X-Men
[PG-13 1h 36m]
Directed by Bryan Singer
Starring: Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellan, Famke Janssen and Halle Berry

If I were an actor I would want to be Patrick Stewart. Not only is the guy one hell of a thespian but he has now managed to get himself into two of the most fanatical worlds around Star Trek and The Uncanny X-Men which means the guy really doesn't have to work ever again. Crap, if he keeps this up, he can hire Gates to come wire his Internet service.

The world of the X-Men is dense and the people who make films want to make money. How then do you secure a legion of new fans as well as please the old? Sound like a dilemma faced by some other filmmaker? (Hint ... Star Wars: Episode I). To attack this movie mid-stream would leave most of us shaking our heads. To start from the beginning would leave the fans who are legion shaking theirs. Almost a no-win situation.

What Marvel, 20th Century Fox, and director Bryan Singer have done is try to straddle that delicate line by putting together a movie that asks a little from both camps. If you have never heard of the X-Men or have little knowledge, then expect to get a good deal of exposition but don't be surprised if it all seems a tad forced and possibly a bit silly. If you have extensive knowledge, then expect to get too much exposition and don't be surprised if it all seems a tad forced and possibly a bit silly.

This is a film that was made with a sequel in mind, if not already written. The action in this film is created to propel the series onward (and Patrick Stewart to his Swiss account). We start with Magneto (arch-villan played by Ian McKellen) as a child on his way to a concentration camp during WWII, setting up his distrust of humankind. Meanwhile, our first encounter with Xaxier (hero played by Stewart) is at a McCarthy style senate hearing about mutants, which is also attended by Magneto. We quickly learn that he and Magneto, if not old friends, are at least very familiar with each other. The rest is Magneto's crew versus Xavier's.

My take on the characters, which lands somewhere in between fanatic and neophyte, is that they did an excellent job. Sure Jean Grey's hair and eyes are wrong, but this and any other deviations are minor. Wolverine is played excellently by Hugh Jackman with just the right amount of tender bitterness. Stewart is, of course, impeccable. Famke Janssen as Jean Grey is her usual remarkable self and James Marsden does quite a very nice job giving Cyclops that goody-two-shoes mixed with bad-ass personality.

Halle Berry as Storm seems somewhat lifeless but not through any fault of her own. The stand out of the film is young Anna Paquin as Rogue. She portrays the confused young mutant superbly.

Overall, the film requires a bit of patience on all sides, but I for one fully expect that the neXt installment will be Xtremely pleasing. Couldn't leave without a couple of those. A-
- Bryce Edmonds

THE X-FILES:
SEASON ONE

I find it doubtful that anyone who is reading this is unaware of The X-Files. FBI Special Agents Mulder and Scully have been investigating alien conspiracies and other gooey paranormal crim-inals for seven years now. This box set from 20th Century Fox contains all 24 episodes from the first season.

All these episodes take place before the complicated and sometimes frustrating continuity was set up. Yes, this is before Krycek's multiple escapes from death, before Scully's pregnancy (either one), and before we found out that Samantha was kidnapped by fairies (what the hell was that all about?).

As with any TV show, The X-Files starts off pretty rocky. The pilot is particularly rough, with an unfocused alien presence and a blurry conspiracy, and the second episode, Deep Throat, has an ending almost as bad as It was all a dream. The third episode, Squeeze, established that the show would be about more than the alien conspiracy, which was probably a darned good thing.

From there the show develops slowly into a form much more recognizable. How slowly? Well, the trench coats don't show up on both agents until episode 11, Eve. It's also about that time that The X-Files becomes compelling television. Is there a connection? Maybe it was a conspiracy on the part of London Fog!

The 24 episodes are presented over six discs (with a seventh disc for extras). The discs are kept in a cardboard and plastic folding case that is a little awkward, but it certainly is attractive, with a neat foil-enhanced black and white motif.

Tom Witzky (Kevin Bacon) is a working- class father and husband with disappointed dreams. At a neighborhood party one night, Tom goads his flaky sister-in-law (Illeana Douglas) into hypnotizing him. Fully convinced that nothing will happen, Tom is a little freaked to find that not only was he successfully hypnotized, but he is now having visions, seeing and hearing things no one else does. Well, almost no one. His son sees dead people (and doesn't seem to be neurotic about it like some other kids). Things get weirder and weirder until Tom becomes obsessed with solving the mysterious disappearance of a neighborhood girl a few months before.

When Stir of Echoes was released in September of 1999, a lot of unfair comparisons were made to The Sixth Sense, released just a month earlier. Echoes, however, is less about Kinder-channeling and more about a man fed up with the ordinariness of his life, but totally unprepared to face the extraordinary.

The movie starts off really well with full-tilt creepiness, good digital effects (used sparingly because the director believed, rightly, that special effects aren't as scary as real life), and imagery that had me sucking my fingers for comfort. The cast is excellent, as you would expect. Echoes keeps up its pace and hums along nicely until about an hour into the movie. Then the supernatural thriller turns into a murder mystery, and you start to realize that the one really rich sub-plot is going to dangle forever undeveloped. The ending is disappointing, failing to give the kind of cathartic payoff a really good scary movie needs. Plus, there's this weird feather thing that's supposed to be all Jedi-prophetic, but just doesn't hold water. Strong start, weak finish.

The print is really good and the visual effects are seamless. Audio plays a major role in the movie and the soundtrack is appropriately clear. Like The Exorcist, Stir of Echoes uses a lot of sound juxtaposition and such to heighten the audience's fear.

Pretty standard fare is included here: some TV spots, a theatrical trailer, production notes, bios, and a disappointingly short featurette. The one really great extra is director David Koepp's audio commentary. He makes the point several times that he hopes the viewer watched the movie before diving into the commentary. Good thing, too, because Koepp rarely narrates the plot that's unfolding on screen. His track is simply an explanation of the movie he tried to make, the movie he did make, and some anecdotes. Many of these types of commentaries become tedious or unfocused, but Koepp's is, in my limited experience, a standout.
- Lisa McInnis