Maleficent: Twisted and Dark -- But All In Good Humor

E very so often, a scriptwriter, or producer or a director feels the need to remake and rewrite a story that has already embedded itself in pop-culture, and that is the case of "Sleeping Beauty.”  Executive Producer Angelina Jolie ("Salt," "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider" "Beowulf") stars in this gorgeous rendering of the Giambattista Basile of a girl who is cursed with the magical variety of trypanosomiasis.  Teaming up with veteran Disney Producer Don Hahn ("The Lion King" (1994), "Beauty and the Beast" (1991), "The Nightmare Before Christmas" (1993)) to retell and reimagine the classic tale of "Sleeping Beauty."  The classic stories that we learned and loved as children, and especially via Uncle Walt's Disney's studios, we can be sure we are getting the "family" version of these European folktales.  Keeping with the trend of giving our childhood monsters and villain’s motivation for their evilness, the filmmaker’s goal is to show us the other side of the story.  Angelina Jolie plays the Fairy Queen Maleficent, while Sharlto Copley ("District 9," "Elysium," "Europa Report") stars as King Stefan, and Elle Fanning ("Babel," "Super 8") is the beautiful “La Belle au bois dormant."  Being that "Maleficent" is a Walt Disney Studios distribution, the MPAA gave it a PG rating, and it runs just over an hour and a half.


The story of "Sleeping Beauty" is not quite the true story we heard as children.  That is what the narrator is tells us at the beginning of the film.  The voice speaks of the divide between two kingdoms.  The first is the kingdom of man, with its greed and lust, and the kingdom of the fairies in the moors...  I am always wary of films that start with long expositions.  "Maleficent" does exactly that and my first reaction was to sigh.  I then looked to my left at the kid in the seat next to me, and realized that this story telling method is for the children, not so much for the adults.  I am sure even the young kids who have come to see film with their parents have already seen the Disney's 1959 animated take on the Charles Perrault story from a collection of compiled folktales.  Thus, I think the story-telling motif at the beginning serves the purpose for the children to re-align their concept of the story.  

First time director Robert Stromberg ("Pan's Labyrinth," "The Chronicles of Riddick," "2012," "Life of Pi") drops us into the fairy world which is full of beautiful colors, grand landscapes, and the intriguing Isobelle Molloy as the young fairy Maleficent.  The first twenty minutes or so focus on setting up who the character of Maleficent was "before the fall."  Sweet and free-spirited she flies through the moors with her beautiful set of brown horned wings and introduces the audience to the various gnomes, talking frogs, sprites and the talking and walking trees.  Molloy's portrayal as the young naive and innocent fairy queen is in sharp contrast to the beautiful and malevolent adult fairy that she will become.  Similar in fashion to "Oz the Great and Powerful," we see our main character as she was before a man hurt her and woe to those who forget the axiom, "Hell hath no fury like a woman’s scorn."  The creatures of the moors do not allow men to enter their land; however, they make one exception.  The trees catch a young Stephan (Michael Higgins) stealing from their land.  Maleficent forgives the boy and allows the boy to go on his way.  We see the two become friends and then more.  When Maleficent turns 16, Stefan gives her what he called "true loves kiss."  We all know from "The Princess Bride," there is nothing more potent than true love.  


As the years go by, Stephan returns to the lands of man and pursues his goal of sitting on the throne of the kingdom of men.  The ways of men are greed and desire.  King Henry (Kenneth Cranham) and his horsemen and infantry, lay siege to the moors and now an adult Maleficent comes to defend the creatures of fairyland.  In a short battle scene, reminiscent of "The Lord of the Rings," the tree giants and Maleficent take on the army and mortally wound the king.  In an earlier scene with young Stefan, we find that Maleficent's weakness is iron as it burns her.  She too is wounded when she touches the king's amour.  Jolie's introduction at the beginning of this scene is regal and visually stunning.  Stromberg's strength is his visual style, as he was a visual artist in many fantasy films in the last two decades.  Although there is plenty of action in "Maleficent," there are parts where the pacing is uneven and even slow.  

The story follows as the dying king promises the kingdom to whomever vanquishes Maleficent and avenges his death. Stefan (Copley) enters the moors to warn Maleficent about the king and his bounty, and the two renew their friendship.  In this film, we see Copley's range of characters throughout this film, from a seemingly innocent individual as in "Distrct Nine," to the crazed, paranoid, fighter from "Elysium."  After drugging his friend, Stefan cannot bring himself to kill her, but instead does something worse; he takes her wings.  By leaving her alive but taking her wings, Stefan commits a very personal crime against Maleficent, so much so, that her grief and agony is just as great.  So far the themes presented have to do with man verses nature, or symbolically the iron swords and the ways of men represent industrialism and a sort of sexism, while the fairy folk are the ancient innocent pagan tradition.  Stefan becomes king and Maleficent turns her hurt, her anger, and her pain into a force for vengeance.  Without wings she must walk.  She saves a raven that she turns into a human.  The raven name is Diaval (diablo?) played by Sam Riley.  Now with the prerequisite faithful animal servant (or familiar) the villain can go on her way and do her wicked deeds.  



