Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: X-Men Orgins: Wolverine 2009

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Posted by Steve Wilson (Member # 2411) on 04-22-2009, 09:21 PM:

I saw the screening in Indianapolis today with fellow Drive-In Owner Fred Heiss and it was fantastic. The scope of the photography was breathtaking and the story was very good. I was very bored with the last Xmen movie, but I believe you will find this movie to be one of the best if not the best movie of the series!

Posted by Joe Elliott (Member # 4006) on 05-01-2009, 05:39 PM:

Anyone notice any differences other than the ending scene after the credits? Apparently there are 3 different prints out there. We have two,

...

minor spoiler alert

...

one where the scene at the very end of the credits has Wolverine, one with Deadpool, don't know what the third one is.

Posted by Joe Elliott (Member # 4006) on 05-01-2009, 10:28 PM:

Ok, the director made a comment that there are 2 easter egg versions. Some web sites apparently had it wrong by saying there were 3. I guess the scene at the end is supposed to be the only difference, but if they were going to cut 2 different master reels for that last shot, I would think it would be better for the bottom line of the movie to have a few scene differences in the last reel too.

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 05-02-2009, 01:44 AM:

Judging by the Rotten Tomatoes score Fox should have brought back Bryan Singer to direct. Last time I checked this one was ranking in the 30% range on the Tomato-meter. That's a far cry from the upper 80% to lower 90% range seen for Iron Man last year. Not good at all.

Sure, this movie will probably gross a boat load of cash this weekend. But Star Trek looks certain to kick the crap out of Wolverine next weekend -especially if the early reviews have any impact on it. The early reviews on Star Trek are far better.

Posted by Sam Graham (Member # 2889) on 05-03-2009, 06:01 PM:

CINEMA: Cinemark Movies 12, Ames, IA
AUDITORIUM: 7
PRESENTATION: 35mm/Cinemark Super Mega Craptacular Analog Stereo Surround
PRESENTATION PROBLEMS: Cinemark Super Mega Craptacular Analog Stereo Surround
RATING: Two and one half stars (out of four)

Auditorium 7, the biggest one here, has a wonderful side-masked full width screen, one of the largest in the state. And they projected a nice, steady clear picture on it today. And delivered some of the worst sound imaginable. Completely flat with no low end. Just awful. Even the sound on "First Look" was better.

THE PLOT: A mutant grows up. Wackiness ensues.

Sorry...Was this supposed to be an X-Men prequel, or a Highlander prequel? Because I sure found it hard to tell the difference. They even borrowed the whole 'take off his head' thing.

Still, it was fun to watch. But I think the whole mystique (no pun intended) of Wolverine's mysterious past would have been better off left mysterious than to have it delivered in a 107-minute spotfest.

But I also see it made a boatload of money, so I suppose it accomplished its task.

Posted by Stu Jamieson (Member # 4626) on 05-03-2009, 07:47 PM:

quote: Joe Elliott
Anyone notice any differences other than the ending scene after the credits? Apparently there are 3 different prints out there. We have two,

...

minor spoiler alert

...

one where the scene at the very end of the credits has Wolverine, one with Deadpool, don't know what the third one is.

It would have been nice if the distributors had ensured that cinemas got examples of both too. Both our prints have the Wolverine coda.

Posted by David Stambaugh (Member # 1102) on 05-03-2009, 07:50 PM:

Today 10:45AM at Regal 15 in Eugene, #8, 35mm. Their largest house, largish screen with side masking. Looked and sounded really good, no complaints. Every frame from beginning to end was pristinely projected. [thumbsup]

The movie is ok but a little disappointing to me. I guess this backstory story needed to be told but damn, I wish it had been told via a better director than Gavin Hood. Who the heck is he anyway? (looks it up on imdb) Oh hell, he's a one-size-fits-all multitalented actor/writer/producer/director. Lots of TV in his background. Jack of all entertainment trades and apparently master of none. Seriously, some of his shot compositions seemed like textbook 101 for freshman directors.

