ohmygod i need sleep
Jul. 25th, 2008 04:09 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
elapsesI think the weirdest thing was that it scared me.
I have never ever ever ever been scared by anything X-Files. A little perturbed, maybe, but never actually afraid. I can't tell you how many episodes I watched for the first time at night, alone, in the dark without batting an eyelash. But this did scare me. I think it was more of a big screen/small screen thing than it was this story being scarier than anything other yarn they've spun over the years, but it felt scarier.
It was also odd to view this film from the perspective of someone who's been following news on it for months upon months -- to be mentally fitting lines to previews and visuals to promo images as the story unfolded. I lie somewhere in the middle of the spoiled vs. unspoiled line -- in the beginning I saw basically all of what little we did get, in the middle I was lazy, by the end I had backed off. But it was odd how much of the things I had seen turned out to be true -- it was weird that that kiss we had footage of was the actual kiss we ended up seeing, but I especially remembered seeing the promo image of Mulder's little faux-basement Office with the "modern-day Frankenstein" article hung on his crumpled old poster. At the time I was so convinced that had to be a fake -- it seemed ridiculous that they would release spoilers that important that early in the process. But I guess they did. That seems to odd to me.
I don't think I loved it. I know I didn't hate it. (I'm very indecisive about judgments.) It wasn't an incredible story, but it wasn't an especially horrible one. I can't decide if I needed it to be a good story or not -- the actual plot never figured into why I would see this movie, but at the same time it -- I don't know. I would've liked a flawless tale to go with it all. This wasn't that.
I did like the characterization, and I did like the characters. I liked Dakota Whitney, I liked whoever Xzibit was playing, and I liked that they were characters who were there for a reason and did not detract from Mulder or Scully. I loved having Skinner there -- I mean, I knew, and I knew he was coming as soon as Scully mentioned bringing out the big guns, but oh oh oh oh oh oh he was wonderful. Wonderful.
Somewhere mid-film I didn't like what they were doing with Mulder and Scully. I mean, separately, characterization-wise, yes, I did. They did do a phenomenal job making them people I recognized but also people who have had things happen and change in the last six-odd years. And I loved little bed scene and I loved that culminating kiss scene with the conversation about the darkness finding them, oh oh oh that was so so so right (and in fact, I think my exceeding love for the way that scene was handled is the exact reason my concerns about the rest of the Mulder/Scully were resolved). I guess I just thought the ultimatum/break-up kind of thing was such a stupid thing to drive the ~relationship story~. Why this, why now? They've been together six/eight/fifteen years. Why would this be the thing that would break them? Rifts are one thing -- they've always had that, but they were always so united despite that. I suppose they were still united here, despite themselves. I think they both even knew that it wasn't even close to being the end, but it still... I don't know. It was weird that they almost sort of broke up. But it helped that they didn't actually have to bother about getting back together, they just... were?
I didn't like the sudden weight of Samantha -- it felt off and sort of senseless, for a character that hasn't really been mentioned since mid season 7. I mean, yes, Fox Mulder will see always see Samantha in every woman in distress the same way Dana Scully will see Emily and William in every endangered child, but there was so much stress placed on it here -- stop looking for your sister, Mulder, having that picture front and center, and even the Vanessa Morley cameo (although okay, I loved the bit of silent communication that arose from that) -- that it basically undermined Closure. I mean, I hated Closure, but it was there for a reason. There was a process of letting go. It was peaceful. It... was almost like that had never happened. I don't understand why. I always thought that release was so significant in the progression of the Mulder/Scully thing that year -- even though it had been years since nothing but finding his sister mattered, having that last weight was supposed to mean something. For him, for them. And it did, but now it doesn't anymore?
I think I need to see it a couple more times before I really understand how I feel.
Our audience... left something to be desired. We got there at 10:50ish, and, seeing no line, Hannah refused to go in until 11:10. It was okay -- we had a couple errant Scullys and Mulders and our theater eventually ended up mostly full, but... it didn't feel like a midnight showing. Maybe I can't say that -- this is only the second movie I've ever bothered to go to at midnight, and the first was at the Alamo, so it doesn't really feel like a comparable experience -- but drawing from all the Harry Potter and Pirates movies I've ended up seeing on opening day (mostly because that's how Meredith rolls) it wasn't... like that. There was so rush to get there early enough to find seats, nobody sitting on the stairs because they couldn't find seats together, no lines. It felt more like the way I usually see movies -- two weeks late, with a theater 3/4 full of people who kind of wanted to see the movie. We didn't cheer (actually, for Skinner we might have, I was too caught up in my own excitement to really pay attention). Which was okay -- it was a personal enough experience for me that a loud, boisterous crowd might've hurt my own viewing, but I still think I would've liked a little more atmosphere. I know it's just Boulder, Colorado, and who really wants to go to a midnight showing here, but. But but but.
Part of me rationalizes this as a natural thing -- midnight showings are mostly for the 16 to 25ish crowd, and most of that age group doesn't remember this show well enough to have loved it. I was 3 when the show began and 12 when it ended, and fortune and fandom overzealousness are really the only reasons I had a chance to fall in love with it. I'm sure a significant number of the people who loved it then have lives now -- jobs and kids they have to get up for in the morning, responsibilities that prevent them from going to a film they won't get home from until 2 in the morning. But mostly I think it's just that for most of the world, this movie just isn't that big of a deal.
July 25th was always going to be my big day of this summer (and, hell, this year), at least in a pop culture sense. I watch a lot of television, and I love a lot of television, but there's something about this show and the way it makes me feel -- it's become almost more of an extension of my personality than just something I love. That's Alexandra, she loves that X-Files show. Maybe most people don't think of me that way, but the people I'm closest to do. If my sister and Meredith love it as much as I do, it's because I insisted they experience it with me. If Vivian and her sister both bring up David Duchovny as soon as the subject of attractive celebrities are broached, it's because my sister and I trained that in them. There's a reason I've got more than a few high school friends listed in my phone as as "Mulder" and "Pendrell" instead of "Sophi" and "Julia". The X-Files speak, the "remember that episode...?", it's become a sort of odd private language the people closest to me can speak in. And my extended family always thinks to call me when they hear something X-Filesey on the news. Not to mention you guys -- my dear, dear flist, half of whom are nodding your heads in perfect comprehension, and the other half of whom aren't, but over time you've probably come to associate me most with my favorite show. It isn't that I don't have a life outside of this show, because I do -- and my relationships with these people stretch so far beyond any kind of pop culture. I guess I just mean that the X-Files is very, very present in my life, even when I'm caught in the throes of some other interest and haven't thought to think about it in weeks. I've made it present. I've made my own little bubble where this really, actually was the biggest day of the year for everyone. But outside of Alexandraland, it isn't.
