Kristen Stewart is Snow White, "Thor's"Chris Hemsworth is the Huntsman, and Charlize Theron is the evil Queen. The queen sucks the life out of people to stay young, and she wants to eat Snow White's heart so she can live forever. In this version of the fairytale, the huntsman teaches Snow how to fight so she can lead an army to overthrow the Queen. Some of the dwarves include shorter versions of Bob Hoskins, Ian McShane, and "Shaun of the Dead's"Nick Frost. The Prince is played by Sam Claflin, the mermaid-loving missionary from the fourth "Pirates of the Caribbean" movie.
There's a new movie in the works called "The Butler". It's about Eugene Allen, a real-life White House butler who worked for eight different presidents. And they've got some pretty interesting actors lined up to play those presidents and their wives. For starters, they're going to try to pass off MATTHEW MCCONAUGHEY as JFK. Makes perfect sense. Everyone knows whenever JFK wasn't singlehandedly saving the world from nuclear war, he was furiously attempting to make a bong out of a pineapple. MINKA KELLY will play his wife JACKIE. JOHN CUSACK will play RICHARD NIXON. ALAN RICKMAN of "Harry Potter" fame will play RONALD REAGAN and JANE FONDA is playing his wife NANCY. By the way, the REAL Nancy Reagan is recovering from a fall in which she broke several ribs. She's 90 years old. LIAM NEESON is RUMORED to be playing LYNDON JOHNSON. OPRAH WINFREY is playing the butler's wife and it looks like FOREST WHITAKER will be playing the butler.
The movie is being directed by LEE DANIELS of "Precious" fame.
Dark Shadows by WAAF 97.7/107.3,posted May 10 2012 11:18AM
Let me begin by saying that TIM BURTON..is his own worst enemy. I consider his early films, BEETLEJUICE, PEE WEES BIG ADVENTURE, EDWARD SCISSORHANDS etc..some of my favorites. One of the things I loved about them is they didn’t look like big budget expensive FX filled flicks.
As the years go by, and his allowance of budget has grown in Hollywood, I believe that creativity has suffered in CGI and reinvention. Although they are all visually stunning..they seem pushed out of a Tim Burton knock off factory. Tim Burton (and Johnny Depp quite frankly) are capable of WAY better.
NOW…let’s move on to DARK SHADOWS which I will say is at least, far better than the last three or four films Burton has released. I had no prejudice or expectations about DARK SHADOWS whether it was a comedy or a serious take on the original..as long as I was entertained and it was fun. I think it was..but not sure it’s for everyone.
Johnny Depp ‘s white makeup..(although I wasn’t thrilled about it)..was very cool looking in the film. I have to give Depp credit too, I thought this would be another cake walk of a role he’s played too many times ..but he was very funny. The best scenes in the film are the ones that feature the rest of the Collin’s family: Michelle Pfeiffer, Chloe Moretz, Johnny Lee Miller, and Burtons Wife Helena Bonham Carter as Dr. Hoffman. Jackie Early Haley (Nightmare on Elm Street’s FREDDY in the remake) is also humorous as Willy the drunk groundskeeper and Eva Green (with a evil toothy grin) is the villainess ANGELIQUE who turned Barnabus into a vampire . Newcomer Bella Heathcoate is Victoria Winters, Depp’s love interest.
The sets, from the seaside town of Collinsport ,Maine to Collinwood manor were very cool to look at, and the interior of the house and amazing costumes have classic Burton style. The film definitely could’ve been better and I wasn’t crazy about one turn a character takes towards the end of the film..but frankly I was glad it wasn’t awful and I think it’s probably going to do well. I did laugh several times during it, and the crowd seemed genuinely happy at the end.
I’ve included two clips from the film that may help you decide if DARK SHADOWS is for you. One features the Collins Family and Barnabus, the other Barnabus and Chloe Moretz ..who I LOVED in KICK ASS.
Take a long haired blonde Norse DemiGod, a giant green guy with anger issues, an old school hero over 60 years out of touch, a cocky millionaire genius, an assassin with bow and arrow, and... well... a chick in a tight leather outfit and you have a quick way to sum up THE AVENGERS.
Already a comic book geek and nerd movie dream come true, THE AVENGERS will surely be a record breaker at the box office for weeks to come... but is it worthy of it?
I saw the film a couple of weeks before its opening, and went in trying not to have too huge of an expectation. I liked most of the MARVEL heroes movies on their own, AND was excited that the character of THOR’s brother LOKI (Tom Hiddleston, my favorite part of the THOR to begin with) was the villain.
First…here’s what I feel were the good points (without being too “spoilery”) about THE AVENGERS.
There are several action scenes where one AVENGER ends up fighting one or more of the others, these are great scenes with very well done effects.
Anytime humor was used in the film (which was frequently) everyone got a big laugh.
Special effects galore that were fantastic and really utilized in the 3D format very well.
The conversations between Chris Evan’s Captain America not understanding any modern references, Chris Helmsworth’s THOR talking down to everyone like a God, and Robert Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark being a smart-ass worked on so many levels.
Mark Ruffalo’s as the big screen’s third incarnation of Dr.Banner/THE HULK was my favorite take on the character so far. His reserved, nerdy, uncomfortable scientist was worlds away from Ed Norton or Eric Bana in their versions.
THE HULK. When he finally makes his appearance in the film, it’s a lot of fun and the massive battle between THE AVENGERS, and an army of otherworldly invaders is spectacular.
NOW..the negatives…
Scarlett Johanssen as BLACK WIDOW (Natasha Romanov). Sure she’s nice to look at, and they certainly took advantage of her hip-hugging costume, but with the exception of her opening scene, and scenes where she is kicking ass, she was kind of a waste of time in the movie.
Jeremy Renner (HAWKEYE) similar situation as Johanssen here. Any scene where he wasn’t fighting, he really weighed down the movie. You could practically hear the audience groan in the scenes where Renner and Johanssen had scenes together. It really put the brakes on an otherwise bullet-train of a flick.
Wearing 3D glasses. While actually having them on doesn’t bother me…it’s the difference in brightness of the screen that does. Most of us are used to HD pictures at home, and with the digital screens they have at the multiplexes now, it’s almost a waste to go put on glasses that diminish the light of the film by like 40 percent. I kept thinking, “Wow the 3D looks great, I just wish it were as bright as it is with my glasses off!”
Two final things to note about the film, I did like it a lot. I just didn’t want to reveal too much about it as to keep everyone excited about the unknown. I look forward to seeing it on BLU-RAY. Finally, YES there is a scene at the end of the movie that sets up a sequel so don’t run out of the theater until AFTER the names of the cast go by.
I have decided to be generous and include two clips from the film here. One, of a battle between THOR and IRON MAN, and the other is a portion of the first (and in my opinion, the only really good scene) with BLACK WIDOW. Enjoy… NERDS.