Casting and writing also weak.

I give the movie a generous 2.5 out of 5. I would not strongly recommend it but at the same time it's not horrible. Just strangely "blah". [Shrug]

I got the Deadpool ending if anyone is keeping score.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 05-03-2009, 09:31 PM:

We're getting pretty good word of mouth and actually have a bigger crowd tonight than what we had on Friday or Saturday.

Virtually nobody is staying for the 3rd ending (there is another "extra" bit in the middle of the credits which, surprisingly, nobody has mentioned) and about 90% of the folks are out the door before that even comes up.

Maybe once the blog-o-sphere buzz about the extra tag heats up around here we'll do some repeat business. As is, it's grossing pretty well, but we did better with Gran Torino even though it was over 2 months old when we played it.

Posted by Steven J Hart (Member # 2340) on 05-04-2009, 07:22 AM:

Mike, were you able to get a two-week deal on Wolverine, or do you have to play it for 3? Our booker said we had to play it for three if we opened on the break.
Steve Hart

Posted by Chad Souder (Member # 343) on 05-04-2009, 09:57 AM:

Why did they have to F-up Deadpool?

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 05-04-2009, 02:12 PM:

quote: Steven J Hart
Mike, were you able to get a two-week deal on Wolverine, or do you have to play it for 3?

We have it for 2 weeks. Our booker did say they were pushing for 3, in fact the main reason we went with X instead of Star Trek is because Paramount was pushing for 3 on Star Trek.

Posted by Stu Jamieson (Member # 4626) on 05-04-2009, 11:58 PM:

@David: Care to post a spoiler on what the Deadpool coda is, mate? His demise looked pretty final during the movie.

Posted by Kurt Zupin (Member # 2751) on 05-06-2009, 02:24 AM:

SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT

One of the alt endings had Deadpools decapitated head laying next to his body, his sword draws back into his arm and he reachs around to find his head and his eyes open and he goes "Shhhh" his mouth has been cut back open so he can speak again.

END SPOILER

Posted by Stu Jamieson (Member # 4626) on 05-06-2009, 03:28 AM:

Haha, that's better than the Wolverine one. The bit where you see that Deadpool's mouth has been sewn up was a laugh out loud moment for me, recalling Stryker's comment from the beginning.

Posted by Chad Souder (Member # 343) on 05-06-2009, 04:54 PM:

I thought as a whole, Wolverine was very well made, especially in comparison to the other 3 X-Men. The acting talent was clearly better, except for WILL.I.AM - can rappers please stop trying to act? I was genuinely impressed with the humor throughout and the crowds I have listened to seem to agree. I hope it has some legs.

Posted by Lyle Romer (Member # 1266) on 05-07-2009, 01:24 PM:

This was a solid comic book genre movie. It wasn't the best thing ever made but it was entertaining and humorous and well-acted for the most part. It also moved along well and didn't take itself too seriously.

The only negative was that some of the CGI effects and matte paintings (I assume they were digital mattes) were pretty fake looking. Some almost had a 300 like look to them but that was supposed to look like an on screen comic book.

Overall, 3.5 out of 5

Posted by Justin Gorka (Member # 3727) on 05-10-2009, 05:36 PM:

Did they run out of money for the CGI? Look at his "claws" in the mirror when he escapes for the first time! (Crap story line as well) 1/5

Posted by Julio Roberto (Member # 4976) on 05-10-2009, 06:23 PM:

Considering the leaked workprint that I saw, they probably run out of time for the CGI rather than out of money. These movies are so "underbid" time wise not even 24h shifts at post houses is able to churn out top results in the time allotted.

Wouldn't be surpirsed if it was leaked by a disgrunted (overworked, not properly compensated) employee pissed with having to put in 28h days (SIC) for regular pay. I hear it's very common in the EFX and CGI animation industries nowadays.

Haven't seen the final movie, so I can't properly comment on it.