DAVID DUNN

Aug 01 2013

Reviews

“PITCH PERFECT” Review (✫✫)

Special appearance from the cast of “Glee”!

Pitch Perfect is a predictable, formulaic film, a movie enveloped in its conventions, forcing in cliche characters, and bolstered only by its joyous music, which cannot help but seem misplaced in a movie like this. It’s the sort of movie that doesn’t deserve the word “perfect” in its title. I’d offer an alternative title, something shorter and more subtle such as simply Pitch, but I’ll advise against that for the fear of people mispronouncing it.

The story begins on a young and rebellious Beca Mitchell (Anna Kendrick), an aspiring DJ who dreams to one day become as popular as Skrillex or David Guetta (80’s kids, look them up on wikipedia). Her father however, who just happens to be a professor at Barden University, encourages her to become more immersed in her education and to get more involved on campus. Beca hates school and hates socializing even more, but will put up with it because her father will help her out with her DJ career if things don’t pan out at school like he wants them to.

She gets a job as an intern at a radio station, and ends up joining the Bellas, a group of diversified female singers who all compete at an acappella competition at the end of the year. These girls are Aubrey (Anna Camp), the snotty, stuck-up leader of the Bellas, Chloe (Brittney Snow), the more civil and more approachable Bella out of the group, and Fat Amy (Rebel Wilson), a woman who is determined to throw herself out there despite her weight and her unattractive appearance. Just so you know, I’m not calling her “Fat Amy” on purpose. That is the specific name she instructed the Bellas to call her when they mistakingly called her “Amy”. I’ll bet her mother is proud of that, hearing her daughter wanting to be called Fat.

The Bellas were disqualified from the last competition because Aubrey vomited all over the front row of the audience last year (believe me, that wasn’t a pretty sight to see). Aubrey, as a result, is even more strict about protocol, behavior, and song selection than before, and so now she functions as a sort of an acappella Hitler to these poor college girls who are just trying to find their place at this university.

Let me say something here: there is something seriously wrong with your picture if your best comedy comes from a girl called Fat Amy and the worst involves girls swimming in pools of vomit. That’s not figurative, by the way, that is a literal reoccurring joke in the picture. This is perhaps the biggest problem with the picture over everything else: the comedy is not funny. It is not original, clever, precise, or even remotely well-written. It is unbelievable, insincere, forced, and extremely ham-fisted.

Why do I say this? Because not a single laugh was genuine. Nothing was funny. The jokes all involve typical cliches or moronic conventions, things you can find easily on a television network like ABC or Nickelodeon. What other examples do I need to give, besides the vomit jokes? How about awkward parents, preachy life lessons, bad singing, rapping, stereotypes, hazing and topics about sex? I’ll thought I was watching a musical here, not an episode of “Kids In The Hall”.

Oh yes, this film is not funny, but even worse are its characters, who are so unbelievable and overly-dramatized that they can only be in a movie. These girls are an annoying, rambunctious sort, a group of absent-minded drama queens who worry only about what tradition they uphold or which boys they are sleeping with. I know they’re meant to be seen as overly-expressive college archetypes, but for Pete’s sake, at least try to be more creative. “High School Musical” had more interesting characters than this.

Anna Camp is both spoiled and paranoid, a woman who is an over-exaggerated negative picture of sorority girls. Snow is meager, idle, and useless, there only to inspire Beca to join the Bellas, but not much else since she’s so passive when confronting Aubrey. Kendrick is good as Beca, but not really that compelling, and even when she first appears on screen we get a sense that the script is going to force us through some deep, meaningful character romance even though it isn’t really that deep or meaningful. The most compelling and talented actress here is Rebel Wilson as Fat Amy, who is so spirited and so enthusiastic in her role that she ends up more appealing than any of the other sorority brats in this movie. Her attitude and her humor was uplifting and energetic, and I wouldn’t be surprised if she served as a sort of inspiration for overweight girls everywhere. Dare I say I was turned on by her energy? No, but she was close. Really close.

