X-Men: Days of Future Past

Today we (Mad Mike and DonnyFTW) will be talking about X-Men: Days of Future Past from 20th Century FOX, Directed by Bryan Singer.

We begin our adventure in the future, I guess (I'd imagine that it would be around 2014). Sentinels created years ago have essentially taken over the world and are picking off mutants one at a time. Professor Xavier Picard tells us this was all the cause of a midget doctor named Trask. He began developing the sentinel program in the early 70s, but wasn't getting much support for it... Until he was murdered by Mystique, which led to the US government to go ahead with further developing this program. Mystique was then captured and her morphing power was used to make the sentinels complete. Years later, sentinels completely fucked shit up, and now the remaining mutants can only do one thing: rip off Terminator...err... I mean... Go back in time and stop Mystique from killing Trask.

How is this done, you ask? Well, by Kitty Pryde getting into Wolverine's mind and putting him back in 1973, of course! He is then put on a mission where he has to bring a now smack-addicted Xavier back together with his old pal Eric, aka Magneto, in order to stop mystique from killing Trask, thus preventing the sentinel program from getting green-lit.

So Donny, please enlighten me as to what you thought about this film?

I thought it was a great way to merge the original trilogy cast with the cast of First Class. Singer helmed the first two (superior) X-Men films, that essentially began the comic-book movie craze that we see at our local multiplexes today. Because of his previous involvement with the franchise, he doesn't need to develop his version of the X-Men, he's simply afforded the ability to take risks with his characters and plot lines. Thus allowing him to make a movie about time traveling mutants without it coming off as cheesy.

How about you, Mike? What did you think?

Well first of all, the chick who sold me the popcorn for this movie was a total d-bag. She looked so snotty and didn't even give me my proper change back! So I just want start by saying fuck her and fuck her stupid face! 

That was really uncalled for, but a lot of fun to watch!

Anyways, I know I poked fun at the movie a few times in the intro, but honestly, I loved this movie. I thought the story was great, it managed to walk the fine line between simple and complex, without teetering off to either side. The character development was fantastic, as was the action sequences. I don't want to give anything away, but there is an action sequence involving Quicksilver that will blow your mind!

Yeah, that Quicksilver scene was my highlight of the movie. It only takes up about 1.5 seconds of real time, but it was the best part!

Yeah, Donny agrees that it was awesome!

However, all action sequences aside, I really liked how character driven the movie was. To me, that's the only way an X-Men movie should be. X-Men is filled to the brim with unique and amazing characters to begin with, and since Days of Future Past deals with 2 time periods, I feel like the only direction to take is to focus on strong character development and strong emotional connections with the audience instead of going for pure action and destruction. I know that a character driven story isn't what the casual moviegoer wants nowadays, but have no fear, Transformers 4 is coming out in a month.

So, do you want to talk acting now?

Uhhh... Sure! You start

Okay, well my favourite part of First Class (non-Fassbender related) was Nicholas Hoult, he's the poster boy for Doctor Hank McCoy (ha! That rhymes! Also, Fuck you Frasier!). Although he isn't given a ton to do here, which is expected given the vast cast (I did it again, lol!) he still manages to impress. The same can be said for Evan Peters's turn as Quicksilver (Your move, Aaron Taylor-Johnson). But the heart of this character driven story comes from James McAvoy as Charles Xavier. We see him struggle with difficult decisions throughout the film, and as a viewer, you sympathize with the fact that he must choose his worst enemy to try to save his oldest friend. And ohmygod Fassbender rauufrrhghghrrrgghhhhh (inaudible)

Okay, I'm going to turn away from Donny because he's drooling uncontrollably and masturbating furiously... Uhh... Where are we? Acting? Ok.

Well, Donny has already said what a fine job McAvoy did, as with Michael Fassbender

*fap fap fap fap fap fap fap*

GOD DAMMIT DONNY STOP IT!

Personally, it was nice to see Patrick Stewart and Ian Mckellan reprise their roles as Xavier and Magneto of the present. They give a commanding presence to the cast, and to me, it was as if they never left the franchise. The following part goes without saying, but Hugh Jackman was amazing as Wolverine, he nailed it as he usually does and he once again made it feel like he was born for the role. It was also cool to see Peter Dinklage play Trask, I'm just getting into Game of Thrones and he's slowly becoming a favourite of mine.

Last but not least, Jennifer Lawrence put on a terrific portrayal of Mystique, she completely owned the role of a very conflicted and complex character, toeing the line between anti-hero and villain. Unfortunately for Lawrence, the Academy does not live on planet Earth, so a 2nd Oscar for her won't be coming for this movie.

Donny, are you cooled off yet?

Yes... sooo.....

I'm going to get you some towels, so talk about your favouritie parts.

