Review: Snow White Lies by Sarah J Pepper

The book mostly takes place in the present but is rooted in the stories of The Huntsman and dwarves in past flashbacks.

There is magic, explosions, scandals, betrayals, and a lot of darkness as well as humor in the story. A very modern re-telling of a classic. And while I absolutely LOVED the author's Alice in Wonderland re-telling in Death of a Mad Hatter, this one left me a bit scattered with questions I didn't find were fully answered.  I think I got lost in my head a few times and that distracted me from the story.

I loved the characters of Snow and The Huntsman and some of the dwarves really engaged me, the Queen was not as much as an evil presence as I maybe would have liked. But it was quite imaginative and I do like being taken to other places with these re-tellings. This one just wasn't my favorite.

Terri

Movie Review - Jack The Giant Slayer

I was really looking forward to this one before it came out.  I thought it would be such fun.

But then I heard pretty bad reviews so I didn't go see it in the theater.  I don't always listen to reviews but, they were enough that I said, wait for cable to myself.

Turns out I am glad I did.  Not that it was BAD, it wasn't...  It just wasn't that great either.

Familiar tale, Jack ends up with magic beans in a trade gone wrong.  Bean ends up in ground and magic beanstalk grows.  This time instead of one giant, there is a land of giants in the clouds.

Then we get an extra fairy tale element:  A Princess to rescue, a brave knight (Ewan MacGregor) to lead the rescue and cute farmboy Jack to save the day.  A great traitor twist (Stanley Tucci)

Not to mention a great director - Bryan Singer.

The elements were there, but...

I didn't work.  It was very very slow and there was NO chemistry between Jack and the Princess.

What should have been a fun romp was a film with great visual effects, some wonderful performances and the rest not so much...

Terri