Posts Tagged ‘Days of Future Past’

I haven’t had time to properly digest both the new trailer and the new set picks of Wanda and Pietro… so going to let some professionals do the heavy lifting.

via Newsarama

UNDER THE MICROSCOPE
Monday saw the release of another X-Men: Days of Future Past trailer. While there are some notable absences, like just a quick running glimpses of Bishop, a character who may be important in this time travel story, there are plenty of things you should be watching out for.From the obvious – like the official debut of the Sentinels (even future versions like on the left) – to the not so obvious interpersonal dynamics of Xaviers young and old, here are ten important things we noticed in the new X-Men: Days of Future Past trailer.

EVEN MORE STORM
Despite conflicting reports of whether Storm’s role in Days of Future Past has been reduced, she sure has gotten a lot of screen time in both trailers so far. That suggests that either she is in fact a core character in the movie, or that her scene is pivotal or important.From the looks of it, Storm’s fate in the movie may be pretty similar to her fate in the Days of Future Past comic. If that’s the case, it would indeed be a major scene, allowing her to still play a big role in the film despite a lack of actual screen time.

MYSTIQUE: FREE AGENT?
We know that Mystique’s defection to Magneto will be a major sticking point between young Erik and Charles – Xavier specifically says as much – but where do her loyalties actually lie?From the looks of things, Jennifer Lawrence’s young Mystique could be the ‘x-factor’ (sorry) that sparks the Sentinel revolution. She certainly seems closer to her early comic portrayal as a more politically-minded agent of subterfuge in these trailers.

XAVIER IS WALKING?
In one scene, it looks as though James McAvoy’s young Xavier is up and about, rather than being confined to a wheelchair as was his fate at the end of the X-Men: First Class.We know Xavier has alternated between mobility and paralysis in the comics, and at least one character – the bouncing, blue-furred Beast – has already received an “out” for the fate that befell him in the last film.

Of course, the short clip of the young Xavier up and about in the long “X-Mansion” hallways turning on lights is directly followed by him in a wheelchair. It could be simply a scene inside Xavier’s mindscape – which would also explain the Xavier-meets-Xavier scene teased in the trailer

XAVIER IS FIGHTING!
On the other hand, it looks like Patrick Stewart is getting in on the action like never before. Several short moments in today’s trailer make it look like he’s going to go toe to toe with Sentinels at least once in the film.We’ve yet to see Xavier – especially old Xavier, at the height of his power – really cut loose in an X-Men film yet. While First Class saw him don the yellow and blue flight suit with the rest of his team, he still wasn’t exactly “hands on.”

THE POWER IS YOURS!
It looks like Xavier won’t be the only one getting his moment to shine, either. Several key scenes in the trailer show Iceman at what could finally be considered “full power,” even sliding on ice trails.On top of that, we’ve got scenes of Colossus, Blink, and Sunfire all cutting loose. It may be a matter of FX catching up to ideas, or it may just be a willingness to go bigger, but Days of Future Past will likely see some of the most dazzling mutant powers yet on screen.

PHYSICIAN, HEAL THYSELF
This trailer is really all about Xavier; how his two incarnations team up, and how his dream has evolved from his early idealism. The interaction between McAvoy and Stewart has been central to the film’s promotion so far, and is even more on display here.The important thing to note is that it seems as though old Xavier is counseling young Xavier, offering him guidance and solace. The print X-Men are no stranger to time paradoxes, but are we seeing the birth of a time-loop, or something less complex.

DARKER, GRITTIER
One of the things that really stood out about Matthew Vaughan’s X-Men: First Classwas the brighter, more lighthearted tone, especially as compared to Bryan Singer’s first two films, and even Brett Ratner’s X3.But this trailer all but disavows those bright colors and campy moments for something much bigger, darker, and altogether more troubled. That said, there may be an interesting dichotomy at play between the scenes of the X-Men’s bright past and dark future, but the costume direction alone, even in the scenes of the past, is step back towards the much grittier take on the team.

