X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014)

Director: Bryan Singer
Writers:  Simon Kinberg, Jane Goldman, Matthew Vaughn
Cast:       Hugh Jackman, James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Peter Dinklage

The X-Men send Wolverine to the past in a desperate effort to change history and prevent an event that results in doom for both humans and mutants. It is a sequel to X-Men: First Class which was origins installment of the franchise. The next one, X-Men: Apocalypse, will be a sequel to Days of Future Past and will complete the trilogy.

I am not a fan of these DC/Marvel films and don't understand how people can really watch these ones as most of them are utter shit. Only other film I have seen from the X-Men series is the prequel to this one, First Class, and I watched it basically because of Matthew Vaughn and Michael Fassbender. It was quite well received but I thought it was thoroughly average with some boringly long action sequence at the end. The whole concept of mutants with special skills is really stupid since evolution of such functions take place over a larger time period and several generations. I guess one shouldn't pick holes in such comic book films but got to say Jupiter Ascending had a very scientifically accurate idea behind its setup even though script and acting were bit of a letdown. 

Having said all that, Days of Future past is a very good watch with the focus much on the story rather than action sequences. The central theme in X-Men franchise is the conflict between Professor (James McAvoy), who wants cooperation between humans and mutants, and Magneto (Michael Fassbender), who is antagonistic towards humans and considers them as a threat to the mutants. Date that Wolverine send back to is 1973 during the time of Paris accords aiming to end the war in Vietnam. Peter Dinklage is a scientist who sees mutants as a threat to humans. Mystique is supposed to have killed him but got caught on the act and her DNA was used to create a machine which can easily kill mutants by adapting to fight against it. So the idea is to prevent Mystique from doing it and thus altering the past to affect the future conflict between humans and mutants. Film is very witty and what makes it a great watch is the presence of such a stellar cast. Jennifer Lawrence as Raven/Mystique is bit of a pain in the arse but rest of them are great fun. The best sequence in the whole film is a set-piece inside the Pentagon where Quicksilver steals everyone's thunder. 

Overall it is a very good watch and I think if I revisit First Class I might enjoy it more. Familiarity with the back-stories or what the characters go on to do will determine how much you enjoy these films. Maybe that is the reason why I really don't like these kind of films since I am not a comic book reader and people who are might find all the references thrown in to be quite good to make them an interesting watch. The next one in the franchise, Apocalypse, is slated for release in 2016 will be set in 1983 and will again be directed by Bryan Singer.

Rating: 4/5

                                                                         

The Usual Suspects (1995)

Director: Bryan Singer
Writer:    Christopher McQuarrie
Cast:       Kevin Spacey, Gabriel Byrne, Chazz Palminteri, Stephen Baldwin, Benicio Del Toro, Kevin Pollak, Pete Postlethwaite

A sole survivor tells the twisty events leading up to a horrific gun battle on a boat, which begin when five criminals meet at a seemingly random police lineup. 

Many films that got released after Reservoir Dogs tend to get tarred as Tarantinosque because of what people perceived as style influences. Sometimes these comparisons can be very lazy because it could mean any one or more of the following: Non-linearity, Violence, Profanity, Inane ramblings about things that got nothing to do with the plot. For me the thing that is the most prominent characteristic of a Tarantino film is the last one-random conversations between the characters. I guess Usual Suspects got tarred with the same brush because of the liberal use of the F word and its non-linearity. While Tarantino films are never about the plot or mystery, Singer-McQuarrie film is all about that and it is one of the best in this category. Tarantino described it as one of the worst among what are categorized as post-Tarantino films. It will depend on what your definition of post-Tarantino film would be but it is certainly one of the best films from the 90s.

1995 was the breakout year for Kevin Spacey with his turns in Se7en and The Usual Suspects. The actors signed for the film taking pay cuts and creators struggled to get it financed. It was made with a budget of $6 million and was a critical and commercial success. The marketing for the film featured posters with the line 'Who is Keyser Soze?'. Some people have criticized the twist to be disingenuous and as something similar to 'it was all a dream' kind and I don't agree with that. Even if he made some of  it up, there is certainly plenty of truth in what he said based on what the other survivor from the boat says-the 60% burnt Hungarian. The script is genius and the direction exceptional. Towards the end of the film it frames two people as Keyser Soze one after the other in no time based on montage and repeated dialogs. It is some feat from Bryan Singer because the film would have failed if the audience didn't really get what he was trying to say. I have seen it about 7 times I think and it is always interesting, which is proof for the quality of script and acting, despite it relying on mystery/twist. 

Christopher McQuarrie won the academy award for original screenplay and Kevin Spacey for best actor in a supporting role. It is a shame that Singer and McQuarrie didn't go on to make any other film that are even remotely as good as The Usual Suspects. Singer is now more of a studio director and McQuarrie had directed 'Jack Reacher' recently and is currently directing Mission Impossible 5. He also wrote screenplay for Tom Cruise starring 'Edge of Tomorrow' and 'Valkyrie' which was also directed by Bryan Singer. If one were to compare, I would say Christopher McQuarrie is making a better fist of it these days than Singer.

Rating: 5/5