It wasn't *totally* pointless. The other purpose of this scene was to get the young X-Men working together w/ Mystique and to give them some development before moving to the final act. Now, could they have done that in some other way? Absolutely. But at least it accomplishes something a *little* more significant…

The board shorts were laughably dumb

They're doing pretty great with X-23 in the X-books right now. I can't really speak for the earlier stuff…

His wife and kid were just killed in front of him. I think the point is that he's not acting rationally and makes poor decisions because he's angry at the world before he (spoiler) eventually comes around.

"When I go to the movies these days, the stories seem dominated by hate-filled bruisers, heroes who do little that’s heroic and star in movies that fetishize mass destruction and luxuriate in violence."

Story-wise the approach that they take in this film is at there are no X-Men, officially, yet. Once they formally become a thing, they do indeed have colorful costumes of their own. There are pictures floating around that are pretty easy to find.

I don't think that's entirely fair. This is arguably the most colorful and comic-looking installment yet. There's an (admittedly weak) explanation for the black outfits in-film, the horsemen and Apocalypse all strongly resemble their comics counterparts, and you do get a (brief) look at some VERY comic-accurate…

Yeah, that would be my brief review as well. If you liked what Singer has done with the previous films you'll like this one. If you're one of the people who hates Singer's interpretation of the X-Men, this won't change your mind.

That's true, yes, but I think her failure in Meereen was meant to highlight her hubris in continually doing this. She can't simply solve all of her problems by relying on her name and her dragons. I would think this plot was supposed to be a great trial for her, but instead she just gets a little dirty and then…

Daenerys has like 3 tricks in her bag. 1) Stand there and boldly proclaim who she is to win the conflict by default (she's worse than The Doctor when it comes to this), 2) Deus ex dragon, and 3) Not getting burned by fire. And they ALWAYS WORK. Every single time.

Oh that one was horrible, yeah. Extremely frustrating.

Yeah, it's really weird. I thought Arkham City and Arkham Origins did boss battles extremely well. Taking down Freeze or Deathstroke or Bane were some of the most memorable moments in that game. And then Arkham Knight did… nothing?

Since Uncharted was already brought up, for me it would have to be that section where it suddenly turns into a survival horror corridor shooter in that bunker with the zombie things. Like, holy shit, that was not called for. I signed up for a fun adventure game with climbing and puzzles and some cover shooting, not…

Christ that was a downbeat ending.

Okay, I'm really glad they didn't tease out that Dracula reveal any longer, because by the time that date was over it was so obvious that it would have been painful for them to continue to pretend to keep it from us. I'm digging it now.

If they tease this out all season long I'm going to be very, very annoyed.

That really would be perfect. Brian Cox is one of those go-to amazing guest spot actors if you need a commanding father figure. Ian McShane is busy. Charles Dance is free? lol

Hmm. Fair point. I dunno, I guess I'm just hoping they go for a more dramatic, monstrous look/casting for Dracula than the handsome dude who works at the museum.

Not at all, that should also (hopefully) be a bit of fun casting.

That's certainly possible. Though I really hope this show doesn't take the route of daywalking vampires. Generally not a fan of those, as it always feels like a cop out.