Hanna

X-Men: First Class

James McAvoy stars as a young Charles Xavier, along with Michael Fassbender as Magneto in this prequel to the X-Men films, which follows the mutants as they come together for the first time in an effort to thwart a villain on the verge of causing a nuclear war. The origins behind the mutants' powers are revealed throughout the course of the movie, as are the beginnings of the relationships that shape the alliances in the subsequent films. The action scenes are balanced well with an interesting story that breathes new life into the franchise. DVD extras include deleted scenes and behind-the-scenes footage.

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Hanna

Saoirse Ronan plays the title character in this revenge thriller about a 16-year-old girl who has grown up in hiding and groomed to become an expert assassin by her ex-CIA father (Eric Bana). When an intelligence agent (Cate Blanchett) and former foe of Hanna's father discovers the family's location, she launches a full-scale manhunt against the teenage girl. Hanna's lack of emotion makes it a bit hard to connect with her, but it's refreshing to see a tough female character that steers clear of stereotypes. DVD extras feature an alternate ending and director commentary.

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One more DVD when you read more

Another weekend has gone by, bringing with it a fresh batch of films to theaters. Whether you buckled down for a good scare, courtesy of Scream 4, or went for something a bit lighter, like Rio, there was plenty to choose from.

So what movies did you check out this weekend? Even if it wasn't a new release, we want to hear from you! Did you think Your Highness is underrated or Arthur better than expected? Chime in with your own minireviews in the comments section, or review it in the movie reviews group in the Community.

Despite the good reviews of Scream 4, it couldn't beat fellow new release Rio at the box office. The animated flick, which features the voices of Anne Hathaway and Jesse Eisenberg, brought in $40 million to claim the number one spot. Scream 4 trailed it with $19.3 million, a significantly less opening total than previous Scream sequels (Scream 3 opened with $34.7 million back in 2000).

Easter bunny kids' movie Hop, last week's box office winner, came in third with $11.2 million. Fourth place was claimed by inspirational surf film Soul Surfer with $7.4 million, and the top five was completed by Saoirse Ronan's action vehicle Hanna, with $7.3 million.

Russell Brand was his own biggest competitor at the box office this weekend, as his new film Arthur was bested by his animated flick, Hop that earned 21.6 million and took the top spot for the second week in a row. Arthur settled for second place and a lackluster $12.6 million, followed by fellow newcomer Hanna, which garnered $12.3 million.

Soul Surfer impressively nabbed the number four spot with $11.1 million in its debut weekend, while Insidious finished fifth with $9.7 million. The James Franco/Natalie Portman stoner comedy Your Highness couldn't even crack the top five in its first weekend out, settling for sixth with a meager $9.6 million.

Too often in movies, we're presented with strong female characters that can throw punches and scale walls with ease, but they're so done up that it's hard to take them seriously as heroines. But Hanna (Saoirse Ronan) is the real deal. At only sixteen, she avoids those femme fatale stereotypes and solely focuses on one thing: kicking ass.

In Hanna, Ronan reteams with her Atonement director Joe Wright for the dark story of a girl raised as an assassin by her ex-CIA father (Eric Bana). They've lived in hiding together so he can protect his daughter from an enemy from his past, intelligence agent Marissa Weigler (Cate Blanchett). But when Hanna very proactively reveals their location, Marissa launches into pursuit to track Hanna in a large-scale chase across Europe.

To get the full rundown of the film's pros and cons, read more

Saoirse Ronan came dressed for the fanboys at yesterday's WonderCon panel for Hanna. The young star showed up rocking a Wonder Woman t-shirt, as she sat alongside director Joe Wright to preview new clips from their upcoming thriller before a crowd of excited fans. The two collaborated previously on Atonement, but if you've seen the trailer for Hanna, then you know this is nothing like their previous work. But then again, the character Hanna is nothing like your typical heroine. Check out the panel highlights below to find out why.

• The first question of the panel went to the director, Wright: why do a film like this after movies like Atonement and Pride & Prejudice? He said Ronan was actually the one who suggested he take it on. One of the things that attracted him to it was the fact that "It's not a franchise, not based on a comic, not even based on fairy tale specifically," which gave the director creative license to dream up his own world.
• Wright joked that two of the bad guys in the film were actually inspired by his own bullies from when he was growing up. "It was my way of getting back at them, by having them slain by a girl," he quipped.
• Ronan beats up guys twice her size in the flick, and the actress endured plenty of training to get the fight scenes, particularly in martial arts. "I suddenly had muscle in my arms, and I was strong," she said. "I had never experienced that before!"
• As for why Ronan loved the script, she explained: "It's important that we have strong female characters in movies now." And unlike other "sexy or cool" leading women in film, Ronan likes that Hanna is a misfit. "She is weird, and I think Hanna as an action heroine — if that's what you want to call her — is quite elegant in her temperament and behavior except when she's kicking ass. I think we haven't seen an action heroine like this yet."
• Wright also touched on the importance of heroines in movies, and got up on his soapbox to address female empowerment. "The place of young women in society, and the continued sexual objectification of women — I find that whole culture terrifying and kind of disgusting really," he said. "I wanted to address that with this film. I remember when the Spice Girls came out in the '90s and they called it 'girl power.' I think that's bullsh*t. I probably shouldn't say this, but I look at posters for recent films with girls kicking ass; there's one out at the moment, in bikinis and crop tops, and this is supposedly female empowerment, and that's bullsh*t. Female empowerment is not about sex; that's the point of female empowerment. It's about brains. So I was very keen to look at those issues with this movie, and Hanna exists outside of that." Obviously Wright was getting in a dig at Sucker Punch, but his little speech received huge cheers from the audience.