Blue boobs are nice... But seriously, I enjoyed the inclusion of the new mutants in the post-apocalyptic future. Specifically, I loved seeing Bishop, and I loved the re-imagining of Blink that Singer gave her. I also thought it was brilliant to construct the story around Team Wolverine vs Team Mystique, which gave FOX the opportunity to market the two biggest stars in a no holds barred, future-at-stake battle. The sentinels were also really badass. 

The scripting of the movie was excellent, as it gave us shades of complex storytelling during the time travel portions while simultaneously not being too complex so that a layman watching the movie can choose to set it aside to enjoy a character driven action movie that the X-Men franchise is known for (Origins notwithstanding)

Mike?

Yeah, I as well loved how greatly the movie deals with time travel. Yes, the initial premise of Kitty Pryde putting Wolverine's mind back in the past may be a little out there, but the time travel overall is done very simply and the movie doesn't make it fuck with your head. A lot of time travel movies make that mistake, even the great ones like Looper and Back to the Future. Not since Terminator 2 have I seen a movie that dealt with time travel so simply and beautifully. Props to the movie for not making my head explode with confusion

Yeah, Time Travel = Good

I thought the RFK stadium sequence was breathtaking, Magneto decided to be just as ambitious as Bryan Singer, and he lifts an entire stadium off the ground and moves it to the White House, completely enclosing it in the process. This set-up the movie's amazing climax. And I'm not talking about Donny's amazing climax to Michael Fassbender. 

Stop saying his name!

However, my absolute favourite part of the whole damn thing was the meeting between Past Xavier and Present Xavier. The way it was done was one brilliant mindfuck, and it was without a doubt the emotional pinnacle of the movie. It's a moment that anyone in the audience can relate to. Why? Well, how many times have we all wished that we could talk to our younger, dumber selves? To tell them how they're future would be if they continued the path they were on? To try to get their heads out of their asses before it's too late?


Or how about the flip side of that? How many times have we wished that our older selves would come and talk to us? To tell us how our future will be? Or to give us a wake up call and tell us to change our ways? That's definitely something that pretty much everyone watching the movie will relate to... And, I'll be honest, I was choking up a bit during the scene, I absolutely loved it!

You're such a girl!

Whatever! Seriously, if you feel no emotion in that scene, well... you will make a great serial killer one day! So good for you!

Anyways, since we know how much you love Fassbender, why don't you tell us what you didn't like, Donny?

Well without spoiling the ending, I found it to be a coppout. Not that I don't understand their reasons for doing it that way, I just wasn't a fan. Also, I would've liked to have seen more badass sentinel fight scenes. But other than that, I can't really complain about much. 

You?

Well, this is a movie that deals with time travel, and even though I've already stated that it's simplified here, it can still lend itself to some plot holes and some mindfucks. But to be honest, I can let those issues slide because this is a movie who's main characters include a telekinetic mind reader and a morphing smurfette.

All in all, X-Men: Days of Future Past seamlessly blends amazing action, terrific character development, and tons of gripping emotional depth. It also literally wipes The Last Stand from existence! I won't exactly spoil how that happens, but Singer gives a huge middle finger to Brett Ratner, and that was so satisfying to watch.

To be fair, Singer still produced it, and Kinberg wrote it... So yeah...

WHATEVER! No one asked you!

I give this movie a full 5 X's out of 5. Awesome movie! It might go down as one of my favourites.

Now give us your final thoughts, smartass!

Although only time will tell if Days of Future Past holds up as well as the original films, its central message of hope is well received not only by the characters in the film, but by the viewing audience as a whole. I hope that future X-Men films will follow the Days of Future Past blueprint, putting visually pleasing action sequences across the backdrop of a character driven story that intrigues and excites without getting lost in the sometimes complex X-Men universe. 

I give it a perfect 5 Adamantium claws out of 5.

I agree with that rating... I'm out...

Well there you have it. Thank you for joining us again on Flying Monkey Reviews and we hope that you read up on us in the future! If you want to check out more from us check the links below.

Mike's Personal Blog

Donny's Personal Blog

Donny's Posts Over At Big B Comics

We're working hard to constantly add posts to these and if you're looking for more movie reviews these are where to find them as we recently got reviews of Godzilla, Commando, The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Captain America: The Winter Solider, 2001: A Space Odyssey and The LEGO Movie.

Godzilla (2014)

Today we (Mad Mike and DonnyFTW) will be talking about the most recent reboot of Godzilla from Legendary Pictures/Warner Bros.

Godzilla was awakened in 1954 and the US and Russian militaries tried destroying him, but nothing worked. We are then introduced to the Brody family in 1999, living in Japan with Joe working at a nuclear power plant with his wife Sandra. After what seemed like an earthquake, the power plant gets completely destroyed, killing Sandra. 15 years later, we begin with their son Ford, a soldier returning from over a year of duty. After a short reunion with his family, he is forced to fly to Japan to help with Joe, who was arrested near the now quarantined plant. After being released and trying to convince Ford of some wild conspiracies, they decide to go to the quarantined zone again. After they’re both arrested, they soon discover that there is a creature living there… absorbing radiation like it’s a source of food. This creature awakens and destroys the whole freaking area, including Joe.

