A reimagining of the Snow White fairy tale that is darker and leads to Snow White doing some battle herself. I saw this movie with Marci and Stacy. I got together with Amy and Sharon to discuss it and throw in Marci and Stacy’s thoughts on their behalf. We also really liked calling the characters by other names like Bella, Charlize and Thor so that’s going on in our review.

Side note: We did watch this movie when it came out, but I was really bad about posting this on time.

Coni: Let’s start! In the beginning we see what is supposed to be the prettiest girl ever. Is it mean to think that the little girl they chose was just blah?

Sharon: I agree. They should have been able to find a truly beautiful little girl or at least photoshopped her.

Amy: I did miss the very begining. I saw when she was still littleand her dad married evil queen.

Sharon: Charlize Theron is stunning though.

Coni: Sounds like you missed maybe a minute or so.

Amy: Also agree. What I saw of the little girl was not impressive. I’ve seen much prettier little girls at Target.

Coni: Did you see the big battle and how they found Charlize?

Amy: I don’t think so. What was that about?

Coni: Oh so you did miss about 5-10 min.

Amy: Sadz I needed popcorn though.

Sharon: Fake “raven” soldiers that looked like soldiers.

Coni: Started off with Snow White’s mom seeing a rose in the winter and thinking it was beautiful. Then it pricked her and three blood drops led to her saying the whole “Snow White” thing with skin as white as snow and hair as black as night, wishing she had that in a daughter. Then she did, and then got sick and died. Dad was in mourning when evil forces attacked. The ravens turned into the same shards of glass that were later on in the movie. They were a huge army of soldiers. It was actually a pretty cool scene. They destroyed them all since they did fall apart once they were hit. Then they thought they freed a prisoner, which was Charlize. It made Marci say, “Don’t fall for it! Sucker!” So, of course, he did.

Amy: Oh Marci, so smart. He should have listened. Okay, I can picture all that.

Coni: I agree that Charlize was the fairest of them all, even when Bella grew up. Charlize only looked bad when they made her old.

Amy: That was some amazing makeup! The special effects were good too.

Sharon: Charlize just always looked elegant except when she was old, of course.

Coni: I did laugh when they said “The lady was so beautiful that the king married her the next day.” Not wasting any time I see!

Amy: I saw that part! Then she stabbed him while they had sex. That was impressive.

Coni: I was thinking “Don’t you at least want to have sex first? Seriously!”

Amy: No falling asleep right after for her!

Coni: She barely kissed him and then stabbed him.

Sharon: I thought the same thing!

Coni: Maybe she is asexual.

Sharon: Sheesh sex first silly woman!

Amy: Priorities!

Coni: When she was talking to her mirror, I was confused since it was just a big gong.

Sharon: Maybe she only wanted sex with her brother. I got that impression.

Amy: For that scene I thought it was funny how she totally yelled, “GET OUT!”

Coni: I got that impression too but maybe she was put off by his haircut.

Amy: Like right after just saying it to the mirror carrying guys.

Coni: Oh yes, the second “GET OUT” was bit “drama llama!”

Amy: I was thinking, “Impatient much?”

Coni: Since they were getting out when she said it. It wasn’t like they were ignoring her or being slow.

Coni: For a while I thought something icky with the brother. Then I thought he was asexual, but then he was feeling up Bella (who I’ll just call that instead of Snow White for this review).

Amy: The brother was total Chester the molester.

Coni: He was very repulsive so I was glad she stabbed him with a nail.

Amy: He freaked me out a lot.

Sharon: He was like ghostly.

Amy: The milk bath thing was also freaky.

Sharon: And kind of greasy at the same time.

Coni: He was greasy!

Amy: And then people were drinking the used milk! So that was disturbing.

Coni: Stacy wanted to know what was up with the milk scene. When it took place Marci said “Now, she is the Queen of the Damned” since Marci loves that movie. When Stacy asked why it was even in the movie, I said it was in there so Marci could say that line.

Sharon: YeahI didn’t get the milk thing.

Coni: When Bella escaped and conveniently had leather pants on under her dress, I thought she was awfully overdressed for a prisoner. I also thought it was nice that they gave her a cot. She could have gotten nothing!  Maybe I have watched too much “Oz.”

Amy: That is when everyone was dirty and I hate that. Why does dirty = old time?

Coni: Lack of running water? When you have to carry it from a water source, you only use it when you really need it.

Amy: True, they had running milk so…

Coni: Haha. Did they really need anything else?

Amy: Wipes.

Sharon: Apparently not since the milk makes you young, apparently.

Amy: I thought it was funny when Thor cut her dress to a tunic. I was thinking, “Fashion makeover too? This guy does it all!”

Coni: Um, did Thor’s character have a name?

Amy: Huntsman?

Sharon: Huntsmen?

Coni: I remember them calling him Huntsman so i guess that’s it! Okay, so I’ll continue to call him Thor.

Sharon: He was not cute in the beginning. I kept thinking wash your damn hair.

Amy: The escaping in the sewer was yucky. I was suspicious of the birds because I thought the queen had all the bird powers.

Coni: Amy, did you cover your eyes the entire time she was running through the forest with the freaky trees?

Amy: OMG, I almost left the theatre. I was thinking, “This is what all forests look like to me.” So now you know!

Coni: I figured.

Amy: All the mud in the town where they found huntsman was so yucky.

Coni: I did find the dark forest part very similar to The Princess Bride so I expected goofy things to pop out somewhere.

Amy: Agree. I was like ROUS! I’m always prepared to be scared of a forest.

Coni: She didn’t seem overly concerned by anything in the forest. Creepy brother guy seemed more freaked out. I guess that goes back to Bella’s lack of acting skills.

Sharon: She can’t keep her mouth closed. Did you notice that?

Amy: Liz and I decided that Bella’s acting is heavy breathing.

Coni: Stacy was doing her best impressions of Bella after the movie, which consisted of staring with her mouth open.

Sharon: haha

Amy: Awesome.

Sharon: At the same time that forest seemed pointless.

Coni: Yes, it was like a long scene of tripping and Thor found her in two seconds. No one can go in there! But then everyone goes in there.

Coni: They left the forest and found the scarred ladies.

Sharon: I also thought the “female” camp was pretty pointless too.

Coni: I did laugh when they were all running away since everything was on fire and Bella told Thor they had to help them. The ladies were like “No, it’s okay” and I was thinking “Get away from me. This is why we are on fire!”

