Triple Bill Mini Musings: Mutants, Codgers, and Radioactivity...

X-Men Days of Future Past:
What's it about?
In a bleak near-future, the mutants are being hunted down and exterminated by "The Sentinels", and in a last-ditch effort to change the course of history, they send Wolverine back in time to 1973 (via some weird mental transference kind of thing) to fix the future by changing the past.
Who would I recognise in it?
Hugh Jackman, James McAvoy, Jennifer Lawrence, Michael Fassbender, Ian McKellan, Patrick Stewart, Halle Berry, Nicholas Hoult, Anna Paquin, Ellen Page, Peter Dinklage, Shawn Ashmore, and more.
Great/Good/Alright/Shite?
Jam-packed with mutants and time travel craziness, DOFP is a busy movie. Taking place some time after the events of X-Men 3 in a horrific future world torn apart by human-on-mutant genocide, the action switches over to 1973 - picking up several years after the events of X-Men First Class - and then a whole bunch of stuff happens. Suffice to say, the plot is complicated - but in a good way - and filled with its fair share of fun/mind-bending time travel convolutions. Like the plot, the cast is full, so full that many characters only make cameo appearances or have very little to do. However, while some fan favourites may get shunted to the sidelines, it does help add a sense of a wider 'mutant community' and an entire world of mutants populating the X-Men universe. The script is richly textured, although perhaps a little over-stuffed (making the not-overly-long 131 minute running time feel hefty), and the tone is mostly balanced, but surprisingly dark at times. The action sequences are thoroughly enjoyable, but the stand-out moment is owned by Quicksilver, who steals the entire movie with one superbly realised sequence inside the Pentagon. It's a big, big movie - sometimes an unwieldy one - but it's successes far outweigh it's minor problems. On the cusp between good and great.

Click "READ MORE" below for a rude octogenarian and radioactive horror...

Jackass Presents Bad Grandpa: 
What's it about?
Jackass creation Irving Zisman (Knoxville) is a new widower, but his lewd plans are scuppered when he's saddled with his eight year old grandson Billy (Jackson Nicoll). He has to go on a road trip to take the boy across the country to his father.
Who would I recognise in it?
Johnny Knoxville.
Great/Good/Alright/Shite?
Initially it's weird to see a Jackass movie combining hidden camera setups with a plot, but once you get a feel for the tone of the flick, you get sucked into it. Indeed, quite quickly, you forget that it's Knoxville under all that make up, so convincing that it is, that you only see Irving Zisman. What's more, while kids can often sink a movie by being annoying or overly cute, Jackson Nicoll is a hell of a find and fits right into the crazy world of Jackass. The laughs and gross out moments don't come as thick or as fast as they did in the Jackass show or movies, but once you settle into the style of Bad Grandpa you'll soon find yourself guffawing as often as your jaw drops during various show-stopping moments (such as what happens at a late-in-the-game beauty pageant). What is initially a strange mix of classic Jackass and - shock-horror, a plot - soon becomes a thoroughly entertaining 'hidden camera comedy'. Good.


Chernobyl Diaries:
What's it about?
Six tourists visiting Ukraine take an 'extreme tour' of Pripyat, the town that was abandoned overnight after the nuclear disaster at Chernobyl in 1986, but soon find themselves in a spot of bother.
Who would I recognise in it?
Jonathan Sadowski.
Great/Good/Alright/Shite?
The main selling point of this flick, written by Oren Peli (creator of the Paranormal Activity franchise) and Carey & Shane Van Dyke, is the location. Actually filmed in Serbia and Hungary, the filmmakers do a pretty damn convincing job of finding alternative locations to stand in for their real-life counterparts. Less good are the characters and plot. They're a bit bland and underwritten, but at least none of them are arseholes, although they do make some rather stupid decisions at times. Horror wise it has plenty of atmosphere, but is light on scares, however it's refreshing that they didn't feel the need to take lingering looks at their antagonists - a fleeting glance at any one time is all you'll generally get, and it helps add a layer of suspense from the unknown. Generally it's fairly standard stuff - young people go somewhere they're not supposed to and get picked off one by one - but setting the bulk of the film in Pripyat provides enough intrigue to carry the flick throughout it's brief running time. Cool soundtrack, too. On the good end of alright.