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Like ‘Frozen’? Here Are More Frosty Fairy Tales!

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Like ‘Frozen’? Here Are More Frosty Fairy Tales!

Sometimes it seems as if our culture pushes every celebration of winter into Christmastime. But winter is a long season, and the inspiration for a wealth of fables and fairy stories over the centuries. When it comes to the movies, the snow-drenched fantasy modern audiences are most familiar with is probably Disney’s Frozen, nominally based on Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Snow Queen.” Frozen wasn’t the first cinematic stab at that story, however, nor is “The Snow Queen” the only such tale to make it onto film. If you’ve enjoyed Frozen – or if you have more traditional tastes – here are a few more frosty fairy films to give a look before March 21:

The Snow Maiden (1952, Russia)

The Snow Maiden was originally an 1873 play written by the great Russian playwright Alexander Ostrovsky, inspired by fairy tales told to him by his nanny growing up. For such a comparatively recent and literary effort, the bittersweet tale of Snegurochka, daughter of Spring and Ded Moroz (a Father Christmas figure), has a rawness and a preoccupation with nature that help it seem of much more ancient vintage. The play was later adapted by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov into an opera, and it was this opera that Soyuzmultfilm studio animated for 1952’s The Snow Maiden, a Christmas favorite in Russia to this day. At 70 minutes, it’s brisker than many would expect of an opera. Working, as they did, in Stalinist Russia, directors Ivan Ivanov-Vano and Aleksandra Snezhko-Blotskaya weren’t working in the most nurturing or permissive environment, and if you find rotoscoping to be a limiting form of animation, be warned: nearly everything human in The Snow Maiden was done with that technique. But there is some lovely animation of animals and forest goblins throughout, and some astonishingly intricate background paintings. Small highlights of color pop like fireworks amidst the cold tones of snow and night. These visual strengths, connected to Korsakov’s music and the fundamentals of the story, offset the often stiff expressions and blocking, the result being an uneven but moving adaptation of Ostrovsky’s play.

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The Twelve Months (1956, Russia)

Ivan Ivanov-Vano has been called the father of Russian animation, and he visited fairy tale themes throughout his career. Not long after adapting The Snow Maiden, he (and co-director Mikhail Botov) took another play based on folklore, this time one by Samuil Marshak: The Twelve Months, the story of a poor girl’s chance encounter with the spirits of the twelve months around a nighttime fire on New Year’s Eve. It can be read as more nakedly in service to Soviet propaganda than The Snow Maiden; a subplot concerning a semiliterate queen and her court does no favors to royalty or the bourgeoisie. Ironically, the film opens with an extended animal sequence straight out of Disney. There’s nice animation done with these critters, and while The Twelve Months relies heavily on rotoscoping, the character designs are pushed a bit more, allowing for stronger facial expression in the comic relief and some imposing nobility to the twelve brother months. Clocking in at just under an hour, it makes for an easy and charming watch.


The Snow Queen (1957, Russia)

If The Twelve Months could be taken as partisan in the Cold War, animator Lev Atamanov’s production of The Snow Queen ended up the diplomat of Soviet cartoons. Andersen’s seven-part tale has a lot packed into it, and this film retains every major incident of Gerda’s journey to rescue her friend Kay. At 64 minutes, it’s a tight abridgement, so tight that I sometimes wished it would take a bit more time to breathe. There’s something doll-like to most of the human cast that keeps them from properly emoting, a serious liability when time is so short. But the Snow Queen herself cuts a powerful figure, towering over mere mortals and appearing carved from an ice crystal. Gerda’s reindeer friend is every bit the peer of Bambi’s majestic father from Disney. And Atamanov’s montage of a finale knows how to sell a happy ending. The Snow Queen broke through the Iron Curtain in the 50s when Universal-International distributed it across America. With a dubbed cast including Tommy Kirk and Sandra Dee (and a replacement musical score), the film became a Christmas TV tradition for a time, and its stunning visuals helped inspire none other than Hayao Miyazaki. Two subsequent English dubs have been released over the years, including a 1995 edition with Kirsten Dunst as Gerda and Kathleen Turner as the Snow Queen, though I recommend the original Russian if you can find it.


