2014 Movie Preview: #2 - X-Men: Days of Future Past

Release date: May 23

Plot summary: The ultimate X-Men ensemble fights a war for the survival of the species across two time periods in "X-Men: Days of Future Past." The beloved characters from the original "X-Men" film trilogy join forces with their younger selves from "X-Men: First Class," in an epic battle that must change the past – to save our future.

My take: It is serendipitous that I review The Wolverine right before previewing this upcoming X-Men film given that events at the end of one set up this big blockbuster. This is looking like the end all to be all of X-Men movies. I am so excited to see how the casts of the two respective X-Men franchises coming together in this one epic film. From the reports we are hearing, it sounds like they have a ton of material and are needed to remove entire characters just to cut the film into a reasonable runtime. It's exciting to also see that Bryan Singer has come back to direct this since he's the one that started this franchise in the first place. My expectations for this one are really high, so I hope they do not disappoint.

Counting down the Days

Worlds are about to collide as the casts from the two X-Men franchises are about to come together in one epic movie. While the film, titled X-Men: Days of Future Past, won't come out until next year, we already have a first trailer. Check it out below.

Back to the Future

From movies.com

Once it was revealed that the sequel to X-Men: First Class would be an adaptation of the very popular story arc in the comics called X-Men: Days of Future Past, people immediately began speculating about how much this new, prequel franchise would integrate with the first X-Men trilogy. The comic's story involves two different timelines merging, which certainly opens up the possibility of characters and actors from Bryan Singer's films once again reprising their roles. And lo and behold, that's exactly what's happening.

Singer, who recently took over directing the project from First Class director Matthew Vaughn, confirmed today on Twitter that Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen were joining Days of Future Past as Professor X and Magneto. He also confirmed that James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence and Nicholas Hoult would be returning as well, which is pretty damned awesome news, if you ask us.

Of course this early on we don't know how much of the film will take place in the McAvoy/Fassbender past and the Stewart/McKellen future, but if the director of the film is comfortable announcing the veteran actors now, it's safe to say they're not just going to be cute little cameos. And all this timeline blending will surely also server as a clever way to address some of the continuity issues that our own John Gholson pointed out when First Class released.

So what say you, X-Men fans? Are you excited to see the new and old school on the big screen together? Who else from Singer's X-Men films do you hope shows up here?

NMR: The Conspirator

This legal drama unfortunately came and went from theaters this past spring with very little fanfare. Set during the time of the Civil War, the story is based around the court case of Mary Surratt, who was accused of conspiring to assassinate Abraham Lincoln. James McAvoy plays the conflicted lawyer assigned to defend her. McAvoy does a terrific job conveying this character's dilemma of offering her a fair trial and seeing the people responsible for this heinous act punished. The film features a host of other terrific actors including Robin Wright (playing the accused woman), Tom Wilkinson, Danny Huston, and Kevin Kline. I loved all of the courtroom scenes and actually wish there would have been more. However, the film also spends time having McAvoy investigate his client's background, where we learn that things are not completely what they seem. You can easily see some parallels between this court case and current events involving men being held at Guantanamo Bay. Sometimes the desire to see anyone punished for crimes blinds us from actually serving justice. I can't say that this movie is for everyone, but if the subject matter interests you at all, I'd highly recommend you give this one a look. Director Robert Redford does an impressive job of making the film feel authentic while also making it relevant for today's audiences. Rating: ****