Capsule Reviews: Snow White, Moonrise Kingdom, and Prometheus

Snow White and the Huntsman directed by Rupert Sanders

When one envisions Snow White, they most likely see the animated Disney princess singing. Seeing this film changes that idea. Here, Snow White is shown as an imprisoned youth who escapes her cell and goes on a mission to revenge the evil Queen Ravenna. It is an interesting, but a little bland, story told with amazing visual beauty. I mean it, the visual effects and cinematography are completely outstanding, easily some of the best of the year.

Kristen Stewart plays Snow, with a British accent. Many may be surprised to hear that her British accent is actually very good. I know that she is a good actress based on her film roles outside of Twilight, and this will hopefully show the general audience that. She is not as good as she was in The Runaways or Welcome to the Riley's, but she is better than average. Christ Hemsworth is also good as the Huntsman. He plays the character similarly to how he plays Thor, which is fine. Charlize Theron is the real standout here. As one would expect, the main attraction of the movie turned out to be the Queen, a supporting character. Charlize embodies the idea of a completely horrendous person.

Overall, this was a very good film that made up in visual department with its minor shortcomings in narrative.

8/10

Moonrise Kingdom directed by Wes Anderson

This is one that really grew on me. At first, it appeared to be another quirkfest from quirk master Wes Anderson. Slowly, it was able to find a balance with the right amount of quirkiness. The story Anderson tells is a surprisingly romantic one: two kids run away from home to be together.

The ensemble cast is uniformly great. The two young leads (Jared Gilman and Kara Hayward) make amazing film debuts. Bruce Willis does a better than normal job as the cop at the center of the investigation looking for the children. Edward Norton is hysterical as the Khaki Scout troop leader, a role that easily be seen as a creepy role. Frances McDormand and Bill Murray are also exceptional as the parents of the runaway girl. Tilda Swinton's role is basically a cameo, but she pulls off an American accent perfectly and is hilarious.

Overall, this is an amazing film that has a lot of heart. Even if it doesn't necessarily attract you in the very beginning, you will become invested in the characters by the end.

9/10

Prometheus directed by Ridley Scott

This was easily one of my eagerly anticipated movies of 2012 (following The Dark Knight Rises, of course), and I am pleased to announce that it does not fail to meet my level of hype. From the very first sequence, I was absolutely sucked into this environment that Scott created. As the mission in space goes on, you become accustomed to this new foreign planet. It appears eerily Earth-like. Anymore of this film cannot be spoiled because it would really ruin the fun.

The performances are very strong, especially by Michael Fassbender, who plays David, a robot. Noomi Rapace tries her best with an English accent, but she still gives a powerful performance that is reminiscent of Signourney Weaver in Alien. Charlize Theron also is very good as the antagonistic character on the ship.

This film had amazing visual effects. Some of the best I have ever seen. I could not tell what was practical and what was CGI because the practical elements were so grand and the CGI so flawless.

Overall, this was a spellbinding movie that needs to be seen. It was not perfect (no movie is), but it is almost perfect.

10/10

John Carter

I appear to be the only person who actually wanted to see John Carter. TO me, it looked like an interesting movie with great visuals, but I wasn't able to see it until a month after it's release. It's such a shame that this film made no money.

As of my viewing of John Carter, I have read the introduction and first two chapters of "A Princess of Mars" by Edgar Rice Borroughs, the first novel in the "Barsoon" series of books in which John Carter is based on. Except for the very first scene, I am happy that this film follows this book closer than I thought it would. The one major change in the first few scenes compared to the first two chapters is actaully kind of important, but kept the same idea. After the introduction scene, the first scene on Earth is exactly like the introduction in the book with the author being called to John's residence right before his death. This is where the manuscript of his adventures are discovered. Then the story begins:

Taylor Kitsch as John Carter

Instead of having the title character (played by Taylor Kitsch) end up in the cave after being chased by Indians after they attacked his best friend, the movie changed John into a person who was arrested and escaped jail. He is then chased by Indians after a three way battle between the INdians, the law, and john. It is very different from the book actually. Once John gets to Barsoon, I have no idea how closely the movie follows the book.

The story is actually quite entertaining, even though the beginning scenes on Earth (excluding the scenes with the author) and the introduction scene are a little underwhelming. They aren't bad, just a little cliched. On Mars (Barsoon), there is an alien species that is tall and green, but there are also groups of humans who are at war, as described in the opening scene. Their history gets a tad confusing, but it is never impossible to follow.

Kitsch and Collins

There is a staple strong female lead in Dejah Thoris (played by Lynn Collins). There are also several bad guys whose names I don't know; it got confusing after a while trying to figure who is who.

John gets drawn into this planet's war while becoming aquatinted with its natives.

The visuals in this movie are definitely a standout. They are never less then perfect and almost justify the film's insane budget, almost. The green aliens look amazing, the white apes in the arena battle scene look amazing, the landscape looks amazing, the air battles looks amazing; you get the idea.

John Carter fighting some White Apes

The acting is strong as well. Kitsch is a suitable enough lead, but there probably would have been a couple better choices (maybe Ryan Gosling or Chris Hemsworth?). Collins actually gave a really god performance. She breaks through her characters stereotypes and makes it her own.

Overall, a strong movie that was not perfect, but was definitely a lot of fun with amazing special effects and strong performances.

Rating: A-, 4/5, 8/10

"The Grey" 2012

     As the very first movie released in 2012 that I saw, it is my honor to review "The Gray" starring Liam Neeson:

     What a way to start off the new year. January is notoriously known as a "dumping ground" for studios to release really bad movies (I.E. this year's "One For the Money" and "Man on a Ledge"), but this is one major exception.

