I can't wait to see this. I'm in the very painful part of my X-files marathon - Season 8. Oh the torture that's this is starting to become. I've just "met" Monica Reyes and I want to ax murder her already. I feel like I'm on the 20th mile of the NYC marathon. I WILL make it through all 9 seasons, I will! Please tell me there are some bright spots coming up.

I save my ax murdering for the deserving, RSH. ;-) Season 8 is not going so well. Are you telling me that Season 9 is worse? I'm never going to see the X-files movie at this rate.

You're still on S8? Of course you are! I was confused. S9 is so good! You'll want to love it and hug it and call it George. Yeah. That's the ticket.

The best I can say about Annabeth Gish is "I liked her in Mystic Pizza. Kinda." Thanks for the tips on what to watch and what to skip in Season 9. What can I lose in Season 8? I guess mostly the mythology episodes would be what I needed to watch before seeing the movie, right?

You do not need the mythology episodes in S8 or 9 to see the movie. In fact, you barely need more than what bailey recommended. The mythology isn't that important to the movie.

Oh the torture that's this is starting to become. I've just "met" Monica Reyes and I want to ax murder her already. Oh, how I hated that character. I do feel sorry for Robert Patrick, though. I did like his character and he tried his best, but it was just the wrong time and wrong place for him. I kind of wish he'd been given a part in the latest movie. I agree, I liked his character a lot and I was slightly bummed that he wasn't in the movie, not that I really expected him to be, but I would have rather (Spoilered just in case) he had been the one to show up at the end instead of Skinner, I just never liked Skinner. He bored me. Overall, I liked the movie. I loved seeing where Mulder and Scully's relationship is and their last scene together was very sweet and memorable. I was kind of disappointed by the plot though, (more spoilers) I thought it was too light on the mythology and supernatural. I never really liked the whole Alien plotlines, I was much more entertained byt the stand alone episodes, so I was glad this steered clear of the aliens but, I was expecting the mystery to be something a little more supernatural, I guess.

Hmmm, then I can just chalk the last couple of seasons up to a lost cause, see the movie and torture myself another time? (I kinda feel like I have to finish this project, but I really want to see the dang movie!)

I just got back from seeing this for the 2nd time. I was really pissed off at the majority of critical reviews, most of whom seemed to have been judging the film for what it wasn't versus what it was, (I'm putting some under spoiler space for the sake of fffaw) I didn't get to it a second time. I should have gone back last weekend, but I was lazy and there were bad storms here and I chose to begin the project of watching the series from start to finish. I watched the entire first year. I suspect that the rest of it won't go quite so quickly, but there was literally nothing to do and I found that when I started watching, I kind of couldn't stop. Things have been broken up/slowed down a bit by this being "Pineapple Express" weekend, though. I hit the wall on both negative reviews of IWTB from professional critics and negative reviews from armchair critics when they took the criticism about the decision to make the baddies gay into several different areas that I felt were not only grasping for straws but offensively grasping for straws. I'm all for critical analysis with an angle and I wrote my share of that from a feminist slant for at least three different film classes I took in college, but it's gotten out of hand as far as I'm concerned because the actual story and the actions of the characters in the film have been ignored in favor of broad stroke activism. And that makes me very angry. Criticising the decision to make the villians gay men is definitely valid. It would be equally valid an argument if they'd chosen to make them any number of races or gender types. But, I feel that by stooping to arguments that Chris Carter, Frank Spotnitz and, basically, the entire film are homophobic because the underlying message is that gay men want to be women you cancel out of some of your more valid criticisms by proving that you missed the point. Those men didn't want to be women, they wanted to be *alive*. They were bad guys, sure, but I had zero problem understanding their goals or the reasons behind them just as I had zero problem understanding that their victims had been both men and women and they were basically taking what they could get at each turn due to the rare blood type. The movie was flawed at points, but I refuse to add make believe flaws for the sake of agenda. Excellent points have been made about the choice to make those two men gay, the comments regarding the idea that the priest "turned" the victim gay, the horrible attitude from Xibit's character and so on and so on, but between the idea that there's a subtext wrt the idea gay men are just women trapped in a man's body and the idea and the whining about how "what gay man would want their partner to have a woman's body" (sorry, but in the eyes of these two men it was better than a *dead* body) I have actually begun to feel even more fond of the film by default. Anyway, yes you did see CC. He's sitting on a bench in the hospital holding an urn. Apparently his dog died during the filming of the movie and the dogs ashes were in the urn. Sniff. And I never would have noticed this were it not pointed out to me, but Mulder makes eye contact with a passing agent in the FBI hallway and the actress is the girl who was once Samantha on the show, back when she was a kid. I remember the moment very clearly and it felt significant to me, but I had no idea that that's who the actress was. Even searching around various XF forums and all the various livejournal postings I found about the movie, you're the first to point that out to me. Awesome. I do feel sorry for Robert Patrick, though. So do I. I love him and I thought the character had many good moments and many good points. He did what he could. And because I liked him prior to the show and because he's a genuinely good actor, I always got angry at the personal attacks towards him that would bleed throughout the fandom. Personal attacks towards a character you hate is fine, but he didn't deserve the backlash. The best I can say about Annabeth Gish is "I liked her in Mystic Pizza. Kinda." The weird thing is that I didn't "kinda" love her back then, I genuinely loved her. Or at the least I liked her a lot. When I was a kid she was the cutest thing and I loved that movie to pieces. I had been Annabeth-free for quite awhile when she was cast on the show and I thought it would be okay. And there *were* moments that I actually liked her, but they were few and far between. I was surprised that this girl that I liked so much when I was younger was so annoying to me now. I had the same negative feelings when she showed up on "The West Wing". It was disappointing. fffaw inspired me, so I started watching the series in order. Come season six I'll have to hop on ebay or half to get the rest of the series (unless I can actually be patient enough to use netflix, which might be possible if I start to lose steam at the halfway point). I knew the initial releases of the series were out of print, but I didn't realize that the new releases were no frills cheapie editions. I hate that. I should have just bought those last four seasons when they were released, especially six and seven, which had episodes I loved. Anyway, in watching that first year and some of the second (I'm up to "Firewalker") I realize just how much I *forgot*. Little things *and* significant things. I had forgotten about the order of certain things and I forgot that Skinner showed up so late in season one. I had actually had it in my mind that we met him before we met The Lone Gunmen. Guess not. But, nevermind that: I can't believe how much I *still* love that first season. Wow. And speaking of fffaw, I'm not going to spoiler code anything about the show itself, so if you actually care about character arcs and plot points in the episodes you haven't seen, quit reading. And I kept hoping that the lone gunman would appear. They're dead though, aren't they There are only two things that have happened on television shows I adore that I have been upset about in the sense that it clouds the rest of the series: the out of character direction they went with Toby in the last two seasons of "The West Wing" and the death of TLG. I'm not *angry* with them over the death, just very, very disappointed and at points a little bitter. Of all the tertiary characters on television (at least tertiary before they got their own show, I guess) they were my favorites and the ones I was most attached to. Even the shows that I'm most invested in don't tend to anger me because even if I hate the direction it takes or the actions of a character I can put it in context, but emotion just takes over and common sense is out the window and I think about making Chris and Frank voodoo dolls and locking them in a room full of poison just for the sake of revenge. eta: and I guess if anyone wants to move this to a television-related thread let me know and I'll move my post. I just realized after reading back over all of that that a majority of it was about the show and not the movie and that it was about eight times longer than anything anyone else had written. oops.

