X-Men: First Class

X-Men: First Class is the superhero movie I didn't even know I'd been waiting for. A hybrid of prequel and reboot, it's most successful in borrowing the elements that worked best from each of the previous X-Men films and consolidating them into one fluid story. Inspired casting, solid acting, a terrific script, impressive effects, and really great action: what more could you want in a superhero film?

X-Men: First Class
Co-writer/Director: Matthew Vaughn
Starring: James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Kevin Bacon, January Jones

In the recent pantheon of superhero movies - since Bryan Singer's X-Men hit theaters in 2000 - I'd place First Class under The Dark Knight, Spider-Man 2, Iron Man, and possibly X2: X-Men United. Considering there have been over 40 superhero movies released since 2000, the high placement of First Class should obviously be taken as a testament to its superior quality. Director Matthew Vaughn not only infuses the film with an inspiring style desperately lacking since Singer turned the director's chair over to Brett Ratner in 2006, but Vaughn also contributed to the script with his Kick-Ass co-writer Jane Goldman. (Ashley Edward Miller and Zack Stentz, the duo behind Marvel's most recent effort, Thor, co-wrote First Class as well.) Also impressive is Vaughn's ability to jump from deconstructing superhero tropes in Kick-Ass to effectively utilizing them here in First Class; more importantly, he handles both approaches with equal amounts of skill, able to slide around within the same genre from parody to a more traditional (yet still outstanding) entry.

The casting in First Class is stellar from top to bottom. James McAvoy is the perfect young Charles Xavier. Strong-willed and powerful, he's easily imaginable as one day growing into Patrick Stewart's iconic representation of the character. Michael Fassbender continues his slow rise to member of the Hollywood elite as Erik "Magneto" Lensherr, imbuing the character with an intensity and smoldering rage coupled with a willingness to keep an open mind...until his inevitable shift. That's what's awesome about this movie: they didn't stretch out the character development over three films (ahem, Star Wars prequels). By the end of this movie, I was rearing to go for a sequel right then and there, and that's a rare feeling for me in a big budget blockbuster franchise movie these days. Jennifer Lawrence is splendid as Mystique, pulling a complete 180 from the dirty noirish heroine of Winter's Bone to the beautiful shape-shifter we see here. Even Kevin Bacon (what's he doing here?!) was fun to watch, playing it relatively straight - after his Nazi intro - as the villainous Sebastian Shaw, hellbent on nuclear war and complete with a harebrained scheme involving mutant domination of the fallout.

The secondary cast members were also impressive, led by the wonderful Rose Byrne as CIA agent Moira MacTaggert. She's an actress who's basically been the real life Hollywood equivalent of Mystique lately, disappearing into vastly different roles in Get Him to the Greek, Bridesmaids, and now this. January Jones was the only weak link, although her stiff and lifeless acting was perhaps more apt here since she's playing ice queen Emma Frost than in other roles she's inhabited in her career. (See gratuitous picture at left.) Don't get me wrong, she looked spectacular - she's just a terrible actress. The rest of the young mutant cast was fine, but not worth mentioning (aside from the technical point that Scott Summers' brother Alex - aka Havok - is involved in this movie even though this makes no sense in the overall series timeline). One of the largest successes of this film is that Vaughn and his crew were able to assemble the best cast of military character actors ever committed to film. All these guys are in the same movie:

(Photo above. Top row, left to right: Glenn Morshower, James Remar, Matt Craven. Bottom row, left to right: Ray Wise, Michael Ironside, Olek Krupa, Rade Serbedzija)

The main triumph of First Class is the way the writers were able to fit the best elements of each film into one cohesive story. There are the uncertainty issues of growing into one's powers featured in the first movie, Magneto is essentially a stand-in for Wolverine from X2 (the loner badass of the group), and there is a "cure for bizarre outward appearance" subplot featured heavily in X3 that arises between the smitten Beast and Mystique this time around. The seamless integration of these elements makes me wish Vaughn would have written and directed X-Men 3, but he left the project before Ratner ultimately got his hands on it. Some may argue that this movie makes too many references to what will eventually come in the series (Charles and Erik play chess! Cerebro is built! The Blackbird appears! Charles is paralyzed! Magneto's helmet! Two famous cameos!), but I didn't find these as distracting as they easily could have been. I think that's the clearest sign that this is a really solid script - there are so many winking moments to the fans, but none of them get in the way of the film's legitimately interesting plot, which invokes historical events (here, the Cuban Missile Crisis) in a way that no other superhero movie outside of Watchmen has attempted.

