In A World...

Written, directed and starring Lake Bell, In A World...is a quirky indie look at the voiceover world. Full of a supporting cast of many recognizable, comedic character actors including, Michaela Watkins, Ken Marino, Demetri Martin, Rob Corddry, and Nick Offerman, the acting is very strong throughout. Eva Longoria and Cameron Diaz appear as themselves and Geena Davis also turns up.

There are almost no movie trailers that feature female voiceover talent. Gone in 60 Seconds, a rare trailer that did, used Melissa Disney and she also briefly appears in the movie. Lake Bell had been intrigued that the typical voice behind film trailers was male. This inspired her to write a story in which a woman struggled to overcome that environment and it resulted in her feature length writing, directing, and producing debut. The title of the film references the phrase used by Don LaFontaine at the beginning of many film trailers.

Bell is recognizable from her work in It's Complicated and What Happens in Vegas. She was also in Over Her Dead Body and that was the first screening I ever attended. While it is a terrible movie, I recall it well. Bell starred with Longoria. It looks as though several of Bell's previous castmates appeared in her film as support for her efforts. Corddry and Diaz were in What Happened in Vegas with Bell.

The movie is really funny and well written. After seeing the film, the first time you hear an ad begin with "In a world...",  and it won't take long, you can't help but smile. In A World...is nominated for Best First Screenplay at the Spirit Awards and won Best Screenplay at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival.

Available for home viewing...
X-Men: First Class
The trailer for X-Men: Days of Future Past made me want to watch First Class because I had not seen it. The May 23rd release of the next chapter in the X-Men franchise finds characters from the original trilogy and the younger versions of many of them existing in one movie with what appears to be a cleverly conceived script. Expand the cast without having to add characters. First Class is just as good as the first three X-Men movies and I am glad to have finally seen it. There is something about superhero movies that is very yea or nay. There is not a lot of middle ground. It really seems to depend on the writing and then as the franchise continues, sticking to the things that worked while keeping it fresh and not just retreading prior films. Dissecting superhero movies could be a series of posts but the main thing about First Class is that it develops the backstories of the older generation in the previous X-Men stories in a historical context. Putting the two together makes Days of Future Past look very promising. Bryan Singer is also back directing.