Tonight we wrap up our all-too-brief X-Men arc with an X3 re-watch. Highlights: we enjoy the first appearance of a sentinel in the movies, argue that Xavier may well have brought the wrath of the Phoenix upon the world by preventing her from learning and understanding her nature (the way he helps other mutants), question what happened to the real Wolverine, wonder why Stan Lee is living nextdoor to the Greys instead of on his own island in the Caribbean, hear Audra’s most recent comic junk report, and meet PMS Girl.
Cool!
baltar
Uh, Chuck… You don’t have to impersonate animals to prove your GWC credentials. We’ve already established that any one who as seen your avatar will immediately recognize you as that guy from GWC…
Not quite done with the cast yet, but I would like to put forth my reasons why I not that much of a fan of X-men 3, compared to the other movies. I have not read x-men comics, but I loved the movies as movies. I think that the first two movies were great, and had just the right mix of action, characters, and plot. In particular I loved the core characters of the x-men vs. the Magneto group. Wolverine, Cyclops, Jean, Storm, Rogue, Xavier. Magneto and Mystique as the villains. That is what I see x-men as. The problem is that X-men 3 introduces way to many new characters, and doesn’t continue what was set up in the last two movies. Archangel may have been on of the original x-men in the comics, but to me he was just a random character introduced into the movie who had very little significance. At the same time Rogue, arguably the main character of the first movie, had very little screen time. Another main character is killed off-screen. The Beast and The Juggernaut were fun characters that were introduced, but I still would have rather seen more of the characters that we have come to know and love over the past two movies. Why cut down Mystique’s role and introduce The Juggernaut when Mystique’s character has been built up so much? Maybe its just the way I look the series of movies as something that could be ongoing, while the writers may have looked at some of the character’s arcs as complete.
My other problem with this movie is there is way to much story crammed into a movie that is not all that long. Jean and the dark phoenix story could have had its own movie, and so could the storyline about the mutant “cure”. Magneto’s plans for Jean are never really explained as far as I can remember. I also felt like a few times in the movie they were just trying to throw as many mutants in the movie as they could, just for the hell of it.
What I did like were things that were set up in the previous movie and fulfilled. My favorite moment was probably seeing Ice-man put the smack down of Pyro. That was one hell of a pay off.
Wow, that was probably my longest post yet.
In other news, I can add a new activity to the list of things I have done while listening to GWC: Shoveling snow.
Yeah, I was puzzled by the whole thing, and I remember the Dark Phoenix saga.
I didn’t participate in the frak party and haven’t listened to the cast, so pardon any redundantness, but I agree with what they ^^^ just said. X3 is a curious movie. Like, they basically abort the franchise. Only to leave little sparks for further continuation.
None of the deaths or power-strippings serve any particular big-picture purpose. Or at least they don’t pay off as such.
And for a movie that has all this apocalyptic stuff going down, it really doesn’t muster much of a dark, foreboding vibe.
And I’ll stop short of slamming the movie, but the gravity-defying action sequences were particularly unconvincing. Prettty stilted.
And if Bobby or Peter do wind up hooking up with Kitty Pryde, be careful – that one’s a fertile pup, man. I’d totally forgotten about her. This time around, I couldn’t stop thinking, “Hey, Kitty Pride is Juno!”
Maybe if Ratner does an X-IV, Chris Tucker can play Bishop.
The frak? That’s like Steve Buscemi playing Wolverine.
Which would admittedly be cool in a weird way.
I as usual enjoyed the podcast. I had to laugh when the usual ending came on. If you have not had enough of the GWC… Thanks for so much podcasting the last few weeks.
So Sean… Why don’t you trust that Xavier actually knew what he was doing and that he could tell that it wouldn’t end well regardless of what happened for Jean Grey/Phoenix? He does seem to be pretty smart. I do see how it could be interpretted that he put the mind blocks on Jean only because she is more powerful, and that doesn’t seem too kosher. I also see your argument as somewhat poinent, because Xavier’s repression of Jean, but more so the concept of a Mutant ‘cure’ is surely allegorical for the reprehensible attempt by some to ‘cure’ homosexuality. Speaking of which was there a comparable story line in the comic books? If so when was it, and what was the concept of the ‘cure’ allegorical for? I would have a hard time believing that a comic book in the '60s would take up the concept of homosexuality. Could they have been commenting on McCarthyism or the counterculture? Just curious from a comic book novice.
