Quote:X-Men: The Last Stand[6] (also marketed as X3 or X-Men 3) is a 2006 superhero film based on the X-Men superhero team introduced in Marvel Comics. It is the sequel to 2003's X2, as well as the third installment in the X-Men film series, and was directed by Brett Ratner and written by Simon Kinberg and Zak Penn. It features an ensemble cast including Hugh Jackman, Halle Berry, Ian McKellen, Famke Janssen, Anna Paquin, Kelsey Grammer, James Marsden, Rebecca Romijn, Shawn Ashmore, Aaron Stanford, Vinnie Jones and Patrick Stewart. The film's script is loosely based on two X-Men comic book story arcs: "The Dark Phoenix Saga" by writer Chris Claremont and artist John Byrne, and "Gifted" by writer Joss Whedon and artist John Cassaday, with a plot that revolves around a "mutant cure" that causes serious repercussions among mutants and humans, and on the resurrection of Jean Grey.

Quote:Joe Gardner, a middle school music teacher, feels stuck in life and unfulfilled at his job. He dreams of a career in jazz, to which his seamstress mother, Libba, objects, fearing that he will not be financially secure. By chance, his former student Curly informs him of an opening in the band of jazz legend Dorothea Williams. Joe impresses Dorothea with his piano playing and is offered the job on the spot. As Joe happily heads off to prepare for his first performance later that night, he falls down a manhole.

Joe finds himself as a soul heading into the "Great Beyond". Unwilling to die before his big break, he tries to escape but ends up in the "Great Before", where soul counselors—all named Jerry—prepare unborn souls for life on Earth. Joe poses as an instructor who is set to train the souls and is assigned 22, a cynical soul who has remained in the Great Before for millennia and sees no point in living on Earth. 22 reveals that she has a badge that fills up with traits. She needs to find her "spark" to complete it and says she will give it to Joe so that he can return home.

Joe tries to assist 22 in finding a passion, but the attempts prove futile. With no other options, 22 takes him out to "the zone", an area that people enter when their passion sets them into a euphoric trance; it also houses the lost souls who become obsessed. They meet Moonwind, a sign twirler who enters the zone to rescue lost souls. He agrees to help Joe return to his body and they learn that Joe's fall down the manhole sent him into a coma. Joe excitedly hops back to Earth but accidentally brings 22 with him, resulting in 22 entering his body and Joe ending up in the body of a therapy cat. Meanwhile, Terry, an accountant designated to counting souls headed to the Great Beyond, finds the count off and convinces the Jerrys to let her return the missing soul.

22 and Joe escape the hospital. Initially frightened, 22 settles into Joe's body and finds great enjoyment in the little things in life. They head to Joe's apartment where Connie, one of Joe's students, arrives to tell him that she is quitting the band. Before leaving, Connie plays a passionate trombone solo, stunning 22, who convinces her of the talent she has and that music is for her. Happy, Connie thanks "Joe" and leaves, having changed her mind. They next go to get a haircut where 22 holds a deep, poignant conversation with Dez, the barber. After 22 rips Joe's pants while bending down, the duo go to see Libba to have it fixed; after "Joe" reconciles with his mother, Libba finally accepts Joe's passion for music and offers him his late father's old suit.

Before Moonwind can restore Joe, 22, who both experiences an epiphany and decides she must find her purpose on Earth, refuses to proceed with Joe's restoration. As she flees with Joe tailing behind, Terry catches up and brings both back to the Great Before, where 22 sees that her badge has been filled out. However, Joe tells her that his experiences and tastes earned the badge. Angry, 22 tosses the badge at Joe and disappears into the zone. Joe learns from a Jerry that instead of a life's purpose, a spark simply means that a soul is ready to live. He heads back to Earth and has a successful first performance with the Dorothea quartet, but does not feel right about what happened.

Inspired by the objects 22 collected while in his body, Joe plays the piano to enter the zone and look for 22, who is now a lost soul. He tries to return her badge, but 22 remains hopeless and broken about her purpose. Using a small maple seed that 22 had collected, Joe convinces her that she is ready to live, and she returns to normal. With her badge back, 22 finally enters Earth with Joe accompanying her for as long as he can. As he prepares to head into the Great Beyond, Joe is stopped by a Jerry who tells him that he has inspired them and will give him another chance at life. Joe thanks them and returns to his body back in Earth, now with the intent to live his life to the fullest.

Quote:Inventor Frank Walker addresses an unseen audience about the future. When he was a young boy, Frank attended the 1964 New York World's Fair, to sell his prototype jetpack. It is rejected by judge David Nix on the basis that it does not work. Frank is approached by a young girl, Athena, who hands him a blue lapel pin with an orange “T” embossed on it, telling him to follow her onto Walt Disney's “It's a Small World” attraction at the Fair's Pepsi-Cola Pavilion. Frank obeys and sneaks onto the ride, where the pin is scanned by a laser, and he is transported to Tomorrowland, a futuristic cityscape, where advanced robots fix his jetpack, allowing him to fly and join the secretive world.

Frank passes the narration to the optimistic teenager Casey Newton. In the present, Casey repeatedly sabotages the planned demolition of a NASA launch site in Florida. Her father, Eddie, is a NASA engineer, but faces losing his job. Casey is eventually caught and arrested. At the police station, she finds a pin in her belongings (which appears similar to the pin young Frank was given by Athena, but colored oppositely). While touching it, the pin transports her to Tomorrowland. Her adventure is cut short when the pin's battery runs out, frustrating her.

With help from her younger brother Nate, Casey finds a Houston memorabilia store related to the pin. The owners, Hugo Gernsback and his wife Ursula, attack her when she is unable to divulge where she got the pin, insisting that Casey knows about a "little girl." Athena, who gave Casey the pin, bursts in and defeats the owners, actually Audio-Animatronics, who self-destruct, blowing apart the shop. After Casey and Athena steal a car, Athena reveals she is an animatronic, purposed to find and recruit people who fit the ideals of Tomorrowland. Athena drops Casey off outside an adult Frank’s house in Pittsfield, New York.