X-Fever: The Next Generation

With just a few days to opening weekend, the mutant news continues ... Trish Tilby would be proud.

Not quite The Last Stand?
The Chicago Tribune reports that the third and supposedly last X-Men movie could still spawn another sequel:

By the time the dust clears in the big finale of "X-Men: The Last Stand" -- and, no, we're not divulging the ending here -- fans of the movie franchise might be somewhat confused.

After three films chronicling the adventures of a band of mutant superheroes that first surfaced in comic-book form, is this, indeed, the last stand of the X-Men?

Twentieth Century Fox studio wants us to believe it is. Director Brett Ratner says it is. But in Hollywood, where decisions are largely based on box-office numbers, the door is always slightly ajar for more of a good -- if not profitable -- thing.

Comic fans, of course, know that dead doesn't always mean dead ...

Mutant metaphors
The Dallas Morning News writes about a new book, The Unauthorized X-Men, that collects essays about the metaphors behind the X-Men:

"It's a subgroup of humanity, and as such, you can use them as a parallel to all sorts of stories," says Len Wein, editor of The Unauthorized X-Men and a former writer and editor for Marvel Comics who helped create the most popular X-Man, Wolverine (played in the movies by Hugh Jackman). "The fact that they're mutants, the fact that they're an oppressed minority, gives you a starting place that you can't get to with most superhero groups."

XTV
The stars of the new X-flick will appear on talk shows all week long:

• Halle Berry will appear on Regis and Kelly on Wednesday, and Hugh Jackman will be on the show on Thursday.
• Jackman will be on NBC's Late Night with Conan O'Brien on Wednesday, followed by Berry on Friday.
• Anna Paquin will be a guest on NBC's Last Call with Carson Daly on Wednesday.
• Kelsey Grammer will be on ABC's The View on Wednesday, followed by Berry on Friday.
• Cast members will appear on MTV's Total Request Live on Thursday.
• Berry will be a guest on CBS' The Late Show with David Letterman on Thursday.
• Jackman will be a guest on the Ellen DeGeneres Show on Friday.
• Berry will be featured on CBS' The Early Show on Friday.
• Director Brett Ratner will be a guest on ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live on Friday.

Game over
Joystiq begins collecting reviews of the X-Men video game that ties into the movie. It doesn't sound promising:

The chief complaints with The Official Game are, well, pretty much everything. Combat, cutscenes, and background story all failed to inspire the critics, and there are frequent glitches. Kind of makes me long for the days of X-Men and its Clone Wars sequel on the Sega Genesis. Let's hope Brett Ratner did a better job with The Last Stand.

BTW, one reviewer notes that there really isn't much difference between the Xbox 360 "next generation" graphics and those for other consoles. The 360 version, though, costs $20 more.