Sharon: I only thought, “Why did they even go there?”

Coni: For someone to finally tell Thor who she was, even thought that still could have happened later.

Amy: Yeah that was a confusing situation. I thought, “Don’t braid your hair, take a bath!” Her dirty fingernails bugged me.

Coni: I was glad that her fingernails were dirty and not painted since she had been in prison for about 10 years.

Amy: Well agree not painted, but with all the water, nothing washes off?

Coni: They were so so so dirty.

Amy: Yuck.

Amy: Okay so then troll bridge. I totally called that one! I saw the bridge and I was thinking, “TROLL!”

Coni: OMG.  They were walking into the area and showing random things on the ground. Marci said, “There is going to be a troll!” Then Thor yelled “TROLL!”

Sharon: I said look she made a FRIEND!

Amy: I might have yelled too. Liz said, “Um, calm yourself.”

Coni: So funny. I rolled my eyes when the troll didn’t attack her. I guess they explained it later but I still rolled them.

Amy: I thought she was going to turn him into a pet.

Sharon: Use him to kill the queen or something. That was disappointing.

Coni: It was another random scene that didn’t add much. We learned the same information later, so it was unnecessary. The information about her bringing things to life and whatnot.

Sharon: Yup.

Coni: Was that part of the fairytale? I was thinking “When did Snow White become so damn important? I thought she was just some girl that made the queen jealous.”

Amy: I remember that the woodland creatures liked her.

Sharon: Then they found the dwarves right?

Coni: Yes, and Marci spent a few minutes trying to count them all. She said, “There are 7!” I said “No, there are 8!” Until later there were 7.

Sharon: They were good.  I liked them. Sadly they became 7.

Coni: Amy did you recognize cocksucker? One of them is the friend/buddy in Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz.

Sharon: I thought a couple looked familiar.

Coni: I recognized a few other ones as character actors but not sure from where. The old man one was the main guy in Roger Rabbit.

Sharon: Haha. Get out of my brain!

Amy: I did recognize him! I was thinking, “Wait a minute!!!”

Coni: I recognize him right away but wasn’t sure if Marci or Stacy had ever seen “Deadwood.” Marci started to say, “Hey, is that..?” I said, “Yes, Deadwood!” Then we said “Cocksucker!” every time he was on screen.

Amy: Dwarves make me sad now because in Lord of the Rings they are all dying out. Then in this, they ar dying out too and made to be thieves.

Sharon: haha

Coni: I wished there was more dwarf time.

Amy: They were funny.

Coni: In the forest, Marci said the fairies were going to give her nightmares. I didn’t like the masks at first, so I was glad when those went away.

Amy: The fairies were a little freaky and I was thinking they’d turn into the scary fairies from “True Blood.”

Coni: They probably would.

Sharon: What the hell was the point of going to the paradise?

Coni: I think that was where the dwarves lived and it became paradise with Bella being there.

Sharon: I thought it was dumb.

Amy: I did like the big reindeer or what nots.

Sharon: Again, just made no sense.

Coni: The white stag showed up.

Amy: I didn’t like his antlers being trees. Regular antlers would have been fine.

Sharon: She touched it and got it killed.

Amy: Oh, a stag then.

Coni: When I saw the stag, I said “It is her patronus! Where are Harry Potter’s parents?”

Amy: hahaha. I didn’t even think patronus but it totally was! I didn’t like her touching with dirty hands!

Coni: Yeah once again she touches something that it almost always dies.

Amy: I said, “OMG, not on the white fur!”

Coni: It did just turn into butterflies.

Amy: Allegedly butterflies.

Coni: Marci said “Well, i guess that’s convenient.”

Amy: Possibly tiny bits of soul.

Coni: hahaha

Coni: Oh, we haven’t talked about William. I found him boring and not hot enough.

Sharon: Oh yes William. He was cute but what did he have, like four lines?

Coni: I got a little bit excited when I thought he was evil but then it was the queen.

Sharon: I thought maybe he turned gay.

Coni: When?

Sharon: As he got older. You know, since he couldn’t have Bella.

Coni: That would have been a good twist.

Amy: I was thinking, “Why is this even in the story?” I thought he was evil too but then I was thinking, “Wait a minute, don’t take an apple!”

Coni: Fruit is a trick!

Amy: He did seem a little gay. Fruit is always a trick.

Sharon: Always.

Coni: Why did Bella keep waking up and wandering off to get into trouble? She did it twice. If I was Thor, I would have tied her down.

Amy: She is redonk.

Coni: Stay put!

Amy: I guess because she lived in a tower, she wasn’t educated or anything.

Coni: I guess the queen gave her good advice about leading since she used it after she was done being dead, but thank god she died since she finally got a bath!

Amy: Agreed, though that speech was kinda awkward. Also, stupid dress. If you think I’m dead, you’d better dress me better than that.

Coni: She had so many lines which took away from her staring acting, so she didn’t know how to handle it.

Sharon: Oh yes, but if I am “asleep” and can be woken with a “kiss” you damn well better kiss me with tongue if you are Thor.

Coni: LOL sharon

Amy: hahaha Sharbear, so funny.

Amy: Her fighting hair do was interesting, I still can’t decide if I liked it or not.

Coni: I didn’t really like it.

Sharon: It had weird braids.

Coni: So did Thor wake her up because he was hotter? It was back to the random triangle that made no sense.

Amy: He was her true love?

Sharon: EXACTLY

Coni: But, why exactly? They didn’t do anything with it in the movie.

Amy: Then what about this dead wife of his that apparently everyone knew and talked about?

Sharon: It was weird about him being her true love.

Amy: And then at the end he kinda just comes into view.

Sharon: I mean WTF he was annoyed by her and now they are in love?

Amy: Thor is my true love. I shall find him like in the movie since I’m all about astronomy now. Just sayin’.
since I’m all about astronomy now.

Amy: Let’s talk battle first.

Coni: Yes, let’s talk battle before we get to nonsense love triangle.

Amy: The horses all running down the beach were awesome. Very inspiring!

Coni: I did laugh at the dwarves working fast and furious on raising the bridge while the horses were shown running in slow motion. I thought, don’t worry, you have time.

Amy: The dwarves were awesome. The fighting with the balls of fire and tar and everything was so hardcore. I kept thinking of people who really fought like that back in the day and how they stuff must hurt like a SOB.

