The X-Men Series

Prepare for a level of awful that is practically transcendant in nature. The whole thing is just nonsense, with inexcusably bad sfx.

I've heard of it being the X-MEN equivalent of THE QUEST FOR PEACE. Joy. I won't get the disc in mail until Tuesday.

Halfway through WOLVERINE. I can't believe how cheap this movie looks.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009)

My reaction at the end of the movie: "That's it?"

There's potential in the story, but this just gets sidetracked too much and it feels cheap.

Early reviews of THE WOLVERINE reckon it's just as pointless as ORIGINS, and that it's about five years behind the rest of the genre in what it tries to achieve.

Prisoner Monkeys wrote:

Early reviews of THE WOLVERINE reckon it's just as pointless as ORIGINS, and that it's about five years behind the rest of the genre in what it tries to achieve.

Did I miss some kind of revolution in comic book movies? I don't see a huge difference between what was done in the early noughties and what is being churned out now.

Might be referring to the beginning of Marvel Cinematic Universe and THE DARK KNIGHT. Whether you liked them or not, they did have an influence on the genre.

Since 2008 or so it's generally been recognized that there has been an upswing in quality in the genre.

Wolverine, from 2009, does not reflect this. (Nor does GREEN LANTERN, DC's abortive attempt to "be more like Marvel" with its movies).

I barely remember anything about WOLVERINE. I wasn't even paying attention toward the end. Did he run around inside of a smoke stack or something? That's all I remember.

Yeah he runs up to a smoke stack then claws his way up to the top for no fucking reason other than the script says he needs to fight Not-Deadpool on a badly green screened fight sequence. It's so shockingly awful.

Fairbairn-Sykes wrote:

Since 2008 or so it's generally been recognized that there has been an upswing in quality in the genre.

Wolverine, from 2009, does not reflect this. (Nor does GREEN LANTERN, DC's abortive attempt to "be more like Marvel" with its movies).

The disappointing thing about THE WOLVERINE - assuming some of these early reviews are accurate - is that the source material, with Logan in Japan, is quite strong. I have a feeling that the film is going to make the mistake of overloading it with action. The fight sequence on the bullet trains suggests as much.

Prisoner Monkeys wrote:

Early reviews of THE WOLVERINE reckon it's just as pointless as ORIGINS, and that it's about five years behind the rest of the genre in what it tries to achieve.

Not surprising. They should have gone for the "dark and gritty" nonsense back in 2005 or 2006. Now audiences are losing their erections over those types of flicks.

Am I the only guy who kinda enjoyed the Fantastic Four movies as harmless live-action Saturday morning cartoons? I think they had a flying car in the second one or something.

The White Tuxedo wrote:

Am I the only guy who kinda enjoyed the Fantastic Four movies as harmless live-action Saturday morning cartoons?  I think they had a flying car in the second one or something.

They aren't as bad as their reputations suggest, but they are pretty bad about the treatment of the villains -- two of Marvel's greatest villains, Dr. Doom and Galactus, are reduced to a third-rate Lex Luthor rip-off with lightning powers and a TOS-style giant cloud monster.

Even in a silly fun cartoon adventure movie, you still need some kind of effective conflict drama which I generally find is undercut by the bizarre practice (most common in 1980s cartoons and their ilk) of making the villain identical to the comic relief.

The White Tuxedo wrote:

Am I the only guy who kinda enjoyed the Fantastic Four movies as harmless live-action Saturday morning cartoons?  I think they had a flying car in the second one or something.

They are reasonable fun if you aren't too picky - I certainly prefer them to Origins:Wolverine and the original DareDevil cut.....and I find Jessica Alba in tight spandex is a cure for many ills.

Teaser posters for DAYS OF FUTURE PAST






Pretty nifty, better than the ones FIRST CLASS churned out.

THE WOLVERINE's weekend actuals came in. $53,113,752, significantly below the openings of the rest of the franchise, even FIRST CLASS when 3D is factored in.

