Snow White and the Keeper of my Soul, I mean, Huntsman

Saw Snow White and the Huntsman yesterday. Probably why I spent the last hour fangirling and looking at pics of Chris Hemsworth online, but whatever. I really liked it. The film itself was very beautiful not only in its prettier moments, but even its more rugged down-in-the-mud ones. And did I mention Chris Hemsworth was in it? Yeah, I'll be in my room...

This is first film I've seen Kristen Stewart in since before Twilight, which I attempted to watch once but left half-way through it was so painful.  She was the lesser of the three leads in terms of acting ability in SWATH, but contrary to many other reviews out there, I thought she did remarkably well in this film considering what she had to work with.  I was uplifted as I should have been during the sanctuary scenes and when she was in the courtyard rousing the peasants, and I thought she played the moments in the tower with the brother to supreme perfection. She lost me a bit when she ate the apple, but that's only because I knew she was being betrayed there so I wasn't really in the moment. God, you could see that coming a mile away.

Chris was his usual fabulous self only with a thicker accent... not sure what country he was supposed to be from but who cares it's Hot Man With Accent. *nods*  I liked his little back story, though. It was nice to know why he was doing what he did, and to see how the Huntsman is really a good man at heart. Okay, that just made him hotter than blazes for me, but not caring!  I'm a perv, and this is my review so there. :P

Charlize Theron as Ravenna stole the entire film as far as I'm concerned. I felt like this was a prelude to Angelina Jolie's Maleficent where we're supposed to get background on why the Evil Villain is evil. Honestly, they should have marketed SWATH that way because really that's what this film was. There was more character development as to why Charlize's Queen was doing what she does than on why we should follow KStew's princess.  Granted, it's not like we all don't know Snow White's background anyway, but still. This film was all about Ravenna. I can only hope Angie pulls half as good at my heart-strings. The only flaw I can point out with Charlize is the way she delivered her lines. The constant pauses and deep intonations were getting annoying after awhile. Yeah, we get it. You're evil. Moving on...


OMG AT THE KISS THAT WAKES SNOW WHITE!  I died a little death there and had to restrain myself from fist-pumping in the middle of the theatre. KStew really pulled off the waking up bit as believable, too.

I would not turn down a sequel to this.


I watched a bit of Disney's Snow White on Youtube last week just to give myself a refresher on the story. When Snow runs on to the Dark Forest I could see a parallel between the films, and then again with all the animals in the Sanctuary, but the Dwarves were complete and exact opposites. In fact, this version didn't even really need them there as they seemed more a case of "well, they're in the story we have to have them" than vital characters to drive the plot forward. In keeping the Huntsman alive and helping her, Universal made the Dwarves completely superfluous.

Overall, I liked the film. I wouldn't pay to see it again in the theatre's like I have The Avengers (twice so far. Haven't fangirled this hard since Titanic), but I won't pass it up at Redbox or when Walmart sells it for $9.99. I won't go into how many times I've also been watching Thor, Captain America, and the Iron Man movies lately.

Don't judge me.

FNDN #2 & a LAD update

The Three Musketeers  - Luke Evans and Logan Lerman version
J. Edgar
Johnny English Reborn
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
The Rum Diary
The Hunger Games 
Lad: A Yorkshire Story (final cut w/out finishing touches (foley, music, sound effects, etc.)

It's mid-April so I figured I'd go ahead and do another Friday Night Date Night listing for all you crickets out there. Hubs and I have been especially busy the past month and a half, so we haven't seen nearly as many films as we would have liked. I was gone for three days at the beginning of March to go work for my Dad so that Friday was a no go, and we were at a conference two weekends later leaving that Date Night a bust as well. Throw in overtime for the both of us, short one day only conferences across the state and birthday parties and anniversaries we had to journey to plus our full time jobs and evening committee work for our other job, we've been lucky some weeks just to be able to stay awake long enough to see a film come Friday night.

