Hello peeps ! Gonna review about My Golden Days, A Frenchman spins tales of sex and espionage in this bold, brilliant movie from Arnaud Desplechin. Yes, it's in French with English subtitles. Don't worry. Nothing gets lost in translation as this coming-of-age tale brims over with humor, heartbreak and ravishing romance. Arnaud Desplechin's My Golden Days is a prequel of sorts to the writer-director's 1996 bout of swirling eroticism, My Sex Life, or … How I Got Into an Argument. You don't have to see My Sex Life first since My Golden Days stands on its own as an origin story. Now in his 50s, Desplechin has made something vibrantly alive and fueled by teen hormones that are ready to howl. The great actor Mathieu Amalric once again plays Paul Dédalus, an anthropologist returning to Paris after years in Tadjikstan. Held by security at the airport on charges of possible espionage, he recounts his story to a government interrogator (Andre Dussolier).

That's the movie, told mostly in flashback. We meet the young Paul, now played with irresistibly awkward charm by the terrific newcomer Quentin Dolmaire. Desplechin guides us through Paul's unsettled childhood with a suicidal mother and then switches to spy thriller mode as Paul travels to Russia and smuggles cash and passports to Russian Jews (hence the interrogation). But the main focus is on Paul's all-consuming love affair with a heartbreaker named Esther,  played with a tough core of intelligence and wit by Lou Roy-Lecollinet. It's here that Desplechin and these two captivating actors capture the euphoria of first love and the sting that comes when adult trouble intrudes on  paradise.

In Desplechin's best films, including Kings & Queen and A Christmas Tale, the comic and the tragic regularly bump heads. My Golden Days brings out a playful side in Desplechin and also an aching tenderness. Memory gives the movie a formal frame, but Desplechin laces the past with such raw emotion that nothing is hemmed in. Love hurts, that's for sure. And Desplechin makes sure we feel it. He crafts My Golden Days as if he'd never made a movie before, as if youthful emotions were spilling all over it. The result is an exhilarating gift. Have fun ! XOXO.

Let's begin with Snyder who starts at over-the-top and then rockets to the stratosphere. Too much? Always. But when you're setting up the greatest gladiator match in the history of DC Comics, subtlety is not your weapon of choice. Snyder (300, Watchman) can't touch Christopher Nolan's artistry in the Dark Knight trilogy, but he's still a hell of a showman. Snyder tear-asses through two hours and 31 minutes of head-spinning, PG-13 mayhem (an expanded R-rated Ultimate Edition will be available later on home video). Snyder, the director of the reboot of Dawn of the Dead, uses Dawn of Justice to set up is a new era of Justice League epics, which means you'll be seeing cameos from Aquaman (Jason Momoa), The Flash (Ezra Miller) and Cyborg (Ray Fisher).

But the focus here is on the two big kahunas. Cavill still has the square-jawed heroism of the son of Krypton down pat, maybe too pat. So the advantage goes to Affleck, who plays the disillusioned son of Gotham with a welcome streak of snarky humor. (I wish he hadn't adopted Bale's Tom Waits growl whenever Batman wears the cowl, but Affleck otherwise makes the role his own.) Playboy Bruce Wayne has butler Alfred (Jeremy Irons) in his corner. And Daily Planet reporter Clark Kent has his intrepid colleague and love interest Lois Lane (Amy Adams) on his side. Bruce and Clark meet at a reception hosted by Lex Luthor, a junior Joker manically played by Jesse Eisenberg as a spoiled brat with billions to fuel his deity complex. It's Lex who wants to set the two heroes at each others' throats — God v mortal. I will cautiously point out that both Batman and Superman have mother issues. And that a U.S. senator (Holly Hunter) is the catalyst for a declaration of war. It's the Doomsday monster, partly made of Kryptonite, who brings Superman down to human level for the big fight with the Bat. It's a thrill to see these two freaks go at it. (The Batmobile is involved, but I won't say how.) Just know that they lock horns in a dizzying display of showstopping special effects. An explosive highlight is the entrance of Wonder Woman (if you don't applaud when she appears, the comic-book-loving child in you is dead). And Gadot, a combat instructor in the Israeli army, is a wonder indeed, a true warrior. "Is she with you?" asks Superman. "I thought she was with you," counters Batman.

