Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings
Tax the Rich

 

Movie Monday - 1) a documentary and I'm depressed, 2) a blockbuster, still depressed

 

Found some lace time yesterday so I sat myself in front of the TV and decided to finally watch American Winter (2013). I'm saying "finally watch" because I've had plenty of chances to see it before but I've passed. That's because American Winter is a documentary about the recent homeless and near-homeless in the U.S. and a look at the absolutely insane level of poverty into which many in the American middle class have sunk. Watching AW was no walk in the park and I was left feeling angry and frustrated but my feelings are nothing comparable to the plight of the people depicted here. There is an insanely obsence inequality of wealth in this country and it's way past the time of debating its causes: Fix the damn problem and get the federal government to lead the way!

 

However, what I found most depressing watching American Winter was the fact that only when the "suits" were being interviewed (one, a venture capitalist) was there a condemnation of our economic policies which unfairly enrich the wealthy. Not one poor/homeless person in the documentary criticized this country's  inequity of wealth. They would say they were willing to work if they got a chance, wives would say they would get multiple jobs, and kids would say they wanted to grow up and help their parents. Yet no one said: Those bastards on Wall Street, in the banks, rich in stock shares, they're screwing us all. Not one. We really have become disillusioned serfs.

 

American Winter won't be a "pass the popcorn" event but we have to watch it and bear witness.

 

And talking about pass the popcorn, I sat through Snow White and the Huntsman (2012). Coming down from American Winter and feeling pretty frivolous that I even cared, let me say about SWATH: Oh, the horror! What a dog!

 

First, let me get the financials out of the way. According to Box Office MoJo, SWATH didn't make budget ($170M) with its US gross. It came in minus $15M. Which is a big loss since gross is before all the bills are paid and this is Hollywood where there seems to never be enough money, even from block busters, to pay all the bills.

 

As usual, SWATH's gross only exceeded budget when you put in foreign gross (once again, 60% of total gross.) Include that and  gross exceeded the budget by 100+% 

 

I'm going to start with what I liked about SWATH: Charlize Theron.  In the movie, Being Julia (2004), Annette Bening, gave a tour-de-force and Oscar nominated (she shoulda won) performance as an aging theater star. Threatened professionally by an ingenue, Julia sweeps the floor with said ingenue in a stage performance which highlights the end of this movie. Whenever Theron (as the wicked step-mom and queen) appears on screen with Kristen Stewart (as Snow White), she does the same thing. Theron just chews up the scenery and the other actors as she transforms herself into the supremely evil mirror-advice-seeking Queen Ravena. In all her scenes, she silently screams: I am one mother-fucka! If you do see SWATH, see it for Theron's performance.

 

OK, on to the negative. It's going to be list, but not in order:

1. Kristen Stewart. I've liked Stewart in Adventureland (2009) and The Cake Eaters (2007), both of which are quirky indies. Her sullen look and frozen attractiveness seem to work in indies. However, she's lost in SWATH. First, she is not the fairest of them all. (I think Ravena's mirror needs a fast trip to the eye MD.) She's attractive but she lacks the softer beauty of Theron. Beauty should not be a problem in casting, except if the casting is for a character like Snow White. And then there is Stewart's line delivery. I thought I was back in Twilight. Just one example is her lack of intonation in her rally speech to the town folks and dwarves. I could have rallied the troops better. All that could have saved that scene would be after her plea: Who will be my brother? you got a Monty Python chorus of: Well, I don't know.... I'm going to have to sleep on this..... Gotta go milk the cow.

 

2. Chris Hemsworth. Probably a good actor but just as Stewart is physically no Snow White, Hemsworth is no weary, hardened huntsman. I know  physical appearance does not a good actor make but fairy tales, which SWATH is, are inhabited by stock characters: pure princess, evil step-mother, trusted servant, wicked witch. Appearance does matter with them. From the first scene, Hemsworth was the slightly pudgy drunk. I didn't get any of the "redemption" which supposedly followed.

 

3. PC. This reigned in SWATH. Examples: The wicked Queen has an explanatory back story. Snow White is a symbol of hope to the downtrodden in Ravena's kingdom. A magical stag bows to SW to show her importance. SW rallies the troops and leads the army against the Queen. SW is crowned alone and is presumably not going to marry anyone (I have a feeling the huntsman is a contender) at least until SWATH II. All this is opposed to the fairy tale: Once upon a time kids, the evil queen and step-mom of SW sends a huntsman to slay her and bring back her heart as proof. Huntsman taking pity of SW, allows her to escape into the forest and brings back a stag's heart. SW stumbles into and cleans the house of the 7 dwarves. They "adopt" her. The Queen finds her and, disguised as an old witch, "kills" her will a poisoned apple. The kiss of a prince dislodges the apple, SW awakens and they marry. And then the wicked Queen gets her horrible punishment. The End. I applaud that the treatment of women, in many countries today, is so much better than in the time of medieval fairy tales but this movie is not set in modern day. It's an old-fashioned fairy tale, for crying out loud. Don't sledge-hammer me with today's feminism. Hire a writer who can subtlety introduce modern mores into the fairy tale world.

 

4. The CGI, the dwarfs: Been there, done that. Who cares anymore?

Next week: A thinking movie, which also has some problems. See you then.