Ultimately, Pitch Perfect is a flat, typical experience. It provides nothing we haven‘t seen before and its immature handling only reveals more of its desperate copycat nature. Why, then, am I giving it two stars when it’s story clearly deserves one? That is because of the music. If the movie accomplishes nothing else (and it doesn’t), it has the most beautiful covers and acappellas I’ve ever heard, even better than what most of what the TV show “Glee” produces. There was one great moment where Kendrick even does an original acappella with only her voice, hands, and a plastic cup to use at her instruments. That does not happen by insincere chance, fellow readers. That is genuine, passionate talent, one that is evidenced in every beautiful note in these acappellas (although I don’t understand how a woman is capable of singing in baritone. That’s another issue though).

Oh boy, am I going to get roasted for this. What, I wonder, do people find so entertaining about this movie? Look, I don’t expect a perfect film. I don’t go into these things expecting to dislike them from the outset. All I ask is that you have good singing, a solid story, and appealing characters for me to appreciate. Here, the singing is incredible, but the dialogue is flat, the story is predictable, and the characters are more annoying and high-strung than the Kardashians. Pitch please.

Tagged Acappella, Anna Kendrick, Aubrey Posen, Brittany Snow, College, Comedy, Covers, David Guetta, DJ, Drama, Glee, Hip-Hop, Movie, Musical, Pitch Perfect, Pop, Professor, Rap, Rebel Wilson, Romance, Satire, Singing, Skrillex, Songs, Sorority, Vomit

Jul 30 2013

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Reviews

“NOW YOU SEE ME” Review (✫✫✫)

And now you don’t.

We open on a black screen, similar to how a magician opens up his show behind the secrecy of a red curtain. A deck of cards can be heard flipping through the background with the presence of a calm, cool, and serene voice to accompany them. “Pick a card”, he says. “Any card”. But before his volunteer can pick a card, he is quick to remind her “But look closely. Because the closer you look, the less you will actually see”.

The words of a true magician, and the fact that he flipped this deck and actually picked the card I choose impressed me even more. This character is named Atlas, who is played by Jesse Eisenberg, and he is a street magician on such a skill level to where he can make skyscrapers light up in the night. As he impresses a crowd of ongoing viewers, one stands in the audience with a hood over his head quietly observing Atlas. We can’t see his face and we don’t know who he is, but he carries a card in his pocket, and leaves it for Mr. Atlas at the end of the performance.

Atlas isn’t the only magician to receive special treatment: three other magicians have also been observed by this strange visitor and have been left cards for each of them. There is the mentalist Meritt McKinney (Woody Harrelson), the pickpocket Jack Wilder (Dave Franco), and the escape artist Henly Reeves (Isla Fisher). All four of these talented magicians have been recruited by a secret cult called “The Eye” to carry out a secret mission for them. One year later, they come together in their first show as “The Four Horsemen”: and during their show, they rob a bank all the way in Paris while still performing in Las Vegas.

The FBI are called in to investigate, and they bring in Agent Dylan Rhodes (Mark Ruffalo) to arrest and interrogate the four horsemen. Pressing as he is, the horsemen are equally as clever and deceptive. Henly is spinning chairs, McKinney keeps reading his mind, and Atlas ends the interrogation by taking off his handcuffs and snapping them onto Rhodes. The rest of the film shows Rhodes chasing the four horsemen, trying to figure out their plot, and to stop them before they succeed.

This film is all about style over substance, a movie that is more concerned with tricks and showcase over character depth and dimension. Do I care about dimension, however, if the film is more than fun enough to take it over? The success of movies do not just come from how deep or complex they are. They also come from how well-made the picture is, how sharply the cut is edited, and how cleverly the narrative is structured.

And boy, if Now You See Me is anything, its definitely clever. Directed by Lois Letterier (Transporter 2, The Incredible Hulk) and written by screenwriters Ed Solomon (Men In Black) and Boaz Yakin (Remember The Titans), Now You See Me is a movie driven to the brim with its cleverness, its wit, deceit, and effervescent charm in its characters, in what they do, and how they do it. In many ways, this movie reminds me of caper films such as Oceans Eleven and The Italian Job: its a movie where characters cleverly trick and deceive their pursuers and expose them to their traps and their decisive plans. They don’t use muscle, brawn, or big guys with guns to get what they want: they use their wits, their brains, and their thievingly cunning plans to accomplish their goals in the plot.

Of course, these plans weren’t inherently inspired by the four horsemen in themselves: someone from the shadows has helped them with this plan, and is always monitoring these horsemen from shadows of secrecy. Tonally, the film achieves what it desires, and throughout the conniving plot we’re always wondering a key mystery: who is the fifth horseman? Why did he enlist in the help of these four? Who could it possibly be? Is it one of the FBI or Interpol, pretending to be on one side while coyly playing for the other? Or is it another mystery card player, one who has hidden behind a long-aged myth and has hidden himself from all cards in the field?

