The X-Files and Step Brothers

Two reviews for you this week: The X-Files: I Want to Believe over at the Times, and Step Brothers over at the Standard. I must admit to being terribly disappointed by the X-Files flick; I was a pretty big fan of the series (read: big nerd) during its best years, a solid stretch in the mid-to-late 90s. I especially loved the standalone episodes. The comedic ones (like “Jose Chung’s from Outer Space”) were great, but the thrillers were the heart of the series. Like the episodes starring the liver-eater, or the episode with the creepy doll written by Stephen King. Great stuff. For most of the 90s it was the only show on television that consistently provided chills.

But the movie’s just no good. There are too many ridiculous, nonsensical scenes (like the [mild spoiler alert] one in which Scully, while trying to track down Mulder, sees a mailbox with 255 on it, then recalls that a crazy character earlier in the film who recited proverbs 25:5) for this to be an effective thriller. Not to mention the massive sense of dislocation–releasing a film in the dead of summer when most of the action takes place in snow banks is vaguely distracting.

Instead of seeing this movie, spend the $10 on a repeat viewing of The Dark Knight and help push it over the $300M threshold.