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Daily Archives: 06/02/2012

SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN

SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN-United States-2012

Kristen Stewart as Snow White

Chris Hemsworth as The Huntsman

Charlize Theron as Ravenna

Directed by Rupert Sanders

Screenplay by Evan Daugherty, John Lee Hancock and Hossein Amini

Screen story by Evan Daugherty

It’s been over 24 hours since I got home from the theater from seeing “Snow White and the Huntsman” and it has taken me that long to decide whether or not I liked the film. Not being very familiar with the story of the ‘fairest of them all’, save for the Disney version, I knew that my only expectation was that the movie entertains me and it did just that. The tale is a spin on the traditional story of the huntsman (Chris Hemsworth-”Thor”, “Avengers”, “The Cabin in the Woods“) who is ordered by the evil queen to kill the raven haired beauty Snow White. Alas, ’tis not to be as he falls in love with her and stands by her side to rid her inherited kingdom of the queen’s cruel hand. Now that you have an idea of the plot, let’s dig a little deeper, shall we?

The one thing that struck me about Ravenna, the queen (Charlize Theron-”Monster”, “Young Adult”, “Prometheus”) was that her obsession for staying young was similar to the same desire of the real life Elizabeth Bathory. Bathory was obsessed with staying young and murdered hundreds of young girls; believing that their blood on her skin would revitalize her features. Charlize Theron is the best part of this somewhat uneven film and I feel that at times she approached a level of intensity that rivaled her Oscar winning turn in “Monster.”

As for Chris Hemsworth I felt that he phoned his performance in. There just seemed to be no energy coming from him and his acting seemed tired instead of inspired. Hemsworth has been one of the busiest new stars with roles in “Thor”, “The Cabin in the Woods” and the super-successful “The Avengers”; so he may indeed be wiped out.

As for the role of Snow White, Kristen Stewart would not have been my first choice for the role. It’s not that I don’t find her attractive; she’s a lovely young girl. But what she gains in beauty she lacks in emotion. In scenes that I thought should call for near-explosive bouts of rage or happiness, Stewart gives us a whimper and not a bang. Yawn.

The movie is incredibly uneven. With a screenplay co-written by three different people I wonder if they were ever on the same page at any given time.

I liked “Snow White and the Huntsman”. I just wish it had been more than the sum of its parts.

TRIVIA

Angelina Jolie and Winona Ryder were considered to play Ravenna, the Evil Queen.

Johnny Depp, Tom Hardy and Michael Fassbender were considered to play Eric, The Huntsman.

Lily Collins auditioned for the lead role but lost to Kristen Stewart. She was later cast in the other Snow White movie, Mirror Mirror.

½

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PIRANHA 3DD

PIRANHA 3DD-United States-2012

Danielle Panabaker as Maddy

Matt Bush as Barry

David Koechner as Chet

Chris Zylka as Kyle

Meagan Tandy as Ashley and Katrina Bowden as Shelby

Gary Busey as Clayton

Christopher Lloyd as Carl Goodman

David Hasselhoff as Himself

Directed by John Gulager

Written by Patrick Melton, Marcus Dunstan and Joel Soisson

Characters by Peter Goldfinger and Josh Stolberg

Just when you thought it was safe to go back to the water park. John Gulager (“Feast”) picks up where Alexandre Aja left off with “Piranha 3DD”. This time the prehistoric fish wreak havoc on an adult water park on its very first day of business. The park comes complete with lifeguard strippers and special guest star David Hasselhoff.Here is a movie that takes the mutated monster fish sub-genre (if there ever was one to begin with) to a whole new level of ridiculous. “Piranha 3DD” is a movie that would make Herschel Gordon Lewis and Hugh Hefner equally proud. The film is a mash-up of blood and boobs, gore and gams and any other body part these ichthyologic beasties can put in their mouths. The piranha goes from anal to oral in this one and you just have to see it for yourself to believe it.

The plot behind the whole shebang is that the fanged flippers make their way from Lake Victoria to the water park to wreak their havoc. The explanation for how they get from one place to another is so half-ass that we pay no attention to it at all. But then again, that’s the idea. “Piranha 3DD isn’t about style and substance. Nobody is going to be collecting a statue on Oscar night for their efforts. But then again, I do believe they could be in the running for an AVN award for the best depiction of ‘blowjob by piranha.’ The little snapper gave head until it hurt. Ouch!

TRIVIA

The first entry in the “Piranha” series to be entirely filmed in 3D.

½

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