From the sports thread: Chippers, I'd love to know what you thought of the new BR (in the movie thread). I am devoted to the old one with Jeremy Irons and Anthony Andrews, so I am a bit wary of the remake. Is it worth seeing? Well, to be honest, I haven't seen the old one, but I really did love this version. Emma Thompson does an amazing job of making you simultaneously dislike and empathize with Lady Marchman, or maybe I just empathized with her because I know a lot of women who feel as she does about SPOILER?--> religion and her family, <--SPOILER so maybe I just get from where she was coming even if I don't agree or approve. It clocks in at just over two hours, which feels like a shock when you walk out because you'll have sworn you were in there longer, but in a good way, I promise. :) It's a fascinating story, and now I want to go read the book.

Re The X-files baddies amysusanne, I don't know if you were specifically replying to my comment about the villians, but I have to say that I do actually agree with most of the points that you make. -->SPOILER FWIW, I have a great amount of respect for CC. I've been a fan since S1, and I would never accuse him of being homophobic. That said, the "evil gay" and "psycho lesbian" are very old, very negative cliches. Of course, folks are going to have a strong reaction. When the reveal came in the movie, I rolled my eyes and thought, "WTF,Chris Carter?!" Also, I've read FS's response a few times. I believe that he's sincere. But I can also understand why people find his comments disingenuous. For me, the major problem lies in the fact that the villains didn't get that much character development. If their love story " is a love story that is meant to parallel Scully's story", then they need more screentime. Even if it was just one more scene, something showing them in a sympathetic light. I don't believe that the films subtext is that "gay men are women trapped in a man's body." That whole line of criticism is ridiculous. It was fairly obvious to me that just needed a body with the correct blood type.<--Spoiler There are only two things that have happened on television shows I adore that I have been upset about in the sense that it clouds the rest of the series: the out of character direction they went with Toby in the last two seasons of "The West Wing" I quit watching TWW during the fifth season because I couldn't handle what they were doing to Toby. TZ is one of my all time favorite television characters. I relate so much to his morose idealism. Well, to be honest, I haven't seen the old one, but I really did love this version. The old one is definitely worth seeing. It's about 10 hours long though. I was worried because I thought that the remake might gloss over all the subtext between Charles and Sebastian.