That kind of quippy repartee bumps against the grain of a script that takes things very seriously, especially the notion of illegal aliens like Superman taking over the world and the Trump-like wall Batman would like to build around them. No matter. Snyder, juiced up by Hans Zimmer's caffeinated score, throws everything at the screen until resistance is futile. Better than Man of Steel but below the high bar set by Nolan's Dark Knight, Dawn of Justice is still a colossus, the stuff that DC Comics dreams are made of for that kid in all of us who yearns to  see Batman and Superman suit up and go in for the kill. Suck on that, Marvel. After this, can Justice League v The Avengers be far behind? Have Fun ! XOXO.

Wednesday 27th April -  Hey! bertemu kembali bersama kami, Polo Movie Kelab. Kali ini kami akan membuat review sebuah cerita seram iaitu Conjuring yang telah ditayangkan pada 2013. Cerita ini menarik perhatian ramai sejak keluarannya. Jalan cerita ini amat seram kerana ia berdasarkan kisah benar. 

Cerita ini mengisahkan sebuah pasangan suami isteri yang bernama Lorraine (Vera Farmiga) dan Ed Warren (Patrick Wilson) yang bekerja sebagai penyiasat paranormal dan demonologists pada tahun 1970. Mereka telah menyelesaikan beberapa kes paranormal yang telah berlaku didalam negeri mereka. Mereka telah ditugaskan untuk menyelesaikan masalah dirumah sebuah pasangan suami isteri, Carolyn (Lili Taylor) dan Roger Perron (Ron Livingston) bersama 5 anak perempuan mereka. 

Rumah lama yang didiami oleh keluarga Roger telah mempunyai masalah gangguan hantu-hantu yang kerap berlaku. Setelah Roger dan Caroly tidak tahan diganggu oleh hantu-hantu tersebut, Roger dan Carolyn meminta pertolongan Lorraine dan Ed untuk membuang hantu-hantu yang berada didalam rumah mereka. Rupa-rupanya, hantu yang menggangu keluarga Carolyn dan Roger adalah merupakan hantu yang sangat sukar untuk Lorraine dan Ed untuk membuangnya. 

Setelah berusaha beberapa kali, Lorraine dan Ed berjaya membuang hantu-hantu yang berada dirumah keluarga Roger dan Carolyn. Salah satu hantu tersebut bernama Basheeba yang mana merasuk Carolyn supaya Carolyn membunuh salah satu anak perempuannya. 

Wedenesday 27th April -  Assalammualaikum semua. Hari ini kami Polo Movie Kelab akan membuat review tentang sebuah filem yang sangat menarik iaitu Catch Me If You Can. Cerita ini berdasarkan kisah benar. Ia benar-benar berlaku pada tahun 1969 dan telah dilakonkan semula pada tahun 2002. Cerita ini mengisahkan seorang pemuda yang bernama Frank Abagnale Jr (Leonardo DiCaprio) yang menyamar sebagai doktor, pilot dan peguam untuk kesenangan hidupnya.

Dengan bakatnya, dia berjaya hidup dengan mewah hasil penyamarannya pada usia 17 tahun. Frank Abagnale Jr juga berjaya membuat rompakan bank terbesar dalam sejarah ketika itu pada usianya 17 tahun. Dia dikehendaki oleh U.S FBI yang diketuai oleh seorang ejen bernama Carl Hanratty (Tom Hanks) yang ditugaskan untuk menangkap Frank Abagnale. Namun dengan kepintaran yang luar biasa, Frank berjaya melarikan diri dengan menyamar sebagai doktor, pilot dan peguam.

Namun hari demi hari, akhirnya Frank ditangkap dan dipenjarakan selama 12 tahun. Semasa Carl melawat Frank dipenjara, Carl telah terlibat dalam operasi siasatan kes tentang cek palsu yang sedang hangat berlaku didalam negara mereka ketika itu. Semasa berbual dengan Frank, Frank meminta Carl untuk melihat cek itu. Rupa-rupanya, Frank juga mahir dalam meneliti tentang cek sama ada cek itu palsu atau yang asli.

Demi memikirkan keselamatan negara, Carl mengeluarkan Frank dari penjara tersebut tetapi dengan syarat Frank harus berkerja di U.S FBI bahagian kewangan sampai tempoh tahanan penjaranya berakhir. Cerita ini amat menarik kerana ia berdasarkan kisah benar. Carl dan Frank telah menjadi kawan sehingga kini. Sekian review dari kami, Polo Movie Kelab by Muhammad Syazwan Bin Jabarudin. Nantikan review yang seterusnya daripada kami.

