The Fault in Our Stars - Review

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At the beginning of the film, the narrator Hazel tells us that this tale is the real 'truth' - no sugarcoating and no bad situation that can simply 'be fixed by a Peter Gabriel song'. However, The Fault in Our Stars (based on the best-selling novel by John Green) fails to back this claim up as it often falls victims to the tropes it attempts to set itself apart from. There are still the 'long gazes at each other from the across the room'. The 'dazzling first kiss' in a public area (that for some reason gains applause - am I the only one who would roll my eyes and awkwardly move away?). The 'constant waiting for him/her to call them'. Luckily, the film does deploys enough of the wit and genuine emotion of the source material to avoid sinking too far into being a generic teen romance and is strengthed further by its generally stellar cast.

X-Men: Days of Future Past - Review

The 'X-Men' film franchise is one of the longest-running series in recent cinema history, clocking in 7 films (including 2 solo Wolverine films) over 14 years. This is rather impressive considering how it has often been overshadowed by the likes of the Spider Man series, Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy and the growing Marvel Cinematic Universe (including The Avengers). However this long run comes with a price as most would consider a series like this to be settling into 'franchise fatigue' with tepid quality and dropping value at the box office as viewers tire of the characters and plots. For a while, that belief may have been correct (I'm looking at you The Last Stand and Origins).

Luckily 'X-Men' has proved this wrong with the new sensational entry to the series, 'Days of Future Past', which is set to become the best grossing film in the series as well as the best received and not without credit either. 'Days of Future Past' focuses round a dystopian future where the characters of the original trilogy are fighting for survival at the hands of the mutant-killing Sentinel robots. Wolverine (played again by Hugh Jackman) is sent back in time in order to change the past so that this terrible future is prevented from ever happening, by teaming up with the younger Professor X (James McAvoy) and Magneto (Michael Fassbender) to prevent the assassination of the Sentinel creator, Bolivar Trask (Game of Thrones' Peter Dinklage) at the hands of Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence).

The film is set the difficult task of weaving the two running timelines of the series (from the original trilogy and X-Men: First Class) together using a time-travel plot device whilst still forming a cohesive narrative. Thankfully, director, Bryan Singer & screenwriter, Simon Kinberg do so with aplomb, creating a well-paced and thrilling installment that balances creative action sequences (including the utterly inspired 'prison break' at the Pentagon sequence, featuring Quicksilver [Evan Peters]) with satisfying character arcs and emotional beats very well.

The stars of the film with the most screentime are undoubtedly Jackman, McAvoy, Fassbender and Lawrence, who inhabit their characters vividly and give terrific performances in their roles, adding new layers and development to the characters they had previously played (particularly McAvoy, whose wounded and weary take of Xavier is powerful and greatly affecting). The rest of the cast aren't given much to do, which is a shame considering the pedigree of some of the actors (Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen and Ellen Page amongst others) though they make the most of the material they have and it is a delight to see them on screen again.

Overall, X-Men: Days of Future Past is a triumph for the X-Men series, and for superhero films in general, bringing the beloved comic book story to the big screen with justice though with several plot inconsistencies (that is almost to be expected with the series at this point). It also reinforces my belief that the real strength that comes with this series is the depth it brings to its universe and characters, like not many other superhero films do and hopefully means that the X-Men will be sticking around for many years to come.

4.5/5 Stars (haven't found the appropriate star symbol yet)

Ramblings:

• Hallelujah to see a superhero movie that isn't loaded with explosions and things falling out the sky. Yay for actual stakes and motives that aren't 'take over the world'!
• While Quicksilver is regularly being cited as the breakout character of the film (and rightly so), I would like to talk about how incredible Blink was. Her powers were depicted just amazingly and I need to see her return in future films.
• Ellen Page as Kitty Pryde was also a stand-out in the supporting cast, adding great humility to Kitty in her scenes that enhanced the urgency and trauma that this future brought to the characters.
• It's a shame Rogue's subplot got cut, if only because I wanted to see Stewart and McKellen doing more in the film (Makes me eager for the blu-ray release). 
• Tears were brimming in my eyes during the final sequence. I won't spoil, but it's really great.
• The post-credits scene featuring (SPOILERS) Apocalypse has made me really pumped for the next X-Men in 2016. Hopefully we'll get a lot more Quicksilver and Cherik ;)

(Also, please give feedback so I know what to improve on and stuff. Hope you enjoyed and byeee!)