IT’S CURTAINS!
Call it an opportunity to clean house, a chance to trim down the cast, or even just a shot at showing some big, shocking events that could theoretically come undone through the magic of time travel, but it sure looks like not everyone is walking away from Days of Future Past.Even major characters are in trouble in this trailer, and while in comics, nothing is permanent (especially when it comes to the X-Men), would the films go so far as to partially reboot? X-Men: First Class took some opportunities to contradict the much-maligned X3. Could Days of Future Past be looking to settle that score?

ACTION!
While the last trailer was all about tone and mood, this trailer takes a big leap into the action. We’ve got mutants. We’ve got Sentinels. We’ve got soldiers, guns, lasers, powers, a post-apocalyptic wasteland. This is widescreen, blockbuster stuff on display.Keeping that in mind, it will be very interesting to see the interplay between the deeper, emotional moments hinted at here, especially between the two versions of Erik and Xavier, and the major, edge-of-your-seat action sequences Days of Future Past promises to deliver.

SENTINELS
You wanted Sentinels? You got Sentinels.Thousands of Sentinels. This is the component of this film many fans have been waiting desperately to see. And while we only got a few brief glimpses at the small-scale battles between mutants and Sentinels, there’s plenty of eye candy flying around.From scenes of Xavier and Storm taking on the mutant-hunting robots, to Magneto seemingly taking control of their metal components, to scores of them pouring out of the sky, the Sentinels are absolutely central to this story, and that’s on full display in this trailer.

Read Full Post »

I’ll save my indepth thoughts on this till we see the whole thing, but here is a lot of interesting comments from CinemaBlend. Though, why are we seeing Iceman and Magneto together, I thought them rescuing Rogue together got cut?

Via CinemaBlend

Director Bryan Singer has revealed on Twitter that there are some very big promotional plans in store for the upcoming X-Men: Days of Future Past coming next week, and he has begun teasing those plans with the Instagram video you see above, featuring a surprising amount of new footage that wasn’t seen in the trailer that was unveiled a few months back.

The tease features quite a few interesting quick shots, so let’s take a much closer, in-depth look at them, shall we?

I can’t seem to embed the video so here it the link.

Quicksilver X-Men: Days of Future Past

The first shot that I picked up on is this one of Evan Peters as Quicksilver shattering some glass in super slow motion. He also seems to be disguised in a police officer’s uniform, which is just a tad strange.

Wolverine X-Men: Days of Future Past

Next up we have Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) wrapped up in some kind of metal and sinking to the bottom of a body of water. Looking at the way he is bound, I would guess that Magneto is somehow involved here, but I can’t be sure if it’s the older version played by Sir Ian McKellen or the young version played by Michael Fassbender.

Blink Warpath and Sunspot X-Men: Days of Future Past

This third screengrab shows off three mutants who will be making their first appearance in the X-Men franchise. Up front is Booboo Stewart as James Proudstar/Warpath, to the left is Fan Bingbing as Clarice Ferguson/Blink, and on the right is Adan Canto as Roberto da Costa/Sunspot.

Mystique and Magneto X-Men: Days of Future Past

Our fourth shot seems to be an intimate meeting between Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) and young Magneto (Michael Fassbender). At the end of Matthew Vaughn’s X-Men: First Class the two of them became very close and Mystique even left her closest friend, Charles Xavier (James McAvoy), to be with him. It will be interesting to see how their relationship has developed since, given that their timeline in Days of Future Pasttakes place 11 years after the events in that film.

Mystique X-Men: Days of Future Past

Here we have Mystique all by herself incognito in her “human” disguise. This isn’t the first time we’ve seen the character in her pretty sundress and hat, as we got this behind-the-scenes photo a few months ago, but we’re still curious what she’s up to.

