X-Men: First Class

Exceptionellement bien fait, a été ma première impression de X-Men: First Class...oh sorry, pardon me, the surprisingly large amount of subtitles in this flick must have rubbed off on me. I have to say I didn't have overly high expectations for this movie. The last few X-Men movies have been so disappointing for a fan like myself, sure I wanted it to be great, but I was prepared to be underwhelmed yet again. Which all leads me to how pleasantly surprised I was by this new installment. I'm not sure if they're going to re-launch the franchise from this point, but I wouldn't be opposed to seeing WAY more James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender as Professor X and Magneto. 

As I mentioned at the start one of the most amazing things about X-Men: First Class is that about half of it is in subtitles. Seriously! As the heroes and villains globe hop we get to find out how many languages they [well Fassbender, really] can speak. We have German, spoken surprisingly well by Kevin Bacon, Russian and Spanish as well. I love that comic book movies nowadays realise that they don't have to pander to the lowest common denominator in the audience. Many of us coming to see these movies are not only fans of the comics, but are also generally intelligent people, who are not opposed to reading subtitles AND love awesome action and explosions! 

Let me get something out of the way before I get into this next bit. I love James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender. They are two actors that I will literally follow anywhere, literature, action, I'm there. So when I say that they were wonderful in this movie, you may not quite believe that I'm being completely objective, but that's your loss. These actors have to follow in the footsteps of cinematic giants in the roles that they're playing, Sir Ian McKellan and Sir Patrick Stewart, that's right, two KNIGHTS! However, they bring new life to the characters, now at the beginning of their X-lives. McAvoy is charming and energetic as the young Charles Xavier. While his intentions might not always be pure, they are always good. Watching him want to see the best in not only his new friend Erik, but the rest of the human world that seems hellbent on destroying themselves during the Cuban missile crisis, you really get a sense of Xavier and the man/mutant he will become. 

On the other side we get Michael Fassbender, who is absolutely electric as Erik Lehnsherr, soon to be known as Magneto. His motivations behind his mutant brotherhood from the later movies become perfectly clear. He's forced by unspeakable methods to learn to unleash his powers when he's in a German concentration camp as a child. After the war he spends his adult life tracking down the men responsible for his personal pain, especially Kevin Bacon's Sebastian Shaw. Where McAvoy is charming, Fassbender is charismatic and enigmatic, and, it nearly goes without saying, really sexy. He's a dangerous man who's angry at the human race, he's seen what people can do to each other and is determined to use his powers to rise above them. 
The friendship between these men seems wholly unlikely, considering their opposing ideologies. But in the beginning it was just about bringing mutants together, to train, so they could oppose Shaw's evil mutants. There was a super fantastic cameo during their recruitment campaign, I'm not going to spoil it, but it was AWESOME! And made up for the no Stan Lee cameo in this flick.
Jennifer Lawrence is on a tear. Nominated for an Oscar in the spring, snapped up the lead in a major franchise ['Hunger Games'] AND steals the show from the other ladies in X-Men: First Class. Her portrayal of the conflicted Raven/Mystique was wonderful. What she really wants is to be accepted and loved for who she is, to be 'mutant and proud'. She's grown up being friends with Charles but doesn't seem to share his optimism about humans eventually accepting mutants, quite possibly because she has to constantly hide who she is, even from other mutants. 
On the other hand we have January Jones. Siiigh, sure she fills out Emma Frost's white bra nicely, but she's stiff as cardboard. She's obviously there as arm candy for Kevin Bacon, and that's probably a good thing. 
Like I said before, I was pretty impressed with this flick and would be happy to see more of these characters in X-roles, as long as the studios keep up the character driven stories. It's the reason we love the comics and the thing that makes movies interesting! So way to go Matthew Vaughn! [that's the director, folks] keep up the good work and I'll be in my seat at the theatre!

March Double Feature: The Butcher, The Chef and the Swordsman/Jane Eyre

This past Monday I did my first double feature Matinee Monday since my very first post. I made my way back downtown to my new favourite theatre, Tinseltown. They get such an interesting mix of movies in and they're about $4 cheaper than the theatres closer to me. I saw two completely opposite movies for this double feature, 'The Butcher, the Chef and the Swordsman' [TBTCTS for the rest of the review] a Chinese action flick and 'Jane Eyre' the newest adaptation of Charlotte Bronte's classic. So be prepared for a long one, you know how tend to go on...