So first off Mike what were your thoughts on the movie?

Well... when I first heard that there would be a new Godzilla movie coming out, my reaction was something like this…

And who could blame me? The ’98 turdzilla left a bitter taste in everyone’s mouth, including the real Godzilla himself (who would eventually get revenge on that movie). Since then, many fans including myself have been waiting patiently for an actual good Hollywood adaptation of this monster… and we finally got it!

The movie begins with a few dramatic scenes and a slow pace, and you don’t actually see Godzilla until an hour in at least. It instead decides to take a page from the book of Jaws and focus on the characters. The build up described in the intro is pretty much the build up before you see the first Muto monster. Godzilla shows up about half an hour later when the Muto decides to attack Hawaii, and it’s only for a few seconds… and the fight they have is montaged on a TV screen. To me, this is a strong point of the movie, it does a very good job of building tension and suspense, giving you more and more of the big G every time he shows up, ultimately concluding in one of the greatest monster fights in movie history.

That leads me to talk about this movie’s climax… my god! The final 25-30 minutes of film has to be one of the greatest pieces of cinema I’ve ever seen! 

I guess at this point we should warn readers about the spoilers ahead... So if you don't want to be spoiled maybe skip the following paragraph.

The fight between Godzilla and the 2 Mutos is relentless. The final blows to both Mutos are fucking sick! Big G kills off the flying Muto by using his tail as a baseball bat and flinging that motherfucker face first into a building. Then with the Crawling Muto… Fuck… I… Just… I’m fucking speechless because no words I use can describe how fucking badass that was… He spreads that bug’s mouth open with his bare hands and breathes atomic breath down his god damn throat… and then rips his head off! Just… FUCK THAT WAS SO AWESOME! EAT MY BLUE FIRE, BITCH!

Fuck... I need a few minutes to calm down from such awesomeness... You can talk about the movie now Donny.

Jesus Christ you're wordy...

Well not to play devils advocate here but I had some issues with the movie's focus. Director Gareth Edwards seemed to have a hard time deciding what direction he wanted to go with Godzilla. It's treated like a disaster movie, yet we see next to little destruction... I mean we see a lot of shots of the aftermath of destruction but next to no scenes of it happening and the odd time we do it's off the TV screen. Then there are scenes reminent of monster movies of old... Clearly for nostalgia purposes but it still clouds the focus. Add in the human element and we don't get any seamless transitions between the different focal points and it comes across as choppy.

Aaron Taylor-Johnson of Kick-Ass fame is the core of the movie as Edwards smartly follows Johnson on his journey to get back home to his family while he intertwines with locals, the military, and the monsters. Johnson wears several hats here, from scorned son to loving father and back to hardened military Lieutenant. And he does all these things great, which actually puts a damper on the other acting performances that were good to okay but paled in comparison. Ken Watanabe’s Dr. Seriwaza always has the same “oh shit” look on his face and Bryan Cranston, arguably the actor with the most pedigree, is used as more of a plot device for Johnson than a character himself. It was very wonderful to see Sally Hawkins back on screen (I have yet to watch Blue Jasmine FYI) but she never really does anything which is heartbreaking because she has the ability to humanise any story… Even one featuring a 350 foot lizard.

Ok, I've had time to calm down from all the awesomeness... Uhh... Where are we? Oh the acting? Cool...

Well, I do think Bryan Cranston does an amazing job with the very few scenes he's given. Being a huge Breaking Bad fan unlike certain other people in this review...

I've never watched it... It's on my to do list though!

Well I've grown accustomed to his style of acting, which I would describe as flawless. I thought Johnson did a fine job in the lead role, even if his Ford Brody character is a little too stoic at times. I will let his lack of emotion slide as he is playing a soldier, though... So maybe he was just written that way. Ken Watanabe did okay for me (they just had to have a Japanese guy in this movie, right?), however the scene where he's almost choking up at the end was corny as hell. Solid acting all-around though, especially for a monster movie.

With all the praises I have for the movie, I'll still admit it's flaws. I say most of them lie within the film's tone. I felt at times that the movie didn't know whether it wanted to be character driven survival flick, a monster movie, or a disaster epic. The tonal shifts of the movie are frequent and can get very wearisome. I do think that has more to do with the story and writing than it does with Gareth's direction. I think it would’ve been better if Frank Darabont wrote all of the human elements instead of just collaborating. His calling card is that of a writer who focuses on how human characters deal with a crisis in their lives (See Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile, The Mist, etc.). You can clearly see which parts were written by him, and which parts were not, and that can expose some inconsistencies with the characters. So yeah, the awkward tonal changes are definitely something to be worked on for the sequel (which WILL happen, who are we kidding?)

