X-Men: First Class

I miss afternoon Saturdates with Paolo. Ever since he was promoted as a technical supervisor of his Mom's ad agency, we rarely go out on weekends due to his out of town events. He finally took a day (or a week?) off from work last Saturday so I insisted to go out even if we're on a tight budget (we will be flying out this July!!!). 

So there you go, we watched X-Men: First Class. We actually planned to go to Binondo but I have been ignoring to read some tweets about the movie since Thursday. I love all the X-Men movies and I can no longer wait for Monday. (Our original plan was: Saturday-Binondo food trip date; Sunday-rest day; Monday-watch X-Men: First Class for our 88th month. )

X-Men: First Class' lead stars James McAvoy (Charles Xavier/Professor X) and Michael Fassbender (Erik Lehnsherr/Magneto) are certified hotties whether they are mutants or not. I can not exactly describe how much I LOVED the movie, I can not even put into words how awesome the scenes are, but one thing is for sure--I learned a LOT in this movie. There are values, more than just action, adventure and powers! 

Ladies and gentlemen, in no particular order:

1. Physical beauty. Raven/Mystique and Hank/Beast can not stand the way they look as mutants. Raven hates her blue, flaky skin while Hank hates his big feet. As a science geek, Hank tried to transform his big feet to a normal pair by injecting a chemical that he developed. Unfortunately, he aggravated his cells, thus transforming his image to a beast-like creature and ended up having a big body, not just feet.

Most of the time, people get so frustrated that they were not given the things they exactly want--physically or not. We have endless wants and desires. From skin tone to bust size, you name it, science can change it for you. Just make sure you have the price to pay. OR you know the price to pay. You have the courage to face the consequences for the sake of physical attributes, but what happens when it fails? It only makes some things worse most of the time. It's all about contentment. And acceptance.

2. Loyalty. When Emma Frost was captured by the authorities, her loyalty to Sebastian Shaw did not wane. When Sebastian asked the young mutants if anyone wants to join his team, Angel joined them. When Sebastian was killed by Magneto, Emma, Angel, Riptide and Azazel joined Magneto, with Mystique this time, while Havok, Beast and Banshee stayed with Professor X's side.

Know your stand. You're free to do the things you want, it's your life. There is nothing wrong from Raven turning away from her brother Charles. It's her call. Her loyalty as Charles' sister will always stay. Plus, it's always easier to say "At least, I tried it." rather than saying "I should have done it."

3. Control. It's always about the right timing, it's all about control. Erik's ravage in killing Sebastian Shaw will never push through if Charles did not stop him in the first place. Have you heard of this maxim, "Do not make decisions when you're mad. And do not make promises when you're happy."?

Calm down. Control your emotions. Tell the world if you're damn happy but never blame the world if you're sad. And one more thing, revenge doesn't make you farther, it only makes you even, or worse. So take a deep breath.

4. Love for Family. No questions asked. The love we give to our family and the love that we receive back from them keep us going. Erik's past has brought him to despair because of his parents' tragic experience. He promised to find the "tailor" and the "pig farmer" to give justice to his parents' demise. On the other hand, Charles and Raven has so much respect for each other, that Charles did not even try to read his sister's mind (except on the last part of the movie).

This is true and I don't think I still need to say this: when you love your family, you'll live a good life. Well, I already said it. And that's a fact. Agree?

5. Dedication. Moira McTaggert's dedication to help the CIA, Erik's dedication to find Sebastian and Charles' dedication to help the young mutants brought them to where they want to be. And even if Charles can no longer use his legs, he is still dedicated to help the young mutants. It did not stop him from helping and even considered it as a challenge on how far he can still go without his legs.

This story reminds me of Raissa Laurel. Failure is impossible if a person is really dedicated. If a person is dedicated, then giving up will never be an option.

6. Friendship. Unexplainable. I adore Charles and Erik's friendship. They parted ways because of their differences in beliefs on helping mutants and Erik's line struck me. He said something like, he wanted Charles to be by his side because they are brothers. This line made me teary eyed! No matter how fierce and strong Erik is, he knelt down to catch Charles' pain. I love both of them this time. Now I understand why Professor X and Magneto always "try" to avoid each other in the previous X-Men movies.

I can totally relate. I always have friendship issues. It's never-ending. Seeing X-Men: First Class taught me how to let go. We need to let go of people who don't want to stay. We MUST let go of our old friends even if it hurts us, even if it crushes us to bits and pieces. We should let them go because we respect their beliefs, because we want to support them in everything they want to do. And like Professor X and Magneto, their friendship will always stay deep inside their hearts, not as mutants, but as Charles and Erik respectively.

ADORBS ♥

There are actually more values and lessons learned in this movie. I'm still suffering from a movie hangover and I want to watch it again. I started downloading all the previous X-Men film series (X-Men, X-Men: X2, X-Men: The Last Stand andX-Men Origins: Wolverine) and will dedicate a day for an X-Men movie marathon with Paolo. I'm sure this is going to be F-U-N!

Btw, have you guys seen Stan Lee in the movie? It's actually the first movie he ever produced without a cameo role! I'm pretty sure I did not miss it because if Stan Lee was there, people would have reacted! People only reacted, including me, when Hugh Jackman appeared on the screen as Wolverine (insert ♥ here)! His only line, "Go f*** yourselves." made me drooled!

Now I'm leaving you with THIS LINK about interesting lines and clips from X-Men: First Class! Let's all be inspired, mutant and proud!