I keep thinking about the last bit of Duchovny's latest blog entry: batman's got everybody scared that we can't do business, and well, it is some kind of a box office juggernaut. but i want to believe. i want to believe that our loyal fans will go see us right away (see some of you at the premiere tomorrow) and they will bring friends who never watched the x files and they will tell a friend and we will become viral and keep growing and hang on for weeks. a boy can dream. see you at the movies.
I want to believe too, but I don't think I do. I'd like to think that this'll end up a franchise, that every few years we'll get another story with Mulder and Scully at the forefront. It's been strange, these last few months. When I fell in love with this show, I fell in love with something that was over and done with. And then it very suddenly wasn't. It was a funny change. It still is. And, as much as I'd like to think the numbers won't end up disappointing me, Duchov, and whichever exec up at Fox gets to choose whether or not it's profitable enough to invest in XF3, I don't think we've got a chance. But, hey, it's been fun.
(Incidentally, I was almost too caught up in the wtfery that was the post-credits scene to remember to say "nailed it!", but Hannah remembered for us. But no one else said it.)
P.S. if you haven't seen it: I promise the mood I chose has nothing to do with my actual feelings for the actual film. NOT A REACTION, PINKY SWEAR.
I have never ever ever ever been scared by anything X-Files. A little perturbed, maybe, but never actually afraid. I can't tell you how many episodes I watched for the first time at night, alone, in the dark without batting an eyelash. But this did scare me. I think it was more of a big screen/small screen thing than it was this story being scarier than anything other yarn they've spun over the years, but it felt scarier.
It was also odd to view this film from the perspective of someone who's been following news on it for months upon months -- to be mentally fitting lines to previews and visuals to promo images as the story unfolded. I lie somewhere in the middle of the spoiled vs. unspoiled line -- in the beginning I saw basically all of what little we did get, in the middle I was lazy, by the end I had backed off. But it was odd how much of the things I had seen turned out to be true -- it was weird that that kiss we had footage of was the actual kiss we ended up seeing, but I especially remembered seeing the promo image of Mulder's little faux-basement Office with the "modern-day Frankenstein" article hung on his crumpled old poster. At the time I was so convinced that had to be a fake -- it seemed ridiculous that they would release spoilers that important that early in the process. But I guess they did. That seems to odd to me.
I don't think I loved it. I know I didn't hate it. (I'm very indecisive about judgments.) It wasn't an incredible story, but it wasn't an especially horrible one. I can't decide if I needed it to be a good story or not -- the actual plot never figured into why I would see this movie, but at the same time it -- I don't know. I would've liked a flawless tale to go with it all. This wasn't that.
I did like the characterization, and I did like the characters. I liked Dakota Whitney, I liked whoever Xzibit was playing, and I liked that they were characters who were there for a reason and did not detract from Mulder or Scully. I loved having Skinner there -- I mean, I knew, and I knew he was coming as soon as Scully mentioned bringing out the big guns, but oh oh oh oh oh oh he was wonderful. Wonderful.
Somewhere mid-film I didn't like what they were doing with Mulder and Scully. I mean, separately, characterization-wise, yes, I did. They did do a phenomenal job making them people I recognized but also people who have had things happen and change in the last six-odd years. And I loved little bed scene and I loved that culminating kiss scene with the conversation about the darkness finding them, oh oh oh that was so so so right (and in fact, I think my exceeding love for the way that scene was handled is the exact reason my concerns about the rest of the Mulder/Scully were resolved). I guess I just thought the ultimatum/break-up kind of thing was such a stupid thing to drive the ~relationship story~. Why this, why now? They've been together six/eight/fifteen years. Why would this be the thing that would break them? Rifts are one thing -- they've always had that, but they were always so united despite that. I suppose they were still united here, despite themselves. I think they both even knew that it wasn't even close to being the end, but it still... I don't know. It was weird that they almost sort of broke up. But it helped that they didn't actually have to bother about getting back together, they just... were?
I didn't like the sudden weight of Samantha -- it felt off and sort of senseless, for a character that hasn't really been mentioned since mid season 7. I mean, yes, Fox Mulder will see always see Samantha in every woman in distress the same way Dana Scully will see Emily and William in every endangered child, but there was so much stress placed on it here -- stop looking for your sister, Mulder, having that picture front and center, and even the Vanessa Morley cameo (although okay, I loved the bit of silent communication that arose from that) -- that it basically undermined Closure. I mean, I hated Closure, but it was there for a reason. There was a process of letting go. It was peaceful. It... was almost like that had never happened. I don't understand why. I always thought that release was so significant in the progression of the Mulder/Scully thing that year -- even though it had been years since nothing but finding his sister mattered, having that last weight was supposed to mean something. For him, for them. And it did, but now it doesn't anymore?
I think I need to see it a couple more times before I really understand how I feel.
Our audience... left something to be desired. We got there at 10:50ish, and, seeing no line, Hannah refused to go in until 11:10. It was okay -- we had a couple errant Scullys and Mulders and our theater eventually ended up mostly full, but... it didn't feel like a midnight showing. Maybe I can't say that -- this is only the second movie I've ever bothered to go to at midnight, and the first was at the Alamo, so it doesn't really feel like a comparable experience -- but drawing from all the Harry Potter and Pirates movies I've ended up seeing on opening day (mostly because that's how Meredith rolls) it wasn't... like that. There was so rush to get there early enough to find seats, nobody sitting on the stairs because they couldn't find seats together, no lines. It felt more like the way I usually see movies -- two weeks late, with a theater 3/4 full of people who kind of wanted to see the movie. We didn't cheer (actually, for Skinner we might have, I was too caught up in my own excitement to really pay attention). Which was okay -- it was a personal enough experience for me that a loud, boisterous crowd might've hurt my own viewing, but I still think I would've liked a little more atmosphere. I know it's just Boulder, Colorado, and who really wants to go to a midnight showing here, but. But but but.
