Red Riding Hood, 2011

Red Riding Hood, 2011
Director: Catherine Hardwicke
Cast: Amanda Seyfried, Lukas Haas, Gary Oldman



Stage: Home theatre


Hood in short: Valerie (Seyfried) is a beautiful young woman torn between two men. She is in love with a brooding outsider, Peter (Fernandez), but her parents have arranged for her to marry the wealthy Henry (Irons). Unwilling to lose each other, Valerie and Peter are planning to run away together when they learn that Valerie's older sister has been killed by the werewolf that prowls the dark forest surrounding their village. For years, the people have maintained an uneasy truce with the beast, offering the creature a monthly animal sacrifice. But under a blood red moon, the wolf has upped the stakes by taking a human life. Hungry for revenge, the people call on famed werewolf hunter, Father Solomon (Oldman), to help them kill the wolf. But Solomon's arrival brings unintended consequences as he warns that the wolf, who takes human form by day, could be any one of them. As the death toll rises with each moon...


Preps: Hm.. some recommendations from my friends. Juvenile audience pouring from the cinemas. A hot thing a while ago, and me curious about everything.



Reality: Yuk. Mix a fairy tale with some dillusion of Beowulf, Robin Hood, King Arthur.. well, you end up with Red Riding Hood. I hadn't had any perticular picture in my head what this movie was supposed to be like, but I for sure didn't have this in mind. The story is weak, the effects are poor, the music and the scenery are high-school-ish.. sometimes when you mix that many famous movies ever made and put them together, the song just doesn't have a tone, rhyme, doesn't fit. In this case, in my opinion, a strong failure.

It is not until the very last scenes that the Red Riding Hood is given the stash with goodies for the grandmother. And even there, they cannot follow the original fairy tale. Maybe quite naive, but I wanted to see the film version of the fairy tale. Why bother to take the original title, if you are going to do something completely different? The link between her childhood and present seems lacking in confidence and competence - it doesn't link at all. Furthermore, the love triangle is vague and minimized, although the director obviously wanted it to run the complete show.

No recommendation whatsoever. Rather see the other mentioned movies, from where this weird mix of scenes derives. They are much better.

My personal rate: 1,0 (erase it, don't waste your time. Honestly!)

Hood on IMDB

While She Was Out, 2008

While She Was Out, 2008
Director: Susan Montford
Cast: Kim Basinger, Lukas Haas, Craig Sheffer



Stage: Home theatre, late TV selection on a Sunday evening

While she was out in short: Della Myers is an overwhelmed upper-middle-class housewife who lives in a large house in the suburbs with her twin children and her abusive husband, Kenneth. Kenneth lets Della know that he thinks she gives all her attention to the twins and neglects her house and her appearance. Late on Christmas Eve, Della drives to the local mall to buy gift-wrap. While searching for a parking space in the jam-packed lot, Della notices an old car taking up two spaces. Frustrated and annoyed, she decides to leave a paper message on the windshield of the old car, writing, "Hey, 'Jack'. How selfish can you be?" After the mall closes, Della's car is hold by the driver of the old car and she is threatened by four punks -- Chuckie, Huey, Vingh, and Tomás. When the security guard of the mall attempts to protect Della, he is shot and killed by Chuckie. Della tries to escape from the criminals in her truck, but the gang chases her...



Preps: Well, I see Basinger in the main window and I am curious. Haven't seen her in ages, so I need to do this again. I loved her in some elder romantic dramas or comedies like My stepmother is an alien. But who knows, what happens to the actors in decades. Let's find out.



Reality: Woooow, nothing good happens to the characters. Basinger definitely doesn't fit into the victim role, she isn't persuasive even to at least keep the level of my interest. Whatever she does in this role of a hurt wife that loses her mind, is plain stupid. Stupid character or stupidity of a nation? Or maybe leftovers in family affairs.. or similar wifes - hmm, I cannot make up my mind. Well, it's a tragedy, this movie, not by the genre, but by execution. I don't suppose I have anything really positive about it to say. The stage feels plastic, the dialogues are not really thought through. A lot of small mistakes you see in second rate movies. Different clothes being worn in same scenes, stage mixture so it is obvious it was filmed in a studio and not on site, different variations of the story make it stupid to look at,.. well, a whole bunch of stuff that annoys my eyes and would most definitely most of the viewers. Looks like noone had a second view of the movie once it was ended. Some ironic scenes lighten up the stage, but that's it. How about some sense before screening the next time, eh?

Nevertheless, the pressure, deriving from home affairs and anger, loss, abuse in family - those are real topics that I thought about while watching this stupid excuse for a movie. As a strong topic, it could be covered with a good movie. And there are several great pieces covering the topic of family affairs or dealing with pressure. Falling down is for instance one of them. Or maybe You will meet a tall dark stranger (just the one I saw last month). There are rules to be submerged to, when entering a family. We could call them also a family game with set of rules. If you don't follow, you will be struck eventually. And maybe lose your mind. Neglecting something that really bothers you or standing behind the scenes and hating your life - well, normalwise it can last for a while, but what happens after the curtain is up?



My personal rating: 3,0 (amusing up to a point, then plain stupidity runs all over me. Of the characters, of course. Save your time :)


While She Was Out on IMDB