By Zack Gill
Arts Editor
Another summer brings another set of tentpole films, from another set of CGI-animated family comedies
to a new batch of superhero films to high-octane ultraviolence vehicles.
“Snow White & the Huntsman” is 2012’s second Snow White film (after March’s visually-appealing-
but-ultimately-vapid Julia Roberts film, “Mirror Mirror.”) The film also stars wannabe teen heartthrobs Kristen Stewart and Chris Hemsworth.
Hemsworth proved to have quite a bit of charisma via “Thor,” “The Avengers,” and the massively
underrated “The Cabin in the Woods” in the titular roles.
“Snow White & the Huntsman” re-imagines the Snow White fairy tale as a dark fantasy, action-driven
blockbuster. The film looks to have cool-looking, ornate production design, and Charlize Theron, who portrays the iconic evil queen, has proven that she can play an ice queen quite well with 2011’s “Young Adult.”
But with five credited screenwriters, the film is likely a mess of conflicting ideas and flashiness.
“Prometheus” could be the highlight of the entire summer. With an incredibly convincing viral campaign featuring fake TED-X conferences and ads for cyborgs, a screenplay co-written by “Lost” creator Damon
Lindelof,and the promise of Ridley Scott’s return to science-fiction, legions of geeks are already highly
anticipating the film.
The movie is set in the same universe as the “Alien” series, although hundreds of years before
those films. Hopefully, its newly gained R-rating will allow the film to continue the tradition of intensity from Scott’s earlier sci-fi masterpieces, “Alien” and “Blade Runner.”
There was a time where every Pixar release was a celebration, but with the release of “Cars 2,” Pixar’s reputation has taken a massive hit. “Brave” looks interesting enough – Pixar’s first take on a fairy tale, set in the Scottish highlands. It has some great voice talent, with Scots Kelly Macdonald and Billy Connolly.
But the way Pixar is marketing the film is worrisome. Pixar is hitting two markets with separate ad campaigns. They’re going after the little girl via the “Disney Princess” method, while also pursuing older viewers with ill-conceived parody ads for kilts.
Either way, it seems as if Disney- Pixar is marketing the film to built-in audiences, as if they don’t have confidence in the film.
From the insipid “World Trade Center” to the bloated “Alexander” to the pretentious “Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps” to the mild George W. Bush biopic “W.,” Oliver Stone has left behind him a decade of lackluster cinema. He has failed to replicate the passion and energy of the directorial efforts that earned him his place as a controversial political filmmaker.
While his newest film, “Savages,” doesn’t look to be the least bit political, it does attempt to emulate
one of Stone’s most stylish films, “Natural Born Killers.” But where “Killers” was grungy and overtly satirical, “Savages” looks to be slick and action-packed.
“Savages” tells the story of two California-based pot growers (Aaron Johnson of “Kickass” and “John Carter” himself, Taylor Kitsch) and the girlfriend they share (Blake Lively), who gets kidnapped by a Mexican drug cartel led by Selma Hayek.
“The Dark Knight Rises” is the wildcard of the summer. Director Christopher Nolan has become the king of quasi-highbrow summer fare, first with the shockingly complex “The Dark Knight” and then with the ambitious dream-heist film “Inception.”
But still, we at La Vista have our reservations about “The Dark Knight Rises.” Is there any way it can live up to “The Dark Knight,” the best superhero film ever made, “Avengers” be damned? Will we even be able to understand the film’s villain, played by Tom Hardy, whose voice has been electronically manipulated to sound like Bane’s, when he is talking through tin foil?
What’s up with Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s character? Does Nolan have the gall to kill off Batman? And is anyone else already getting some weird vibes toward Anne Hathaway’s take on Catwoman?
One of the most appealing features of “The Dark Knight” was how astounding some of its set pieces looked – it was often difficult to even see much of the computer generated effects of the film, two-Face’s face aside.
But the computer work of “The Dark Knight Rises” is much more obtuse, from the horrible-looking collapsing football field in the initial trailer to the newer images of collapsing bridges. Either way, it looks as if Nolan will show us plenty of collapsing things when the film opens on July 20.
The other major superhero film of the summer doesn’t carry nearly as much promise. “The Amazing
Spider-Man” is a reboot set in canon separate from Sam Rami’s “Spider-Man” trilogy.
Taking place during Peter Parker’s high school tenure, “The Amazing Spider-Man” borrows from Brian Michael Bendis’ acclaimed “Ultimate Spider-Man.”
Andrew Garfield is Spider-Man, while Rhys Ifans, who gave one of the most underrated performances
of the previous decade in 2010’s “Greenberg,” portrays the villain The Lizard.
Still, director Marc Webb only has one, lackluster film under his belt (“500 Days of Summer”). It’s unlikely that Webb will be able to compete with the high level of stylization and tone of Rami’s first two “Spider-Man” films. Let’s all forget about “Spider-Man 3,” shall we?
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