Part of me rationalizes this as a natural thing -- midnight showings are mostly for the 16 to 25ish crowd, and most of that age group doesn't remember this show well enough to have loved it. I was 3 when the show began and 12 when it ended, and fortune and fandom overzealousness are really the only reasons I had a chance to fall in love with it. I'm sure a significant number of the people who loved it then have lives now -- jobs and kids they have to get up for in the morning, responsibilities that prevent them from going to a film they won't get home from until 2 in the morning. But mostly I think it's just that for most of the world, this movie just isn't that big of a deal.
July 25th was always going to be my big day of this summer (and, hell, this year), at least in a pop culture sense. I watch a lot of television, and I love a lot of television, but there's something about this show and the way it makes me feel -- it's become almost more of an extension of my personality than just something I love. That's Alexandra, she loves that X-Files show. Maybe most people don't think of me that way, but the people I'm closest to do. If my sister and Meredith love it as much as I do, it's because I insisted they experience it with me. If Vivian and her sister both bring up David Duchovny as soon as the subject of attractive celebrities are broached, it's because my sister and I trained that in them. There's a reason I've got more than a few high school friends listed in my phone as as "Mulder" and "Pendrell" instead of "Sophi" and "Julia". The X-Files speak, the "remember that episode...?", it's become a sort of odd private language the people closest to me can speak in. And my extended family always thinks to call me when they hear something X-Filesey on the news. Not to mention you guys -- my dear, dear flist, half of whom are nodding your heads in perfect comprehension, and the other half of whom aren't, but over time you've probably come to associate me most with my favorite show. It isn't that I don't have a life outside of this show, because I do -- and my relationships with these people stretch so far beyond any kind of pop culture. I guess I just mean that the X-Files is very, very present in my life, even when I'm caught in the throes of some other interest and haven't thought to think about it in weeks. I've made it present. I've made my own little bubble where this really, actually was the biggest day of the year for everyone. But outside of Alexandraland, it isn't.
I keep thinking about the last bit of Duchovny's latest blog entry: batman's got everybody scared that we can't do business, and well, it is some kind of a box office juggernaut. but i want to believe. i want to believe that our loyal fans will go see us right away (see some of you at the premiere tomorrow) and they will bring friends who never watched the x files and they will tell a friend and we will become viral and keep growing and hang on for weeks. a boy can dream. see you at the movies.
I want to believe too, but I don't think I do. I'd like to think that this'll end up a franchise, that every few years we'll get another story with Mulder and Scully at the forefront. It's been strange, these last few months. When I fell in love with this show, I fell in love with something that was over and done with. And then it very suddenly wasn't. It was a funny change. It still is. And, as much as I'd like to think the numbers won't end up disappointing me, Duchov, and whichever exec up at Fox gets to choose whether or not it's profitable enough to invest in XF3, I don't think we've got a chance. But, hey, it's been fun.
(Incidentally, I was almost too caught up in the wtfery that was the post-credits scene to remember to say "nailed it!", but Hannah remembered for us. But no one else said it.)
P.S. if you haven't seen it: I promise the mood I chose has nothing to do with my actual feelings for the actual film. NOT A REACTION, PINKY SWEAR.
no subject
Date: 2008-07-25 02:06 pm (UTC)Regarding crowds: MINE SUCKED. It was small and lame and the dickwads behind me wouldn't stop talking. The true x-philes were good and cheered at all the right parts (SKINNER! THE BED SCENE! SUNFLOWER SEEDS AND PENCILS IN THE CEILING!) but they were scarce. I definitely need to see it again, but I sort of don't want to go through another theater viewing. I want there to be DVD already.
How much did you love CKR as a gay Russian? I was expecting people to be excited but then I remembered that it's only a meme thing :(
no subject
Date: 2008-07-25 11:23 pm (UTC)I LOL'D AND LOL'D AND LOL'D. My sister didn't understand why that was so hilarious to me :( And it's so hard to get the meme to concentrate on anything but comics these days, SO TY FOR SHARING THIS MOMENT OF RETROSPECTIVE LULZ WITH ME.
no subject
Date: 2008-07-26 12:06 am (UTC)I'm occasionally a comics mouse but it's getting a little much. Everything is "WATCHMEN :D:" these days. But we've been having really good sleep over shifts lately, so that's fun.
no subject
Date: 2008-07-26 12:17 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-07-25 02:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-07-25 11:26 pm (UTC)(Although I did like reading this (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/07/24/DD5H11UGT6.DTL&type=movies) review from a guy who never was a fan. Because he liked it. For the reasons I liked it? I could only bring myself to read the good ones on rotten tomatoes, because I am actually that lame and I'm oddly emotionally fragile about this film? DOES THAT MAKE SENSE? or does it just make me sound insane?)
NYC seems like the place that would have incredible midnight showings, though. LUCKY YOU GUYS.
no subject
Date: 2008-07-25 04:47 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-07-25 11:40 pm (UTC)This is exactly how I feel.
no subject
Date: 2008-07-25 04:51 pm (UTC)and re:crowds, mine SUCKED. The theater wasn't even nearly full, and no one dressed up. Someone screamed when Skinner came on, which was awesome, but otherwise it was such a lame theater.
no subject
Date: 2008-07-25 11:41 pm (UTC)WHY CAN'T WE HAVE NICE THINGS LIKE THEATERS FULL OF NICE PEOPLE, ALY? Ugh.
no subject
Date: 2008-07-26 02:07 am (UTC)I DON'T KNOW. SOME THEATERS SHOULD BE DESIGNATED FOR FANGIRLS ONLY.
no subject
Date: 2008-07-26 03:17 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-07-25 09:02 pm (UTC)Yes, that was a very odd experience. I was completely spoiled, to the point where I already knew a good 60% of the dialogue, and I could not turn my brain off during the movie. I was one step ahead of it the whole time, and it was just...I don't know. I don't regret being spoiled, but it was really odd to be sitting there and going, "Okay, this was the first scene they filmed, and they were dancing while filming. This one is the first one David and Gillian did together. They're going to show the pencils in the ceiling now." I want to see it again just so that part of my brain will be quiet.
