Cook: Movie Reviews: ‘X-Men: Days of Future Past’ and ‘Locke’

This past Friday on FOX16 Good Day Arkansas, I reviewed two new and very enjoyable films, “X-Men: Days of Future Past” and “Locke.”

You can watch my reviews online here.

The new X-Men is the best of the entire series and so far it’s the best of all this year’s blockbusters, in my opinion.

In this latest series outing the mutants, known as the X-Men, they face complete annihilation in a war against humans in the near future. The X-Men send Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) back in time to stop an event in 1973 that triggered the eventual war.

There, Wolverine must persuade a young Charles Xavier, played by James McAvoy, to stop hitting the bottle and start working to stave off a war 50 years in the future. Jennifer Lawrence plays Mystique who has gone rouge and Michael Fassbender returns as Magneto as a young man.

This film had well-developed characters, a smart plot and humor that made me laugh out loud. I enjoyed the film’s themes of redemption and second chances, along with the subtext of government spying on its citizens.

A scene featuring a young Quicksilver in an industrial kitchen running faster than what seems like the speed of light is alone worth the price of admission.

Before seeing this film I recommend viewing “X-Men: First Class” otherwise you’ll miss out on key points in this year’s movie.

I give this film a 9 out of 10.

“Locke” stars Tom Hardy as a successful construction foreman with a loving family who gets a phone call that causes him to unravel his whole life in one 80-minute car ride.

Hardy is the only character onscreen and the set is the inside of his car as he drives along the way to London. He interacts with the other characters only via his cell phone as he drives along the interstate.

Since Hardy is the only person we ever see onscreen it falls to him to carry this film and he delivers with a fantastic performance. Hardy’s character is trying to control a chaotic situation he created due to his fateful decisions and Hardy is masterful as playing a man who knows his decisions are hurtful, but he believes he must keep a promise to himself.

I give this film an 8 out of 10.

You can catch my weekly reviews of new movies every Friday morning on FOX16 Good Day Arkansas.