Coni: When they were walking around after the gross sewer scene, Stacy said, “Oh, no one is going to notice them?” Then they hid behind the horse. I said, “Of course not, they are behind a horse!”

Sharon: The horse just had lots of feet

Amy: Yeah that part was kinda bizarrely funny to lighten the mood?

Coni: I also found it odd that Bella put on plate of armor but no helmet. We might have missed her staring. She also rode her horse weirdly.

Sharon: She had to show off her hair do.

Coni: They shouldn’t have focused so much on her riding the horse if she was awkward at it. I did like that she sucked at attacking the queen.

Amy: The horse thing did drag on a bit. I bet it was expensive to film so they had to use it.

Coni: I liked that Charlize just tossed her around like “You suck!”

Amy: That part was pretty funny, like she thought she’d just hit the queen once.

Coni: Oh, I forgot to mention when the queen came back from being a bunch of birds, Stacy said, “It’s like the pink stuff in Poltergeist!”

Sharon: haha

Amy: Oh yeah that part was super gross. Liz was even grossed out.

Coni: I thought it was like a part in Hellraiser, but you probably haven’t seen that movie. When the queen ate the bid’s heart, Marci said “Is that the secret to staying young? Got it.”

Sharon: I just thought “EEWWW I’ll get old, thank you very much.

Coni: She said she had lived 20 lifetimes. That’s pretty damn old!

Coni: oooh! When Bella woke up from being dead Marci said, “I knew she was a vampire!” I said, “Watch out, she’s a zombie!” Then she walked really close to some guy and I said, “Brains! Nom nom nom.”

Sharon: haha. Double tap!

Coni: I felt sorry for the people sitting in front of us since we did talk a lot through this high quality film.

Amy: hahaha

Coni: Okay, so any more battle stuff or is it time to get back to nonsense triangle?

Amy: How exactly did she figure out how to kill the queen? That was not really clear to me.

Sharon: I got nothing for the battle stuff.

Coni: Was she the only one that could kill her? I didn’t get it either.

Sharon: Didn’t she somehow see the thing with the mirror or something?

Amy: I feel bad for old time knights who had to fight in such a sucky way. Hats off to them for being hardcore.
a sucky way – hats off to them for being hardcore

Coni: Did she see anything in the mirror?

Amy: Yeah it was something like only fairest blood can kill fairest blood or ??

Coni: I might have been too busy asking why they were staring at the gong again.

Sharon: Something like that.

Coni: That was still more believable than Thor being her true love after one day.
love after one day

Amy: I YouTubed it.

Coni: Good use of technology by you!

Amy: Thank you.

Coni: I laughed when they made her queen at the end since she just looked like she was thinking, “I’m now super cool with a crown on my head.”

Amy: I would have wanted a better crown personally.

Sharon: If she is all bad-ass-snow-white why did Charlize kick her ass?

Amy: I didn’t feel like we needed more trees so I am not a fan of the royal branch.

Coni: Like you both said earlier, why was William there?

Sharon: To confuse us apparently.

Amy: Standing in the fire? Why?

Coni: They could have had Thor have his dead wife storyline and then have him finally feel something again after all this time. She would just be happy to be out of prison and no need for random other dude.

Amy: Then Snow White stabs her and she dies?

Coni: Yeah, random!

Amy: Did the knife have some of Snow White’s blood on it?

Coni: She did learn her one fight move.

Amy: True, good foreshadowing by Thor on that.

Coni: She paid attention.

Sharon: That is true.

Coni: I forgot to mention that Marci was disappointed that the random white horse she saw after breaking out of the castle was not a unicorn. Since if she was going to find a random white horse to help her, it should be a unicorn. And then she wanted some glittering to happen since it was Bella.

Amy: Agree! I totally thought it should be a unicorn.

Sharon: Only by fairest blood is it undone. Yes, Snow White had to kill her and took three drops.

Coni: So only her stabbing would actually work.

Coni: Ok, overall thoughts! What did you like? What didn’t you like?

Amy: Overall did not like the dirt, birds or trees. Did like dwarves and Thor.

Coni: Pros: Awesome special effects, Charlize Theron was pretty scary and excellent and Thor was pretty while till being dirty.

Sharon: I thought it was slow, too many scenes didn’t make sense, Bella needs to learn to keep her mouth closed and Thor was only hot at the end. Charlize and the dwarves were the only redeeming qualities.

Amy: Yes, awesome special effects.

Coni: Cons: Bella’s acting, William was unnecessary, ridiculous story lines could have easily come from the fairytale but came from what they added in. Oh, and the dwarves! They were excellent. Overall, I liked bits and pieces, but as a whole the movie was pretty disappointing.

Sharon: I agree.

Amy: Same for me.

Coni: But it did make for awesome comments while watching it.

Amy: Lots of scary imagery for me to get over.

Coni: Yes, Stacy said we were going to have a counseling session about the trees. She said, “You are going to make Amy talk about it talk through it.”

Amy: hahaha

Amy: In a way I’m glad everyone saw it, so they understand how scary trees are.

Coni: hahaha

Coni: Okay, I think we have excellent stuff!

Amy: Yeah!

Sharon: Woot!

After having separate movies for Iron Man, Thor, Captain America and the Hulk, along with Black Widow and Hawkeye hanging out in other movies, all the superheros come together because Thor’s brother is throwing a tantrum on Earth. It is usually just Amy and I reviewing, but this time Sharon joined in on the fun.

Side note: We all saw this movie right when it came out, but I just didn’t post it until now.

Coni: Are you ready for some Snazzle Review time?

Amy: Yes!

Coni: Sharon, do you want in on this too?

Sharon: I can try?

Coni: Mostly I ask questions and then we just start blabbing back and forth.

Sharon: Okay.

Coni: First, did you see all the movies leading up to Avengers? All the back story movies?

Sharon: Yes I did.

Amy: Yes, but not Hulk.It wasn’t the same hulk so I say that I should get credit.

Sharon: Both Hulk, both Iron Men, Captain America, Thor.

Coni: I did like Sharon and watched them all!

Sharon: weee!

Coni: Well, the second Hulk was really the back story leading up to this one.

Amy: I saw Captain America twice! Once on the boat! So I want some credit.

Sharon: Yes bouncy Hulk sucked.

