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For the better part of the past decade, moviegoers have gotten a new batch of comic-book adaptations every summer. The trend continues in 2011 with Captain America, Thor, Green Lantern, and the latest film in the X-Men franchise, X-Men: First Class. Set in the 1960s, First Class goes back to the origins of the mutant team, before leader Professor Xavier and archenemy Magneto became foes. And as the just-released trailer for the film reveals, this prequel has an unexpected political twist. It seems that the X-Men intervene in the Cuban Missile Crisis. Now, there are a couple different directions this...

...In a host of end-of-year honors, Academy Award-winning filmmaker Peter Jackson and Star Trek actor Patrick Stewart were both feted with knighthood by Britain's Queen Elizabeth II...

"...The most perceptive comment on the picture’s politics came from Sonny Bunch in The Weekly Standard, who called Favreau’s feature “the film equivalent of a Rorschach test. If you go into Iron Man seeking right-wing imagery, you’ll find it: Tony Stark is a patriot, pro-military, and likes unilateral intervention. If you go into Iron Man looking for left-wing imagery, you’ll find that, too: The true villain here is Stane, representing an out-of-control military-industrial complex." (snip) "..As the Bush years give way to the Obama era, there will be no shortage of superheroes at the cineplex. Both Iron Man 2 and...

Ahead of the opening of his new film "X-Men Origins: Wolverine," Hugh Jackman was feeling pretty generous. TMZ reports that Jackman dropped $4,308.87 on breakfast for 800 lucky fans in Tempe, Ariz. Receipts indicate that he bought 87 breakfast trays and 80 gallons of coffee from Paradise Bakery, which is near the theater where fans had been camping out the day before Monday's movie premiere. The breakfast items were reportedly pretty simple -- platters of bagels, muffins and croissants. Check out the receipt posted on TMZ

MEXICO CITY—Even the mighty Wolverine is taking precautions when it comes to swine flu. Film distributor 20th Century Fox says it has canceled actor Hugh Jackman's scheduled appearance in Mexico City to promote "X-Men Origins: Wolverine."

X-Men star Patrick Stewart in foul-mouthed tirade at fan who took picture in theatre Apr 16 2009 By Jane Hamilton HOLLYWOOD star Patrick Stewart launched a foul-mouthed tirade at a fan who took a picture of him onstage. He called the man an "a***hole" as he queued to get the actor's autograph following a stage performance.The 68-year-old X-Men star is touring with acting legend Sir Ian McKellan in Samuel Becket's classic play Waiting For Godot.As the fan waited outside the King's Theatre in Edinburgh afterwards, Stewart pointed his fingers and shouted: "Can you sleep at night?" His co-star Sir Ian looked...

A US columnist is out of a job after posting an online review of an illegally downloaded copy of X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Roger Friedman, who wrote the piece on his regular column, had worked at the Fox news website for 10 years.

Sometimes, if you're paying attention, you can watch an event as it unfolds and see that, even if you are unsure of the outcome, the world you know has been changed forever. I'm sure somewhere in 1914 someone said, "Well, now that they've killed the Archduke Ferdinand, the whole world will go to war." Well, last night someone assassinated Fox's X-Men Origins: Wolverine, and it is the shot heard 'round the movie blogosphere. Someone released a DVD-quality, watermark and timecode-free copy of Fox's summer tent-pole blockbuster to the torrents. While the film is a work print (with incomplete effects, temp...

Official "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" trailer is out!

Having proven his aptitude writing about teenagers who think they are the most powerful people in the world, Josh Schwartz will soon be writing about teenagers who really are. Mr. Schwartz, below, a creator of the prime-time soap operas “The OC” and “Gossip Girl,” has been signed by 20th Century Fox to write “X-Men: First Class,” an entry in that comic-book movie franchise, Variety reported. Mr. Schwartz’s script, adapted from the Marvel comics about superpowered youths, will chronicle the early days of the Xavier Institute for Higher Learning, when heroes like Cyclops and the Beast were still learning the ropes.

COLUMBIA, S.C. -- The comic book illustrator who overhauled X-Men in the 1970s and helped popularize the Marvel Comics title has died at age 63. Dave Cockrum's wife Paty said her husband died wearing his Superman pajamas and wrapped in his Batman blanket at his Belton home Sunday after a long battle with diabetes. At Marvel Comics, Cockrum and writer Len Wein took the X-Men comic and made it their own, adding signature characters like Storm, Mystique and Nightcrawler. Cockrum moved to South Carolina in 2004 after being hospitalized for bacterial pneumonia. Cox Funeral Home said Cockrum wanted no public...

