Photos of the Day: The OPPENHEIMER Teaser Poster and Film Still...

One day after a previous Christopher Nolan film, The Dark Knight Rises, marked the 10-year anniversary of its theatrical release, another Christopher Nolan movie is officially on the horizon as Universal Pictures unveiled the teaser poster for Oppenheimer...Nolan's World War II biopic about J. Robert Oppenheimer, a theoretical physicist and the man who led the creation of the atomic bomb.

Oppenheimer will debut in theaters nationwide on July 21, 2023—and stars Cillian Murphy as Oppenheimer himself. Also in the star-studded cast are Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Robert Downey Jr., Florence Pugh, Jack Quaid, Matthew Modine, Rami Malek, Kenneth Branagh, Josh Hartnett, Alden Ehrenreich and Gary Oldman. Along with Murphy, Modine and Oldman previously worked with Nolan on The Dark Knight trilogy as well.

A teaser trailer for Oppenheimer is set to be shown exclusively in front of Jordan Peele's sci-fi thriller Nope (which is also distributed by Universal Pictures) this weekend. Can't wait to see the trailer and this film on Saturday!

On This Day in 2012: Remembering THE DARK KNIGHT RISES...

It was 10 years ago today that director Christopher Nolan brought his Batman trilogy to an epic close with The Dark Knight Rises.

It didn't become a classic like 2008's The Dark Knight, but the final film was still a critical and box office hit—despite the horrible event that occured at a Dark Knight Rises midnight screening in Aurora, Colorado a decade ago today. Real-world tragedy aside, it felt pretty somber to watch the Caped Crusader (Christian Bale) taking on an immensely formidable opponent (Bane, played by Tom Hardy) in a Nolan flick for the last time.

I watched The Dark Knight Rises for the first time on the big screen at Universal Cinema AMC in Hollywood...where one of the camouflaged Tumblers used by Bane's forces was on display in the outdoor plaza. For more images that I took of this awesome vehicle back in 2012, visit my webpage below!

LINK: Click here to view more Tumbler photos that I took at Universal Cinema AMC in Hollywood

Movie Review: THE BATMAN...

Earlier today, I watched The Batman in IMAX at my local AMC theater. Despite the nearly 3-hour running time, Matt Reeves' cinematic take on the Dark Knight is one of the best iterations of the Caped Crusader yet!

Seeing as how this story takes place about two years after Bruce Wayne first began to don the bat cowl, it's understandable that he would still be moody as a billionaire playboy and the masked vigilante bent on seeking vengeance against the criminals of Gotham City for the death of his parents. Robert Pattinson's performance as Wayne and his armored alter ego was perfect for this version of Batman.

In regards to the main villain, Riddler, this is where The Batman falls short of the best pre-DCEU (DC Extended Universe) bat flick, The Dark Knight. Whereas Heath Ledger's Joker was present at all the major attacks on Gotham in the 2008 film (the opening bank heist, the attempted attack on Harvey Dent at Wayne Tower, the attempted assassination of Gotham's mayor during Commissioner Loeb's funeral, the second attack on Dent inside that SWAT vehicle and the destruction of Gotham General Hospital), Paul Dano's Edward Nashton (the real person behind Riddler) only appeared in the third act of the film.

SPOILER ALERT: It appears that the Riddler who committed all of those murders were actually the followers of Edward Nashton...not Nashton himself. This puts The Batman's version of Riddler on par with Ghostface from the Scream movies. Different people wore the mask of this serial killer in each installment of the hit slasher franchise, as opposed to a singular person causing mayhem. This is why Ledger's Joker will remain as the best Batman movie villain for a while.

In terms of the rest of the cast, it was stellar. Andy Serkis gave an understated performance as Alfred Pennyworth, Zoë Kravitz was more sultry and badass as Selina Kyle than Anne Hathaway was in 2012's The Dark Knight Rises, Colin Farrell was unrecognizable (in a good way) as Oz...aka the Penguin, John Turturro was menacingly calm and collected as mobster Carmine Falcone, and Jeffrey Wright gave a valiant portrayal of Lt. James Gordon—just like Gary Oldman did as Gordon in the Christopher Nolan movies before him.

