Are you mad at Hugh Jackman? He went around with his "this is the best of the three movies" line for the entire post-production and junket tours.
I think certain people have convinced themselves that this is some overall conspiracy. You want to talk deception? Simultaneously tip your cap and hurl rocks at the Fox marketing team. They put forth a brilliant campaign. As much as I read Internet posts, peruse other sites, etc..., nothing gets me excited for a movie more than the trailer. And after two AMAZING trailers (that second one was just jaw-dropping), I was jazzed about the movie. The supporting materials (print ads, TV ads) just whet my appetite. So imagine my surprise when I go see the movie and I see THAT.
CyclopsLives said:
No, LastSunrise's post made complete sense. It's as if Spideyboy or any other fan of this particular film will be satisfied with any product with the X-Brand slapped across it. There is a maturity factor that goes along with these discriminating tastes that this film doesn't suffice. While mindless, empty and poor plotted films may be your thing or Spidey's at the least, for majority movie going audiences this won't wash over well.
CyclopsLives, you have 6 posts on this board. I've been posting since 2003, so unless you've read all my posts since then, it's unfair to take one statement I make in this thread and from that alone say that I will accept the least common denominator from this (or any) movie. It's unfair to make any total assumption about my movie-going tastes based on ONE post. (FYI, my favorite movie is "You Can Count On Me" - if you call that immature taste, well, to put it gently, you are smoking crack.) Nowhere in my post does it state that I found X3 well-made. I think the action set pieces, standing alone from the rest of the movie and the X-Men universe, are good (but definitely not awe-inspiring). And that's about it. I shudder to think what could have happened if Ian McKellen wasn't acting the hell out of his part.
More than anything, I am so pissed at the neutering of the Phoenix Saga. To see Famke just standing there...ugh. I can see what Simon was referring to when he said Famke hits a lot of emotional notes, but being on the set and seeing it in the movie (even Ian McKellen commented on how amazing Famke acting was ON THE SET) are two completely different things.
Ratner/Kinberg/Penn were just the Three Stooges that FOX wanted to bully around for this project. All three PROUDLY grabbed ankles.
I'm sorry, but if I were a screenwriter in Hollywood that loved comic books and counted James Cameron as one of the people I looked up to, I'd have to think that if a studio came along and offered me the X-Men writing gig, I'd be extremely grateful. And I think Simon and Zak were very clear in stating just that. Their interview over at CHUD was pretty much saying that they had heated disagreements with the studio on certain things, but ultimately you win some and you lose some.
FYI, I've worked on sets before and it's a small miracle that a good product ever gets made.
To say that you don't feel misled or lied to is exactly what Zak and Simon want you to think. Of course, this was their purpose all along. It was to get you into those theatre seats and eat anything they were going to dish out. Which is exactly what you did and are still doing. Their manipulation on the fans was criminal. While you may not feel manipulated many on the other hand do and are complaining about it.
Again, Simon and Zak could have said "DONT SEE THIS MOVIE" and I would still have seen it because it was X3. The $100 million opening was basically because of the kickass trailers (see what Stephen King wrote in EW about the X-Men trailers looking phenomenal) and the previous two movies. All my students loved it, so it certainly caters to the non-X-men loving audience. Me, I've been very cautious about recommending it. Again, I'm approaching this from someone who has been on sets before and from my own power of deductive reasoning. I read through their online Q&A's and see people who love what they do and tried their best to get it done. I think they (meaning the whole X3 team, but mostly the studio) fell waaaaay short and I'm disappointed as heck in X3. But to see the Q&A's as some vast overall conspiracy? It could be revealed that Simon and Zak are actual monkeys and we would have all lined up on opening day regardless.
I don't think it's just fanboys. The mainstream fans in general look at it as a cinematic disaster.
That sounds like what's called a biased convenience sample. Last time I checked, CinemaScore had it at B, which means the overall audience thinks it's an okay (not amazing, just blah but serviceable) movie.
