Word: singers
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That was the notion behind X-Men: a school for mutants, run by Professor Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart), mind bender and father figure. Director Bryan Singer's first XMen, a hit from summer 2000, was basically Men in Black from the point of view of the humanly challenged: sure, the earth is overrun by odd creatures, but we must nurture them and harness their strengths, not send out the feds on an ethnic-cleansing orgy...
Having served its dual function of introducing the X-folk--saber-clawed Wolverine (Hugh Jackman), telekinetic Jean Grey (Famke Janssen), weatherwoman Storm (Halle Berry), etc.--and earned $300 million worldwide, X-Men has spawned the requisite sequel. Singer saw the first film as a primer; now he has eyes for an epic. X2 is half an hour longer, miles more ambitious and a bit better than the wowless original...
...supernal types, each bending the laws of physics in a peculiar fashion, each trying not to obstruct the others while implicitly angling for a spin-off series of his or her own. Though this tactic offers a pleasing congestion, it risks piling on--cluttering the narrative with myriad subplots. Singer figures the audience won't mind as long as the actors have the requisite dishiness. As they do. Janssen can look into our minds anytime. Jackman, on the verge of stardom for three years, grows ever more appealing. The yummy Romijn-Stamos could start her own Las Vegas mime...
...lend a whiff of aristocracy to his enterprise, Singer relies on the orotund majesty of British thesping. Stewart and McKellen give heft to their respective patriarch and pariah. They make each debate on the shaky future of mankind sound as if it were taking place in the House of Lords--even if they are both forced to sport the goofiest headgear in fantasy-film history...
DIED. NINA SIMONE, 70, fiery, eclectic singer and classically trained pianist who was known, somewhat inaccurately, as the "high priestess of soul"; of undisclosed causes; in Carry-le-Rouet, France. Born Eunice Waymon (she changed her name so her mother wouldn't catch on to her pop career), the onetime aspiring concert pianist and self-described "diva" had only one hit single--I Loves You Porgy in 1959--but gained a following in the U.S. and Europe for her alternately smooth and gravelly tones, majestic stage presence and maverick opinions. Bristling at mainstream pop-music labels, Simone called her music...