X-Men Movies Thread

[EricJ]

Wow!!! Take that, critics!!
https://www.google.com/amp/comicbook.co ... ent=safari#

I'm sorry, how does a big opening "defeat" critics? I suppose critics are still smarting from their "blows" at the hands of BvS's opening?
I thought if anything, BvS taught us what a hollow lie big box-office openings were, how they represent nothing but optimistic fanboy stampedes, and that it was better to wait for the fallout of actual audience word-of-mouth to settle after they come out of the movie.

(And no one said the movie was bad, just mediocre at worst. Unless certain other comic movies have now traumatized us into the mindset of hiding under our bed and dreading any superhero movies that aren't Disney/Marvel, even if they're Fox, and stubbornly refusing to believe any of them can be competent?)

And according to one review, the movie being set in the 80's, we finally get the yellow-jacketed Jubilee, straight out of the 90's cartoon, only...she never actually gets to do anything in the movie. Both are pretty much what I expect of Singer.

[Ben]

$100m isn't that much for a big international opening. The real test will be how much it does in the States, where it has been said in that article that the movies haven't performed as well as worldwide. However good, bad or critic-proof Apocalypse is, I can't see it getting to $500m worldwide, or at least not much more than that figure. I'm still in two minds as to go see it or not: I haven't been blown away by the marketing and am a bit burned out on seeing cities continually being destroyed after nearly the tenth-plus movie in a row where it's just buildings coming down and super-characters beating the crap out of each other without any real consequences. When done with comic book style (Cap 3) it's entertaining; when taken too seriously it just looks silly.

[EricJ]

The stinger at the end of this one is reportedly a hint leading toward

the Mr. Sinister plot,

and it's starting to push Singer into Zack Snyder territory--
Where it's not so much about whether we WANT him to "immortalize" one more Essential Classic X-Men Canon Story for posterity, so much as we wants to be the one to DO it.
And when the director feels his purpose on earth is to personally avenge the wrongs that comic fans have suffered...well, we know what happened the last time.

DoFP still felt like it should have taken the old cast out on a high note, but no, they hinted Apocalypse so "Now we HAVE to do it!", which means one more "obligating" stinger at the end of each movie.
Classic X-Men Canon a la Singer is starting to be a liability to Fox, who now wants to move into other "Linked-universe" directions, move off onto newer (cheaper) casts with New Mutants and X-Force, and move everything back to Deadpool, where they believe their bread is buttered thicker. When Singer just wants to do one sequel-to-a-sequel-to-a-sequel in a straight linear line, that's not what the studio heads have in mind.

[Ben]

"The more the film harks back to other X-instalments, the more you’ll wish you were watching those instead."

Yeah...think I'm gonna pass:

http://www.empireonline.com/movies/x-me ... pse/review

[ShyViolet]

Saw it tonight.

I know everyone is expecting me to say this, but this movie is not nearly as bad as all the critics are saying it is.

(Spoiler free review!)

Is it a flawed movie? Yes, it kind of moves in fits and starts. The Apocalypse scenes are all awesome (Oscar Isaac was a-ma-zing) although he doesn't actually appear in the film as much as I would have liked. Kind of a disappointment, but oh well.

The slowest scenes are definitely with Jennifer Lawrence. She's not "bad" in the film, but just seems sort of...there. (Kind of like Kirsten Dunst in Spidey 3).

Yes, there are too many characters. But aside from Lawrence every one of them gives it their all. We really want to get to know them, but there just isn't enough time for that. Sad but hopefully the next film focuses on a few of them instead of just all of them. (And more Quicksilver please!!!! ). Oh, and by the way, this film may be stuffed with characters but they're all part of the overall theme of identity and loss. Not even close to the ham fisted usage of way too many characters that was The Last Stand. (And yes, I still think Bryan Singer is ten times the director that Vaughn and Ratner are combined.)

Magneto and Xavier...just wow. Along with Isaac they basically carry this film. The critics said that there's no real emotion or character relationships in this film. What utter crud. There is a ton going on inside both these characters and wow....Macavoy and Fassbinder nail it, scene after scene.

And as for underlying themes...the idea of a cult leader assembling followers and preying on their weaknesses is so well done. I really don't know what film these critics were watching. There is a great sense of anger, passion, loss, and love throughout this whole film, and I really don't understand how anyone can put this under the category of a "mindless summer blockbuster."
It's more than the sum of its parts.


Oh, and John Ottman's score was pretty darn awesome too. .

[Ben]

Johnny Depp's supposed personal issues aside, I'm not understanding the scorn for Alice either. It was a choice of that or X-Men the other night and we went with Alice, where both myself and my wife found it to be hugely enjoyable and, basically, at least different to anything else out there. The more I think about it the more I liked it.

