the conclusion that I am ignorant of whatever Marvel is doing with Deadpool nowadays, I decided to find out.

The story begins with rocking an all you can eat sushi lunch special for 5 rolls at like 10 bucks.  Dice, I know.

Moving on, the local comic shop is like right next to this sushi place, so I go in and check it out.  I had forgotten how messy and unkempt these places can be, but that's exactly how they want them.  Gotta keep out the outsiders, you know "hey, I just saw spiderman 3, can you show me some spiderman stuff, I like that venom guy, his face peels back when he talks, that is neat."  Anyways, local businesses equal awesome businesses, usually (still gotta keep out the riff raff), and I'd rather support the community than some corporate headquarters in East St. Louis.

So I check out the Deadpool titles (yes, they are plural, they are legion).