Can Charlize Theron Act? Part 3 : The Verdict

Yes. 

Yes she can.

   Despite the fact that neither of these are her best movies, Charlize Theron is a crazy good actress. Going from crazy Witch-Queen to stark somewhat mischievous scientist in these two recent films and nailing both only proves that this girl can act. She's the best part of Snow White and she's damn good in Prometheus, even if she doesn't get all the screen time she deserved.

Why did two of her movies come up a week apart? 

Well I'm still not really sure.

   But apparently shes gonna be in Mad Max 4. So that's cool. 

Can Charlize Theron Act? Part 2 : Prometheus (2012)

   Prometheus is the kind of movie I feel like I'll enjoy a lot more later. Not to say that it's bad, but it has holes and unanswered questions and a few little Easter eggs I might not understand until Easter rolls around. Never change Ridley Scott. 


   For those of you who don't know ; Prometheus is about some scientists in the future who after finding several clues on earth venture deep into space looking for the origin of man in the form of a pre-human humanoid race that they dubbed the Engineers. After arriving they find some mysterious ruins and discover that they may not like what they've found. 

   And while that's very very cool the movie's set up is a little confusing. The opening scene in particular makes very little sense and simply exists to be pretty. In fact a lot of this movie is aiming right for your eyes, hoping to wow you with visuals so that you don't notice how little is going on during some scenes. And to be honest, it does work. This movie is gorgeous, beating the crap out of whatever hack designed the look of things on Avatar. Prometheus presents us with a breathtaking look at an Alien world, with some Alien ruins, and some other freaky gross but still cool Alien stuff. I'm not gonna say it sacrifices any plot for visuals, but I'm willing to bet the Director's Cut of this movie is going to be a very different , and much longer film. 


   And that really isn't a bad thing, I enjoyed Prometheus as a sci-fi movie, as a movie in the Alien universe, and as two hours of eye candy. And so will you, the look is original and once they get into the fray the plot is wild and intense. Opening up a whole new side to this story then most people are prepared for. I'd go so far as to say it's better than Aliens 3 and 4, it's on par with 2, but it doesn't quiet hit the classical spark that the original did, other versions with standing. 


   The actual writing and the acting are all around solid. Not great or original but they don't really feel generic. Some of the characters don't feel fleshed out, but they aren't pulled from something else. And the dialogue is as good as any venture into Ridley Scott's view of how people will talk in a hundred years. The acting is.. pretty fantastic, Charlize Theron, Noomi Rapace, Idris Elba, and Michael Fassbender all did an incredible job in this film, and while it's none of thier best films this movie manages to put a lot of big talents on display without feeling crowded, even if the other 13 members of the crew sorta fall behind. 


   If your a fan of Alien, or any of Riddley Scott's movies go see this, its a great Sci- Fi. But it's not an instant classic, and when it hits DVD I feel like we'll see a longer, broader, more spectacular version of this already beautiful film.

Can Charlize Theron Act? Part 1 : Snow White & The Huntsman (2012)

  

   Let me get this train crashing as fast as possible; Snow White ampersand the Huntsman sucks. It's dull, disjointed, full of cheesy terrible writing, and even worse cheesy terrible acting. And who do I blame?
   
   I blame Kristen Stewart . Yeah f*ck you Kristen Stewart. The internet loves to rag on her right? She's terrible in this movie, showing no facial expressions and giving a lower grade performance than usual. Shame on you Kristen. Charlize Theron and Chris Hemsworth both tried thier damnedest to salvage this, where were you?
   
   Hmmmm who else? 


   Well I guess the main problems with this movie stem from it trying to do too many little cool things, and failing at joining them into a big movie. It opens with a LONGGGGGG 40 minute flashback sequence explaining the plot, a plot I'd like to remind you most people this movie is targeted at know by heart. Then when the actual movie we came in for starts it's a cheesy mess. Every scene drags because the acting and writing are so terrible and generic. Even good actors like Charlize Theron and Chris Hemsworth look utterly lost in a movie that seems to be pinned on them, even though they aren't at the center of anything. Hell, between the two of them they're barely in half the movie, and neither of them have a scene with Kristen Stewart in the first hour of the movie. F*ck me, Charlize Theron doesn't have a scene with Kristen Stewart until the last 20 minutes. 


   What really blows my mind about this is how many good ideas seem to have been thrown at it. For instance while there's some good, but obviously, marketed casting throughout the movie that your probably already sick of. But I bet you didn't know the seven dwarfs show up half way through and are cast spectacularly. But between the seven of them they have about 25 minutes of screen, and about the same number of lines. Crazier still the visuals are mostly bland, and then halfway through there are some seriously beautiful fairy tell cameos that actually made my jaw drop. For a brief moment it was like being transported a much better movie. Of course it lasts about three minutes and is never explained at all, further confusing me. 


   Some part of me just wants to write it off and assume every scene of this movie was filmed in a separate year by several different groups of people speaking different languages. But since I know that's not true, because that's impractical, I'm just gonna have to chock this up to a bad directing job. He probably showed up late everyday. Completely hungover. Never read the script. Made it up as they went along. The transitions between sets make no sense, characters and ideas, some of which are cool, keep getting lost and thrown around because of the poorly written and acted story they're all centered on, and above all it's like no one watched it before pushing it to theaters. 


   Just skip it. Kristen Stewart isn't getting any better, and Chris Hemsworth should forget he's in this movie because you will five minutes after you see it. Ya know the character he plays is an alcoholic. That really makes sense to me now... 

Quick List of Movies I Watched Recently But Don't Get Full Reviews Because I Said So

We Need To Talk About Kevin (2011) :
Great little indie psychological horror superbly acted and a nicely realized vision
Check it out.

