Blu-ray

Over the course of the original trilogy, a 1960s-set prequel and two spin-offs for its breakout star, the X-Men movie franchise has tied itself up in myriad contradictory chronological knots. Taking its cues (and title) from one of the most popular comic book storylines, …Days of Future Past sees director Bryan Singer returning to the franchise in order to set things straight. Presumably once and for all.

DreamWorks Animation has often seemed like a bit of an also-ran next to the might of Disney Pixar; a situation that has been exacerbated in recent years by a spectacular run of duds including Rise of the Guardians, Turbo and Mr. Peabody & Sherman. But, like any good story, just when things looked to be at their darkest, along comes a hero to save the day.

In the five years following the 'Battle of Chicago', humanity has grown fearful of the Transformers, causing the US military to sever all ties with the Autobots. Meanwhile, an elite CIA black ops unit tasked with hunting down and destroying all surviving Decepticons has secretly been targeting Autobots as well, and supplying captured tech to robotics corporation KSI, which is attempting to build its own controllable Transformers.

When his daughter Beth (Gia Mantegna) disappears, Paul (Jason Patric), a former New Orleans crime boss known as ‘The Prince’ sets out to find her, with the help of one of Beth’s friends Angela (Jessica Lowndes) and an old sparring partner called Sam (John Cusack). The bad news is that she has fallen into the clutches of his former rival – drug baron and gangster Omar (Bruce Willis). Both men are bitter enemies after a car bomb that Paul intended for Omar claimed the lives of his wife and child instead. Now riddled with guilt, car mechanic and devoted father Paul constantly relives the ‘accident’ in vivid flashbacks.

Until this year Marvel Studios had played it relatively safe, choosing relatively well-known superheroes to bring to the multiplex. Guardians of the Galaxy is different. It leaves Earth far behind and jets off into the far reaches of the Marvel Universe for a space opera based on an obscure team of misfit heroes. A far bigger risk for the studio than Iron Man et al, but one that pays off handsomely.

Created in 1985 by Nintendo, it was inevitable that the success of the platform videogame Super Mario Bros. would lead to a movie tie-in. Yet, as producer Roland Joffe explains in the documentary that’s accompanies this recently released Blu-ray version of the movie, it was a film franchise that was curiously overlooked by most of the major Hollywood Studios.

Trawl through the list of supporting features for double-bill programmes, the staple diet for UK cinemagoers up until the early 1970s, and you’ll be surprised at what you find. While the majority of independent studios concentrated on Film Noir subjects (crime, mystery etc), there are also quite a few low-budget science fiction titles, including Devil Girl From Mars, Stranger From Venus, The Strange World of Planet X, Invasion, The Night Caller, They Came From Beyond Space, The Body Stealers and this curiosity from Anglo Amalgamated called Unearthly Stranger.