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.

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

That's just a sideline. The primary conversation seems to be about how badly the writing sucked.

I was sorry to see Cyclops go in the rather pathetic half-offscreen way they handled his demise. I think Marsden is a much better actor than he's been allowed to show in the X-Men franchise. Hope whatever he's doing in the Superman movie justifies his not-quite-absence from this one.

Interesting choice for Storm, what with her being eager to have a longtime friend and companion killed rather than cured. Also for apparently becoming The Human Top.

Yeah, Matt. The Human Top thing I thought was just bug fuck silly.

So, I just finished watching Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill. It was a very moving film. I've lived with conures before (loud, screechy birds, that can be quite annoying, and also quite lovable, sometimes within moments of each other), so the movie was maybe more personal to me. Having lived with conures, I can say that it really is quite easy to attribute motives to their behaviors that easily, and I was glad that Mark and the film's director got together as a couple in the end, otherwise the end would have been just way too sad for me to handle.

wasn't that great?

It was really the best possible ending, I think.

I've seen the trailers for Casino Royale a few times now and I really don't understand why the hard-core Bondies have their knickers in a twist over Daniel Craig. He looks smokin' hot and very Bond-like to me.