This isn’t just a caper film: it is a complex and fascinating mystery, and the cast of characters is all the rogues gallery in this police questioning. Mark Ruffallo does well as Dylan Rhodes, and in small moments of intimate revealings he shows a man who was once a boy who will always hate those in higher power oppressing the helpless underdogs. Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman make great cameos, and each play a role we don’t normally see from them, Caine being an antagonistic money monger and Freeman being an observant expose’ of schemes. Eisenberg, as always, is a knockout in anything he does. Here his character combines both the social awkward and invertedness of The Social Network, and the coy, cool, sleek confidence of Brad Pitt from Oceans Eleven. Don’t ask me how he does it, okay? He just does.

And this is a film that has been bombasted by critics. For what? A few quotes I pulled from Rottentomatoes: “Overcooked, overcomplicated and underinteresting, this heist caper turns into a mess”, one critic said. “Complicated nonsense”, and “…a flimsy plot whose logic disappears faster than a rabbit in a hat”.

There is some truth here. Yes, the film is overcomplicated. Yes, it is elaborate and sometimes distracting. Yes the characters are one-note and thinly written. And yes, the twist ending is dangerous enough to make the entire narrative collapse on itself, let alone offering the threat of plot holes.

In other words, I’ll admit I don’t understand everything by the end of the picture. And that’s precisely the point. There isn’t any fun with a trick that has been exposed: the fun comes in with those trying to figure it out.

Tagged Adventure, Blockbuster, Caper, Comedy, Dave Franco, Drama, Heist, Isla Fisher, Jesse Eisenberg, Louis Letterier, Magic, Mark Ruffalo, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, Movie, Mystery, Now You See Me, Oceans Eleven, Psychological, Suspense, The Incredible Hulk, The Italian Job, The Social Network, Thriller, Woody Harrelson

Jul 30 2013

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Reviews

“TRANCE” Review (✫✫✫1/2)

The pocket watch is mightier than the magnum.

Trance is a fantastic art film, a mesmerizing and fascinating thriller that uses twists, turns, hallucinations, and narrow corridors as its tools to build suspense, and dialogue and performances to form sympathy for its characters. Its surreal, twisted, strange, nonlinear, and non-conventional, but to dust with conventionality. This is a great picture.

As the film fades in, we are introduced to Simon Newton (James McAvoy), an art auctioneer who takes us through the ropes of what his job entails. He tells us of the extensive steps it takes to reserve a painting, the protocols his employers tell him to do when putting a painting up for auction and what steps he must take if a robbery takes place. Their most valuable item is a painting by Francisco Goya called “Witches In The Air”, and his employers gave him precise instructions on how to preserve the painting if thieves do happen to come into the auction in an attempt to steal it.

Sure enough, thieves break into the auction and attempt to steal the painting. This troop is lead by one named Franck (Vincent Cassel), and he is determined and headstrong into getting that painting. Right before Simon puts the painting away, however, Franck cuts him off, a brief struggle happens between them, and Simon is knocked out, with Franck leaving with the stolen painting in tow.

When Simon wakes up, he realizes he lost his memory from the past two weeks. When he’s finally released from the hospital, Franck pays him an unwelcome visit. Turns out, all that Franck got on the day of the heist was just the frame of the painting, whereas the real article itself was transported to an alternative location. Torturing him by peeling back his fingernails, Franck comes to find out Simon truthfully does not remember where he put the painting. So he tries a different method of extracting information, one that involves psychology and hypnotherapy at the hands of one named Dr. Elizabeth Lamb (Rosario Dawson). Together, they attempt to probe Simon’s mind, and begin their search for the painting Simon has kept hidden from them.

Here is a film that knows what it wants, a movie that knows its characters, their motivations, its story, and precisely how to tell it. Director Danny Boyle, who is nearly a master at experimental cinema (if you don’t believe me, look at his hallucination sequences in Slumdog Millionaire or 127 Hours) does something very rare here: he intertwines and meshes characteristics of a narrative film with that of art and experimental cinema, making a truly absorbing, gripping, and fascinating experience.

