X-Men: Days of Future Past - Review

In the future, mutant exterminating machines called Sentinels are sent to destroy the mutant race. A small group of survivors send one of their own back into the past to help destroy the future in X-Men: Days of Future Past.



I'm going to just go right into this and say this movie disappointed the hell out of me. I had very high expectations given how great X-Men: First Class was. I have to say I enjoyed First Class a lot more than Days of Future Past.
It has a great start bringing us into the future and re-introducing us to mutants we already know and it brought us into the past very well, but it soon became really jumbled together and it flipped back and forth way too freely. I have quite a few problems with this movie...

1. Character development was seriously lacking in this installment. There were way too many mutants that needed explanation and way too many with explanation of things we already knew. For example, there was no need to constantly explain what happened to Wolverine. He is probably the most developed and most utilized character of the X-Men franchise so far. He was a main character in the first three films and has two solo films. We know what happens to him and we don't need it explained to us all the fucking time.

2. Overhyped characters that were fairly irrelevant at the end of the day. The biggest offenders here were Bishop and Quicksilver. These two characters were hyped up at an alarming rate, especially Quicksilver, and they each failed to bring anything major. Bishop turned out to just be a surviving mutant battling Sentinels in the future. He had no explanation, no character development, and I don't think his name was said more than once.
Quicksilver was approached in the past simply because Wolverine said he knew him in the future. Again, no explanation other than the fact that he was fast. He has like 10min of total screentime and was one of the most hyped characters in the promos. Not to mention the Carl's Jr. commercial.

3. Despite being the main villain, Mystique was overshadowed heavily by both Trask and Magneto. Simple as that.

4. Not enough Sentinel action in the 70's. Actually, there wasn't enough action in the 70's at all. It was mostly Charles complaining and Wolverine struggling.

5. The time jumping got to be confusing. In the end, they focused more on the future than in the past and that was a huge mistake. The storyline we were invested in was not the mutants in the future. It was in the attempt to stop the Sentinels from being created. That was why Wolverine was sent back to begin with!

6. The way the mutants from First Class were utilized was stupid. Angel, Azazel, and Havok were completely wasted and would have been better off not being mentioned at all.



I think I just have to stop now. I am not saying I hated Days of Future Past because I didn't, but I did not love it like I thought I was going to. Definitely not the way I love First Class. There were things I enjoyed, but unfortunately they are a bit overshadowed by the bad. Nice try Bryan Singer, but Matthew Vaughn did a better job.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier - Review

Still attempting to adapt to the new world, Capt. Steve Rogers is confronted with the challenges of freedom, safety, and trust regarding his employers, peers, and a Soviet engineered assassin in Captain America: The Winter Soldier.


I have been excited for this one for quite sometime and without beating around the bush, it didn't disappoint. It avoided the drag that The First Avenger ran into and engaged the audience thoroughly. Move over Avengers because Captain America now has the best Marvel movie to date.
What I loved most about this movie is the intensity was brought to another level and it was a pretty thrilling movie in terms of the plot. It was political and challenged the viewer in terms of not really knowing who the enemy was. All the way up to the end you have a lot of questions and you don't really know who's side is right and I loved that a lot.
The casting was spot on and the continuing characters, minus Scarlett Johansson, were even better in this movie. I exclude her because truth be told, Black Widow was a lot easier to watch in previous Marvel flicks. She felt forced and boring to me in this one. Robert Redford was a powerhouse, Sebastian Stan was great, and Anthony Mackie was a very pleasant surprise. Falcon was well executed as was The Winter Soldier.
As far as the plot goes, I think this was the most well executed aspect of the film. Like I said, it was interesting and engaging and it really kept your attention. Captain America is faced with the question of whether S.H.I.E.L.D. was really in the best interest of freedom, and himself, or not. To see your main character question his place in the world is one thing, but to see him question his trust in his own country and its leaders was a whole other emotion.
I also liked how we got to see Steve's full, super soldier potential in this one. He was jumping, running, and punching his way through just about everything. His abilities were definitely more inclusive and apparent in this movie over The First Avenger and The Avengers. 

Now, there is one thing that legitimately surprised me. This serves as a disclaimer to those reading this who haven't seen it yet or are planning to take their children... there is a higher level of violence. A much higher level of violence.
Marvel movies are no stranger to fights, explosions, and car crashes but this movie seriously takes the cake. In addition to all of that we have people getting shot by fully automatic weapons, blind kills, hundreds being killed on the street at random, bombs, knife fights, brutal human on human beatings, and point blank executions. There were some little kids in my theater and I noticed parents walking them out during a couple of the major fight scenes and bringing them back after things calmed down. It definitely earned the PG-13 and I bet if there would have been blood included in all of it the film would have received an R-rating based on violence alone.
I'm not one of those people who advocates for less violence in film because I know it's pretend, but I think it could have been toned down a bit due to the nature of what these Marvel films are. People are taking their kids to see these movies because they are comic book superhero movies. When you have random people being thrown off rooftops and getting thrown into a burning jet turbine you are pushing the line a little bit. I've read a couple spoiler reviews since seeing it and I'm not the only one who walked away with a comment on the amount of violence this movie contained, so just a heads up if you're planning on taking any small kids to see this movie. It is a violent one and it's not the same as Thor throwing his hammer at a bunch of CGI creatures or Iron Man blasting some with his beams. It is continuous person on person violence often resulting in death. Don't bring your kids and say you weren't warned.

