Movie Review - The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2

Starring: Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner, Peter Facinelli, Elizabeth Reaser, Ashley Greene, Jackson Rathbone, Kellan Lutz, Billy Burke, Nikki Reed, Mackenzie Foy, Maggie Grace, Christopher Heyerdahl, Michael Sheen, Dakota Fanning, and many more.

Directed by: Bill Condon Screenplay by: Melissa Rosenberg Based on the novel by: Stephenie Meyer Original Music by: Carter Burwell Cinematography by: Guillermo Navarro

Premise: Following her transformation into a vampire, Bella tries to cope with the changes and learn the rules of being one of the undead. Finding it easier than expected, she then gets to meet her daughter Renesmee. All seems to be going well, until a mistake is made by their vampire cousin Irina, who when she sees Renesmee and jumps to an erroneous conclusion, she goes to the Volturi to bring their attention to it. This is the excuse to act Aro has been waiting for. (Rated PG-13)

Review:

1) Acting - Thumbs Up: Everyone did well, though with such a large cast, many of the characters got seen, possibly heard, but never really known. The three principals showed the changes in their relationships very well.  Michael Sheen was fun as the greedy and opportunistic Volturi Aro. Dakota Fanning had some great facial expressions during the battle segment. Christopher Heyerdahl's one true line was priceless.

2) Special Effects - Thumbs Up: Werewolves looked great and were used to good effect. Benjamin's elemental powers were demonstrated beautifully by the special effects department. The water door he makes during his introduction was very cool. They also did good work on the vampires' supernatural speed and Alec's dark power.

The only criticism with the effects was Renesmee. A lot of CGI was used to make her face as a baby and during each growing spurt match characteristics of the hair and face of Mackensey Foy. Unfortunately, they might have been better served just using a real baby's face, because their manipulation of the faces was glaringly obvious and did not look well.

3) Plot/Story - Neutral: Years ago my daughter had read the books the "Twilight" films are based on. She'd been totally captured by the world, and couldn't read them fast enough, until she hit "Breaking Dawn". I'd listened to her complaints at the time, but had decided to reserve judgement. After seeing the treatment of the topic in question in "Breaking Dawn" part 1, I thought it'd been smoothed over in the film and the problems my daughter had raised been rendered minimal. But part 2 destroyed that belief. Jacob's glib explanation of why he thought he'd been interested in Bella and she in him as a friend or more than friends as well as how without it they would have never related in anyway, made me a little unhappy too. But perhaps it won't be a problem for other viewers.

Lots of funny moments were sprinkled throughout the film - when Bella finds out Jacob gave her daughter a nickname, when Bella takes on Emmett in an arm wrestling match, when one of them suggests to Edward to stop Bella's and Jacob's argument and he just smiles, and several others.

Yet I am not sure these lovely moments are enough to make up for the Jacob issue or the trick played on the audience with the combat segment of the film. It also bothered me that though a lot of power was available to Benjamin, it went unused for most of the combat, and when it was used, it was largely self defeating.

4) Stunts - Thumbs Up: I'm putting the combat scenes under stunts, since when CGI is involved, it can be very difficult to tell whether it was a stunt done by actors, stuntmen, computers or a combination of the three. However they were done, they were definitely entertaining. Heads got popped like champagne corks wherever you looked.

5) Locations/Cinematography - Total Thumbs Up: The film contained some gorgeous shots. The Summit logo was even interwoven into the landscape in the sedate, yet lovely and themed opening sequence to the film. Panning shots of cliffs, the sea, the woods, and the snow capped mountains set up the mood perfectly for several scenes.

6) Costuming/Makeup - Thumbs Up: The place where the costuming and makeup departments really made a difference were on Bella. Her whole look was changed to fit her new vampiric/adult status, making her seem like a different person in many respects. They kept this going throughout, except for at the very end, were she went back to a more laid back dressing style. That in itself seemed a little awkward.

Conclusion: Overall it was an entertaining film. Fans of the movies and books present during the viewing seemed to really get into the spirit of it, cheering and booing, sometimes gasping, during the big combat scenes as it took its toll. It was a decent end to the movie series.

Rating: 3.75 out of 5 (Hubby's Rating: Worth Paying Full Price To See It Again.)

Movie Review - Snow White and the Huntsman

Snow White and the Huntsman

Starring: Kristen Stewart, Chris Hemsworth, Charlize Theron, Sam Claflin, Sam Spruell, Ian McShane, Bob Hoskins, Ray Winstone, Nick Frost, Eddie Marsan, Toby Jones, Johnny Harris, Brian Gleeson, Vincent Regan, Noah Huntley, and more.

