X-Men: Days of Future Past
I’ve discussed my feelings on X-Men in general before, but in case you don’t know, I don’t really love the franchise, but I keep up with it anyway. I thought 1 & 2 were pretty meh. I actually liked 3 OK, but everyone else hated it. X-Men Origins: Wolverine was OK. I did really enjoy X Men: First Class. The Wolverine was fine. X-Men: Days of Future Past was thankfully more in the First Class vein, and I enjoyed it.
First off, if you’re going to see this movie (and you haven’t already), you might want to brush up on your X-Men movies because I was confused a few times and had to ask my husband a few questions after the fact. Also, I somehow missed the memo that the first part of the movie was in the future, so that part confused me too. So just know, it’s in the future! Well, until it’s in the past. But that part is pretty obvious. 🙂
This movie is heavy on Hugh Jackman and Jennifer Lawrence as Wolverine and Mystique, which I wasn’t expecting, and of course on Charles Xavier and Eric/Magneto, mostly on the portrayals done by James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender. The whole cast is great, but if you’re looking for a lot of people from First Class, you’re not going to find many outside of those already mentioned. Most of this movie also takes place in the 70’s, and I thought the way they filmed much of the 70’s storyline was great with a grainy film look.
My two biggest reservations about this movie though are that the cast is so large that you don’t get as much of any one character as you’d really like (unless you’re a big Wolverine or Mystique fan), and that the story felt a bit convoluted to me. The idea of changing this one thing to change everything else and then not expect that it couldn’t go wrong another way seemed really naive, and then of course when that did happen, how they managed things didn’t feel like it would have actually worked well enough. And what happened to Magneto after the 70’s story? I’m dying to know!
You’ve probably heard a lot about the addition of Quicksilver in the movie, and that scene in the kitchen was a lot of fun, definitely a high point in the movie. His time was so brief though that it almost felt pointless. But not pointless enough for me to mind him being there, since it was entertaining.
This is a hard movie to only “mini-review,” yet at the same time I don’t want to go on and on about it. If you enjoyed First Class, then see this movie.
Also check out:
Funk House of Geekery’s The 10 Best and the 10 Worst of X-Men: Days of Future Past
Natalie’s (Natflix and Books) review
The Monuments Men
So imagine if Danny Ocean (Ocean’s 11) was into art and had a purer heart and lived during WWII, and you would kind of have an idea of the premise of The Monuments Men. This was an interesting sort of movie. It’s written and directed by George Clooney, and while it was beautifully filmed, it’s clear he doesn’t have much screenwriting experience (though I did look up his writing experience and he did also write the screenplay for Good Night and Good Luck, which was a snore of a movie for me when I really thought I’d like it). The first part of the movie has a very strange pace and it felt very disjointed. We’re “introduced” to the different Monuments Men, though not in a very coherent fashion, so it took me a while to remember who all these people were.
But once you realize who everyone really is and get into the story, it’s interesting. There was a really poignant scene where Bill Murray’s character gets a recorded message from home that really stood out for me in the movie. There are other little vignettes, just glimpses into these these men’s missions, that build up to the climax of them finding particular art that they have been seeking for much of the film after the death of one of their own.
The Cate Blanchett character was a disappointment for me since she’s a great actress and her character was so distant and not very interesting. She’s so cold for most of the movie, and then warms up to Matt Damon’s character after she realizes he and the other Monuments Men want to genuinely protect art, so much so that she’s coming onto him (even though she knows very well that he’s married), and it felt weird and unnatural. Thankfully Matt Damon’s character, James, didn’t give in, but it just felt a little odd. If all that really happened in real life, I’m sure it unfolded in a more natural way than the way the movie presented it.
To me, this movie felt like it was just scratching the surface of something larger, just trying to give me a glimpse into a much grander story. During the credits I Googled to see if there was a book and then proceeded to add it to Goodreads, because I wanted to know the whole story instead of just these little parts. This movie wasn’t enough, and some of the script was weak, but it gave me a craving for more and had some interesting elements to it.
If you’ve seen either of these movies, let me know what you thought of them!
Overall, I did like the new X-Men movie, except well, I felt like it didn’t have continuity with the previous films (Like Mystique/Raven suddenly being best friends with Charles, or like why didn’t the sentinels stop the mutants in X-Men 1, 2, and 3, etc.) Plus it was just a way to rewrite the past so that Marvel can make new movies. Because now X-Men 1, 2, and especially 3, aren’t accurate, and now we need to know what exactly happened. I haven’t watched the Wolverine movies or First Class, but I have them and I will get to them one day.
So yeah. That’s just what I think. I also LOVED Quicksilver, and I don’t understand why he couldn’t stay in the rest of the film. He would’ve been so useful!
The Raven/Charles thing will make sense after you watch First Class, because it includes their backstory as friends there. I asked my husband the same thing about why the sentinels didn’t come around sooner, and apparently he thought it took that long to get them developed. I hope you enjoy First Class when you do see it; it’s probably the best of the franchise.
DOFP was probably my favorite of the X-Men movies, right next to First Class. The original trilogy was actually pretty enjoyable for me; I’m still not sure why there’s so much hate for the third one. Although I hope they do a new Phoenix storyline – I guess that would be the only thing I’d change about the Last Stand. I’ve watched the whole franchise way too many times over, so I knew most of what was going on. My sister kept having to ask me questions though 😀
I don’t know why there’s such hate either. If I recall correctly (it has been a while since I’ve seen it), I thought it was less cheesy than the first two.
I’ve only seen Days of Future Past, and really enjoyed it but I think the X-Men is my favorite superhero franchise, and I loved how complex this story was. It was a little naive though to gamble that keeping Mystique from killing Trask would solve all their problems. Quicksilver also makes me reconsider my usual answer to what superhero power I would like to have – super speed seems so useful – I could get so much done!
I was interested in Monument’s Men just to see Jean Dujardin, but I missed it in theaters. I don’t think it’s something I would particularly like though after reading your review.
Super speed does seem quite useful, doesn’t it?!
I liked the new X-men movie but at the end I was so confused about what still applied to the changed timeline and what movies “histories” were cast out. Also, every time I looked at the younger Professor X I would connect him to Lieutenant Dan from Forrest Gump because they looked alike!!!!!! I just kept calling him Lieutenant X.
If that was confusing for us, imagine how confused Logan/Wolverine must be with a new timeline!
I loved Days of Future Past! It’s so funny that you experienced it being focused on Wolverine and Mystique (which I totally get). I thought it was totally Xavier’s movie. Especially after going back and seeing First Class again which I felt was Magneto’s movie. Because the entire emotional arc of DoFP hinged on Xavier and all the other moving pieces felt like it was about his heart and his character. And that’s part of way I loved it so much, because I absolutely adore James McAvoy. He’s just so, so brilliant and I was blown out of the water by his performance in this film.
And, of course, everyone else was good and I thought they fit Quicksilver in better than I expected. It’s like my favorite movie of the year, so far, I think.
It is partly Xavier’s movie, and I definitely see where his character arc is prominent in it. I just actually felt there wasn’t enough of him or Eric, since they didn’t seem as prominent as they were in First Class. I do agree that James McAvoy is great!