IWTB times three
First showing:
12:01 AM July 25th
We got there about 35 mins early and the theater was about half full (tho it filled up nicely before the movie started). There were squeeing fan girls in front of us who were funny (one of them hadn't seen the entire series yet and one of the other mentioned the fandom was a twitter when they kissed in the finale and the first girl was all "WHAT??? THEY KISS???" And the guy who was with them said "Oh you didn't know? Mulder goes down on Scully in the finale!" I thought that was funny.)
Randomly there were a handful of fans wearing tin foil hats which I didn't understand as that has no real relevance to the show. There were also a couple of peeps "dressed like" M&S but not successfully so.
I was bouncy and driving the hubsand crazy, prolly. He was very tolerant. He was a fan but he had to work in the AM whereas I did not and he had his squeeing fanboy moment last weekend (and several time since) with Batman.
There were like nine freaking previews before the movie. Too many, thanks.
During the movie there were twitters a plenty from the crowd and some applause as well. Most people waited for the secret scene (thank you CC!).
The movie itself... I thought started off not well but by the end I enjoyed immensely. I managed to stay awake which was impressive since bed time is usually 10PM for me. Stupid long drive home nearly did me in though...
Second showing:
11:10 AM July 25th
Same theater, different companion. I took my X-File-y unemployed friend. No twittering fan girls this time but that's alright. My friend and I were both tired (me from my late XF-related squeeness and he because of some late night hot sex with his girlfriend) but the movie kept both of us rapt. I dunno that he liked it as much - he's more of a casual fan than I am and I had to explain some stuff. I enjoyed the movie more the second time, though.
We went for lunch and I drove him home which meant most of my day was spent in traffic and not in the theater. I think had I just headed straight home from lunch, I mighta seen it an additional time today...
Third showing:
4:05 PM July 25th
Different theater - closer to home this time - and a much, much smaller crowd who seemed pleased during the film (laughing in the right spots, applauding at the right spots - tho not obnoxiously) but at the end they all seemed disappointed and no one stayed for the secret scene. Fuck them.
I was pretty tired during this showing, though. God I'm old. I closed my eyes a few times but didn't fall asleep (unlike Hellboy 2 last weekend which was nevertheless pretty awesome). I liked it even more at the end of the third viewing.
Deep down dirty thoughts about the movie - good and bad:
I'm not gonna lie. This movie has problems. I think CC is a mediocre director. When he's successful, he's really successful. When he's shitty.... he's REALLY shitty.
My biggest problems were mostly at the beginning of the film where I think CC and FS got a little too wink-wink-nudge-nudge with the crowd. Too many lingering or out of the way camera shots on things like sunflower seeds, pencils in the ceiling, Samantha's picture, the girl in the hallway played by the actress who played Samantha, the George Bush picture (umm... W was president when the show went off the air, no??? Why is this significant?). That scene in the hallway with the GW pic is the thing that irritated me the most. In fact, that whole scene was a failure from the overly predominate, random and poorly integrated score to the aforementioned lingering shots and the overusage of the doo-do-doo-do-do-doo XF theme when they showed George Bush's picture. That took me RIGHT outta the movie. Sigh.
The script was... like an early XF and I didn't mind the "MOTW" though I don't consider it/them/him much of a monster - just a really creepy scientist dude and a crazy, pedofile psychic dude with long hair. But creepy yes. Very creepy. Plus the whole theme of Scully's still tested faith and Mulder's Unabomber-esque approach to isolation resonated well. And there weren't TOO many plot holes or leaps of logic (one or two... like how Scully knew to look for the number 25-2 on mailboxes in the dark while speeding by them at 40 MPH or how she associated the dog experiements and those scientists with the case at hand near the end). And I thought the dialogue was generally well done - cryptic in that CC/XF way and satisfying.
My biggest complaint about the plot has to do with the throw-away two-line explanation of how Mulder is "welcomed" back to the FBI. "All is forgiven." "The past is the past."
