9) X-Men: Days of Future Past
Not everyone was excited for X-Men: Days of Future Past, not because people don’t like the X-Men, but because they had been let down by the franchise too many times before to really get their hopes up. Also, audiences were a bit nervous about how well Bryan Singer would be able to balance out the immense cast, time-travel storyline and larger themes coherently – but man did he pull it off.
X-Men: Days of Future Past is not only the best X-Men film yet, but one of the best superhero films of all-time. It’s simply just a really great viewing experience provided by a group of people more than willing to go above and beyond the call of duty. As the Avengers half of Marvel’s cinematic universe grows more and more tired, this is the kind of superhero movie that really deserves your money.
It’s stuff like this that made me us want to be film critics in the first place: unexpected surprises that defy preconceptions and make the world a more enjoyable place. Sure, it’s not perfect, but when this much zany fun is on offer, perfection isn’t a necessary requirement. Brett Ratner, McG et al. can take their committee-written productions and shove ‘em – X-Men: Days of Future Past is the bomb.