Two Movies

Two trailers hit the web today, for two very different movies, about which I have very strong feelings.

The first is for X-Men: First Class, an origins movie directed by Matthew Vaughn. Vaughn has made two films I really love: Stardust and Kick-Ass, so he has experience with both Fantasy and Superhero films. Stardust is one of the most underrated films of the last 10 years and Kick-Ass is one of the funniest and most original Superhero movies of the past 5. So it is no surprise to me that the first teaser for X-Men: First Class looks like a winner. Starring James McAvoy; Michael Fassbender; Rose Byrne (LOVE her); Kevin Bacon; January Jones and Ray Wise, the movie is set against the Cuban Missile Crisis and tells how friends Charles Xavier/Dr. X (McAvoy) and Eric Lehnsherr/Magneto (Fassbender) become mortal mutant enemies. Being more of a DC Comics guy, I really didn't become a fan of the X-Men until Bryan Singer's first two terrific movies, so I'm very interested to see where Vaughn will take this "prequel" to the popular franchise. Bearing in mind, of course, that Wolverine was utter crap.

The second is for the remake of Arthur, directed by Jason Winer who is known primarily for directing several episodes of ABC's hilarious sit-com "Modern Family." My biggest problem with this film is that it is probably the single most unnecessary remake, ever. The original Arthur, starring Dudley Moore, Liza Minnelli and Sir John Gielgud is one of the funniest and most quotable movies ever made ("...usually, one has to go to a bowling alley to meet a woman of your stature."). Moore is a hoot as the drunken heir to a multi-million dollar fortune and Geilgud's deadpan delivery of lines like "Perhaps you would like me to come in there and wash your dick for you too, you little shit!"" is pants-wettingly funny.

The new version stars the not-all-that-funny Russell Brand (channeling his best Dudley Moore); Greta Gerwig in the Minnelli role; Jennifer Garner in what appears to be an expanded version of Jill Eikenberry's character, Susan and Dame Helen Mirren substituting for Gielgud as Hobson, this time Arthur's nanny, rather than his butler. There is nothing in this trailer that's even half as funny as in the 1981 original (although Mirren talking through the Vader mask did made me giggle a bit), but I'l let you judge for yourselves:

I know which of these two I'll be shelling out to see.

More, anon.
Prospero