Hai kawan-kawan. Apa khabar? Kali ni saya nak buat review filem Aku Terima Nikahnya yang dilakokan oleh Adi Putra, Nora Danish, Dian P. Ramlee, Azizah Mahzan, Mon Ryanti dan ramai lagi. Filem ini mengisahkan sepasang suami isteri yang sangat romantik dan sangat menyayangi antara satu sama lain. Filem ini meceritakan sebuah kisah cinta yang sangat tragis tentang  pasangan tersebut yang baru mendirikan rumah tangga yang cukup bahagia iaitu Johan (Adi Putra) dan Arlisa. Pada suatu hari, Johan bersenam dikawasan rumahnya dan terlibat didalam suatu kemalangan yang menyebabkan Johan hilang ingatan dan disahkan oleh doktor dimana Johan mengalami Selective Amnesia dimana Johan hanya mengigati semua tentang dirinya tetapi hanya sehingga umur 31 tahun sahaja. Jadi, selepas umur 31 tahun Johon tidak akan mengigati apa-apa dan waktu itu adalah waktu perkenalan dia bersama Arlisa. Disebabkan itu, Johan menjauhkan dirinya dengn Arlisa kerana tidak selesa dengan isterinya dan Arlisa berusaha dengan keras untuk Johan meningati dirinya sebagai isteri kepada Johan. Dalam pada itu, pertemuan Johan dengan kawan biknya iaitu Suriya menyebabkan Arlisa cemburu terhadap kemesraan mereka Akhirnya Arlisa mengalah setelah melihat kemesraan ayng melampau antara Johan dan Suriya dan meminta Johan melepaskan dirinya sebagai seorang isteri, Adakah Johan akan menceraikan Arlisa? Adakah Johon meningati kisah antara dia dan arlisa sebagai suami isteri yang amat mesra dan saling menyanyangi? Anda kena saksikan filem ini untuk mengetahui kisah pasangan suami isteri ini. Untuk filem romantik dan kisah percintaanya yang agak tragis, saya bagi 4.5 bintang untuk filem ini. 

Hai semua..... Harini kita nak review filem Suamiku Encik Perfect 10 yang semua orang dok cerita cerita ni best sangat tuh. Filem ini dibintangi oleh Lisa Surihani, Aaron Aziz, Syazwan Zukifli, Jehan Miskin, Raja Ilya dan ramai lagi. Filem ini mengisahan tentang Aleeya (Lisa Surihani) iaitu seorang pelajar di luar negara yang terpaksa berpura-pura sebagai pasangan suami isteri bersama Zaref Daniel (Aaron Aziz) selama semiggu di Malaysia setelah mengandungkan anak teman lelakinya Syed Muzaffar (Syazwan Zukifli) di London. Semasa di London, peajaran Aleeya musnah separuh jalan akibat ditinggalkan kekasih hatinya setelah mereka terlanjur. Semasa di dalam perjalanan pulang ke Malaysia dari London Aleeya duduk di sebelah Zaref Daniel dan secara tiba-tiba Aleeya termuntah. Dalam penerbangan yang panjang dari Kota London ke Malaysia Aleeya telah menceritakan kisahnya kepada zaref Daniel. Lalu Zaref bersetuju untuk menjadi suami olok-olok untuk menyelamatkan Aleeya daripada dimarahi keluarganya. Dalam tempoh lakonan itu, terbit satu perasaan yang sukar untuk diungkapkan sehingga Zarif terlupa terhadap tunangnya iaitu Azura (Raja Ilya). Nak tahu lebih lanjut tentang percintaan yang agak kompleks dalam filem ni, anda kenalah tengok sendiri okay? Comfirm best! Saya bagi 4 bintang.... 

