X-Men: Days of Future Past Movie Review (Mild spoilers)

Better late than never.

X-Men: Days of Future Past is directed by Bryan Singer, the director returning to the helm of the X-Men franchise after previously directing the first two instalments; X-Men and X2. The film sees the mutants we know and love living in an apocalyptic wasteland on the run from machines known as Sentinels. These beings are incredibly powerful and can adapt to any mutant power in order to defeat them, plus have the ability to target mutants and humans with the gene for mutation. In order to avert this future, the X-Men send Wolverine back in time to round up Charles Xavier, Magneto and others in order to stop Mystique from assassinating Bolivar Trask, this being the event which sees the Sentinel's creation.

I must say that the summer blockbusters of 2014 have been majorly impressive and enjoyable and this film is no exception. Bryan Singer's return proved to be a successful one for his directing career and the franchise itself as events within the film see a creation of an all new timeline, one which can be filled up with new X-Men movies. Singer not only removed some of the mistakes of X3: The Last Stand and X-Men Origins:Wolverine, but he also rendered the events of X Men 1,2 and The Wolverine as no longer canon.

I really have a fondness for the X-Men franchise because they strike an excellent balance between the ultra serious and realistic storytelling of The Dark Knight trilogy and the super-fun popcorn entertainment we get from the Avengers. The film finds this balance through genuine humour which works, especially in the first act of the film. At that stage of the film I was laughing consistently.

However the film is driven forward by its riveting story of time travel and alternate realities. For Bryan Singer and screenwriter Simon Kinberg to create a time travel tale, one from a beloved comic storyline of the same name, and create it so I never found myself confused or contradicted is a fantastic achievement. The time travel script was written with care, and translates clearly onto the big screen.

What really makes the movie though is the emotional weight we feel towards characters we are familiar with. Each character has different layers and depth to them. For example, Charles Xavier at this point is a broken man who has lost all hope, different to the wise old man we know. Wolverine has to use his brain as opposed to going berserk like he normally does and Mystique is emotionally conflicted in every sense. What I also loved was the parallel between past Magneto (Fassbender) and future Magneto (Mckellen) and seeing just how much that character has developed.

The performances are great across the board, my two favourites being McAvoy and Fassbender, who's chemistry which made First Class such a hit is still there.

While some may complain about the lack of action, I won't because the story was compelling and the characters were so interesting. My one exception would be main villain Bolivar Trask. While Peter Dinklage does well acting wise, I didn't understand his motivation for creating these Sentinels. A more compelling villain would have put this film on another level. Also, a few inconsistencies still exist within the X-Men timeline, but those events never actually happened according to the new timeline so I can't really complain.

Also, I can't not mention Quicksilver. While the production photos made him look terrible, he is actually a really cool character. And he's fast, really fast. That scene in the Pentagon where we see Quicksilver run at super speed and take out all of those guys in that kitchen is one of my favourite scenes in a Marvel movie.

Despite a weakness with the villain, I loved Days of Future Past and I think it exceeds the most through its story and through its characters. It's ballsy and changes the timeline of X-Men films allowing room for many more instalments. And with Bryan Singer returning for X-Men: Apocalypse in 2016, I can't wait to see where this franchise goes.


Rating - A


1 sentence summary - Everything great about the X-Men franchise bundled into one fantastic movie!


Thanks for reading,
Matt

The Counselor Movie Review

This movie is not popular with the critics at the moment, but I thought I would watch it myself and draw my own conclusions...

The Counselor is directed by Ridley Scott (Gladiator, Prometheus) and stars Michael Fassbender in the lead role, along with other world-famous actors such as Cameron Diaz, Penelope Cruz, Brad Pitt and Javier Bardem. Admitttedly The Counselor can say that it has an exceptional cast of actors at it's disposal. Ridley Scott movies are either hits or real misses.

Unfortunately, The Counselor misses.

It is one of the worst movies I have seen all year for many reasons. However, I did take away a few minute positives from it.

Firstly, I must commend the guts of the director for making this film in such a unique way. Also, I thought that, despite the material they had in front of them, Michael Fassbender, Javier Bardem and Brad Pitt all gave good performances. Honestly, they tried hard to redeem this movie..

However the underlying issue with this movie is absolutely huge in that the screenplay is a complete f***ing mess!

The script is dull and uninteresting and at times when characters were talking I felt like falling asleep because I really couldn't get interested. Honestly, I tried! In movies, you should be completely riveted by a conversation between 2 characters but The Counselor does not offer you that. It is just a string of irrelevant and poorly written dialogue that sends you to sleep..

The film's editing is a mess and some of the story elements really don't make much sense. I just didn't get behind The Counselor's style unfortunately and that makes me sad because I really wanted to like this movie.

The plot is poorly told in my opinion, it could have been handled so much better if in the hands of better writers and better directors. At times, the movie tries to be gory and violent but those scenes come out at you without much notice, they feel unnatural compared to the rest of the movie.