Our choices haven't been of the highest caliber for a few reasons. Sixty hour work weeks have been leaving the both of us of a mind for meaningless, mindless entertainment.  When he brought home The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo I just looked at him like he was crazy. "Hello! Long work week why are you making me get in to the deep and heavies here?" Besides being exhausted, there were a few reasons I didn't want to see GwtDT. One) I had watched a few interviews of star Rooney Mara, and I've never had an actress turn me off so quickly as a person before in my life, and two) I felt the publicity for the film was six months too long and sensationally over the top. I don't like it when studios tell me it's supposed to be the next big thing, especially if the film is only a remake of a different countries that did well. If the film did so well, why are you re-making it? What's the problem with subtitles? That's always bothered me. Anyway, if I wasn't predisposed against the movie I probably would have enjoyed it a lot more than I did, and I still quite liked it as a film itself. It was fairly predictable at times, and considering I hadn't read the book, I thought that was pretty telling. I did know ahead of time of the rape scene so I made a point of getting up and leaving the room to make dinner when that started to play out. Been there, do not need to see it on film thank you very much.  But overall, I thought it was a fine movie. I'd definitely watch it in re-runs on cable, but I won't be owning it.

The Three Musketeers, Johnny English Reborn and The Rum Diary were all equally enjoyable in an in-one-ear-out-the-other type of sense. They all had good laughs and pretty eye candy, and the weeks we watched them, that's all I needed them to be. As films go, The Rum Diary was far superior with Giovanni Ribisi giving one of his best performances ever. I'm starting to get tired of the typical schtick Johnny Depp has been selling lately, and it's obvious he filmed this between two Pirate movies as Captain Jack came through in his mannerisms one time too many.  Speaking of the Pirate films, Musketeers came across as a wanna-be and failed miserably in doing so. No one should ever put Logan Lerman in long hair again, or give him such cheesy writing to spew, and if you are going to cast Luke Evans in a film, Use. Him. Why that man had his shirt on the entire time, I will never know.  I won't even remark on the "flying ships" as that was just... wrong. So, so wrong. 

I won't go in to The Hunger Games as I basically said everything I wanted to about it in my last post.  I'm ever so much looking forward to Catching Fire no matter who directs it.

Last but not least is my own feature film, Lad: A Yorkshire Story. Dan sent me a copy of the final edit sent to post at Pinewood. It's a great departure from the short version of film we released (which focused exclusively on the two brothers), and omg am I bloody amazed at what he was able to edit and keep in considering our last few conversations concerning what cuts needed to be made. Nice and tight, I think people will really enjoy it. And our lead Bretten Lord has just the best facial expressions and really makes you weep for the character, not to mention being the world's loveliest little shit off camera, too. Like our Facebook page of the film if you want weekly updates on what's happening, and when it will be screening across the UK this summer/fall. It will be in post still for the next few weeks; not due to be finished at Pinewood until mid-May at the earliest.

Response Eoin's Hunger Games Review

This is in response to Eoin Macken's review of The Hunger Games for Phoenix Magazine, and his subsequent post about it on his personal blog. I'm only posting it here because Blogger has a 4,096 character limit for its replies.
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Okay, I waited to read your review until I saw the film itself. Having read the trilogy in one go after receiving them for Christmas, I didn't want that to color my reaction.

Alright, I'll admit it. It still kinda is.

Having said that - the film itself is one of the better book-to-screen adaptations I've ever come across. Mainly, this is because the author, Suzanne Collins, co-wrote the script and was able to keep intact the necessary structures needed to further the story along without the needless subplots that may or may not be touched upon at a later date. Better yet, the film was written AFTER the entire series was in print. Makes a world of difference when everything is already flushed out before the scriptwriters take over [I'm looking at the catastrophe of the final three HP films here].

In wading through the rather verbose axiom that is your review, I do agree primarily with what you say. It was a fairly average, run of the mill Hollywood movie featuring pretty young white people with problems they must overcome to be together. Unfortunately, I feel as if you are missing out on exactly why people see this series as a Big Fucking Deal. Maybe this is because you didn't read the books. Maybe it's because you only saw the surface of what was going on. I don't know.

In the books, we do not have the pov of anyone from the Capitol - we only have Katniss'. However, instead of including a narration that more often than not is distracting to the story, they gave us more of President Snow and Seneca Crane allowing us to see all the suppositions Katniss has in the books but w/out all the guess work. The film, by including conversations between these two men, simply states what she conjectures as fact. Nice. Neat. Clearly labeled exposition. Unfortunately, this gave us classic action movie set-up's that I felt detracted from the main story - the oppression of the people, the murdering of children, the caste system, etc. Also, they portrayed Crane as too nice a character. Remember this is the Head Gamemaker. It's his job to design the dome and create the creatures to torture and kill these children when they fail to kill each other themselves. That man should not be something celebrated, but in the end when he was left with a bowl of nightlock, you couldn't help but feel sorry for him. Such nice facial hair; wasted. Neveminding the fact this sympathy completely misses the point.

