Fuck these midterm elections.

Every time I thought it couldn't get worse, it did. Now all of my life, except for Bill Nelson and Barack Obama, are controlled by Republicans. The only silver lining is that the Pro-Environment Amendment passed and everything was SUPER close so Florida has more progressives than they give us credit for, but...

Fuck.

Frodo : I can't do this, Sam.

Sam : I know.
It's all wrong
By rights we shouldn't even be here.
But we are.
It's like in the great stories Mr. Frodo.
The ones that really mattered.
Full of darkness and danger they were,
and sometimes you didn't want to know the end.
Because how could the end be happy.
How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad happened.
But in the end, it's only a passing thing, this shadow.
Even darkness must pass.
A new day will come.
And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer.
Those were the stories that stayed with you.
That meant something.
Even if you were too small to understand why.
But I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand.
I know now.
Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back only they didn’t.
Because they were holding on to something.

Frodo : What are we holding on to, Sam?

Sam : That there’s some good in this world, Mr. Frodo. And it’s worth fighting for.

X-Men: Days of Future Past

Considering X-Men: Days of Future Past has been on DVD for about three months now, I don't still have to spoiler cut...right?

First of all, I didn't really like the film the first time I saw it. My mom really enjoyed it but I had a lot of problems watching it between the extremely evil robots and the robots that can do any mutant ability ever and the killing of ever mutant ever over and over and over and did I mention? EXTREMELY FREAKING SCARY ROBOTS!

I never had problems with the Sentinels in the comics or the various animated series. However, I did have problems with the Doombots at Doctor Doom's Fearfall at Universal. I suppose this is similar to not having problems with Ultron in the comics or various animated series and having him CREEP ME THE FUCK OUT IN THE FREAKING TRAILER for Avengers: Age of Ultron.

The second viewing of this film was a little easier since I knew everyone would be just fine in the end...better than fine, no more X3! Well, except for those already dead in 1973? Hmm, maybe we should still fix that, too...

Wow, Xavier as a junkie...this is pretty dark, but I like it. He also looks hot, a bit like Johnny Martin in Penelope. His plotline as he copes with his addiction to walking/coping mechanism with his depression is nice as he finally gives it up. Plus, I love Nicholas Hoult's Beast so much...I can totally see him and Abigail Brand verbally sparring with each other.

Which will never happen on-screen for the foreseeable future...

*sigh*

Where is Moira? I know that he changed her memories but she's a smart, capable woman and where is she???
* X3 is no longer valid so other Moira doesn't officially exist.

So, the director admitted that Wanda Maximoff was cut out of the theatrical version which was easy to do because she was only mentioned as their sister by the little girl. Yay, the little girl isn't Wanda! Everyone assumed she was, but it's far more likely that she's Anya. However, Anya is supposed to be a full-blooded sibling to both which brings up the question...

Did they allow conjugal visits in Erik's special prison under the pentagon? What was the point to Erik being blamed for Kennedy's assassination except to have this scene? This was how they wrote the film, wasn't it? "You know what would make a cool scene? We should have this sequence with Quicksilver..."

Especially since they totally left him behind? Even after that implication from Peter towards Erik?

Except that Erik doesn't seem to know his existence or anything so...I guess not. I know it's a short movie and everything...131 minutes!...but all we could get was one throw away line about "Peter"'s mom knowing someone like Erik once? Unlike the Avengers films, you guys can actually ADMIT that Erik is their father, dammit.

Quicksilver was awesome but outside of bad fanfiction, I can't remember his ever being "Peter" and that threw me off because when they're saying Peter, I always thought...Parker? Where? Of course, now there is also Quill, but...yeah. Let's just get rid of all traces of Romani, right? Maybe Singer and Whedon flipped a coin about who could say Pietro and who could say Peter since Wanda was never referred to by name even in the script?

There's a scene and I almost never see anyone mention it anymore. I didn't see that many people mention it at the time, but I feel it's one of the most important scenes in the film. Mystique impersonates Trask and reads his private files which detail exactly how they killed each and every single one of her friends and lovers. The tear on her cheek remains as she's almost caught by his secretary. This feels like the ONLY time in all five films with her that we actually get to have insight into her feeling without it being from a male point of view or furthering a male's agenda. It's actually really sad because these two prequels focus on the relationship between the three of them so we should get her point of view all the time.

Plus, did we really get rid of her healing abilities? Mystique looks like Rebecca Romign FORTY years later. She totally has healing abilities so why is it such a big deal that she gets shot that she actually has to go to a hospital? Other than to have the nurse make a totally ignorant comment? I was explaining all of her awesome abilities from the comics and oldest nephew was flabberghasted that none of that was in the actual film. All she gets to do is ass-kicking and mimicry.

Okay, here's the thing that makes all of this that much worse...the "expendable" mutants that we find out are dead only through this quick scene are mostly the mutants that are not Caucasian! This also sums up a lot of the mutants that we get to see die in the future over and over and over. I was so excited about Omar Sy being casted and then... Plus, they killed Azazel? Really? Are we NEVER getting a proper Nightcrawler story where you admit who his real parents are? Because if Azazel's dead already, she would have had to have given birth in between the films to Kurt.

I do enjoy Peter Dinklage, have ever since I loved The Station Agent so much that I saw it TWICE at Tampa Theatre, but he's not really given a lot to do here. It appears we're supposed to understand everything about him and his motivations from studying his office and that one speech he gives. ugh

I still don't know the point of Magneto stealing a baseball stadium except...that he could?

At least there's some Rogue? WHERE IS LOCKHEED? My mom tried to be nice and say she sent him away because SENTINELS! I'm still frustrated that Kitty Pryde has a fucking dragon at her beck and call and we've never seen him on screen. I wonder what Storm's character could have been before the rewrites around her pregnancy.
Plus, Jubilee?

I love how Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellan used to play their characters as being one-time BFFs but after "First Class", they're definitely more like ex-lovers.

Honestly, I liked this a whole lot better than X3...honest.