X3 - X-Men: The Last Straw

[Brazoliange]

what a shitty movie.

[Myxo]

I don't think I've ever seen so many Xixaxers fork over money to see a Ratner film.

After all the anti-Ratner rhetoric on these boards, I'm kinda surprised myself.

..as if by some miracle the director they hate would churn out something worthy of their 8 bucks. If you dislike Ratner so much, why even bother going? Odds are pretty good you're gunna come back with "Fuck, that was horrible!" Are his films like the traffic accident you drive by on your way home from work?

[Gold Trumpet]

I can't speak for everyone else, but my only interest was the series. I enjoy X Men and was told I could follow the story along well enough even if I hadn't seen the first two. I think a lot of people also went because they were fans of the series.

I also never saw this as a Ratner film, per say. Its as flawed as almost all his films are, but I think the wheels were turning for this one to fail long before he ever joined up.

[modage]

Ratner is like Mystique.  he has no discernable characteristics other than morphing to imitate the type of film he is currently making.  i'm sure everyone here saw it because X2 ruled and the trailer for this one was pretty good and the curiosity was too great.  what IF everyone was overreacting, you just have to see for yourself.  nobody is.

[MacGuffin]

X-MEN: THE LAST STAND'S RALPH WINTER

With an estimated $107 million in three days -- the fourth-largest opening ever -- and obliterating a nine-year-old Memorial Day weekend record with $120.1 million, X-Men: The Last Stand producer Ralph Winter has another hit with his fourth Marvel film.

The Continuum caught up with Winter on Monday morning for a short question-and-answer.

Question: You must be in seventh heaven with the box-office results?

Winter: The results are phenomenal -- it is so gratifying that the audiences are enjoying themselves. From the Cannes opening to the Mann's Chinese midnight showing to the local theaters, I am getting lots of reports of general movie goers having a good time.

Question: All of the Marvel movies you've been associated with -- X-Men, X2, Fantastic Four and now The Last Stand -- have exceeded expectations on opening weekend. Why do you think The Last Stand did so well?

Winter: This movie delivers on the action and on the thematic level that causes people to think. We were able to carry on the smart themes that Bryan (Singer) started with on the first two. And this has built to a nice climax.

Question: Do you think this is really the last X-Men movie?

Winter: This is the last movie of this type. There might be spinoffs, but it would be hard to gather this cast or a bigger one for another movie of this size.

Question: You're on Fantastic Four 2 next. What can you say about it, perhaps addressing the Silver Surfer/Galactus reports?

Winter: FF2 is next with lots of new stuff. The first ones of these are always hard to establish, but now we can go further with the franchise and the characters. The visual effects will get better, there are new characters, though not all the ones you have suggested. We have to keep a few surprises for next summer, so I can't talk much, but we are excited about painting this picture on a bigger canvas.

[B.C. Long]

This movie delivers on the action and on the thematic level that causes people to think. We were able to carry on the smart themes that Bryan (Singer) started with on the first two. And this has built to a nice climax.

HA!

Wow. If he only knew.

[GodDamnImDaMan]

I saw this movie opening night, and wow...I was soooo disappointed. I went into the film, with high hopes. After all how hard can it be? Singer set up the pins, all Rattner would have to do is knock them down. Alas, he failed. Here are some of my problems with the film.

Spoilersaroonie Ahead.

1. Character introductions - NONE! Where the hell did Kitty Pryde come from? What happened to Nightcrawler? When did Beast grow his blue hair in between his cameo in the second film and the third? Also, character consistency was not done well at all in this film. I don't know how many of you noticed it, but suddenly Wolverine was the most stable of the X-men? For godsakes, after he kills the woman he loves, he is standing on the balacony of the mansion with a big smile on his face. Give me a break!  Cyclops was utterly insane in the film, Xavier was a dick to Wolverine, but my biggest irk was that suddenly Colossus, was not Russian!!!!

2. Juggernaut - What a waste of great casting, a great costume, and a great idea. Juggernaut is powerful enough and interesting enough to be the main villian of another film. The step brother of Charles Xavier is virtually impossible to stop! Yet, his character is lost among the millions of mutants that had to be in the film. His character development is lost too, infact there is NO acknowledgment between him and Charles when they see each other. I understand that it is hard to do in the film, however anything would have been appreciated. A look, a glance, ANYTHING, to show a relationship between the two. It could have been done much like Wolverine and Sabertooth in The X-men's first film. Where nothing was said, but a past relationship was implied.

3. Death upon Death, upon Death -  Xavier dies, Cyclops dies, Jean grey needed to die (even though we had viles upon viles of an alleged cure), Rogue's character is basically dead ("I did it for us"), then again her character was dead after the first film.

4. Phoniex - In X2 we get a glimpse of what the phoniex show have been when Jean Grey is desperately trying to stop the flood from killing her fellow x-men, yet in this film we have zombie Jean Grey.

There are a ton more that can take up a entire page, (like the scene where Xavier, Wolverine, and Storm go the Jean Grey house and don't even see Magneto, and his brotherhood standing 5 feet infront of them) but I'll just say this, I was sooooo dissappointed. I hope to god and pray that Rattner is not signed to the 4th. 

[MacGuffin]

Bruno Confirms McKellen in Magneto Prequel

A short while ago actor Ian McKellen indicated he would very much like to reprise his role as super-villain Magneto in the planned prequel for Marvel films. He referenced the studio's ability to retro-age his appearance as seen in the Jean Grey recruitment scene from X-Men: The Last Stand. While the concept met with general nods of approval from fans there was general consensus that it'd probably be a silly decision to make, and most everyone expected a younger actor to be cast.

