Snow White and the Huntsman (2012, U.S.)

Ugh. This movie was almost a complete disappointment. Usually I defend Kristen Stewart to all haters, because she really is a great actress. She wasn't bad here, but she didn't stand out either. But neither did Charlize Theron, Chris Hemsworth, Bob Hoskins, Ian McShane, Ray Winstone, or any other great actors that peppered the cast. In fact, I thought Charlize Theron bordered on bad, because everything she did seemed so overacted, to the point of melodrama. Honestly, the whole thing was pretty melodramatic

Perhaps it was the writing or maybe the directing, but it just seemed ridiculous. Visually it was quite stunning, but on the other hand it seemed like they relied entirely too much on visual effects to the detriment of the plot. The nugget of plot was so good too.

It was also very distracting that every other minute something presented a visual reminder of another fantasy film, particularly The Lord of the Rings. (Down to the Tree of Gondor that graced KStew's armor... that was a bit much.) James Newton Howard is one of my favorite composers, and some of his pieces here were spot on, but he didn't quite win my favor this go round, because even his score echoed LOTR occasionally. Altogether strange, and you'd really have to see it (and be very familiar with the trilogy) to see all the subtle echoes. It was disconcerting.

I would recommend this to die-hard fans of any of the cast and people who like their fairy tales nice as dark (as they were intended), and even to LOTR fans who take pleasure in yelling, "Copycats!"

Rating: 3.0

Love, Honour, and Obey (2000, UK)

What a weird one from Natural Nylon. But then, I guess you couldn't expect anything else. A clash of London gangters. Violence, profanity, sex jokes, friendships, love, marriage... Jonny Lee Miller narrates the film in a clown costume. Scenes of all of the characters singing karaoke are spliced into the main storyline. Jude and Jonny's friendship is paralleled to Sadie and Ray's pending nuptials. (Hence the "love, honour, and obey.")

I read a review of this on imdb, and the reviewer said "It wasn't bad. It wasn't good." And that's about what I thought of it. Parts of it were really brilliant—the time structure, the random karaoke and clown-narration scenes, the relationship foil, the ongoing erectile dysfunction side plot (now there was a surprise). On the other hand, it seemed too violent, too vulgar, too unrealistic, too pointless. So not good, not bad. On the other hand, I am curious to see some other Natural Nylon productions now.

I don't really know what else to say about this one. It is definitely one of a kind, if nothing else.

Rating: 3.0

Fool's Gold (2008, U.S.)

I really had no intentions of seeing this movie, but Mom is here visiting and she wanted to see it, so I gave in. Really, it has a great cast -- Kate Hudson, Matthew McConaughey, Donald Sutherland, Ray Winstone... I know that Kate and Matthew have been in several silly movies (item: How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days). Not that they're bad movies, they're just not great works of art. They are pretty good actors, however. Donald Sutherland is supposed to be hot stuff, and I personally thing Ray Winstone is a genius. So the caliber of actors definitely toned up what could have been a terrible movie.

Okay, so a lot of the plot didn't make sense and was just downright stupid. But it actually pulled off a touch of character development, the plot involved solving an historical mystery (although the answers came to them a bit too easily, it was still somewhat well done), and it was pretty damn funny. This was probably due in part to the fact that it was directed by a guy who does some pretty "solid" romantic comedies. (Andy Tennant also directed Hitch, Sweet Home Alabama, and Fools Rush In.)

So I wouldn't buy it, I probably wouldn't see it again (unless I happened to catch it on TV), but it was still entertaining and not a waste of time.

Rating: 3.5