Hello kawan-kawan! Sihat? So harini kita rajin sikit, kita nak review cerita Pilot Cafe yang dilakon oleh Fahrin Ahmad, Izzara Aishah, Remy Ishak dan juga Neelofa dan ramai lagi. So, let start! Filem Pilot Cafe diarahkan oleh Osman Ali iaitu sebuah filem yang diadaptasi dari sebuah novel. Fahrin Ahmad adalah watak utama di dalam cerita ini sebagai Ameer. Ameer bekerja sebagai Juru terbang yang kehidupannya penuh dengan pergaulan bebas dan sering kali melakukan perbuatan yang tidak bemoral. Ameer sering kali meniduri gadis yang dikenalinya dan akhirnya gadis-gadis  yang ditidurinya mengandungkan anak luar nikah. Ameer seorang yang tidak bertanggungjawab, Mendapat tentangan daripada ibunya yang tidak suka akan perangai anakna itu, Ameer juga mengambil keputusan untuk tidak balik ke rumah kerana marahkan ibunya yang sering kali menentang perbuatan terkutuknya. Sehingga lah Ameer berjumpa dengan seorang gadis kampung yang mengajar erti kehidupan sebenar dan menyedarkan Ameer dengan kesalahan yang telah dilakukan sebelum ini. Walaupun jalan cerita agak perlahan, yang akan membuatkan penonton berasa hendak tetidur tetapi dengan lakonan mantap yang ditonjolkan oleh setiap pelakon membuatkan penonton menjiwai filem ini. Apa-apa pun saya bagi 3 bintang untuk filem ini. Nak tahu kisah yang lebih lanjut anda semya kena lah tengok filem ni tau.. 

Hai semua, so harini nak review cerita Dilwale yang digilai ramai ni. Cerita ini menceritakan percintaan sepasang kekasih (Shah Rukh Khan & Kajol) dimana bapa mereka adalah gengster yang bermusuhan antara satu sama lain. Shah Rukh Khan sebagai Kaali dan Kajol sebagai Ameera. Pada suatu hari, bapa Ameera merancang satu perjumpaan diantara Kaali dan bapanya dan tercetusnya adegan tembak menembak di antara bapa Kaali dan Ameera. Di situ juga tercetusnya satu salah faham diantara Kaali dan Ameera. Mereka berpisah demi kebaikkan masing-masing dan mengambil keputusan untuk pergi jauh dari tempat terebut untuk melupakan kisah pahit mereka dan membesarkan adik mereka. Bukan sekadar kisah percintaan, cerita ini juga menceritakan hubungan diantara adik beradik dan juga persahabatan yang sangat kukuh. Unsur-unsur komedi juga diselitkan didalam cerita ini untuk menghiburkan penonton. Antara watak yang menghiburkan semstinya Veer iaitu adik kepada Raj (rakan Kaali). Kisah percintaan yang dipenuhi dengan dugaan  dan onak duri akhirnya bersatu semula disebabkan usaha yang dilakukan oleh adik Kaali dan juga Ameera untuk menyatukan cinta lama diantara Kakak dan Abang mereka supaya Kakak dan Abangnya menerima cinta mereka. So anda semua kena tengok okay cerita ni. Mesti ada rasa pecah perut, nangis-2, geram puan ada. Cerita ni saya bagi 5 bintang bebbbbbbb!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Layan habis lah. hehehehe 

Hello peeps ! Today we're gonna review about Green Room Green Room finds director Jeremy Saulnier in a supremely confident mood. And so he should be, because back in 2013, the stripped-down, taut, yet beguiling Blue Ruin established him as one of the most promising new American directors.

Hello peeps ! Today we're gonna review about Criminal Kevin Costner was once one of the most bankable stars in Hollywood. He could be your romantic lead, your action hero, or direct your Oscar bait. Were the 1990’s really that long ago? In more recent years, the actor has been keeping busy, but his leading roles have been forgettable. I can't think of one off hand. I wish I could say the same thing about Criminal. I can't.

Hello there's! Today we're gonna review about The Junglebook From the opening sequence of young Mowgli (Neel Sethi) racing through the jungle in the company of his adoptive wolf family and his feline guardian, the black panther Bagheera (Ben Kingsley), through its comic setpieces with the layabout Baloo the Bear (Bill Murray) and its sinister interludes with the anaconda Kaa (Scarlett Johansson), the despot orangutan King Louie (Christopher Walken) and the scarred Bengal tiger Shere Khan (Idris Elba), the movie bears you along on a subdued current of enchantment, climaxing in a thunderous extended action sequence that dazzles while neatly tying off every lingering plot point and gathering up all the bits of folklore, iconography and Jungian dream symbols that have been strewn throughout the story like Hansel and Gretel's breadcrumbs. 