Let me make something clear here, however: I hate experimental cinema. Nine times out of ten they don’t make any sense, they seem relevant only to those making them, and they elicit a confused response rather than an emotional one from its audience. Here though, the result is much different. Everything is crystal-clear and fluid, the visuals dynamic and expressive, the editing cut together neatly and crisply. It’s like a mind game of cat-and-mouse, except the cat is willing to seek out help and the mouse is more lethal than both cats are lead to believe.

Oh believe me, my attention was unadverted throughout the entire picture. While I didn’t understand everything immediately in the film, I understood what I needed to in the moment and the plot filled in the rest for me as time went on. And what did I understand, more than anything else? That these are sinful characters, decrepit criminals that lie, cheat, and connive their way to success and to financial gain. Cassel was aggressive and talented as Franck, and while his character was despicable and loathsome at first, a softer side of him was later revealed so that the audience could come to terms with his character. Dawson is as beautiful and motivated as ever, and while she too was at first a sympathetic figure, she later reveals a darker side to her character that even I didn’t expect. I’m not even going to go into James McAvoy. His performance was so specific and so wide-ranged that I was compelled to care for his character while at the same time hating him.

And yes, in case you didn’t pick up on it, the movie is deserving in its R rating. It is violent, bloody, disturbing, graphic, and it has its vast share of nudity and sexuality, with some of the violence and sex combining in many gruesome scenes. If this were any other picture, I would take off points for that. But like Pulp Fiction and Taxi Driver, Trance is a film that uses its bleak content as a tool to tell a story and define character, to show an encompassing yet tragic story of three fatally flawed individuals who will torture, manipulate, and kill to get whatever they want. You have to watch a movie like this long enough to realize the point when it stops being a thriller and starts forming into something greater: when it starts forming into art.

Tagged "Witches In The Air", Action, Amnesia, Art, Auction, Crime, Danny Boyle, Drama, Experimental, Explosions, Francisco Goya, Hallucinations, James Macavoy, Movie, Mystery, Painting, Psychological, Romance, Rosario Dawson, Suspense, Thriller, Torture, Trance, Vincent Cassel, Violence, Visions

Jul 29 2013

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The Scope

“I’m A Historian, Not A Muslim”

Lauren Green, you simpering idiot. I can’t believe you were actually aired on national television a few hours ago. I’ve seen some doozies on biased interviews and reporting before, but you’ve got to take the top spot as the most shocking one yet. You’re job as a reporter is to be objective on your subject, not subjective on information that you don’t bother to even look into. You were so biased, inappropriate, and arrogant towards the interviewee that more people are going to mistaken christians as biased zealots rather than the open-minded, intelligent, and dedicated human beings that we are. What a sham.

You gotta look this up just so your jaw can drop. Sometime yesterday, during FOX news’ daily airtime, anchorwoman Lauren Green interviewed a Islam novelist named Reza Aslan, who wrote a book titled “Zealot: The Life & Times Of Jesus Of Nazareth” and had multiple PhD’s in religious studies. Supposedly, his book looked at Jesus through a historical context and looks at his impact of our culture through his actions and through his time on Earth. The novel received controversy as to being a
“Poorly researched, unintentionally false interpretation of Jesus”, or “sounding like old Islamic political propaganda”, quotes provided by Amazon.com.

I have not read the book, nor do I plan to anytime in the future, so I can’t criticize the author or his novel since I haven’t read it. If what these people are saying is true, and indeed Aslan is as biased and one-sided as this reporter is, then he deserves the controversy he is receiving. But I can’t substantiate, or comment on that, since I have no idea how authentic or genuine the research is.

I can, however, comment on Ms. Green as a reporter considering she was so rude and so aggressive during her interview. Throughout the interview, she refused to ask any questions about his book, but instead, revert to stereotypical and critical questions such as “Why is a muslim writing a book about Jesus?”, or “Is this intended as Islam Propaganda?” and reverting to a quote from a negative review whenever her turn came around.

Seriously, look up the video. Her stance and her treatment of her subject was so demeaning and maddening it would upset even the most conservative of Christians, such as myself.

The first thing I want to point out is why is she being so critical if she hasn’t read the book, or done research on her subject? During the interview, she clearly has no idea about the person she is interviewing, and shows this by retreating to other people’s quotes about the book at every other question that she asks him. You need to see this woman just to believe it: by the time she said “(blank person) said” for the fourth time, I had to go to the restroom and splash cold water in my face just to wake me up from the shock of it all.

