Hold on tight as we launch into one-sentence movie reviews for people who are too busy to ponder the details of things:
X-Men 3: The Last Stand
Brett Ratner is certainly no Brian Singer, but The Last Stand does manage not only to stay in the style of the first two movies, but also close up most of the lingering storylines in a fairly satisfactory way, as well as provide you with some ‘dude, awesome!’ moments along the way, many of which are actually lit tremendously well, despite the fact that it seems like either money or time was a factor as there are some minor effects here and there that could have used a bit more love, but hey the goddamn Golden Gate bridge gets lifted by Magneto, so I guess that makes up for the neutering of Wolverine and the offing of several of the major characters.
Thumbs Up and a well-earned opening day.
The Da Vinci Code
Literally ‘by the book’ in the most stiff and uninteresting manner possible, which is a shame, as I’d heard that Dan Brown had received an offer to turn it into a 24-like TV-series, which in my humble opinion would have been a much more interesting move.
Thumbs Down.
Both had Ian McKellen, and he steals all the attention from everyone. Also,
I loved X-Men 3, hell, I loved all the X-Men movies (I really need to get a few comics). But I haven’t seen the Da Vinci Code because of all these bad reviews I’ve been seeing around the internet.
Good to hear X-men is worth a watch. I rewatched the first 2 in preparation over the weekend, so I am all set.
I saw Da Vinci Code – not excited, but also not disgusted. IMHO –
the movie is a mistical story which is told as adventure movie – but in terms of adventure movie – National Treasure, which was crappy – is much better adventure movie than Da Vinci Code. Only one moment was a nice accent for me – ending scene, where Langdon kneels.. (no spoilers here, so do’t get excited… ;] )
As for X3 – I have to see it. I love the franchise, so … ;]
“Also” what?!
The thing with The Da Vinci Code and 24 is that the 24 people approached Dan Brown and suggested making a season inspired by the book, but idiot that Brown is, he refused.
This information was annouced during a commercial break on the season finale of 24.
I was getting worried. A lot of people around me were saying X3 wasn’t very good. Was going to watch it all the same, but it’s nice to finally hear something positive about it.
I agree with you on The Da Vinci Code. Really didn’t work as a movie at all.
Personally, X3 totally didn’t do anything for me. There’s a bunch of cool scenes, but how they actually happen seems so very random.
The effects were nice, but I mean, it’s as if the writers said, “Let’s have Magneto lift the Golden Gate bridge, that’d be great!” and then somehow work it into the story. Omega Red is laughable, and what’s up with the wasted potential that is Psylocke? I did enjoy the Kitty and Leech moment and the Quill/Kid Omega guy was pretty bad-ass. My friends and I hung around for the surprise after-the-credits “scene”, but it just brought on groans from the crowd.
Hmm I actually liked The Da Vinci Code. I think that it’s great to see a movie that actually sticks to the book.
SPOILER AND LACK OF SHIFT-KEY WARNING!
x-men 3 was OK… they totally crapped x-men up. Juggernaut ISN’T AN EFFING MUTANT!!! so he should’ve smashed through that leech’s room… oh and leech is supposed to be green skinned… and they totally messed up dark phoenix.. wtf “split personality”
_loved the sentinel though… since x3 did pretty well, they will most likely do another xmen movie [besides upcoming Wolverine and Magneto movies]… maybe they’ll reveal the real phoenix and jean grey will be in a cocoon in the bottom of the ocean like the real x-men series.. that’d be awesome _
shame they off’d cyclops just cause he’s working on superman… and the bit at the end with magneto moving a metal chess piece and charles xavier waking up is awesome!!!
mmm maybe they’ll do the psylock-phoenix power swap… oh but they killed off the whole brother hood!!!
_X3 questions:
When Magneto lifts the bridge it’s nice and sunny; when he puts it down it’s dark. Did it take a terribly long time? Or did the bridge lift look better in light, and the battle in the dark, and the film does not care for continuity?
