Wow, I have quite the different opinion of the X-Men movie than Jim has. I also was a longtime reader of the comic book, and I actually even worked in a comic book shop for a year or so. I thought that the movie was entertaining, but was somewhat dissapointed with how little some of the characters, notably Jean Grey and Scott Summers(Cyclops) were developed and used. Overall, I thought it was a good movie if you are familiar and already love the characters, but I didn’t think it was a good standalone movie. There is a this rich history of stories from the comic that I wish they had tapped into a little more. Sabretooth is Wolverine’s father and they didn’t even hint that Sabretooth knew who Wolverine even was.
This brings up a bigger issue that I have been wrestling with about movies this summer. It seems like the overall quality of movies is declining to me. It seems like Hollywood is getting even more formulaic than they already were, or maybe there has been some change in me that makes the existing level of predictableness no longer acceptable. I've seen all the big blockbuster movies this summer and I wouldn't describe any of them as good movies with compelling stories.