Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters

Posted by treysolis90 on January 26, 2013

Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters isn’t perfect by any means. The premise may be laughable but somehow Hansel and Gretel ends up walking away as a fun ride as long as it isn’t taken too seriously. The movie is able to boast strong visuals as well as great costume design and make up. The violent nature of the film as well as its entertaining action sequences, are the strongest assets that the movie has going for it. The story is simple and produces a lot of eye rolling scenes, that are somewhat made watchable by cast. The movie succeeds as a guns blazing action movie but nothing more and will have a hard time reaching out to more than just a niche audience.

As of late there has been a need to take classic children’s tales and make them darker and grittier. I was disappointed in the way Snow White and the Huntsman as well as Alice in Wonderland handled this spin despite both having a great style with beautiful visuals. Both suffered from a lack of an engaging story and took themselves way too seriously. In the end I walked away from both feeling like it was all style and no substance. Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters is the latest to take part in this trend of darker movies, and although it’s far from a perfect movie, Hansel and Gretel got a few things right.

I will admit that I was a little harsh on Hansel and Gretel from the get go. The first time I watched the trailer I laughed it off and didn’t think too much of it. The concept seemed silly and I thought that the movie would be a step back for the stars. Chalk it up to low expectations but I ended up walking way from the movie having had a lot of fun and feeling as though Hansel and Gretel was better than it should be.

The dialogue, as well as some acting, can produce a lot of eye rolling scenarios. Most scenes are laughable but the actors make it fun for the most part. The movie has a rather interesting start but begins to drop off towards the middle of the movie. The story is simple and tries to create twist and turns along the way but the secrets are telegraphed from a mile away and are not that surprising. Despite the dragging pace in the middle, the end finds a way to make up for the uneven pace. Honestly, the movie left me impressed with the group of characters at the end that I wouldn’t mind seeing a return trip to this world with better writing and direction.

Personally I feel as though Gemma Arterton was the weaker of the two main characters. Her delivery, and would be ‘bad-ass’ personality is off putting and comes away feeling awkward. It’s not a completely bad performance but it’s not as strong as Jeremy Renner’s and left me thinking about who could play her role better. Renner on the other hand, is able to take the silliness of the script and run with it. It’s laid back, it’s fun, and it never seems as though he’s trying as hard as Arterton. Together Arterton and Renner make a good on screen duo, and provide enough entertainment to make Hansel and Gretel watchable.

Much like Alice in Wonderland, and Snow White and the Huntsmen, Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters boasts awesome visuals. The make up and costume/character designs were awesome and created a believability to the world that was pleasing to watch. The witches were varied, and all had an awesome deteriorating look to them. Although the weaponry looks cool, some of the tech seemed inconsistent for the era, but if we’re going to start nitpicking little details then there are other more important areas to begin with.

Unfortunately Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters still doesn’t provide an engaging enough story to classify it as a great movie, but it does a few things well enough to put it above Snow White and the Huntsmen, and Alice in Wonderland. The movie is bloody, plain and simple. Decapitations, shotgun blasts to the head, explosions of blood and body parts, this movie holds no punches. This violent nature is the movie’s strongest asset and will be the make or break factor for most people. With such a simple story the movie’s awesome action sequences as well as a wonderful final act will please action fans enough to look past its weaknesses. Hansel and Gretel isn’t much of a horror or parody by a long shot. There were only a few moments in the movie that I found myself laughing out loud. A lot of the jokes are hit and miss and aren’t consistent enough to reach out to a larger audience. The film succeeds as a guns blazing action movie that allows its actors and audience to laugh with and at the movie’s silliness. It’s this non-serious approach that keeps things fun in between the action sequences and not a boring 88 minutes to sit through.

Interested in writing reviews or news posts for Thinking Cinematic? Contact me at ThinkCinematicReviews@gmail.com! You can also send your guest reviews there too!