I actually might go again tonight, just to see if the crowd is any better. We had maybe thirty people in the theater, and no one made a sound other than a laugh here or there. No one was dressed up. But then, I don't think they announced the midnight showing until just the other day, so I'm hoping that's the reason no one was there.
no subject
Date: 2008-07-25 11:45 pm (UTC)It's oddly upsetting how many of us had lame crowds for the midnight showing. The hell?
no subject
Date: 2008-07-26 02:01 am (UTC)Re: Samantha, that didn't bother me either, but I think Frey has already summed up why (though unfortunately she's done so via posts on Haven, from what I can remember). If it were set immediately after the series had ended? Yeah, it would've bugged me. But Scully hits the nail on the head early on, with the "long-term isolation" thing, I think. Mulder fixates when he doesn't have much else to think about; it's in his very nature. It made perfect sense to me that he'd return to the parts of himself (one of the biggest parts, in fact) when feeling lost or directionless.
I was 3 when the show began and 12 when it ended
Dude, I keep forgetting how much younger than me you are, lol. Also, David's latest blog post just hit something very emotional in me. I'm not sure I can explain it.
I realize the credits scene is rather wtf-y, but I still love it. It's so many things; an in-joke about Duane Barry, a nod to the "next movie's in Hawaii!" joke, breaking the fourth wall and not (they could be waving to the helicopter, for all we know!), and sort of a thank you and goodbye to us, because we ARE the people this film was made for.
Re: box office expectations, I really don't have any. I'm usually very good at predicting how a film will do, but IWTB is a true wild card for many reasons. So many people I've run into in the past eight months -- many casual fans or even non-fans -- are curious about Mulder and Scully, and I think that curiosity equals quite a bit of potential. I don't, however, believe we'll make enough to justify the continuation of the franchise, and... call me a heathen, but I'm totally fine with that. I'm in the camp who never wanted more than this one, and I'm so happy with this film that I'm perfectly content for the series to go out on this note. (Let's face it, it doesn't take much to beat The Truth, does it?)
I'm sorry, I need to shut up, too! It's just... I've seen the movie three times as of this afternoon, and I just love it more each time, but have no one but the people I'm here with to talk about it with (since I'm about two weeks behind on LJ). STFU, ZELLIE. D:
no subject
Date: 2008-07-26 03:38 am (UTC)But Scully hits the nail on the head early on, with the "long-term isolation" thing, I think.
That does make sense. Poor bb :(
Okay the credits scene though: it's like, it's something I need to see about four times before I can be like "HA, WONDERFUL." But the first time was an exercise in "WHAT THE SHIT IS THIS???????" (my jaw was literally agape) and unfortunately I could not rewind and let it sink in. So I'm stuck on "WHAT?"
Yeahhhh, yeah. But I if this was going to be our end, I think I would've liked a chance to delve back into the mytharc. I don't know. If this is the last film, regardless of how you or I or anyone feels, popular consensus will say the X-Files went out with a whimper and not a bang, and I haaaaaate that thought. But I don't know. (Me not knowing is pretty much the theme of the evning.)
ALSO, PLEASE, THERE IS NO NEED TO STFU. I neeeeeeeeeed to talk about this film. I need to figure out a way to understand how I feel about it and the only way is by discussing and rehashing and seeing it, oh, a few hundred more times. (By the by: I'm really really really glad you loved it. I'm really really glad you're defending it to me and I was really glad to see that you loved it when I read your review last night. I'm still wavering on my own feelings and I'm leaning negatively in more than one aspect, but I'm taking every single bad review -- whether it's from an actual critic or just an LJ friend -- like a sucker punch to the gut. I can't even look at most of the reviews. LOL TAKING FICTION WAY TOO PERSONALLY, but I guess my point was that every person who loved it is making me feel a little better.)
no subject
Date: 2008-07-26 03:56 am (UTC)I actually have to disagree there. Funnily enough, because of one of the parts of FTF that has always bothered me. Scully just up and decides to leave (which has always struck me as pure contrivance and quite OOC), without much motivation, in comparison to everything they've been through up to that point. Considering all they've been through by NOW, together and apart? It's much easier to swallow, especially without professional ties binding them. Am I making any sense?
We totally waved back to them; most of the theater did at the midnight show. It was awesome.
But I if this was going to be our end, I think I would've liked a chance to delve back into the mytharc.
I'd disagree here as well. The mytharc became an incredibly nonsensical, tangled mess in the last two years, after basically ending in S7. At this point, they have to either (a) attempt to untangle that ridiculous ball of strings, or (b) start fresh. I'm not eager to visit either potentiality, frankly.
'm taking every single bad review -- whether it's from an actual critic or just an LJ friend -- like a sucker punch to the gut. I can't even look at most of the reviews.
I'm with you there. I just sort of posted in the same vein of that feeling. I keep telling myself to take it in stride, which is getting easier for me, but it's tough, isn't it? I imagine once everything is less immediate, I'll be able to return to that feeling of the past 48 hours; of purely enjoying every moment, just for me. Ordinarily I'd call that selfish, but it's so clear that the film was made for US that I just can't care.
I actually have to say one more thing that I find ironic and rather funny (in an annoying way): people saying the plot is weak, and at the same time saying FTF was better. FTF's plot is so ridiculously flawed, it's like it was made of Swiss cheese (and I thought most people were aware of that, considering how obvious it was that they were ultimately going for blockbuster spectacle). Don't get me wrong, I love FTF (you know I do), but I honestly feel that IWTB at least makes SENSE. FTF honestly does not, if you think about it for more than 5 minutes.
no subject
Date: 2008-07-26 04:28 am (UTC)That choice made perfect sense to me, actually, because at that point they aren't together. They're separating them and shipping her off to Utah, and seeing as she has no professional connection to the things she's invested in at the FBI -- Mulder and the X-Files -- it's a perfectly logical decision. And then Mulder reminds her that it isn't an entirely professional decision and she changes her mind. But by then she's also not being forced to uproot her life and move to my crappy time zone.