While many akin what happens in the arena to Lord of the Flies, overall the Panem of HG is more a dystopian society a la Brave New World, or The Handmaiden's Tale. LotF is too convenient a platform, and not all encompassing of what this truly is - not an island infecting a limited group of people who eventually go back to the real world, but an entire continent attempting to re-build after wars and famine living under oppression and in slavery. There's no going back because there is nothing to go back to.

Did you leave the theatre knowing that each District and its inhabitants are nothing more than slaves for the Capitol? Workers forced in to labor, forced to give up their children year after year as punishment for the crimes of their ancestors? I guess their lack of historical reference [ha! it's fiction] beyond "74 years of killing. We must remember this is a punishment  blah blah blah" has to do with keeping their PG-13 rating and the time down more than anything else. Also, those MTV quick cuts used during the heaviest of violence. It's based on a YA novel; can't have that being rated outside the targeted demographic in the MPAA system now can we.

I'm torn on agreeing with you concerning the character of Gale (Liam Hemsworth) and his, and others in the districts, lack of screen time. They did cut fairly often to facial expressions "back home", but the film-makers didn't really show how watching the Games wasn't because people were worried for only Peeta and Katness, they were also worried for themselves - they personally would be punished if they didn't watch. They were just as invested in what happened as if the other 23 reaped were after they themselves. Neverminding the fact that riches [okay, extra food and medicine] were given to each district that the winner came from. No one wanted their children to go, but when you're starving more often than not, that extra food comes in handy if your district wins. It's called The Hunger Games for a reason. I'm saddened this wasn't more fully expressed on the screen beyond that short hilltop moment of exposition between Katniss and Gale.

Even with the little things left out, this is the first film based on a book I've seen where I didn't spend the next day and a half explaining everything that happened, and why, to Hubs. He, like you, thought of it as a nice piece of mindless entertainment. Thankfully, it was a complete PoME and not a half-assed one. It had a beginning, middle and end, and left just enough room to make the sequel plausible, but not a necessity. It wasn't an epic masterpiece of directing/acting/cinematography brilliance that was LOTR, but it was infinitely better than any of the HP films and leap-years beyond the travesty that was/is the Twilight franchise.

Many reviewers, and fans alike, are stating HG as this generations Star Wars. I have to agree [somewhat]. It was nice to see a u/dystopian story that's not centered around fantasy or the complete reproductive subjugation of women, but it's still a small rebellion taking on an empire nonetheless.  You'll just have to wait for part 3(6) before you know if they succeeded or not. Part 2(5) before you know it's a rebellion in the first place.

Friday Night Date Night

For the new year, Hubs and I decided we needed to spend more time together not on our laptops, or watching crap TV whilst on our laptops. Hence, Friday Night Date Night has been born.

Not surprisingly, not because I'm lazy, just that bad, it's taken me how many weeks now into the new year to relay that these FNDN's have mostly consisted of movie nights. From borrowed movies to crap in our collection, to multiple trips to Redbox, we've started to not only spend our Friday's watching movies, but over one memorable weekend, spent every single day watching films back-to-back.

While I would like to review every single film we've seen so far this year, I will admit I would be damn lucky if I remembered every single one. First, we re-watched [Hubs hadn't seen it yet, but I had] Jean-Pierre Jeunet's A Very Long Engagement. I adore this man's films. He is like a fine wine; his work gets better with age. Sweet and poignant, the film tells of a woman determined to find out what happened to her love during WWI France.  I was determined right along with her. Her high jinx, her intuition, the characters she met. Beautiful.

Our second week was not nearly as beautiful, poignant, or well, a decent film. Hubs made me watch The Ice Pirates. Contrary to it's brilliant name, it was not a gay porno that took place in the Arctic.

I would have preferred the gay porn. I know I would have had a better night if we watched that, that's for sure.

The third week lead us to our first experience with Redbox. Crazy Stupid Love was a film I'd been wanting to see for awhile now, so I took immediate advantage. I know, nothing like being late to the party. I loved the dynamic between Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling's characters. Even Ryan's and Steve Carrell's. So multi-layered, the frequent hilarity only added another dimension instead of detracting from it as so often happens in romantic comedy's.

Other films we've watch on our FNDN's which often turned into Saturday nights and additional Sunday afternoons after our beloved Packers lost in the playoffs included Warrior, Contagion, Hangover II, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, Bunraku, Super 8, True Grit, Bridesmaids [because Hubs hadn't seen it yet], and The Debt.

