Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014)

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Topic: X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014)

Sam Graham
AKA: "The Evil Sam Graham". Wackiness ensues.

Posts: 1431
From: Waukee, IA
Registered: Dec 2004

posted 05-25-2014 04:30 PM

CINEMA: Moore Warren, Moore, OK
AUDITORIUM: 8
PRESENTATION: Dolby Digital Cinema/THX (2D)
PRESENTATION PROBLEMS: None [Cool]

RATING: Three stars (out of four)

THE PLOT: A movie franchise that has gone astray needs to be set to where it was two and a half movies ago. Wackiness ensues.

Hey kids who were in that last X-Men movie! Thanks for coming! See ya!

(No, we won't. You've gone the way of the Duke cousins.)

Basically, some of the key players from the first X-Men movie send Wolverine to the past to hook up with the key players from the prequel X-Men movie to change the course of history so that the Mutants continue and that, more importantly, nobody ever has to watch the last two X-Men movies ever again.

If only we could apply the same logic to the "Transformers" franchise.

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Marcel Birgelen
Film God

Posts: 3357
From: Maastricht, Limburg, Netherlands
Registered: Feb 2012

posted 05-27-2014 03:06 AM

Twentieth Century Fox's 200M+ gamble seems to have paid off, with a record breaking opening this past weekend.

I've seen this one in a "traditional" cinema, with 7.1 surround, so no comments on how good/bad the Atmos mix was from me, but the 7.1 mix was quite good. Which is, unfortunately, quite notable, because not all Marvel franchises have been given the needed attention on this matter.

There were some discussions about this movie being shot in HFR, but that seemingly never made it into the final product.

Regarding that final product: Everything looks impressive and quite polished. Those Sentinels (what an original name...) actually look like mean evil stuff.

With a pretentious title that has the potential for brain damage and some rather mediocre attempts at prequels in the not so distant past, this franchise really needed some rather large shots of adrenaline and creativity to make it into the future. And I guess they probably largely succeeded in doing so, almost literally.

Sam summed it up quite nicely. Interestingly though, it actually works... at least for me.

But then again, they pulled the same trick as they did on Star Trek (2009) to eventually "sort-off reboot" the whole franchise. So, numerous sequels to this "sort-off reboot" can obviously be expected.

There was also a sub-plot involving J.F.K. and time travel... Having just finished Stephen King's novel 11/22/63, this struck me as a bit too coincidental...

All in all, I went in with low expectations, since it was "just another superhero movie", but I was pleasantly surprised.

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Mike Blakesley
Film God

Posts: 12767
From: Forsyth, Montana
Registered: Jun 99

posted 05-27-2014 08:58 AM

I wonder if the next X-Men movie will be called "A Question of Balance"?

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Peter Castle
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 220
From: Wollongong University, NSW ,Australia
Registered: Oct 2003

posted 05-27-2014 11:47 PM

Surely there has to be "In Search of the Lost Chord", "On the Threshold of a Dream", and "To Our Children's Children's Children" before "A Question of Balance".

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Mike Blakesley
Film God

Posts: 12767
From: Forsyth, Montana
Registered: Jun 99

posted 05-27-2014 11:54 PM

Yeah I didn't remember the exact order of Moody Blues albums so I just picked the first one that came to mind. (I'm glad you got my attempt at humor at least!)

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Buck Wilson
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 894
From: St. Joseph MO, USA
Registered: Sep 2010

posted 05-28-2014 03:05 AM

I sure liked it! Apparently it helps that I have not seen the others.

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Jonathan Goeldner
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1360
From: Washington, District of Columbia
Registered: Jun 2008

posted 05-28-2014 08:32 AM

quote: Marcel Birgelen
I've seen this one in a "traditional" cinema, with 7.1 surround, so no comments on how good/bad the Atmos mix was from me, but the 7.1 mix was quite good. Which is, unfortunately, quite notable, because not all Marvel franchises have been given the needed attention on this matter.

yeah, I agree, the Atmos mixes for the majority of Marvel movies have been lackluster at best. Don't these mixers go out to the movies themselves?

seeing X-Men (in Atmos) tomorrow, details to follow.

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Jonathan Goeldner
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1360
From: Washington, District of Columbia
Registered: Jun 2008

posted 05-30-2014 01:31 PM

I noted this in the Best/Worst Atmos mixes thread/discussion - but I have to say, the Atmos presentation I saw left me feeling assaulted and a slight headache - there was no need to boost the volume levels to such extremes, none... AMC (Tysons) dial it down (... seriously).

This movie is just as good if not better than X-Men 2. [beer]

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Monte L Fullmer
Film God

Posts: 8367
From: Nampa, Idaho, USA
Registered: Nov 2004

posted 05-31-2014 03:18 AM

Could do the one after the next one and name it, "Seventh Sojourn"...

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John Roddy
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 114
From: Spring, TX, United States
Registered: Dec 2012

posted 05-31-2014 04:03 PM

With this installment in the franchise, I'm perfectly comfortable forgiving Fox for the mess that was The Last Stand.

For whatever reason, I still haven't seen First Class. That's strange too. I'm a big fan of all things X-Men and all things Mathew Vaughn, so I guess I'm just insane. Whatever the case, it felt like I was missing stuff in here. But it was still quite a lot of fun. Good god, that scene with Quicksilver showing off was fun. We need more of those. [Big Grin]

Also, the atmos mix for this one was all right. I could definitely hear them taking advantage of it at points, but it didn't really feel too much above a standard 7.1 mix. They probably could've put a little more work into it. Still good, but nothing too special.

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Jonathan Goeldner
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1360
From: Washington, District of Columbia
Registered: Jun 2008

posted 06-01-2014 09:25 PM

quote:
With this installment in the franchise, I'm perfectly comfortable forgiving Fox for the mess that was The Last Stand.

For whatever reason, I still haven't seen First Class. That's strange too. I'm a big fan of all things X-Men and all things Mathew Vaughn, so I guess I'm just insane. Whatever the case, it felt like I was missing stuff in here. But it was still quite a lot of fun. Good god, that scene with Quicksilver showing off was fun. We need more of those. [Big Grin]

Also, the atmos mix for this one was all right. I could definitely hear them taking advantage of it at points, but it didn't really feel too much above a standard 7.1 mix. They probably could've put a little more work into it. Still good, but nothing too special.

exactly - I would have thought the mixers would have put some of the disembodied voices (during Professor X's 'Cerebro' chamber scens) into the above ceiling channels - but no.

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