Iceman and Magneto X-Men: Days of Future Past

Lastly we jump back to the “future” timeline where we see two of Singer’s original franchise players: Shawn Ashmore as Iceman and McKellen as Magneto. With the exception of a few scenes in X2: X-Men United, these two characters have classically been portrayed on opposing sides – X-men vs. the Brotherhood of Mutants – but it would seem that facing an apocalyptic future has convinced them to work together.

We’re not 100% sure what exactly this is a tease for, but be sure to check back on Monday January 27th for even more X-Men: Days of Future Past awesomness.

Read Full Post »

Evan Peters as QuicksilverIt’s not as good as I hoped but not as bad as I feared. Remember kids, it’s the 70s.

A few things to keep in mind while viewing this picture:

  • It’s not a high rez production still, the effects may not be finished.
  • The content is obscured by something in the air (ash? glass?)
  • Again, it’s the 70s.
  • Is that man in the back duct taped to the wall?
  • WHY IS XAVIER WALKING?! (apparently this is astral projection?)

That being said, Quicksilver’s hair does look more grey than silver. He’s also wearing some kind of headband which makes the styling seem kind of off. It also doesn’t help that his jacket is of the bright and super shiny silver rather than a matte silver I personally would have chosen.

Really, Quicksilver seems more apt to have come out of the 80s than the 70s, but so far everything seems to place this film in the early 70s. Perhaps our Pietro is ahead of the curve in more ways than one?

In any case, I remember seeing production stills of Thor and thinking that the outfits looked too plastic but when it came together in the film they had a much more polished metal look. I’m really hoping that we’ll see something like that here with Quicksilver. Perhaps the lighting (especially since they are using the high-frame-rate cameras that require super bright light) will make it pop better as a true silver rather than this grey which is very reminiscent of Storm in X3. I’m crossing my fingers on this…

It’s also interesting to note that Age of Ultron is going into filming soon which means they are going to have to soon settle on Quicksilver’s hair for Taylor-Johnson… I wonder if anyone at Marvel!Disney is taking note?

Lastly, seriously, that dude is duct taped to the wall. If Quicksilver did that at superspeed… then the movie will be worth it just for that!

Image Courtesy of CinemaBlend

Read Full Post »

With so many mutants in this film already, I can only imagine this being a cameo or back ground filler.

via CinemaBlend

X-Men Days Of Future Past To Feature A Young Version Of Toad image
Thanks to the 1973 timeline portion of Bryan Singer’s upcoming X-Men: Days of Future Past we already know that we will be getting to see the younger versions of multiple mutants. From the cast of X-Men: First Class we will see the return of James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence and Nicholas Hoult as Professor X, Magneto, Mystique and Beast, respectively, but it turns out the list doesn’t end there. Instead, the film will also be introducing a younger version of the villain known as Toad – who played by Ray Park in 2000’s X-Men – and now MTV has revealed that actor who will be playing him.

The site caught up with actor Evan Jonigkeit at a recent red carpet event for the television series Girls, and during their interview he revealed that he will be playing the mutant with the wicked tongue. You can watch him talk about it in the video below:

Toad, whose real name is Mortimer Toynbee, was first introduced in the comics back in 1964 as a servant of Magneto’s in the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. As seen in the first X-Men movie, he is an incredibly adept leaper and has a long, sticky prehensile tongue that he can use to strike his enemies. He also has the ability to produce an adhesive spit, which he used to nearly suffocate Jean Grey:

Given the events at the end of X-Men: First Class, we can probably assume that the 1973 version of Magneto is bringing together his own Brotherhood, and logic dictates that Toad would be one of his earliest followers. This means that the only Magneto henchmen not yet accounted for is Sabretooth, but considering the franchise is still trying to work around the continuity nightmare that is X-Men Origins: Wolverine it’s possible that the character won’t be addressed.

