Some Thoughts on Logan, Amongst my Tears.

"There are many reasons to write that have nothing to do with being published. It allows us to work through some of life's hardest knocks - loss, grief, illness, addiction, disappointment, failure - and to find understanding and solace in it," -William Zinsser

*LOGAN SPOILERS, duh*

I haven't cried this hard over fictional characters in YEARS. Last time was when I finished Lost for the second time. 

If you don't believe me, you should have checked my Snapchat story that night. 

 sc: hootowltree

All great things must come to an end, and I think that's why I'm so sad. 

But, truly, this movie is a masterpiece. I don't see how anyone couldn't have sobbed when this movie ended. This movie was an absolute masterpiece, a perfect closer to an epic anti-hero.

My only gripe is that they didn't spend enough time on Charles's death. He is the title character of the X-Men series. If they had slipped only five minutes more of emotional tenderness concerning his death, then I would have been fine. His death was so sudden, that there wasn't enough time for the audience to process this. 

The only reason it took me out of the movie is because we see how much Logan cares for Charles, and when there's not enough time to see him mourn, it feels disrespectful and inappropriate. 


Logan develops character and has tender, nuanced, emotional moments without being sappy or deterring the plot. Everything germinates organically, and, like Logan himself, we don't realize how attached we are until the end, until it's too late, until it's over. 

Logan's death was . . . it had me speechless. Everything in the X-Men series, his three movies, had been building to was this. The emotional journey Logan takes is phenomenal. He's forced to face his mortality, his past, and his future with subtle clarity. 

I found it akin to Charlie Pace's death in Lost. The reason it was so touching and heartbreaking is because truthfully, we all saw it coming, and it completed his character arc. Logan finally made peace with himself, was redeemed, and found his purpose. Through Laura, Logan finds himself again, sees life through her eyes, finds love and tenderness in his hardened heart, and does what all parents are supposed to do: forge a better life for their children. It harkens back to the whole series and brings it to a close in the most Wolverine way possible. 

His death was perfect. Laura breaking down, crying, burying him, was even more perfect. It was just perfect.

I can't bear to even describe it to you. You just have to go and see it for yourself. 

This movie is a masterpiece not only because it is beautiful, flawlessly executed, masterfully directed, perfectly acted, and marvelously scored, but because it made me feel something. I cried for a solid 20 minutes during and after the movie. Now, as I'm writing this, I am numb because it was just that good. 

This was truly a fantastic story. Not a fantastic superhero movie, not a fantastic action story, but a great story in its own right, following a character we've come to adore. 

After the last shot closed, after the credits rolled, after everyone left, I just sat in my seat in the theater, sobbing. This story reached me in ways I will never be able to voice in the trillions of combinations of the English letters.

Because everything it was building to, was over.  I love the character of Wolverine - he's my favorite superhero. And to see it all end like this breaks my heart and fills it at the same time. The emotions I was feeling, the way it connected with me, is what it's all about.

~

I truly aspire to be as great as this. I aspire to tell stories that change people, that tug at their heartstrings. That make them think and feel and understand themselves and the world around them. 

I aspire to teach others these stories, and to teach them how to create ones like these, of their own. 

Because stories reach us in ways that nothing else can. 

And that's a fact, Jack.

~The WordShaker

Avengers vs. X-Men: 6 Reasons Why the X-Men Franchise is Superior in Every Way

In light of the new Avengers movie coming out, I decided to go against the flow and tell all of you why the X-Men are leaps and bounds better than the Avengers.  Now, the Avengers aren't bad by any means, but the X-Men are just so much better. And here are my 6 reasons why. 

*Disclaimer: My knowledge of the Avengers and X-Men extends just beyond the movies, so I will only be discussing  mainly the movie realm.  If you don't like that, then you can write your own article with all your fancy comic-book knowledge.*

SPOILERS, duh. 