It's not accurate to call this "Jungle Book" a "live-action" version, since so much of it has been generated on a computer. But screenwriter Justin Marks, director Jon Favreauand their hundreds of collaborators render such distinctions moot. Combining spectacular widescreen images of rain forests, watering holes and crumbling temples, a couple of human actors, and realistic mammals, birds and reptiles that nevertheless talk, joke and even sing in celebrity voices, the movie creates its own dream-space that seems at once illustrated and tactile. It's the sort of movie you might inadvertently dream about after re-reading one of Rudyard Kipling's source books or re-watching the 1967 animated Disney film, both of which contributed strands of this one's creative DNA. 

The Disney animated version was the last cartoon feature personally overseen by Walt Disney, and its release one year after his death marked the start of a period of creative wandering for the company (though other features that had been in development for years, most of them lackluster, would appear throughout the decade that followed). Like a lot of the company's 1960s and '70s output, it was relaxed to a fault—a succession of beautifully rendered, mostly jokey set-pieces strung together by memorable songs, including "The Bare Necessities," "I Wanna Be Like You" and the anaconda's seduction song "Trust in Me"—but it still made a deep impression on '60s and '70s kids like the 49-year-old Favreau. This incarnation is a more straightforward telling that includes just two brief, according-to-Hoyle musical numbers, "The Bare Necessities" and "I Wanna Be Like You"—performed by Sethi with Murray and Walken, respectively. It relegates a longer version of the ape's song and a torch-song-y version of "Trust in Me," performed by Johansson, to the approximately seven-minute end credits sequence, which is so intricately imagined as to be worth the ticket price by itself. Other numbers, including the elephants' marching song and "That's What Friends Are For," performed by a barbershop quartet of mop-topped vultures, are MIA, presumably in the interest of pacing. 

I mention all this not because I consider the film's lack of music a shortcoming (it's never a good idea to mistake the lack of something you personally wanted or expected for a "flaw") but because it gives some indication of how gracefully this "Jungle Book" juggles the competing interests of parents and kids. Musically, visually and tonally, there are enough nods to the 1967 version to satisfy nostalgia buffs, but not so many that the film becomes a glorified rehash. Kipling's tales are a stronger influence, down to the scenes where the wolves, Mowgli and other creatures recite a stripped-down version of Kipling's poem "The Law of The Jungle" ("...For the strength of the Pack is the Wolf/and the strength of the Wolf is the Pack"). And there are nods to Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzan stories and the masterful comics illustrator Burne Hogarth's adaptations, which seem to have influenced the way the movie's CGI artists render the movie's trees: as gnarled, knuckled, pretzel-twisted, vine-shrouded wonders, rising from the forest floor and reaching toward the sky. 

The film creates its own, more politically evolved version of Kipling's literary ecosystem, with its ancient animal beliefs and practices, such as predators and prey declaring a "water truce" during a drought so that they can all drink unmolested from a parched watering hole. And it invests Mowgli a touch of optimistic environmentalist fantasy: where humanity's mastery of fire and tools was presented in earlier films as a threat, and Mowgli's fated exit from the jungle as an unfortunate necessity, in this film the boy is shown using his ingrained ingenuity to solve problems beyond the capabilities of his animal pals, as when he builds an elaborate rappel and pulley system to help Baloo claim honey from a cliff-side beehive that he's been coveting for years. The idea here seems to be that humanity is not necessarily fated to subjugate and destroy nature—that people and animals can live in harmony if we behave with kindness and mercy while showing reverence for the ancients of other species, like the elephants that Bagheera credits with creating the rain forest and directing the flow of water by digging canals with their hooves and tusks.

The movie takes these ideas and others seriously, but in a matter of fact way, so that they don't feel clumsily superimposed, but rather discovered within a text that has existed for more than a century. Kingsley's unhurried storybook narration hypnotizes the audience into buying everything Favreau shows us, as surely as Johansson's Kaa voice-work hypnotizes Mowgli. (The latter sequence includes one of the new movie's most extraordinary embellishments: as Mowgli stares into one of Kaa's eyes, he sees his own origin story play out within it.) 

Another kind of balancing act is happening in the voice actors' performances. Favreau leans on distinctive-sounding stars to earn knowing chuckles from the audience, and lets some of their familiar physical and facial tics seep into the animal "performances": Murray is a shambling pleasure-seeker in life as well as in many of his movie roles. Walken is legendarily good at playing funny-scary villains who love to mess with heroes' minds (he's merged here with Marlon Brando's performance as Kurtz in "Apocalypse Now," entering the story swathed in Rembrandt gloom). Kingsley has aged into one of the cinema's great mentor figures. And so on. 