Time for a new FreeRepublic folding@home thread. Our FreeRepublic team of 351 members comprised primarily of Free Republic members in good standing have banded together to donate their excess CPU cycles to a worthy cause. Via distributed computing, millions of computers around the world, contribute directly to scientific research, in the quest for a greater understanding of diseases such as Alzheimer's, Cancer, and Mad Cow (BSE). Currently, the team is in 85th place (with 908 active CPUs - 47,400 completed Work Units and nearly 8.5 million points). This is an entirely voluntary program, and if you want to learn more,...

Twentieth Century Fox plans to keep the mutants coming with a spinoff of its popular "X-Men" film franchise starring Australian-born actor Hugh Jackman in the title role of "Wolverine." A studio spokesman confirmed on Wednesday that the film is in development with a script currently in the works but no director yet on board. Although initial reports from the international industry conference Cine Expo in Amsterdam suggested the film was slated for a 2007 release, the Fox spokesman said it was doubtful the picture would be ready before 2008, in part because Jackman is expected to do another movie first...

Superheroes: fighting crime, fighting hemorrhoids By Eric Heyl TRIBUNE-REVIEW Friday, June 23, 2006 Crime fighting lesbians might only be the beginning. DC Comics recently announced the soon-to-be revived Batwoman character will do more than battle evildoers. She also will display a libidinal fondness for the ladies. (Here is where I resist the temptation to say: Not that there's anything wrong with that. Not that there's anything wrong with using that oft-quoted Seinfeldism, except for the fact it has become a cliche.)

Time for a new FreeRepublic folding@home thread. Our FreeRepublic team of 342 members comprised primarily of Free Republic members in good standing have banded together to donate their excess CPU cycles to a worthy cause. Via distributed computing, millions of computers around the world, contribute directly to scientific research, in the quest for a greater understanding of diseases such as Alzheimer's, Cancer, and Mad Cow (BSE). Currently, the team is in 99th place (with 985 active CPUs - 39,500 completed Work Units and nearly 7 million points). This is an entirely voluntary program, and if you want to learn more,...

LOS ANGELES - The superhero epic "X-Men: The Last Stand" proved magnetic over the Memorial Day weekend, taking in $120.1 million, the biggest opening ever for the holiday weekend. Preliminary estimates also gave the latest installment of the comic book franchise the fourth best three-day opening ever and the best single Friday in movie history with a gross of $45.5 million. The film's box office was the second-biggest one-day gross ever after last year's "Star Wars: Episode III." The movie exceeded expectations, including those of 20th Century Fox, which released it. "Wow," said Bruce Snyder, head of distribution at 20th...

"X Men 3: The Last Stand" took in almost $45 million on Friday and landed in the history books. It is now the second highest opener of all time, right behind "Star Wars: Attack of the Sith." Insiders are predicting that the Brett Ratner directed third episode in the X Men trilogy could do as much as $150 million over the four day Memorial Day weekend. Word of mouth and "tracking" are so strong that "X Men 3," with no real rivals, should shatter all kinds of records by time the numbers are in officially on Tuesday. Meantime, audiences may...

Time for a new FreeRepublic folding@home thread. Our FreeRepublic team of 337 members comprised primarily of Free Republic members in good standing have banded together to donate their excess CPU cycles to a worthy cause. Via distributed computing, millions of computers around the world, contribute directly to scientific research, in the quest for a greater understanding of diseases such as Alzheimer's, Cancer, and Mad Cow (BSE). Currently, the team is in 103th place (with 988 active CPUs - 36,400 completed Work Units and more than 6,4 million points). This is an entirely voluntary program, and if you want to learn...

What was meant to be a friendly chat to promote the new "X-Men" movie turned into a frosty discussion about race on a popular morning radio program, but the British Broadcasting Corp. defended its disc jockey - reports Associated Press. Oscar-winning actress Halle Berry appeared on Chris Moyles' Radio One breakfast show Thursday and clashed with her host after he impersonated what he described as a "big, fat, black guy." "Are we having a racist moment here?" Berry, the first black actress to win an Academy Award for a lead role, asked Moyles after she took exception to his impersonation....

Time for a new FreeRepublic folding@home thread. Our FreeRepublic team of 325+ members comprised primarily of Free Republic members in good standing have banded together to donate their excess CPU cycles to a worthy cause. Via distributed computing, millions of computers around the world, contribute directly to scientific research, in the quest for a greater understanding of diseases such as Alzheimer's, Cancer, and Mad Cow (BSE). Currently, the team is in 108th place (with 991 active CPUs - 34,150 completed Work Units and more than 6,000,000 points). This is an entirely voluntary program, and if you want to learn more,...