Bunraku put me to sleep, though I think if I had been in the right mood for it, I would have liked it.

Hangover II and Bridesmaids were watched back-to-back the night before I spent a weekend wedding dress shopping for my sister. It was a fun night. I liked the darkness of Hangover II compared to the first one, and Bridesmaids is just a hoot all around.

HPDH2 was a let down. I was expecting it to let me down, and it didn't disappoint. Hubs, who has never read any of the books, had no  idea what the hell was going on most of the time, whilst I was too upset over the lack of continuity, the slow-pacing, the world's worst editing job and the completely obvious lack of care Yates gave to any part of making this an enjoyable experience. I shouldn't have snorted or rolled my eyes so much for what should have been a tear-jerker.

Warrior was ok. It had Tom Hardy shirtless, and that was the only reason I bothered picking it up. Don't judge me.

True Grit and The Debt are standing out as my favorites along with Super 8. S8 because I'm a geek like that, True Grit because the John Wayne version is one of my favorite films of all time, and for a re-make this version right up there next to it for being that well done, and The Debt because... Well, The Debt was just good. All around fine acting, a believable premise and denouement, and characters I cared about. My heart was utterly breaking for Jessica Chastain and Sam Worthington. Utterly, utterly in tears.

And last, but certainly not least, I did not mind the deadly epic Contagion showcased for the simple reason Gwyneth Paltrow was the first victim. There was a certain je ne sais quoi in watching her die and knowing this horrible disease spreading like that was all her fault.

Marvelous.

Immortality Slain

When I say I'm taking an hiatus, I meant it! For reasons I won't go in to, I forgot I had a Blogger only to be reminded again. Life has been incredibly too busy to truly spend any amount of time on films mostly because, I made one.

Yes, you heard that right. I. Made. A. Film.

Well, technically, I'm co-producing it, and really, I only snagged that title because when my friend Dan asked for feedback, he got feedback. I can be incredibly verbose when it comes to feedback as anyone who reads my every day journal (and not this artsy-fartsy one. Not that I think I have readers here to begin with. le sigh) can attest, and he let me have at his script like he was sharing his crayons and he didn't mind if the colors went outside the lines.

I've been working with Dan on his short films since last December, and when the opportunity arose to help with his feature, I grasped it with both hands. I'll let you know when it's released in the U.K.

In the meantime, my life hasn't all been about "What life is like in a specific area of a country I've never been to, doing things I've never done, with equipment I can't even recognize but look! Porn makes an appearance because they're boys and their horny and it's a coming of age flick that's right up there with my heartstrings".  I have seen a few movies lately, and in keeping with this, my long left lonely film blog, let me recap a bit on my past year of film:

Jean-Pierre Jeunet - My friend Jason introduced me to this French film-maker, and I've spent the past few months making grabby hands at his films. Delicatessen, Amelie, The City of Lost Children, A Very Long Engagement. Each unique in their own way. Each breath-taking in their story, their simplicity, their color, and their joie de vivre. 


OSS 117 - Yes, I was most definitely on a French kick this year. Jean Dujardin and his OSS 117 parodies were the highlight of my summer with Cairo: Nest of Spies, the original, taking much precedence and love over Lost in Rio. I think I was mostly spoiled in the first as the latter felt too forced at times. I eagerly await Dujardin's turn in The Artist with his Cairo co-star Bérénice Bejo, thought I highly doubt it will play in my area. As it is currently on the short list for Oscar consideration this year (I know! And it's FRENCH!), I would assume the six theatres it is currently playing in the U.S. are all in Los Angeles County. Life. Is not fair.

Random Action Movie Take 5,370,392 - As you can probably guess, the majority of my actual theatre experience this year consisted of one action movie after another, almost all entirely in the Superhero/Science Fiction Genre.  The Green Lantern, Thor, Caption America. If it had a cape and/or a mask, I probably saw it. I probably then immediately forgot it as they were all almost entirely forgettable. I should have listened to Edna - no capes! The notable exception to that remark iss for X-Men: First Class. James McAvoy is someone I have always held in high regard so to see his take on such an iconic character, as well as being introduced to the fabulousness of Michael Fassbender... I eagerly await and desperately hope they are able to play opposite one another once again. Ideally without January Jones anywhere near the picture.

