How sad does it make me that the primary conversation spawned by X3 is the prettiness of the actors? Very sad.

That movie should inspire political and philosophical discussions! We should be talking about what it means to be a persecuted minority, and the tendency of the majority to kill or "fix" the minority. We should be discussing the power of jealousy and fear, the difference between necessary force and vigilantism, the brainwashing capabilities of political environs. I never cared about the X-Men until the second movie, but I've read about 20 trade paperbacks of X-Men material since then, because I find the material both fun and fascinating - they've joined Batman in my list of Big Superheroes that have enough serious meat beyond Bang! Flash! to be worth paying attention to.

And it hurts me that this movie isn't going to live up to that. Though I will see it, eventually, obviously.

Nacho Libre will be bad, and POTC2 will be fun, whether it's good, bad, or otherwise.

Who all did the X-Men kill? I mean, yeah Wolverine killed people by the dozens, but that's what he does. Storm killed Callisto, which I will say was out of character and was probably entirely for the sake of the piercing gag. Which is a really poor reason. But beyond that, who besides Phoenix and the bad guys killed anyone?

I have no reason to think that none of the people that Beast plowed through died. I am not sure, but I was thinking that Storm killed other people with her shenanigans, but the focus on Callisto's death makes me think that she was the only one.

See, I was impressed when Pyro killed. I thought. Damn. He's serious. He's bad. But then, Wolverine's killing was so blasé. And Storm's was monumentally, 180°, wrong.

and b)

I haven't seen the film (and probably won't, at this point), but this had me rolling my eyes while E was recounting the plot to me. I mean, you've got two plotlines. You've got an unbelievably obvious way to bring them together -- seriously, how did they miss that??

That trailer for Nacho Libre has to be one of the single most offensive things I've seen in a while. And Penelope Cruz, what was she thinking? It's no Cautionary Tale of Numero Cinco, I'll tell you what.

This is exactly what I've been thinking ever since I saw the trailer.

On the X-Men front, how weird was it that Ice-boy had forehead lines? I know it's somebody in his 20s playing 17 (or thereabouts), but, I am 30 and he had more forehead lines than me. Is everybody in Hollywood a chain-smoker, or is the butt-vs.-face war starting way way too young??

Agree that Hugh Jackman looked drawn throughout the movie. Also, wicked emo. Way more emo than previous history would allow. NSM the bare-knuckles boondocks wrestler, you know? NSM the guy who, when queried about whether the knives popping out hurts, just grimaced and said, "Every time."

I thought the movie could have been forgiven its pointless silliness if its script had had an iota of wit. Sadly, Joss was not called in to spin-doctor this one.

What made me go "Holy shit, he's serious!" was Magneto crushing all the SUVs when they try to rescue Mystique. It seemed a little bit much, even for him. (Though not so much had they found out about the cure weapons before hand.) But I was willing to accept it.

Wolverine killing people is old hat after the 2nd movie. He sliced and diced his way through a bunch of Stryker's troops then. So it didn't really surprise me here.

I assumed Beast and Colossus weren't killing anyone because they clobber baddies all the time in the comics without killing so barring evidence to the contrary they were fighting as they always do.

I thought that the scenes where Magneto rejected Mystique and where Magneto was stabbed with the cure were really poignant in a way, and completely tromped on by the movie. Also, pretty much undermined by the last scene with Magneto, although I do like the idea that the cure doesn't hold.

Mostly, I'm looking forward to the fanfic.

Wolverine kills. It's a character point. Wolverine's also emo about Jean. That's canon too. So those elements didn't bother me at all.

Saw X-Men III -- Great ideas, poorly executed. The characters -- their traumas and development -- were underdeveloped. ** I am not a comic book fan, so I learned about these characters through the movies. For the ones that I was introduced before, the wrap up to their stories was …boring.

I liked the idea of the Cure. It raised some nice points about being different, etc. And I liked that the characters noted that the issues are different for those mutants who can more easily fit in – “pass” -- (like Storm, Xavier, Wolverine, Bobby, Pyro) than for those who cannot (the Beast, Rogue). I would have preferred that the point be shown rather than said.

Rogue’s decision made sense to me on some level, but not enough for any real emotional payoff. No question when she first came to the school she would have taken the Cure. Now, she’s got some really strong feelings for Bobby, and I get that she wants to kiss him, etc. but does she see any reason for not taking the Cure? Does she see some value in her mutant status? Some sense of pride? Of contribution to the group?

Angel – completely underdeveloped.

Storm – had more lines in this movie but I still don’t get – or care about – her.

The Jean Grey storyline was particularly rushed. This needed its own movie maybe.

I don’t feel much about killing the characters off. Cyclops may be a key character in the comics, but in the movies he came off as boring. For me, in part it’s because we cannot see the actor’s eyes and in part because the character paled in comparison to Wolverine. As for Charles, his absence creates some nice challenges for the group. Also, I do wonder if his consciousness is somehow “out there” and can be accessed.

I loved Magneto’s reaction to Mystique no longer being a mutant. Even though she saved his life and he couldn’t bring himself to think of her as anything more than a worthless human. It seemed to me at the end of the movie that Magneto was moving the chess piece without touching it. He didn’t move it much, but it looked like he moved it. Which suggests that the Cure may be not be final, or that it may not be permanent on a mutant as powerful as Magneto. Which bodes well for future movies. **

Narrator- re: Your whitefont about Xavier. There's a 10-second scene after the credits that answers your question.