I don't see how "all they've been through" makes it make more sense this time around, though. After all they've weathered, I found it really hard to buy that something like this would be something that would really, truly threatened than big Mulder/Scully thing.
And yes, the mytharc did end up sucking, but it was so MUCH of their lives. I guess I just have a really hard time buying that, with the date of colonization bearing down upon them, Mulder's sitting in an out-of-the-way house obsessing over his sister and Scully's off pediatricianing and neither of them is doing anything. I don't mean this should've been a mytharc movie, but I guess I feel like they shouldn't've left that hanging. I mean, I know this movie was a standalone and it should've have had too much history weighing down, but it already did. I can't imagine understanding and appreciating the wonderful things about this story from a non-fan perspective (although one reviewer did despite never having seen anything! Uh, yeah, I had to read all the good ones on rottentomatoes to make myself feel better.). In a weird way, I think Fight the Future stood alone better than this does. (Although I totally agree that it didn't make sense? Um? I'm not sure I can explain this feeling? I think it's just that FtF was meant to deceive, inveigle, obfuscate and confuse while drawing new audiences in, and it's specifically set up in a way... JESUS, I CAN'T EVEN GET MY THOUGHTS STRAIGHT. I GIVE UP.)
I guess I shouldn't worry about the non-fan segment, though? Anyway I don't know. I know I'm being a downer :( I really didn't hate it! Scully made a penis joke! THE SCENE LEADING UP TO THE KISS! Skinner! I really just need to see it again.
no subject
Date: 2008-07-26 04:34 am (UTC)After all they've weathered, I found it really hard to buy that something like this would be something that would really, truly threatened than big Mulder/Scully thing.
That's the thing, though; it never felt like anything near a true threat to me. And from what I'm seeing in all the reactions, most people didn't see that, either.
I can't imagine understanding and appreciating the wonderful things about this story from a non-fan perspective
Not at all? Wow, that surprises me. Especially considering that the general, majority consensus amongst non/casual-fans has always been that MotW trumps mytharc, generally by leaps and bounds. I may love the mytharc, but it's just not accessible, especially now.
In a weird way, I think Fight the Future stood alone better than this does.
I think most fans feel that way, but from what I remember, and when I go back and look, I think most non/casual-fans don't.
no subject
Date: 2008-07-28 05:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-07-28 07:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-07-26 02:48 am (UTC)UPSIDES THOUGH: I do appreciate the fact that this was definitely a film for the fans. But this:
I would've liked a flawless tale to go with it all.
was how I felt too. And I kept thinking back to FtF and how FUCKING BADASS AND AMAZING THAT WAS and this just...wasn't the same. Although alllll the little things they did for the fans made me smile and laugh and sometimes even clap! and even the crazy-ass ending made me giiiiiggle (come on, it's kind of really hilarious, you can't tell me it isn't) even if it made me cringe since I made my brother stay with the OH TEN OTHER PEOPLE WHO STAYED to see that. Just...Yeah, the company you share really makes a difference :( :( OH and the song playing at the end? Was AWESOME. And the kiss scene, i agree, was gorgeously shot. As were the sentiments Mulder was conveying at the end. I mean, in sentiment, i agree, they do a great job of putting us in these character's lives as a kind of WHERE ARE THEY NOW! segment (i'm not being facetious!) but like that first scene with Mulder and Scully and Father Joe (who, by the way, I didn't find interesting at all?) all of Scully's "skepticism" felt waaaaaay too forced and not natural at all? I DON'T KNOW. And the whole SCULLY'S A SERIOUS DOCTOR NOW WITH MORAL/ETHICAL DILEMMAS SHES DEALING WITH INVOLVING HER FAITH also felt so heavy handed and I couldn't make myself get into it even though I really wanted to! UGH I AM SO DISAPPOINTED IN MYSELF :( :(
no subject
Date: 2008-07-26 04:06 am (UTC)OH MY GOD, HASN'T IT BEEN SUCH AN EMOTIONAL ROLLERCOASTER????? In the theater I was jittery and excitable and during I was... I don't even know, it changed so often and on the way home I was oh so shell-shocked that I had just seen a new X-Files movie that I kind of feel like I shouldn't have been driving a large vehicle? Today I've been jumping back and forth between "WHAT IS THIS SHIT" and "but remember that part? that was lovely" and it's sort of settled into this gross melancholy KNOT IN MY STOMACH that I can't seem to shake. And meanwhile every bad review and half-empty theater is actually kind of breaking my heart :( :( :( I'M SO OVERINVESTED IT IS ACTUALLY RIDICULOUS.
Your newspaper is a douchebag, ugh.
I don't know, I feel like I need to see this again to see if it's as bad as I thought it was or if my expectations were way too high or if I was holding it to too rigid of a standard (which I don't think is wrong given what this franchise means to me?)
And like, I don't know. A lot of the episodes of the show itself are half-hearted stories made wonderful by the simple inclusion of MULDER AND SCULLY and that's one of the ways season 8 went so wrong -- I feel like all those excruciatingly boring Scully/Doggett (that is a very platonic punctuation mark between their names, by the way) cases in the beginning might've actually been episodes we all loved if they'd had a few Mulderisms and Scully eyebrows? I guess what I mean is that this fandom has a long history of loving episodes despite a crappy storyline because of the Mulder/Scully. But we've also had episodes that are flawless start to finish. I guess I was just hoping this film would be a Pusher, and it ended up being an Arcadia.
kept thinking, where is the Scully I used to know :( :( :(
You knowwwwwww she didn't really bother me during viewing but this afternoon I've been thinking about 2012 and fighting the future and I'm suddenly really bothered that Scully's started some new career and Mulder's hiding out cutting out newspaper articles and obsessing over his dead sister when they're SUPPOSED TO BE SAVING THE WORLD. You know? They're supposed to be TRYING and they're not and I get this feeling this Scully, this 2008 Scully, wouldn't want the darkness that would come with that. (But at the same time I liked the way they did the darkness thing, because OH MY GOD THE LAST SCENE???? Like, not even just the kiss and how pretty that was it was just so emotionally pitch-perfect for me. Like, had that scene not existed, I would be a lot more disappointed than I even am.) But... how could they not be doing everything in their power?
