S3 vs. X3

[She-Thing]

Definetely intrigues me what you guys think, if S3 is better or X3. How stories were handled, how they turned out into the movieverse, the characters etc.

I'll post my review if I can.

Saludos

[HotstufflouieB]

I'd say Spider-Man 3. I know they both kinda felt rushed but I trust Sam Raimi. Makes me wish Singer stayed on X-Men. I really enjoyed Venom and Sandman on the silver screen. I really never got into Sandman until watching the movie. I think I was just mad that X3 really seemed to focus on Wolverine and Storm. I didn't really like the way Phoenix was handled either. My favorite X-Man is Colossus and he didn't say/do much. Thats my opionion and I'm sticking to it.

[MINI_MYTE]

I definitely pick Spider-man 3 over X3 any day. SM 3 was longer and made by the same director, where as X3 was too short, had a new director (Ratner) who took it in a new direction and there were way to many (important) characters that got ignored when they should have been developed more. I know... some of you are thinking the same thing occured with Spidey 3, but if you look at the big picture, there were way more characters in X3 than SM 3. That's my 2 cents.

[Turtle]

I enjoyed Spidey 3. Without going into an in depth review, it had emotion, action, and humor. While it was on the long side, it couldn't have been the movie it was without that. I thought everyone got the time they needed to advance the story. While Aunt May and Gwen were used more as devices than actual characters, that's just the way it's got to be with such a huge movie. The movie was more about Peter, Harry, and MJ, so they appropriately got more time. The acting was very good as were the special effects. Sandman looked cool. Venom looked cool. The new Goblin was surprisingly cool- much better than the original Goblin suit. A very worthy chapter in the Spiderman story and overall a very fun and entertaining movie that didn't kill the franchise, unlike X3

If I wanted to take an awesome franchise, run it into the ground, put a stake through its heart, catch it on fire, and poo on it, I would have made X3. Terrible movie. Only cool thing was the introduction of all the new characters. This does not make up for the craptastic story that really didn't make any sense. I don't own this movie on DVD. I won't own this movie on DVD. I hope when the time comes for a new X-Men movie, they choose to pick up where X2 left off and maybe pretend X3 was all a bad dream or something. That would work for me.

In sum, Spidey 3 good, X3 bad.

[drgnrbrn316]

Spider-Man 3, no contest.

Though a lot of people have expressed disappointment at the pacing of Spidey 3 and the multitude of villains, it was still a good movie. The only reason some things were skimmed over or more conveniently revealed was due to trying to keep what should have been at least 4 hours trimmed down to between 2 and 3. The characters were good, with the focus still remaining on Peter and MJ, as it should be because Peter Parker is just as important as Spider-Man in any good Spidey story. The action, drama, and humor kept one distracted from just how long the movie was.

X-Men: The Last Stand was horrible, in my opinion. You could feel the different director in most of the scenes. And you could feel Halle Berry manipulating him to no avail. In a matter of 5 minutes, we off Scott, and suddenly Storm is the Professor's favorite X-Man, then he too dies. And despite how the start of the movie indicates that Jean and Phoenix are going to be the focus of the movie, she quickly falls to the back burner for most of the film. Plus, as opposed to Raimi's Spider-flick where a lot of stuff was crammed into the movie but still meshed well together, in the X-film we get Ratner cramming in as many winks to the audience as he can fit. Sentinel head, Angel, Leech, Multiple Man, "I'm the Juggernaut, bitch!", etc, etc. And don't get me started on his little pack of mutants named after actual characters but exhibiting almost none of their actual traits and personalities (purple hair does not a Psylocke make). Not to mention, Ratner killed an entire part of the underlying storyline. In X-Men 1 and 2, despite it being heavily focused on Wolverine, you still had an underlying story with Rogue and the other younger mutants coming to terms with their powers and their place in the world. In X-Men 3, you rarely see most of the mutants and you get Rogue to take the easy way out and get cured. I don't know what Singer had planned for the third movie, but I hope it was much better than what we got.

