This review will be discussing plot points which may be considered spoilers. Consider yourselves warned.
The phrase “summer blockbuster” may as well have been coined for X-men: Days of Future Past. This monolith of cinema was released on Thursday, just in time to dominate the long, holiday weekend, and I went and saw it twice in preparation for this review (mostly because I forgot my notebook the first time, but I digress).
While comic fans probably have a lot of gripes about this movie, and rightly so (yes, this was supposed to be Kitty Pryde’s movie; yes, some of the characters were not true to their comic book profiles), the movie itself was an entertaining ride from start to finish. Continue reading →
Hey, everyone! Like many of you, we here at Therefore I Geek each have a list of New Year’s resolutions, some geeky, and some not. We thought that we would share them with you as a way of saying farewell to 2013, and looking ahead to 2014.
Andrew
Read More – I haven’t been reading as much as I would like and it’s my own fault. I tend to put the TV on for noise and do other things at times when I could be reading. It’s time to take on the Reading List of Doom and hopefully make it a little smaller.
Catch up on select TV shows – While I want to watch less TV, I would also like to focus that TV watching so I can catch up on several shows that I have never seen. This includes, but is not limited to Doctor Who, Breaking Bad, Lost and maybe (a very tentative maybe) Battlestar Galactica.
Lose more weight – Some of you may remember my Fit 4 Con posts and my attempts to lose weight before NYCC this past year. While not a resounding success, I did lose some weight and I’d like to keep going. Now that the holidays and their endless supply of treats are coming to an end, I’m in a pretty good place to keep going. I now have a rowing machine with which to torture myself, so I think I’m set.
Be more social – We are constantly advocating for geeks to be more social and while I have gotten much better about this than I use to be, there is still plenty of room for improvement. It does me no good to tell you guys to do something that I don’t do myself.
Tracy
My first resolution is to learn to swim properly. I’ve tried some beginner classes, but instructors want to focus on treading water, which I cannot seem to grasp. I can float and doggy paddle, so I won’t drown, but there is entirely too much splashing and it takes too long to get anywhere. This year I want to take on the pool and learn to swim correctly.
Secondly, I want to spend some time researching and reading Cloak & Dagger. This fun comic duo has always interested me, but I’ve been more enthralled with Beast and the Scarlet Witch in the last couple of years. It is time to branch out to a series that I don’t know much about.
Like Andrew, I also need to up my book count this year. It’s a big undertaking, but my goal is to read fifty two books in fifty two weeks. I remember reading far more than this as a child, but I have gotten out of the habit, and become involved in reading more online or for school. Books that qualify can be anything other than comic books (although I am willing to include full graphic novels).
Lastly, and perhaps my most difficult and most important resolution, I want to graduate in 2014. I’ve been working on my degree for almost three years. Because of careful planning, hard work, and some blind luck, I may be able to graduate a semester early, and I really want to do this. It will take focus and even more hard work, but I believe I’m up to the task.
So those are our lists. We cannot wait to see what 2014 holds both for us and the blog. Are you making resolutions? Share them with us in the comments.
It really is too bad that X-Men: Days of Future Past will not be released in theaters until next year. Since the “future” part of those days takes place in 2013 (impossibly far away from the year it was written), there would have been some satisfaction in seeing the movie be released this year. However, Marvel fans will have to wait until May of 2014 to see this visual masterpiece on the big screen. In preparation, I read the comic books on which the movie is based and I have some thoughts on what I am excited to see as well as some things that should be made clearer in the movie than they are in the books.
The first big difference between books and movies is that comic books are released much more quickly than movies. This allows for more continuity in the books and keeps them from having to explain and re-explain relationships and back stories. Because of this difference, and because certain things were not explained well in X-Men: The Last Stand, I am hoping for a little more clarification on certain storylines.
A little more of this, please!
For instance, I really want more screen time for Kitty Pryde and Peter Rasputin (Sprite and Colossus). The comics in the DoFP saga do not really explain much about their history, except, of course, to mention that they are married in the future. The few sparks of romantic in me would like to see some of their love story.