I don't want to spoil the rest of anything, so I will stop here. If you want to read on you can click the jump below the image. There I will discuss the plot in more detail along with the mid-credit and post-credit scenes. 
Overall I would now list Captain America: The Winter Soldier as the best Marvel movie to date. Sorry, but it was better than The Avengers.

First look at The Avengers: Age of Ultron

We got some set photos from Italy today regarding The Avengers: Age of Ultron. Within these we got a first peek at Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen), Quicksilver (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), and Ultron (James Spader).

I will admit I wasn't feeling the whole emo, goth thing at first for Scarlet Witch but I have warmed up to it. I still do not like the Quicksilver look, but at least it looks better than the Ramona Flowers lookalike in X-Men: Days of Future Past.

Age of Ultron receives another villain

In addition to a main villain battling against The Avengers in the upcoming sequel, we will have another villain to test the team. This villain is rumored to be more relevant to recent additions of Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch.

HitFix is reporting that Baron Von Strucker is the second villain in addition to Ultron that will be battling The Avengers, Von Strucker is another H.Y.D.R.A. leader (along with Red Skull whom we saw in Captain America: The First Avenger) and former Nazi soldier who has been altered to practically no physical vulnerability. He also possesses a super healing power which allows him to cheat death.As far as casting this character goes, apparently Marvel is seeking a physically imposing man aged 40-50. Rumors are already swirling around Dougray Scott and Marton Csokas.
Now, how does this come into play? Well, it is being said that Von Strucker is the one who brings Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch into the mix because they are both on his side. If this is true it will be an interesting storyline to see exactly how the twins join The Avengers. Unless they are altering the characters to be more of a "frenemy" situation than an ally.The other question is how this villain will tie into Ultron or to the other Avengers. I also want to bring up that most people are forgetting that we still might have Thanos in some capacity, so if that is the case this makes three villains total.

I am not putting too much stock in this just yet, but I am not counting it out. Until we get more info on the plot of The Avengers: Age of Ultron I imagine we will be getting a lot of rumors and word on the street situations.

Aaron Taylor-Johnson confirmed for The Avengers 2

It has been rumored for quite sometime, but we now have confirmation that Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Kick-Ass) has officially joined the cast of The Avengers: Age of Ultron. He will be playing Quicksilver, aka. Pietro Maximoff. Quicksilver is the son of Magneto and brother of Scarlet Witch (aka, Wanda Maximoff). Scarlet Witch will be played by Elizabeth Olsen. The third new cast member to join Taylor-Johnson and Olsen, so far, is James Spader who will be playing Ultron. 

Taylor-Johnson will be the Marvel version of Quicksilver as Evan Peters is tackling the same character for Sony in X-Men: Days of Future Past.

The Avengers: Age of Ultron opens in theaters on May 1, 2015.

Black Widow a huge part of The Avengers 2

It appears that Joss Whedon is trying to make up for lost screen time.

After revealing that Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) was going to have a bigger role in The Avengers: Age of Ultron, Whedon also elaborated on how Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) will be a big part of the sequel as well. This comes after some criticism came after the two characters had very low screen time compared to the other heroes despite the fact that Black Widow had more screen time than both Thor and Hulk in The Avengers.
Hawkeye brought in a whopping 12:44 and Black Widow had 33:35. She brought in just 4min less screen time than Iron Man and Captain America and is a main focus in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, so I don't know how she can be an even bigger part in The Avengers: Age of Ultron unless she surpasses the other heroes and becomes the absolute main character.

Also added for Age of Ultron are Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch, the twin children of Magneto. Whedon expressed his fun with Black Widow due to the fact that she is just a spy who doesn't have the same morality the others possess.

Evan Peters to play Quicksilver in X-Men: Days of Future Past

Evan Peters (Kick-Ass, American Horror Story) has been cast as Quicksilver, half of the sibling pair fathered by Magneto, for X-Men: Days of Future Past. Quicksilver is known for his ability to move and think at superhuman speed.

Now... this creates a bit of confusion regarding The Avengers 2. Joss Whedon announced earlier that Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch have been written into the script for The Avengers 2. However, in Bryan Singer's casting announcement he said "before he was an Avenger he was just a REALLY fast kid." This implies that there is no conflict with the characters, but it may confuse viewers to see the characters in two different movies. Especially if the casting doesn't rollover from Fox to Marvel/Disney. BUT... Fox doesn't have the rights to include Marvel characters from The Avengers, so the reference to The Avengers definitely won't be in Days of Future Past.

Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch confirmed for Avengers 2

Joss Whedon (The Avengers) has confirmed that the brother-sister team that will be included in The Avengers 2 will indeed be Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch.

There was a potential legal issue with these characters as they are intertwined with X-Men seeing as they are both mutants and their father is Magneto. The concern was since Fox owns X-Men they could potentially own these characters as well. However, Whedon assured everyone that the characters are available for them to use and they intend to do so.

If you know nothing about Quicksilver or Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver has a power of super speed. Scarlet Witch can cast hexes which can alter probability, alter reality, and chaos magic. The siblings also have several years worth of story arcs so it isn't possible to really predict exactly which arc Whedon is targeting for The Avengers 2. There is also a rumor that Saoirse Ronan is in the running (aka, the prototype) for Scarlet Witch, but that is pretty preliminary.