MOVIE REVIEW: Snow White and the Huntsman

The same day I saw Prometheus opening weekend, afterwards I decided to make it a Charlize Theron film festival and walked over to the theater which was going to start showing  Snow White and the Huntsman in five minutes.

 Snow White and the Huntsman had an excellent marketing campaign, with clever trailers which was able to convince me to include it in the list of films I was looking forward to see this summer. Unfortunately Rupert Sanders was directing a major motion picture for the first time and it shows, especially in the lead performance of Snow White given by Kristen Stewart, who is well-known for her starring role in the execrable Twilight film adaptations (and is now the highest paid actress in Hollywood). Stewart is definitely striking, but is she really more beautiful than the Dark Queen, played with almost riveting abandon by Oscar-winner Theron?  There are seemingly uncountable numbers of scenes where the camera is focused on a close-up of Stewart's face, and she is staring directly into the camera, with no dialogue. Many times we have no idea what Stewart is supposed to be communicating to the audience, and it appears as if neither Sanders or Stewart did either. I think it's supposed to be some kind of suggestion of enchanting Snow White's beauty is, but it mostly just seems annoying and slows down the progress of the plot.


In fact, the story is another one of the curious aspects of the film. We all remember basic details of the Snow White fairy tale: Snow White is the daughter of the King whose queen dies and he marries someone else who is jealous of her step-daughter and casts her our to the enchanted forest, where instead of being killed by a Huntsman, Snow White meets seven Dwarves. After her Magical Mirror tells her that she is no longer the "fairest in the land" the evil Queen tricks Snow White into eating from a poisoned apple which causes her to fall into a deep sleep which is only broken by the kiss of her Prince who is in love with her beauty. The screenwriter Evan Daugherty takes great liberty with many aspects of the story (relax, there are dwarves!) and has produced a screenplay which improves the agency of both of the lead female characters and gives the Huntsman a much larger role. This is not a bad thing, per se but there is a problem when the third act of the film basically devolves into a swords and arrows battle led by Snow White (in shining armor no less) storming the castle in order to defeat the Evil Queen. At this point all one can do is shake one's head and be glad one didn't pay a lot of money to see the film. But unfortunately, you can never get those 2 1/2 hours of your life back!

Title: Snow White and the Huntsman.
Director: Rupert Sanders.
Running Time: 2 hours, 7 minutes.
MPAA Rating: Rated PG-13 for intense scenes of violence and action, and brief sensuality.
Release Date: June 8, 2012.
Viewing Date: June 10, 2012.


Plot: C.
Acting: B.
Visuals: A.
Impact: C.


Overall Grade: B- (2.75/4.0).

MOVIE REVIEW: Prometheus

One of my most anticipated films of summer 2012 was Ridley Scott's foray back into science fiction after a near-30-year hiatus,  Prometheus, also known as the "Alien prequel." The film stars Oscar-winner Charlize Theron in her second tentpole film of summer 2012 (the first being the widely panned Snow White and the Huntsman, but more about that film later), Oscar-nominee Noomi Rapace, Idris Elba, Michael Fassbender and Guy Pearce. The screenplay is credited to Jon Spaight and Damon Lindelof (former showrunner of Lost).

The reaction to the film has been somewhat mixed, primarily due to the somewhat overheated hype prior to its release as people tried to compare the new movie relative to Alien, which is currently #42 on the IMDB list of Top 250 movies of all time. Unfortunately, it doesn't appears as if Prometheus will be joining that list anytime soon.


I saw and heard the somewhat mixed reviews (currently in the mid 70s on rottentomatoes.com) before I went and saw the movie, but made the decision to just go by myself after the Men's Final was unable to be completed due to rain on Sunday June 10th. 


My first reaction to the film is that it is absolutely beautifully shot, one of the most cinematographically stunning films since probably Inception. It also is able to scare, excite and surprise the audience. It also is very frustrating because there are many, many aspects of the script and story which simply do not make any sense. There's a difference between leading the audience by the nose by blatantly depicting plot points with no subtlety and being deliberately obfuscatory and confusing by having characters do things which are just clearly stupid and unmotivated. This results in numerous questions being left in the audience's mind when they leave the theater, but not in a good way of "let's debate the various interpretations of what the film makers intended or speculate on what happens next to the characters that we care about" (which is what happened to me after watching Incendies or A Separation) but more like "what the ...."?


I won't go into the details of the specific questions that can be asked, because I don't want to spoil the movie for people who have not seen it yet, and I do think that it is worth seeing, especially for the visuals, which are truly astonishing. In addition, although the script is a hot mess, it does it atleast provide some fodder for how the entire Alien franchise was started, and in my book, that is worth the price of admission.


For people who are science-oriented or who have advanced degrees or extensive training in a scientific field, it will be hard to watch what can only be described as an irresponsible depiction of scientists. The scientists are played with religious fervor by Rapace and with reckless abandon by hottie Joshua Logan-Marshall. With that caveat, I would still encourage people to see the film.


Title: Prometheus.
Director: Ridley Scott.
Running Time: 2 hours, 4 minutes.
MPAA Rating: Rated R for sci-fi violence including some intense images, and language.
Release Date: June 8, 2012.
Viewing Date: June 10, 2012.


Plot: C.
Acting: B+.
Visuals: A+.
Impact: B.


Overall Grade: B/B+ (3.16/4.0).

Summer 2012: Movies I'm Looking Forward To See

Summer 2012 is coming soon and the movie I am most looking forward to seeing is Prometheus directed by Ridley Scott (see full trailer here, opens June 1, 2012) returning to the universe of his classic Alien movie. My favorite director Christopher Nolan also has a new movie coming out (see full trailer here, opens on July 20, 2012), The Dark Knight Rises, the final film in his Batman trilogy (Batman Begins and The Dark Knight). Some people are looking forward to The  Avengers movie (see full trailer, opens this Friday on May 4, 2012) but since Iron Man 2, Thor and Captain America were all disappointing, why would a movie with all of them in it together be better than the movies which featured only one of them?

Charlize Theron appears to be having a good summer. She is in Prometheus, and also stars in Snow White and the Huntsman (full trailer here, opens June 1) along with Chris Hemsworth (who is also in Avengers as Thor) and Kristen Stewart from the execrable Twilight movies.

What movies are you looking forward to this summer?

WATCH: Full Prometheus Trailer

The new film  Prometheus from Oscar-nominated director Ridley Scott (Aliens, Blade Runner, Gladiator, Thelma & Louise) looks increasingly like it is the film to beat this summer despite the release of Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises. The extended trailer has now been released. The script was co-written by  Lost executive producer Damon Lindelof.
Check it out, the trailer looks amazing. The movie stars Charlize Theron, Michael Fassbender, Idris Elba, Guy Pearce and Noomi Rapace
Hat/tip to Nikke Finke.