3 Reasons why The X-Men are Superior to the Avengers

1. The Wonderful Characters
The complexity of Wolverine, the elusiveness of Mystique, the vile nature of Magneto, the goofy Quicksilver, the classy and cool Professor X.  The characters in the X-Men are diverse and real.  Being more general, the X-Men are ten times more relatable because, in the end, they are just real people with genetic mutations.  Rogue is just a teenage girl who cannot have what every person needs - human contact. Charles Xavier was just a boy when he thought he was going crazy when he heard everyone else's thoughts. Mystique is not comfortable in her own skin because she can be in anyone's skin. Peter Maximoff is just a teenager who uses his super-speed to steal 2 liter bottles of coke and pull pranks. Erik Lehnsherr is only evil because an evil man who hated mutants killed his mother. All of these things make the X-Men just a band of ordinary people with extraordinary powers in extraordinary situations. And we cannot forget the amazing bromance between Charles and Erik. In the end, the X-Men are less super, and more heroes. 


2. The Science Behind the X-Men is Much More Interesting and Realistic
I like science fiction.  But when I watch/read science fiction, I want it to be somewhat plausible.  Hey, that's just me. I have always found the science behind the X-Men to be much more cohesive and realistic.  Society is just on the cusp of genetic discovery, and we have been for the last ten-or-so years.  Genetic testing and research has been progressing for leaps and bounds, and since the X-Men focuses on this and takes a very relevant topic to today and puts a science-fiction spin on it, the X-Men in general prove to have more of an interesting concept that can be applied to today, whereas the Avengers and their powers are more scattered and not as cohesive as the X-Men. 

3. The Gritty, Realistic Spin on Superheroes in the 21st Century
The mutants pose a threat because of their evolutionary diversity and dominance. And the Avengers pose a threat because of their powers and the mass destruction they can truly cause.  Except the difference between the X-Men and the Avengers is society's reaction to them. Society's reaction to the mutants is realistic, with fear.  The government gets involved and they are trying to change them because they different.  And nearly anything different poses a threat. This serves as a metaphor to how people react to things they don't understand: with fear and hostility. 

The mutants have powerful, human reactions as well. Rouge hates her powers.  She hates it so much that she gives in, and takes the antidote that changes her so she can have human contact. And Erik - he gets egotistical.  He lords his powers over everyone, and puts himself on a pedestal.  Some use their powers for good, and some for bad.  And the innate motivations they have behind their choice for good or evil are clear cut and relatable. 

Another theme I enjoy is that it's less about fighting evil, but about fighting the evil within.  Think of it as two sides to the same coin. There are good mutants, there are bad mutants.  There are mutants that don't care.  There are mutants who hide.  There are many shades of gray within the spectrum, which is much more realistic than the conflicts within the Avengers.  It is always good versus evil, nearly no shades of gray.  While I will admit that Age of Ultron better displays this concept, it is still nothing like the X-Men franchise.  Because the X-Men is about those shades of grey, and how sometimes good and evil are just two sides of the same coin. 

3 Reasons why The Avengers aren't as Amazing as Everyone Says

1. The Unfortunate Character Archetypes

Captain America, the fearless leader. Tony Stark, the smart one with a mouth. Hulk, the strong one. Black Widow, the girl. And Thor . . . whatever Thor does. Unfortunately, the characters in the Avengers have always come off to me as cardboard, only standing out by their fancy outfits and their powers.  Not by who they really are, by but what they can do.  They have always appeared to me as an elite breed of humans who aren't like me, which, in turn, make them much less relatable. Relatability is what makes or breaks a character, and, in my opinion, all of the Avengers are broken.  It's not that I don't feel for them, but they seem too plastic and molded to pop off of the page as individuals. 

2. The Boring Villains and Plots

Yeah, everyone loves Loki.  But why?  Only because he's attractive. Loki never seemed a force to be reckoned with - Thor could defeat him in his sleep.  Unfortunately, I never cared why he was evil, what he was doing.  Also, I never doubted that the Avengers could defeat him.  Ultron did seem like much more of a threat, but again, he lacked things that made a villain convincing and truly evil. 

And here, I just have one question: If the villain is already so evil and powerful, why do they need these huge armies of thousands that can be taken out by the Avengers with one punch of their fists?  As a distraction, probably, but that is just a weak plot device that every villain uses - and hardly ever works. 

To me, the Avengers always seemed to reliant on the action sequences.  The plot moved along based on the scenes with action, not the scenes based on plot or character development.  The heavy emphasis on the action shows how weak that the Avengers franchise truly is, whereas I was never under that impression in any other Marvel franchise. 