WHAT? For reals, CC??? AT LEAST throw something in there like "There's been a changing of the guard..." or "The men who framed you are all dead..." or "The men who framed you have been exposed..." SOMETHING. But whatever.
Once the beginning ended, I was in love with the story and I loved seeing the two of them on screen together. GA looked frickin' incredible. Enough to make me wanna switch sides. DD looks older but still hot - tho the beard was awful. And the scenes of them together as a couple were squeeful. I didn't expect a big, sexy love scene or a whole lotta smooching because, frankly, if you WERE expecting those things, you're dumb. TXF has never been about that. CC has never written to that. It would have ruined the movie. Maybe. Okay it wouldn't have RUINED the movie but it would have been a far more obvious ploy.
Didn't expect Amanda Peet's character to bite it so early.
Thought Billy Connolly was BRILLIANT.
Enjoyed Xzibit quite a bit in his little role.
Loved the throw away shout outs to Rob Bowman, Kim Manners, John Shiban, Vince Gilligan and David Nutter - though again... with the too long camera shots. The real fans for whom that is meant didn't need 10 seconds devoted to each shout out.
Loved Bill Roe's photography. That was like the XF of yore! GORGEOUS. Doesn't quite match the ridiculous brilliance of FTF but gorgeous in it's own right.
Loved that they brought so many of the behind-the-scenes folks back. Noticed a lot of familiar names in the credits.
LOVED SKINNER. Wish he'd been in more of the movie. Sigh.
Loved the secret scene and the entire end-credits visuals. Gorgeous and fun.
How many more times will I see it??? Probably three or more because I desperately want another film or two and this will need all the help it can get.
Bottom line? I don't think it's as bad as the reviews are stating. I think XF fans will generally regard it as a fairly decent showing. I think it will struggle to maintain any non-XF fan business and will peter out pretty quickly in a summer movie season that is host to the best summer movie ever - Batman.
Okay that's all... that's fairly incoherent but whatever. :)
- Karen
12:01 AM July 25th
We got there about 35 mins early and the theater was about half full (tho it filled up nicely before the movie started). There were squeeing fan girls in front of us who were funny (one of them hadn't seen the entire series yet and one of the other mentioned the fandom was a twitter when they kissed in the finale and the first girl was all "WHAT??? THEY KISS???" And the guy who was with them said "Oh you didn't know? Mulder goes down on Scully in the finale!" I thought that was funny.)
Randomly there were a handful of fans wearing tin foil hats which I didn't understand as that has no real relevance to the show. There were also a couple of peeps "dressed like" M&S but not successfully so.
I was bouncy and driving the hubsand crazy, prolly. He was very tolerant. He was a fan but he had to work in the AM whereas I did not and he had his squeeing fanboy moment last weekend (and several time since) with Batman.
There were like nine freaking previews before the movie. Too many, thanks.
During the movie there were twitters a plenty from the crowd and some applause as well. Most people waited for the secret scene (thank you CC!).
The movie itself... I thought started off not well but by the end I enjoyed immensely. I managed to stay awake which was impressive since bed time is usually 10PM for me. Stupid long drive home nearly did me in though...
Second showing:
11:10 AM July 25th
Same theater, different companion. I took my X-File-y unemployed friend. No twittering fan girls this time but that's alright. My friend and I were both tired (me from my late XF-related squeeness and he because of some late night hot sex with his girlfriend) but the movie kept both of us rapt. I dunno that he liked it as much - he's more of a casual fan than I am and I had to explain some stuff. I enjoyed the movie more the second time, though.
We went for lunch and I drove him home which meant most of my day was spent in traffic and not in the theater. I think had I just headed straight home from lunch, I mighta seen it an additional time today...
Third showing:
4:05 PM July 25th
Different theater - closer to home this time - and a much, much smaller crowd who seemed pleased during the film (laughing in the right spots, applauding at the right spots - tho not obnoxiously) but at the end they all seemed disappointed and no one stayed for the secret scene. Fuck them.