First of all, as a fellow journalist and film critic myself, I need to point out a rule of thumb I have when reviewing movies. Before I criticize a film, I make a point of watching the movie, all the way through, opening credits to end, so I can give substantial reasoning for why I didn’t like the movie. I listed reasons why I hated movies like American Psycho, Shame, and The Hangover in my reviews, but they were all valid reasons for hating them because I pointed out real moments that happened in the picture. If I were to write a negative review for, say, The Human Centipede, I couldn’t be held accountable for it because I didn’t see it or bothered to seek it out.

Now, if I hate the concept of a movie I could point that out. I hate the concepts for movies like Project X, I Spit On Your Grave, Dogma, and The Virginity Hit, so I can trash those ideas all I want. But I can’t criticize the execution of the projects themselves because again, I haven’t seen them. There have been plenty of movies I thought I’d hate but then I gave them a chance and I enjoyed them quite a bit: Silence Of The Lambs is one of them. Pulp Fiction, another. Do The Right Thing. Harry Potter. Crazy Heart. Halloween. Taxi Driver. Please test me on this, I can go all day.

Ms. Green reacts to Aslan’s novel in the same way I react to Martin Scorcese’s The Last Temptation Of Christ: I hate the idea, and would reject any notion of it, but I cannot comment on the playout of it because I have not witnessed or paid attention to it myself. The difference between me and Ms. Green is that I have this rule I abide by fervently, while she decides she doesn’t need to do research or respect Aslan as a historian or as a scholar of religious studies. Aslan said it himself: the goal is not to be subjective of your subject. The goal is to provide relevant and authentic data on your focus, and allow other people to form their own opinions about it.

But does Ms. Green bother to do that? Nooooooooo. She ham-fists her arrogant opinions and ideas into her questions and spoon-feeds them into Aslan’s mouth, forcing him to respond in awkward, shocked, and appalled answers all while he is wondering what he had done to deserve such treatment. I would compare her interview to that of the crusade of the Westboro Baptist Church, or as I like to call them, “The Westboro Baptists”, because they don’t deserve the word “Church” anywhere in their title. They lead an antagonistic, cruel, unharboring crusade of hatred against homosexuals and armed forces alike, and while one can see some validation in their protests (Notice: I said SOME. More like .5%), they are a cruel and unforgiving people nonetheless.

I don’t think Green is as monstrous as they are, but she is equally as absent-minded, aggressive, and idiotic as they are. This should be a rule of thumb for all journalists: why, in God’s name, would you act this way towards a muslim theologian when you haven’t even read the first two pages of his book?

Just so you know, I don’t actually agree with Reza either. I think Jesus is a honorable, respectable figure in history, one who has had as much a positive impact with our culture as did Martin Luther King Jr. or Mohandas Ghandi. I’ve been raised to believe that he is the son of God, and I believe that to this day, and I think he deserves more respect than simply being referred to as a “troublemaker” or a “threat” during that time, even though I don’t think Reza meant any offense by it.

But what Reza believes, doesn’t believe, wrote, or said doesn’t matter. Green is so obsessed in her opinion that I want to denounce her, and her entire station, for what she said and how she said it. I know its not FOX News’ fault for the way that she behaved, even though they have had similar criticisms in the past, and I know that in the way she behaved towards Reza was of her own accord and her own disposition.

During my first semester working for the UTA Shorthorn, I produced an opinion piece about why people shouldn’t judge Christian artist TobyMac for his religious beliefs. I was criticized in my piece for being negligent and intolerant to other people’s opinions, but what my commentators didn’t understand is that I feel this way towards all faiths. Jewish hymns, Hindu practices, Islam chants, whatever. They all have a beautiful thing called faith, and they all have their right to carry it out the way they want to. It is not our job to judge it or criticize it, but it is our job to understand it and respect it, no matter how we feel about the practice overall.

On a closing note, I hope Lauren Green gets fired.

Tagged Christianity, FOX News, Hinduism, History, Islam, Jesus, Judaism, Lauren Green, PhD, Religion, Religious Studies, Reza Aslan, Zealot: The Life And Times of Jesus Of Nazareth

Jul 22 2013

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Reviews

“WHITE HOUSE DOWN” Review (✫✫1/2)

You’d be crazy running for a second term, Mr. President.