Coni: It just seems that no one likes Edward Norton so they never work with him again.

Coni: Agreed! Bouncy Hulk was so very bad.

Amy: Maybe he’s mean.

Coni: I think the most important ones to watch were Thor and Captain America since that’s where they got the plot to this one. I think you did that Amy!

Sharon: True.

Amy: I did! I did the prereqs!

Coni: Before getting into plot points, let’s discuss something important…

Coni: How would you rate the hotness of the people in the movie?

Sharon: 1 – 10 or 1-5?

Coni: However you like, go crazy!

Amy: HAWT LIKE TEH FIRE

Sharon: Tony Stark – 9, Steve (Captain america) 8, Hulk – 8, Thor 9, Hawkeye 9,  Blackwidow – 8

Amy: So hot that I would say, “OMG, that is hot.”

Sharon: Don’t like her lips.

Coni: haha

Coni: I liked Tony Stark more in the first Iron Man but still hot in this one. Capt. America is super duper hot. Thor is nice. My favorite was Hawkeye. Very nice arms. And Scarlett is always hot.

Amy: I can’t choose a favorite!

Coni: Oh and Hulk….ehhh…never really liked Mark Ruffalo. I did like him in the movie. He is just sad on the hotness scale.

Sharon: I don’t know, I find him oddly sexy.

Coni: Lots of people do and it confuses me.

Amy: He seemed kinda like professor sexy but he also was so sad.

Sharon: I liked how he was that odd smart kind of guy too.

Coni: Yes, I liked that he was smart but a little off.

Coni: How do you think the movie did with so many characters? Do you think they ignored anyone? Did you feel like they were trying to do too much so no one was left out? Or do you think it was well balanced?

Sharon: I had heard that it was well balanced on the radio and I have to say I agreed.

Amy: I felt it was well balanced. I knew going in it was a long movie but it did not feel like that!

Sharon: I thought they let each character really shine through. I like that they brought out Hawkeye and Widow too.

Coni: It wasn’t until the very end that I realized that the movie was long. I could have kept watching it which I find it is a good sign for success.

Amy: Agree!

Coni: Yes, since Black Widow wasn’t really in Ironman2 much and Hawkeye was blink and you miss in Thor, I liked we got to learn more about them.

Sharon: Totally agree. I wanted them to jump right into the next story!

Amy: I thought it was a tiny bit of cheating by having the backstory for Hawkeye and Widow be combined but it was still good.

Coni: Yes, I wonder if the backstory for Hawkeye and Black Widow was combined in comics…no clue!

Sharon: Yep I wonder.

Amy: We need to read more comic books.

Coni: I loved Black Widow’s first scene with the bad guy’s and how the one said “I wasn’t telling her ALL my plans.”

Amy: I liked how she said, “Let me put you on hold.” Then agent guy was listening to the fight like a hold music!

Coni: Haha. yes!

Sharon: That was hilarious.

Coni: It was those little things that I loved. Joss Whedon is awesome. Since those are the random throw away funny things that he did in Buffy, Angel and Firefly.

Sharon: I agree. I hope he does more of them.

Amy: I think he did a great job with this movie!

Amy: I loved all the little interactions.

Coni: I’ve heard some complaints about the alien henchman near the end being bland baddies, but I didn’t have an issue with them.

Sharon: I didn’t have an issue with them either. I was more interested in the rest of the action.

Coni: I thought that Loki was still the overall bad guy and they were his stormtroopers.

Sharon: I did think they over did it though. I hate when they make it thousands to six.

Amy: The aliens were okay. When the first big alien came out I thought it looked like an angry turtle.

Coni: haha

Coni: I also liked how Capt America got to be in charge. Oh! did you see Christy from “Growing Pains” in the movie?

Amy: Oh was that the blonde girl who got interviewed? I thought she looked familiar!

Sharon: I thought so too and couldn’t place her either! I think she will be back in another movie though. They showed too much of her.

Coni: Yes, they showed her way too much for her not to be somewhere else. They are making another Capt. America so she might be in that.

Amy: He can have a love interest!

Sharon: ME ME ME

Coni: Since the other one is old.

Amy: Maybe then he won’t be sad about being frozen.

Coni: and dead? I don’t remember.

Coni: Oh, I loved it when he said “I got that reference!”

Amy: I would guess dead, I don’t think they really said.

Sharon: He was frozen and somehow unfrozen.

Amy: Just when he woke up he said, “I had a date.”

Coni: hahaha

Amy: It was awesome when agent guy said, “I watched you while you were sleeping!”

Coni: OMG creepy!

Coni: Ooh, have you seen the meme about Robin from “How I Met Your Mother?”I had no idea she was going to be in Avengers.

Sharon: I don’t know that person.

Coni: You should watch that show.

Coni: Robin in Avengers meme.

Coni: You will only get that if you watch it, so Amy will get it.

Sharon: ahh ok

Amy: I get that reference!

Coni: haha

Coni: Whatever her first line was in the movie, I didn’t hear it since I was saying “Hey, it’s Robin!”

Coni: Did you stay through the credits? To the very very end?

Amy: Yes!

Sharon: All the way through!

Amy: That was so funny!

Coni: I guess whatever they were eating in the last scene (forget what it was called) has had sales go through the roof.

Sharon: Schwarma any one?

Coni: Something like that.

Sharon: I know a shwarma place near by. I don’t know what that is but shwarma after?

Amy: Yeah what is shwarma?

Coni: Site describing shawarma.

Coni: Well, they sound delicious, but I’m also hungry.

Coni: “You can spot the shawarma shops by their massive towering logs of revolving meat and their vertical red cookers that are sizzling the rawness away.” That sentence is hilarious.

Amy: I would eat one!

Amy: The flying ship was awesome.

Coni: The big flying military ship, Amy?

Amy: Yes, the big military ship!

Coni: It looked so heavy, I thought it was going to fall out of the sky.

Amy: It was flying with magic!

Coni: Okay, anything else to add for Avengers review?

Sharon: The best scene?

Sharon: Hulk quieting Loki.

Coni: Yes, that was the best scene. There was so much laughter from the audience.

Sharon: Hulk sucker punching Iron Man.

Amy: Best scene? So hard to say! Maybe when they were in the lab talking about what is really going on.