The studio may have pulled a "not so fast" moment on all of us, however, according to visual effects supervisor John Bruno. A tipster who claims to have chatted with Bruno recently told Superhero Hype that Bruno confirmed Ian McKellen as the Magneto in the prequel, utilizing the same cinematic magic (and the same company) which de-aged the actor for X3. McKellen is reportedly "very happy" with this development. He has certainly created the film version of the character with his powerful performances, and it is difficult to imagine anyone else performing up to his level; but at the same time it is difficult to imagine Ian McKellen playing a significantly younger version of himself. I guess we'll wait and see for now.

[©brad]

McKellen is reportedly "very happy" with this development impending paycheck.

[MacGuffin]

Ratner Promises "Mind Blowing" X3 DVD

Brett Ratner is promising fans a fantastic special edition DVD, even though The Last Stand has only been in theaters for a week. Of course, in the fast world of DVD production it's never to early to get moving, so it makes sense plans are already in place.

Ratner has said the disc will include a full length behind the scenes documentary filmed by Ratner himself. It's not a press kit put together by studio grunts or a production feature made for a TV debut; it's just Ratner with his camera showing us anything he thinks is cool. According to the director the documentary itself weighs in at a hefty two hours, which means a double DVD special edition. Ratner promises the DVD will be "mind blowing," but no other real features have been discussed to this point.

[polkablues]

it's just Ratner with his camera showing us anything he thinks is cool.

Awesome.  Two hours of Rebecca Romijn's tits.

[sheshothim]

GodDamnImDaMan, I agree with your last post. Like, exactly agree. That's how I felt.

!SPOILERS!

Actually, this movie put me into a week's depression. I saw it at the midnight premeire, and I was never so devastated in my life. Maybe they could have just done ONE more thing right...let Rogue get 'cool' rather then COMPLETELY LOSE her powers, put FUCKING GAMBIT in the movie, KILL OFF STORM!!!...ok, maybe not kill her off, but I have this utter hatred for her. Anyway, they didn't do a goddman thing right to my standards. And I love X-Men. Comic reader, just so you know I'm for real real.

[MacGuffin]

Coming attractions
After a boffo box office debut for X-Men: The Last Stand, the franchise opts for a divide-and-conquer strategy.
Source: USA Today

The X-Men mutants plan to divide and conquer.

After last weekend's four-day, $122.9 million debut of X-Men: The Last Stand, the third film in the Marvel Comics series, producers are devising ways to launch some characters into their own franchises.

The first spinoff will be Hugh Jackman's Wolverine. His character has an as-yet-unrevealed back story in which researchers replaced his original bones with a metal skeleton. Jackman has signed on to star and co-produce, and X-Men producer Lauren Shuler Donner says it will likely head into production next year.

"We've also talked about doing something on the kids in (Professor X's) school, focusing on their lives, and less of a global adventure for the team," says Hutch Parker, production president of 20th Century Fox.

The studio is also exploring a movie with Three Kings director David O. Russell based on the character of Emma Frost, a sexy mutant telepath who can transform her skin into diamonds. She is an X-Men comics regular but was not featured in the movies.

Another likely solo project: Magneto, also in the script phase. The film will focus on his youthful pre-villain days, Shuler Donner says.

Though it would require a younger actor for those sequences, she says the film would need Ian McKellen to anchor the flashbacks. "What's a Magneto movie without Ian?" she asks.

[modage]

how evil/soulless is this sentence fragment?

"producers are devising ways to launch some characters into their own franchises."

the first part. 

"producers are devising ways"

and the second part. 

"to launch some characters into their own franchises."

taken seperately they make me want to burn things.  and together, blow stuff up.

Another likely solo project: Magneto, also in the script phase. The film will focus on his youthful pre-villain days, Shuler Donner says.

Though it would require a younger actor for those sequences, she says the film would need Ian McKellen to anchor the flashbacks. "What's a Magneto movie without Ian?" she asks.

uh, whats a Magneto movie where he's not a villain?

[Gold Trumpet]

The studio is also exploring a movie with Three Kings director David O. Russell based on the character of Emma Frost, a sexy mutant telepath who can transform her skin into diamonds. She is an X-Men comics regular but was not featured in the movies.

I sincerely hope not. A bad trend will only continue if another good filmmaker appeases a genre. Some will rationalize the results and the studios may even love it, but a bad trend will continue nonetheless. It reminds me of something I read that was an illustration of the major difference between theater and film:

"The theater began as a sacred event and eventually included the profane. The film began as a profane event and eventually included the sacred. The theater's struggle is not to forget its past. The film's struggle is not to be afraid of the future."

But, film continues to hold up its past. Great filmmakers of the 60s and 70s were likely only to dip into genre if they had severe financial issues acquiring budgets for their own projects. These filmmakers were making films at the beginning of the collapse of the old studio system and knew of the incredible limitations that would be put on their work if they regulated themselves to craftsmens of genre projects. The blossoming of art cinema around the world invigorated filmmakers to make personal and grand films. As time went on and the scars of the old studio system began to fade the film world began to equate everything on an equal basis. Every year more and more serious filmmakers would dab into genre films. At first, the dabbling was done to the irreverence of genre. Buster Keaton made a career of going between genres and yet remaining himself in every film. But as the trend continued the weight of the genre dipping started to be measured by how wholly faithful the film was to the original genre. For serious filmmakers, whether genre dipping be for irreverence or straightforward homage, it was all the same.

There are still craftsmen of genre and excellent ones at that. I just refute this application of equal grandeur to those aspiring filmmakers and commentators who see personal films and genre on the same level. Ang Lee was doing very little service with Hulk beyond applying his hand to a summer blockbuster. If David O'Russell does this film, I hope it is greatly entertaining and is the answer to financing every personal project he wants to do. Lets hope he has nothing more in mind for it.