So, I'd take Spider-Man 3 over X-Men 3, Batman Forever, Blade Trinity, Super-Man 3, or any other comic book threequel we've seen so far.

[TM2 Dinobot]

Man, you haters. I liked X3, even with all it's flaws. It was way better then the first one.

As for X3 VS SM3 I don't know. I'll need to watch both movies again.

[infallible]

That's an easy one...Spider-Man 3. I think Spider-Man was better in every way. Sorry, X-Men 3...

[neolego]

I loved X3, but you have to give this one to Spidey. There are just too many reasons not to......here are a few:

Acting: while X3 did have an Oscar winner, I would have rather seen the Oscar with weather powers. Outside of a handful (Hugh, Ian, Patrick, Kelsey) most of the cast of X3 were B-list at best. S3 you have Toby, Topher, Franco, Howard, Church...really the only bad acting in SM3 is done by Dunst. Advantage: SM3

Directing: Sam Raimi and Spider-Man are one in the same on the big screen. We wouldn't even have this argument had Singer came back. I don't fault Ratner for what he did, he actually brought a good movie to the big screen, but this was Singer's baby. He just left in the bottom of the ninth. Sam, on the other hand, stuck with all 3 movies and you can feel the connection great within those three than you can in the X-men movies, so the payoff is stronger in SM3. Advantange: SM3

Battle Scenes: Pete vs Goblin, Spidey vs Sandman, Black Spidey vs Sandman, Pete vs Harry, Spidey vs Vemon, Spidey and Goblin vs Vemon and Sandman.....against what? Shadowcat vs Juggernaut???? Sure, the last scene of X3 was cool and it was a pretty intense battle, but the fights in SM3 run circles around X3 which is sad since Spidey is one guy and the X-men are a full team. Advantage: SM3

Comic Heritage: Symbiote from outter space-Check. Eddie's hatred for Pete-Check. Sandman stealing to help his family-Check. Sound seperating Spidey and the Suit-Check. Spidey Defeating Vemon with Sound-Check. Ok, now lets try X3. Cyclops Lives-Nope, Sorry. Professor X Lives-Nope, Sorry. Rogue keeps her powers-Nope, Sorry. Phoenix from space-Nope, Sorry. Don't get me wrong, I know the movies are seperate and have to take some liberties (New Goblin?), but overall as a fan of the comic you want to see them staying as true as possible. Advantage: SM3

I could keep going, but that should be enough to prove my point. X3 was a good movie, but it was just "good". Spider-Man 3, even though it had it's own flaws, was a GREAT movie. Winner: SM3 neo

[Amazing.JL]

My vote goes to SM3 over X3. I'm not going to say it was better in everyway but to kill Cylops and give Storm/Halle a more involved role because she wanted it was really stupid; took it a big notch down for me. Cylops is the leader and it just didn't look right at all w/o him. Plus the last scene were Wolverine stabs Pheonix was kinda silly. The best parts for me was the Prof X transfer and Iceman turning into an ice cube.

[insanespidey]

I loved X3, but you have to give this one to Spidey. There are just too many reasons not to......here are a few:

Acting: while X3 did have an Oscar winner, I would have rather seen the Oscar with weather powers. Outside of a handful (Hugh, Ian, Patrick, Kelsey) most of the cast of X3 were B-list at best. S3 you have Toby, Topher, Franco, Howard, Church...really the only bad acting in SM3 is done by Dunst. Advantage: SM3

Thats not really true Howard, Church, Franco aren't really A-list Celebs. Topher and Franco MIGHT be able to be considered A-list, The only true, most definite A-listers in SM3 are Toby and Dunst. I think the acting in both movies was pretty well done, I don't think there is a single bit of bad acting in either movie.

My vote goes to SM3 over X3. I'm not going to say it was better in everyway but to kill Cylops and give Storm/Halle a more involved role because she wanted it was really stupid; took it a big notch down for me. Cylops is the leader and it just didn't look right at all w/o him.

