X-MEN: Days Of Future Past (Casting, Rumors, Pics till release)

[Turtletrekker]

I have a small confession-- I've never actually seen X3: The Last Stand.

The spoilers and rumors that I heard gave me serious reservations about the movie to start with, so I decided to wait for some genuine word of mouth. The word of mouth, of course, was awful. Cyclops gets the shaft? Again? Vaporized by Jean, no less? Xavier killed in the same way? Butchered the classic Dark Phoenix saga, that Bryan Singer had so perfectly set up? Lame. So I decided that I would rather not see it at all rather then see one of my favorite stories of my youth done badly.

The funny thing is, I actually own it. It was given to me as a gift. Part of a box set that had the first three X-Men movies, both Fantastic Four movies, Daredevil and Elektra.

But now, with Singer opting to take the movie into account with DoFP, talk of "fixing" things from the movie, The Wolverine picking up from X3, and finally this bit...

, IGN spoke with Singer about the 2014 release and asked him if he was eager to find some way to see Cyclops and Jean Grey appear.

"Who wouldn’t?," he laughed, mysteriously. "Who wouldn’t? That’s all I can say."

...which may just be Singer thrown out red herrings, have all combined to convince me.

I need to watch X3. What the hell, I didn't pay for it. Somewhere out there, Admiral Young is screaming. Wish me luck. I'll see you on the other side.

[RoJoHen]

^If you go into it knowing that it's awful, you might not hate it that much.

[Nick Ryder]

X3 had some interesting bits - but it wasn't the best really. Just take it for what it is

[RoJoHen]

I would love to someday see the Phoenix Sage redone. Especially with the success of Thor and Avengers, it's clear that the movies can easily get away with aliens and more mystical adversaries. As much as I enjoy the first two X-Men movies, I think the series grounded itself a little too much.

[Turtletrekker]

RoJoHen wrote:

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^If you go into it knowing that it's awful, you might not hate it that much.

Nick Ryder wrote:

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X3 had some interesting bits - but it wasn't the best really. Just take it for what it is

Well, I'm back. That really wasn't very good, was it? Too clutered. Too many characters. Too much going on at once. The Jean sub-plot was a total waste. The movie lost a lot of energy that it never quite regained after Xavier was killed, but that paticular sting was lessened knowing what waited in the post-credits.

But Nick Ryder is right, there were some good bits. In particular-- I liked seeing the Danger Room, I liked Kelsey Grammer's Beast, and laughed out loud and clapped with his delivery of, "Oh, my stars and garters". I liked the Fastball Specials, Iceman icing up and best of all-- Kitty vs the Juggernaut!

But, yeah, not a great movie. Still, with both DoFP and The Wolverine picking up from it, I'm glad I took the time to familiarize myself with it.

RoJoHen wrote:

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I would love to someday see the Phoenix Sage redone. Especially with the success of Thor and Avengers, it's clear that the movies can easily get away with aliens and more mystical adversaries. As much as I enjoy the first two X-Men movies, I think the series grounded itself a little too much.

Honestly, they could've done Dark Phoenix without needing to go cosmic at all. Instead of eating a star and destroying an inhabited planet, she eats a nuclear power plant and destroys a city. Instead of the Imperial Guard, you use the army, or X-Factor, or Freedom Force or some other government mutant agency to bring her down.

If you should ever watch/re-watch the "Dark Willow" arc of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, take note of the fact that it is beat for beat essentially an adaptation of Uncanny X-Men 135-136.

[Set Harth]

I think the series grounded itself a little too much.

Yeah, I don't think the precedent set by the first two films implied a rendition of the Dark Phoenix saga that would be anywhere near as far-flung as the comic version. Not without a massive budget increase at any rate.

[RoJoHen]

Turtletrekker wrote:

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Honestly, they could've done Dark Phoenix without needing to go cosmic at all. Instead of eating a star and destroying an inhabited planet, she eats a nuclear power plant and destroys a city. Instead of the Imperial Guard, you use the army, or X-Factor, or Freedom Force or some other government mutant agency to bring her down.