RELATED: How ‘Into the Unknown: Making Frozen 2’ Proves More Streamers Should Do Behind-the-Scenes Series

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The Snow Queen (1967, Russia)

As is the way of fairy tales, The Snow Queen has inspired many adaptations over time, each with its own idiosyncrasies. If the animated 1957 take opted to keep almost everything Andersen wrote in abridged form, Gennadi Kazansky’s live action production a decade later retained fewer adventures but expanded on those it kept, focusing in on Gerda’s visit to the prince and princess and her capture by bandits. This version also carves out a role for Hans Christian Andersen himself, as Gerda and Kay’s beloved storyteller who weaves himself in and out of their journey. The Snow Queen’s role is expanded from the fairy tale, both directly and through her counselor (another unsubtle jab at Western capitalism). This film has one of the worst animal puppets I’ve ever seen in a movie as the reindeer, but it’s colorful, good-humored, and benefits greatly from Natalia Klimova’s turn as the titular villainess and Olga Viklandt’s boisterous bandit chieftain.


The Snow Maiden (1968, Russia)

When Alexander Ostrovsky’s 150th birthday came in 1968, a fresh adaptation of The Snow Maiden was commissioned, this time a live action effort by the actor-director Pavel Kadochnikov (Sergei Eisenstein’s Ivan the Terrible). This production runs an hour-and-a-half long, and its musical numbers look more to folk music than Korsakov’s opera. The staging of these numbers, and many nonmusical sequences, give the film more vitality and movement than the earlier animated adaptation. On the other hand, cross-cutting between location shoots in a real forest and woodlands recreated in a studio may have a charm reminiscent of the Hammer horror films of the same decade, but they make for less impressive environments. A dark turn near the end for one of the romantic attachments can make for uncomfortable viewing too. But Kadochnikov’s The Snow Maiden is carried through any rough patches by a wonderful cast. The director cameos as Tsar Berendey, but Yevgenia Filonova’s perpetually curious turn as Snegurochka bring the snow maiden to life – and make her ultimate fate all the more cutting.


Lumikuningatar (1986, Finland)

It’s not just the Russians who can make wintertime fairy tale films. Directed by Päivi Hartzell, Lumikuningatar is another adaptation of The Snow Queen, and the third time’s the charm. This is the best film adaptation of the story made to date (and I’m including Frozen in the count). It offers a more surreal, nightmarish flavor of fantasy. There’s no particular time or place for the setting, but a mishmash of elements from various eras. The Snow Queen’s palace is among the most fun locales, deliberately theatrical and with a sensibility not unlike Toho’s fantasy movies from the 60s. The episodes on the journey there can be genuinely chilling; the bandits, clad like a biker gang out of hell, have a terrifying musical number. But it’s what Lumikuningatar does for the protagonist that puts it over and above the rest. In earlier adaptations, Gerda often ends up lost amidst all the fantasy around her. This film keeps the young heroine in focus and fleshes out the emotional toll her efforts to save Kay place upon her, making the ending all the sweeter.


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The Polar Bear King (1991, Norway)

The Polar Bear King comes from the collection of fairy tales by Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jorgen Møe, Norway’s answer to the Brothers Grimm. It tells the story of Prince Valemon, heir to the throne of Summerland and cursed to be a bear by day when he rejects the advances of a power-hungry witch. In the kingdom of Winterland, Valemon finds his true love, but their wedded bliss is dogged by the persistent sorceress. Valemon’s bear form was brought to life by Jim Henson’s Creature Shop. He may not be their finest puppet – judging from some of the interior sets, I suspect the film didn’t have much of a budget – but he gets the job done. And even with limited resources, the staging by director Ola Solum is dynamic and surprisingly warm for such a wintry story. In its approach to adapting a fairy tale, The Polar Bear King is possibly the most simple and childlike movie on this list, but in that simplicity is an undeniable charm.



