Superman II Review

Superman II remains one of the most controversial comic book movies ever made due to the change of directors mid way through shooting the film. There was a lot of tension between director Richard Donnor (who also directed the first film) and the producers The Salkhinds and it eventually lead to the removal of Richard Donner as director and replaced by Richard Lester.

While not the popular opinion, the theatrical version of Superman II (credited to Richard Lester) remains my favourite Superman movie to date. While the Richard Donner cut of the film has some standout moments (particularly the inclusion of Marlin Brando returning as Jor-El), it also leaves some of my favourite moments from the theatrical version.

Superman II was also the first superhero movie I ever saw, and so for that it remains one of my favourites to date. Terence Stamp still stands as one of the best villains in comic book movie history and in my opinion the film features Christopher Reeve's best performance as the Man of Steel. While there are some silly comedic moments in the film, the strengths clearly outweigh the weaknesses and I feel it will be incredibly difficult for any future Superman films to top this entry.

Film Star Rating: 4.5/5

My Top 10 Favourite Movies: Number 10

No. 10 - The Shawshank Redemption

Most of Stephen King's films have received a very mixed reaction from fans over the years, but a handful usually stand out including The Green Mile, The Shining, Stand By Me and of course The Shawshank Redemption, which today is often considered one if not the greatest film ever made. 

The film stars Tim Robbins as Andy Dufresne who is wrongfully convicted of the murder of his wife and lover and made to serve a life sentence at Shawshank prison. There he is taken under the wing of fellow convict Ellis Boyd 'Red' Redding and attempts to win over the favour of the prison's governor, hoping for his sentence to be reduced. But things start to turn for Andy with the arrival of a new convict who may hold the key to Andy's innocence. 

The Shawkshank Redemption is a very touching and terrific drama about hope, friendship and survival and still stands as one of the best drama films ever with terrific performances from Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman and beautifully directed by Frank Darabont.

X-Men Days of Future Past Review

So far the X-Men movie franchise has been very hit and miss. X-Men was a good start to the series, but was a little shorter than I would have liked it to be. X2 I thought was terrific while X-Men 3 was a big disappointment. The two Wolverine movies were pretty average, but thankfully X-Men: First Class went back to the brilliance of X2 thanks mainly to the direction of Matthew Vaughn.

Thankfully now, X-Men:Days of Future Past is another terrific addition to the franchise which sees Wolverine sent through time in order to change events that result in the creation of Sentinels by Bolivar Trask, a brilliant scientist rallying against the mutants. Wolverine's travel though time finds him coming face to face with the younger Charles Xavier (once again payed brilliantly by James McAvoy) and being forced to release the younger Eric Lehnsherr (played by Michael Fassbender).

While I don't consider the latest movie of the franchise to be the best (in my opinion that honour still goes to X2), it truly is a great edition to the franchise, featuring many X-Men from the original trilogy and from X-Men: First Class, even if most of them are only given brief roles. Hugh Jackman just gets better and better in the role of Logan/Wolverine and the action is really top notch with terrific specials effects that really get you excited for the future of the franchise.

Overall rating: 4/5