Focusing on the music, Michael Giacchino's excellent score for The Batman was just as bombastic and moody as those of Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard in The Dark Knight trilogy. In fact, I reckon that I will be ordering The Batman's orchestral score on MP3 (through Amazon) sometime this weekend!

[My laptop computer is so old (I bought it back in June of 2013) that its CD-ROM player is no longer working properly. That's why I won't buy The Batman's music score on compact disc, unfortunately.]

So once again, The Batman is an excellent addition to Warner Bros' long-running film franchise. I don't know how it will do at the box office over the long term, as I'm sure that there will be a lot of moviegoers who walk out during the film due to its epic running time, but one thing's for sure: I intend on watching The Batman at the theater again and appreciate how Matt Reeves did justice to the Caped Crusader.

Also— It may not be the Tumbler from the Nolan movies, but the new Batmobile is still pretty badass! Happy Friday.

THE BATMAN Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars. ****1/2

Video of the Day: The Newest Trailer for THE BATMAN...

"It’s not just a call... It’s a warning."

So says Bruce Wayne (Robert Pattinson) of the Bat-Signal that beckons him to be the hero that Gotham deserves in next year's The Batman.

Check out the newest preview for the Matt Reeves-directed film—which is about the Dark Knight Detective's quest to uncover a nefarious plot being hatched by Edward Nygma (Paul Dano) in Gotham City.

The Batman also brings in other classic foes such as Oswald Cobblepot (Colin Farrell) and Carmine Falcone (John Turturro), as well as allies like Selina Kyle (Zoë Kravitz), James Gordon (Jeffrey Wright) and trusty sidekick Alfred Pennyworth (Andy Serkis).

Just like with every other Batman film (well, except 1997's Batman & Robin), I'm absolutely stoked for The Batman! Not just because of the amazing cast and the gritty look of this movie, but also because of the cool music score that Michael Giacchino composed for the upcoming Bat flick!

I definitely plan to get The Batman's music score on compact disc next year...and yes, I still buy CDs.

The Batman arrives in theaters nationwide on March 4, 2022.

Movie Review - VENOM: LET THERE BE CARNAGE...

Earlier today, I went to my local AMC theater to watch Venom: Let There Be Carnage...and needless to say, it was much better the second time around!

I watched the Venom sequel for the first time yesterday, and it didn't help that I was spoiled by exclusive content that was posted on the movie's Facebook page over the past few days—specifically the video at the very bottom of this review showing the scene where Cletus Kasady (Woody Harrelson) transformed into Carnage for the first time. My expectations hampered my initial viewing of Let There Be Carnage.

It was during today's screening that I appreciated the tight storyline and editing that director Andy Serkis crafted for Venom 2. He doesn't beat around the bush in establishing the deadly relationship between Kasady and Frances Barrison, a.k.a. Shriek (Naomie Harris), and Kasady's attempt to create an equally-tense rapport with Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy).

Speaking of Eddie Brock, Tom Hardy once again did a great job conveying a humorous and conflicted portrayal of the struggling Bay Area reporter. And the writing team, of which Hardy was a part, did an amazing job expanding the ever-chaotic but warm relationship between Brock and his symbiotic alter-ego, Venom.

In regards to Anne Weying (Michelle Williams), Eddie's former fiancée, Let There Be Carnage apparently brought closure to her story in this film. Brock comes to accept that he will never get back with Anne, and watched as she and her new fiancé Dan (Reid Scott) rushed off into the night, together, at the end of the movie.

Dealing with Venom 2's visual effects, it was just as well-done as the FX in the original film. Although, I'm wondering how the CGI would've looked if the top dog of visual effects companies, Industrial Light & Magic, had worked on Let There Be Carnage. DNEG is the lead vendor that brought Venom to life in both movies, respectively.