Another problem lies with the character development. While these characters are solid at face value (and pretty well acted by the way), you don’t really get to know that much about them. We know that Ford is soldier who diffuses bombs, we know that his wife Elle is a nurse, and we know that Dr. Seriwaza’s father died in Hiroshima… but that’s about it. Once again, that’s something to improve on in the sequel (It’s happening, get over it). The lack of development didn’t really bug me that much though, as these characters are well acted, especially for the material they’re given. If Terminator Salvation taught me anything, it's that a good performance can mask a poorly written character (i.e. Christian Bale as John Connor). I hope this cast returns in the next movie (You know it’s coming).

Say, Donny, what did you really love about the movie? If anything?

Apart from my aforementioned love of Johnson's acting chops and the last big fight we see at the end of the film (AKA everyone that will ever watch this movie's favourite part) the part that intrigued me the most was the opening credits... I know weird right? But it pulled me in from the get-go. I'm a big political guy so with the Argo-esque black outs of government reports being used as the credits with the fictionalized nuclear test videos and stills from the 50's of the US and Russia trying to destroy Godzilla as the background I was immediately drawn to the screen. Also Edwards makes great use of the wide-shot throughout the film whether it's a half wrecked golden gate bridge or Godzilla emerging from the depths it was always a treat to see... I know wide shots when we're talking about a huge lizard is a given... But Edwards was very effective in his utilization.

Mike did you leave anything out?

Well, since you were just talking about it, that reminds me to comment on the Edwards's camera work: It was absolutely fantastic! I loved the fact that the final throwdown between Godzilla and Mutos was free of any of that shaky-cam bullshit that Hollywood seems to be obsessed with these days. My favourite shot of all is when you see the build up of the Big G's atomic breath! I personally was waiting to see it happen during that whole fight, and it's as if Edwards knew exactly when and how to deliver the audience that iconic trait! Loved it!

What else did I love? Well, Godzilla is actually Godzilla here! I know I made a post on my own blog about how making changes to the source material can be okay, but only as long as the changes make sense. In '98, the changes didn't make sense, simple as that. There are some changes to the original design here (he's fucking huge, for example), but they fit well. His roar in this movie is fantastic, in fact I would compare it to the T-Rex roar in Jurassic Park, it's that good! Not to mention that it awe-inspiring to hear it in the theater... I think this movie will get Oscar consideration for sound. It was very well done!

But yeah, in terms of what Godzilla is all about, Edwards totally nailed it! My big hope is that Toho was impressed with it enough that they give Edwards the rights to the other monsters like King Ghidorah, Rodan, Mothra, and MechaGodzilla for the very likely sequels that will happen.

Oh, one more thing... As a Packers fan, it was so nice to see San Francisco get completely ravaged in this movie! Take that, Niners!

In conclusion, Godzilla does have some big problems. But honestly, with all of the awesomeness that’s packed into this movie, I can let the issues slide here. Godzilla is a terrific movie, it’s filled with suspense, has some great action, the visuals are breathtaking, and the climactic battle might go down as one of the greatest movie battles of all time! To put it in NSFW terms… the movie slowly masturbates for an hour and a half, building massive tension within its nads, and then it spends almost thirty minutes blowing its load all over the audience’s fucking face! Fuck yeah!

I give this movie a full 9 atomic breaths out of 10, it's not perfect, but it's still awesome!

You have the floor now, Donny, give us your final statement...

Godzilla satisfies on all levels… But that’s about it. Everything is good or okay. Nothing stands out as great except the last 15 minutes or so, and even those have some minor problems and don’t negate the previous 100 minutes or so. Godzilla seemed unsure of what angle he wanted to take, they needed to pick a tone and nail it down early and often rather than flip-flopping between a monster movie, a human anchored drama, a disaster movie and countless others. Even if the transitions were a little more seamless it wouldn’t have been as big of a problem. Hopefully they correct this in possible future sequels. All in all though I feel Godzilla succeeded on what it was trying to do, make the monster relevant again, and for that it gets a thumbs up.

I only use a 5 scale rating system and I'm opposed to half stars and this wasn't quite a 4 to me so I have to give it only 3 stars.

Well there you have it. The very first installment of Flying Monkey Reviews. Thank you for coming on this journey with us and if you want to check out more from us check the links below.

 Mike's Personal Blog

Donny's Personal Blog

Donny's Posts Over At Big B Comics

We're working hard to constantly add posts to these and if you're looking for more movie reviews these are where to find them as we recently got review of Commando, The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Captain America: The Winter Solider, 2001: A Space Odyssey and The LEGO Movie.

Happy Watching! Flying Monkey's jacking out.