Markie goes to movies (so you don't have to)

X-Men: The Stand (dir. Brett Ratner) I'll be damned if I can figure out what in this not-bad summer junk movie motivated folks to spend $120,000,000 seeing it the first four days it was open. Not much of a storyline (you hear most of it in the trailer), and then that one goes off the rails early on, so you're left either (a) caring deeply about the various hearbreaks in store for mutant lovers (Jean Gray and Logan, Rogue and Cyclops) or (b) going "whoa" at the special effects. So better, I guess, than a lost Star Wars prequel episode, but not as good as Spider-Man I. Mark's review (stupid points): ??½