Large fan boy Harry Knowles has seemingly walked back his “official recommendation” of skipping Wolverine, saying he’ll check it out in theaters today, opening day. His initial shrugging protest seemed mainly inspired by the fact that “Fox refused to invite one [sic] the AICN editors to an advance screening,” which was probably inspired by posts like this one, which called 20th Century Fox out on the fact that they were lying about differences between the leaked, air-quote work print online and the final version of the film opening in theaters today. Huge multi-national corporations tend not to like being called out on their shit.

So… Knowles’ reaction: Petty? Sure. But it’s actually more or less in line with my own feelings, in some ways. He just plays the slightly douchey slight-me-and-I’ll-slight-you-back card. I was a huge fan of the first two X-Men films, understandably a bit baffled by the third flick, but still a big fan of Hugh Jackman. So I should care about Wolverine. At least a little bit. But now? After being waylaid in efforts to line up a screening earlier in the week, (which, hey, they at least actually took the proactive step of inviting critics to), I just don’t care. There’s no anger or pique, though, really, except when I have a pressing assignment; this just more or less dovetails with the swell in a shrugging, above-the-fray attitude with which I’ve been infected over the hassle of so many studio screenings. I won’t say that I’ve grown cynical about films themselves; I haven’t. But the number of movies which elicit true anticipation seem to shrink every year. There’s plenty of stuff in which I have legitimate interest, but if all the variables don’t align, or I only get a same-day invite or some such bullshit, nevermind… I’m on to the next thing. Money attaches itself to other opportunities, and there are always other things to see and write about. I don’t feel the slightest bit empty inside missing a lot of these Hollywood movies.