The Last 2 Movies I've Seen: No. 2: X-Men : First Class

To conclude my exciting new segment The Last 2 Movies I've Seen (ha) here are my thoughts on the new X-Men prequel (which of course many of you have already seen. Always up to date, that's me). 

X-Men: First Class

I have been a huge X-Men fan for years. I spent years regularly reading the comics, particularly enjoying the Chris Claremont/John Byrne run which is still my absolute favourite. As such, I've always had a soft spot for the X-Men movies. I remember watching the comics I'd spent so long reading finally crossing beyond the mainstream following of the cartoon to an older, cinema going audience. 

It's easy to forget just how important the first X-Men movie was. Reinvigorating the comic book movie franchise and making Marvel see the film potential of it's vast back catalogue, it was a slick piece of fantasy filmmaking that lead to an equally impressive sequel. Sadly the third film derailed the whole enterprise. After the assured direction of Bryan Singer, X3 fell flat at the hands of Brett Ratner, who delivered a serviceable action film but one with none of the depth of the previous films. I've avoided the Wolverine prequel since it's release awhile back purely because I couldn't further taint my X-Men movie memories. Thank god then for First Class which attempts to bring the series back to it's roots.

For the most part it can be seen as a success. Getting into the backstory of both Professor X and Magneto is a stroke of genius, fleshing out both characters while providing more screen time for fan faves such as Mystique, Moira McTaggert, Beast and Emma Frost. 

Following a 40s based prologue, the plot unfolds in the early 60s and sees a pre-Magneto Eric Lensherr (Michael Fassbender) out for the blood of the man who tortured him and his family in the Nazi concentration camps. Meanwhile a young Professor Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) spends time drinking, womanising and acting the cad alongside his best friend Raven (soon to be Mystique, played with aplomb by Jennifer Lawrence). When the US government, at the behest of Rose Byrne's Moira McTaggert, realise they need a genetic mutation expert, Xavier is drafted in, convincing Eric to join him when their paths cross in pursuit of Sebastian Shaw (Kevin Bacon). What follows is an a race to stop World War 3 with plenty of interpersonal drama scattered along the way.

Thankfully the solid storytelling of the previous films returns here. Director Matthew Vaughn, originally slated to direct X3 and famed director of Kick Ass (among others), injects the affair with plenty of energy. Weaving together characters with aplomb, First Class creates an impressive story with some excellent casting giving things a gravitas sometimes missing from comic book movies. 

Jennifer Lawrence is particularly good, slowly peeling away the layers of Mystique to make you understand why she ends up the way she does. That said, the double act of Fassbender and McAvoy steals the show. Both ooze leading man confidence tempered with an unusual amount of vulnerability that gives their friendship a earthy, believable air. Rose Byrne is likeable and convincing though underused, Nicholas Hoult does a good line in tortured geek, Kevin Bacon glowers magnificently as the villainous Shaw but sadly January Jones fails to convince as the icy Emma Frost, instead coming across as wooden and uncomfortable.

The 60s setting and grandeur of the proceedings lead to the odd uncomfortably cheesy moment but for the most part this is tonally on the button. The action sequences and CGI are full on and enjoyable with the solid storytelling and characters giving proceedings an emotional impact beyond your usual blockbuster. And unlike X3 which groaned under the weight of too many characters, First Class does a fine job of having many mutants and enough moments scattered throughout for everybody to shine.

Undoubtedly a return to form, X-Men : First Class is a fitting entry into the series and a brilliant summer blockbuster in it's own right. It'll be interesting to see just where the series goes next but for now Matthew Vaughn can be proud of creating a film that will tick the boxes for comic book geeks and general movie-goers alike. 

Given that this is a prequel much of the fun is in watching the proceedings build towards certain key moments. Vaughn understands this and offers plenty of fan friendly moments.

Wigs, Tequila and Soft Focus: Burlesque gets Reviewed

I got to head to an early screening of Burlesque last week, the Cher/Christina musical that I've been excited to see for months on end. A star vehicle for both a returning icon and another whose recent pop comeback was something of a damp squib this film has had "future camp classic" written all over it. In big glittery, soft focus letters.