The Devil Inside (2012) :
Cheap, lifeless, unoriginal, no fun, worthless writing, a giant middle finger endeing
Thumbs Down, skip it forever.

Hick (2012) : 
An interesting movie to say the least, an entertaining but realistic tale that manages to be interesting without going dark.
Give it a look when you get the chance.

Iron Sky (2012) :
A movie that's sucha crazy idea i had to check out turned out not to be as a big of a time suck as I thought, and managed to entertain. Its a good time at the movies to say the least.
Go see it if your into that sorta thing.

Perfect Sense (2012) :
Two of my favorite actors putting on the twistiest love story I've ever seen with apocolyptic disease elements.
Ya I kinda loved it.
Go watch it.

This Means War (2012) :
HAHAHAHAHA No it wasn't funny at all.
Never watch it.

Men In Black 3 (2012)

   I love the Men In Black movies. Well I mean I love the comics, but Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith did a much better job then I thought possible of bringing the characters to life in a movie. And then they sorta kinda did it again, making a movie with a very similar plot but still perfectly fine and enjoyable. Id love to tell you that this one is exactly the same and bad and not worth seeing, because it feels like a cheap cash in. However, this movie is actually my favorite in the series, and its a lot better than I thought it would be.


   Set at least a few years after Men In Black 2, Men In Black 3 is about an alien that K (Tommy Lee Jones) put away back in the sixties, when he first joined the Men In Black, using time travel to change history and kill him so that in modern times there would be no K and no way to stop his armies from invading the earth. J (Will Smith) then takes it into his own hands, traveling back to sixties to stop the evil Alien (who was oddly enough played by Jemaine Clement of Flight of the Conchords) from killing K and changing history. When he goes back he finds a young K (Josh Brolin) and they team up to keep the time line the way it was meant to be. There's aliens gun fights and jokes and- you get the idea. 


   If it sounds as similar to the first movie ad the second one did don't worry, your not crazy. It's very similar. But that doesn't detract from the fact the Smith and Brolin (And occasionally Tommy Lee Jones) do a hell of a job keeping it alive. Will Smith has never been the best actor but he's good and he's funny and not too bad in the serious moments. Brolin doing his best impression of Tommy Lee Jones nails it, and really makes it feel like the same character. The action is fun without being dull or over played, the writing is surprisingly good and the story is a nice addition, if not book end, to the series. 


   Sure it gets a little sappy, and at times the humor falls flat but it's not bad if your into this sorta thing. 

The Avengers (2012)

 

   It's hard to put into words how happy this movie makes me. I never would have imaged after walking out of Iron Man that four short years later I'd be seeing him team up with all my favorite Marvel superheroes, having a massive alien punch up, spewing spectacular speeches, and DOMINATING an already superb looking summer. 


   What's the plot? A big box of who gives a damn, there's a big evil threat against earth, and all the heroes despite their differences in view and personality have to join forces and combine their unique abilities to save the planet. It's not terribly complicated. no ridiculous twists, no silly over the top romance story, just a fantastically simple set up so that a buncha dudes in costumes can fight a buncha aliens in New York. 
I'd like to step back and thank Joss Whedon for a moment. 


   Joss Whedon you are a talent, and I thank you for making the Avengers the way you did.  Because his directing is why the first half of the movie works so well; writing and directing any kind of group dynamic is tricky. He pulled it off in Firefly, and he pulled it off Buffy. Does it work here? Somehow yes.  Norse god shouts at WWII era patriotic solider who's trying to calm down a cynical scientist from antagonizing the under control but very dangerous quirky scientist who are all secretly mad at where they are and just wanna blow off steam. A scene where everyone sounds different, acts different, and looks very different plays out as one of the most entertaining groups your ever going to see on screen. 


   Besides how he pulls of the group there's no question that hes got the action down. Ya see the movie is basically two halves; Superheroes argue and fight each other while a threat looms over earth ---- then threat comes and they put asides their differences and fight as a team. And the action is just as fun to watch, as is Thor scoffing at all the puny little humans. Good choreography, good sense of geography, and a damn pretty visual aesthetic and monster design give this movie the best superhero fights of all time. 


   And don't even get me started on the acting, Robert Downey Jr. still waltzes flawlessly into every room like he owns them all as Tony Stark, Chris Evans still plays Captain America like the straight-laced perfectly good hero, Chris Hemmsworth clearly loves playing a god and bellowing out in a Nordic accent, Scarlett Johanssonn is... still doing her thing. Shes not a bad actress her character just doesn't get as much time to do both action and development as much as the others. Besides a cool little Easter egg where all of her scenes have a mirror (tee - hee i see what ya did there Marvel)  she doesn't feel important. She's great, but deserved more screen time. The two newish additions , Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye and Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner (the Hulk) do the characters justice. In fact Mark Ruffalo is the greatest Hulk I've ever seen. Quirky enough as Bruce Banner but clearly smart makes the dichotomy of him being the Hulk seem like a more drastic jump. I loved it. Hawkeye, not unlike Black Widow, doesn't get a lot of screen time but somehow gets even less to do. He's great and he's cool and he has the whole dark crazy thing goin on sometimes and his action scenes are all cool but he definitely deserved more time. All your other favorite characters come across as great, special mention goes to Clark Gregg ad S.H.E.I.L.D. Agent Phil Coulson who steals every scene he's in and really comes alive as a full character here. 


   Everything else I haven't mentioned is fine or irrelevant, the two P.S. scenes made me cry out for another movie fast, and the next couple years of Marvel Studios are going to be some very good ones. Go. See. This. Sh*t. It gets a hyped up A.