X-Men 3 - o rly?

[capri0mni]

The other night (I forget which night, actually: Friday or Saturday, I think), my local Fox affiliate aired the X-Men 2 movie, with lots of ads for X-Men 3: The Last Stand.

And here are my questions:

Am I right in thinking "'Last?' I'll believe that when I see it! Not if the box office gross is big enough!"

Or is the X-Men storyline like Lord of the Rings, with a definite beginning, middle, and end?

And are you fans of the X-Men looking forward to the movie with hope or dread?

Just curious...

Comments

[lyssie.livejournal.com]

Last Stand is just them being pretentious, I 'xpect. Especially since they scrapped the original Phoenix idea for Kewlier crap.

Er. Which kind of answers your last question. I'm looking forward to being able to mock it.

There is no storyline, really.

[capriuni.livejournal.com]

yay! I was right!

I kinda knew I was right, based on the movie around the commericials. But I figured I might as well ask...

[samantha2074.livejournal.com]

I can't say that Brett Ratner's name inspires a lot of confidence, but there's a shameful part of me that's really looking forward to the movie despite my fears that it won't be much good. To be honest, it's been a while since any movie's come out that I thought sounded fun. I'm hoping that I can at least get some cheesy appreciation out of X3.

[capriuni.livejournal.com]

Than you'll probably enjoy it. My high school math teacher came up with the formula: S = R/E, where S is "Satisfaction" R is "Reality," and E is "Expectation."

As long as the reality is at least as good as your expectation, you're guarrunteed to break even on your satisfaction levels.

And, based on the ads I've seen, I'd try to sneak some crackers into the theater... ;-)

[ionlylurkhere.livejournal.com]

I read an interview in SFX with, erm, the director, or a producer, or someone like that, that suggests you are right in both of your first points -- according to the interviewee, Last Stand is supposed to form the end of an arc with the first two movies, but that particular arc having ended is no barrier to them starting a new one with another film. (Or even doing a standalone, presumably. Except that that is no longer allowed.)

I personally am looking forward to it because they are stealing bits from Phoenix and the Joss Whedon Astonishing, which I treated myself to this week and was promptly reduced to squeeing Whedon-worship, because, you know, he is god and everything. And also: Kelsey Grammer as Beast == perfect casting.

[capriuni.livejournal.com]

(Or even doing a standalone, presumably. Except that that is no longer allowed.)

Is that really true, or are you being sarcastic? My sarcasm meter seems to be broken...

And yes. I like the sounds of Grammer as Beast.

Is Beast the only mutant who can't hide his powers? Seems that way to me, based on what I remember of those old Fox animated series.

[ionlylurkhere.livejournal.com]

Is that really true, or are you being sarcastic? My sarcasm meter seems to be broken...

It was sarcasm. Because any idea that's good for one movie is even better for an endless chain of them that will keep the punters coming back for more ...

Heh -- the Fox animated series was my introduction to X-Men! As to hiding, I think Nightcrawler is always blue, isn't he? There is obviously something about blue pigmentation ...

[capriuni.livejournal.com]

I don't know about the comics, 'cause I've never read any of them.

But in the second round of the X-Men cartoon series (which was the first to feature Nightcrawler), Proffessor Xavier [sp?] gave the teenage Kurt a watch to wear that had a kind of cloaking device-thingie, that allowed him to appear like a normal teen in the high school (the kids were all mainstreamed in the local public school, irrc, and just lived at the X-men school, where they took extra studies).

Maybe blue is the X-Men what green was to Old-school Doctor Who... ;-)

[gordon-r-d.livejournal.com]

That's be a image-inducer. Been used by Beast ('cos he's blue), Nightcrawler ('cos he's blue) and Angel (because is the comics, he turned blue too, but a light blue).

In the comics there've been quite a few who wouldn't pass as normal, just off the top of my head Artie, Leech, Caliban, Marrow (before she got changed a bit), Nocturne (who is blue and is Nightcrawler's daughter from a alternate universe), Beak, Martha.

[capriuni.livejournal.com]

I guess I've never seen Beast use it, because in the TV versions, he never really left the school, and so never had to worry about blending in.

What's blue got to do with it? Is it 'cause blue is a "special" color -- like the 'blue screens' they used to use in tv and movie special effects? Or is it "special" for the same reason that gween is special?

They use green screens, now, for those effects, but I always liked the color of the blue, better. In the days when people still preserved their pictures on transparant slides (remember that?), I alwayss thought that having a room painted that blue color -- or at least, one wall -- would be so cool...

[gordon-r-d.livejournal.com]

Beast didn't use it very often in the comics, only time I remember is when he, Angel and someone else were repairing the local pub which got trashed in a fight and the cops came round to find out what was going on. Because Beast was a member of the Marvel Universe's premier superhero team the Avangers he tends to get accepted more than the other X-Men, indeed for most of the 70s I don't think anyone was bothered by the fact he was big, blue and furry at all.

No idea what it is with the blue. At least with Mystique/Nightcrawler/Nocturne they're all related so it doesn't seem too odd. No idea why Beast ended up blue, he spent about ten years just looking human with big hands and feet but then did the usual meddling with things you're not s'posed to meddle with and ended up hairy. Then that got undone during the 80s. Then redone. Then three or four years ago he mutated again becoming more feline. With Nightcrawler I know he was meant to be able to hide in shadows and stuff, so the colour made sense.

Forgot to put this in previous replies... :P

[gordon-r-d.livejournal.com]

I don't know about the comics, 'cause I've never read any of them.

I could hook you up with some of the good stuff if you'd like. :)

[blinovitch.livejournal.com]

I'm going to see it, with more squeeful anticipation than dread or hope. When it comes to X-Men films, I'm there for spiffy special effects and cool character designs.

[capriuni.livejournal.com]

Well, they certainly are big on special effects and designs....

Which character is your favorite, design-wise (of what you've seen)?

[blinovitch.livejournal.com]

Well, I haven't really checked out X-Men 3 yet as I like to be relatively spoiler-free. My favorite character's always been Nightcrawler, and I love what they did with him in the last movie. I was really bummed to find out the character doesn't return in the new film.

[capriuni.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I only know the animated tv versions really well (where all the characters are kids, basically), but Nightcrawler was my favorite among them, too. It's probably because he's the archtypical trickster/Puck character, and I've always had an attraction to them.

I liked his look in that second movie, but I thought they laid his Catholicism/praying on a bit too thick. If I'd been directing, I'd have had him praying aloud and fervently once, maybe twice, and just show him make a quick sign of the cross, and/or speak a prayer quietly under his breath the rest of the time.

But that's just me. I like subtle.

[gordon-r-d.livejournal.com]

I was worried when they announced the director, not because he's a bad director or aything but because he's best known for rather lightweight but fun fare like Rush Hour. But the more actual footage I see, the more I'm looking forward to it. In fact, I can tell you the exact moment I though "This actually looks like it's going to be good." It was when I saw the scene of Juggernaut chasing Shadowcat through walls in the trailer. that sold it to me. :)

And as a sad X-geek, half the fun's going to be spotting all the cameo characters of which there appear to be a lot. :P

[capriuni.livejournal.com]

Hee! Now, this is why I prefer to get movie reviews from LJ friends than from professional critics in the paper.

Too bad I never get to go and see movies in the theater, anymore...