I guess, however crappy the mytharc ended up, it just feels wrong to separate Mulder and Scully so completely from it. The stupid aliens, the conspiracy, the god damn supersoldiers -- that was part of them. I don't understand why it isn't now. I don't get how they could just let go.
I know, blah blah blah standalone film :( BUT STILL! Could they not have thrown us a bone? I MISS FIGHT THE FUTURE TOO.
Um, I'm throwing the last two paragraphs of this comment with the reply to your next comment becauseeeeeee according to LJ I talk too much :(
day two ramblings, part 1: seeing it again, the msr, etc. etc.
Date: 2008-07-26 05:07 pm (UTC)And I haaaate being one of those people who's bitching and raining on people's parades. But I don't think I am! There are things I definitely liked about it, but there are also things about it that really really disappointed me and I can't help that! :( :( I know we were supposed to see how they've grown but...I miss who they were? BUT MAYBE I JUST DON'T LIKE CHANGE. I still don't know what the fuck I'm talking about :(
Today I've been jumping back and forth between "WHAT IS THIS SHIT" and "but remember that part? that was lovely" and it's sort of settled into this gross melancholy KNOT IN MY STOMACH that I can't seem to shake.
YES THIS IS ME, TOO.
they had six years. Six fucking years to make this the BEST POSSIBLE FILM. It isn't even that it's a trainwreck, because I don't think it really was, I just... I wanted it to be some sort of paradigm I could hold up to the world and say "This. This is my show." They had six years to make it that. And they didn't.
YES TO THIS TOO. Gosh it's seriously frightening how in my head you are. I get wanting to do something completely different and un-XFiles, but even the actual murder? At first, I was really super intrigued, but I think the splicing between the murder/kidnapping and looking for that woman TOTALLY DAMPENED MY INTEREST. I was kind of hoping that they'd have it be like an actual episode in that shit goes down-- you don't know who the people are and what's going on, you're introduced to the baddies and the crazy shit they do, and then jump ahead to the FBI trying to solve the case. Like, in my head, I think this movie could have been made a lot better just by re-structuring things and paying more attention to people like Amanda Peet and Xzibit's characters, because then it's about more than just mulder and scully existing and being together and really attractive old people. (Although at times their age really showed? I HATE TO SAY IT BUT IT'S TRUE. AND UNAVOIDABLE?)
But we've also had episodes that are flawless start to finish. I guess I was just hoping this film would be a Pusher, and it ended up being an Arcadia.
Yeah everything you said here is very true, but I don't think this was even Arcadia! Because with Arcadia, regardless of how lame/silly it was, I was still interested and intrigued. It still felt like the XF and the Mulder/Scully-ness that saved it worked because it was the perfect accents to the story. And that's why the MSR is so amazing and clutch to begin with-- IT WAS NEVER THE FOCUS OF THE STORY and yet, it became that on it's own. It became the mammouth, powerful force to be reckoned with that it is because it had the space and freedom to become that because it wasn't written with the intent of being the next ~*EPIC LUV STORY*~, you know? It just grew into it?
Re: day two ramblings, part 1: seeing it again, the msr, etc. etc.
Date: 2008-07-27 07:12 pm (UTC)OKAY YES. And I feel so guilty for not loving it but then I also feel weird for... feeling guilty because I am allowed to dislike things but. But.
I don't know. I'd like to think I'm not raining on anyone's parade because I'm trying not to say bad things to people who loved it and most of my most negative feelings are being expressed in comments but I also feel like just feeling this way makes me a big cloud of movie negativity? ...this paragraph makes no sense?
Like, in my head, I think this movie could have been made a lot better just by re-structuring things and paying more attention to people like Amanda Peet and Xzibit's characters, because then it's about more than just mulder and scully existing and being together and really attractive old people.
YOU'RE VERY VERY RIGHT. I mean, I don't know, part of me thinks the story was inherently flawed but I do think your postulation of re-structuring makes a lot of sense. And yeah: the bottom line for me is that if this had been the same film in another franchise, sans Mulder and Scully? My reaction would have been "what is this shit?"
To an extent I can sympathize with all the people on my flist who loved it because it was about Mulder and Scully (it helps that I'm wishy-washy and empathizing with basically everything everyone says) but... I guess the thing is, if the show had just been a bunch of semi-crappy horror mysteries like this framed by a really really incredible love story I wouldn't have fallen in love with it like I did. We, as a franchise, can do SO MUCH BETTER. And it upsets me that this is the venture that got thrown up on a huge screen for the whole world to see :(
(Although at times their age really showed? I HATE TO SAY IT BUT IT'S TRUE. AND UNAVOIDABLE?)
AHHHH I THOUGHT I WAS THE ONLY ONE.
but I don't think this was even Arcadia! Because with Arcadia, regardless of how lame/silly it was, I was still interested and intrigued. It still felt like the XF and the Mulder/Scully-ness that saved it worked because it was the perfect accents to the story.
You're right, watching those good episodes last night has confirmed this for me :( :( :( Arcadia was based on a crappy story but it all MESHED. The movie was more like... one of those late season 8 episodes where Mulder and Scully are adorable but the episode is crap. Except I didn't have to deal with 30 minutes of Doggett looking confused, so UPGRADE.
Re: day two ramblings, part 1: seeing it again, the msr, etc. etc.
Date: 2008-07-27 11:38 pm (UTC)It makes perfect sense because it's exactly my approach to it, too. UGH, WHY DO WE HAVE TO CARE SO MUCH? It makes my heart hurt. :(
I mean, I don't know, part of me thinks the story was inherently flawed but I do think your postulation of re-structuring makes a lot of sense.
I agree, it was inherently flawed. But I guess it just would have been more bearable if it were tightened?
And yeah: the bottom line for me is that if this had been the same film in another franchise, sans Mulder and Scully? My reaction would have been "what is this shit?"