As was the case with every Marvel flick except Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy and Marvel Studios' Avengers series (somewhat), the music score was Let There Be Carnage's weakest point. Marco Beltrami—an outstanding composer—was apparently in no mood to create additional music for the end credits...with some rap song closing out the credits instead. (Compare this to the great end credits music by Hans Zimmer in each installment of The Dark Knight trilogy.)

Speaking of that end credits scene in Let There Be Carnage... Wow! I look forward to seeing Venom confront his classic foe on the big screen once again (the previous standoff being in 2007's Spider-Man 3)—though I doubt they'll have that many fight scenes against each other. (Don't forget the future Marvel movies that Sony Pictures has under its slate, like next year's Morbius.) Venom is, after all, the lethal protector. So why would one good guy continue to battle against another good guy after they've realized they're on the same superhero page?

Happy 2nd Day of October!

Photo and Video of the Day: Rise of THE BATMAN...

"I'm vengeance." And I'm shook! Just thought I'd share this screenshot from the newest trailer for Matt Reeve's The Batman...which should resume filming next month after a long coronavirus-related hiatus, and get released in theaters sometime in 2021.

From the looks of this preview, Robert Pattinson is gonna do a heckuva job following in the footsteps of Ben Affleck (who along with Michael Keaton will reprise their roles as the Dark Knight in 2022's The Flash) and Christian Bale, respectively. Happy Saturday!

"And Here...We...GO." Watching THE DARK KNIGHT on IMAX for the First Time in 10 Years!

Last night, I drove down to Universal CityWalk in North Hollywood to watch The Dark Knight on IMAX for the first time since it opened at theaters nationwide in July of 2008. Needless to say, seeing the Christopher Nolan comic book/crime epic back on the (ultra-)big screen brought a smile to my face! From the opening aerial shot of that office building whose window is shattered by Joker goons as they prepare to conduct that bank heist, to Batman driving away on his Batpod after becoming a fugitive in the film's closing moments, The Dark Knight was as awesome to see at the theater yesterday as it was a decade ago. I'd go back if not for the fact that every single showing of the movie (it screened every night as of August 24; Warner Bros. extended its limited-engagement run through at least September 5) has been sold out for over a month! As it should be. We'll overlook the fact that I spent around $24 (excluding the online service fee) on the IMAX ticket!

2022 marks the 10-year anniversary since The Dark Knight Rises arrived in theaters. The movie's not a classic like the Batman Begins sequel before it, but I'd still see it on IMAX if Warner Bros. ever decides to show The Dark Knight Rises on this format four years from now. Happy Monday!

SICARIO 2: SOLDADO...

So I just found out online this morning that the 2015 action crime drama Sicario was given a sequel! Sicario 2: Soldado is set to hit theaters nationwide on June 29 of next year...with Benicio Del Toro reprising his role as the hired assassin named Alejandro, Josh Brolin as CIA operative Matt Graver and Jeffrey Donovan as fellow CIA associate Steve Forsing. While Emily Blunt won't be back as FBI agent Kate Macer, Catherine Keener (Get Out), Isabela Moner (Transformers: The Last Knight) and Matthew Modine (The Dark Knight Rises) have joined the cast. Awesome. Oh, and Stefano Sollima follows in Denis Villeneuve's (who helmed the first Sicario movie and this year's Blade Runner 2049) footsteps as Soldado's director. Check out the new trailer at the bottom of this entry.

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Now In Progress: Filming the JUSTICE LEAGUE Movie (in 35mm... Yes!)