Days of Future Past was scripted by Simon Kinberg and Matthew Vaughn and begins in an apocalyptic future where mutants are hunted by giant robots called Sentinels. In order to try and stop this version of the future from ever coming to pass, the X-Men send Wolverine’s (Hugh Jackman) consciousness back through time to 1973 where he must meet with a young Profession Xavier (McAvoy) and convince him to help stop an event that could changes the world forever. In addition to all the names mentioned above, the expansive ensemble cast also includes Sir Patrick Stewart, Sir Ian McKellen, Halle Berry, Shawn Ashmore, Ellen Page, Daniel Cudmore, Adam Canto, Peter Dinklage, Omar Sy, Booboo Stewart, Evan Peters, Josh Helman, and Fan Bing Bing. Look for the film in theaters on May 23rd.

Read Full Post »

Anna Paquin as Rogue

When I heard that Rogue was cut from Days of Future Past I was both upset and relieved, apparently these emotions aren’t mutually exclusive.

But then I remembered what The Vulture wrote back in July:

In Singer’s take, Ellen Page returns as Kitty from the Brett Ratner–directed X-Men: The Last Stand, but this time she uses her powers to send Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine back into the past, where he encounters the younger mutants played by James McAvoy, Jennifer Lawrence, and Michael Fassbender. However, something bad happens to Kitty during the time-travel trance, and while Wolverine is still under her spell, the other X-Men must race to find a mutant who can siphon Kitty’s powers and bring their friend back to the future. Could that be the plot development that brings Anna Paquin’s power-copying Rogue into the fold once again?

This made sense and the trailer seemed to confirm it as Rogue is seen being rescued by Bobby and Magneto, something which I figured was in the back part of the film when they needed to find her to save Kitty.

But now we learn that Rogue’s scene was at the beginning of the film and apparently wasn’t important enough to the plot to keep? So what does that mean for The Vulture’s inside information which was spot on about everything else as confirmed later via the trailer? There are a few options:

  • They assume it meant Rogue but apparently it refers to someone/something else? (but who/what?)
  • This is one piece of information they simply got wrong?
  • Rogue’s removal is some kind of ‘red herring’ and we’ll be surprised during the latter part of the film?

I’m not really sure what to make of this, we’ll have to see what further reveals they give us before the film is released next year.

Read Full Post »

Part of me is really mad that she’s once again getting the short end of the stick in these films (I will never forgive X3), but part of me is kinda glad that she won’t be in the official canon of the film because they were probably going to screw her up even worse anyway.

via Cinemablend

dofp_rogue_iceman_magnetoBryan Singer’s X-Men: Days of Future Past promises to bring together multiple generations of the mutant superhero team, with the worlds of the original X-Men trilogy and Matthew Vaughn’s X-Men: First Class colliding, but today it has been sadly announced that one fan-favorite character has been axed from the final cut of the film. During a recently interview with Entertainment Weekly, the director revealed that Anna Paquin, who plays Rogue in the cinematic X-Men series, is no longer going to appear in next summer’s blockbuster.

The detail was uncovered when Singer explained how a rescue sequence that was shot in the beginning of production on the movie ended up needing to get cut. The scene features Magneto (Ian McKellen), Professor X (Patrick Stewart), Rogue (Anna Paquin), and Iceman (Shawn Ashmore), but Singer says that it ultimately affected the pacing of the film negatively. The good news, however, is that we will be able to see it someday. Explained the filmmaker,

“Through the editing process, the sequence became extraneous. It’s a really good sequence and it will probably end up on the DVD so people can see it. But like many things in the editing process, it was an embarrassment of riches and it was just one of the things that had to go. Unfortunately, it was the one and only sequence Anna Paquin was in, the Rogue character was in. Even though she’s in the materials and part of the process of making the film, she won’t appear in it.”