Any thoughts?
I wasn’t really all that bothered by X3 I think they did a good job, tip for anyone who hasn’t seen it yet stick around until the credits are done, there is a last scene at the end. I missed it when I saw it but I heard about it online.
Aleppo– I was also a little confused by that haha, during the movie I though to myself, “it’s dark already?” I kinda just brushed it off though cause I remembered some of the scene before having a orangish tint so ….haha I dunno?
Da Vinci Code was a huge dissappointment for me. I made sure I read the book before the watching the movie and I was glad I did. Although they stayed true to the idea they did changed alot of what happens in the book. like the ending for instance and certain other scenes. The excitement that I got from the book wasn’t present in the movie. I didn’t really agree with how they portrayed Langdon and Sophie either but Leigh was right on, Ian did a great job in both movies.
Eh, I didn’t think X3 lived up to hype. I honestly thought you’d say it sorely missed Singer.
Well I kinda did say that.
I don’t know what hype you’re talking about, but honestly it was a pretty good piece of popcorn, even if it didn’t quite soar like Singer’s X-Men did.
Oh and a 24-like show would be better suited for Angels and Demons, than the ‘Code’
Well I kinda did say that.
I don’t know what hype you’re talking about, but honestly it was a pretty good piece of popcorn, even if it didn’t quite soar like Singer’s X-Men did.
Perhaps I shouldn’t have said hype. I meant, my personal standard based on the last two.
X3 questions:
When Magneto lifts the bridge it’s nice and sunny; when he puts it down it’s dark. Did it take a terribly long time? Or did the bridge lift look better in light, and the battle in the dark, and the film does not care for continuity?
Any thoughts?
i was wondering about that.. its also stated in the trivia section of the imdb entry for x3. it also says when spyke stabs wolverine the holes in his shirt disappear.
Your comment about Da Vinci Code as a TV show reminded me of something that occurred to me as I was watching X3:
I like TV shows better than movies these days. It’s nice to watch a story that isn’t arbitrarily confined to 2-ish hours. For example, there’s no way that a movie of Lost would be nearly as good as the show. The fact that the story can go on and on is what makes it fun. If they could do it right, a story as elaborate as the X-Men’s would make a cool TV show.
I agree with your ‘Da Vinci Code’ review. It wasn’t really as good as I thought it was. The ending wasn’t quite faithful to the book. I remember reading the book and just being hooked. The movie….not so much.
I liked X-Men 3. I though Grammer did a good job playing the Beast. After reading your review Michael yes there was alot of ‘dude, awesome!’ moments along the way. I think that is what pretty much kept me liking the movie.
The best part of X-3 though was getting to see the trailer for Ghost Rider. Looks sick!
I went to see X-Men III today. I was blown away. I love the twists at the end of the movie. Magneto and Xavier are back! Can’t wait for the next movie, if there will ever be one.
As for the bridge scene, I noticed that too. Then again, I’m thinking that they’re calling on the artistic license on that. The fight scene looks much better in the dark. Then again, they could have done something to show the sudden change in lighting.
Da Vinci code: My suggestion is you might as well just watch the documentary on the History channel about the Holy Grail. They did a great job with it. Wait, I’m not sure if it’s the History channel or Discovery. Oh well.
I hope y’all had a great long weekend!
I saw both these movies this weekend and I must say that X3 was awesome. I also saw MI3 but that wasn’t anything special.
I loved X-Men 3. My only gripe was that I didn’t stay to watch the ending credits. I read in the reviews that after the credits finish playing, a scene shows that one of the characters didn’t really die. ;)
I hear there will be a Wolverine spin-off. But I do still wish the X-Men series would have continued. I loved all 3 episodes, much more than any other movie trilogy.
Personally, I walked away a little disappointed. I don’t know why, but I felt that they should have stuck with the cartoon/comicbook plotline more than they did.
