What it’s about?
In the dystopian future, outlawed superhuman mutants are hunted down and killed, so gnarled and knuckle-clawed Wolverine is sent back to the 1970s to warn the younger versions of his fellow X-Men, thwart destiny and satiate the kidult Supanova crowd who still covet action figures in their 30s. Like me.

What did we think?
Careful, one of the mutants says of time travel, the mind can be stretched only so far before it snaps. Consider yourself warned. The exposition-and-character-heavy Days of Future Past could lose non-cosplayers fast. But hang in there. Paraplegic telepath Charles “Professor X” Xavier and metal-manipulating Erik “Magneto” Lehnsherr, again portrayed with impeccable dramatic heft by James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender of 2011’s first-class X-Men refresh, make franchise rivals Thor and the Hulk look like the rather silly cartoons they are.

Returning director Bryan Singer adds flesh to his pioneering but outmoded early-2000s X-Men template, melding atomic-grade effects setpieces with Inception’s out-of-body mind-thumps (and Ellen Page), while introducing a tremendous take on the JFK magic-bullet theory. Oh, and there’s Tyrion.

So, Marvel’s latest mutation is both super AND cerebral? Your move, Avengers.

What’s it about?
A natural disaster that isn’t actually natural sparks off a chain of events which leads to a giant monster that could spell the end of the world for humanity.

What did we think?
Anthony Sherratt says: The new Godzilla is like a one-night stand. It’s fun and exciting while it lasts but the next morning you have questions and thoughts that are generally unsatisfying.

Great effects and the best finishing move of all time (OF ALL TIME) mask some deficiencies in characterisation and story. The main ‘hero’ follows a journey of interconnected events that is beyond the belief of even someone who’s happy to believe in giant monsters.

But for those who do it isn’t about the frailties of the script, it’s about the giant lizard. And although we don’t see enough of the big guy what we do see is simply good fun. There are some good twists (avoid spoilers beforehand if you can) and some genuine respect and love for the character and its history but just don’t think about it too much.

BONUS: Luckily for me the very talented Rob O’Connor was still awake when I got out of the preview screening and was kind enough to draw this for me.