Sharon: See? Hulk had the best ones

Hunger Games is based on a book series about a dystopian future where a civil war led to the government cordoning off areas of the United States, now called Panem, into districts. To remind the citizens to not rise up against the government, each district has to supply one girl and one boy (ages 12-18) each year, known as the Reaping, to compete in The Hunger Games. It is a fight to the death where only one of the 24 kids will survive with prizes awarded to the district of the winner. The entire event is televised.

Amy and I have read the entire trilogy so we knew this would have to be a Snazzle Review for us. We do compare the movie to the book and also talk plot points so, like usual, if you want to avoid spoilers, you might want to skip the review, but if you read to the end there is a twist that no one will expect coming.

Amy: Before we get started, I think I’m going to reread the book.
Coni: Just to remember how it was different or to get ready for the next movie?
Amy: Just to remember more of the details.
Coni: What did you think about the casting?
Amy: I thought good over all. I am not 100% sure about Elizabeth Banks as Effie. Also, I don’t really “picture” people when I read their descriptions in books, so I don’t have the reaction that some people do, saying “Oh I pictured her totally different.”
Coni: When I started reading the book, the movie was already cast, so I just went to IMDB to see who was playing each character so they were already in my head.
Amy: Good use of technology!
Amy: I liked Woody a lot as Hammich.
Coni: The only one I don’t remember was Seneca Crane so I imagined him as older and frumpier in the book.
Amy: I also really liked Lenny Kravitz and I thought that they nicely brought in some foreshadowing of how important Cinna’s work is down the road.
Coni: I thought Lenny Kravitz was a great Cinna. I found that I liked him a lot in a small part he had in the movie Precious so I thought he’d work well in this role.
Coni: I liked Elizabeth Banks as Effie, but then I knew it was her for a while. I did love her line about “That’s Mahogany!”
Amy: That part was hilarious!
Coni: There’s internet memes about it, I guess and a FaceBook page!
Amy: That’s awesome.

Amy: I felt the sets were very good. The fancy stuff for the Capitol was really neat.
Coni: I was sad that they cut out the part with the Axon or whatever they were called. The people with no tongues, but I see whey they didn’t really have time to put that in.
Amy: Avox. Yeah, there was a lot cut out but I felt they did well with what they kept in.
Coni: If they kept that in, it would have given a bit more of Katniss and Gale at the beginning of the movie. I felt the beginning was a bit rushed. I thought they could have set up her and Gale a bit more as how they got to know each other, but they could be doing that in the second movie.
Amy: Yes, the beginning was not what I was expecting.
Coni:  I also thought they didn’t do much with her mother.
Amy: I agree. I felt like that was a big piece of Kat’s motivation about saving Prim.
Coni: I wonder if there was more stuff filmed with the mother but it just got cut.
Amy: Possibly.
Coni: But then by the time the game actually started, the movie had been going on for a while.
Amy: It was a lot to fit into a movie. I also felt like the political set up was missing a bit. I thought they did well with showing the violence of the arena, but not making it gross.
Coni: Yes, I think they had to fit some political stuff into the movie where they had district 11 rioting. Jeremy was confused about that. I told him it was in later books. I thought they could have explained the hand symbol they used. A friend that I saw it with was asking what was up with the girl scout symbol that was for District 11.
Amy: Yes, I think they put in some stuff but not with the background info that made it so significant in the book.
Coni: I’m going to jump around a bit here. Even though the ending in the book was a great cliffhanger, I can see why they changed it slightly for the movie. I am guessing they’ll go into the second movie with Katniss thinking that Peeta was just doing the love story for the games, her not believing it is real and breaking his heart in the process.
Amy: Yeah.
Coni: He’ll be poor Peeta in that movie.

*** Stacy joined our conversation at this point***
Coni: Hi Stacy!
Stacy: Hi!
Amy: We’re talking about Hunger Games movie!
Coni: Chime in if you would like.
Stacy: Okay.
Coni: I did find the direction in this movie hard to follow. It would have been nice if  it was the Bourne movies director who is good at following crazy action but the audience is still able to see what’s going on. Maybe he’ll direct the second one, since the first director doesn’t want to do the second movie.
Amy: There was a lot of fuzzy and spinning camera work.
Stacy: I struggled with the shaky camera stuff.
Coni: I felt that I would have been lost if I hadn’t read the book and known what was going on.
Amy: While it’s hard to say how I’d view it if I hadn’t read the book, I tend to agree that I’m glad I read the book first.
Stacy: I feel that way about Game of Thrones too. Do people understand it if they haven’t read the book?
Coni: I watched first season of Game of Thrones and then read the book after. I followed most of what was happening. After I finished reading, I watched it all again.
Amy: For GoT I think that they’ve made the show so you understand a basic plot if you’ve not read the book, but if you read the book you know way more subtle stuff that’s going on.
Coni: Even with the differences, I did like the movie. I thought they found a great Katniss, didn’t go overboard on the romance stuff, but really wished the shaky camera could have been under control.
Stacy: I didn’t like Peeta though. Not really sure why.
Coni: You have to figure out why you didn’t like Peeta.

Amy: I’m trying to think what else about the movie. I liked the little happy noise the silver parachute gifts made.
Coni: Those were good parachutes noises but I kept wanting to say “Be quiet parachutes!”
Amy: I guess overall I was glad I’d read the book so I felt like I knew the explanation of things more. I’m realizing that the tone of the books and movies are not happy.
Coni: Were you thinking they were happy before?
Amy: Um I guess not. I guess I’ve just been seeing stuff on the internet about how it’s a love triangle.
Coni: I think the love triangle people are trying to hard to make this the new Twilight.
Amy: Possibly. I see Peeta actually liking Katniss as just being sad.
Coni: Katniss doesn’t seem to like anyone as much as they like her. Gale liked her but he never did anything so he’s a dork. He probably only wants to go after her when he realizes someone else does or he just assumed that she wasn’t into romantic love so he never tried anything. Then he gets pissed when he thinks she is falling for Peeta.
Amy: Yes, that does seem his style. It seems that Katniss is just concerned with survival for her and Prim and the love stuff is all from the other side.
Stacy: In the movie, Gale seemed more into Katniss pre-games than in the book.
Coni: Yeah, they probably threw that into the movie of it’d be like “Why is he even here?”
Amy: I agree with Stacy.
Coni: Did he kiss Katniss in the first book or the second one?
Amy: Second I think.
Stacy: I think so too.
Coni: They told them that Gale was a cousin in the first book right? They didn’t mention that in the movie did they?
Amy: That’s correct. That is how he got to say goodbye.
Coni: Did they mention it in the movie?
Amy: I don’t think so.

