M:I Ghost Protocol (2011)

Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol. Dir. Brad Bird, 2011.

I'd pretty much given up on the M:I movie franchise, but it seems that Hollywood hasn't, and, happily for its continued prospects, this is probably the best of the lot since the first one. The gadgets are cool (and not perfect), and the action scenes are great--I especially liked the very grounding focus on footchases and mistakes, which fits with what character arcs there are in the movie, particularly between Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise, looking older but still good) and Jeremy Renner's character, Brandt, who is damn smooth. Also damn good looking, particularly when he is being angsty. I could get used to seeing more of him (and indeed, I won't lie, he's a big part of why I dragged my dad to the movie in the first place). The other agents were good, particularly Simon Pegg, and as well as being intelligently written the script also has a welcome dose of humor, which serves to break up the near-constant action.

( M:I Emerging Economies  )

What I actually find most interesting, on a sort of meta-cinematic level, is the question of just why Hollywood is suddenly obsessed (again) with nuclear war. It's the central plot device of two major movies this year (XM:FC and M:I 4), and I just don't quite get it. Something like Goldeneye, that made a lot of sense (though it wasn't even about nuclear weapons, but EMP) for its time and place, but why are we suddenly worried about nuclear war and nuclear terrorism so much again? Did I miss a general societal memo somewhere?

[remix fic] Wages (the Only in Our Dreams remix)

Wages (The Only in Our Dreams remix) (4090 words) by starlady
Fandom: X-Men: First Class (2011)
Rating: Mature
Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Erik Lehnsherr/Charles Xavier
Characters: Charles Xavier, Erik Lehnsherr, Raven Darkholme
Summary: The central episode of "Wages" from Charles' perspective.

I've had this in the in-progress folder for forever, so I finally decided to write the last three paragraphs and post it. Almost all of the dialogue is solvent's; all of Charles' wool-gathering and angst in faux-Austen diction is mine. As with all Regency romances, take a large meta-warning for near-total disregard of the inequities that structure the upper-class lifestyle of the period. This was largely an exercise in trying to understand the workings of the original fic by writing out Charles' perspective. He doesn't want to think about just how manipulative he is, unsurprisingly.