With production moving in high gear in the United Kingdom as I type this, Warner Brothers recently released the Justice League logo (above) and a pic of the new Batmobile (at the very bottom of this entry) that will be featured in next year's movie. Obviously, nothing was revealed as to how the Man of Steel will (spoiler alert if you haven't watched Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice yet) return from the grave to join the Dark Knight and Co. in the next installment of the DC Cinematic Universe. What was revealed, however, was that the main villain in Justice League will be someone called Steppenwolf (never heard of him!), and that the tone of this flick will be much lighter than that in Dawn of Justice—as revealed by reporters who got to visit the Justice League set in London last week and were shown footage of Ezra Miller's Barry Allen (a.k.a. The Flash) having a lighthearted conversation with Bruce Wayne (once again played by Ben Affleck) that reveals their secret identities to each other. Justice League will also follow in Batman v Superman and The Dark Knight trilogy's footsteps by being shot on celluloid. The majority of Marvel films that have been released since the studio was purchased by Disney, on the other hand, were shot with digital cameras.



Justice League hits theaters nationwide on November 17, 2017...about a month before Star Wars: Episode VIII arrives at the cinemas. Here's hoping that unlike Batman v Superman when it was released several weeks before Captain America: Civil War bowed at cineplexes last month, Justice League will be better received by critics and moviegoers alike, and make a bigger impact at the box office before Rey, Finn and Kylo Ren return to the big screen come Christmas of 2017. Carry on.

More Images of the Day - STAR WARS: EPISODE VIII's Rumored Cameo...

So I read on the Making Star Wars website a few hours ago that Tom Hardy (of Inception, The Dark Knight Rises, Mad Max: Fury Road and The Revenant fame) will make a small cameo in next year's Star Wars: Episode VIII. Following in the footsteps of Daniel Craig (who played the First Order Stormtrooper who threatened to "tighten the restraints" on Rey while she was held captive at Starkiller Base in The Force Awakens), Hardy is rumored to play another Stormtrooper who has a nice buddy moment with Finn in VIII. Whether or not Hardy removes his helmet (which will probably be unlikely) during that scene remains to be seen.

All I can say is, it would've been really cool if Hardy played Darth Malgus (above) instead. This Sith Lord (who I talked about in a blog entry a few years back) is pretty much like Bane if the Batman villain had yellow eyes, hideous skin, a cool armored suit and a red lightsaber to wreak havoc with. Oh well.

Getting Ready for the JUSTICE LEAGUE...

Just found out today through the Hollywood Reporter that J.K. Simmons was cast as Commissioner James Gordon in 2017's Justice League film...which begins principal photography next month. If his performance is anything like the hard-ass music instructor that he played in the 2014 Oscar nominee Whiplash, then Simmons should be intense as Gordon (moreso than Gary Oldman in The Dark Knight trilogy, and Ben McKenzie in FOX TV's Gotham). Fans want him to reprise his role as J. Jonah Jameson in Marvel and Sony's upcoming Spider-Man reboot, but the past is the past. Time for Simmons to move on to greater things—as the Gotham police's biggest ally of Batman. Carry on.

Photos of the Day: DAWN OF JUSTICE on Display in Burbank...

So earlier today, I was working at Warner Bros (WB) in Burbank when I decided to visit the studio museum during my lunch break. My original intent was to see the new Batmobile that Ben Affleck will use in next year's Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Unfortunately, the only way to enter the so-called Picture Car Vault where Batman's new ride is displayed is to book a studio tour (which cost $62 per person). So instead, I decided to just check out the costumes worn by Affleck, Gal Gadot and Henry Cavill as the Dark Knight, Wonder Woman and Superman in Dawn of Justice, respectively. I also took pictures of some of the props from Christopher Nolan's Batman movies—which I originally saw on display at L.A. Live in December of 2012.



I'm deciding if I'll actually go on a WB tour just to see the Dawn of Justice Batmobile... I have till the end of this year to do so before the vehicle is placed back into storage (for Ben Affleck's standalone Batman film and 2017's Justice League flick, I reckon). $62... I prefer spending that money on watching Star Wars: The Force Awakens over and over at the theater this December. Carry on!

Life After THE FORCE AWAKENS: Getting Ready for ROGUE ONE and STAR WARS: EPISODE VIII!

