Days of Future Past: Xmen Review by a Fan

 Seen the movie X-men Days of Future Past as soon as it hits our local theaters. Had seen it twice in 2D and 3D due to scheduling discrepancies. Now I have been known to be an X-men Fan, specifically a Storm (Ororo Munroe) Fan since second grade when 1992’s animated film was born. And since then followed through the missing years via reading comic books via internet and a reliable site for anything related to x-men and its history and had moved forward till its not to current AVX storylines. Had seen all films as an oath to being a fan. And Days of Future Past is one of the episode I had loved and even got on audio-tape, recorded as a child (and I still have some storm lines, memorized from this episode). As this experience was worth writing after all and my resources were more fixed to following every step of this movie, I realized that I haven’t made any reviews of X-men films, all because of maintaining a spoiler-free environment. But then again, we can still have a review. Here are the highlights of the Xmen Days of Future Past that made an impact to the X-men fan/ Storm Fan in me #spoilernotintended 

1. Charles & Charles – if a younger disturbed you, finally realizes what future you will have, and then the wiser future you can send a message to your younger self- what would you say? Was captured greatly in this film and indeed may not be tackling on a bigger scale issues such as Political, Religious etc. Was a personal favorite well because it was on a personal level which was the center of the Days of Future Past Story. The future all depends on a personal level with billions of decisions coming into play, but the ability of the story to cheat time itself was a bonus scene. 
2. Assassination – now personally this was a great nod to the actress or even the writers for character development. I had never imagined that from a supportive standpoint, her coming out at front and center would be a brilliant idea. I’ve already mentioned that these are some of the epic moments and possible potential of the film. Yes, for years she’s been a pain in the ass on her own, not someone else’s chess piece. And it was not at all bad to stick to the mainline story now doesn’t it?
3. This is not a Wolverine Movie, its X-men – Now we all know Wolverine is a very crucial piece in these franchise, as he always have been, but after 3 films, 1 reboot and 2 origins, I was already screaming enough Wolverine! (Like I would say its Morgan Freeman playing God on screen again!) And my prayers were answered – thank you Marvel! Now I like Hugh Jackman but it’s quite overwhelming. A star-studded film well balanced, if not though, it was a good start – no favoritism this time. 
4. To our dear Teacher – now this moment, it was fun and then it gets dramatic, why wouldn’t it? Character development wise, it’s a fresh scene even though this had been played multiple times in the timeline (including alternative universes) or in any movies. It’s simple yet striking – a student leading his teacher back on track asking him to teach him. Yes quite complicated but a teacher and student bond is something one cannot explain.
5. A Vantage point – if you haven’t seen the movies, both original and I mean Xmen 1, or even started this movie, go see it! Infact, do a marathon then go see this film. First five minutes of the film will bring a nostalgic moment and then old moments were well placed all through out the film. And I am not talking about cast, yes that was given but, you will know Bryan Singer did this film right away and he was good at patching things up. This ranting about the abomination called X3, not to mention a reboot to torture us, but this made all that pain go away and then it was successful in ending that nostalgic moment into how every nostalgia was expected to end – what happens next? 
6. Stabs you at the back – Well, this is not a review if it wasn’t at all a balance of positive vs negative right. And I am talking about characters falling-down-the-drain. As much as everyone has developed, characters were left yet again on the sidelines. Yes, it will always be a drawback in any full casted film. I have read reasons to why some characters were almost written out of script but that reason is not at all a valid one. You can sense that with or without this favorite character of mine, the story will proceed, so why waste time in expectations? Would I just accept that it was this character’s time to die followed by supporting cast and added “spice” newcomers’ dying moment. I would have just accepted that she died in 2021 and that was it and would have relished the surprises at the end. That ladies and gentlemen was all that there is on this character, another candidate for the death parade – or maybe it was a pun on X3? But then again that death scene stabbed me through the heart – and it was painful (twice!). 
7. Complicated Three-some – now it was titled “x-men” and on countless occasions jokes tied in with the name given the society’s judgmental tendencies. Relationship wise, it wasn’t necessary for the film to go that road of relationship, but it was there, or was it my imagination that at some point, the two kings are fighting over 1 queen. Tricky as it may seem, they tried to mask this with power struggle at the climax of the film. It would spice up a reasonable conflict but again it’s not necessary. And like I said it was masked accurately that any fan would forgive it. The conflict of survival is enough to push the story and it would do well without the relationship parts based on First Class since it was never there. Still, they took risk.
8. Visual variety – and I wasn’t just talking about effects, the cinematography in this film has evolved (from original story telling rise-climax-resolution) its variety in a sense of time changes and character focus. When Eric walks, you tremble. When Xavier talks you listen, when people get killed you feel pain. I would have to applaud one scene from this film (no spoiler still) in which when its time to take a breather from all the conflict, it was cued in accurately in a systematic order and it’s the middle of the movie! There are too many chaotic scenes in this that would make a viewer dizzy, but each one gives enough breather moments to take it in and be ready for the next and both came from the two timelines – past and future. It didn’t feel like watching a movie, it felt like watching a series packed in more than 2 hours timeframe. And yes, X-men do not disappoint in visual effects, it was all a power showdown at its best. From the power ups to the combinations to the much anticipated mutant annihilation abilities of the Nimrod Sentinel. 
9. Character Variety – now as important as conflicts, in a film, characterizations are important. One reason why being a Storm fan, this movie hurt me more than anything. But then from an X-men fan standpoint, other than seeing them come to life, I did not expect that we will also see a variety. Now I would lie if I say that I didn’t know how they were during these time shift, but then there are things that still surprised me – including changes in character prospective. This is not just a mutant power struggle, it’s also a battle of individual beliefs, and we have gone far off from Wolverine’s “I sincerely care about me” attitude and then back to it in split seconds. Then it might have been the reason why it felt this film has more potential now. People got a glimpse of their good and evil tendencies (except for some) and that had proven to be effective. And yes, the bad ass combined with sassy is something I found so entertaining. The only dilemma in this is that X-men had too many characters to begin with so it was extremely hard to keep track. 
10. These are Legends, not experiments – Days of Future Past is a good story to begin with, but so was Phoenix Saga. You can see the difference how each directors handled the complex stories.  I would hand this down to Singer which reflected his passion and respect of these stories on a different level. Yes there are changes but he maintained the essence of its story – and yes, as a fan who already know these stories, I am looking at it at all levels – in which I am satisfied and relieved that Singer was back. The new cast and the old gave their own respective contributions bringing these characters to life. Most of them owned the characters, others we are waiting to grow into it. Now this rendition is the silver platter. 

