X3; Hellboy 2
Just came back from X3 (finally! but Brett Ratner directing and the very lackluster response from everybody I know who saw it kept me from watching) and came online to see that Hellboy II has been dropped by Sony, its studio. Well, damn. I know this might be a slightly controversial position to take, but I think Hellboy was the best superhero/comic book movie in the past ten years. It was a movie that served its source beautifully and was a thoroughly stirring and lovely cinematic experience, which is so hard to accomplish. Perfect actor, beautiful, lushly colorful visuals, affecting romance and -- OK -- cheesy action sequences, but I'm willing to take a little bit of cheese in the action sequence in exchange for a smaller budget and greater directorial control. But then, my opinions of recent superhero movies can be listed thusly:

Spiderman 1: slashy, but somehow just an overall dull film. I liked a lot of the actors, but it felt oddly paced and the action was all flat. The only moment that really stuck with me was the upside down kiss in the rain... yum.

Spiderman 2: lots more fun, and I loved all the hints of Sam Raimi's diabolical humor, and it felt a lot freer and looser than the first movie, but none of the big emotional moments hit, and well, the audience deservedly giggled during the "quiet moment of solemnity" and so did I. Raimi! you can't do solemn to save your life, and also, employing Bruce Campell in ALL your movies is a moral and artistic obligation to society! Dude!

X1: interesting adaptation of the ideas and characters, but somehow doesn't feel like The X-Men. However, I liked the direction, and the story was clean, brisk and ably directed.

X2: much less tight storytelling, but also a lot more fun than the first movie. Freer, more full of personality, and some gorgeous images (liquid silver tears, Mystique's antics) and acting choices (this is essentially the movie I began crushing on the sweetness of Shawn Ashmore's Bobby) but the story was barely more than a sketch, wasn't it? But silkily, gracefully directed.

Batman Begins: once you strip the element of fantasy from a comic book movie, I'm not interested. Add in how terribly blurry the action was filmed, the flat gray look of the film and Christian Bale in a major role (I'm sorry! he seems like a nice young man, but every time I see him act, all I see is the strain of him acting -- there's no naturalness to his emoting, only a slick, robotic facsimile of "emotion") and I opted out in a major way. On the other hand, a chilling and compelling performance by Cillian Murphy which I purely enjoyed.

which brings me finally to X3: which combined the story and character weaknesses of the first 2 movies (tell me, can anybody really say they understand any of the X-Men just from watching the movies?) only with Ratner's visual and rhythmically inept direction. I was surprised at how... ugly this movie is. The colors looked over-bleached and garish, instead of Singer's usual cool blues and grays, and grainy. And Singer -- even when he served a weak story -- always directed with a rhythm, a natural grace, totally missing in this movie. Each scene segued into the next without feeling finished, and absolutely NONE of the big emotional moments registered worth a damn. Such a disappointment, but not a surprising one.

Now I'm pinning all my hopes on a decent summer popcorn movie season on Bryan Singer and Superman Returns.