     The story starts off simply enough: some people who work in the wilderness of Alaska are going home. Ottway (Neeson), a wolf hunter for the drill company, is on the verge of killing himself the last night in Alaska when he hears the howls of wolves in the distance. He goes and hunts the wolf and doesn't kill himself.

     While on the plane, there is an accident. The plane crashes in the middle of nowhere in one of the most intense and startling plane crashes in film history. There are only a handful of survivors and they have to struggle to stay alive as they fight against natural elements around them and a pack of wolves. The wolves are absolutely brutal to these poor survivors.

     As a whole, this movie works. The characters become well-developed as they have to work together to stay alive. The acting is uniformly strong among the whole cast, especially Neeson, who carries to film on his shoulders. Although there are some cliches that are inevitable in almost every film now-a-days, this is a highly original, and often surprising, film. Not many movies make me actually sit on the edge of my seat and cringe or gasp in shock or horror. The film never really loses a sense of surprise regarding the deaths of the characters, except in one scene where it was obvious that somebody was going to die (it was still a frightening death).

     **Spoilers ahead**
     My biggest problem that lies in this film is the ending. I'm sure that many other people also had this problem (I know the people I was with did). It just ends. That's not even the worst part about it, the movie ends right before a fight between the last survive and the alpha wolf! There is one very short post-credit scene that shows the outcome, but how freaking awesome would it be to see Liam Neeson fighting a giant wolf! if this were added in the film, my rating would definitely be higher.


Final Rating: 8/10

2012 Oscar Predictions

Here is my list of my predicted 2012 Oscar nominees:
(Italicized is my prediction for winner and it is in the order I think they would win)
Best Picture: (since there will be anywhere between 5-10 actual nominees, I will list 10)
The Descendants
The Artist
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
Hugo
War Horse
Midnight in Paris
The Help
Moneyball

Best Director:
Martin Scorsese (Hugo)
Michel Hazanavicius (The Artist)
Alexander Payne (The Descendants)
Steven Spielberg (War Horse)
David Fincher (The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo)

Best Actor:
George Clooney (The Descendants)
Jean Dujardin (The Artist)
Michael Fassbender (Shame)
Brad Pitt (Moneyball)
Leonardo DiCaprio (J. Edgar)

Best Actress:
Rooney Mara (The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo) 
Viola Davis (The Help)
Michelle Williams (My Week with Marilyn)
Tilda Swinton (We Need to Talk About Kevin)
Meryl Streep (The Iron Lady)

Best Supporting Actor:
Albert Brooks (Drive)
Christopher Plummer (Beginners)
Max von Sydow (Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close)
Kenneth Branagh (My Week with Marilyn)
Viggo Mortensen (A Dangerous Method)

Best Supporting Actress:
Jessica Chastain (The Help)
Shailene Woodley (The Descendants)
Octavia Spencer (The Help)
Berenice Bejo (The Artist)
Carey Mulligan (Shame)

Best Original Screenplay:
Midnight in Paris
The Artist
50/50
Bridesmaids
Young Adult

Best Adapted Screenplay:
The Descendants
Moneyball
The Help
Hugo
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

Best Animated Film: 
Rango
The Adventures of Tintin
Puss in Boots
Arthur Christmas
Kung Fu Panda 2

Best Visual Effects:
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 
Hugo
Rise of the Planet of the Apes
The Tree of Life
Transformers: Dark of the Moon

Best Original Song
"The Living Proof" - The Help
"Man or Muppet" - The Muppets
"Life's a Happy Song" - The Muppets
"The Keeper" - Machine Gun Preacher
"Hello Hello" - Gnomeo and Juliet

Best Original Score  
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
Hugo
War Horse
The Arist
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2

Best Art Direction
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 
Hugo
The Artist
War Horse
Anonymous

Best Costume Design
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 
Jane Eyre
Hugo
W.E.
Anonymous

Best Cinematography
Hugo
The Artist
War Horse
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
The Tree of Life

Best Makeup
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 
The Iron Lady
Anonymous

Best Editing
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
Hugo
War Horse
The Artist
Moneyball

Best Sound Editing
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
Mission Impossible - Ghost Protocol
Transformers: Dark of the Moon
Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Hugo

Best Sound Mixing
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
Mission Impossible - Ghost Protocol
Transformers: Dark of the Moon
Hugo
Super 8

Best Documentarty
We Were Here
Project Nim
Battle for Brooklyn
Pina
Battle for Brooklyn

Total Tally for my predictions per film (Excluding documentary, short, and foreign films):

Hugo  - 11
The Artist - 10
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 - 8
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo - 7
The Help - 6
The Descendants - 5
War Horse - 5
Moneyball - 4
Anonymous - 3
Transformers: Dark of the Moon - 3
The Iron Lady - 2
Midnight in Paris - 2
Mission Impossible - Ghost Protocol - 2
The Muppets - 2
My Week With Marilyn - 2
Rise of the Planet of the Apes - 2
Shame - 2
The Tree of Life - 2
50/50 - 1
The Adventures of Tintin - 1
Arthur Christmas - 1
Beginners - 1
Bridesmaids - 1
A Dangerous Method - 1
Drive - 1
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close - 1
Gnomeo and Juliet - 1
J. Edgar - 1
Jane Eyre - 1
Kung Fu Panda 2 - 1
Machine Gun Preacher - 1
Puss in Boots - 1
Rango - 1
Super 8 - 1
W.E. - 1
We Need to Talk About Kevin - 1
Young Adult - 1