Snow White and the Huntsman

This will be the second of the Snow White movies to come out this year. While Mirror Mirror was considerably more campy and fun Snow White and the Huntsman takes a considerably darker tone to the story. With that in mind this will not be a movie for young children to go see, but may be a nice lesson in female empowerment for the young ladies in the audience. While it takes a while to get there and takes a long look around at all the visuals that surround it Snow White and the Huntsman does become a decent movie.

 A lot of faith and money were put behind a director who is making his feature film debut. Prior to this movie Rupert Sanders had previously worked on commercials and video games. This shouldn't be a deterrent though as many famous directors such as Michael Bay and David Fincher both came from directing commercials before getting called in to do Bad Boys and Aliens 3 respectively. And with the technology now being available to so many, when a studio sees what a director can do on a budget they are willing to take a gamble. Coming from the world of Halo he knows how to make his action scenes visually stunning and he creates a very beautiful movie. At times though he gets lost in his computer generated world and focuses on the scenery more than the action.

Sanders is more than okay with updating the Walt Disney version, especially with the success ABC's recent hit "Once Upon a Time." While taking this story to a darker place, where the Brothers Grimm would no doubt be comfortable, he also empowers his leading ladies Show White and the Queen. Charlize Theron uses her beauty to take the throne from the right and just king and holds the kingdom in her hand. She is undoubtedly the fairest in this movie, but the academy award winner tends to go over the top as her powers begin to wean. Opposing her is Twilight star Kristen Stewart, who does not come into the movie with quite the same accolades as Theron but definitely holds her own. This is most likely due to the limited time she is given to speak, despite being the star of the film Snow White doesn't have a whole lot to say which may be a credit to Sanders knowing what his leading lady can handle.

While the women carry the story and overarching themes on power the savior of the movie may be the men. Chris Hemsworth comes in as the Huntsman, traditionally a very small part and really makes it his own. Obviously comfortable with the science fiction role, Sanders makes his character a drunkard who morphs into a hero. He is able to deliver some of the few laughs that occur throughout the film in the early goings. While dealing with a more adult version of the movie Sanders still decides to keep in the dwarfs which help the movie finally hit its stride. A plethora of who's who in British character acting are cast and shrunk down for the role. It is actually kind of fun when you see Ian McShane, Bob Hoskins, Ray Winstone, Nick Frost, Eddie Marsan and Toby Jones; while you may not recognize all the names, you should get most of the faces. I am sure that there are people that will be offended by not casting small people. But these actors were the right casting choice as they really transformed the movie into something different. They were the only ones that were able to blend the action with the comedy and really helped to move the story along.

Where Snow White and the Huntsman struggle the most is maintaining interest over the long period. The movie tends to drag and all the romanticized visuals that Sanders tends to cut away to does not help. His characters tended to be a bit one dimensional, and there was no real love interest but instead mere mentions and hints at it. The latter I actually found refreshing and fitting as the movie is all about woman empowerment. While they were able to show Kristen Stewart and Charlize Theron as two women who could handle their own due to poor development they did need a man's help to stay engaging. C+

Twilight: Eclipse

Let me just start off by declaring my allegiance: Team Jacob.

Having talked to some fans of the book I hear that is absolute heresy. The connection built between Bella and Edward appears much stronger in the book, but in the movie version the battle for Bella's heart seems much more balanced.

And here we are three movies later, more or less in the same place we were when this whole saga started. Bella still pure, slightly out of place in a normal society, and in grave danger as she tries to become a member of the undead. The story never seems to move forward from the original but this attempt at least finds a better balance to tell the same story.

The love triangle gets center stage, as both Jacob and Edward are in this movie evenly rather than one being two small to focus on or the other running away to Europe. The characters definitely have the high school act nailed down, whether that's the writing of the script being overly simplified or the actors showing their limited range. They get the heart-spewing and overly dramatic hormones down pact.

Maybe it's a combination of both as the acting has improved since the first movie. Granted there was a lot wrong with the movie in the beginning, and there is no way any of these actors will receive any acting award besides the golden popcorn. This franchise is steadily improving, which leaves me hopeful for the next two movies. Kristin Stewart still looks out of place, Taylor Lautner still seems to be overacting, and Robert Pattinson still conveys his message without a pulse. But, I mean that's what the characters call for, an outcast, a slave to emotion and a member of the undead. Maybe these young actors have become so ingrained in the character they are over delivering their character traits.

And it certainly can't be the writing that is all bad. Melissa Rosenberg is able to show off some comedy in that she lampoons the story itself. My favorite moment is when Edward questions if his counterpart Jacob even owns a shirt. A legitimate question as he appears to be without the top article of clothing through most of the movie. Not that any of the preteens and moms in the audience will mind. Rosenberg knows what the audience wants and finally gives it to them in the proper dosage. There aren't any layers beneath the surface of the story as every character seems to spout off the emotion they have when they have it, but was I any different in high school? I prefer not to think about it actually.

David Slade is to date the best fit for this project in the directors chair, having dealt with vampires and teenage angst in the past (30 Days of Night and Hard Candy respectively). The climax of the story is strong and the CGI wolves look great in the battle sequences. We even get some back story on some of the other members of the Cullen clan. It may have been a little out of place, but it didn't disrupt the flow of the story.

Once you get past all the fantasy elements this is a story about high school romance, and that story could probably stand on its own. It's definitely the best of the three movies out there, but that is still not saying a whole lot. C-