Coni: OMG. I keep forgetting to tell you Amy, on a completely random note. I had a dream the other night where I wandered away from my computer and while I was gone, you started to use it. You were looking up all sorts of porn on it. I came back and said, “Amy! Why are you looking at porn? Why on my computer? And why did you leave it up?” Hahaha!
Stacy: LOL
Amy: WAT!
Stacy: OMG- why did you leave it up LOLLOL
Coni: Serious!
Amy: Why? Why?
Coni: So many questions…
Amy: OMG. I am out of control in your dreams. Did I have any sort of explanation?
Coni: No, I only remember that part of the dream.
Amy: Well I guess if I was going to look at porn I wouldn’t want to do it on my computer, but leaving it up seems strange.

What a fabulous way to end a review! I just had to leave the dream chat in there since it is awesome.

Pick of the Week

The Big C returns with Kathy’s tumors shrinking or disappearing altogether, but she had a shock at the end of last season where it appeared her husband had died. The show is a good mix of very black humor mixed in with some real emotions. Parts of it would seem very corny if it wasn’t for Laura Linney.

The Big C

The Big C
Channel: SHO
Time: 9:30/8:30c
Starring: Laura Linney, Oliver Platt, John Benjamin Hickey, Gabriel Basso, Gabourey Sidibe
Premieres: Sunday, April 8

Click here to view the embedded video.

Recommended

All of Jackie’s secrets finally come out in the open in the fourth season of Nurse Jackie. I’m surprised it took so long. She goes off to rehab and her marriage is falling apart. She thinks things were better when she wasn’t sober. Over on The Borgias, there are more historical dramas for the second season of what they call the original crime family.

Nurse Jackie

Nurse Jackie
Channel: SHO
Time: 9/8c
Starring: Edie Falco, Eve Best, Merritt Wever, Paul Schulze, Dominic Fumusa, Anna Deavere Smith, Peter Facinelli, Stephen Wallem, Arjun Gupta
Premieres: Sunday, April 8

Click here to view the embedded video.

The Borgias

The Borgias
Channel: SHO
Time: 10/9c
Starring: Jeremy Irons, Francois Arnaud, Holliday Grainger, Joanne Whalley, Lotte Verbeek, David Oakes, Sean Harris, Colm Feore
Premieres: Wednesday, April 11

Click here to view the embedded video.

Willing To Try

A midwestern girl tries to be roommates in a very New York girl’s apartment and then is shocked when she keeps trying to scare her away as a game. It is something that could be stereotypical, but looks smarter than that. Also, James Van  Der Beek is supposed to be hilarious in it.

Don’t Trust the B— in Apartment 23

Don’t Trust the B in Apt 23
Channel: ABC
Time: 9:30/8:30c
Starring: Krysten Ritter, Dreama Walker, JamesVan  Der Beek,   Michael Blaiklock,  Ray Ford, Eric Andre, Liza Lapira

Premieres: Wednesday, April 11

Click here to view the embedded video.

Not Interested

Jennifer Love Hewitt is jumping on the bandwagon a little to late with people who will do something a bit out of the ordinary to make ends meet, in the vein of Weeds and Breaking Bad. It wishes it was that clever, but doesn’t look like it is.

The Client List

The Client List
Channel: Lifetime
Time: 10/9c
Starring: Jennifer Love Hewitt, Cybill Shepherd, Loretta Devine, ColinEgglesfield, Rebecca Field, Naturi Naughton, Alicia Lagano, Kathleen York
Premieres: Sunday, April 8

Click here to view the embedded video.

Game of Thrones
Author: George. R. R. Martin

I had not read Game of Thrones before it became a series on HBO. I had no intention of actually reading it until I had watched one episode. After being hooked by the television series after the pilot, I wanted the back story that I knew a television show could not offer.

George R. R. Martin’s fantasy book is filled with sorcery, beheadings, supernatural beings, incest and dragons. It is set in a different land that is similar to medieval times where seasons can last years. This book takes place during summer where it has lasted nine years, but there is a warning that “Winter is coming,” which is also the goofy motto for the Stark clan in the novel. They do live in the northern part of the country where it is colder and they are a hearty bunch that thrives during the winter, but I think they could have worked on their motto a bit more before committing on that one.

Each chapter in the book is told in from the point of view from a variety of characters with a good chunk of them based around the Stark clan who are happy with their life up in the northern part of Westeros until they are dragged into the political world in the main kingdom. That brings us to King Robert Baratheon and Queen Cersei Lannister. Robert and Ned are childhood friends and Robert’s marriage to Cersei is contemptuous since he is not faithful to her and pretty much uses her family’s wealth to play like a spoiled kid with all the toys in the world at his disposal. Cersei has two brothers, her handsome twin Jamie, who killed the mad king that allowed Robert to take over his reign, and her imp brother, Tyrion. He offers a great comic relief in the novel and is the only Lannister that we get to hear his point of view, and possibly the only likable one in the bunch.

I have only mentioned adults at this point, but they are only part of the focus of the entire complicated story. Many of Ned Stark’s children share their stories, including his two daughters Sansa and Anya, who couldn’t be more different from one another. Sansa wants to grow up and marry a king so she is thrilled when she is promised to King Robert’s son Joffrey. Anya thinks that wearing dresses and doing needlepoint is stupid. She would rather learn to fight with a sword and climb trees. There are also chapters that focus on two of Ned’s sons—his younger son Bran who learns early on that climbing castle walls might lead you to where you don’t want to go, and his older bastard son Jon Snow, who will not get to become a lord when he comes of age so he is going off to join the Night Watch on the Wall, which protects the rest of the land from scary things to the far north.

The last young adult that the story focuses on is Daenerys. Her father was the former mad king who was killed and left her and her brother, Viserys, to grow up hiding from others that wanted to kill them so there would be no true heirs to the throne. Viserys grew up wanting to take his kingdom back so he sells his younger sister to Khal Drogo, the leader of a horseman tribe who has over 20,000 men that he thinks will go to battle for him for the crown. Daenerys starts off as very innocent, but matures and gains self-confidence in herself as the story progresses.