At other times, the story becomes really weird. There is one scene which involves Cameron Diaz dry-humping a car! Was I supposed to laugh? I didn't laugh. It was the biggest "wtf" moment of any film I have seen this year.

As for Cameron Diaz, I feel sorry for her. The dialogue is written poorly and she solidifies that fact by delivering the lines with no real heart or conviction. It felt unnatural. Plus, practically every line she says is audio-dubbed which is even more distracting.

In all honesty, The Counselor is an odd movie that is unfortunately boring and uninteresting. The performances do save it slightly but they are over-shadowed by a screenplay which is literally all over the place..

I don't like giving movies low ratings but I must give my honest opinion:


Rating - D+


1 sentence summary - A poorly written movie that comes across as dull and uninteresting!


Can't recommend you seeing this one. Wasn't a fan...

Thanks for reading,
Matt

12 Years a Slave Movie Review

If you ever want to feel like a massive dick inside, then definitely go out and watch 12 Years a Slave. All I did was watch it and now I feel like the world's biggest douchebag..

12 Years A Slave is a true story which is directed by Steve McQueen and has a huge cast to boast about; the likes of Brad Pitt, Benedict Cumberbatch, Paul Dano and Michael Fassbender join Chiwetel Ejiofor in a tale set in one of the darkest times of recent history.

It documents the true story of Solomon Northup, a free black man living in upstate New York, who is sold into slavery. The film then shows the harsh and brutal events that follow during Northup's 12 year period as a slave. Along the way, you meet a whole host of different people and numerous events begin to happen, events that make you feel horrible and guilty inside.

This is a movie that effects you deeply in ways that it should do. This film is brutally honest and takes an un-flinching look at slavery in the 1800s. It shows us just how satanic and barbaric people were and how awfully these people were treated.

12 Years a Slave was at times a very difficult watch because at times it would show the brutal extent of the suffering of these slaves, in camera shots that seemed  to last a lifetime.

The direction from Steve McQueen is seamless and impressive as every single shot is framed and lit to absolute perfection. Some of the takes in this movie are so good because they shows us the extent of the brutality of slavery by simply lasting forever. They stick with you, I can't get the images out of my head..

For example, one shot sees a barbaric event continuously happening in the foreground of the shot and the background just sees people ignoring the event and getting on with what they have to do. Not only is it excellently thought-out and delivered with precision, it is also impressive because it visually
gives audience members the true extent of the suffering of these people.

Also, the quiet yet effective soundtrack reminded me of the last song from the Inception soundtrack. Am I the only one who noticed that? It doesn't matter, it worked perfectly for this movie..

Slavery is a very delicate topic and still happens in the world today and it was a very bold choice of McQueen and the rest of the team behind the screenplay to display the harsh reality of it. I am happy that they did do it, even if it does have such a depressing effect on you.

The performances in this movie were all great. With such a huge cast it was difficult for everybody to stand out but I think it's fair to say that everyone really does deliver.

Chiwetel Ejiofor is perfect as the main character as it only takes you 5 minutes into the movie before you are full on routing for this guy to succeed. It isn't a performance that screams "Look at me! Look at me!", it is perfect for the role he is trying to play. Excellent job.

Brad Pitt and Benedict Cumberbatch are 2 other stand-out performers in this movie and some of my favourite scenes were when Solomon Northup is simply talking to Pitt and Cumberbatch's characters. They played 2 very sympathetic characters and I thought they did well. Mind you, they probably looked like even better people when you look at this next character..

Michael Fassbender is truly excellent in 12 Years a Slave. His character is the most barbaric, twisted and evil soul in the world and boy does Fassbender live it up when playing him. You can tell he really enjoyed playing this guy and I enjoyed his performance.

12 Years a Slave is an excellent film, there is no denying it. Critics all over the world will give it their highest possible praise, that is inevitable and fully justified.  However, I felt that 12 Years a Slave let itself down as an experience..

This movie is 2 hours long and boy does it show. I have nothing against long films, but when you pack in so much emotional weight and eye-opening brutality into 2 hours like 12 Years a Slave does, it will ultimately detract from the experience.

I ended this movie admiring the performances, the technical ingenuity and the brutal, eye-opening honesty it showed, but I also left feeling horrible about myself. Some scenes in this movie are difficult to watch because they are just so horrible, so depressing. In the end, I can't give 12 Years a Slave my highest possible praise because I didn't enjoy it as much as I wanted to.

That being said, I still think 12 Years a Slave is one of the year's best and deserves all of the credit it gets from fans and critics alike. People may disagree with my rating but I stand by it:


Rating - A-


1 sentence summary - A well made, honest and brutal look at one of the darkest times in recent history, an emotional and sometimes a difficult watch!


I expect this one to be up for either Best Picture of Best Adapted Screenplay on Oscar night, it's a terrific movie.


Thanks for reading,
Matt