Connect with me at:
Twitter: @Treyrs20o9 
Twitter: @Think_Cinematic
Email: ThinkCinematicReviews@Gmail.com

Movie Monday Update Week of December 10th

Posted by treysolis90 on December 10, 2012

Hello and happy Monday TC Readers! Got a lot of great things coming out this week! It’s officially Hobbit week and we are only days away from the release of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. On top of that, Thinking Cinematic has a brand spanking new logo, thanks to Chris Roach! You can check out the logo on the Thinking Cinematic Facebook page as well as our twitter account! If you want to check out more of Chris’s work you can head on over to Chris Roach Photography and show him some love. Let’s get started in roll right into the latest movie trailers and news.

The Bourne Legacy

Posted by treysolis90 on August 11, 2012

The Bourne Legacy will please the Bourne fans as far as action goes, but those looking for a plot as interesting as the first will be disappointed. The world is definitely expanded and paves way for more movies but until then The Bourne Legacy leaves us with a thin story. Jeremy Renner proves that he is more than capable of anchoring the lead role and will definitely bring to life Aaron Cross’ character. Overall, The Bourne Legacy is a more action driven installment that serves to be the foundation for future Bourne films.

One of my favorite results of starting Thinking Cinematic is that it has forced me to start watching movies that I had always told myself I would get to. Until recently I had never seen any of The Bourne movies, but with The Bourne Legacy opening this week I set out to familiarize myself with the series. I found myself getting hooked just a little more after each movie and by the third I was completely sold and excited for this latest addition.

This time around the movie centers around agent Aaron Cross played by Jeremy Renner which I liked a lot more than Jason Bourne. There was more depth to his character and was able to show more emotions than just cold calculated moves. Granted, Jason Bourne suffered from memory loss and didn’t know who he was as a person. It’s not a discredit to Damon or the writing of Jason Bourne, it’s just easier to have a more likeable lead when he knows who he is. That being said, Jason Bourne had a sense of direction in his movies, and there was an ultimate end goal for him. Aaron Cross felt a little looser in his direction.

Minor Plot Spoilers

Aaron Cross although just as ruthless as Bourne, really doesn’t have a main mission. He gets caught in the middle of the aftermath from the last movie and spends the next hour and a half trying to make sense of it and ultimately the movie becomes about him retrieving medicine. It’s not a bad plot line but it’s nowhere near as captivating as the first three.

End Minor Plot Spoiler

Summing up the sectioned off spoiler paragraph, the movie isn’t as captivating as the first three Bourne movies. I like that a lot of this movie delved deeper into the science behind the Treadstone, BlackBriar and Outcome programs but ultimately these plot points are over shadowed for a more action driven story. We catch glimpses of the procedures behind these programs as well as some agents interacting with each other and I would have liked to see this develop more on screen. What we did get was enough to expand the Bourne universe and was an interesting side of the story to tell. However, the movie ends very abruptly after building up such an intense action that it was a little bit of a disappointment.

The end of the movie caught me off guard and I felt like there was still more to be revealed or shown. Also the dialogue of the movie felt rough, especially some of the lines given to Rachel Weisz. Her character became somewhat annoying at times and a lot of her delivery of already rough lines just didn’t fit in the movie. It was clear the dialogue could have used a little more polish. The movie itself randomly jumps to flashbacks with little warning or pattern, which became confusing at times. It’s minor though and ultimately it only hurts the pacing of the movie, not my understanding.

Of course The Bourne movies have always displayed fantastic action and chase scenes and The Bourne Legacy doesn’t disappoint in this aspect. Jeremy Renner does a fantastic job taking the reigns where Matt Damon left off. There is always one scene in the Bourne movies that has me squirming in my seat and The Bourne Legacy was able to keep up this trend. There are a few action scenes that felt a little too over the top and probably could have been cut from the movie. These are mostly during the beginning of the movie and eventually it finds a more focused direction.

Interested in writing reviews or news posts for Thinking Cinematic? Contact me at rrsolis@me.com! You can also send your guest reviews there too!