Diaval is Maleficent's eyes and ears, and one day he reports that the king and queen have a new child, a girl.  As in the 1959, Disney animated version, three fairies show up to give the child some fairy gifts.  Introduced earlier in the film, the three fairies, Knotgrass (Imelda Staunton) , Flittle (Lesley Manville), and Thistletwit (Juno Temple) each give the child a gift, the uninvited Maleficent shows up in all her dark regal glory.  It is hard to present the character of Maleficent as evil when Jolie is so beautiful, but somehow it works.  The film keeps the essential storyline of the spinning wheel and the needle.  However, instead of cursing the child to die on her 16th birthday, it is Maleficent's curse that will cause her to sleep.  A warning about curses; be careful what you wish for.  The Fairy Queen adds "...and nothing can reverse this curse."  

The three fairies trying to take care of a child is adorable, the way Maleficent and Diaval watch over the baby is cute, and the emergence of Aurora as a delicate and graceful young woman is enchanting.  Elle Fanning is everything that Charles Perrault's fairies endowed his storybook princess with.  She is beautiful, angelic, and graceful, and she displays these qualities to the audience and to Maleficent, whom she thinks is her fairy godmother.  Played with a fresh and happy naiveté, Fanning’s portrayal brings new life to a character that has always been a bit too syrupy, but without the toothache.  When Elle and Angelina are on screen, their performances together are at times sentimental and moving  This adaptation of "Sleeping Beauty" greatly reduces the role of Prince Phillip (Brenton Thwaites) to the point of three or short scenes and in two of them, he is asleep. 

As Angelina Jolie plays her character with a dark, twisted villainy, Sharlto Copely plays his even darker and more twisted as he descends into torment because of what he did to his childhood friend, and the ruin he brought to the women in his life.  He still loves Maleficent, and hates himself.  He shuts himself in a room rambling to himself as he "talks" to Maleficent's wings, in the meantime his wife dies, his child has fallen to the curse of sleep, and the now he wants is revenge.  Jolie's character is different; her evilness is tempered with a bit of humor, and is much more sentimental than her character's predecessors.  The ending is different than what we remember, and thus the exposition at the beginning.

The cinematography is splendid, and the visual effects (CGI) are good through most of the film, but sometimes, draw away from the story.  James Newton Howard's score is elegant and majestic.  Nobody breaks into song, however, Lana Del Rey's rendition of Sammy Fain and Jack Lawrence's "Once Upon A Dream" is hauntingly gorgeous.  Linda Woolverton's story has its own twists and turns, as did the stories of "Briar Rose" and "Sleeping Beauty" of the Brothers Grimm who rewrote many Charles Perrault's folktales who in turn took from 16th century poet Giambattista Basile.  Woolverton's changes to the storyline bring it out of the dark and into a new light.  As we all know, Disney stories usually have a dark background.  Uncle Walt sanitized the stories and brought them into line with socio-economic and cultural norms of the times.  Woolverton takes the focus from "the heroes" of the story and in a feminist sort of way puts it directly on the tough as nails, gorgeous badass that is Jolie.  Best of all, Woolverton does away with the absurd romantic notion of love at first sight, and shows the truth; that love develops over time and is cemented by shared interests and respect.


I am not usually fond of Origin-Stories, or Dark Reboots, however; at times, I have been pleasantly surprised.  Calling this story a deviation from the now nostalgic stories we grew up is ridiculous.  Steven Ford of the Orlando Sentinel explains very well the metamorphosis of this story. The story is fine and will entertain children for many years to come.  If anything, deviations in classic stories will open up people’s minds and give new perspectives to how we look at the world.  Either on the big screen or on DVD or Blu-ray, "Maleficent" is a fun entertaining film that will not replace the Disney classics, but will still keep families happy and entertained.

Movie Data

Genre: Action, Adventure, Family, Fantasy, Romance

Year:  2014

Staring: Angelina Jolie, Elle Fanning, Sharlto Copley, Sam Riley, Isobelle Molloy

Director: Robert Stromberg

Producer(s): Joe Roth

Writer: Linda Woolverton, Charles Perrault, Jacob Grimm, Wilhelm Grimm, (Erdman Penner, Joe Rinaldi, Winston Hibler, Bill Peet, Ted Sears, Ralph Wright, Milt Banta)

Rating: PG

Running Time: 97 minutes

Release Date:  5/30/2014

Carrie: Accountability, the Force, Consequences, and the Devil Be Damned

"You know the devil never dies, keeps coming back. But you gotta keep killing him."

