No, honey, don't bite your brother...

Genius.

I can't hold back...

...any longer.

I know that a ton of people loved the new XMen movie. But I just can't get on the bandwagon. It was a haphazard exercise in audience baiting and anyone who read the script should have known better.

***SPOILER ALERT***

Sure, it has it's good moments, but they all swirl around a rather unveiled allegory of gay oppression that could have been airtight and, daresay, subtle, but instead was "Pilgrims Progress" meets "The Advocate" magazine. There's the mutant boy, furiously attending to something in the bathroom and when he's confronted about "what he's doing in there for an hour" breaks down in tears before we realize he's been hacking off the angel wings his body is growing with a microplane.

And I don't have to go further. That scene itself: it almost hits all the right notes, especially the father's disgusted and anguished, "not you!" and the boy's "I tried to be normal" crying thing. But the blood, and the feathers, and the camera work, and the heavy-handed direction all made it so cliched and forceful.

Sure, people think they can cure gay people. Sure, it's a problem in the US. But a summer blockbuster that could have been more about the characters and less about a plodding allegory? The wrong venue, with the wrong script, at exactly the right time.

Sheesh!

It was fun to see some things blow up. And I'm always in love with Jean Gray, but I sure hope that they give the reins to someone else next time.

***RANT OVER*** =)