Rogue One Is The First Star Wars Stand-Alone Film, Rian Johnson To Write and Direct Star Wars: Episode VIII (News Release)

“Always in motion is the future,” Yoda said. The future of the Star Wars cinematic galaxy, however, is taking shape.

This morning at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco, across the street from Lucasfilm, Disney chairman and CEO Bob Iger hosted a shareholder meeting where he announced news regarding the first Star Wars stand-alone movie as well as Star Wars: Episode VIII.

Rogue One is the title for the first film in a unique series of big-screen adventures that explores the characters and events beyond the core Star Wars saga. Rogue One will be directed by Gareth Edwards (Monsters, Godzilla) and written by Oscar nominee Chris Weitz (Cinderella, About a Boy, Antz). The first actress cast is Felicity Jones, who garnered an Academy Award nomination and critical acclaim for her performance in The Theory of Everything. The idea for the story of Rogue One came from John Knoll, an Academy Award-winning visual effects supervisor and chief creative officer at Industrial Light & Magic. He will executive produce along with Simon Emanuel (The Dark Knight Rises, Fast & Furious 6) and Jason McGatlin (Tintin, War of the Worlds). Kathleen Kennedy and Tony To (Band of Brothers, The Pacific) are on board to produce and John Swartz (Star Wars: The Force Awakens) will co-produce. The film starts shooting this summer in London and is due for release on December 16, 2016.

In addition, Iger confirmed that Rian Johnson will write and direct Star Wars: Episode VIII. The film, which continues the saga after the events of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, is set for release on May 26, 2017 — forty years and a day after the release of Star Wars: A New Hope in 1977. Johnson is widely considered one of cinema’s most gifted young filmmakers, having directed the modern sci-fi classic, Looper, as well as Brick and The Brothers Bloom. He was also behind the camera for three episodes of the critically-acclaimed TV series Breaking Bad, including “Ozymandias,” which series creator Vince Gilligan named as the best installment of the show. Kathleen Kennedy and Ram Bergman, producer of Looper, Don Jon, Brick, and The Brothers Bloom, are on board to produce, and J.J. Abrams will serve as executive producer.

Source: StarWars.com

****

Movie Review: Interstellar...

"Mankind was born on Earth. It was never meant to die here." Such was the memorable line by Cooper (Matthew McConaughey) in Interstellar...Christopher Nolan's latest sci-fi flick that is an epic tale about environmental disasters, space exploration, love, familial relationships and the theory of relativity. Just like his 2010 Best Picture nominee Inception, Interstellar is another thought-provoking film by Nolan that makes one wonder about the possibilities made by scientific breakthroughs. In Inception's case, it was the ability to enter other people's dreams and use them to alter their behavior out in the real world. In Interstellar's case, it was the ability to use wormholes to visit other locales in the universe (which isn't an original idea, I know) and black holes to gain access to a particular moment in time and utilize it to change the future. The fact that Chris Nolan employed the help of a well-known physicist (Kip Thorne) to bring plausibility to his story shows just what an extraordinary filmmaker that the director is. Nolan is always conveying cinematic tales that carry social messages...whether it's the themes of anarchy and not losing one's self to madness in The Dark Knight, the ability to let go of anger and the past to seek happiness and contentment in The Dark Knight Rises, and to going to the ends of the earth (or in this case, the universe) to save loved ones and reunite with family members in Interstellar.



