May 23 2014

X-Men: Days of Future Past

In a possible not so distant future, the war between humans and mutants has escalated to a catastrophic level at the hands of Dr. Bolivar Trask (Peter Dinklage). Now, in a last ditch effort to save earth one X-man will need to travel back in time to 1973, reset time, and right so many wrongs. But to reset time Logan/Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) will need to re-unite two young and estranged friends with wildly differing philosophies, Magneto (Michael Fassbender/Ian McKellen) and Profesor X (James McAvoy/Patrick Stewart). Even then, perhaps the die is cast and the hand of fate is set, can annihilation actually be prevented?xmen Directed by Bryan Singer, Days of Future Past appears to be the righting of many wrongs in both the X-Men universe as well as previous directorial choices in the real world. Plus, clever crafting of a story worthy of X-Men lore by screenwriters Simon Kinberg, Jane Goldman, and Matthew Vaughn goes above the expected and delivers the goods with plenty of action, humor, and believe it or not good ‘ol romance. Solid acting throughout makes for an easy watch, there isn’t a bad egg in the bunch. And, with the exception of some cheese whiz special effects set in the future, from a technical standpoint, there’s little to gripe about. Continuing on 2014’s banner year for superheroes this one tastes like another victory! X-Men: Days of Future Past is rated PG-13.


May 23 2014

Blended

Widowed and left with three daughters, Jim (Adam Sandler) is finding himself a bit out of his depth as his girls are getting older. Meanwhile, Lauren (Drew Barrymore), the single mother of two young boys finds herself struggling to keep order in her house as well. Having been on a blind date together that went horribly sideways the two would appear to have little in common; but, when the freakish coincidence to vacation in Africa together comes up, the modern day Brady bunch seems to be in the making, this can’t go wrong…Right?Blended Bringing little to the table as new ground in cinema, where Blended lacks in originality, the charisma and charm of Sandler and Barrymore together again seem to balance things out. Mind you, there’s still heaps of typical Sandler crude and sexist played out humor; but, there are also a handful of moments that are actually funny, refreshing. Plus plenty of screen time from funny men Kevin Nealon, Terry Crews, Joel McHale, and Shaquille O’Neal make for some forgettable but laughable moments as well. And, with production levels at a reasonable quality it’s hard to pan the film for poor crafting. All told, while not great, there’s still some entertainment value here, perhaps a matinee but really still more of a rental. Blended is rated PG-13.