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FLICKS: Moms’ Night Out & X-Men: Days of Future Past

Posted on 29 May 2014 by LeslieM

By Dave Montalbano

cinemadave.livejournal.com

Since Mother’s Day, there has been a film that has quietly earned 9 million dollars, 10 percent of what X-Men: Days of Future Past has earned over Memorial Day weekend. Produced by Patricia Heaton and David Hunt, Moms’ Night Out cost 5 million to produce and has earned a nice profit before DVD/Blu-ray release. This film did not have a multimillion dollar budget. While urban elitist critics have shredded the film, it ranks 90 percent on the audience rating on RottenTomatoes.com.

The plot is very simple. A church group of females decide to let their husbands and boyfriends babysit the kids. Things go awry for the mothers, who end up in renegade taxicabs, tattoo parlors and jail. The set-up for each gag is well-executed and the comedy ensemble players (Patricia Heaton, Trace Adkins, Sean Astin, Sarah Drew) pull it off with much heart. Remember Moms’ Night Out on home video next Mother’s Day.

X-Men: Days of Future Past is one of the most anticipated ensemble superhero moves in two years since Marvel’s The Avengers. Beyond recruiting the old ensemble cast with the young ensemble cast (XMen: First Class), the X-Men franchise reinstated director Bryan Singer, who directed the first two movies. Days of Future Past is a title with double entendre for the XMen franchise.

The new movie opens 10 years into the future. Wolverine (Hugh Jackman), Storm (Halle Berry), Magneto (Ian McKellen) and Professor X (Patrick Stewart) are under siege from the Sentinels – robot predators whose original goal was to eliminate XMen mutants. Professor X hypothesizes a strategy to send Wolverine to 1973 and prevent the manufacturing of Sentinels.

Upon waking up in 1973, Wolverine meets young Professor X (James McAvoy) and his arch enemy, young Magneto (Michael Fassbender). The three travel to the Paris Peace Accords to prevent Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) from assassinating Bolivar Trask (Peter Dinklage), the Sentinel’s mastermind.

Like X-Men: First Class, X-Men: Days of Future Past takes a historic time and attempts to present a “mutant back story.” Whereas First Class focused on the Cuban Missile Crisis, Days of Future Past over reaches with stories about the Kennedy Assassination, the Vietnam War and Richard Nixon. While visually interesting, the climax on the White House lawn involving Richard Nixon breaks the 4th wall of verisimilitude.

It would help to see the previous six X-Men movies to appreciate the details and nuances of X-Men: Days of Future Past. The new movie is fun , but it falls short of high expectations.

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