Things seemed to be too rushed for X3, which left it open to criticism and a few sore spots. Overall it was a good action movie, not great, but good. When I first heard the dialogue, I though “What the hell happened to these guys?” Over the course of the movie though I realized they were going for more of a teamlike approach, reminding me of the good-ole X-Men cartoon days.
I think that twenty years or so down the line they will take another stab at the X-Men. They’ll say forget X3 ever happened and introduce two different films to take it’s place, correcting the mistakes that the original X3 had made. This would allow for a better Phoenix story and the better inclusion of the Sentinels (the making-up of the Sentinels in some brand-new, holodeck room is just terrible).
I’m just coming back from X3 and I was pretty disappointed. What is it with Cyclops getting killed and we neither see it, nor does anybody seem to care all too much about it. Mystique(sp?) ‘death’ was nearly as lame, too. Also Magneto was offed pretty easy. If you kill the coolest guys then make it worth it at least.. ohh.. and by the way:
What is worst than killing the most popular guys? Bringing them back in the next movie. In this case we don’t even have to wait for the next movie. The end already makes clear that Magneto and Xavier are already knocking on the door again.
Also I wished they would have concentrated on either “the cure” or the evil chick story. The showdown between her and Wolverine really felt stuck-on, as did her whole story, which really just wasted screen time, because they didn’t develop it far enough to become interesting..
And whats up with lifting the Golden Gate bridge in day light and then changing the scene to literally midnight in just one cut. Ed Wood would definitly have been proud.
Uhmm.. I guess the movie pretty much sucked for me.
I would say that i was a bit disappointed as well coz they should have focussed more on the phoenix and how she actually became the phoenix. I actually thought that the sentinel part was going to last long :( there were some lame parts in the movie but it was still xmen and i love xmen :).I hope there’s an xmen 4!!
I loved the first two x-men movies, but I didn’t like x3 at all, except for the first 30 minutes or so. Just seemed very disjointed and I never got into it. Brian Singer was certainly missed
i watched x3 twice. once on opening night. and tonight. I must say I was more excited for the first one because I was really looking forward to what ms. pheonix was gonna do to the lives of the xmen. Never did I think they would off cyclops & the professor. I kept having conflicts – like.. wtf is a class 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1 type of mutant. I know that they range from powerless to powerful but correct me if im wrong but wasn’t professor a 5 or something too? And what’s with his awakening (which i didn’t see til tonight) at the end of the credits? WTF!!! I’m really confused. I noticed a lot of definate changes from directors.. singer i thought kinda had more of a mellow approach to his movies and ratner was a action man who wanted to keep bitch slapping you with twists and plots & so on. I thought the movie was great – the only thing that really disapointed me was offing magneto & the jean gray not being more explained. i was expecting that kid with the anti-mutant powers to end ms. gray but who knows…?
I thought both movies were very good:
DaVinci Code:
Tom Hanks and Ian McKellen played their roles very well. I think, however, that the viewers wished for the movie that was in THEIR OWN HEAD. In most movie adaptations, we are pleased with the results, but with a book with so much controversy, such as the DaVinci Code, we all wanted it to be the way WE saw it. In my opinion, it was for me.
X-Men 3:
I thought the movie ended too quickly, and that they shouldn’t have cut out so many good characters at once. Cyclops had way too much character buildup potential with Jean ‘dead’, and Professor X, well, I just can’t see him dying. Kitty (the girl that walks through walls) was the cutest one in the movie, so I think (sorry Hally). It wasn’t lackluster, but I think we shouldn’t blame Brett Ratner for directing it. It was the same screenplay, the same script, the same actors. A rose by any other name, still smells as sweet.
For me X3 was a good movie but it failed in comparison to X2.What happened to Night Crawler? Wh did they leadus on at the end of X2 just to disappoint in the third movie? I was really expecting a phoenix showdown with one of the legendary bada — es like Apocalypse or even Mr Sinister.They should have cut the whole “cure” story and given us a 3 hour story worthy of spoiling the Phoenix’s entry into the series.