The plot is more threadbare then the pearl dress Xtina slinks about on stage in at one point. Christina plays Ali, a country bumpkin who blows into L.A. and soon finds herself in a Burlesque lounge that she is only gagging to sing for. Despite the fact that only ringmistress Tess actually sings in the club. The rest of the girls lipsync and dance along to show tunes, making some of the early performances look like acts from particularly athletic drag queens.

Still Christina auditions for the show, gets a part as a dancer but soon gets those vocal chords stretched and blows everyone away, with Cher giving her best surprised face on seeing her sing her heart out:

What follows is mish mash of tepid love story, enjoyable but unfulfilling banter between Cher & Stanley Tucci and a parade of tunes that sound a bit like the last Christina album and a bit like the one before it. Back to Bionic Basics if you will.

The pace of the film is off. Big moments feel rushed like the whole thing is in a hurry to get somewhere. But then what feels like forever is spent on inconsequential moments that were obviously meant to build up the characters but fall flat due to a poor script. The cast, for the most part are great and are clearly trying to work with material that doesn't do them justice. Despite her botoxed face painfully limiting her ability to really act Cher manages to make a decent impression and her easy going banter with Tucci is fun to watch. Kristen Bell does a fine job of chewing so much scenery she nearly chokes and Christina does a decent job for her first time in a major role. 

The musical numbers are slickly edited but the fact that they never leave the stage of the club means that it feels like you're watching a string of music videos as opposed to proper musical set pieces. At times like these you notice how oddly low budget the whole enterprise is. Much is made of how L.A. is this magical city that Ali escapes to but we never really see it, except in unintentionally hilarious scenes where Ali finger snaps along to her iPod as a form of "rehearsal" (if you saw someone do this on the street you would not think "there goes a successful Burlesque performer". You'd think "that person is a nut job")

The actual "burlesque" nature of this is quite questionable. It's all very Pussycat Dolls (Robin Antin the founder of the dance troupe turned pop sensation is the sister of the film's writer/director Steve Antin) meaning the choreography, while enjoyable, is basically hip hop video booty popping meets coquettish popstar dance moves with a dash of jazz hands for a bit of flavour. Still it's no surprise really. Christina famously performed with the troupe when they were picking up serious heat around L.A. in the early 2000s and she channels much of that throughout the film.

Throw in a pile of unconvincing wigs on top of Cher and Xtina's heads, more soft focus than you could shake a Botox needle at and plenty of blatant plugs for Patron Tequila (the fact that Robin Antin had a PCD style girl group sing a song about the brand in 2009 is hardly coincidence!) and Burlesque adds up to be one mess of a movie. It also turns out to be hilariously entertaining with it and if you need some quality campy laughs this Christmas this movie will surely make you happy. 

Burlesque is released here on the 17th of December while the soundtrack is out now.

Christina Aguilera sings her socks off in new Burlesque Clip

iLeaks came up with another beauty today, a clip from Burlesque, the trailer for which we squealed about last week. The clip that leaked today is a musical number from the film called Something's Got A Hold Of Me with Christina Aguilera putting her spin on the Etta James track (Aguilera has long admired James, including a cover of At Last on the Stripped tour back in the day)

This clip is way better than what I expected from the film. This version doesn't do to much damadge to the original and Christina sounds great. It'll be interesting to how many old songs vs new tracks turn in the final film. Here's hoping some more Burlesque goodies leak our way soon so we can find out.

Scott Pilgrim Vs The World Hurtles Our Way

I'm aware that if you're into this sort of thing (as opposed to say The Hills) then you've probably watched the trailer for Scott Pilgrim Vs The World a hundred times. Well muggins here has finally cottoned on to the buzz for the film now that the dust has settled on Step Up 3D (As in I've seen it and already trying to get someone to go it with me again).

I was a little cynical about another big Michael Cera film where he just plays Michael Cera but Scott Pilgrim looks like a blast. Throwing in the talents of Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz) and some well regarded source material this is bound to be a big bag of fun.

To celebrate this blog is taking part in a Scott Pilgrim treasure hunt where you have to piece the photos of the movies  Evil Exes together to win a trip to the movie's premiere.  Did we mention that it takes placei n Toronto. That's right! Sound good? Of course it does. Find Universal Pictures Ireland on Facebook to get started. For those already in the game, here is your image:

Best of luck! And don't forget the film opens here on the 25th of August.