I will catch this at somepoint, though will stick with seeing it at home, either on disc or TV. Glad you liked it, Vi, even if we always knew you would!

[ShyViolet]

[ShyViolet]

See it on the big screen Ben! Effects are amazing and with the soundtrack it's a great theater experience. Some funny parts too. Plus *mild spoiler*

The final confrontation needs to be seen on a big screen. Wow, does James Macavoy bring it home! Like seeing comics I've read (particularly Age of Apocalypse) come to life. Unforgettable.

Also:

I was a little afraid Wolverine's cameo would distract/take away from the focus on the rest of the cast. Boy was I wrong. He appears pretty briefly but in a WONDERFUL scene between him and Jean Grey (and yes I know she's a teenager here but it's very chaste.) Hugh Jackman makes the most out of his five minutes or so and just wow. So awesome that he's appeared in every X-Men movie so far!

You can also pre-order the movie on itunes. Can't wait!

[ShyViolet]

The stinger at the end of this one is reportedly a hint leading toward

the Mr. Sinister plot,

and it's starting to push Singer into Zack Snyder territory--
last time.

I would go crazy with excitement if they made a Sinister film and Singer was at the helm. (I know, I just repeated myself for the millionth time! Sorry. ) Singer is really the only director who can do that character justice, considering how complex he is. But I don't want Sinister in a Gambit film. I never liked Gambit all that much and really have no desire to see a film starring him.

You need Jean and Scott in a Sinister film for crying out loud. Read the gosh darn comics movie execs! Since there were big hints of Jean becoming Pheonix later on, the best way to add Sinister would be to plan a film after that where he clones Jean Grey into Madelyne Prior, etc...or maybe something else. But really. We need Singer on this one! Please please please!!!

Also, IMHO Singer is so far beyond Zack Snyder territory it's not even funny. Man of Steel was really nothing special.

And yeah, I know I just added another post. Feel free to merge!

[EricJ]

I would go crazy with excitement if they made a Sinister film and Singer was at the helm. (I know, I just repeated myself for the millionth time! Sorry. ) Singer is really the only director who can do that character justice, considering how complex he is. But I don't want Sinister in a Gambit film.

I never liked Gambit all that much and really have no desire to see a film starring him.

Even if fans thought he wasn't THE Gambit, Taylor Kitsch in XMO:Wolverine was certainly a serviceable Gambit back in the days when Fox was trying to take all their old OST (Original Singer Trilogy) failed concept art and make it look Real-World Plausible.
But the talk of a spinoff movie only exists because Fox was trying to pick themselves up and dust themselves off from the audience failure of that one and figure out what the audience "really" wanted to see in that movie that they could salvage and olive-branch the audience back with. Which is exactly the same reason Fox made an Elektra movie after Daredevil, and why Marvel still talks about a Black Widow spinoff six years after Iron Man 2.

Like the Jubilee "cameo" (which I hear is all it is?), Singer still gets most of his X-canon from the 90's series, and

Mr. Sinister just dragged down Season 2 of the cartoon...Between Sinister, taking the Prof and Magneto out of the story, and ending up in the Savage Lands, what a shark-jump for the cartoon after that cool first season.
Yes, he DOES need Scott and Jean to remind us why he's so Iconic, otherwise, he's flat-out ridiculous: He has so convoluted an origin, and so obtsusely planned strategies, most first-timers literally don't know who or what he is, except that he looks so much like Marilyn Manson, it's impossible to take him seriously.

And that's why I made the Singer's-becoming-Snyder joke: Loyalty is one thing, but movie-savvy is another--You can only take fanboy canon-immortalizing so far before you just start confusing the heck out of the poor mainstream audience, bringing up the whole angry-fan BvS vs. Civil War debate of "Who are we technically making these movies FOR, anyway?"
You can be holy and dedicated for a few fans, or you can break down the appeal of a more general story for a few million more potential new fans who don't know they are yet.

[ShyViolet]

Doing well overseas but not domestically:

http://www.comicbookmovie.com/x-men/x-m ... as-a142336

[ShyViolet]

Blu-Ray and DVD dates and details:

http://www.comingsoon.net/movies/news/7 ... e#/slide/1

*waiting patiently for it to come to itunes*

(I'm really not that into special features.)

Plus I do have a Blu ray player but currently no tv to plug it into--mine is like 10 years old. Blue ray players only hook up to the new tvs.

[ShyViolet]

Update: iTunes date September 9!!!!

[Ben]

Um...yay?

[ShyViolet]

Well, I guess yay for me lol. I'm starting to think I'm like the only person here who cares about any of this stuff.

But it's ok. To each his (or her) own.