I am a movie junkie. If I am not in a theater (and for years I was NOT unless it was something I really wanted to see), I am watching things on DVD. It makes no difference if it’s a movie ( I just hit Matrix Trilogy again. Thanks for the recommendation Morgana Rae!). So while I have spent the last few months looking at trailers for the FEW movies I have seen and thought worthwhile (The Avengers), I ticked off the movies I did want to see for real (Bourne Legacy is my kind of flick. Jeremy Renner = Matt Damon only single! Nice twist to the plot too). I included Snow White and the Hunstman because I knew that Chris Hemsworth had proved himself viable with Thor (a joke of a movie) and managed to pull off The Avengers with aplomb against a stellar cast. Charlize doing her fashion thing and KStew + special FX, what could go wrong?
Where to start. The trailers ran on for what seemed like 30 minutes including plugs for Safe House (Denzel & Ryan Reynolds in a thriller on DVD) and a plug for a new version of BATTLESHIP the game. (Excuse me but why are they prommoting a game to a movie audience that didn’t like the movie in the first place?).
I came home from the MTV Movie lounge events and we turned around to go to a regular time movie (prime $$). The tip-off that it wasn’t going to have legs was that we walked into the theater — despite a desperate search for parking– and found the theater almost empty- mostly filled with girls. We got seats much better than I anticipated– and after seeing Dark Shadows and regretting the time spent seeing it– I started to wonder was this going to be another rewind/repeat of DS and not The Avengers.
I held my breath and watched as the lights went down and the beginning was good– even great– but not nearly long enough to really set up the film well enough. Who knew the wicked queen had a brother? This is not your mother’s or Disney’s Snow White- -but we all knew that right? The special effects are incredible. Charlize Theron looks amazing and plays the wicked queen quite well but is a bit screetchy at times. Why her brother puts up with her is beyond me– and her army just trashes the kingdom. Chris Hemsworth is really REALLY good as the Huntsman and switches sides when he realizes that what the Queen has promised him is never going to happen. So he essentially walks into the forest sort of search of KStew as Snow White. KStew is the critical mass for this movie. She has to be incredibly good, showing depth, humility, goodness and still some fire and passion for the things she is willing to risk her life for- yet she lacks all those things for this role. I don’t know if this was too close to being done with Twilight that she was still caught up in that acting range but she wasn’t that good. Audiences expect more from their heroes– even if they are girls (or maybe we just expect them to be believeable). The plot is twisted all around with lots of new characters but nothing except Hemsworth, Theron and a bit on the dwarves shows a lot of history or background. It’s not that Stewart has no one to play off of- -she has tons of great actors she is working with.. but even when she gets poisoned by the wickedest of plot twists, she didn’t pause for a second there to think how she got an apple when it’s snowing?
The battle scenes are fabulous– the best part of the movie. I loved all the different things that were done. The FX were stellar. Snow White’s coming back to life– NO SPOILER HERE — but really??? REALLY? Where did that come from– except for maybe a sequel. The movie even features a coronation– but still there is that hanging plot thread or 3 that are left that make me just shake my head.
Incredibly disappointed in this. I expected more from KStew who knows how to act. (The Runaways as Joan Jett). Unless you HAVE to see Chris Hemsworth (who plays a drunkard really well), wait for DVD. Alternative suggestion: Men in Black 3. Got it from reliable sources that this was better than MIB 2. So if you have to see a movie- -maybe the rewind/repeat?
Speaking of DVD: here’s what’s out on DVD for next week.
Safe House with Ryan Reynolds and Denzel Washington. SCORE! This was a great thriller with Ryan Reynolds acting to his full potential and Denzel Washington showing that he’s still got a lot of aces up his sleeve as a man who is bad yet good yet still an unknown quantity. Find it on amazon.com and all major mass and electronic stores.
John Carter 3D didn’t do well in the theaters. Nothing made sense and 3 D makes LESS sense for DVD. However at least if you hit NETFLIX or VOD this one, you can see it without paying for the popcorn.
I gather that the lead was a good fit for the movie but I know that Disney didn’t put enough effort into marketing it correctly which was why it failed. I am a huge Edgar Rice Burroughs fan and everything he wrote was great. Unless they did to John Carter what they did to Snow White, it should be worth watching. It’s how I am going to see it. Available at all the usual places. I am not putting in links because you will find it faster — even at supermarket check out by the time I get all the links placed (and for less too!)
Act of Valor is a military meets Rambo sort of film. A sort of reality docu-drama that didn’t really do what it was supposed to do. However for those truly into military films, you will probably love this.
Act of Valor features real-life active duty SEALS in the mix with actors and so it’s sort of like NCIS but not. More like COPS than it is anything else except everything else in the movie is fake, not real– where like COPS everything WAS real. Sigh. I guess this is for the guys who can’t get enough shoot em up or miss the Arnie or Sly movies.
A trailer I saw in the theater and wondered about: Total Recall starring a very cleaned up Colin Farrell, Kate Beckinsale in Sharon Stone’s role and Jessica Biel playing the other role.
REALLY not sure about this flick. Some movies are not meant to be remade but they did some updates on the sets and plot too. We shall see (or not)
Stevie Wilson,
LA-Story.com
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