Friday Flicks: Is ‘X-Men: First Class’ or Merely Coach?

  • Share
  • Read Later
Twentieth Century Fox

Emma Frost (January Jones) and Sebastian Shaw (Kevin Bacon) are powerful mutants scheming to trigger a nuclear war that will result in the demise of humanity and the ascension of mutants in 'X-Men: First Class.'

Grab some popcorn! NewsFeed’s Glen Levy brings you the movies you should check out (or avoid) this weekend.

X-Men: First Class

[youtube=http://youtu.be/UrbHykKUfTM&w=450]

Tagline: Witness The Moment That Will Change Our World

British director Matthew Vaughn has now straddled the twin worlds of film making. His passion for last year’s Kick-Ass was so profound that he raised much of the money himself, to ensure that his creative vision would be seen on screen. And now he’s gone down the blockbuster studio route, helming the prequel to the X-Men movies.

His hip, young, gunslingers of a cast – James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Nicholas Hoult and January Jones should sure set the pulses racing – look a fair bet to revitalize the ever so slightly moribund franchise (and don’t get us started on the Hugh Jackman spin-off that was Wolverine) . Filling in the gaps to Professor X and his team’s backstory, we’ll find out what caused the rift between Charles Xavier and Erik Lensherr, who would become Professor X and Magneto. McAvoy has confirmed that he’s neither bald nor in a wheelchair at the start of the movie but by the end, where he almost certainly will have kicked some ass, who could possibly say?

(MOVIES: See more on X-Men: First Class in TIME’s Summer Entertainment Preview)

Beginners

[youtube=http://youtu.be/rXUFUp6vsxg&w=450]

Tagline: This Is What Love Feels Like

You couldn’t make it up. Oliver (Ewan McGregor) finds out that his father, Hal (Christopher Plummer) is gay at the ripe old age of 75, which he reveals upon the death of his wife, who, of course, is Oliver’s mother. The reason you couldn’t make this up? It actually happened to the director of Beginnings, Mike Mills.

The title pretty much sums up the piece: fresh starts for all concerned, but especially Oliver, who reminisces about his childhood, his father’s final flurry of freedom and Hal’s subsequent passing from a terminal illness (visual devices shuffle the viewer around with the movie not taking place at any one fixed point).

But as well as wondering whether he could accept his father for who he truly was comes the subplot of Oliver falling in love with a French actress, Anna (Melanie Laurent of Inglourious Basterds fame). Mills certainly seems to throw the kitchen sink at Beginners, with many a cinematic trick used, which may be off-putting to some but utterly enchanting to others. Much as in life, some will see beginnings while others will see ends.

(PHOTOS: See images of Ewan McGregor)

Submarine

[youtube=http://youtu.be/4IVFfiv6wpY&w=450]

Considering that he plays a buffoon in the British sitcom, The IT Crowd, few could have seen this coming. Richard Ayoade’s directorial film debut Submarine is certainly confident and cool, if not quite as crucial as he may like to think. Adapted from Joe Dunthorne’s 2008 novel, it’s a coming-of-age story about a teenage boy coming to terms with living in Wales during the 1980’s (all he really wants to do is meet a girl and lose his virginity).

Craig Roberts does world-weary on young shoulders to a tee, as the lead part of Oliver Tate, who tries his best to view his mundane life as a movie (yes, how meta). He’s determined to woo Jordana (Yasmin Paige), resplendent in her red coat (every British critic evoked Nicolas Roeg’s seminal Don’t Look Now) while having as little to do as possible with his parents, Lloyd (Noah Taylor) and Jill (Sally Hawkins). They’re in a rut, partially due to the reappearance of her old flame, Graham (Paddy Considine, who steals every scene he’s in to such a degree that it’s bordering on a crime).

By no means perfect (the various homages to Jean-Luc Godard, François Truffaut and Wes Anderson and referencing of zooms and crane shots end up grating), there’s still much to admire here and Wales can never have looked lovelier.

NewsFeed’s Flicks Pick: There’s plenty on offer this week, with each movie achieving its stated aim. If pushed, we’ll dive for Submarine.