If you should ever watch/re-watch the "Dark Willow" arc of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, take note of the fact that it is beat for beat essentially an adaptation of Uncanny X-Men 135-136.

Oh, I get what you're saying, and I do agree that the Phoenix Saga could have worked within these movies without all the cosmic stuff.

I'm just saying that I'd love to see a big-screen version one day that is more true to the comics. I want to see a big flaming bird that eats stars, and I want to see the X-Men battle the Shi'ar on the moon!

[Blip]

Feh, no thanks. If I want that kind of far-fetched stuff I'll go watch Thor. :P

[The Borgified Corpse]

One thing I never quite understood was why X-Men: The Last Stand was so short. I mean, it's only a little over 100 minutes long, barely longer than the 1st one. Perhaps the movie wouldn't have felt quite so crowded if it had been at least as long as X2.

I think most of us would agree that X-Men: The Last Stand can't hold a candle to X-Men, X2, or X-Men: First Class. But what I'm wondering is, how do you folks think it stacks up next to X-Men Origins: Wolverine?

Personally, I go back & forth. The Last Stand fumbles one of the most iconic stories in comic book history. But there are some isolated moments that work really well. I think the deaths of Professor Xavier & Phoenix are both given the right sense of operatic treatment. The same can be said for when Mystique & Magneto get de-powered. The big moments work. It's all the lovely little small moments that are missing; small moments that Singer handled so well in the 1st 2 movies.

Wolverine never quite reaches the operatic highs of The Last Stand. But at the same time, it doesn't make any truly egregious missteps either. (Deadpool could have been better, but that's not a big issue for this movie.) There's a mediocre competance to Wolverine that gives it a far more even feel than The Last Stand.

So is it better to squander enormous potential or succeed at lower expectations? I used to prefer The Last Stand, but I've found myself leaning more towards Wolverine in the last couple years.

[Admiral_Young]

"X-Men Origins: Wolverine" ranks below "X-Men: The Last Stand" for me. Just was a disappointing disaster IMO. "The Wolverine" from all accounts is the film that Origins should have been.

[Samurai8472]

The Borgified Corpse wrote:

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One thing I never quite understood was why X-Men: The Last Stand was so short. I mean, it's only a little over 100 minutes long, barely longer than the 1st one. Perhaps the movie wouldn't have felt quite so crowded if it had been at least as long as X2.

FOX mostly. They wanted a movie that was on time and on budget. They got Ratner

The fantastic four movies, Wolverinerigin and x-men the last stand.

[Admiral_Young]

Yep. They also didn't want to wait too long after Vaughn left, so as Sammy stated they got Ratner. "X-Men: The Last Stand" was fast tracked from the start. Fox was not going to wait on too long a delay. Perhaps if they did...it would have been more beneficial for the film, but then again maybe not.

[Set Harth]

Admiral_Young wrote:

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Just was a disappointing disaster IMO.

Why?

[Admiral_Young]

I would have preferred to have seen Benioff's first draft which was IMO a much better script than the later drafts, and the film we originally got. Maybe a "disaster" is slight hyperbole on my part...but I didn't really like the film at all. They tried to shoehorn too much stuff into the film (such as all the cameos), that took away from Logan's story.

I will say that Henry-Gregson Williams score was probably the best thing about the film...and the five minutes or so of Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool proper that we got. The leaked "Deadpool" script makes fun of this version and addressed it "Fourth wall" style.

[Tosk]

The Borgified Corpse wrote:

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But what I'm wondering is, how do you folks think it stacks up next to X-Men Origins: Wolverine?

Ugh. For my money, the turgid X3 is better than XMO:Wolverine. I can at least enjoy some of X3's consistuent parts, whereas Wolverine is an average movie at best up until the Weapon X procedure, and is a complete lobotomy of a film afterwards.

Really though, it's like deciding between vomit and shit.