Directed by: Rupert Sanders Screenplay by: Evan Daugherty, John Lee Hancock, and Hossein Amini Screen Story by: Evan Daugherty Original Music by: James Newton Howard Cinematography by: Greig Fraser

Premise: After having been held captive for a decade, Snow White escapes the clutches of her step mother on the eve she was to be killed to give Ravenna eternal beauty and power. Escaping into the Dark Forest, she forces the queen to seek outside help in tracking her from the Huntsman. A broken man since he lost his wife, the Hunstman agrees to find Snow White after the queen promises she can bring back his beloved. Yet when he meets her, it comes to light that all is not as he'd been told. (Rated PG-13)


Review:


1) Acting - Thumbs Up: Charlize Theron made for a tasty evil queen. Her desperation to remain beautiful and shattered self worth were easy to see and made you empathize despite yourself. Chris Hemsworth also did a good job as the heartbroken Huntsman. Kristen Stewart also did well, despite the fact she was given little to work with. 


All the dwarves were played by normal height actors shrunk to size. And while I love Ian McShane, Bob Hoskins, and several of the other actors portraying the dwarves, after having seen the available talent of diminutive men as shown in "Mirror Mirror", "Special Unit 2", and "Game of Thrones", it seemed odd for the film makers to have used special effects to create the shorter men rather than pull from the awesome pool of talent already out there.


 2) Special Effects - Total Thumbs Up: While the special effects were top rate, it proved hard not to be a little disappointed as most of the major ones had already been given away in the previews or proved to be drug induced hallucinations rather than the real thing. It also didn't help matters that the edit on the previews created certain false expectations in plot and number of special effects, which did not materialize. 


3) Plot/Story - Neutral: The story of Snow White has been done many times, so it's not like viewers don't know what to expect. I must give credit in that it was nice to see them delve deeper into Ravenna and what brought her to be as she was, and that a lot of detail and thought was given to the Huntsman as well, with a twist to the original, but the character of Snow White had no real detail or flavor whatsoever. 


Worse, Ravenna's brother, Finn, exhibited all the worst traits his sister loathed in men and exercised them. As long as the two were together, I found it very difficult to believe she would not have discovered his predilections and corrected them through magical surgery or other means.


One last sad point with the plot was that though there were excellent actors involved, the film lacked life. There was no spark to the story, making the whole come across as bland fare. The chosen previews in no way helped this, as they showed most of the effects used and led viewers into making false assumptions with regards to some of the combat scenes and the majority of the Dark Forest.


5) Locations/Cinematography - Thumbs Up: Excellent spanning shots were doled throughout the film. Many of the shots allowed even comparisons by viewers of the state of things pre and post Ravenna, which made for great contrast and encapsulated how dark everyone's lives had become. 


6) Costuming/Makeup - Thumbs Up: Make sure to take a close look at all of Ravenna's dresses, especially the ones after she takes over everything - the one with a full collar of bleached crow skulls was especially impressive. Unless you looked closely, you wouldn't even realize what it was made from. Kudos for the work on all her clothes.


For Snow White, while I loved the puffed sleeves giving subtle homage to the Disney version, the rest of her main costume made no sense whatsoever, which truly distracted from the film. Here you have an eighteen year old who has been imprisoned in a tower and never let out for ten years, yet she has a dress on as well as thick pants and strong leather boots? It is implied they might have been gifts from Finn, but a lech would not have given a young girl clothes to hide her femininity from his view, especially as he liked to watch her while she slept. Unfortunately, since all the other characters and costumes were so well done, it made this inconsistency stick out even more.


Conclusion: I wanted to love this film, but despite the good acting and great visuals, it left me feeling flat and strangely dissatisfied. The previews, I feel, did the movie a great disservice and raised expectations or created assumptions that the film did not actually deliver on, prepping the viewer for unexpected disappointments. 


Rating: 3.5 out of 5 (Hubby's Rating: Better For Matinee.)

Movie Review - Twilight Breaking Dawn Pt 1

Twilight Breaking Dawn Pt 1

Starring: Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner, Billy Burke, Gil Birmingham, Sarah Clarke, Ashley Green, Peter Facinelli, Anna Kendrik, and more.

Directed by: Bill Condon Based on the Novel by: Stephanie Meyer Screenplay by: Melissa Rosenberg Original Music by: Carter Burwell

Premise: Bella and Edward finally tie the knot, yet something unexpected occurs while in their honeymoon. Something that might very well cost Bella her life. (PG-13)

Review: The film starts out a little off key, the dialogue and acting not quite jelling for some reason, but luckily that improved before long.

Lots of little funny moments splattered all over the first half of the film. A lot of subtle touches too, so that they 'show' a lot of emotions at certain moments rather than 'tell' them, which was great.

There was even a sub story thrown in, which if you're not paying attention could be easily missed. Keep an eye on Billy, Charlie, and their lady friend. Edward and Jacob aren't the only ones with love troubles.

The CGI for the wolves was good, though they change back to humans seemingly fully clothed. But where the movie truly excelled was all the work they did on Bella. There's a bathroom scene that gave me chills as we see her shoulders and backside. And then the scene with her almost at the end of the film. Beautiful seamless transitions that truly brought the point home. Kudos on that, guys!

As you should expect, the movie leaves you hanging for part 2, but the film itself does go full circle. Make sure to stay through part of the credits as there's a little more to see - a quick peek on what we can expect part 2 to be about. Trouble is coming!

Overall, it was fun and entertaining.

Rating: 3.75 out of 5 (Hubby's Rating: Worth Full Price of Admission)