The 2014 summer blockbuster season is in full swing!
How will X-Men: Days of Future Past stack up against Godzilla, Amazing Spider-Man 2 and Captain America: The Winter Soldier? Check out all the reviews and rankings below.
Give us your film rankings in comment section.
1. Amazing Spider-Man 2
($91,608,337 opening weekend)
Amazing Spider-Man 2 makes grown men remember why they love the character.
AMS2 is in theaters now, and could possibly be the best big budget comic book film to date. Yes, The Dark Knight is The Godfather of comic book films, but unlike Batman, Spider-Man inspires people and that’s exactly what AMS2 does. Director Marc Webb takes some core source material from the comics and does his best to make the film flow smoothly and respect the material at the same time.
The special and visual effects crew list below deserve 90% of the credit for why this AMS2 works. They recreated so many iconic scenes from the illustrated version of Spider-Man that to a common person, seems impossible to turn into a live action film. Not to mention, the perfected visual form of Spider-Man is balanced out by the witty delivery of Andrew Garfield.
The scene from AMS2 that encompasses everything that Spider-Man is, happens in the first encounter with Electro, played by Jamie Foxx. Your friendly neighborhood web-slinger dons a fire fighter helmet and hoses down Electro. The interaction with the fire fighters is priceless. The film’s attention to detail on all the little things that make Peter Parker and Spider-Man is what makes ASM2 the best Spider-Man film ever.
Emma Stone is solid as Gwen Stacey and for most comic book fans, this is the first time we get to see the emotional bond between Peter and Gwen. Jamie Foxx has a difficult time playing the nerdy Max Dillon but he owns Electro in the final battle. Dane DeHaan lucks out with a pleasant, non-forced reunion of Peter and Harry Osborn, but Harry’s transformation from good to evil does feel rushed. With all the characters running in and out of the film there was disappointment that Flash Thompson did not make a brief cameo.
Story: 8/10 • Cinematography: 10/10 • Acting: 8/10 • Overall 9/10 web-heads.
2. Captain America: The Winter Soldier
($95,023,721 opening weekend)
Five reasons why “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” works:
1. Chris Evans grows into the Captain America character. (Steve Rogers defender of the ‘Greatest Generation’)
2. Anthony Mack and the Falcon looks awesome.
3. The 70’s Jim Steranko and the modern day Ed Brubaker comic book feel.
4. I finally get my inspirational Captain America speech.
5. What does this mean for Agents of SHIELD?
Story: 9/10 • Cinematography: 9/10 • Acting: 8/10 • Overall 8.75/10 shields
3. Godzilla
($93,188,384 opening weekend)
Hey Hollywood! Less humans, more monsters! #Godzilla
— Matthew Sardo (@MatthewSardo) May 16, 2014
Story: 7/10 • Cinematography: 9/10 • Acting: 7/10 • Overall 7.7/10 monsters
4. X-Men: Days of Future Past
(?? opening weekend)
Let’s put Wolverine in X-Men: Days of Future Past and then lets get rid of all the witty banter of X-Men: First Class and not spend any money on makeup and special effects. What could have been an epic film turned out to be a snoozefest. There have been several great time travel films, Terminator is the first come to mind. Yet, X-Men: Days of Future Past fails to take the leap for greatness. Director Bryan Singer had a solid plot to work with but didn’t add the small details to make it a special film. Then there is Beast, the makeup department will get no awards for his look.
The best part of the film was the 20-minutes with Quicksliver played by Evan Peters. For a brief moment the fun was put back in the film. Then Professor X, Beast and Wolverine get a plane and leave Quicksliver in Washington D.C. Peters deserved a bigger part.
The biggest problem with X-Men: Days of Future Past is you know they’re going to win. That takes all the “sense of urgency” out of the film. Also, very early in the film when explaining time travel the film also trivializes death. So, even when Colossus and Iceman get ripped apart the audience isn’t shocked and or impressed.
Comic book nerds finally get their vengeance, this time travel film erases all memory of X-Men: The Last Stand (2006). Brett Ratner made a very bad film and it took almost two and half hours to fix his hot-mess. What X-Men: Days of Future Past does well is position the X-Men film to expand the universe and hopefully telling better stories.
Story: 8/10 • Cinematography: 7/10 • Acting: 8/10 • Overall 7.7/10 mutants
Upcoming films:
Maleficent (May 30)
A Million Ways to Die in the West (May 30)
Edge of Tomorrow (June 6)
22 Jump Street (June 13)
Transformers: Age of Extinction (June 27)
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (July 11)
Jupiter Ascending (July 18)
Guardians of the Galaxy (Aug. 1)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Aug. 7)
The Expendables 3 (Aug. 15)
Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (Aug. 22)