I agree with you here, X-men without cyclops is like PB&J without the Jelly. But it wasn't Halle's fault, James Marsden was off filming Superman Returns so he had limited time which is why the made the decision to have him dissappear in the beginning. Plus, we don't know that Cyke was killed for sure....they never showed it

[neolego]

Allow me to post a retraction . I didn't mean that the starts is SM3 were A-list by popularity. In fact, I believe if we were going off Pop Culture than X3 would probably have more "A-list". I should have clarified. What I meant was that the cast of SM3 were better actors (again, IMO) than the actors in X3....with the exception of a few mentioned above. Now, I'm not saying that either movie was acted bad, I didn't mean that in the least. Like I've said before I couldn't image an X-Men movie without Patrick Stewart or Hugh Jackman. Kelsey's Beast was one of the few highlights, but was very under used. However, there were much more weak performances than strong. Hallie's Storm, That Guys Colossus, Ben Foster's Angel, just to name of few of the big ones. The best example I can give to compare the two would be Sandman vs Juggernaut. Both were the "new villains" for the movie. Both with visually big and powerful. However, Church made the character believable and even acceptable while whoever that one guy was made Juggernaut a pointless, soulless, clown. Sure, the writing and directing have something to do with it, but the acting in SM3 was just on another Level. Harry's return showed a different level of acting than we've seen before. It's not easy to go from a hated, washed up Goblin to a likeable friend, but Harry pulled it off. In fact, I found my self sad during those scenes because I knew Harry was going to have to go bad again. He was so dang likeable. That is the kind of acting I'm talking about, that is "A-List", whether Pop Culture thinks so or not.

So, in the end, I agree that there was some good acting in X3, I just feel that the acting in SM3 was in another league. neo

[Amazing.JL]

My vote goes to SM3 over X3. I'm not going to say it was better in everyway but to kill Cylops and give Storm/Halle a more involved role because she wanted it was really stupid; took it a big notch down for me. Cylops is the leader and it just didn't look right at all w/o him.

I agree with you here, X-men without cyclops is like PB&J without the Jelly. But it wasn't Halle's fault, James Marsden was off filming Superman Returns so he had limited time which is why the made the decision to have him dissappear in the beginning. Plus, we don't know that Cyke was killed for sure....they never showed it

I know James Mardsen was off to film Superman Returns so I'm not blaming Halle for him getting killed. I know that we never saw a body and can always make a return, we'll see. In the end, it ruined the movie for me. Back to Halle, she did ask for a bigger role, but I blame the writers. She stinks as storm as it is.

I think FOX just messed up X3 for rushing it and making it happen with Ratner because Singer wanted to do Superman Returns first.

[insanespidey]

Sorry if I sounded a bit mean in my post, I didn't mean to! I just wanted to make sure your arguments weren't without knowing some info.

I do agree with you AmazingJL, X3s bigest problem is that is was rushed. The focus on the movie wasn't always were it should have been and it definitly felt strange without Singer. Since X3 ranks number 5 in box office records hopefully they will get a better chance to fix these problems with a fourth movie.

That make me wonder, do you guys think Spidey 3 will hold the current record? Or do you think PiratesOTC 3 will break it like it did last year? I hoping Spidey keeps its spot.

[neolego]

I don't think that Pirates stands a chance. Sure, I'm just as excited to see Pirates as I was Spider-Man and I will be there opening day with bells on........or a patch, either way . However, I think there are a few things that will keep Pirates back.

The first and formost is Pirates 2. While most would agree that SM2 was and still in the best in the series. Most would also say that Pirates: DMC was less than stellar. In fact it was almost disappointing in a number of areas. Sure, I understand they shot 2 movies at once, but the casual viewer does not understand that.

The next think I would say is Hunger! It was, what, 3 years between Spider-Man movies. Plus all the hype for the Black Suit. Plus finding out they were adding Vemon. There was just a hunger to see SM3. Pirates suffers from it only being a year later, and they don't seem to be adding much. Outside of Phat's Pirate Army, it's a little of the same: Jack, Davy, East Idia Trading Company, etc. Again, I'm not taking away from Pirates because I love it, I just don't have the Hunger for more Davy Jones like I did for Black Suit Spider-Man.