I must say that this is kind of a bummer. The last time we saw Rogue, in X-Men: The Last Stand, she had received the mutant “cure” and was going on to try and live a normal life. Thanks to the last shot of Magneto in the movie we know that the “cure” ended up being temporary, but what then what happened to Rogue? We won’t get an answer to that question until the movie comes out on home video some time next fall, and it sounds like they won’t be getting too deep into the material. Maybe she will play a crucial role in 2016’s X-Men: Apocalypse?

X-Men: Days of Future Past may not include Paquin, but it does have a full roster of familiar faces. From the original trilogy we will once again get to see Sir Patrick Stewart, Sir Ian McKellen, Hugh Jackman, Halle Berry, Shawn Ashmore, Ellen Page, and Daniel Cudmore,while returning First Class members include James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, and Nicholas Hoult. Joining the franchise in new roles will be Adam Canto, Peter Dinklage, Omar Sy, Booboo Stewart, Evan Peters, Josh Helman, and Fan Bing Bing. You can watch the teaser trailer for the movie below, and catch the full thing in theaters on May 23, 2014.

Read Full Post »

via ComingSoon.net

Little is officially known about the upcoming X-Men: Apocalypse, which was announced two weeks ago, but thanks to director Bryan Singer we now have an idea of who is behind the scenes for the sequel. Singer tweeted about a “Late night X-Men Apocalypse story session” last night and the photo included not only Singer and X-Men: Days of Future Past screenwriter Simon Kinberg, but also X2: X-Men United screenwriters Mike Dougherty and Dan Harris! This marks the first time since “X2” that Dougherty and Harris have worked on an X-Men film. Though it remains to be seen who will officially pen the screenplay for the sequel, it’s certainly exciting to see former franchise writers return to the series.

In addition, Singer added “It’s snowing in Egypt!” to his tweet, which might seem unrelated but Egypt was in fact the birth place of Apocalypse/En Sabah Nur’s in the original source material.

Created by Louise and Walter Simonson, Apocalypse made his debut in X-Factor #6. The character’s most popular storyline, “The Age of Apocalypse,” ran in the X-Men books beginning in 1995. Set in a parallel reality formed by interference to the timeline, “The Age of Apocalypse” saw Professor Charles Xavier murdered before he could form the X-Men. Instead, a very different take on the team began with Magneto leading them through a post-apocalyptic America ruled by mutants.

X-men: Apocalypse will hit the big screen May 27, 2016, while X-Men: Days of Future Past will debut May 23, 2014.

Read Full Post »

Days of Future Past director Bryan Singer is both cryptic while dropping a bomb-shell on his twitter feed.

Age of ApocalypseThis seems to say that the sequel to DOFP will be out in 2016 and involve the classic villain: Apocalypse.

It makes a lot of sense to bring in this big baddy, and it looks like they had already decided to do it from the beginning because:

  • In the DOFP trailer the temple they go too may be part of Apocalypse’s cult
  • They brought Blink into the franchise when they didn’t really have to and she’s a descendant of Apocalypse.
  • Post-Apocalyptic (pardon the pun) is really big right now, everyone is using that dystopian feel.
  • Age of Apocalypse was one of the biggest non-616 universes in the comics and was fairly well received.
  • 2016 is also Avengers 2 and if they want to compete then they need to bring in a heavy-hitter.

The problem though with him announcing this now is… well… DOFP hasn’t even come out and he pretty much gives away the Easter-egg reveal (oh no, they saved themselves from Trask but woke up Apocalypse?!) Is he throwing this out there so in 2015 when he starts production people won’t accuse him of ripping off whatever Avengers 2 is doing ala Quicksilver?  Unless Apocalypse doesn’t actually mean the person but just the event and Singer is trolling us (also possible).

An even bigger question is who is going to be fighting him? I would imagine they would want to keep on with the First Class cast unless he managed to talk the Classic cast back to do another picture. Either way, how is this going to fit into the continuity of the films? How much of  a reboot will DOFP be and effect the universe? Will this tie into the X-Force film at all?

So many questions!!