YES EXACTLY. I mean, it physically pains me to say this, but I couldn't stop my brain from thinking WHAT IS THIS FUCKERY WHAT IS THIS FUCKERY WHAT IS THIS FUCKERY half-way through until a few hours after I saw it. AND I DIDN'T WANT TO BE THINKING THAT AT ALL. And this also hurts me to say, but I compare it (ACK THIS IS THE WORST THING TO DO EVARRRR) to TDK and how much I was looking forward to that and how even though my expectations were higher than anything you could ever imagine, they completely exceeded it both with story, intrigue, action, performances, etc. And they didn't have nearly as much time! NOR ARE THEY THE FUCKING X-FILES, AKA MADE OF GREATNESS. BLAH BLAH WHATEVER BLAH.
it helps that I'm wishy-washy and empathizing with basically everything everyone says
I DO THIS TOO AND IT'S SO FRUSTRATING. For instance: I just read
Even if the story really is about Mulder and Scully at this point (which I do believe it is) they're not an Island. The show isn't the Mulder and Scully show (LOL EVEN IF IT IS IN MY BRAIN) it's THE X-FILES. The X-Files are the backbone that make the Mulder and Scully show as AMAZING AS IT IS. I just have a really hard time separating the two and cutting the film slack I wouldn't have cut it were this an episode during it's run.
EVEN MORE SO BECAUSE THIS IS PROBABLY THE LAST TIME WE'LL EVER SEE THEM.
part two: re being a standalone film, seperate from mytharc
Date: 2008-07-26 05:15 pm (UTC)EXACTLY. I completely get disconnecting them from the mytharc, but regardless of what context they put them in, IT HAS STILL SHAPED THEM AND THEIR RELATIONSHIP IN WAYS WE COULD NEVER IMAGINE, YOU KNOW???? And Mulder-- after everything he's been through and worked for and all of that, to think that he just kind of gives up and lives happily ever after? I really want to believe (no pun intended) that he/they could do that, but I just don't think it's in their nature AT ALL. But at the same time, I have never even seen the 9th season so I'm not one to really talk but. I don't know. I think there were ways to have them have that almost delusional happily ever after thing going on (delusional in the sense that they're just trying to make the best of the time they have together before everything goes to hell) while still being true to them.
But I'm constantly second guessing myself and wondering, but wait-- maybe this is them and I'm being too harsh with my criticism? After all the shit they've gone through, they've grown and changed and all they want is each other and nothing else matters? BECAUSE THAT MAKES SENSE TOO. And I LOVE that idea, but...To say that this film is great on that sheer basis while completely disregarding the crap story they're telling? That just ain't right to me. The reason why I love XF so much is because THEY WERE ALWAYS ABLE TO STRIKE THAT BALANCE. Between amazing storytelling and Mulder and Scully's epic, I guess it's now canon to say love? (GOD, I bet you they had conversations in bed about the first time they knew they were it-- THE THOUGHT OF THAT MAKES ME REALLY HAPPY.)
Re: part two: re being a standalone film, seperate from mytharc
Date: 2008-07-27 07:43 pm (UTC)Hmmmmmm. On the one hand the ~theme~ of the 9th season was ~how the mytharc tears them apart~ (in a really stupid way) so I guess I can see how that developed into this we-aren't-alien-hunters-anymore thing but like... I don't know. I still have trouble buying that they've given up on something. Especially with the apocalypse imminent! I don't know. I am ALL FOR giving them a happy ending -- I always have been! -- but this didn't even feel like that? Scully was so SAD.
I keep thinking back to FtF, and how the overriding theme of that film was "If we quit, they win" as opposed to this "let's avoid the darkness!" stuff (although credit where credit is due: I loved Mulder's "Maybe the darkness finds us" line.) I... liked that so much better :(
But then this: After all the shit they've gone through, they've grown and changed and all they want is each other and nothing else matters? BECAUSE THAT MAKES SENSE TOO. I don't know. I'M SO TORN.
(GOD, I bet you they had conversations in bed about the first time they knew they were it-- THE THOUGHT OF THAT MAKES ME REALLY HAPPY.)
AHHHHHHHH I LOVE THIS THOUGHT. IT'S NOT JUST FANON ANYMORE??? oh my god.
Re: part two: re being a standalone film, seperate from mytharc
Date: 2008-07-27 11:45 pm (UTC)I agree. Even if it's felt like the whole world was against them and they had no way out and no way of ever overcoming the evil, THEY STILL TRUDGED ON. They still did their damnedest to make a difference and expose the truth and live up to the ideals they most cherished. As much as I love the idea of ~love conquering all~ I expected that to happen in the wonderfully non-traditional Mulder/Scully ways that we've come to know and love.
(And all of that kind of ties into your FtF comment as well)
I'M SO TORN.
I feel like I'm flip flopping more than a certain someone running for elected office.
AHHHHHHHH I LOVE THIS THOUGHT. IT'S NOT JUST FANON ANYMORE??? oh my god.
:D :D :D I really hope that my favorite writers ~*LOVED*~ the movie so we can get their fanfic to fill the gaping holes in our hearts.
no subject
Date: 2008-07-26 02:48 am (UTC)Funny, I wrote so much here (this is the first post I read and reviewed to and first time I've even recorded my thoughts after seeing it!) even though i feel like I don't really know how I feel about it? If I see it again either alone and really try to focus then maybe it'll be different? I hope so. And I think if I flood myself with enough of people's positive reviews and fanfic and GA/DD press I might look back at this with a different view. I HOPE I DO.
Otherwise...At least we got seven years of amazingness to look back to. (THANK GOD I DIDN'T FINISH THE REWATCH BEFORE I SAW THIS)
I want to believe too, but I don't think I do. I'd like to think that this'll end up a franchise, that every few years we'll get another story with Mulder and Scully at the forefront.
THIS IS PRETTY MUCH HOW I FEEL TOO.
The nearly empty theater broke my heart, but probably not as much as the reviews/numbers will.
LE FUCKING SIGH.
no subject
Date: 2008-07-26 04:14 am (UTC)BUT: I did love that she did sort of believe and she actually admitted to it at the end, the same way I loved that Mulder kept saying things like "i'm only half of the team" and was so sensitive to Scully's feelings? THEY GREW UP!