But the film is never content to use our affection for its voice actors as a storytelling crutch. These are strong, simple, clearly motivated characters, not movie star cameos wrapped in CGI fur. The most impressive is Elba's Khan. His loping menace is envisioned so powerfully that he'd be scary no matter what, but the character becomes a great villain through imaginative empathy. As was the case with Magua in Michael Mann's "The Last of the Mohicans" and General Zod in "Man of Steel," we understand and appreciate his point-of-view even though carrying it out would mean the death of Mowgli. 

In every way, this quietly majestic film should be considered a triumph. The familiar, picaresque story of a young boy raised by forest creatures but fated to re-join Man has been re-imagined as a funny, scary, affecting family adventure with mythic heft but a refreshing lack of swagger. It was made with the latest in movie-making technology but has the ethical values and wide-net storytelling sensibility of an Old Hollywood classic. At its best it feels as though it always existed and we are only now discovering it. 

Hello peeps ! Today we're gonna review about The Huntsman: Winter’s War is a prequel, a sequel, a spinoff, a mashup, a bit of a remake, and almost a movie. It contains many recognizable elements from actual films — plot, characters, scenes, imagery, music — almost all of them inspired by (if not outright stolen from) other far more original movies and television shows. There are bits and pieces shamelessly swiped from Frozen, Lord of the Rings, The Hunger Games, Game of Thrones, the Marvel Cinematic Universe, plus a few odds and ends from the production it is ostensibly following, 2012’s Snow White and the Huntsman. It’s like the movie version of a pod person from Invasion of the Body Snatchers; superficially indistinguishable from the real thing, but lacking any semblance of a soul. Snow White, previously played by Kristen Stewart, doesn’t appear but she’s mentioned frequently and the whole final act revolves around protecting her kingdom — because nothing says huge dramatic stakes like an unseen character ruling over an unseen place. Instead, Snow White and The Huntsman 2: Winter’s War, follows the Huntsman character (Chris Hemsworth) in the years before and after the first film’s events. Before he hooked up with Snow White he was an orphan who fell under the control of a queen named Freya (Emily Blunt), the sister of Charlize Theron’s wicked Ravenna from Snow White and the Huntsman. Freya has the power to control cold and ice, and the power to seem enough like Elsa from Frozen to attract fans of that movie without sparking a lawsuit from Disney. (When Liam Neeson’s narrator explains Freya’s rise to power he marvels at the way she turned the green fields of the north “into a frozen wasteland,” because Liam Neeson is so baller he gives absolutely zero f—s about intellectual property rights.) Freya discovered her icy abilities after her beau betrayed her and killed their baby; from that day forward, Freya forbade all love in her kingdom. In a perverse attempt to fill the void in her heart, she took in children from the lands she conquered and trained them to become hardened killers. Hemsworth’s Eric is the best of her brigade, rivaled only by a warrior named Sara (Jessica Chastain). Despite the prohibition on procreation, Eric and Sara fall for one another, consummate their lust, and secretly marry, all within the space of a single hot tub scene. (The hot tub might have been a time machine, which would explain the speed of the relationship.) Freya quickly discovers the couple and casts out Eric, prompting the events of Snow White and the Huntsman. The rest of the movie, set seven years later, follows Eric and the one dwarf from the first film who could be convinced to return (Nick Frost) plus a few more colorful characters (including a new dwarf played by The Trip’s Rob Brydon) as they track down Ravenna’s Magic Mirror, which went missing in transport to some kind of sanctuary, which is never seen or explained because, again, nothing makes you care more about something in a movie than never seeing it or fully understanding it. Hemsworth, basically playing Thor with a slightly different accent (Scottish) and a slightly different weapon (an axe), oozes the same charming overconfidence that became his bread and butter as the God of Thunder. And he has solidly combative chemistry with Chastain, who looks like she’s having a blast playing a badass. The same goes for Theron; her role is frustratingly small, but she gives 110 percent to every scene, going way over the top as a glammed-out black-goo-spewing vamp from hell. (Blunt’s role is the least fun, but at least she gets to ride on a CGI polar bear at one point.) Theron’s presence alone makes the big action climax a campy hoot, and it’s clear the actors are having fun. If only the viewer felt the same way about the rest of Winter’s War. It looks okay (the film’s director, Cedric Nicolas-Troyan, worked on the visual effects for the first Huntsman), if overly familiar from a hundred other fantasy epics and live-action fairy tales. (At one point, the Huntsman and his crew appear to wander into the digital backlot from Disney’s The Jungle Book.) More importantly, though, it feels familiar. There’s almost nothing in this movie that hasn’t been seen elsewhere before. And done a whole lot better. Watching Winter’s War would be preferable to sitting quietly in the dark for two hours. It’s just not preferable to watching any of the movies it so freely steals from. There’s really nothing wrong with it beyond the fact that it has absolutely no reason to exist except to make money. All Hollywood movies are designed to make money, of course, but usually they do other things too. They inspire, or educate, or express an artist’s vision. They say something about the world in which they were made. The only thing this patchy pastiche says is that movie studios are so desperate for franchises these days that they’ll make a sequel to a Snow White movie without Snow White. Have fun and enjoyed . XOXO

