X-Men: Days of Future Past, Blended Reviews

X-Men: Days of Future Past
Dir. Bryan Singer
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The first X-Men film changed comic book movies; it's kind of what started this whole "Dark Knight" thing of taking these superheroes seriously.  But after six feature films and dwindling box office returns for the last few entries in the franchise, Fox decided the best tactic for the seventh X-Men movie would be to combine both the "prequel" First Class cast with the original trilogy cast in a complicated time-travel storyline taken straight out of the comics.  Personally, I've been pretty fatigued from these movies (X-Men and superheroes in general), but the "all-out" approach of keeping the franchise alive made Days of Future Past enticing.  Bryan Singer is back in the director's chair, with an "I'm sorry" script from Simon Kinberg, who has since publicly apologized for The Last Stand.  It felt right to give the reigns back to the guy who made this all work in the first place, and I'm happy to say - the move worked out beautifully.


Days of Future Past begins in the near-future, where human and mutant-kind are being wiped out by a bunch of nearly-invincible super-soldiers, made from genetic material taken from Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence).  In the 1970's, Mystique kills Dr. Bolivar Trask (Peter Dinklage), a scientist who designed robots, called Sentinels, meant to hunt down mutants.  Because this assassination turns Trask into a martyr, fueling anti-mutant movements and eventually leading to everyone's demise, future-Magneto (Ian McKellen) and future-Professor X (Patrick Stewart) convince Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) to travel back in time via the powers of Kitty Pryde (Ellen Page) to convince past-Magneto (Michael Fassbender) and past-Professor X (James McAvoy) to stop Mystique from killing Trask and prevent this chain of events from ever happening.  It's complicated, and the time-travel continuity requires some heavy lifting mentally, but the story and characters are strong enough to make Days of Future Past a solid entry in the series and the most satisfying summer blockbuster so far this year.

The problem with this film (and time travel movies in general) is that you have to cut it some slack regarding the continuity between the different films and timelines; some things just flat out don't make sense if you start to think about it, which admittedly did distract me from the overall film (like how Magneto got his powers back after the events of X3, and how the "future" world doesn't constantly change as Wolverine screws with the past).  The characters, old and new, are pretty well-handled here; with a cast including Patrick Stewart, James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Hugh Jackman, Ellen Page, Peter Dinklage, and Jennifer Lawrence, that would be expected.  McAvoy in particular takes Prof. X in some interesting territories and adds a level of humanity to the character (he gives up his powers for the use of his legs).  Even though all of the movies pretty much grapple with the same idea of being a mutant vs. being "normal," they still managed to keep that old idea fresh.

Pretty much all of the mutants get their "moments." One particular sequence involving the new character Quicksilver (Evan Peters) was one of the most fun uses of slo-mo I've ever seen, and he kind of stole the movie, oddly enough (Joss Whedon has a lot to live up to with his version of the character set to be played by Aaron Taylor Johnson in Avengers 2).  The action set pieces were thrilling, and there were plenty of stakes involved in each one; because of the time travel and "alternate reality" elements it reminded me a lot of both Back to the Future and The Matrix (and Inception as well, especially with Ellen Page), and it's clear that the events unfolding have serious weight to them.

Although it gets a little too complicated for its own good (mostly in an effort to combine both timelines into one film, streamlining the continuity for future films), Days of Future Past is a ton of fun and features some great character moments.  James McAvoy in particular adds a lot of humanity into his role, and it's fun to see Jennifer Lawrence play a bad guy for a change.  Days of Future Past is a great summer action movie - just try not to get bogged down in the time travel logic.

Rating: B

Blended
Dir. Frank Coraci
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It's been a long while since I've seen an Adam Sandler movie; I haven't seen any of his "work" since Judd Apatow's Funny People, but judging from trailers and reviews, I haven't missed much.  Between Grown Ups, Jack and Jill, and That's My Boy, I think even the general public is growing weary of his same immature slapstick brand of humor we see again and again.  What made me want to check out Blended, however, was the reunion of Sandler and Drew Barrymore, who've proved to be a solid movie couple "every ten years." The Wedding Singer and 50 First Dates, as schmaltzy as they are, are still perfectly fine pieces of lighthearted entertainment.  And although Blended is probably the worst of their "team-ups," in comparison to his recent movies it's like finding a canteen of water in the middle of the Sahara.

The chemistry between the long-time co-stars makes the film work on a basic level, but it's still the eye-rolling, cringe-inducing, product placement-filled, excuse for a vacation that's expected of a Happy Madison production.  Single father-of-three/Dick's Sporting Goods™ employee, Jim Friedman (Sandler), and single mother-of-three, Lauren Reynolds (Barrymore), go on a blind date at Hooters™ and things don't turn out well.  But due to a mix up with their boss and co-worker, respectively, and in an effort to get a free vacation to Africa, they both end up having to share a room and pretend to be a couple on their trip.  And you know what happens from there (...they "blend").

This movie is predictably predictable, and many of the jokes not only fall completely flat, but are repeated ad nauseum; one of Sandler's girls is tomboyish, and many times throughout the film she's mistaken for a boy...hilarious.  But the film has just enough sweet moments between the leads that I wasn't in movie-watching agony, and there were a handful of chuckles to be had (the singing group led by Terry Crews being a highlight, especially the "You Suck" song).  I could see how general audiences may like the film, but so much of the humor is "lowest common denominator" (yup, there's humping rhinos), it's totally by-the-numbers, and it really does feel like you're watching someone being paid to take a luxurious vacation.

Rating: C