X-Men First Class Touted as Marvel’s Casino Royale

Watching all the early teasers, trailers and clips for X-Men: First Class, we’ve often remarked that the film feels different; special in some way. It takes a period of history from which much of today’s culture, fashion, art and architecture has begun to borrow — the 1960s — and sets its story in that era. Even more interestingly, at the most politically-charged moment in that era’s history: the Cuban Missile Crisis.
So what happens when you mix X-Men with a little of Gerry Anderson’s Fab Future, a bit of Carnaby Street…and throw in some crazy Khrushchev for good measure? According to an increasing number of critics: a helluva film.
According to THR critic Todd McCarthy:“roughly the first half of this massive and very well-cast origins extravaganza is arguably the best hour of Marvel Comics-derived filmmaking among the torrent of it that’s cascaded across screens in recent years.” McCarthy even goes as far as to draw a comparison to Casino Royale, suggesting that X-Men: First Class has done for the Marvel franchise what the reborn Bond film did for the 007 franchise back in 2006.
He’s not the only one. Garth over at Dark Horizons calls the film “not just the best of the series but the best adaptation of a Marvel title yet.”
Variety, meanwhile, says the movie reclaims “much of the pop-operatic grandeur and insouciant wit so evident in the series’ first two installments”, extolling director Matthew Vaughn’s skills at blending style and substance into a ‘mainstream movie’: “…[Vaughn] manages to invest this unabashedly commercial product with a unique stylistic identity…”
CinemaSpy’s review of X-Men: First Class will appear on Thursday. Meanwhile, if you missed it — and even if you didn’t — give the official international trailer below a viewing.

Al Pacino’s New Fascination with Aging Rock Stars

Al Pacino seems to be gravitating towards playing rock stars these days. The actor is set to star as Phil Spector in an upcoming film for HBO directed by David Mamet. But that’s not all. According to Variety, he’s also close to toplining a new dramedy from writer Dan Fogelman (Cars) entitledImagine.
According to the trade, the story sees Pacino’s character discovering that he has an adult son after reading a never-opened letter from John Lennon. Steve Carrell was originally set to play the son, but he has since dropped out of the project as an actor, though he remains onboard as a producer.
The film marks the directorial debut of Fogelman.
Pacino will next be seen in the John Gotti biopic, Gotti: Three Generations.
Can you picture Al Pacino playing an aging rock star in a dramedy? Oddly enough, it seems to us like the sort of role to which the actor might just be well-suited, given his historical penchant for traditionally playing larger-than-life characters. Besides, he needs a new trademark line with which we can lampoon him moving forward. “Hoo-ah” is so 20th century.

Footloose Sneak Peeks This Friday

Paramount Pictures wants everyone to get Footloose and they're making it easier for some fortunate fans to do so by setting up a night of free screenings. The studio's hosting a 'Footloose Friday' event on September 30th at 26 theaters in the US and Canada. There's no charge to attend the screening, but you have to visit for ticketing information.
And, here's the deal about Footloose. I wasn't behind the idea of a remake of the 1984 Kevin Bacon dance film when it was announced, and never bought into the idea of a new version of the '80s film. However, I've actually seen the movie (which I readily admit I wasn't looking forward to) and it was reallyentertaining. Director Craig Brewer did a great job of sticking with what made the first film fun (including keeping a few of the hit songs) and Kenny Wormald and Julianne Hough are terrific in the lead roles. Now, I'm not saying Footloose fans are going to forget Kevin Bacon and the first film altogether after seeing this new version, but it's great that this newFootloose doesn't besmirch our memories of the original film. The new Footloose is just plain fun, which is all you can ask of a Footloose remake.
Anyway, the cities hosting 'Footloose Friday' screenings are:
Atlanta (Regal Town Center); Boston (Regal Fenway); Chicago (Regal Webster Place); Cleveland (Regal Crocker Park); Dallas (Rave Ridgemar); Denver (Regal UA Pavilions); Detroit (MJR Partridge Creek); Houston (Regal Edwards Marq*E); Kansas City (AMC Barrywoods); Los Angeles (AMC Century City and AMC Burbank 16); Miami (AMC Sunset Place); Minneapolis (AMC Southdale); New York (Regal Union Square); Orlando (Regal Winter Park); Philadelphia (Regal King of Prussia); Phoenix (Harkins Tempe Marketplace); Sacramento (Century Roseville); Salt Lake City (Gateway Megaplex); San Diego (Regal Mira Mesa); San Francisco (AMC Metreon); Seattle (Regal Meridien); St. Louis (Wehrenberg Ronnies); Tampa (AMC Veterans); Toronto (Cineplex Odeon Varsity Theatre); and Washington DC (Regal Majestic)

X-Men’s Jennifer Lawrence is One Actress to Keep Your Eyes On

If you’ve already seen X-Men: First Class, then you probably understand what all the hype’s about. Yours truly reviewed the filmhere, but there was much I left out. The cast was almost uniformly excellent, grounded as they were by James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender’s turns as Charles Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr/Magneto respectively. Kevin Bacon and January Jones were also clearly having fun with their respective roles as Sebastian Shaw and Emma Frost.
But what about the rest of the ensemble? Were there any standouts? Most assuredly there were, and top of the list, in our opinion, was Jennifer Lawrence playing Raven/Mystique. It was a heavy supporting role, and difficult, in many respects. As Charles’ consort-of-sorts for so many years, Lawrence had to wear a gamut of masks in the presence of Xavier: trusted friend, daughter-like child, blossoming woman…and finally independent individual.
Of course, being blessed with good looks helps, but Lawrence is more than just another pretty face with long legs (although, of course, those attributes don’t hurt). At 20, Lawrence’s performance often felt wise beyond her years. If you’ve seen the actress’ role of Norah in Mel Gibson’s The Beaver, then you know the Louisville, Kentucky native shines alongside major, established talent.
No surprise, perhaps. Lawrence starred in Guillermo Arriaga’s directorial debut The Burning Plain, opposite Charlize Theron and Kim Basinger. That performance earned her the Marcello Mastroianni Award for best young emerging actor/actress during the Venice Film Festival in 2008.
She’s certainly one actress to keep your eyes on (and yes, we do mean that as a double entendre). Presently, Lawrence is starring as Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games, and we’re really looking forward to seeing what she does with that role in the adaptation of Suzanne Collins’ bestselling novel.
Lawrence also seems to possess a keen awareness of today’s Hollywood. “Where are the Robert Redfords and Paul Newmans of my age group?” she asked rhetorically in an interview with W Magazine.“I love James Franco, but where’s the next James Franco? Where are the hunks who can act?”
Well, Jennifer, we suspect you might just be in a class of one right now.

Catwoman Spied in Full Costume on Set

The folks at ComicBookMovie have snagged themselves some pics of Anne Hathaway, cat ears and all, on the set ofThe Dark Knight Rises.
This is the first time anybody has seen her in full costume and we can’t help being reminded of Julie Newmar in her black tights from the TV series. The photos look to be spy pics and I suspect will not last long online, so be quick and click the link above to admire the form-fitting feline.
Not quite as iconic as Tim Burton’s version and I would have liked to have seen something a little more imaginative, but it’s serviceable…