Connect with me at:
Twitter: @Treyrs20o9
Twitter: @Think_Cinematic

The Avengers

Posted by treysolis90 on June 3, 2012

I was hesitant to write this review on The Avengers for the longest time. On my first viewing I started doing a write up about three times before I scrapped it. Even after my second viewing I tried again but to no avail. I felt as though I couldn’t come up with anything other than just saying the movie was awesome over and over again. I eventually came to the conclusion that I was just going to let this one slide, because let’s be honest, no one really needed a review to go see The Avengers, and most of you have already seen this movie multiple times by now. However, I just got back from my third viewing and I decided, I couldn’t just let this one slide by after all. It’s out of character for me to post two entries back to back from the same author, but for this I’m willing to make an exception. I want to go ahead and start off by discussing my complaints with the movie first. I also should note that I’m not going to be as careful about the spoilers so if you haven’t seen the movie by this point, be wary. I’ll do my best to warn before I get into anything too major.

One of my major complaints that stayed with me even from the first viewing came from a scene when the three super heroes, Iron Man, Captain America, and Thor, finally meet. They have their little scuffle in the woods while they are all testing out each other’s strengthens. There are two really awesome scenes that had the audience in awe. The first was when Thor struck Iron Man with his lightning and it increased Iron Man’s power to 400%. The next scene was when Thor came slamming down on Captain America’s shield and created a sonic wave that cleared the forest around them. As cool as these scenes were I couldn’t help but feel disappointed that none of these awesome discoveries were utilized in the end conflict. I feel it goes back to the, don’t show a gun in the first act if you’re not going to use it, saying. I felt like it would have added to the already established dynamic of teamwork that they had going on in the end fight. A friend of mine made the comment that using the Thor/Captain America combo would have decimated the surrounding area in New York too much, but I don’t buy it. We see the Hulk running through an office smashing desks around, crashing through windows, and crushing buildings as he scaled them. I feel relatively speaking the damage done wouldn’t have made that much difference compared to the already destroyed Manhattan.

*Major Story Spoilers*

My second complaint comes from Loki. They did an awesome job of setting up Loki as the main antagonist of the film. He felt menacing, viewed humanity as worthless ants, and definitely had the confidence to back up his villainy. He felt like a formidable opponent for the Avengers, except for the moments where they were ridiculing him. There are a lot of moments where I feel like Loki is more of a joke than a villain. We’re constantly seeing him being shockingly knocked out of frame while giving his speeches, or of course the most memorable moment involving both Loki and the Hulk. There’s even a scene involving Black Widow and Loki where things seem to be in Loki’s control but it turns out that he’s been played all along. Although I’m not totally against these scenes, I feel like they could have cut out a few of them. It makes me feel as though all the awesome work that they did making Loki seem menacing is all for naught when he becomes the butt of the joke way too often.

*Major Story Spoilers*

Summing it up without spoilers, Loki was the butt of the joke way too often and it detracted from his character as the main villain.

My last complaint is a mild complaint, and really just something to balance out my pros and cons list of the movie. Whenever I discussed The Avengers with people it is generally positive, however for the few that had complaints it almost always turned out to be about the humor. A lot of people said that the jokes were very cheesy and fell flat. To be honest, I didn’t share the sentiment on my first viewing, and it wasn’t until my third viewing that I decided that yeah, I could see how some of those scenes may have fallen flat. However, I’ll make this argument. In most of my comic book experiences, the general tone is sarcasm and lighthearted banter. I feel that the movie nails down this aspect and in doing so it does walk the fine line of seriousness and silliness. Again, this is reaching and does not detract from the movie in the slightest.

I’m actually glad it took three trips to the theaters to do this write up. On my first go through I was a little kid in that theater the whole time. There was a lot that the movie could have gotten away with that I just wouldn’t have cared about. The movie does a fantastic job of managing all of the four main super heroes as well as establishing some new ones. The first twenty minutes of the movie feels a bit off, but as soon as the team starts getting together the movie really begins to pick up. I chalk up the first twenty minutes being odd due to the fact that opening film feels like the end of another movie that we didn’t get see. Although we see one or two familiar faces we’re being introduced to a lot of new people without any lead to really attach ourselves to. Even though we’ve seen Nick Fury multiple times in the previous Marvel movies, this is the first and longest time that we get to follow him. In all three of my viewings I remember specifically thinking to myself, well this feels weird, as the opening scene of the movie plays. It just felt out of place in the already established marvel universe.