           A fan will always love a movie they follow, but then again we have expectations, from the acceptance of the slightest of change, to how it makes us smile because of familiarity – what’s more important is that the story we grew up and loved was respected the same way we do. Now as a fan who followed this from its announcement, to its cast appearance at comic-con, to the trailer marathon, to the articles, and finally to the first day it was on big screen – I can say that this is the biggest X-men movie yet. 

A step at a time

I had spent my childhood and teens with a light and thin body. With school activities and dance helping me maintain the shape. But as I started working my body doubled its size and I neglected exercise and to top it off I learned the habit of smoking. I’d say the more freedom I got, the more I had abused my body. It wasn’t until my mood swings was greatly affected that I realized that I had to do something. About two years ago, I started to go back to dancing enrolling small group dancing session that showcased a variety of styles. It wasn’t hard to get back to the grooving but my usual smooth movements are now blocked by a huge belly. I tried kicking up the notch with basic breakdancing, after work while trying one time belly dancing. My weight loss was evident. To add to this I also incorporates aerobics once a week.

Just a Poll…

Watching documentaries about the predictions of the end of the world made me think of this old type of poll.  Care to take a minute to answer? Find the courage in yourself to answer this hard questions that one way or another have sneaked into our lives. Just for fun. No comments though on the end of the world documentaries yet….