Snow White and the Huntsman
That other recent Snow White interpretation, "Mirror, Mirror" (starring Julia Roberts), gave me a severe brain hemorrhage, caused my eyeballs to explode and made blood shoot straight out of my fingertips. Okay, that may be somewhat of an overexaggeration, but it was still a really bad movie. So I had higher hopes when I saw the trailer for this darker interpretation of the Snow White story. Unfortunately, it bored the crap out of me. Visually, it's a very cool looking movie with well designed effects work, good cinematography and a very gritty palette not unlike "Game of Thrones". Director Rupert Sanders knows how to make a good looking visual. After all, he has an extensive background of directing television commercials, so he knows how to grab you very quicky with an arresting image. It's too bad the movie never finds its own identity. It's such a hodgepodge of modern fantasy movie pastiches that I was constantly thinking, "Gee, that's just like [insert fantasy movie here] - I wish I was watching that movie right now". There's a helluva lot of "Lord of the Rings" here (to be fair, though, almost every movie made in the last 10 years has ripped something from "Lord of the Rings). There are the random, whimsical touches of a "Harry Potter" movie, the darkly inventive creatures of a Guillermo Del Toro movie ("Pan's Labyrinth", etc), the mucky danger of "Game of Thrones", and an entire sequence taken almost verbatim from Studio Ghibli's "Princess Mononoke" (except this scene ends with a flying arrow rather than Mononoke's flying bullet). Only more half-hearted.
The same goes for the characters. While many of them are played by talented actors, none of them are ever fully realized. Charlize Theron as the Evil Queen comes closest to being a real character, but her one-dimensional nature and random outbursts of hammy shouting (which sent the audience into fits of giggling) kind of kill any progress in the realm of three-dimensionality. And don't get me started on Kristen Stewart. What kills many acting performances for me is one, simple thing - dead eyes. I can't stand watching performances where absolutely nothing is going on behind the eyes. Stewart used to be a good actress in the pre-"Twilight" days, but since then. . . blank and unengaging. It gives me the creeps. And she's the main character we're supposed to root for.
She gets to make a "rousing" Richard III-style speech to her troops before they go into battle (as seen in "Braveheart", "Lord of the Rings", "Gladiator", ad nauseum). It's a terrible speech. The audience I saw the movie with was laughing. Her troops weren't cheering because the speech was any good or because she had any charisma, they were cheering because she was "The One" who was prophesized to destroy the evil that was plaguing the land. "Barbarian Queen" was a better female empowerment movie than this weak-willed sludge.
And don't get me started on the whole prophecy aspect of the movie. At the beginning of the movie, she (and we) are told that she is the fairest in the land who will one day overthrow the evil queen. And she does. Zzzzzzzzzzzz. If you're going to insert one of those tension-killing prophecies into your narrative, at least have the smarts to change it up a bit and do something original with it (i.e. "The Matrix"). Otherwise, just leave it out.
I didn't like it. But, as I stated earlier, it's still a far better film than "Mirror, Mirror".
Prometheus
Okay, I spent way too much time on "Snow White". Now it's time to take a look at another movie that I found to be disappointing in some very big ways, but still managed to hold together well enough for me to recommend it as a worthy viewing experience.
[Spoiler Alert]
Yes, it's a prequel to "Alien". Taking place about 30 years before the events of that film, "Prometheus" is not a monster movie but a hard sci-fi/horror exploration of the origins of human life and the fundamental aspects of the relationship between Creator and Createe. Based on H.P. Lovecraft's "At the Mountains of Madness", "Prometheus" is at its best when wallowing in dark atmosphere or giving us fleeting glimpses of The Unknown. The horror sequences are very strong, too. Intense and freaky, they churn the stomach as well as raise the hairs on the back of your neck. Visually and aurally, the movie is fantastic as well. The IMAX 3-D presentation was stellar, and the score knaws at you in subtle, unexpected ways. It's been way too long since Ridley Scott ventured into science fiction territory, and it's great to have him back.
On the other hand, the movie leaves you with an overabundance of questions. Now, this is not necessarily a bad thing. Normally. Would it surprise you to know that one of the showrunners of "Lost" wrote this movie? No? Then expect to leave scratching your head. While, in the end, the unanswered/unsatisfying questions of "Lost" were overcome by the strong characterizations of the cast, the characters of "Prometheus" leave a little more to be desired (except for Michael Fassbender as David the android, a character as enigmatic as the plot itself). It seems to me that there are large chunks of character footage missing from the film. This, indeed, seems to be the case as a Director's Cut of "Prometheus" has been confirmed for release in a few months time, featuring over a half an hour of cut scenes. The characters just didn't gel for me, therefore making it hard to really care about the bigger questions proposed by the narrative. Plus, the characters just kept doing really stupid things, which was really frustrating.
Overall, I recommend it. If you can live with the flaws, it's a ride worth taking.
Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted
Animated movies featuring talking animal characters are starting to wear thin.
Nonetheless, I'm not over them yet. And here comes chapter three of DreamWorks Pictures non-Shrek franchise, featuring a different set of locations and a some new characters voiced by celebrity guest stars. I really have little to say about this movie other than this - if you enjoyed the two previous movies, you will enjoy this one. Actually, it surprised me to find out that it was just as good as the first two because the trailers were so flippin' awful. But it's fine. There's plenty of off-the-wall humor, fast paced action and bright, pretty colors, ooooooh...
And, as usual, the penguins steal the show.
If I were to rank the three films, I would have to say that the second film in the series ("Escape 2 Africa") is the best one (it's actually got some emotional heft to the story), but they're all on an equal plain, quality-wise. And the 3-D was well done.
Not bad.
Moonrise Kingdom
Now I will use a familiar-sounding argument -
If you like the films of Wes Anderson, then you will enjoy this one as well.
Lots of people don't understand his whimsical, character-based comedies. That's fine. I happen to enjoy his films very much, because true character-based comedy is very hard to pull of successfully and, therefore, rarely done. And he does it well, over and over again.
Essentially it's a story of young love and discovery, but it's presented as a madcap chase across a coastal island. Lots of noise has been made about the big talent cast (Bruce Willis, Edward Norton, Frances McDormand, Bill Murray, Tilda Swinton, Harvey Keitel), and they are all great, but it's the two main kid actors who carry the show (Jared Gilman, Kara Hayward). They fit perfectly into Anderson's stylized vision, and the whole movie is a sweet, satisfying and very funny night at the movies. It's one of the best movies of the summer and, I think, one of Anderson's best movies, period (right up there with "The Life Aquatic", "Rushmore" and "Fantastic Mr. Fox). I highly recommend this. Well, if it's your kind of thing. . .
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