X-Men: Days of Future Past (12A) ****
The X-Men series has always brought a bit more energy to the big screen than your average comic book adaptation and here a cast now bedded into their roles do a fine job, even if the finale’s a tad overcooked.
And while it’s not as pitch perfect as its predecessor, one terrific extended scene - involving a prison break - is worth the ticket price alone.
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The first movie that features both the current Xavier and Magneto and their younger selves, the film opens in the near future, where mutants are being hunted to extinction by Sentinels - giant powerful robots who are largely immune to X-Men’s powers.
Fearing they will be wiped out, Xavier and Magneto summon a time-travelling Wolverine (and a scene-stealing Hugh Jackman) back to the 1970s.
His task is to change the course of destiny by preventing Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) from killing a businessman named Bolivar Trask (a very good Peter Dinklage).
He’s the man pushing for the US Government to adapt the Sentinel programme, leading to a rift between the X-Men: do they fight fire with fire, or try to broker a peace agreement?
Director Bryan Singer does a fine job of harnessing a growing tension with the sense of manic energy that makes the X-Men films so darned likeable.
And while the period production’s not quite as slick as the 1960s, brought so vividly to life in First Class, there are lapels a-plenty and a couple of very-well placed songs which serve as punchlines to big scenes.
It’s a shame, then, that the storyline stumbles just as it should be reaching its climax and the finale would have benefited from some tighter snipping in the editing suite.
Blended (12A) **
ADAM SANDLER has committed some goddam awful crimes against movies (Jack and Jill still brings me terrifying flashbacks) but the presence of Drew Barrymore seems to make his films less awful.
They made a sweet pairing in The Wedding Singer and she even made the daft 50 First Dates seem bearable.
Now the charming Drew attempts to salvage Sandler’s latest gormless comedy.
They play Jim and Lauren, two singletons (he’s widowed, she’s separated) who are trying to do their best in raising their respective families as well as having another go at the dating game.
A disastrous first date (he brings her to Hooters) sees them go their separate ways. But when mutual friends split up just days before going on a dream holiday to Africa, both Jim and Lauren back themselves and their kids a place on the trip.
It’s fair to say that Blended is less terrible than recent Adam Sandler offerings, though that in itself is not a recommendation.
There are plenty of visual gags and Barrymore - a brilliant comic actress - manages to lift the saggy material for a time, along with the colourful younger cast.
Ultimately, though, it all falls apart in the second half, lacking originality and relying too heavily on repeat jokes. Another Adam Sandler movie, then.
