X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST

Time is, time was, time's X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST. There were clearly commercial reasons why the latest chapter in the X-MEN franchise had to be a time travel tale: Having previously flubbed the introduction of a new, younger Professor X and Magneto  (James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender, respectively) in X-MEN: FIRST CLASS, the producers clearly wanted to recover a bit of the franchise's mojo by bringing back the old band -- namely Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen under the direction of Bryan Singer, plus Hugh Jackman -- while also trying to finesse the audience into a better appreciation for their replacements. The side benefit is that the time period decided upon for this film has interesting significance for themes explored in the X-MEN universe, and, after my quick review of the surprisingly decent MALEFICENT, I turn my attention to what Singer has wrought. Click on the player to hear the review.