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Review: SAMARITAN, A Sly Stallone Superhero Stumble

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Review: SAMARITAN, A Sly Stallone Superhero Stumble

Hitting the three-quarter-century mark usually means a retirement home, a nursing facility, or if you’re lucky to be blessed with relatively good health and savings to match, living in a gated community in Arizona or Florida.

For Sylvester Stallone, however, it means something else entirely: starring in the first superhero-centered film of his decades-long career in the much-delayed Samaritan. Unfortunately for Stallone and the audience on the other side of the screen, the derivative, turgid, forgettable results won’t get mentioned in a career retrospective, let alone among the ever-expanding list of must-see entries in a genre already well past its peak.

For Stallone, however, it’s better late than never when it involves the superhero genre. Maybe in getting a taste of the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) with his walk-on role in the Guardians of the Galaxy sequel several years ago, Stallone thought anything Marvel can do, I can do even better (or just as good in the nebulous definition of the word).

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The property Stallone and his team found for him, Samaritan, a little-known graphic novel released by a small, almost negligible, publisher, certainly takes advantage of Stallone’s brute-force physicality and his often underrated talent for near-monosyllabic brooding (e.g., the Rambo series), but too often gives him to little do or say as the lone super-powered survivor, the so-called “Samaritan” of the title, of a lifelong rivalry with his brother, “Nemesis.” Two brothers entered a fire-ravaged building and while both were presumed dead, one brother did survive (Stallone’s Joe Smith, a garbageman by day, an appliance repairman by night).

In the Granite City of screenwriter Bragi F. Schut (Escape Room, Season of the Witch), the United States, and presumably the rest of the world, teeters on economic and political collapse, with a recession spiraling into a depression, steady gigs difficult, if not impossible, to obtain, and the city’s neighborhoods rocked by crime and violence. No one’s safe, not even 13-year-old Sam (Javon Walker), Joe’s neighbor.

When he’s not dodging bullies connected to a gang, he’s falling under the undue influence of Cyrus (Pilou Asbæk), a low-rent gang leader with an outsized ego and the conviction that he and only he can take on Nemesis’s mantle and along with that mantle, a hammer “forged in hate,” to orchestrate a Bane-like plan to plunge the city into chaos and become a wealthy power-broker in the process.

Schut’s woefully underwritten script takes a clumsy, haphazard approach to world-building, relying on a two-minute animated sequence to open Samaritan while a naive, worshipful Sam narrates Samaritan and Nemesis’s supposedly tragic, Cain and Abel-inspired backstory. Schut and director Julius Avery (Overlord) clumsily attempt to contrast Sam’s childish belief in messiah-like, superheroic saviors stepping in to save humanity from itself and its own worst excesses, but following that path leads to authoritarianism and fascism (ideas better, more thoroughly explored in Watchmen and The Boys).

While Sam continues to think otherwise, Stallone’s superhero, 25 years past his last, fatal encounter with his presumably deceased brother, obviously believes superheroes are the problem and not the solution (a somewhat reasonable position), but as Samaritan tracks Joe and Sam’s friendship, Sam giving Joe the son he never had, Joe giving Sam the father he lost to street violence well before the film’s opening scene, it gets closer and closer to embracing, if not outright endorsing Sam’s power fantasies, right through a literally and figuratively explosive ending. Might, as always, wins regardless of how righteous or justified the underlying action.

It’s what superhero audiences want, apparently, and what Samaritan uncritically delivers via a woefully under-rendered finale involving not just unconvincing CGI fire effects, but a videogame cut-scene quality Stallone in a late-film flashback sequence that’s meant to be subversively revelatory, but will instead lead to unintentional laughter for anyone who’s managed to sit the entirety of Samaritan’s one-hour and 40-minute running time.

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Samaritan is now streaming worldwide on Prime Video.