I did not originally like Ellen Page’s Kitty Pryde, but she has grown on me and I am excited to see more from her. She is one of the most important characters in the DoFP storyline. In the X-men movies, her character really wasn’t fleshed out very much. In fact, I didn’t even realize that Ellen Page was playing Kitty Pryde until halfway through X-Men: The Last Stand. This was mostly due to the fact that Last Stand Kitty seemed much more interested in Bobby Drake (Iceman) than she was in Colossus.
I am also excited to see more of the Uncanny X-men who have grown on me, such as Storm and even Nightcrawler (although he still creeps me out a little). I am curious whether Ben Foster will be asked to reprise his role as the Angel. He was a very minor character in Last Stand and I felt no real connection to him, so it would not bother me at all if that part were recast for Days of Future Past.
The Sentinels are another highly anticipated plot feature, of course. Even more fabulous is the announcement that one of my favorite actors, Peter Dinklage, will be playing their creator, Bolivar Trask.
See the resemblance?
Although the Scarlet Witch and her brother Quicksilver do not appear in the comics for the DoFP story, I am excited to see them on the screen for the first time. Scarlet Witch has one of the coolest super powers that Marvel has ever dreamed up, and I am eager to see how that is translated into film.
Of course, I am also looking forward to seeing my very favorite X-man, and giant crush again also. Hank McCoy will always be my not-so-secret love. However, I am sad to see the Kelsey Grammar is not playing the Beast again this time. My fingers are crossed that Nicholas Hoult will do an equally amazing job.
There are a few things I am not looking forward to seeing, however. Jennifer Lawrence does not play a convincing Mystique, and I really wish she had been recast. She was one of the most disappointing performances in X-men: First Class. Fortunately, Mystique IS a shape-shifter, so perhaps we will not have to look at Lawrence all that much.
I also am not a fan of Anna Paquin’s Rogue. Come to think of it, these actresses look and act a lot alike. Perhaps they’re just not my type.
All in all, May 2014 cannot come soon enough for me! In the meantime, I’ll just have to break out Andrew’s list of things to do while I wait. Also, I will be enjoying tomorrow evening’s 8/7 pm premiere of Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. on ABC.
I was talking to the fearless leader of Therefore I Geek a couple of weeks ago about what my major was here at school, and what I want to do when I grow up. As I described my ambitions to him, we both started to realize that they sounded very familiar. In fact, I just want to be Hank McCoy. Who wouldn’t?? He’s brilliant and powerful. He has connections to heads of state, and the kinds of people who can kill you with their minds. So here is my ode to the sweet and sexy Beast—I just want to be him!!
I want a full scholarship to a private university with all the research grants I could possibly desire and a limitless opportunity for travel due to my unrestricted access to a private jet.
Come to think of it… I want to beHank McCoy.
I dream of opportunities to rescue humanity from itself, although I realize that it would take superhuman talent and power to actualize my savior complex.
So in other words… I want to be Hank McCoy.
I want the brains of an old world, Ivy League educated sphinx, and the physical power of an NFL linebacker in the prime of his youth.
Yup… I want to be Hank McCoy.
I want to have a working understanding of many fields—to be the epitome of a Renaissance (wo)man. I want appropriate literary quotes to roll off my tongue with ease.
Oh wait… I want to be Hank McCoy.
I speak Spanish, and some German and French. I’m hoping to learn several other modern languages so that I can easily communicate with foreign dignitaries.
He did that too?! I want to be Hank McCoy.
Someday I want to have easy access to the White House as I work to smooth things over between nations at odds with each other. I want to practice diplomacy at home and abroad.
So… I just want to be Hank McCoy.
It’s really quite simple: if that’s what it takes to get the brains and the sexy, leather suit, I’ll take the blue fur and the frequent changes in physique.
You got it! I want to be Hank McCoy.
And maybe, if I do a good job at all of these things, they will make a movie about events in my life. (Although, being Hollywood, they’ll probably change half of it.)
Therefore I Geek 