One of my biggest concerns going in was wondering how they were going to handle reestablishing the Hulk. Although Marvel had already done an origins movie for The Hulk with Edward Norton, things changed behind the scene and Mark Ruffalo took the helm of Bruce Banner. I had already fallen in love with Norton as Banner despite an average movie. I didn’t know how I was going to feel about Ruffalo especially since the movie already had an enormous task of managing the multitude of heroes on screen. Needless to say, the Hulk stole the show. A combination of both the writing and the acting of Ruffalo creates the best interpretation of the Hulk to date. You can feel just how tired Banner is after carrying this beast of burden for so long. You can feel how much he hates the other guy as he puts it. I also love that Banner/Hulk’s story line is that of acceptance and owning up to who he is. There’s an awesome exchange between Tony Stark and Bruce Banner where they discuss what it means to be who they are.

I was very wary of this movie up until release. Spider-man 3 had already left a sour taste in my mouth when it came to handling so many super people on screen. Rest assured The Avengers handles this, and handles this with ease. I remember my early comment to a friend of mine was that I loved how there was an attempt at order throughout the chaos of the final battle. The movie wasn’t about just punching the enemies into submission; they had a plan of attack and stuck with it. Captain America assumes the role of the leader and delegated appropriate roles to the others that suits them the best according to their talent. A lot of quips prior to the movie regard how humorous it was that Hawkeye and Black Widow looked with their regular weapons compared to the super powers of the others. However there’s a balance of power that makes each and every one of them feel vital to their role. There are also a lot of scenes involving Iron Man where we see him not just as a fighter but also as a supporting character in the field of battle. The first glimpse we get of Iron Man is of him using his suit to install an arc reactor below his tower to generate self-sustaining energy. Then later when the airship that S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters is based on is crashing down we see Iron Man repairing the outside hull while the others take care of the fighting. I love that it adds a dynamic feel to his character. It’s not just about them beating the bad guys; they’re using their powers in other productive ways. It gives life to the character and I love that we get to see that side of Iron Man.

So there are two big questions that seemed to pop up over and over again when discussing The Avengers. Where do we go from here and does it top The Dark Knight? I feel that the reason this movie works so well is that the conflict was on such a grand scale. How do Joss Whedon and the writers top this movie without going over the top on the next one? I know the post credit scene hints at the direction that the next set of movies will be taken in but as a non comic reader I’m interested to see what the writers can come up with next. Will they be able to strike lightning twice?

Now for The Dark Knight question. I know this is going to sound like a cop out answer, but I feel as though you can’t compare the two movies. The Avengers is the definition of a comic book movie to the T. The smart writing and the witty remarks creates a fun action packed movie, but it never takes itself to seriously, nor does it ground itself too deep in reality. This is the exact opposite of Christopher Nolan’s Batman universe. Of course the movie has its equally smart writing and witty banter but Nolan and CO do a great job of grounding their movies in reality as best as it can. A lot of the movie feels so believable that it’s not too far fetch to say yeah, I can see a billionaire doing all these things. The Dark Knight is a gritty realistic take on the super hero world, where as The Avengers is fluid transition from comic book to the big screen. They are both on two different planes that I can’t say if one is better than the other. I will say this though; when The Dark Knight came to theaters I saw it 4 times in a regular theater, and once in IMAX for a total of five viewings. I only brought myself to the theaters three times for The Avengers, so take that, as you will.

The Avengers manages six super heroes on screen without there ever being a moment where it felt like one super hero was intentionally favored over the other despite the Hulk stealing most of the show. We get an awesome reestablished Hulk as well as a few more established characters such as Hawkeye and Black Widow. The faults are minor compared to the clever writing, well acted, and awesomely scripted action scenes. The Avengers hands down is an amazing summer movie that sets the bar extremely high for future super hero films. It’ll be interesting to see how Marvel maintains this level of quality with the next wave of Avenger movies.

Interested in writing for Thinking Cinematic? Send your guest reviews at rrsolis@me.com

Connect with me at:
Twitter: @Treyrs20o9
Twitter: @Think_Cinematic

Thinking Cinematic

Movie Thoughts For the Movie Lover

Tag Archives: Jeremy Renner

Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters

Movie Monday Update Week of December 10th

The Bourne Legacy

The Avengers