Tag Archives: James McAvoy

‘X-Men: First Class’ Sequel Release Date Announced


Last years X-Men: First Class was a welcome entry into the X-Men film franchise, and of course, it’s going to get a sequel. Thankfully, the team behind the original, including Michael Fassbender, who played the brilliant Magneto, Jennifer Lawrence of newly found ‘Hunger Games’ fame, and Director Matthew Vaughn, who was also responsible for the kick ass, Kick-Ass, are all returning, given time for their respective schedules, to film the sequel in time for July 2014 release. James McAvoy is also confirmed as returning as Professor X, although there is no information at this time if he will be going bald. Details about the film itself are scarce, as it doesn’t even have a title yet, but it will focus on Magneto falling further down the spiral into super-villainry.  All in all it’s still pretty early, and news about casting, new roles, further plot details and such are in the air, as it’ll likely be a year before any substantial updates are available.

What did the five fingers say to the face?

I especially look forward to the film, as First Class was the only film in the entire X-Men franchise that, in my opinion, carried any depth or genuine meaning with it, along with exciting, fun to watch action scenes that carried weight and gravitas behind them. The first two tried unsuccessfully to blend heady, talk heavy scenes into the film, but failed when it came to any kind of exhilarating fighting or action, and left us with a main character death in the second, that lacked emotional resonance, and ultimately ended up going nowhere interesting in the incredibly mediocre (but entertaining in a oh-man-this-is-bad way) third film. First Class finally showcased realistic uses of powers by characters who were refreshingly happy and willing to use them, because having powers would be amazing, and seeing characters unburdened by any sort of broody melodramatic guilt over the “responsibility” of their powers, was a breath of fresh air to see, especially in a genre where so many superheroes’ are so torn about having frickin’ SUPER POWERS.

So it goes without saying I’ll be looking forward to seeing some new X-Men action come July 18, 2014, because watching someone using mind powers gleefully is probably the best wish-fulfillment there is.

Hero Express – ‘The Amazing Spider-Man’ Poster, ‘Thor 2’ Meets ‘Game of Thrones’, and Fox’s Marvel Priorities

Welcome back to the Hero Express, your one-stop sometimes SPOILER filled shop through the news filled world of superhero’s in Film and TV.

Continue reading Hero Express – ‘The Amazing Spider-Man’ Poster, ‘Thor 2’ Meets ‘Game of Thrones’, and Fox’s Marvel Priorities

Hero Express – ‘The Avengers’ Banners, ‘Man of Steel 2’. and ‘TDKR’ Wraps?

Welcome back to the Hero Express, your one-stop sometimes SPOILER filled shop through the news filled world of superhero’s in Film, TV, Video Games and whatever else floats your boat.

Continue reading Hero Express – ‘The Avengers’ Banners, ‘Man of Steel 2’. and ‘TDKR’ Wraps?

Grizzly Review: X-Men First Class

Let me start by saying, I really enjoyed the first 2 X-Movies, especially X2 which I’d put among my ‘Top Ten Comic Movies’ for sure. What Brett Ratner did with X3 however, and the terrible Wolverine movie that followed, inexcusable. Coming off of those 2 colossal disappointments I have to admit my expectations were severely lowered going into First Class. But what Matthew Vaughn delivered, well, it’s fully restored my faith in the franchise.

Continue reading Grizzly Review: X-Men First Class

New Trailer: ‘X-men: First Class’ (Again)

I swear if they would have just included everything from the teaser trailer, the first trailer and the international trailer I would have warmed up to this movie a lot quicker than I did. To say this movie now looks awesome is an understatement. Watch the trailer and let your words melt away into “oooooohs” and “aaaaaahs”:

http://youtu.be/o8ccSiH4olo

Even though my first initial reaction was excitement, in retrospect I should be cautiously optimistic. As many of our brilliant readers know, many trailers are way better than their movies actually turn out to. Actually this happens more than half the time.

