Geek Chic

.
Hollywood has a raging hard-on for making movies from comic books; not a suprise considering the teen and young adult male demographic is one of the largest groups of American movie-goers. And those young males are not all thrusting their codpieces through the bottom of a popcorn bucket for a cheap feel, some are actually watching the movies. The latest offering for these young brain trusts is "X-Men: First Class", a prequel to the hugely successful X-Men movies which began in 2000 and has since spawned four movies for the franchise. The prequel will supposedly show the characters as youngsters, and how they got their powers.


(above: james mcavoy; right: aaron johnson;

left: kevin bacon)
 
After watching actors in the previous X-men movies showing off their well-toned and muscular bodies, i.e. Hugh
Jackman, Halle Berry, Ryan Reynolds, etc., we wondered if they'd find young actors with comparable bodies. Not exactly; the cast of the younger X-Men movie is more like a celebration of geek chic. The cast is attractive, they're just not going to make anyone drool down their soda straw. James McAvoy will play Professor Charles Xavier, and our new favorite young actor from "A Single Man", Nicholas Hoult will take the role of Hank McCoy/Beast. The director of the film, Matthew Vaughn, has been very candid about the fact that he wanted Taylor Lautner for the role of Beast, but alas, Lautner passed.

(upper right: alice eve; left: nicholas hoult;
lower right: jennifer lawrence)



Other young actors in the cast include Alice Eve as Emma Frost, Aaron Johnson as Cyclops, Michael Fassbender as Magneto, Jennifer Lawrence as Mystique and Lucas Till as Alex Summers/Havoc. You might remember Lucas Till as the boy who starred opposite someone named Miley Cyrus in her star project/waste of good celluloid, "Hannah Montana: The Movie". It's good to see that Hollywood isn't holding that against him. Hey, everyone deserves a second chance.
.
.
(left and right: michael fassbender)
.
.
.
.
.
.
.



.

(right: lucas till)

This cast is not set in stone, with every day that goes by, some names drop out of the film's line-up, while other's drop in. "90210" actor/model Kevin Pennington was rumored to be in the "X-Men" cast, but more recent news reports have said that he's out. But we're guessing whomever is lucky enough to end in this movie will climb the Hollywood star ladder just a few rungs higher.



.
.
(lucas till, evidently wincing from having just come from dailies where he was forced to watch film footage of miley cyrus "acting"... we feel your pain, lucas, but just remember, it's all in the past, put it behind you)

A Star Emerges

.
.
We made a post recently about the young actor Nicholas Hoult because we had just seen him in the film, "A Single Man". If it hadn't been for Colin Firth's amazing performance in the movie, Hoult would have stolen the show. Well, evidently, more doors are quickly opening for the talented and quite good-looking actor. In addition to these new photos which will appear in next month's issue of W Korea, Hoult also works as a model for Tom Ford Eyewear, and will appear as Beast in the next X-Men movie. The boy's on a roll.
.
If Hoult seems familiar for some strange reason, check out our earlier post on him, (click on "Actors - Nicholas Hoult" in the Labels list), to see who he "was".

..
.
.
.

What a Difference a Few Years Makes

Okay, let's face it, most movies out there aren't worth spending the $20 to get in the door, and another $10 for popcorn and a coke. So like a lot of other Americans, we wait til a movie comes out on DVD or on Pay-Per-View to see it. The movies we see are a few months old, but they're the same movies as they were when they first premiered. So just this summer, we watched some films which were Oscar contenders at this past year's Oscar ceremony, "The Blind Side", "Crazy Heart" and "A Single Man". After watching "The Blind Side" and "Crazy Heart", we definitely felt as though the Oscars given this year to Sandra Bullock and Jeff Bridges were "popularity contest" Oscars, those given to very popular actors who have been around forever but who have never won anything. Those Oscars are given not for the strength of the actual performance, rather they are the Hollywood equivalent of crowning a Homecoming Queen.
.

(colin firth)

.
And then we watched "A Single Man", for which Colin Firth was nominated for Best Actor. And we'll go on the record right here and say, "Oh, hell, Colin Firth was robbed." He really should have won the Best Actor title over Jeff Bridges; his performance was much more layered, more nuanced, and the role gave Firth many more chances to show off some real acting skills. After watching Bridges' performance, we thought there was one scene by Bridges which was pretty powerful, but only one scene an Oscar-winning performance does not make. .
.

(nicholas hoult)

.
But silly acting trophies aside, we loved director Tom Ford's "A Single Man". The film was lyrical, beautiful, thought-provoking and deeply moving. The plot was not rivoting, and there wasn't a lot of action; even though we haven't read the Christopher Isherwood novel on which the film was based, we understand that the novel was driven by the main character's internal monologue, so we can forgive that a director can't make a fast-paced action movie out of that type of subject material. But what Ford did so wonderfully was to captivate us with gorgeous and haunting imagery, and let the imagery tell so much of the story. One would expect no less from a man who is most famous for making a career in a visual art, fashion design.

.
(hugh grant and nicholas hoult

in "about a boy")

.
And being openly gay, we would expect no less from Ford if he didn't populate the film with achingly beautiful young men, which he did in abundance. When the actor Nicholas Hoult first appears on the screen, it's hard to take your eyes away from him, he is so physically beautiful. And then, after watching the film, we were amazed to find out that Hoult is that funny little boy who co-starred with Hugh Grant in the 2002 film, "About a Boy". We couldn't believe that that awkward, pudgy little boy grew up to be such a stunner. Hoult is 20 years-old now, so in 2002, he must have been 12. Wow, what a difference a few years makes. Next up for Hoult is the role of Hank McCoy/Beast in the new "X-Men" movie.

.
(the cast of "a single man"

and director tom ford)

.
And if you need any more proof that the entire cast of "A Single Man" is physically beautiful, take a look at this photo of the cast and the director, Tom Ford, who is second from the left. When we found this photo, after admiring the facial attributes of the lucky sextet, we noticed something glaringly ugly. And we couldn't help but think, at that moment, that maybe Ford's incredibly famous and highly praised career as a fashion designer might need to be reconsidered. Notice how in this photo, all the men's pants are too long, even Ford's! That is an unforgivable fashion faux pas, especially from a man who is such a celebrated diviner of style. Shame on you, Tom Ford. We think, at this point, you should know how to use a needle and thread.