Cher and Christina Aguilera Unveil Trashtasic "Burlesque" Trailer

Like every pop-trash-culture addict worth their salt I have been eagerly awaiting the release of musical drama Burlesque which sees Cher return to the big screen, Christina Aguilera maker her acting debut and a host of other stars (including my fave Kristen Bell) plonk around in the background and wonder how much time Cher spends in the make up chair every morning (conservative estimates would say 6 hours).

Finally a proper trailer has made it online and it does look pretty spectacular. Christina is Allie, the small town girl who heads to the big smoke and ends up performing in the local burlesque club. Cher is the sassy but classy runner of the club who puts Xtina in her place. And Stanley Tucci just turns up and re-enacts his role in the Devil Wears Prada. And that's no bad thing. Check out Kristen Bell's scary dark wig too:

Burlesque hits our shores in December and I cannot wait!

Talking MIA & Step Up 3D on Spin This Weekend

I've been lucky enough to be asked to do fairly regular album reviews for Plan B, the Saturday magazine show on Spin 1038. It's always fun to do, whether it's dancing to Enrique in studio or cracking jokes about Sex and the City 2. This weekend I'll be chatting to Michelle from 1pm about MIA's new album MAYA (as I've taken to calling it, funny spelling bedamned!) and the soundtrack to Step Up 3D. Both are quite amazing in their own unique way so it should be fun to do.

The MIA album has grown on me no end. It's gotten mixed reports, especially as many seemed to think it was the dawning of a new pop orientated version of the star following the worldwide success of Paper Planes post Slumdog Millionaire. In reality it's what we've come to expect from her albums. Big ideas, crazy sounds and a mix of harsh, cloudy moments with some soaring pop melodies. There is definitely a harsher, industrial sound to some of the tracks but when MIA focuses on the chorus you catch a glimpse of some of her finest moments yet. Case in point the excellent XXXO which Spin have had in high rotation on their playlist. Another gem on the album for me is the lilting Tell Me Why, that oozes a melancholy missing on the rest of the release:

The Step Up 3D soundtrack is loads of fun. The previous film had a really strong mix of commerical R&B and Hip Hop and this one does much the same thing. You've probably heard that huge Flo Rida tune Club Can't Handle Me (number 4 on the Irish singles chart this week) but there's plenty of other bangers to be found from the pop sheen of Sophia Fresh's This Instant to well known cuts from Chromeo, N.A.S.A. and Estelle.

I've also somehow been invited to the premiere of the film on Tuesday which quite frankly is the most exciting thing that has EVER happened to me. I'll try and throw up a review once I've gotten to see it. Here's hoping it's suitably amazing!

Until then don't miss tomorrow on Spin at one. Not only is it online to stream, they now have the Spin TV cameras allowing you to watch what's going on in studio. I'm sure I'll bust a few Step Up inspired moves at some point. Hurrah.

Sex and The City 2: Not All Bad

Sex and the City 2 was never going to go down well with the critics was it? The series has for whatever reason raised the ire of many a writer since it made the jump to big screen. Those lambasting the films for being eye roll inducing cliché fests seem to be missing the point. As much as I loved the TV show I rarely made my way through an episode without wanting to shake Carrie or roll my eyes. The hard part about adapting a TV series to the big screen is that while the good stuff is undoubtedly there and ten times bigger the flaws work in the same way.

The main bug-bear is the hysterical lack of a plot and the bloated running time. Much has been made as this film was being developed that it was a romp, a joyful celebration of the humour and fun of Sex and the City as opposed to the rather over serious world of the first film which had a worthy feel that was hard to enjoy at times.

That is evident in the carefree nature of the film and it’s plotting (or lack thereof). But it’s not in the sense that it’s a good hour too long. If this really wanted to be a romp it would have clocked in at 90 minutes or under.

Also glimmers of decent ideas are thrown away in order to service the much-vaunted Abu Dhabai adventure mid way through. The 80s flashback sequences which had paprazzi abuzz last year are in fact painfully brief. There’s a neat moment where Carrie discusses how she meets each of the girls that is touched on far too briefly. How much more fun would it have been to play with some of the original roles the girls had in the big city in the 80s?

The film tries to take on the idea of marriage and domesticity with varying results. Carrie is as petulant as ever but the kernel of her problem with Big, that they’ll become mundane, is certainly an interesting idea. Charlotte finally gets to do something other than crap her pants and although it’s briefs her few serious moments are beautifully played. In particular her brilliant scene with Miranda where they laugh, cry and have a cosmo over the travails of motherhood is one of the highlights of the movie.