Lastly I think that Promotion and Merchandise play a big part and I don't think Pirates can rival Spider-Man. In fact Transformers seems to be doing a better job of promotion and merchandising than Pirates. The SM Action Figures run circles around the Pirates. The SM Video game, while flawed, is a proven winner. Kids are much more impressed with Spider-Man swinging around a T-Shirt than Jack. Spider-Man is just everywhere and I don't think that Pirates has that kind of presence.

All in all, I will be in my seat on Friday Night with a big Pirates Themed Bowl of Popcorn and will enjoy the movie. Heck, I honestly expect Pirates 3 to be BETTER than SM3 just because it's the Acculation of the 2nd movie (Think Return of the King). However, I just don't think it stands a chance at taking the Spider out of number 1. neo

[Slythe]

Spidey 3 - I'll take Dancin' Emo Pete over Wise-cracking', Camera-winkin' Wolverine any day.

[Trekker 42]

Ok to answer the topic's question: Spidey 3 kicked the BLEEP out of X3.

On the Pirates VS Spidey question, I think that Pirates will unseat Spidey. Why? Because pretty much everybody saw Pirates 2 and with that ending (which I will not spoil for the for the six people in the universe who haven't seen it yet) you MUST see Pirates 3. 2 was such a cliffhanger, and we must see what happened. That's the most I can rave without giving anything away, but Pirates will most likely win mainly because of the sheer number of people who want to see Dead Man's Chest resolved.

[Trekker 42]

Told you so. Pirates has beaten Spidey's record already.

[neolego]

Actually, according to the Box Office Report (From boxofficereport.com and Yahoo.com), Spider-Man 3 is clearly the winner. Here are the Weekend Totals:

-Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (Buena Vista Pictures Distribution) $142,055,000

-Spider-Man 3 (Sony Pictures Releasing) $151,116,516

Now, that is just a 3 day weekend. If you figure in the Memorial Day holiday, Pirates arrives at: $156,055,000 which is just a bit above Spider-Man 3, but if we are talking standard weekend box office, Spidey still holds the record.

HOWEVER, after sitting through Pirates on Friday Night, I have to say that Pirates deserves to be #1, it was a wonderful movie, better than Dead Man's Chest, and MUCH better than Spider-Man 3. neo

[Templar]

Actually, according to the Box Office Report (From boxofficereport.com and Yahoo.com), Spider-Man 3 is clearly the winner. Here are the Weekend Totals:

-Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (Buena Vista Pictures Distribution) $142,055,000

-Spider-Man 3 (Sony Pictures Releasing) $151,116,516

Now, that is just a 3 day weekend. If you figure in the Memorial Day holiday, Pirates arrives at: $156,055,000 which is just a bit above Spider-Man 3, but if we are talking standard weekend box office, Spidey still holds the record.

HOWEVER, after sitting through Pirates on Friday Night, I have to say that Pirates deserves to be #1, it was a wonderful movie, better than Dead Man's Chest, and MUCH better than Spider-Man 3. neo

USAToday reports different numbers... got a link to your article? not sure who i'd believe at this point... but it's clear Spider-man 3 still holds the record, it's true.

From the linked article:

"Pirates fell short of Spider-Man 3’s record opening —Spider-Man took in $151 million in its first three days, and Pirates earned $115.1 million — but Pirates still set the Memorial Day weekend record by eclipsing last year’s X-Men: The Last Stand, which opened to $122.9 million. Worldwide, Pirates has taken in $401 million."

[neolego]

Here's where I got my info:

Pirates at $142,055,000

Source: Yahoo Movies

Source: Moives.com

Source: Box Office Report

However, I did find one reliable source that lends to your total of $115k:

Source: Box Office Mojo

Either way, Pirates is short in money........but not in story . neo

[Trekker 42]

I agree, Piraates was the better movie. Poor Kracken, I wanted to see more of it. Overall, Pirates was way cooler, and I still love Davy Jones. How many stayed for the post credits. The scene there was almost as important to the plot as X3's real ending.