A few stand-outs from the past year include:

Harry Potter DHp1 - As a confirmed Potter-aholic for the last decade, as you can imagine, I didn't miss this film. I wish I had. I won't go in to my now memorized rant on how Yates has destroyed this series of books for me with his inadequate representation, badly written interpretations all while propagating the worst acting I've seen from an entire generation in one film ... well, I'll just say I did not see DHp2 and leave it at that. Some things do not prove to get any better with age.

I know, I'm still amazed I haven't seen it. I'm even more amazed I have no plans to concerning I know people that actually worked on the bloody films.

Tron: Legacy - For a sequel set, and created, decades after the original, I was highly impressed. One of the few movies that warranted a 3D ticket price, the depth created during the race scene... that alone makes me go back for more.

Immortals - The most recent film I've seen I can honestly say it was only yesterday. I can also honestly say I only saw it because Husband wanted to see it, and Henry Cavill was Mostly Shirtless the entire film. I'm married, not blind! Considering how low my expectations were upon entering, I was slightly surprised I left not minding if I see it again, and not because of the flesh display. More than once I had to turn away from the all too violent realism within the fight scenes. For me, that means something.

Bridesmaids - By far the funniest film I've seen since the original The Hangover, Bridesmaids was set in my home state of Wisconsin. When the film was first released, I was hesitant to see it as I'm not one of those 'OMG, Let's go see something FUNNY' type of people. That, and I was mostly broke and Hubs didn't want to see it, so I ended up waiting for a girls night out with a friend after it hit the local theatre for a whopping $1 a showing. Best dollar I've ever spent at the movies.

So all in all, my film experiences for the last year have included French films watched repeatedly, and action films I'll mostly not miss. Considering my future film experiences will include watching Wrath of the Titans (because Dan worked on it) and Superman: Man of Steel (because Jason did), I can only hope I can talk Hubs in to some sort of drama, or Jason's wife in to another girls night at the cheap theatre. It's my hope that Like Crazy is somewhere in my future.

Hiatus

I'm taking a break with this for awhile because life has been incredibly hectic. Not that I've been posting much of anything on here anyway. lol I will say I haven't seen  a movie I've hated recently so at least there is that. :) I adored "A Team" more than I should admit, and I loved "Inception" enough I'm trying to find a time to see it again.

Okay, I could have lived without "Get Him to the Greek." I am ever so much not a fan of Russell Brand and Jonah Hill together. Separately, yes. Together, not so much. Sorry.

Sherlock Holmes

I never, ever thought I would like this movie, and I not only did I like it, I really enjoyed it. I went in not expecting that, but to see the quite often stuffy Holmes played obviously-on-something with a Watson who tries to stay away, but like a kitten can't keep the curiousity at bay, this modern re-take was like a breathe of fresh air. I've read the stories. I've imagined other takes on them. I do believe Holmes is quite mad! But besides all that, here are my top three reasons why I liked this movie:

1. The camaraderie and comedic timing between Robert Downey Jr., and Jude Law. Their fast paced witty repartee left the film clipping along nicely. Intermixed with just enough action sequences to keep it interesting while not distracting from the plot, one was left with the feeling that it was all meant to be that way, that their life was really that boring yet exciting. If only we could all have lives like that.

2. The costumes. As a former (okay, still am for the right price) costume designer, I have a very critical eye for costumes, detail, and authenticity towards the time period. My biggest fear going into this was the possibility that it wouldn't be justtttttt right in some way. A film is completely ruined for me if the details, the grittiness, the textures amidst all the layers aren't there for me. Something as simple as the wrong accessory will throw me off and out of the story. Sherlock Holmes did not do that for me. Silently throughout the film, I mentally kept a running commentary on every new look, "Oh, I've done that. Look at that waistcoat. Is that a Gibson collar? Those ruffles are such a pain to make. Good job." With the noticable exception of the fabric choices made on the majority of Rachel McAdams dresses, I was in costumer heaven. Flat satin in Victorian England? Really? BORing.

3. Denouement with possibility for a sequel. Usually I hate films that end with "we know this is going to be a money maker, let's end it with something so blatantly obvious we can make a sequel out of it." While introducing the deviltry behind the character of Moriarty at the end of the film could come across this way, if you know the story of Sherlock Holmes at all, you wondered where he was at the beginning, realized he wasn't playing in this film about half way through, yet didn't realize till the end that this criminal mastermind was there all along. The silent character. The man behind the curtain. He orchestrated McAdams' Irene Adler into a life of fear, left Holmes and Watson clueless, and yet we never saw his face.

Brilliant.

I want to see his face.