Snow White, previously played by Kristen Stewart, doesn’t appear but she’s mentioned frequently and the whole final act revolves around protecting her kingdom — because nothing says huge dramatic stakes like an unseen character ruling over an unseen place. Instead, Snow White and The Huntsman 2: Winter’s War, follows the Huntsman character (Chris Hemsworth) in the years before and after the first film’s events. Before he hooked up with Snow White he was an orphan who fell under the control of a queen named Freya (Emily Blunt), the sister of Charlize Theron’s wicked Ravenna from Snow White and the Huntsman. Freya has the power to control cold and ice, and the power to seem enough like Elsa from Frozen to attract fans of that movie without sparking a lawsuit from Disney. (When Liam Neeson’s narrator explains Freya’s rise to power he marvels at the way she turned the green fields of the north “into a frozen wasteland,” because Liam Neeson is so baller he gives absolutely zero f—s about intellectual property rights.)
Freya discovered her icy abilities after her beau betrayed her and killed their baby; from that day forward, Freya forbade all love in her kingdom. In a perverse attempt to fill the void in her heart, she took in children from the lands she conquered and trained them to become hardened killers. Hemsworth’s Eric is the best of her brigade, rivaled only by a warrior named Sara (Jessica Chastain). Despite the prohibition on procreation, Eric and Sara fall for one another, consummate their lust, and secretly marry, all within the space of a single hot tub scene. (The hot tub might have been a time machine, which would explain the speed of the relationship.)
Freya quickly discovers the couple and casts out Eric, prompting the events of Snow White and the Huntsman. The rest of the movie, set seven years later, follows Eric and the one dwarf from the first film who could be convinced to return (Nick Frost) plus a few more colorful characters (including a new dwarf played by The Trip’s Rob Brydon) as they track down Ravenna’s Magic Mirror, which went missing in transport to some kind of sanctuary, which is never seen or explained because, again, nothing makes you care more about something in a movie than never seeing it or fully understanding it.
Hemsworth, basically playing Thor with a slightly different accent (Scottish) and a slightly different weapon (an axe), oozes the same charming overconfidence that became his bread and butter as the God of Thunder. And he has solidly combative chemistry with Chastain, who looks like she’s having a blast playing a badass. The same goes for Theron; her role is frustratingly small, but she gives 110 percent to every scene, going way over the top as a glammed-out black-goo-spewing vamp from hell. (Blunt’s role is the least fun, but at least she gets to ride on a CGI polar bear at one point.)
Theron’s presence alone makes the big action climax a campy hoot, and it’s clear the actors are having fun. If only the viewer felt the same way about the rest of Winter’s War. It looks okay (the film’s director, Cedric Nicolas-Troyan, worked on the visual effects for the first Huntsman), if overly familiar from a hundred other fantasy epics and live-action fairy tales. (At one point, the Huntsman and his crew appear to wander into the digital backlot from Disney’s The Jungle Book.) More importantly, though, it feels familiar. There’s almost nothing in this movie that hasn’t been seen elsewhere before. And done a whole lot better.
Watching Winter’s War would be preferable to sitting quietly in the dark for two hours. It’s just not preferable to watching any of the movies it so freely steals from. There’s really nothing wrong with it beyond the fact that it has absolutely no reason to exist except to make money. All Hollywood movies are designed to make money, of course, but usually they do other things too. They inspire, or educate, or express an artist’s vision. They say something about the world in which they were made. The only thing this patchy pastiche says is that movie studios are so desperate for franchises these days that they’ll make a sequel to a Snow White movie without Snow White.


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