Visual Index ~ X-Men's Best Shots
Tuesday, May 20, 2014 at 11:03PM A long time ago in an X-Mansion 30 miles away*... the Hit Me With Your Best Shot series began. It was July 2010 when, on a 10th anniversary rewatch of the mutant team franchise kickoff I came up with the series. Only two people joined me for that first episode and one of those images is lost to the whims of jpg storage on the internet but the series grew quite a lot from there. With X-Men Days of Future Past nearly upon us (well, it already took me. It took me, with the stink of filthy mutant dna on its breath, and I liked it. I liked it!) it's time to honor Bryan Singer's influential superhero team movie again.
This was a rerun Hit Me episode of sorts so participation is low but you'd all best be back for the next few episodes! Promise me you'll gaze upon the movies and make judgments - blue pinky, adamantium claws swear it.
8 BEST SHOTS FROM X-MEN (2000)
Directed by Bryan Singer / Shot by Newton Thomas Sigel
Click on the images for the 9 corresponding articles
Shots that go "WUMPH!", and not shots that sneak in and tap on the shoulder...
-Antagony & Ecstacy
Isn't it a beauty, narratively speaking?
-The Film Experience
...an arresting impression.
-Best Shot in the Dark
I had to go with this shot because of the relationship between Rogue and Wolverine in the movie...
-Missemmamm
You know, people like you...
-Intifada
How much he doesn't give a fuck...
- The Film's The Thing
So weirdass and INLAND EMPIRE-like...
-Against the Hype
A fascinating "eureka!" moment and a humourous one at that...
-Film Actually
Tragic, scary and playful...
- Coco Hits NY
Hmmm. I thought there'd be more of Storm (kidding). But no, I did think there'd be more Mystique! What's your favorite shot in that movie... or have you forgotten the whole thing?
* Charles Xavier's School For Gifted Youngsters is in exotic Westchester, right? So close!
Reader Comments (10)
Can't wait to read all of these. Just didn't have time to re-watch and make my own post for this one. Maybe in a week or so I can jump back into this awesome series.
This was a really fun entry but also REALLY hard since Singer doesn't offer too much in style beyond the overwhelming geometric touches in some scenes - that was something I noticed this time around a lot more that never even occurred to me before and I've seen this film quite a bit in reruns. Anyways, X2 and X3 are more visual and take more fun directorial risks that I now appreciate much more.
*screams*
I totally forgot! But i'll co-sign with missemamm's choice.
I think you forgot mine. Here's the link in case the email didn't reach you. http://cocohitsny.wordpress.com/2014/05/20/hit-me-with-your-best-shot-x-men-2000/
conrado -- sorry. i got confused since it was chosen by someone else too. added!
derreck -- you'll make it up to me later
mark -- x-men 3??? NO WAY. but yes on x-men 2
Wow that shot of Mystique is pornographic.
Lawrence's take doesn't ooze nearly as much sex, or at all, compared to Stamos' version.
To be fair, HAHAA, Jennifer's version of Mystique hasn't really grown into Rebecca's hardcore incarnation of Mystique yet which might be remedied in Days of Future Past.
Mark The First: X-3? Which made Juggernaut a mutant and, showing how much the writers are even more braindead than the ones on the first two, have him say the "I'm the Juggernaut, bitch" meme? And completely waste Whedon's mutant cure story AND The Dark Phoenix Saga in a story that makes everything after that opening about Wolverine? To quote Holly Hunter's Elastigirl: This is not! About! You! Yeah, I'm not even going to dignify that:
If I were to rank the output of superhero productions by studio:
1. Marvel Studios (They've certainly had a very good run so far and they might be looking at a couple of their best films yet with GotG this year and Ant-Man the next.)
2. Universal (They've made only three films in this genre, but two of them are in the Hellboy series, so, yeah. For me, they take the second slot.)
3. Columbia (Though their high points in the genre aren't as high, their low points also aren't as consistently LCD. (Spider-Man 3 is not quite as bad as some of the stuff from the next four studios given a rank.)
4. New Line Cinema (Before they got more closely affiliated with the Warner Bros film studio, they produced a single series. It ended in an embarrassing stinker in Blade Trinity, but 2 out of 3 at least keeps their head above some of the others.)
5. Lionsgate (I think if I had seen all three Blade films, I'd maybe waffle as to whether Lionsgate deserved slot 4 or slot 5, but, as is, I'm leaning on slot 5.)
6. 20th Century Fox (Aside from 2 X-Men movies (X-2 and First Class), they've either hit slightly above average (original X-Men) or outright terrible.)
7. Warner Bros. (Fits of produced brilliance with one franchise, Batman, do not excuse consistent horrid product with everything else. Steel, Catwoman, Constantine, Superman Returns, Jonah Hex, Green Lantern, Man of Steel. They ARE the bottom of the genre right now and it'd probably take five Dark Knight level good or ten Iron Man level good films about characters who AREN'T Batman for them to even raise to 6th place.)
My favorite shot in the movie is when we see Rogue in class for the first time and Bobby puts his hand on her desk to create the flower out of ice. Before he pulls his hand away to reveal the ice flower, you can see the ice making subtle light formations that are reflected on the desk. It's a small, but really beautiful moment in the film. And who doesn't swoon when Shawn Ashmore says "Welcome to mutant high"?
I've seen all 5 nominees. In my opinion, Mary Astor derived to win, but not for "The Great Lie," but for her work in "The Maltese Falcon."