ANYWAY: yes. There were some really good moments that I will treasure forever and ever. Including basically everything about their scene in bed together (I didn't expect Mulder to pop up there! I was like, "aww, Scully! WHOA -- HEY! :D :D :D!") because... it was wonderful? And I said this already, but the scene leading up to the kiss was so emotionally ON POINT for me. And I loved everything involving Skinner! Aaaaaand yeah. I think there was more. I was not totally on board with the Scully/little boy (again, very platonic punctuation mark) plot but I did like that the surgery was the ending. I guess it just hurts that only people like you and me, who have so much of our lives invested in these people's lives and relationships with each other can really appreciate anything about this movie? I mean, it's great that it was for us, but... even FTF, with all the convoluted mytharcy stuff, was more accessible to outside viewers, I think. :(
The nearly empty theater broke my heart, but probably not as much as the reviews/numbers will.
This sentence has me convinced we're going through the exact same series of emotions :( :( :( It huuuuuuuuuuuurts.
RANDOM OTHER STUFF, THIS IS THE LAST ONE I PROMISE.
Date: 2008-07-26 05:25 pm (UTC)And okay, I am probably in the severe minority (at least in my LJ) but as much as I love Scully becoming a doctor again-- going from forensic pathology for 10 years to being a pediatrician? I don't see that! I feel like she'd turn more towards science science rather than medicine. Because that always seemed to be her thing, too! She came to the FBI because she realized that medicine wasn't actually what she wanted. Now okay I get her wanting a normal life after all she's been through, but I don't necessarily see that as medicine?
I loved that Mulder kept saying things like "i'm only half of the team" and was so sensitive to Scully's feelings? THEY GREW UP!
!!!!! YES !!!!!!! And little things like her bugger line and their little "what a colorful way to put it" "I could think of something better" "oh I'm sure you could!" exchange. GREAT STUFF.
(I didn't expect Mulder to pop up there! I was like, "aww, Scully! WHOA -- HEY! :D :D :D!")
YES!!!!! And just the whole exchange. "I can feel you thinking." and the way he leans into her. AND AND AND, let me curse god for a while. AND AUUUGHHHH TALKING IN BED, I LOVE THESE TWO.
I was not totally on board with the Scully/little boy (again, very platonic punctuation mark) plot but I did like that the surgery was the ending.
I agree. I wanted to care about the Scully storyline, but I just couldn't? It was too disconnected from Mulder for me to care. Not because she needs to be connected to Mulder in everything she does, but just in the sense that the XF magic comes from the fact that they're only one half of a whole, like he says. And so much of this film is them doing their own things and you don't really have that believer/skeptic (and when it was there it seemed like a device) slash intuition vs. cold hard facts/irrefutable science dialectic that I love so much.
AH WELL. With me starting to get sick and moving and having to get ready to leave the country in a week for a week, I think there's a chance I won't get to see this again any time soon. I still really want to and will try to! But I'm not completely heartbroken about letting it simmer and revisiting when it comes out on DVD?
Re: RANDOM OTHER STUFF, THIS IS THE LAST ONE I PROMISE.
Date: 2008-07-27 07:51 pm (UTC)!!!!!!!!! I KNOW! I thought they made it ABUNDANTLY clear in the series that she had decided medicine wasn't her calling and that she LOVED her work at the FBI. LOVED. IT. And the pediatrician thing is almost worse -- like, GOING BACK and switching specialities? To kids? It's so cliche. (There's an entry I found while i was lj stalking my favorite xf authors for movie reactions about how the movie was pretty much filmed fanfic? It's here (http://comice.livejournal.com/416746.html#cutid1) and it's hilarious.)
BUT YEAH, I DON'T KNOW, I'M SO DISCONTENT. I wanted to go back tot he movie today for ~opening weekend~ purposes but now I kind of don't. :( :( :(
Re: RANDOM OTHER STUFF, THIS IS THE LAST ONE I PROMISE.
Date: 2008-07-27 11:48 pm (UTC)AGREED. And I'll totally read that list, even if it'll make me really depressed, hahaha.
I don't think the discontent will go away for a little while. I think you should definitely read
no subject
Date: 2008-07-28 06:19 pm (UTC)I just spent close to an hour reading this entry and all the comments. And I'd respond to each thing individually, but honestly it would just be me copy/pasting like every single word and writing I KNOW and ME TOO underneath. Guys, I agree with everything that both of you have said, and I just wanted to let you know that. I'm still really torn about What My Opinion Is and all that, and I'm trying to read through some reactions on my flist, but just this entry has drained me emotionally already, ha ha. Anyway, I know you guys had this conversation like two days ago, so maybe you've had more time to process your thoughts, but I just wanted to respond and say that I agree with you and that I know *exactly* how you feel. I wrote some quick thoughts here (http://erries.livejournal.com/457041.html) in my journal after I saw it Friday night, if you're interested. I'll be writing more whenever I can manage to gather my thoughts enough to actually decide what my opinion is. :\
no subject
Date: 2008-07-27 12:43 am (UTC)I can't decide if I needed it to be a good story or not YES. Agreed. It would've been nice if it had been better, but that was the least of my worries.
I was iffy about the break-up scene, BUT, A) Gillian's acting ♥ ♥ ♥ and B) what you said. It didn't become this big thing about getting back together, they just naturally knew that they couldn't REALLY leave each other.
The Samantha thing... was weird. And quite possibly my biggest problem, which I guess isn't a bad thing. But from the moment that scene was up before the movie came out, it rubbed me the wrong way. You're absolutely right in everything you said about that. BUT OMG, what Vanessa Morley cameo? Where was that???
Your paragraph about the show and what it means to you? Was beautiful. ♥
(oh... incidentally, I loved it. Is it odd that I understand most of people's criticisms but I still just... loved it? LOL IDK.)
no subject
Date: 2008-07-27 07:52 pm (UTC)The Vanessa Morley cameo was when Mulder and Scully first went to the FBI? They're standing there and this agent who looks like Samantha walks by and they share a ~significant look~.
And thanks! AND I'M SUPER GLAD YOU LOVED IT. The more I think about it the more I didn't, but every person who loved it makes me feel SO MUCH BETTER. Does that make sense?