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ere you one of the popular kids in High School?  Or, were you one of the awkward, shy, or even one of the not so well liked students?  Being the social outsider is the basis of this remake of the Brian De Palma's classic adaptation of the Stephen King's masterpiece, "Carrie. “  I'm not a fan of remakes, reboots, and re-imaginings, although there are some exceptions.  The film stars Chloë Grace Moretz ("Kick Ass," "Let Me In") in the title role of Carrie White.  Jullianne Moore ("Hannibal," "Children of Men") plays her mentally unbalanced, over the top ultra-religious, fundamentalist, and abusive mother.  From the strangely sickening squishy sounds of Carrie's birth at the beginning of the film, to the maelstrom of chaos that climaxes the final act, "Carrie" is a modern day version of King's novel tailored for a more modern and technological savvy generation.

"Is this a test?"

S

ome films don't need remakes, and this one didn't.  That being said, director Kimberly Pierce ("Boys Don't Cry," "Stop Loss") does a great job of updating an already timeless story, yet giving it a modern day look and feel.  Taking the bulk of Lawrence D. Cohen's original screenplay and having screenwriter Roberto Aguirre - Sacasa do an update on it, Pierce does her due diligence in recreating De Palma's cinematic blood fest, but with more blood and gore.

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oretz turns in a strong performance while in extreme wallflower mode.  She plays a young, awkward teen who tries to fit into a world that her religiously fanatical mom hasn't prepared her for.  Kids are mean.  In the case of Carrie White, who, in this internet age of cellphones and YouTube, apparently didn't take health or biology class, thinks she is dying after finding herself having her first period while showering after gym class.  To be fair she was homeschooled for the first few years.  The perfectly fit, clear-skimmed, and self-centered girls in her class "help her out" by throwing tampons and feminine pads at her.  We live in the age of Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, and what Aguirre - Sacasa's script does is incorporates these elements into Cohen's already solid script.

"What did Carrie White ever do to you?"

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ierce's take on the interpretation of the script, and perhaps King's as well -- in that the mentality of the girls is meaner, and the image of a blood soaked Carrie is gorier, but not any scarier.  Peirce takes her cue from recent remakes where the gore factor is cranked up several notches, like this year’s "Evil Dead," 2010’s "Nightmare on Elm Street," and Rob Zombie's "Halloween.”  Carrie is more sympathetic, prettier, a tad bit smarter, and more sympathetic.  Our antagonist, Chris Hargenson (Portia Doubleday) is an entitled evil bitch of a character whose inability to take responsibility for her deeds.  After posting the cruel video of the tormented Carrie, she is unable to accept the consequences of her actions.  Facing suspension from school and prom, Chris calls upon her daddy to bail her out of trouble.  Her delinquent boyfriend, Billy Nolan (Alexander Russell) is more menacing than "Welcome Back Kotter's" John Travolta.  The somewhat sympathetic character Sue Snell (Gabriella Wilde) finds she is pregnant in this version.  Her boyfriend, Tommy Ross (Ansel Elgort) does a nice job of trying to sooth Carrie’s fears and truly is a gentleman.  Judy Greer (Love & Other Drugs) plays gym coach Ms. Desjardin, and plays her just as caring and sympathetic as Betty Buckley did in the original.

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erhaps it's just me, but I don't feel the same reaction to this film as I did to the original.  Part of that may come from the fact that I was only 13 when Sissy Spacek and Piper Laurie starred in De Palma's vision of the horror that can manifest itself in mommy – daughter issues on steroids.  I wasn't able to watch it until the early 80's when I saw it on HBO or I rented it on VHS.  At the time, I was truly shocked.  Spacek wasn't quite a household name yet, and at the time of Carrie, she was only really known for playing Holly in "Badlands" starting opposite Martin Sheen as the young lovers based on the Starkweather – Fugate serial murders of the late 1950's.

C

hloë Moretz has made a name for herself in films like "Kick Ass," and "Hugo.”  Her horror film resume includes the 2005 remake of "The Amityville Horror," the paranormal revenge film "Wicked Little Things," the under par comedic horror Depp fest "Dark Shadows," and "Let Me In," the remake of the Swedish vampire horror film, and now "Carrie.”  Although Chloë's timid, mousy Carrie is believable, I had a hard time not thinking that Hit-Girl would make a less psychic, but more dramatically intense appearance. Or perhaps Abby the vampire would start feeding on her tormentors.

“Go to your closet!”

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ulianne Moore's performance is convincing as she goes about mumbling prayers, whispering Bible verses, and reinterprets the Bible to fit her purposes.  With small wooden crosses on every wall of the White's household, Moore's fervent stares, her flagrant self-abuse, and her refusal to live in the 21st century, builds a believable character study of the extreme religious fundamentalist fanatic.  Who can blame her, with the youth of today pairing up and sexually cavorting while sucking each other's face in the school parking lot? 