Way back I was hoping Buscemi would have been cast as Dr. McCoy.
In Sean’s defense, not that he asked for it, the ONE individual that Xavier ‘locked down’ was a mutant that at least rivled his powers. Think about the implications of that.
Your point about the X gene and the (supposed) homosexual gene are valid ones. An interesting take is to view the Deaf community. They tend to want to have Deaf children. They have a dim view of Cochlear implants. Are they wrong?
I would like to know what Xavier should have done if not what was presented in the movie and why does his motivations have to be because she is stronger than him? The cure could be the “final solution” of WWII. The feeling that it is them or us. Those are not good people. We are the correct kind of human.
Good example. In high school one of the other schools in our athletic division was the high school associated with Gallaudet University. Back then there was a big controversy at the University because they hired another hearing person as the president. Eventually, student protests lead to the hiring of a hearing impaired president.
The difference between mutants and other heroes in the marvel universe is one of the most important aspects of the X-men, as mutants are reviled by the public and treated like many of our real-world minorities have been.
RE Mutants defined:
According to the official Marvel Super Heroes RPG, Mutants are those born with powers as a genetic mutation.
Others, like Spiderman or the Hulk, are defined as “altered humans”
From wikipedia, which in this case I concur with:
“Each character had an origin, which put ceilings on a character’s abilities and superpowers. The origins included: Altered Humans (normal people who acquired powers, such as Spider-Man or the Fantastic Four), High-Tech Wonders (normal people whose powers come from devices, e.g., Iron Man), Mutants (persons born with superpowers, such as the X-Men), Robots (created beings such as the Vision and Ultron), and Aliens (a blanket term used to cover non-humans, including extra-dimensional beings such as Thor and Hercules).”
Just to make it clear, that was a joke, a dig at Ratner.
If they would cast anyone from the talent pool as Bishop, Ice Cube would be the clear choice. And as long as we’re on the subject, Vinnie Jones is my boy, but Tiny “Zeus/Deebo” Lister would have made a better Juggernaut. I wasn’t real happy with the way they handled Juggernaut, either. Not much script, and Ratner sure ain’t a fine-acting kinda director.
As far as Buscemi playing Wolverine, for my money, it would be a tossup if I had to choose between him and Jackman.
For realz. It’s a busy time of the year to start with. Thanks for the extra effort; I hope it’s not starting to feel like work. Or maybe the GWC Crew do have the Maddox power, and they actually can produce seven podcasts at once.
Apologies for the lack of intro this week folks. Didn’t intentionally drop the ball. Blame the trojan that hijacked my PC!! Plus I dropped it on my leg on the way to the computer servicing shop. Hard. Have a bloody big bruise to prove it
I brought the topic of the deaf community up at the Friday watch of the movie and find if hard to explain but it really parallels the family dynamics of the mutants. Here it is although a simplistic view.
There is genetic deafness that goes in families that generally accept their deaf children since the parents or grandparents are deaf and have an understanding of what it is like not to be able to hear. The hearing children are generally bilingual with sign and verbal language.
There are also hearing parents who have a deaf child who go on to educate themselves in learning sign language and become accepting of their child’s abilities. They become a part of their child’s life as all parents wish to, but must work at educating themselves on their child’s point of view.
There also parents who refuse to learn sign language or help their child in any way that is different than everyone else does it. There is a range of hearing loss. Some people can read lips and learn to speak well so they pass as hearing. This is not possible for everyone. Some children go from school where they can sign and have great conversation to home life where no one can communicate with them. It is heartbreaking to see kids cry when they have to go home from school.
Anyway Gallaudet = X School for Gifted Children. You are among people who understand you and you do not have to hide who you are. (You can be hearing and go to Gallaudet but signing is expected socially.)
I feel like I wondered and may not have explained it well but here it is.
Oh, so that is how they did it. 
I bought the Watchmen book. It did not have a good first page for me but I am off to read more.