5/1/09:  "Yeah, yeah, prequels sound like a good idea:  fans clamor to “fill in the blanks” or actually witness the previously described backstory of their favorite films.  The problem lies in the execution.  To truly fill in those blanks, the important dramatic beats of the story often become secondary to the Mad Libs exercise of filling in whatever data it takes to make the original movie(s) track.  As such, the average prequel is a dog being wagged by its' own tail, a story no one would tell on its' own because it must end in some indeterminate manner opening the door for the “future” stories we've already seen.  That's what's wrong with the clumsily-titled X-Men Origins:  Wolverine, a movie that never really grabbed me emotionally because so much of it is predetermined by the events of X-Men and X2:  X-Men United.  But while I wasn't often engaged, I was consistently entertained because Hugh Jackman once again owns his iconic role and a formidable roster of guest stars bring mutants old and new to interesting life.  Without its' predecessors, Wolverine would be nothing to start a franchise over, but it is two perfectly adequate hours of homo superior spectacle." MORE

7/25/08:  "Television and the movies are two entirely different beasts.  Perhaps it's because movie characters are fifty foot faces being projected over your head in a public venue while their TV counterparts are smaller-than-life presences we invite into our homes on a daily basis.  We tend to visit the characters in  a movie franchise only for the most Earth-shattering events in their lives, while we can spend every day (even every hour, in the case of 24's Jack Bauer) with our TV pals.  As such, while we may love and even empathize with the characters in a movie, we BOND with the people we see on our favorite TV shows.  When they're gone (yes, Virginia, every TV show is eventually canceled), we still wonder what they're up to.  And, perversely, more and more of them are popping up in the movies to let us know.  It's been 6 years since the disappointingly overstuffed two-parter “The Truth” brought a close to 9 seasons of The X-Files, which reigned for a good chunk of the 90's as my favorite show.  The last two seasons were a mess, and both cast and fans alike needed a bit of a time out.  But for a few years now, my mind has begun to wander back to where iconic FBI truth-seekers Fox Mulder and Dana Scully have gotten to.  At last, the answer comes in The X-Files:  I Want to Believe.  The film tells a forgettable paranormal story that's no better than any middling 4th or 5th season episode, but it's in reconnecting with those characters and what has become of them that the movie soars."  MORE