Now here’s a movie that would give President Obama a heart attack. White House Down, much like a film released earlier this film called Olympus Has Fallen are both about the same thing. The white house is under attack by a group of professional terrorists, the president is in danger, and our brawn yet brave hero must step in to save him. All you need is a ripped shirt, a clean-shaven face, and a lot of guns on this guy (not just automatic) and you’re all set.

Unfortunately, that’s all the information I can give you. This movie is so thinly written that that’s the deepest I can go without giving any spoilers. The only other information I can provide that could give you any clue on to what this movie is like is that the brawn, brutish hero is played by Channing Tatum, the president is played by Jamie Foxx, and Tatum owns a daughter portrayed by the sweet and talented Joey King.

I’m going to get this out of the way: Channing Tatum should never play the lead in any movie ever. He cannot act. There is no sincerity in his voice, no fluid movement of his body, no expression on his face to show he’s feeling anything except for when he’s shooting at something. The fullest his acting capability reaches in the movie is the eyedrops you see in his cornea when he’s “crying” for his daughter. I’m not even kidding. His acting is so terrible, the only use Tatum is in the movie is to provide meat for the female viewers in the audience.

(And I will admit my jealousy here: I will never look as good as Channing Tatum does. I don’t think its possible for any man to).

Where was I again? Ah yes, Tatum’s acting. As always he is a stiff, awkward, and uncomfortable actor, a perfect reason why he should never be the lead character in a movie. Admittedly though, the dialogue isn’t helping him much. His best lines in the movie involve something like: “You have to go out there and be President”, or “If this guy keeps making those sounds, I’m going to start looking at him.”

If the above description makes this movie sound appealing to you, you should see it. White House Down is a big case of what-you-see-is-what-you-get: a movie filled to the brim with excessive action, big explosions, cheesy dialogue, and mediocre acting, with the minor exception of Jamie Foxx, who has the most patriotic and humorous dialogue out of any other character in the movie. In one scene, he’s reciting the history of America so beautifully to his secretary of defense over the phone that one could mistaken him as a Lincoln who underwent skin surgery. In another scene, he’s following Tatum up an elevator shaft to evade capture when this exchange happens between them:

Foxx: What you do, I do.

(Channing Tatum ninja moves across elevator).

Foxx: I ain’t doing that.

Foxx’s character was the most appealing, the most intelligent, and the most charismatic character out of the entire movie. Everyone other character was overly charismatic and grossly unrealistic. One radical baddie is so stereotypical and so overpumped with tattoos, facial hair, ego, and steroids that I expected him to rip off his skin and reveal that he’s the Terminator. A tour guide portrayed by Nicholas Wright is more worried about fine china and precious artifacts than he is about his own life and well being. Tatum’s daughter, however, is probably the most frustrating. She comes off as annoying, careless, and extremely absent-minded in this film. You might say this is because she’s a child, but tell me something: how realistic is it that a teenage girl like this is smart enough to run her own youtube channel and know more about the white house than the tour guide, and yet, she doesn’t know when to stay in the bathroom or to leave a building when its going to blow up?

I remember an argument I had with a friend of mine in my first year of college. He was an experienced videographer who understood more about the film industry than any of the professors did in that department. We were arguing about the differences between film and art, and he told me a direct yet simple statement:

“Film is not an art” he argued. “Film is a business.”

While I desperately want to prove him wrong through films such as Inception, Life Of Pi and Beasts Of The Southern Wild, it is movies like White House Down that remind me that the industry does in fact exist and operate like a business intended for profit. At least Roland Emmerich didn’t release this film in 3-D: that wouldn’t have helped my side of the argument one bit.

Tagged Abraham Lincoln, Action, Adventure, Blockbuster, Channing Tatum, Cheesy, Comedy, Drama, Explosions, Heist, History, Hollywood, Jamie Foxx, Joey King, Movie, Nicholas Wright, President, Roland Emmerich, Suspense, Terrorism, Thriller, White House Down

Jul 22 2013

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Reviews

“SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN” Review (✫✫✫)

And thank you, Thor, for keeping up appearances.