I was pretty tired during this showing, though. God I'm old. I closed my eyes a few times but didn't fall asleep (unlike Hellboy 2 last weekend which was nevertheless pretty awesome). I liked it even more at the end of the third viewing.
Deep down dirty thoughts about the movie - good and bad:
I'm not gonna lie. This movie has problems. I think CC is a mediocre director. When he's successful, he's really successful. When he's shitty.... he's REALLY shitty.
My biggest problems were mostly at the beginning of the film where I think CC and FS got a little too wink-wink-nudge-nudge with the crowd. Too many lingering or out of the way camera shots on things like sunflower seeds, pencils in the ceiling, Samantha's picture, the girl in the hallway played by the actress who played Samantha, the George Bush picture (umm... W was president when the show went off the air, no??? Why is this significant?). That scene in the hallway with the GW pic is the thing that irritated me the most. In fact, that whole scene was a failure from the overly predominate, random and poorly integrated score to the aforementioned lingering shots and the overusage of the doo-do-doo-do-do-doo XF theme when they showed George Bush's picture. That took me RIGHT outta the movie. Sigh.
The script was... like an early XF and I didn't mind the "MOTW" though I don't consider it/them/him much of a monster - just a really creepy scientist dude and a crazy, pedofile psychic dude with long hair. But creepy yes. Very creepy. Plus the whole theme of Scully's still tested faith and Mulder's Unabomber-esque approach to isolation resonated well. And there weren't TOO many plot holes or leaps of logic (one or two... like how Scully knew to look for the number 25-2 on mailboxes in the dark while speeding by them at 40 MPH or how she associated the dog experiements and those scientists with the case at hand near the end). And I thought the dialogue was generally well done - cryptic in that CC/XF way and satisfying.
My biggest complaint about the plot has to do with the throw-away two-line explanation of how Mulder is "welcomed" back to the FBI. "All is forgiven." "The past is the past."
WHAT? For reals, CC??? AT LEAST throw something in there like "There's been a changing of the guard..." or "The men who framed you are all dead..." or "The men who framed you have been exposed..." SOMETHING. But whatever.
Once the beginning ended, I was in love with the story and I loved seeing the two of them on screen together. GA looked frickin' incredible. Enough to make me wanna switch sides. DD looks older but still hot - tho the beard was awful. And the scenes of them together as a couple were squeeful. I didn't expect a big, sexy love scene or a whole lotta smooching because, frankly, if you WERE expecting those things, you're dumb. TXF has never been about that. CC has never written to that. It would have ruined the movie. Maybe. Okay it wouldn't have RUINED the movie but it would have been a far more obvious ploy.
Didn't expect Amanda Peet's character to bite it so early.
Thought Billy Connolly was BRILLIANT.
Enjoyed Xzibit quite a bit in his little role.
Loved the throw away shout outs to Rob Bowman, Kim Manners, John Shiban, Vince Gilligan and David Nutter - though again... with the too long camera shots. The real fans for whom that is meant didn't need 10 seconds devoted to each shout out.
Loved Bill Roe's photography. That was like the XF of yore! GORGEOUS. Doesn't quite match the ridiculous brilliance of FTF but gorgeous in it's own right.
Loved that they brought so many of the behind-the-scenes folks back. Noticed a lot of familiar names in the credits.
LOVED SKINNER. Wish he'd been in more of the movie. Sigh.
Loved the secret scene and the entire end-credits visuals. Gorgeous and fun.
How many more times will I see it??? Probably three or more because I desperately want another film or two and this will need all the help it can get.
Bottom line? I don't think it's as bad as the reviews are stating. I think XF fans will generally regard it as a fairly decent showing. I think it will struggle to maintain any non-XF fan business and will peter out pretty quickly in a summer movie season that is host to the best summer movie ever - Batman.
Okay that's all... that's fairly incoherent but whatever. :)
- Karen