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arco Beltrami’s ("World War Z," "Warm Bodies," "The Woman in Black," "My Soul to Take") score is both emotional and effective.  Gone are the “Psycho” like violin scrapes that accompanied Carrie’s telekinetic outbursts in the original.  Most effectively is during the destruction at the prom.  The score heightens and enhances the emotional turmoil as Carrie flings people and objects around the gym like a Sith Lord in the throes of dark ecstasy as she wields her power as she turns to the dark side as she releases her rage and frustrations at the prom goers.  I think for remakes, or re-imaginings to work, there must be something new meshed harmoniously with the original to make it worthwhile and different, but enough of the original to keep the original fan base around.  A couple examples of this would be, the 2004 TV series “Battlestar Galactica,” and J.J. Abrams alternative time lined “Star Trek.”  Carrie, I think could be better served with a change in casting Moretz in the title role.  She is a good actress, but she is too pretty for the part.  Instead of the girls in the gym class picking on the ugly duckling that is also socially awkward, and introverted, we have the haves picking on the have-nots.  That is a product of Kimberly Peirce’s subtle shifting of the emphasis in mentality and the emotion in the script.

B

ullying is still an important issue for families everywhere.  Just about every week, I see an article on my Facebook feed about someone’s children who has killed themselves over being bullied at school.  While cinematically we revel at Carrie’s revenge upon her classmates, we know of the true tragedy of bullying and the victim’s desire for revenge can have first hand – in real life.  That is because we live in a post Columbine age.  Carrie is interesting in that the film shows us a divide in the United States of social class, religious thought, and even an underlying split in politics. The Whites lives in a modest house, and Margaret works at a dry-cleaners doing tailoring and repairs.  They are modest, they are religious, and they are different.  Peirce uses extremes to show these differences.  At school, there is a social divide, Carrie is cute, but the other girls are pretty and privileged, they go to hair salons and have cell phones.

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ne of the best things that Peirce does is update the hairstyles and the clothing of the characters.  Besides Beltrami’s score, songs from Passion Pit, Cults, and A Place to Bury Strangers play in the background throughout the prom, and during the film.  Carrie is an okay movie that will keep you entertained and at least part of the movie, will give you a sense of horror.  I would wait for the Blu-ray or DVD on this one. 

Movie Data

Genre: Drama, Horror

Year:  2013

Staring: Julianne Moore, Chloë Grace Moretz, Gabriella Wilde, Portia Doubleday, Alex Russell, Ansel Elgort, Judy Greer

Director: Kimberly Peirce

Producer(s): Kevin Misher

Writer: Lawrence D. Cohen, Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, Stephen King

Rating: R

Running Time: 100 minutes

Release Date:  10/18/2013

Man of Steel Trailer 3

A new TV spot for Zack Snyder’s "Man of Steel" was released by Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures.

Originally posted on ComingSoon.net

"You just have to decide what kind of man you want to grow up to be, Clark. Whoever that man is, he's going to change the world." ~ Johnathon Kent

A new trailer is out today for Zack Snyder's "Man of Steal." Rebooting the franchise that made Christopher Reeves a houshold name, Snyder hopes to make a more real, grittier version than the one that we have come to know. 

Playing Clark Kent/Superman, is Henry Cavill, and Amy Adams, as Lois Lane. Taking over for Marlon Brando as Jor-El is Russell Crowe ("Gladiator," "Robin Hood"). Kevin Costner plays Johnathan Kent, Clarks adoptive father. Glenn Ford played Johnathon in the 1978 version of "Superman."  If you grew up in the 70s adn the 80s, then you know what I am talking about. Diane Lane ("Unfaithful," "Secretariat") plays Martha Kent and Michael Shannon("Bugs," "Take Shelter") stars as General Zod.  So we know where this is going.

  

Based on the trailers this looks like it is going to be pretty big. Returning to the director's chair, after the beautiful mess that was "Sucker Punch," Snyder hopes to due justice to the "Man of Steal" with a script by David S. Goyer ("Da Vinci's Demons,"). Goyer is also responsible for penning the stories behind Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy. Christopher Nolan and Emma Thomas are the most notable of the Producers of "The Man of Steal."

So, hoping that under Nolan's direction, perhaps this new reboot, re-imagining of an American favorite super hero will endure. Or not.

Distributed by Warner Bros with a scheduled release date of June 14th, 2013 



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Movie Data

Genre: Action, Sci-Fi

Year: 2012

Staring: Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Russell Crowe, Michael Shannon, Laurence Fishburne

Director: Zack Snyder

Producer(s): Christopher Nolan, Charles Roven, Deborah Snyder, Emma Thomas

Writer: David S. Goyer

Rating: PG-13
Running Time: 143 minutes
Release Date: 6/14/2013