Samaritan

Cast
  • Sylvester Stallone
  • Javon ‘Wanna’ Walton
  • Pilou Asbæk

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Matt Shakman Is In Talks To Direct ‘Fantastic Four’

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According to a new report, Wandavision’s Matt Shakman is in talks to direct the upcoming MCU project, Fantastic Four. Marvel Studios has been very hush-hush regarding Fantastic Four to the point where no official announcements have been made other than the film’s release date. No casting news or literally anything other than rumors has been released regarding the project. We know that Fantastic Four is slated for release on November 8th, 2024, and will be a part of Marvel’s Phase 6. There are also rumors that the cast of the new Fantastic Four will be announced at the D23 Expo on September 9th.

Fantastic Four is still over two years from release, and we assume we will hear more news about the project in the coming months. However, the idea of the Fantastic Four has already been introduced into the MCU. John Krasinski played Reed Richards aka Mr. Fantastic in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. The cameo was a huge deal for fans who have been waiting a long time for the Fantastic Four to enter the MCU. When Disney acquired Twenty Century Fox in 2019 we assumed that the Fox Marvel characters would eventually make their way into the MCU. It’s been 3 years and we already have had an X-Men and Fantastic Four cameo – even if they were from another universe.

Deadline is reporting that Wandavision’s Matt Shakman is in talks to direct Fantastic Four. Shakman served as the director for Wandavision and has had an extensive career. He directed two episodes of Game of Thrones and an episode of The Boys, and he had a long stint on It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. There is nothing official yet, but Deadline’s sources say that Shakman is currently in talks for the job and things are headed in the right direction.

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To be honest, I was a bit more excited when Jon Watts was set to direct. I’m sure Shakman is a good director, but Watts proved he could handle a tentpole superhero film with Spider-Man: Homecoming. Wandavision was good, but Watts’ style would have been perfect for Fantastic Four. The film is probably one of the most anticipated films in Marvel’s upcoming slate films and they need to find the best person they can to direct. Is that Matt Shakman? It could be, but whoever takes the job must realize that Marvel has a lot riding on this movie. The other Fantastic Four films were awful and fans deserve better. Hopefully, Marvel knocks it out of the park as they usually do. You can see for yourself when Fantastic Four hits theaters on November 8th, 2024.

Film Synopsis: One of Marvel’s most iconic families makes it to the big screen: the Fantastic Four.

Source: Deadline

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Dan Aykroyd, Chevy Chase Star in ‘Zombie Town’ Mystery Teen Romancer (Exclusive)

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Dan Aykroyd and Chevy Chase have entered Zombie Town, a mystery teen romancer based on author R.L. Stine’s book of the same name.

The indie, now shooting in Ontario, also stars Henry Czerny and co-teen leads Marlon Kazadi and Madi Monroe. The ensemble cast includes Scott Thompson and Bruce McCulloch of the Canadian comedy show Kids in the Hall.

Canadian animator Peter Lepeniotis will direct Zombie Town. Stine’s kid’s book sees a quiet town upended when 12-year-old Mike and his friend, Karen, see a horror movie called Zombie Town and unexpectedly see the title characters leap off the screen and chase them through the theater.

Zombie Town will premiere in U.S. theaters before streaming on Hulu and then ABC Australia in 2023.

“We are delighted to bring the pages of R.L. Stine’s Zombie Town to the screen and equally thrilled to be working with such an exceptional cast and crew on this production. A three-time Nickelodeon Kids Choice Award winner with book sales of over $500 million, R.L. Stine has a phenomenal track record of crafting stories that engage and entertain audiences,” John Gillespie, Trimuse Entertainment founder and executive producer, said in a statement.

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Executive producers are Trimuse Entertainment, Toonz Media Group, Lookout Entertainment, Viva Pictures and Sons of Anarchy actor Kim Coates.  

Paco Alvarez and Mark Holdom of Trimuse negotiated the deal to acquire the rights to Stine’s Zombie Town book.

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