The only downsides of Interstellar were the lengthy running time and the movie's sound mix. The flaws of Inception and this film were that there are lots of expository dialogue explaining the concept of Nolan's stories...and the movies didn't get quite interesting or action-packed till the third act of the films. In regards to the sound mix, Interstellar suffered from a loud music score (even though it's by the capable hands of Hans Zimmer) that at times overshadowed crucial dialogue scenes in the flick...which was also the case in Inception and The Dark Knight Rises. While it is a likely chance that I'll buy this sci-fi opus on DVD next year, I don't relish the thought of having to constantly turn the volume up and down (and vice versa) when I watch it on TV—which is what I've been doing with Nolan's last two Batman movies and Inception. Other than that, Interstellar is a very intelligent movie—and one that should gain a couple of Oscar nominations early next year. As a space enthusiast, I appreciate Nolan's attempt at pro-space advocacy with this movie. Though I must ask: How many space geeks reading this review wanted Cooper to smack that teacher (played by the talented Collette Wolfe) who asserted that the Apollo Moon landings were a hoax meant to bankrupt the Soviet Union? I hope I wasn't the only one pissed off by that scene (which I'm sure is what Nolan intended)... That is all.

Movie News from Comic-Con...

With Comic-Con 2014 now a thing of the past, just thought I'd share these images that were released at the expo or on the Internet around the time these films had their Hall H panels at the San Diego Convention Center. One of the biggest highlights of last week, of course, was the photo above that revealed the lovely Gal Gadot (from the last three Fast & Furious movies) as Wonder Woman in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. This was preceded by this pic below showing another glimpse of Ben Affleck as the Dark Knight in Zack Snyder's highly-anticipated film. Another huge highlight for Batman v Superman was the teaser video that Snyder presented to a large crowd during the movie's panel at Hall H last Saturday...which revealed a brooding Caped Crusader flashing the Bat Signal into Gotham City's night sky, only to reveal a hovering Superman staring down at Batman with glowing red eyes on the Man of Steel's face. The video immediately leaked onto the Web and has since been taken down at the behest of Warner Bros., but all you need to know is: Batman v Superman is gonna be epic.



Not to be outdone by the WB and DC Comics are Disney and Marvel Studios, who revealed the awesome poster below for Avengers: Age of Ultron. Not only do we see Iron Man, Captain America and company taking on a massive army of robots built by Ultron, the film's main antagonist, but we also take a glimpse of Paul Bettany's The Vision hovering in the poster's background (he's the caped figure in the upper-left corner), as well as Aaron Taylor-Johnson's Quicksilver and Elizabeth Olsen's Scarlet Witch joining the fray against Ultron's metallic minions. Also revealed at Comic-Con were posters for next year's Mad Max: Fury Road, starring The Dark Knight Rises' Tom Hardy as the title character made famous by Mel Gibson in the original 1979 flick. The WB had more news to be shared, with Godzilla set to fight the classic monsters Mothra, Rodan and Ghidorah in a sequel to this year's hit film, and King Kong (who we last saw taking Naomi Watts up to the top of the Empire State Building in Peter Jackson's 2005 remake) slated to return in 2016's Skull Island.



Comic-Con 2015 looks to be action-packed...with a panel by Disney and Lucasfilm that will hopefully reveal some great footage or movie displays from Star Wars: Episode VII, as well as previews of 2016 flicks (besides Batman v Superman) like X-Men: Apocalypse, Avatar 2, Captain America 3, Prometheus 2 and the Independence Day sequel, ID Forever Part I. The chances of me visiting Comic-Con next year are pretty slim (despite the fact San Diego is only a 2-hour drive from me), but I can't wait to read news from this expo once they get posted online next July. That is all!

Star Wars: Episode VII... IMAX and Cast-Related News

So it was just revealed yesterday on the Twitter page of Bad Robot, J.J. Abrams' production company, that IMAX cameras will be used for the filming of Star Wars: Episode VII. This is great news... Seeing as how Abrams is shooting the next Star Wars movie entirely on film (whether it's 35mm, 65mm or 70mm IMAX celluloid), here's hoping that it will look as great as the images seen in Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy [which was also shot entirely on film and employed the ultra-large screen format (without the use of conversion during post-production) as well].

Also, Lucasfilm announced last week that two new actors have joined the cast of Episode VII: Crystal Clarke and Pip Andersen. Welcome aboard! Mentioned in that same press release is news that production will shut down for two weeks next month as Abrams and company reorganize the shooting schedule while Harrison Ford—who broke a leg during filming at Pinewood Studios near London several weeks ago—recuperates from his injury. Wishing Han Solo a full and speedy recovery.

