Many forums have this figured Id add one here. I find it best to summarize , recommend , but avoid spoilers (unless we have spoiler tags)
Godzilla - 6/10
I was really excited to see this. Im a huge fan of moves like Cloverfield and Pacific Rim. Im an AV junkie so any opportunity to test the limits of an Imax theater is welcome. After reading about the directors vision , and knowing Bryan Cranston was in it I was sold. I went to see it in IMAX during the weekday with only a few people in the theater. Cranston was great as I expected. The camera work was superb and everything was just gorgeous to look at. However the first 1/3rd of the movie and last act were filled with mediocrity. Without giving anything away the real reveal and battles really dont take place until the end. While it is in fact riddled with destruction the middle of the movie is basically non important and you never get a sense of impending doom or importance. While technically a better film its action and story telling fails to match the over the top amazing fights in Pacific Rim , or instill any of the impending doom or fear that both Cloverfield and Pacific Rim did. If you go see it I highly recommend seeing at your IMAX/RPX or equivalent theater. And if you have to pee in the middle..go ahead.
XMEN: Days of Future Past - 9/10
I make no secret of my fanboydom. I love the XMEN franchise , I love the mutant storylines more than any other marvel aspects. When I first saw the teaser trailer my jaw dropped. I just couldnt wait. Then slowly but surely images started leaking , and some awful follow up trailers came out and my anticipation was gone. Just about every style decision made I was against. Future sentinels were NOT like Nimrod , Quicksilver looks like a total goofball , and past sentinels werent the least bit menacing. Why is wolverine and not Kitty Pride going back ugh makes no sense...so blah....
Boy was I wrong on all counts. Singer for all the bashing he took leading up to this finally delivered the perfect mutant XMEN movie. A perfect explanation why future sentinels looked that way , an absolutely jaw dropping sequence with Quicksilver , and a masterful set of explanations to almost every possible loose end without ever having a "let me stop and explain like your 5" moment. Everything just works and is fluid. Acting on everyones part was top grade. James Mcavoy was just fantastic. Every XMEN movie to this point had some glaring flaw or terrible performance. Not here. Even the intolerable version of Storm by Halle Berry was great. Im not an expert enough to explain why , but XMen movies are always shot and look gritter than the rest of the Marvel movies. This one is no different but it works in a way that hasnt since the first XMEN.
My only faults are sentinels never talk or announce anything ominous (a hall mark of them) , and the xmen franchise has failed again to give me a signature soundtrack or theme music.
*VERY MINOR SPOILER*
Seeing one of my favorite mutants get absolutely obliterated twice in dramatic fashion made my 8 year old self sad but current self laugh out loud.