And Ultron.  Oh, Ultron. You were much better than Loki - whom everyone liked only because he was 'beautiful' - but not what was needed here. The Avengers are strong - they're human and they're flawed and they are a band of heroes who really need a strong villain to single-handedly oppose them.  Whereas I saw Ultron as a physical threat, I never saw in him the depth that a villain needs to resonate with me.  He was sadistic and menacing, but he never rang truly evil.  The best antagonists are just as human as the protagonists, but they have given in to their dark side because of internal or external forces.  And I very much enjoy that concept in a villain and a hero.  But the thing that made Ultron not stick in my memory was because he wasn't human.  He had no moral compass, he had nothing he cared about because he was a robot, he had no back story, and that's the problem with Ultron.  He was never a mental or emotional force to be reckoned with.  Sometimes, he was so sadistic, that he made me cringe and draw back.  So no, Marvel, you can do so much better with your villains.  

Take Magneto for example.  Magneto is one of the most amazing and flawless villains Marvel has ever created.  He is the main antagonist in most of the X-Men films, but he is never boring. Just, I don't even think I can fit the amazingness of Magneto into one blog post, so just, read up on him yourself and learn how to appreciate a great villain. 

Also, I have a post coming up about my two favorite villains, so stay tuned for that. 

3. The Glossy, Gaudy Universe, which Turned Sadistic in AoU

I feel like that the Avengers are more for kids, but X-Men is more for the mature teens and adults. All of the Avengers are elevated like gods, with their fancy suits and colors.  The Avengers are polished to a shine, and, I've noticed that they are over-glorified by the society that they save.  But I don't think that that's how our society would react.  Our society as a whole would be afraid.  Maybe the children and the individual people they save would love them, but the adults that are reading about them in the news, the government observing this, they would be suspicious, they would be afraid because of the power and advantage they have over the average Joe. This is one of the reasons that I like the Spider-Man movie franchise, is because they touch on this subject frequently. But the Avengers are these glossy, perfect people despite their pasts. 

And moving on to Age of Ultron.  I feel like the directors realized that the Avengers were lighter and fluffier than other Marvel movies, so they darkened the tone - a lot. Unfortunately, this didn't sell with me so well.  I found that I left the movie feeling depressed.  But with the X-Men movies, I never felt that way.  With all of the bad things that happened, I always left with that feeling of a greater hope. 

And we cannot forget the unfortunate case of Quicksilver and Quicksilver

Again, X-Men trumps the Avengers here. I felt that, however much they tried, the Avenger's Quicksilver, played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson, stayed flat to me. He always appeared to be just Wanda's minion, who, in turn, was just Ultron's minion. Pietro never had anything to him that made him jump off the screen.  Unfortunately, he was always just kind of . . . there.  He never had any stand-alone quality like all of the main Avengers have. The only reason I was sad that he died, because I felt deeply for Scarlet Witch, although I will admit that it was very tragic how he died. But his death was his only redeeming quality. And his poorly constructed back story only served as a plot device to get Wanda and Pietro on Ultron's side, yet this was entirely disregarded when  the Maximoff twins joined the Avengers. 

Peter Maximoff, played by Evan Peters, raced off the screen.  He stole every scene he was in, but was unfortunately shoved under the rug when his part of the story was done for. But Evan Peter's interpretation of Quicksilver was very entertaining and well done. He seemed very realistic to me, because he was portrayed as your average teenage boy, who just happened to have super speed. Like any teenager would, he used his powers not for good or bad, but for his own personal gain. This opened the X-Men up to the possibility that there are people like this all over the X-Men universe, making it down-to-earth. 

However, Taylor-Johnson and Peters both were given two different interpretations of a character, but the X-Men Quicksilver surpassed the Avenger's one. 

Again, these are all my interpretations and opinions. This is 100% biased because this is me and this is what I like.  But, in the end, The Avengers is a fun, action-packed movie for entertainment purposes, and Age of Ultron takes it to a darker level, and the X-Men is a gritty, intelligent movie that studies the human condition and hypothetical genetic mutations. But how much does it really matter, anyways? 

Hope you enjoyed this, nerds and geeks far and wide,

~The WordShaker