Telling the story from various points of view a chapter at a time is an interesting way to tell the story, but at times it does constrict the flow. There are storylines that could overlap with one another in different ways if that restraint of keeping it in one character’s point of view. I imagine it creates a challenge for George R. R. Martin that he enjoys so that’s why he does it. At times, I wished I knew what Cersei, Robert, Littlefinger, or other minor characters were thinking, but they did not have chapters devoted to them so we have to guess. This is where the television series fills in the gaps by adding scenes to the show that were not in the book and giving a bit more back story to some characters that we don’t learn too much about in the novel.

Another benefit of reading the novel along with watching the series is I know when I don’t have to pay full attention to a character while reading about them. Martin loves to go into great detail about what someone is wearing and many characters have very similar names that it is easy to get them mixed up. It is helpful that there is an index of characters in the back of the book, but I’d rather not have to rely on that when reading a novel. I found myself skimming over wardrobe details or even minor characters that are not mentioned in the series since I figured they must not be prominent later in the story. This sped up the reading process for me, since the book is quite lengthy.

I found reading the novel while watching the series at the same time highly enjoyable. I loved seeing the characters brought to life after reading about them or reading back story on a character after watching an episode. It is a very intriguing story with some shocking bit, especially the incest, and fun, adventures to read about, including the possibility of dragons! I can’t wait to continue reading this series.

In the last leg, I was surprised at how strong of a team Kentucky was in the race. This leg, Big Brother is the one that shocked me. I don’t understand why Rachel cries every time she is heading to the pit stop, especially when there isn’t a real threat about being in last place, but she does come up with some good lines like the Jersey Shore one.

The next leg had teams going to Paraguay. The first four teams (Army, border agents, Kentucky and gun girls) were two hours in front of the last teams. There was some airport drama that wasn’t interesting so we’ll just move on.

After they landed, the teams headed to some equipment place to find the next clue. It was an odd place with playground equipment next to barbecue grills. The teams had to slide down a slide, which would have been fun to watch if someone fell off, but no one did. Then they found the clue in a grill. The clue was a detour where teams had to stack watermelons in a perfect 10×10 pyramid  or attach 36 strings to a harp. Most teams chose the watermelons, which were heavy and time-consuming, especially when they weren’t stacked correctly and started falling all over the place.

The border agents were the first team to finish the watermelons and said stacking watermelons could now be crossed off their bucket list. When the watermelon pile fell for the army team, Dave wanted to use the express pass but Rachel convinced him to switch tasks instead. Kentucky and gun girls decided to switch to the harp task after their watermelon pile fell too. The cousins who were on the later flight passed the Kentucky team while Kentucky was leaving the watermelons. The cousins asked if the task was hard and Kentucky told them it was easy. Then they took their cab. When the cousins saw how hard the task was and how teams had switched, they yelled about Kentucky taking their cab.

While Big Brother team could be annoying with Rachel crying randomly, I did not understand the non-stop taunting that Vanessa was doing towards them. Vanessa was really obsessed with Rachel’s ass while she was bent over getting watermelons. She was wearing the same black pants that Vanessa was so I’m not sure what her point was. Even Ralph was telling Vanessa to pay attention to what they were doing, but she just wouldn’t stop. Big Brother ended up switching from the watermelon task just to get away from Vanessa. This ended up being in Big Brother’s favor since when they showed up at the harp task, Rachel was a wunderkind with stringing instruments. While the twins went there first since one brother was a musician and thought that it would be the easiest task for them, they struggled with it. The teams that had switched from watermelons to the harp also struggled with it, but Rachel just breezed through and got it done. It was impressive.

The army team arrived at the harps after other teams had arrived and decided they needed to use their express pass. That didn’t give them the advantage they wanted for coming in first though since it just allowed them to skip the detour. They still had a road block to do! It ended up with Big Brother finishing the harps first and the Big Arms team with Vanessa finishing the watermelon task last. The twins spent tons of time at the harps, almost switched to the watermelons, but decided to finish with the harps. They were the last team to leave that task.

The road block  had one team member balance a glass bottle on their head while doing a choreographed dance that included getting down on their stomach with the bottle on their head. If the bottle fell off and broke, they had to start over. They only had a limited number of bottles to use and if they ran out, they had a two-hour penalty. The border agents got to the road block and finished it before any other team even finished the detour tasks. One of the border agents said that he could do it since he had a big fat head. When the army team arrived after using their express pass, Dave tried to do it but broke every single bottle so they got the clue to the pit stop but had to wait next to it for two hours to pass before checking in with Phil.

Other teams had a hard time at the bottle dance, but no one else broke all the bottles. Big Brother and the guidos were naturals at it. Big Brother finished it first out of the guidos, Kentucky, gun girls and cousins. Rachel was quite happy with it, until she saw the guidos finish right behind her. That led to her to randomly cry like she does and say, “Jersey Shore is going to beat us!” That has to be the best line.

At the pit stop, the border agents came in way ahead of everyone else. They also won a trip to the Bahamas. Even though the Army team finished second, they had their penalty so they had to wait while Big Brother, Guidos, Kentucky and Gun Girls checked before them. After Army, the Cousins and Big Arms team checked in, leaving the twins to check in last after the harp detour pretty much destroyed them. They ended up being eliminated.

Questions

1. What did you think about Vanessa taunting the Big Brother team non-stop during the watermelon task?
2. Were you surprised that the Big Brother girl was just flying through the harp and bottle dance tasks like they were the easiest things in the world?
3. Were you surprised how difficult the harp task was for the twins? Do you think they should have switched sooner to the watermelon task?

Two CIA agents end up dating the same woman. When they find out, they make a pact to keep dating her until she makes her choice, which makes them go to war with each other trying to win her over by spying on her and each other. This was Amy’s pick for our next Snazzle Review outing. As usual, we do discuss random plot points so if you want to avoid spoilers, skip the review.

Amy: Although it was a little predictable, I thought it was really fun and a good movie!

Coni: I really liked the set up of it, but thought it fell flat at the end.

Amy:  Yeah, the end was kinda like – Oh yeah, I guess he does like his baby mama. But I did really like Tom Hardy’s character!

Amy:  I thought the Chelsea character was maybe a bit more gross than she needed to be, but I think that is what people who like her show were expecting.

Coni:  Yes, I agree. I think the movie producers think they must have a vulgar female friend when she could have said the same stuff in a different way and still be funny.