X-Men: First Class is a fantastic example of how to breathe new life into a dying franchise, and I'm really hoping Vaughn and the rest of the cast can bring the same magic if they decide to make a direct sequel in the next few years. But even if they can't recapture the same glory, we can be thankful they've already brought us one of the best superhero movies of the past decade. Until next time...

Hesher

Though Hesher is Spencer Susser's feature debut, his directing career really began in 2008 with an impressive short film called I Love Sarah Jane. The short drew acclaim from all kinds of festivals and - more importantly - paved the way for his involvement with soon-to-be producer Natalie Portman; Susser sent her Sarah Jane and the script for Hesher, and the multi-talented actress was so impressed she quickly joined the project as a producer and co-star. Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Rainn Wilson signed on soon after, and Hesher eventually premiered at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival.

Hesher
Co-writer/Director: Spencer Susser
Starring: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Devin Brochu, Natalie Portman, Rainn Wilson

Gordon-Levitt's lead performance as Hesher is a sight to behold. He's a long-haired, foul-mouthed anarchist who loves Metallica and blowing stuff up. Hesher feels more like a force than a character; he slices through this movie like a scythe, influencing the actions of a young boy named T.J. (Devin Brochu) who recently lost his mother in a car accident. T.J.'s father (Rainn Wilson) has fallen into a depression - he was the one driving during the accident - and has turned to pills for the answer, but their only effects are inducing sleep and essentially removing all vitality from his life. After Hesher inexplicably moves in to T.J.'s house, the movie turns into a story of a bizarre friendship, a love triangle involving a grocery store cashier (Natalie Portman), and a coming-of-age tale of the difficulties of moving on after a traumatic event.

The film feels like a Sundance movie: melodramatic moments, shouting matches, dimly lit and cheaply furnished sets, and an intimate shooting style all collide to form a movie that is interesting to watch and is perhaps a bit better when digested over the course of a few days. The performances are all very strong, and Gordon-Levitt's outrageous character will be enough to warrant a watch for his fans, but this is certainly not a movie for everybody. Susser co-wrote Hesher with Animal Kingdom writer/director David Michod, and if you've seen that movie, you may notice some of the same sensibilities among these two films. It's a deliberate movie that has no problem taking its time with its characters, and though Gordon-Levitt is fantastic in it, he's actually more of a secondary character than T.J., who is front and center with his struggles for the duration. Portman plays a mousy mashup of many characters she's played before, but in a testament to her considerable talent, I found her performance infinitely charming to watch.

Bottom line? Hesher is a well-executed movie that's worth checking out if you're a die-hard JoGo Levitt or Portman fan. It's a bit slow at parts, but Hesher's metal moments are enough to make up for the occasional floundering element. I'm actually more interested in Susser's current attempts to turn his Sarah Jane short into a feature film, so perhaps one day there will be a review of that full-length feature on this site. Until next time...

The NJNM Podcast: Ep. 42 - Scarlet Street

In this week's episode, Tyler and Ben discuss Fritz Lang's 1945 film, Scarlet Street.

Introduction

Character Name Game Intro - 2:03

Media Consumed

Tyler

Star Wars "Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina" book - 3:01

Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie - 6:08

Ben

Jurassic Park: The Musical - 10:57

Look, Up in the Sky! The Amazing Story of Superman - 13:47

The Shield, Season 1, Pilot - 19:08

Review

Scarlet Street - 24:32

Wrap-Up

Next Time: Slither - 53:13

Listener E-mail/Voicemail - 54:05

Character Name Game - 57:49

Where You Can Find Us - 1:00:49

The /Filmcast's Interview with Shawn Ryan

The Hangover Part II

The Hangover Part II is perhaps the prototypical example of a studio sequel: increase the budget, increase the scope, repeat the schtick that worked the first time. But does it work as effectively the second time?

The Hangover Part II
Director: Todd Phillips
Starring: Bradley Cooper, Zach Galifianakis, Ed Helms, Ken Jeong

When Stu (Ed Helms) decides to get married in Thailand, his best friends Phil (Bradley Cooper) and Doug (Justin Bartha) are naturally invited to the wedding. But thanks to their previous misadventure, Stu holds a bit of a grudge toward Alan (Zach Galifianakis) and refuses to invite him along. Fifteen minutes into the movie - following a "Denny's bachelor party" scene, and with much guilt heaped upon him - Stu has a change of heart and the Wolf Pack is reunited. Don't ask how the wives and girlfriends get to Thailand - just like the first film, this movie isn't concerned with women in the slightest. They pop up occasionally, but this is a Todd Phillips movie and as this great piece in the New York Times points out, that means this is a bro-centric comedy through and through. Here, the crew is forced to take Stu's soon-to-be-brother-in-law Teddy along for the festivities, much like Alan himself in the first movie. But unlike Alan, Teddy is a sixteen-year-old Asian kid and the apple of his father's eye - so of course, when the inevitable blackout occurs a couple nights before the wedding, Teddy is lost to Bangkok and the disoriented (no pun intended) members of the Wolf Pack have to retrace their steps to find him.

