I recently read, The Conversations, which was Michael Ondaatje talking to Walter Murch about film editing, and they kept coming back to The Conversation, which piqued my interest. Of course, I've already forgotten all the details of the film they talk about, so I'll have to re-read it.

1960's & 70's American film is a huge gap in my already very gappy movie viewing. I only saw Godfathers I & II in the past year.

Wonders never cease. Stephanie Zacharek wrote a review of a comic book movie (X-3) that I don't completely disagree with, and manages to impress me with her knowledge of X-Men comics in the process.

ETA: standard Salon click-thru disclaimer

Bugging me tonight: anyone remember a particularly low-budget horror movie spoof from the eighties with a running body count and a creepy janitor? I think it was called something anodyne like "Horror Movie" but I can't find it.

Student Bodies??? I remember that one...but I'm not 100% on the title.

No, you're right. I googled "horror satire" and "running body count" and voila, instant gratification.

I actually enjoyed X-3. It could have been better, it certainly wasn't nearly as good as X-2, but I enjoyed it. Plus, we got a Cannonball Special which made me cheer. The ending felt rather trite considering things should be nowhere near happiness and puppies after what happened at Alcatraz. And I'm annoyed that Cyclops bought it more or less off-screen. But I think Kelsey Grammer did an excellent job as Beast (and I thought they did a great job of replicating his fighting style) and even Juggernaut didn't disappoint me like I was expecting him to (since no one is remotely big enough.) I was surprised at the huge body count in the picture. Not just the loss of major characters but the sheer number of humans and second-string mutants that got slaughtered. It was a bit much.

I do think the movie suffered from trying to run both the cure plot and the Pheonix plot, and I'm not a fan of how they handled the Pheonix but I was an enjoyable two hours.

(Edited because I'm not sure what the heck a hgur is, but I'm pretty confident it's not a time measurement.)

Saw X-3 yesterday. Was really, really annoyed by it. And I hate being one of those fangirls who gets miffed because they make changes from canon, but this is the one time I'm going to have to let my freak flag fly.

They killed Scott, Xavier and Jean in the same movie! And only Jean's death was in any way interesting. They 'cured' Rogue! The freaking leader of the X-Men! Her character is not one of those that would want a cure! I don't think even her character in the first two movies would justify her wanting it in this one. Angel, who they made a big deal of in the press, has about three lines. They introduced a huge array of new chracters, which the geek in me enjoyed, but won't have meant anything for a lot of the audience, and also meant less time devoted to the Phoenix story. Plus the whole Bobby/Kitty/Rogue bit was pointless, and, again, distracted from the main storylines, which were being smooshed in anyway.

There was stuff I liked - Juggernaut wasn't nearly as bad as I thought he'd be; Colossus was cool, (plus fastball special!); they showed Ice-Man iceing out; and Ian McKellen is always a joy to watch. Plus, the 'cure' plot was interesting, and I thought they dealt with it pretty well.

So I'm pretty sure that if you're not particularly invested in the characters (and I'm not even a particularly big X-Men fan), you'd enjoy it well enough. It's not brilliant, but it's a fun enough adventure. Le Bloke has been looking at it as an Alternate Reality X-Men, which definitely helps me appreciate it a bit more.

I also watched Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang last night, which I thought was hilarious. Robert Downey Jr. was a joy, as usual, and Val Kilmer was funny. I didn't know he could do funny. The whole meta-noir structure worked really well, I thought.

I found X3 irritating. First off, that's really not my Storm. The additional screen time drove that home. Stand with your back straight woman. Act like a thief and a goddess. But really? You don't kill. Most of the X Men don't.

Except here in the movie.

I thought characterisations were off, plots were stupid (why did Magneto bring Jean along if he wasn't going to have her do anything? Especially if she can do everything?)

I'm glad I saw it, but there will be no purchasing of this DVD.

First off, that's really not my Storm.

All of what you said, ita, plus? Was the spinning thing really necessary. It was really not working for me on film.

You don't [whitefont]. Most of the X Men don't.

And, and and....! Wasn't the person she killed Callisto???? That feels very not right to me. I seem to remember bonding between those two at some point or other in the comics.