Amy: It was funny when he called the other guy Captain Hornypants! But I did think it was sweet when she said, “Well I ask my husband what to do, because even though he is this and this, I do love him and he makes me the best me.”

Coni:  Yes, I agree that was sweet.

Coni: I liked that they were both CIA type guys, but then I found it creepy with all the stalking going on. Did she ever find out they were stalking her?

Amy:  I don’t know that it came out how much they were stalking her. That was a little creepy with the video and everything. But I did love the teams that were working for the head guys. They made me laugh. They were all into it.

Coni:  I did like that she was going to use her product testing criteria for dating them but her list of cons didn’t make any sense. She said one guy had tiny hands when he didn’t and the other con was he was British? Is that a con?

Amy:  Maybe if you don’t like the accent?

Coni:  They acted like it was a common thing for people not to like. I saw it with Stacy, Angela, Dan and Jer and we were all confused by that.

Amy:  I’m not aware of it being common to not like British people, but I can’t say that I’m the #1 information person on all things.

Coni:  I thought they should have come up with different physical things not to like or other personality type things, like when she said she couldn’t trust one and the other was too safe.

Amy:  Yeah that part could have been done better.

Amy:  I saw it with Liz and Lou. They both liked it.  I liked when she drove the car all fast and crazy.

Coni: I also liked when she drove the car fast.

Coni:  Going along, I was liking Tom Hardy’s character more since he took the information he learned and tried to find some activity that she might like to go along with it other than just saying he liked things he didn’t, like sick dogs or artwork she liked. I did like how they both met her and how the guys have a plan to sneak out of the date if it went horribly wrong.

Amy: I agree, I was very into the Tom Hardy character. Oh and when she was looking at the paintings and the other team hacked in and made him say silly stuff, that was funny. I see why they didn’t focus on his ex and that he still loved her, because then you’d know how it would end.

Coni:  Yes, it would have been nice if he ex had a personality though. She could have been given more to do  and maybe say why they weren’t together anymore to begin with.

Amy:  Yes, that would have been good.

Coni:  I can see why she chose the other one at the end, but I wouldn’t have made the same decision!

Amy:  I was very stressed when it wasn’t clear who she would go with. I was thinking, “How will they all be happy?!”

Amy:  Liz has the same VW convertible beetle that was in the movie, so we were cheering when the car floated!

Coni:  Stacy’s questioned why Reese’s character was so worried about being a skin suit didn’t question how someone knew where she worked when she didn’t even tell him her name.  Dan stated that if you are a travel agent, you get a divorce, but if you are a secret agent, you will live happily ever after.

Amy: Dan makes a good point. the Reese character did kinda go back and forth on safety issues while dating

Coni:  We also all wondered how they were still secret agents after they were all over the news.  We pondered the big questions this movie asked.

Amy:  Lots of deep thinking after this movie!

Amy:  Overall I really enjoyed it, it was funny and had action and while it’s not realistic, it was very entertaining!

Coni:  I did enjoy the action in the movie.  I was wanting it to be entertaining fluff but then the odd things just confused me more than anything. I was really hung up on the tiny hands and british accent,  but then I guess Reese Witherspoon can have Capt. Kirk and I’ll have Tom Hardy. That works out.

Amy:  That does seem fair

Coni: And as you can tell, I don’t remember anyone’s name in this movie.

Amy:  Me either! Oh Captain Kirk was FDR, which was weird.

Coni:  Oh yes, how did I forget that one?

Amy:  but I don’t remember the others at all.

Pick of the Week

Breaking In was cancelled with tons of other shows on FOX last year. Then it had its best ratings after the cancellation announcement. Even though it wasn’t super high ratings, it was enough to make FOX reconsider their decision. They decided to bring it back for another season. Will it last this time? They are bringing on Megan Mullally as a new boss and she clashes a bit with Christian Slater’s Oz character.

Breaking In

Breaking In
Channel: FOX
Time: 9:30/8:30c
Starring: Christian Slater, Megan Mullally, Bret Harrison, Alphonso McAuley, Odette Annable, Erin Richards
Premieres: Tuesday, March 6

Click here to view the embedded video.

Recommended

The second season of Breakout Kings continues with the main storyline of U.S. Marshals’ office using convicts to help catch fugitives. It is very much a weekly mini action movie with lots of car chases, fights and some humorous bits thrown in.

Breakout Kings

Breakout Kings
Channel: A&E
Time: 10/9c
Starring: Laz Alonso, Domenick Lombardozzi, Brooke Nevin, Jimmi Simpson, Malcolm Goodwin, Serinda Swan
Premieres: Sunday, March 4

Click here to view the embedded video.

Willing To Try

GCB  is based on a book called Good Christian Bitches. It was retitled Good Christian Belles since you know the first title wouldn’t fly. Now, it  has just been renamed GCB so you can call it whatever you want. It is about a former high school mean girl  who lost all her money when her hedge fund manager husband was carted off to jail so she has to return to her hometown in Dallas and live with her mother. She has gotten nicer over the years, but all her old classmates still remember how she used to treat them and are not happy to see her again. It does sound bitchy!

GCB

GCB
Channel: ABC
Time: 10/9c
Starring: Leslie Bibb, Kristin Chenoweth, Annie Potts, Miriam Shor, Marisol Nichols, Jennifer Aspen, Mark Deklin, David James Elliot, Brad Beyer
Premieres: Sunday, March 4

Click here to view the embedded video.

On Being Human, another werewolf, vampire and ghost show up at the house and tell a dying Leo that baby Eve is the secret to saving his life.

Grimm isn’t the best show on television but it is fun that it is filmed in the Portland area so I have to keep watching it. Also, I think the lead actor is learning how to actually act! I saw an real emotion cross his face in a recent episode. On tonight’s episode, a botched jewelry-store robbery results in murder and raises questions about rare coins; a friend of Aunt Marie’s visit Nick with information about his family.

On CBS, there are the old people shows on tonight, starting with A Gifted Man. In the first-season finale, Michael discovers a patient at the clinic has a special link to Anna. Meanwhile, Michael gets reacquainted with an old friend who’s been diagnosed with an uncommon illness. On Blue Bloods, a high-profile reporter and close friend of Frank is nearly assaulted while she is out with him, and Danny and Jackie search for the would-be attacker. Meanwhile, Jamie’s undercover case comes to a critical stage.