Take a deep breath and say it with me: Snow White And The Huntsman. Doesn’t sound very promising, does it? Like most fantasy films, Snow White And The Huntsman seemed set up for failure. It’s centered around a very popular character portrayed by Bella Swan, the film is based around a fairy tale known universally in every person’s mind, and it seemed tempted to fall for a formula and let down its audience. Believe me, that was the movie I was expecting when I went into the theater. The movie, however, is much better than the title suggests.

Based on the famous original fairy tale by brothers Grimm, Snow White And The Huntsmanfollows the story of Snow White (Kirsten Stewart), a kind and beautiful princess of the land Tabor who would one day inherit the kingdom and the throne from her father King Magnus (Noah Huntley). Before she was born, the narrator tells us that her mother pricked her fingers on a rose outside of her castle, with three drops of blood staining the snow. Her mother told herself that she wanted a daughter as white as the snow, lips as red as the blood, and a spirit as strong and defiant as the rose she prickled.

This opening sequence was both fascinating and revealing, a deeper introspect into Snow White’s history that I don’t believe has been visited before. Her mother eventually died giving birth to Snow White, and so King Magnus marries a strikingly beautiful woman named Ravenna (Charlize Theron), whom he rescued from a dark army made out of glass soldiers that tried to invade his kingdom. Magnus is so stricken by Ravenna’s beauty, in fact, that she becomes his queen in less than two days.

You already know where this is going, don’t you? Ravenna is, in fact, the dark and conniving witch leader of the dark army. After killing Magnus in his bed, she takes Snow White, forces her into the upstairs dungeon, and seizes power over the kingdom as the newly appointed Queen of Tabor.

Years past, and the kingdom of Tabor falls into desolation and poverty. Snow White has now become of age to become the new queen of Tabor, and has been blessed with the gift of kindness that will ultimately dethrone Ravenna from the throne. Snow White eventually escapes from the dungeon, flees from Ravenna, and escapes into the dark forest, a place where people slowly lose their sanity and, in time, their life.

Raevenna cannot go to this place to kill Snow White, so she hires somebody who can: a huntsman by the name of Eric (Chris Hemsworth), a man who lost his wife to death’s hand long ago. Nothing could convince this angry, tired old drunk to take this job willingly, but he takes the job nonetheless in the hopes of that the evil witch can revive his dead wife with her dark powers. And so the adventures of Snow White and the Huntsman begin.

The biggest thing Snow White And The Huntsman has going for it is two things: its visuals and its handling of the premise, in that exact order. Rubert Sanders, who is making his director debut through this picture, is very smart and very careful with his visuals, using very precise and expertly-detailed CGI in things like the Magic Mirror or in the dark army made out of glass. But it isn’t just the visuals that makes the picture what it is: Sanders is smart enough to make the visuals mean something, and just like the camera he’s using to record the picture, the visuals are a tool he uses to tell a story and to instill some deeper meaning in the audience.

Take, for example, how Sanders uses the color of white in the picture. The color itself only appears three times in the picture: once where Snow White rides and abandons a white horse on the beach, another time where she encounters and caresses a magnificent and beautiful white stag, and the last one being where she dies and is resurrected while being in a white funeral dress. Go back and look at the pictures again and try to look at it through a more symbolic scope. I promise you, if you see the picture as I do, you will see a princess abandoning her kingdom, returning to her kingdom, and finally, becoming the queen and leader that the kingdom deserves.

To find such complexion in a picture as this was both shocking and surprising, and the cast delivers just as much as the visuals do. Charlize Theron was menacing, evil, and conniving as the dark witch, and gives a stellar performance that would have had the animated version relieving in her pants. Stewart, shockingly, is very grounded in her take as Snow White, and embodies everything her mother says she has: strength, beauty, courage, kindness, and heart, and this especially shows in the last half hour of the picture. Hemsworth was equally as emotional and convincing as the huntsman named Eric, although there are a few brief moments where he breaks character and acts more like Thor from The Avengers.

There was another Snow White movie released earlier this year called Mirror Mirror, and it starred the lovely Lily Collins and Julia Roberts in roles opposite Stewart and Theron. That movie was too silly and immature for its own good. Here, we have the opposite problem: this film is dreary, dark, sullen, and bleak, a movie that for the first half of its runtime, fills us with dread, angst, and sorrow. Starkly different tone from the whimsical, uplifting veins of the original Disney classic don’t you think? Whatever happened to Doc, Grumpy, Happy, Sleepy, Bashful, Sneezy, and Dopey?

