Now Playing Presents: The X-Men Retrospective Series

Pixar films including Toy Story, Monsters Inc., and Finding Nemo, had been smash hits. But could this success that worked on toys, fish, bugs, and beasts, work for a movie starring a roster of human characters? That was the risk they took with The Incredibles -- Pixar's first superhero film. The gamble worked and Pixar had another hit, but how does this film hold up more than 10 years later? Join Stuart, Arnie, and Jakob to find out!

An undercover police officer infiltrates a group of thieves, but can he resist the lure of the subculture and do his duty? No, we're not talking the Keanu Reeves/Patrick Swayze film Point Break--we're reviewing the 2001 car racing film The Fast and The Furious. Starring Vin Diesel, fresh off the success of Pitch Black, the film raced to box office success and launched a billion-dollar franchise. But is there more to this film than fast cars and attractive women? Join Stuart, Arnie, and Jakob to find out!

Marvel's Avengers film upped audience expectations by bringing four solo cinematic superheroes together for one explosive adventure. Now Fox tries to go one better by bringing two entire superteams together! The catch: they're both the X-Men. In X-Men: Days of Future Past the original X-Men and the First Class cast share the screen with a dozen new mutants to try and save their species from annihilation at the hands of giant robot sentinels. Does this giant cast lead to X-treme confusion or, in the hands of returning director Bryan Singer is this X-ceptional entertainment? Listen to Now Playing's review to find out!

Wolverine cannot be killed, and it seems neither can his film franchise. Despite tepid fan response to X-Men Origins: Wolverine a second solo film featuring Hugh Jackman was quickly put into production. With creative changes behind-the-scenes and a change to make The Wolverine a sequel to X-Men: The Last Stand, it was released with the promise of being "The Wolverine film you've been waiting for." Does it live up to that hype? Listen to Arnie, Jakob, and Stuart's latest X-Men movie review to find out as we bide our time until 2014's X-Men: Days of Future Past!

The final episode in our X-Men retrospective series is here as the latest X-Men film, X-Men: First Class, is released. With Matthew Vaughn, director of the beloved Kick-Ass comic adaptation, behind the camera and Bryan Singer back on the team as a producer and writer this time, the X-Men boldly go where many franchises have gone before--the origin story reboot. But with a highly publicized rushed production schedule and a group of actors who have received acclaim but never had to carry a franchise film before, can X-Men: First Class continue the origin story reboot success of such films like Star Trek, Casino Royale, and Batman Begins? Listen to our review as Arnie, Jakob, and Stuart review this latest film and find out for yourself!

Hugh Jackman has gone solo in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, a prequel showing Wolverine's life from his boyhood in 19th Century Canada through his memory loss at Three Mile Island. And in place of the X-Men supporting him, Wolverine is now surrounded by such fan favorite mutants as Deadpool, Gambit, and Agent Zero. Do Arnie, Stuart, and Jakob find this trip down Wolverine's memory lane a exciting adventure, or were these memories best left forgotten? Listen to find out!

With Bryan Singer graduating from Mutant High to direct Superman, and taking most of his production crew with him, it fell to Brett Ratner to complete the X-Men trilogy. The war Magneto had foreseen in the first two films erupts when a cure for mutation is introduced. It's the most bombastic of the X-Men trilogy and very polarizing to X-Fans, but does it Stand up for Arnie, Stuart, and Jakob? Listen to find out!

Professor X, Magneto, and most of the mutants from X-MEN return to the big screen three years after their debut - sporting higher production values, sharper social commentary, an enlarged cast, and answers for amnesiac Wolverine's backstory. Will Arnie, Jakob, and Stuart unite behind director Bryan Singer's grandiose vision, or will the many storylines send them into berserker rage? Listen and find out!

When you think of comic book superhero movies, do you think of concentration camps, human rights, and deep questions, starring both past and future Oscar winning actors? While certainly not the norm in 2000 when it was released, Bryan Singer's X-Men ushered in a new type of superhero film for a new century. With this being the first big-screen live action X-Men adaptation, bringing such comic book legends as Wolverine, Cyclops, Professor X, and Rogue to life and it's success launched not only the X-Men franchise but really set off a renaissance for Marvel Comics superhero films. With 11 years past, does this film hold up? Listen to Arnie, Stuart, and Jakob's review to find out!

Before there was X-Men...there was Generation X! For fans of the X-Men who had grown up watching the cartoon and reading the comics there would be a long wait, until 2000, for the X-Men to grace the silver screen in a big budget epic, but first in 1996 FOX aired the TV movie Generation X, a pilot for a TV series that never happened. Based on X-Men spin-off comic of the same name, Generation X sees a new group of superpowered teen mutants attending Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, here run by Emma Frost and Banshee, both featured characters in this summer's X-Men First Class! Starring Matt "Max Headroom" Frewer as the evil dream manipulating scientist Russel Tresh, is this inauspicious start for the X-Men something all fans should track down, or is it best forgotten like a bad dream? Listen to find out!