Speaking of, Miranda is on some kind of endorphins rush the whole film that makes her act completely out of character, she’s joyous, happy without a care in the world. She’s not Miranda basically. Samantha meanwhile is free of anything ridiculous like character development or depth instead happy to throw out ridiculous puns and be oversexed to the point of delusion.

Still, I could sit here all day and moan about the huge flaws but the film made me smile, it swept me up onto planet Sex and the City and that made it worth my time. I’m assuming the rather poor reception and box office for this film means the number 3 is unlikely but if you’re happy to check in with the girls again (despite how in or out of character they may be) then it is worth a look. Just keep your expectations low. And get ready for puns. Lots of puns.

With that mind I can’t help but feel that Sex and the City 2 is nowhere near as bad as you’re being lead to believe. In fact it’s quite good fun. There are plenty of funny moments, the easy chemistry of the four leads who really are a bit of a dream to watch and some interesting ideas to chew on however briefly.

Sex and the City 2 and Style At Set: Oh The Excitement

Apologies for the radio silence here over the last week. Lots of things going on at the moment which may result in posts becoming a bit scant for a couple of weeks! Style at Set was amazing, an incredible buzz and so thrilled to have got to go down. Well done to Blanaid Hennessy on pulling it off. Check out this post by Rosemary MacCabe here to get more on the madness that went on. Safe to say it was the most fun I've had on a Saturday night in a very long time. Do check out the Set Theatre by the way, it is obscenely beautiful!

Those of you who made it to Style At Set might have watched the Sex and the City movie on the Friday ( I bet it looked amazing on the screen there!) and of course the new trailer for the sequel was just released this week. Fleshing out the plot points for the new film with more ease then the previous trailer it made me awful excited despite some very obvious flaws/usual irritation factors that this series brings out in me.

I should point out that everytime I watch this I got a fuzzy, "WHEN IS IT MAY 27TH?!" feeling that makes me gloss over the slightly ridiculous move away from New York, the bad puns and the vaguely ridiculous moments. Just look at how foxy Carrie is! Look at the spikes on Samantha's dress! AIDAN IS BACK! etc etc.


Also the song in the second half of the trailer is an odd one. It's the vocals from Ricki Lee's track U Want A Little This spliced over the instrumental of a rather great swing remix of Mariah's Touch My Body from a few years ago. The two songs are back to back below.

What an odd combination. Needless to say I'm more than a little bit excited about SATC 2. Promises that it's more light hearted and upbeat are interesting and who knows what stupid puns Carrie will break out? I need a lie down just thinking about it.

Style At Set: Giving Easter a bit of Glam

Got any plans for the bank holiday weekend? I’m sure excessive chocolate consumption is one of them. Which is fair enough. BUT if you fancy doing something other than eating your own weight in the brown stuff then why not venture down to Kilkenny for  Absolut Style at Set?

Why not you say? Well first of all it’s all been masterminded by the amazing Blanaid Hennessy, of both Blanaid.com and The Stylebitches (she also writes about interiors for the Independent. Everyone I’m writing about these days is AWFULLY BUSY).

Second of all Style at Set is a weekend of fashionable films, talks, stalls and mentalness. The weekend is an exciting mish mash of talks by fashion experts, vintage fashion and furniture stalls and plenty of make up and beauty advice. It's all based around the opening of the new Set theatre in Langton's in Killkenny. I'm particularly excited for Saturday night. The Stylebtiches will be DJing  and I will be on after them to bring the night to a close. The dress code is demented which is quite exciting. Might rock a pair of these?

Demented.

All jest aside this should be a fantastic night and the weekend itself is going to be a real treat. I’m thrilled Miss Hennessy is having me down. But not only that, I’ll be joined by Helen O’Reilly of Style Nation who will be shooting lots of bits and pieces here and there and the lovely Eimear Fitzmaurice will be there taking snaps as is her wont.

For full details check out Blanaid’s blog, where you can find out more on the movies screening on the Friday, the vintage finds awaiting you on the Saturday, the glamourous location and how cheap those lovely tickets are. It’s going to be tip top so do pop down if you’re around. And then stuff your face with chocolate. Everyone’s a winner.