OPENING WEEKEND:

X-MEN: THE LAST STAND-$119,010,600
X2: X-MEN UNITED-$108,576,820
X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE-$92,577,890
X-MEN-$73,862,930
X-MEN: FIRST CLASS-$57,199,080
THE WOLVERINE-$53,113,752

DOMESTIC:
X2: X-MEN UNITED-$272,779,630
X-MEN: THE LAST STAND-$271,450,720
X-MEN-$213,298,170
X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE-$195,786,270
X-MEN: FIRST CLASS-$151,982,780
THE WOLVERINE-$53,113,752

INTERNATIONAL:
X-MEN: THE LAST STAND-$260,603,670
X2: X-MEN UNITED-$244,622.09
X-MEN: FIRST CLASS-$215,105,120
X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE-$210,257,760
X-MEN-$188,537,530
THE WOLVERINE-$86,100,000

WORLDWIDE:

X-MEN: THE LAST STAND-$532,054,380
X2: X-MEN UNITED-$517,402,990
X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE-$406,044,040
X-MEN-$401,837,060
X-MEN: FIRST CLASS-$367,088,940
THE WOLVERINE-$139,213,752

All the usual disclaimers blah blah dollar inflation blah blah CPI Calculator blah

While I don't think this affects how well DAYS OF FUTURE PAST will perform and WOLVERINE could still catch up in the long run, I don't think this bodes well to Fox expanding beyond the usual X-MEN team ups in the future.

Seems to me that it's also getting to the same point where Bond films got to after Bondmania wore down, where the installments only became modest hits, good enough to keep the series going but not big enough to make an impression, other than the fact that it's still going on 13 years after the first film. Not many film franchises last this long, so I guess that's something. I still haven't seen it yet, but the good for of mouth I'm hearing has me interested. I'll just need to find the time.

Honest trailers have a new video about the first Wolverine movie.
There is also a scene where Wolverine get his jacket (indirect complane about Casino Royale)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PA576VinXT0

And there give a very nice idea for a cross over.

Python wrote:

Seems to me that it's also getting to the same point where Bond films got to after Bondmania wore down, where the installments only became modest hits, good enough to keep the series going but not big enough to make an impression, other than the fact that it's still going on 13 years after the first film. Not many film franchises last this long, so I guess that's something. I still haven't seen it yet, but the good for of mouth I'm hearing has me interested. I'll just need to find the time.

Both have hit a point where the environment that created the success of the original films has changed (X-MEN with the new Superhero glut, Bond with 70's pessimism), but I don't think it's really comparable beyond that.  X-MEN is saddled with the baggage from previous critical failures (THE LAST STAND and ORIGINS) and that more than anything affected the box office performance of FIRST CLASS and WOLVERINE.  They are on the road to recovering from their missteps and hopefully DAYS OF FUTURE PAST can scrub the slate clean and allow for more solo outings to develop other members of the team.

Spoiler:

Singer did say he wanted to undo some of the things that X3 did, and I have a feeling that will have to do with Cyclops and Jean. They were poorly handled in X3, so if that's what he intends to do I'm all for it. Obviously Xavier was magically resurrected already, I suppose following that post-credit scene...

I'd like to see Cyclops back.

As whole, even with the excremental Wolverine Origins, I think I'd still rate the X Men series head and shoulders above the Avengers and its lead ins to date - glad they are giving Hugh another shot...though age will eventually write him out. The buzz on Days of Future Past has certainly got me interested again.

I wouldn't even put THE LAST STAND above any of the Avengers/Lead-ins.

Weekend 2: $21,324,890

DOMESTIC:
X2: X-MEN UNITED-$272,779,630
X-MEN: THE LAST STAND-$271,450,720
X-MEN-$213,298,170
X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE-$195,786,270
X-MEN: FIRST CLASS-$151,982,780
THE WOLVERINE-$94,638,740

INTERNATIONAL:
X-MEN: THE LAST STAND-$260,603,670
X2: X-MEN UNITED-$244,622.09
X-MEN: FIRST CLASS-$215,105,120
X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE-$210,257,760
X-MEN-$188,537,530
THE WOLVERINE-$159,000,000

WORLDWIDE:

X-MEN: THE LAST STAND-$532,054,380
X2: X-MEN UNITED-$517,402,990
X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE-$406,044,040
X-MEN-$401,837,060
X-MEN: FIRST CLASS-$367,088,940
THE WOLVERINE-$253,638,740

If WOLVERINE ends at $140 domestic and $250+ overseas like it's tracking, I think we can call this a win for Fox.