'TBTCTS' was, well, it was kind of all over the place. I didn't dislike it, but I didn't like it as much as I thought I would. I've seen some criticism that says the plot is confusing, I disagree, it's pretty straightforward; three stories intertwine with the tale of a powerful cleaver, how it was formed, and how it has been passed down from one person to another. Each sequence, Desire, Vengeance and Greed, has its' own look and feel to it. Desire is the story set most recently and revolves around a butcher who lusts after a beautiful courtesan. We then flashback to the other two sequences. Greed is the furthest in the past and tell the the tale of a swordsman who seeks a swordsmith to make him a new sword from a lump of iron that's made of many powerful weapons melted down together. Desire is really over the top, too silly to really be engaging. The butcher, Chopper, is a completely unsympathetic character, and you could really care less whether or not he achieves his goal. Greed isn't much more interesting, although it had a very interesting visual theme; all in black and white except for things that are red. However, it does reveal the origins of the cleaver used in the next story. The middle frame, Vengeance, was the most appealing portion of the film. The renowned chef at a restaurant is going to visited by a prestigious patron, known for his love of food, and his tendency to kill the chef if he doesn't like any part of the meal. Knowing his life is on the line, he takes an apprentice, a mute, who is working off a debt. He must learn the secret of the eight courses served by the chef, and most importantly the eighth course, [that has a long name that I can't currently recall, sorry!] where the chef must skin,slice and cook a fish so that quickly that it doesn't know it's dead and continues to swim in the soup. This middle frame is genuinely engaging and very well done. In fact, I would have been happy if they had been able to stretch that story out for the rest of the flick. Like I said, didn't love it, didn't hate, probably would only recommend it to those who have odder tastes in movies, like I often do, even though this particular one didn't really appeal to me that much.

The second part of my double feature on the other hand had me enraptured from beginning to end. Let me preface this with an important fact: I haven't read 'Jane Eyre.' I was supposed to read it in school and could never get into it, so I got by with the Coles' Notes version. I've also never seen any of the other many adaptations of this classic. I was coming to this movie with a general idea of the plot, but with a fresh point of view, which very rare for me when it comes to literary adaptations, I love to read, and am more often than not one of those people who say 'The book was much better'. But like I said, that was not the case here, although needless to say, I am reading it now.

This movie has a lot going for it on paper alone, well for me at least; it's produced by my favourite broadcaster BBC and Focus Features who rarely do wrong in my books, and has an excellent cast starting with rising star Mia Wasikowska as the eponymous heroine [you might remember her as the eponymous heroine of 'Alice in Wonderland'], she's joined by Michael Fassbender, Jamie Bell, Sally Hawkins and the always wonderful Dame Judi Dench, pretty fantastic right? Well, that on paper goodness sure translates wonderfully onto the big screen under the watchful eye of director Cary Fukunaga. He wanted to bring a darker version of the book to the big screen, something I think he accomplishes perfectly, both in imagery and tone.

The film starts in media res, which is a fancy literary term for starting in the middle, with a distraught Jane wandering through the rain, alone, in the empty English countryside, finally coming upon a cottage where she is rescued. We are then launched into flashbacks, with each flashback informing the audience of how Jane has come to this place in her life. The character is on a near constant search for love and freedom, but was constantly trod upon as a child. By focussing on the darker aspects of Jane's youth, the maltreatment she receives while living with her aunt and cousins after the death of her parents, the poor conditions at the school she goes to attend, Fukunaga makes you want his plain and passionate heroine to succeed and escape from her terrible conditions. She finally seems to have found the life she's yearned for for such a long time at Thornfield Hall, as the governess to only one pupil. She loves to teach and is treated as an equal in the house, but there is something dark and ominous in Thornfield, it's not felt all the time, but is certainly there at night. And it's owner, Mr. Rochester, is as dark and moody as the estate he owns, but Jane eventually wins his heart, although not without the complications and hardships that every good romance needs.

Mia Wasikowska is pitch perfect as Jane, and I applaud director Fukunaga for choosing an actress close in age to Jane in the novel, only 19, [Wasikowska is 21] They've played down her looks to make her as plain as possible, but she has that passion that lies in Jane within her and it shines on screen. She has the ability to give Jane a naivete that older actresses might not have had the ability to do. She also easily holds her own against more veteran actors like Dame Judi and her older leading man, Michael Fassbender.

Michael Fassbender, who's name you might not recognise, was in '300' and 'Inglourious Basterds'. He's looking to have a good year, starting with his wonderful portrayal of the moody Mr. Rochester and then going on to star as Magneto in 'X-Men: First Class'. Rochester is tortured by his past, and while he is a kind employer, he keeps people at a distance. This complex type of character is not easily brought to screen and could have easily been over-acted, but Fassbender is both charming and complicated as Rochester and it's easy to see how Wasikowska's Jane could fall in love with her employer.

I'm going to leave the reveal of the climax out here for those who, like me haven't read the book. I think not being exposed to the novel might have actually been a blessing here. I was able to focus completely on the story being woven in front of me, one that bewitched me from beginning to end. It was beautiful and heart-wrenching, and I'll definitely be renting it when it comes out on DVD.

That's all for this week, and to sum up, see 'Jane Eyre' if you can, rent 'The Butcher, the Chef and the Swordsman' if you're looking for something a little odd. Until next time!