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‘Brave’ doesn’t quite shine |
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Wednesday, June 27, 2012 |
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By PATRICK HALL
The Wilson Post
After a stint on vacation, I caught “Brave” in our local theater over the weekend, which despite some laughs, the movie presents more of the same: misunderstood princess, overbearing royal mother, witless father and their path to realizing each other’s true worth.
Directed by Mark Andrews, Brenda Chapman and Steve Purcell, the latest release from animating juggernaut Pixar, “Brave” is the story of Princess Merida, voiced by Kelly MacDonald, as she struggles with being a princess and her mother, Queen Elinor, voiced by Emma Thompson.
When Merida is informed she is to be married to the eldest son from one of the other three clans, she of course, hates the idea of an arranged marriage and runs away, finding “help” from a witch (Julie Walters) who gives her a magic cake to change her mother’s mind.
Of course, Merida gets far more than she bargains for and for spoiler’s sake I won’t tell you what happens to her mother. But, the mother-daughter pair finds themselves alone in the woods, discovering more about one another and coming to appreciate one another.
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'Prometheus' looks deep into our search for answers |
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Friday, June 8, 2012 |
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By PATRICK HALL
The Wilson Post
“Big things have small beginnings,” declared David in “Prometheus,” a science fiction adventure with inspiring vision and sinister overtones that faces the very beliefs and ideas we hold most dear, but delivers a tense ride.
"Prometheus” tells the tale of the 17 crewmembers of the titular science exploration spaceship as they travel to a distant moon after archaeologists discovered ancient drawings all depicting the same alien civilization.
The crew is seeking the answers and origins of human life, but finds far more than they bargained for in the end. Directed by Ridley Scott and superbly written by Jon Spaihts and Damon Lindelof, “Prometheus” is a prequel to Scott’s 1979 film “Alien” but tells it’s own mostly-unique story.
The crew is led by Dr. Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace) and Dr. Charlie Holloway (Logan Marshall-Green) who made the archaeological discoveries on Earth. Coming with them is android David, played brilliantly by Michael Fassbender.
Upon arriving on the moon, the crew enters an ancient stone structure that houses eerie silence, strange life forms and hidden dangers. The crew certainly finds what they’re looking for, but that knowledge comes with a heavy price. |
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New 'Snow White' film an interesting take on a classic |
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Wednesday, June 6, 2012 |
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By PATRICK HALL
The Wilson Post
Fairy tales are designed to tell us a story, often with a lesson to be learned at the end, but “Snow White and the Huntsman” is a slight deviation from the original tale and delivers excellent settings and interesting visuals, but the problem with fairy tales are the one-dimensional characters.
In this telling, Snow White, played well by Kristen Stewart, is a princess who is locked for years in the tower by her evil stepmother, Queen Ravenna (Charlize Theron). When Snow White escapes, the witch-like Queen finds out from the magic mirror “on the wall” that only Snow White can prevent her from obtaining immortality.
Enter “The Huntsman” played by Chris Hemsworth, who stumbles around drunkenly, but is capable in a fight. He’s enlisted to track Snow White through the incredible Dark Forest to bring her back to be killed by Ravenna.
Director Rupert Sanders handles the film’s major settings with outstanding flair, bringing a gloomy, haunting forest to life, and its counterpart, a beautiful and visually enchanting, er, Enchanted Forest.
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‘MIB3’ takes a deeper look at its' heroes, and is fun in the process |
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Saturday, May 26, 2012 |
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By PATRICK HALL
The Wilson Post
It’s been quite a while since the first “Men in Black” film deputed in 1997, and 10 years since the sequel, but “Men In Black III” was a pleasant surprise that did more to scratch away at the titular characters than the last installment.
“Men in Black” follows returning stars Agent Kay (Tommy Lee Jones) and Agent Jay (Will Smith) who, like before, are busy protecting the earth from any alien bad guys.
But when an alien criminal, Boris “The Animal” (Jemaine Clement) escapes from prison and seeks revenge on Agent Kay, Smith’s Jay must travel back in time to stop Boris’ schemes, including meeting up with Kay’s 1969-self, played by Josh Brolin.
The film’s highest achievement was the ability to convey more about the heroes, their pasts and pry away at Kay’s emotional defenses. While you may need to brush up on the character after 10 years of separation, Kay isn’t exactly an open-book even for his partner.
Jones and Smith play the typical buddy-cop tandem, with Smith supplying the loud-boisterous jokes and comedic relief while Jones has two expressions: seriousness and an intriguing look of a man who carries more weight than the films ever reveal to the audience.
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‘Battleship’ sunk by lackluster action, storytelling |
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Wednesday, May 23, 2012 |
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By PATRICK HALL
The Wilson Post
There has to be a number of difficulties to adapting a board game where players randomly select points on a grid to hit or miss an opponent’s secretly-placed nautical force, and “Battleship” certainly pays homage to the game, but achieves little else in terms of enjoyment.
“Battleship” is based on the classic Hasbro game that actually dates back to World War I, when it was played with pencil and paper.
The film depicts wayward hero Alex Hopper (Taylor Kitsch), his brother and U.S. Navy Commander, Stone Hopper (Alexander Skarsgard) who must repel an alien invasion during international Pacific war games off Hawaii.
The film starts by laying out the reason why the faceless and nameless antagonists come to earth. NASA sends a signal into space to a planet similar to earth, in hopes of contacting life. They succeed and bad things happen.
Nothing really happens for the first half-hour except attempts to show that Alex is a guy without much direction, while Stone is the polar opposite and gets his brother to join the Navy to give Alex some structure. Even though the opening is trying very hard to establish the characters, they’re still pretty one-dimensional.
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