And we’ll just have to wait and see…

Read Full Post »

thebentbullet.comFox has opened up a new viral site, thebentbullet.com, which is a gallery that discusses “JFK and the Mutant Conspiracy”.

Half a century ago, Magento was implicated in the mutant plot to assassinate President John F. Kennedy. The events of that fateful day in November have been a point of contention between humans and mutants ever since.

This comes on the eve of the 50th anniversary of JFK’s assassination and ties in with comments made after First Class came out that pretty much stated that Magneto on the grassy knoll would be an interesting way to open the sequel considering the controversy around ‘the magic bullet’ of the real assassination.

I thought that Magneto gets arrested at the Paris Peace Accords and is later broken out by Xavier to help combat Trask, but it looks like Magneto will start off in jail for the assassination. The only other option is that he’s constantly in and out of prison, which does fit with X2, it’s very hard to keep that man inside a cell, a fact that is commented on in the gallery as apparently Magneto destroyed several of his cells until Trask got involved to make the one he brakes out of in the trailer.

As for the gallery itself, Kennedy is painted as mutant sympathizer. I don’t know why Magneto would necessarily want to ensure his death as it’s inferred that Mystique, as Lee Harvey Oswald, was the actual shooter.

There are several references to make note of:

  • Friends of Humanity and the Purifiers are mentioned
  • Erik Lensherr is called “the strange, squinty man”
  • Magneto has a trial, presumably he allows this as it seems like a normal, though secret, trial, and they even let in a crow bar for him to bend… he could have killed everyone with that, didn’t they realize that?
  • Magneto’s cell has unbreakable glass… we see it get broken in the trailer
  • Azazel and Tempest are listed as ‘dead’

There are also many moments which could have been references to specific mutants being involved, such as Emma Frost, but it would all be guesses.

With still six months away until the film’s release, makes you wonder what other interesting revisionist historical stuff may be popping up in the near future.

Read Full Post »

via CinemaBlend

X-Men: Days Of Future Past Plans Reshoots In Montreal

X-Men: Days Of Future Past Plans Reshoots In Montreal image
One of the most encouraging changes I’ve seen in movie fandom over the last five years is in the way we understand news about reshoots. Just a few years ago word about additional shooting days for something like Where the Wild Things Are or Sherlock Holmes would send us and the rest of the Internet into a tizzy, with everyone assuming that something disastrous was happening, that the director had been forced off the movie and that the studio was ruining everything. Sometimes, of course, it was true– Jonah Hex‘s reshoots were only the beginning of its troubles. But most of the time, especially on hugely expensive movies, it’s just part of making sure that spending all that money was worth it.

Which brings us to X-Men: Days of Future Past, now going into reshoots in Montreal according to The Calgary Herald. The production was a huge boon for Montreal when it started there earlier this year, and will reportedly be adding several extra weeks of production– Quebec film commissioner Hans Fraikin calls it “a big reshoot” while also noting that this kind of extra production “happens all the time, especially with big pictures.” And just how big X-Men: Days of Future Past is may be more than any of us were expecting– according to Fraikin it’s the second-biggest production in 20th Century Fox history, just below Avatar. That probably means a final budget way, way bigger than the $160 million it cost to make X-Men: First Class— and if you remember just how cheap the Emma Frost diamond effects looked in that first one, you know why the extra cash is such a good thing.

Not that we were relying on budget to get us excited about Days of Future Past— with everything from Peter Dinklage as a mustache-wearing villain to two versions each of bothProfessor X and Magneto, the movie has enough going on that I’d probably watch a version of it made for 15 bucks and the promise of free popcorn for the entire crew. Most of the expensive effects on the movie aren’t yet finished– and neither is the filming, apparently– but we finally got our first look at the superhero sequel when the teaser trailer emerged online a few weeks ago. Check it out below, and share your speculation about what’s happening in the reshoots in the comments.

Read Full Post »

Older Posts »