Star Wars: Episode VIII Gets A Director!

While J.J. Abrams is hard at work filming Star Wars: Episode VII in England, Disney has just announced that Rian Johnson—who helmed previous sci-fi flicks like Looper and acclaimed TV shows like AMC's Breaking Bad—will write and direct Star Wars: Episode VIII. This is great news, what with Looper being a terrific movie and all. (Admittedly, I never watched an episode of Breaking Bad before it came to an end last year.) What I want to know is: Will Joseph Gordon-Levitt or Emily Blunt (won't mention Bruce Willis out of being realistic about this) have any type of role in the second installment of the Star Wars sequel trilogy? Blunt showed that she can handle sci-fi action films quite well with Edge of Tomorrow and Gordon-Levitt is Batman's heir in The Dark Knight Rises, so this isn't a far-fetched idea. Here's hoping that Harrison Ford, assuming he returns as Han Solo in Episode VIII, will stay injury-free during this movie's production. In case you didn't know yet, Ford is out for about 2 months after recently breaking his leg during filming on Episode VII. Let's wish him a full and speedy recovery.

X-Men: Days of Future Past...

Last Sunday, I saw Bryan Singer's latest installment in the X-Men movie saga, and needless to say, it did not disappoint. In fact, I believe that it was the best comic book movie I've seen over the last two years—since The Avengers and The Dark Knight Rises were released in theaters in 2012. Clearly, Singer wanted to make up for the disappointment of 2006's X-Men: The Last Stand (directed by Brett Ratner) by creating a story that not only featured the excellent cast of 2011's X-Men: First Class but also (spoilers ahead) resurrecting characters who were killed off in Ratner's flick. The portrayal of the Sentinels (particularly the ones in the future) in X-Men: Days of Future Past was awesome, and it will be interesting to see how Joss Whedon portrays Quicksilver (played by Godzilla and Kick-Ass' Aaron Taylor-Johnson) in Avengers: Age of Ultron after Evan Peters' exhilarating turn as the fast-moving mutant in Days of Future Past (that scene in the Pentagon kitchen was probably the best highlight of the film). Michael Fassbender's performance as Magneto in this installment is how I always pictured the depiction of the metal-manipulating mutant in a live-action movie (sorry, Ian McKellen), and Hugh Jackman was once again terrific as Wolverine...even if he didn't have adamantium on his claws for much of the film.



Along with Evan Peters' take on Quicksilver, another cast member who stood out was Jennifer Lawrence, unsurprisingly. Being a three-time Oscar nominee with an Academy Award under her belt, Lawrence deserved to be the focus of Days of Future Past...with her character Mystique playing a prime role (and sometimes speaking Vietnamese while doing it) in events that would either spell the end or salvation for a mutantkind decimated by the Sentinels. Peter Dinklage, who worked on such fare as HBO's Game of Thrones, did a great job as the diminutive but dangerous Dr. Trask—who was the one responsible for creating the Sentinels.



I believe that Days of Future Past did for the X-Men series what The Dark Knight did for Batman— X-Men: First Class and Batman Begins notwithstanding. (Some spoilers ahead, again) Lurking on the horizon is Apocalypse and his Four Horsemen...and Cyclops, Jean Grey and company (which possibly includes Channing Tatum as Gambit) will need to work together under the leadership of Professor X to fight this all-powerful mutant when X-Men: Apocalypse hits theaters in 2016. If Days of Future Past is any indication, Singer will create with Apocalypse another epic flick whose comic book excellence could rival that of The Avengers and Marvel's other cinematic hits. But I'm too busy raving about a film that doesn't hit theaters for another two years; watch Days of Future Past if you want to see how phenomenal comic book movies can be when they feature the right director, story and actors on it. That is all.