I just realized Bryan Singer is directing this and ditched X3 for it.
What the hell? greedy bastard.
I was so looking forward to what he might do with X3. X2 was a vast improvement from the first X-men. Bryan took all the good parts from the first movie (which weren't that many) and made them so much better. Watching X2 after the first X-men was like one of those before/after pictures of fat people turning into supermodel bods. X2 was tight, lean, sleek, and attractively efficient. His movies have that rare combination of cool refreshing hipness and yet mature elegant sophistication in its style. A much less obnoxious movie than those of tarantino or PT Anderson or other fellow prodigies, Bryan's work always seems so well-groomed and polished that the movie is always aware of the story and not the director; there are no directorial smudges or fingerprints smeared all over the picture and as a result the film has a fresh sheen about it. When I saw X2 for the first time I said "this is how a comic book movie SHOULD be made. Flashy and dazzling but not cheesy and over-indulgent, well-balanced in acting and direction but not overbearingly "stylistic" , youthful exuberance and comic-book chic executed with the steady-hand and gracefulness of disciplined, wholly comitted, purely inspired and talent-driven expertise.
And this all works out famously because Singer happens to be one of those great directors whos also still young enough to have a keen sense of youth culture and knows how to make something cool in addition to making it good.
Now Bratt RAtner has got his greasy hands all over X3 and I'm preparing for probable disappointment since RAtner is IMO one of those directors with far too much attention garnered from his credits, who probably thinks he can talk and yell and laugh his way through any movie deal and believes for no good reason that everybody does and should want to work with him. Red Dragon should have been enough to convince the studios he doesnt have what it takes to rise to any occasion above the level of "rush hour". Now they pass him ANOTHER crucial ball (ironically again a third and most potential filled installment to a big franchise series) and poor saps like me who got all our hopes up after the last scene of X2 are gonna have to sit there in the theatre for X3 and watch him fumble it again.
And although Im as excited about SUperman returns as the next guy I still say shame on Bryan! I guess if you're still young enough to be brilliant and hip you're also young enough to be fickle about your loyalties.
Its like he dropped some hot girlfriend for a younger more richer starlet.
I can't wait for SUPERMAN RETURNS or for X3! I've always enjoyed the Superman movies (well, one and two anyway), and I thought that the X-Men movies were really good. I especially like that the Superman movie trailer used the music and Brando's voice from the 1978 film. The buzz on the new X-Men movie (as scarce as it is) is that it will be better than the second (which was slightly disappointing in my opinion).
The advances in CGI in the last few years has made a dramatic difference in watching the science fiction and fantasy genres. Movies are now more realistic than ever before, so the director has to account for all of that. That's why Singer and Jackson have been tapped for these types of movies - they have an uncanny grasp of how to make the whole live action and CGI thing work and be acceptable.
Check it out: Movies like THE HULK, FANTASTIC FOUR, and CATWOMAN were not well done at all. The mix of acting talent and CGI didn't mesh. You can see it especially in the HULK. Ang Lee is a master - that's a given. But he doesn't work well with the type of stuff that is required to make a super hero movie work. Who did CATWOMAN? That stunk like my garbage on a hot summer day. Mark Johnson did a great job with DAREDEVIL.
It all shows that you have to have the right guy (or woman) for the job. I think that's why the people at Warner Bros. wanted Singer for SUPERMAN.
I like Hulk better then Daredevil.... go ahead slap me around a little, it wont work. Everybody I've ever talked to about this has tried but I'm stead fast in my belief that Hulk was a decent movie. This could be the fact that he is, hands down, my favorite comic character ever and I really wanted a good movie for him, but I still think there it's got a good sense of humor.... that is without Nick Nolte's character... Way to ruin another movie Nick.