Sound familiar? Because of their surface similarities, I wouldn't begrudge you voicing the opinion that "if you liked the first movie, you'll probably like the sequel." After all, the two movies are nearly identical; from the returning cast to the structure to some of the jokes, it's almost close enough to be called a remake. But if you look a bit closer, there are some aspects of the movie that don't quite gel. Beware: massive spoilers ahead.

Personally, I didn't find the movie to be that funny. Don't get me wrong: there were people in my audience cracking up left and right, so I know this style of comedy works for a lot of people. I just don't happen to be one of them. I'm sure there were people who listened to me laughing out loud in the theater during Anchorman and walked out shaking their heads saying, "I just don't get it." That's the thing about comedy. Also, I'll be the first to admit I didn't even like the first Hangover all that much. I found it clever, but ultimately overrated. So in the interest of providing you a baseline from which I'm operating, I wanted to let you know that.

The thing that kind of bothered me about this movie is that even though the scope is definitely increased (the movie was clearly shot in Thailand, and looks alternatingly beautiful and horrifying due to its locations), the characters don't react much differently to the crazy things that happen to them than they did to the much-milder-by-comparison events of the first movie. Let's take the big one for starters: Stu is anally violated by a transvestite. After a few minutes of quiet crying and freaking out, the characters move on and that seems to be the end of it. Yes, it's mentioned once more in a crude wordplay joke when Stu says "I have a demon in me" in his final speech, but that's it. Everything's seemingly fine. To me, that seems like a life-shattering event, one that overshadows finding Teddy or anything else for that matter. Phil is shot in the arm at one point, and after a brief jaunt to the hospital, it's forgotten that even happened by the end of the movie. Teddy even loses a finger, for God's sake. There are other examples of this, but that'll do for the purposes of this argument.

Also, the connections between events are even more sketchy than those of the first film. These movies aren't meant to be taken literally, but at the same time, Phillips goes out of his way to make them seem relatable and kind of plausible. Getting lazy when it comes to connecting the dots feels like it's cheating the movie in a way. At one point, the characters come across a bar they destroyed the night before and just so happen to see Stu's tattooed face on a nearby building. Inside, the tattoo artist sees a tattoo on an old mute monk the guys are lugging around and informs them it's the symbol of his monastery right outside the city limits. There are multiple aspects (including the cause of their blackout) that seemed to stretch the limits of plausibility for me, and that plausibility was a large part of what makes The Hangover watchable.

But put down your pitchforks, folks: it's not all negative. There were a few aspects of Part II I did enjoy. Ken Jeong's Mr. Chow was much funnier this time around; it's the rare instance in which a small character is given a larger role in a comedy sequel and is actually less annoying than in his initial appearance. I think I would have been happier if they had killed him off with the drug overdose, since that would have been an interesting plot development in a series that consists of mostly tired cliches (hooker with a heart of gold, domineering Asian father, etc). But when he returns late in the movie, it's to the film's benefit. Paul Giamatti was woefully underused, but I liked his character and performance for the brief time we saw him. And though it may sound as if I've berated this movie for repeating the same structure as the first movie, I actually found it kind of cool in certain areas. Stu's song on the boat was charming, and the opening scene featuring Phil's phone call framed in the exact same way as the first movie but with Bangkok looming in the background was fun to see.

While this is definitely a watchable comedy, it doesn't have nearly the same fresh feeling that defined the original. It's a retreading of the same material in a different location, a safe sequel that should have felt brazen but ultimately comes off as pretty stale. If you love seeing full frontal transvestite nudity in larger-than-life venues, then by all means, see this in theaters. But otherwise, I think you're good to wait for DVD with this one. And by the way - where is Doug this whole time? Sipping Mai Tai's at the resort, explained away so he can be the "man on the inside" back at the wedding. Why doesn't he get to come along and experience the adventure with the other guys? If anyone's getting cheated out of anything in this franchise, it's Justin Bartha's visibility as an actor. Until next time...