Still, its a good movie. When there is color in the picture, it reaches out to you in striking detail, the cast is extremely strong, and the visuals and the camera angles combine to make a very provocative picture and a very sharp visual experience. All you need left is Mjolnir and the rest of the Avengers, and you’ll be all set.

Tagged Action, Adventure, Blockbuster, Charlize Theron, Chris Hemsworth, Drama, Dwarves, Fantasy, History, Kingdom, Kirsten Stewart, Mirror Mirror, Movie, Queen, Reboot, Rubert Sanders, Snow White, Snow White And The Huntsman, Snow White And The Seven Dwarves, Tabor, The Avengers, Thor, Throne

Jul 20 2013

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Superman and Batman to team up in “Man Of Steel” Sequel

Whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa, waitaminute. Please tell me this is real and not some sick joke from the producers over at Syncopy, can you? Please?

Apparently this is real and this is happening: Zack Snyder, director of 300 and the recently-released Man Of Steel movie, has confirmed recently at San Diego Comic-Con that the Man Of Steel sequel will feature a DC crossover between Superman and the dark knight himself, Batman. Full announcement by Snyder is below:

“I’m so excited to begin working again with Henry Cavill in the world we created, and I can’t wait to expand the DC Universe in this next chapter. Let’s face it, it’s beyond mythological to have Superman and our new Batman facing off, since they are the greatest Super Heroes in the world.”

I don’t know how to feel about this. On one hand, Zack Snyder made a great superman picture with Man Of Steel, and with Christopher Nolan returning to produce and David Goyer returning to write the screenplay, its looking like we’ll be in solid hands.

At the same time though, Snyder is facing pressing issues with this concept if he indeed chooses to go forward. For one thing, there’s the issue of trying to replace Batman from the Christopher Nolan trilogy (David Goyer already confirmed that this new Batman has nothing to do with Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy), but the biggest issue at stake here is how on earth are they going to make this work? What will be the plot? Who would be the villain? How would you make the team-up convincing enough to replace The Dark Knight? And don’t even get me started on casting.

What’re your thoughts, though? Ecstatic? Furious? I know plenty of DC die-hards will be happy to hear this news, but what are the rest of you guy’s thoughts? Comment below, let me know.

-David Dunn

Source: The Hollywood Reporter, Moviepilot

Jul 17 2013

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Ron Howard And Tom Hanks To Make “The Davinci Code” Newest In A Trilogy, “Inferno”

Dan Brown fans, prepare to be excited. Deadline recently announced that the director and star of the first two Davinci Code movies, The Davinici Code and Angels and Demons will return to direct the third entry in the series, Inferno. Full announcement from Deadline is below:

Tom Hanks and Ron Howard, the star and director, respectively, of Sony’s first two tentpole movies based on Dan Brown’s novels, are returning for ‘Inferno’, we’ve learned. Hanks had been expected to reprise his role as Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon.

Previously, Howard and his production team were going to produce the third book in the series The Lost Symbol into a movie, with Mark Romanek rumored to direct. That project now appears dead since Howard is returning as producer and director to take the fourth book in the series and make it the third entry in the trilogy.

I’m ashamed to admit I haven’t seen any of the Davinci Code movies nor read any of the novels. I never really got into them in my youth and figured I’d see them on DVD sometime in the near future. That future might be more near than I thought, because I will definitely be loading up on my Davinci Code history before I go and give Inferno a fair chance.

On top of that, I’m a huge fan of Ron Howard. His drama film A Beautiful Mind starring Russell Crowe is among my favorite films of the decade, and has made a slew of intensely engaging pictures including Apollo 13, Cinderella Man, and Frost/Nixon. He is releasing a biographical picture later on this year called Rush that focuses on the 1976 Formula One racing rivalry between racers James Hunt and Niki Lauda, and it stars Chris Hemsworth and Daniel Bruhl in the lead roles. I’m excited for the release of that picture, and I am just as anticipative for the release of Dan Brown’s Inferno.

Agree? Disagree? I know people have had problems with The Davinci Code series in the past, but what are your thoughts on it? Are you interested in seeing a sequel to complete the trilogy? Or would you rather it be buried like the many secrets Robert Langdon has to uncover?

Either way, comment below, let me know.

-David Dunn

Source: Deadline, Cinemablend

Film Critic. Analyst. Devotee.