X-Men: Days of Future Past

Spanks – 5

Director – Bryan Singer

Writer – Simon Kinberg

Starring – Hugh Jackman, James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender , Jennifer Lawrence, Halle Berry, Nicholas Hoult, Ellen Page, Evan Peters, Peter Dinklage, Ian McKellen & Patrick Stewart

Release Date – 23 May 2014

MPAA Rating – PG-13

Run time – 131 Minutes

X-Men: Days of Future Past is the best film in the franchise and would be near the top if the list of best comic book films. The film starts off in the not to distant future when mutants are being hunted down as well as the humans that help them by Sentinels. Charles Xavier and the last few remaining mutants devise a plan to send someone back in time to stop Mystique from murdering the man who created the Sentinels, Bolivar Trask. The only person who is able to withstand all the pain to travel in to the past is Wolverine. Back in 1973 his must find the young Charles Xavier and Magneto to save the mutants of the future.

The film’s opening scene is almost as cool as Nightcrawlers opening scene in X-men 2. The scene includes a bunch of mutants fighting off the Sentinels. The film has a few more good action sequences, but most of the film is driven by the drama and not just flashy action scenes. I have heard there is one other really good sequence that was cut for time and if it is real I hope it makes its way onto the Blu-Ray.

The movie also never gets slow. You are on the edge of your seat the whole time. It does get a little complicated with the two different timelines, but it all comes together in the end. I do want to go see it again, because I am sure there are things that I missed because it is more complex then your normal superhero movie, but that is just me (I am a big fan of superhero movies!). X-Men: Days of Future Past is a great movie even with the time travel and worth going to see.

Million Dollar Arm

Spanks – 4

Director – Craig Gillespie

Writer – Thomas McCarthy

Starring – Jon Hamm, Suraj Sharma, Madhur Mittal, Aasif Mandvi, Lake Bell, Alan Arkin & Bill Paxton

Release Date – 16 May 2014

MPAA Rating – PG

Run time – 124 Minutes

Million Dollar Arm is the story of a struggling sports agent named J.B. Bernstein. He is having a hard time getting new clients so he things of this idea to go to India and find a Cricket bowler and have them compete in a reality show with the chance to come to the United States to have a chance to be signed to a Major League Baseball team.

It is a good movie. I didn’t know about the Million Dollar Arm story before seeing this film and it does a wonderful job telling the viewer about it. It has all the elements for a great sports movie. It has the underdogs, the inspirational talks to players who are down, the sports scenes, it even has a little romance.

The only thing i have against the movie is that it gets a little slow in the middle of the movie. I got a little bored for about 15 minutes, but after that it picked right back up. It is a small reason, and not a reason not to see Million Dollar Arm.