Something else to consider is how terrible nearly every Fox released comic movie has been over the years. The most recent Fox crapfest in comic movie history being Wolverine: Origins.

 One thing is for sure: even with all of the coolness shown to us in the trailer, we haven’t seen everyone in full action mode. The glimpses we have seen of Havok and Banshee using their powers have been great, but we still haven’t seen Sebastian Shaw dealing out an ass whooping, or Emma Frost do much besides turn into her diamond form and have an awesome rack. All that remains now is to see the finished product, because one more trailer of this and we’ll have seen the entire movie.

Everyone please comment below and let us know what your anticipation level is for X-men: First Class. And if they decide to do a sequel, I want some freakin’ Sentinels!

Akira Casting Rumors…

It appears time for the Akira live action movie to be moving ahead, with SuperHero Hype’s report of the front-runners for the two main characters; Kaneda and Tetsuo. The villain of the story is Tetsuo, a young man with a big chip on his shoulder who begins to manifest immense psychic powers, and then use them with extreme prejudice. This guy was a total psycho in the animated movie and equally so in the graphic novels that movie was based on. He was a part of the same biker gang as his friend and rival of sorts, Kaneda. Kaneda is a bit of a jackass, but he’s a loveable jackass and the closest thing we get to a hero.

Akira

That being said let’s have a look at the contenders for the role of Tetsuo. It’s between Robert Pattinson, Andrew Garfield and James McAvoy. Right off the bat I need to discount McAvoy because he seems a little too old for the role. If they’re following the story of the graphic novel, the two characters are teenagers and McAvoy is about to hit 32 in a month.

Maybe they’re going a different direction with the characters’ ages, but if not I don’t see a 32-year-old guy playing a kid still in a “home for boys”. This leaves Pattinson and Garfield. I think either one of them could pull it off, but it would be more refreshing to see Garfield in the role than having the Twilight star Pattinson thrown in our faces once again. If you can’t tell I’m a little burned out on Twilight.

Picture courtesy of Gamma Squad

On the Kaneda side of things we have a few more options. Up for the role are Garret Hedlund, Michael Fassbender, Chris Pine, Justin Timberlake, and Joaquin Phoenix.  I’m going to immediately discount Phoenix because of his age, and the fact that his moronic shenanigans over the past two years made me care less and less about him ever being in another movie. Fassbender, like McAvoy, is too old though it would be interesting to see them both in the roles of hero and villain this time in reverse. In case you haven’t heard Fassbender and McAvoy are both in X-men: First Class this year, starring as Magneto and Charles Xavier respectively.

Justin Timberlake: No. That’s all I can say about that one.

The role of Kaneda for me boils down to either Garrett Hedlund or Chris Pine.

They both have experience playing the troublesome, act without thinking young gun type. Pine’s James T. Kirk persona from the excellent Star Trek reboot is almost exactly how Kaneda acts in the Akira animated movie and graphic novel; overconfident, quick thinking and totally unable to impress the girl with his bravado. Garrett Hedlund played the mischievous young motorcyclist in the recent Tron: Legacy, and the light cycle he tore it up on definitely had a likeness to the bike Kaneda rides in Akira.

lightcycle tron

What other credentials do ya need? I really enjoy both actors and would be happy with either one, but I tend to lean toward Chris Pine on this one. He has the sort of charisma and humor needed to play Kaneda. And he rode a motorcycle in Star Trek and that’s the most important thing… right?

In case you didn’t notice, none of the actors are Asian like their character’s namesakes, but I’m trying to look past that. I’ll be satisfied as long as they yell one and others name as they try to kill each other. (Watch the Akira animated movie for more on that.)

I hope this movie is done right, because being based off of the six graphic novels it’s going to need at least two or three movies to do the story justice. I’d recommend the Akira animated movie and graphic novels to anyone who is a fan of sci-fi or cyber punk stories. The graphic novels are definitely better than the movie, but it’s still quite a ride either way.

tetsuo cat