Screen Junkies » Red Riding Hood

Weekend Box Office Report: America Does Battle With Los Angeles

Joseph Gibson — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 16:03:46 +0000

Sometimes, an underdog beats all the odds and leaves all the naysayers scratching their heads, and can be an inspiration to us all. Battle: Los Angeles, for instance, conquered the obstacle of not being a very good movie and rocketed to the top spot at the box office this weekend. I’m certainly going to remember this the next time I do a mediocre job. Thank you, Battle: Los Angeles, for the sterling example you’ve provided – just because a movie sucks, doesn’t mean it can’t succeed where it counts.

Elsewhere on the new release schedule, the news was not as inspiring. Red Riding Hood, with its apparently insufficiently sexy Big Bad Wolf, came in a distant 3rd behind golden oldie Rango. And, excitingly enough, we had a genuine flop this weekend in Mars Needs Moms, which cost 150 million dollars to make, and only grossed 6.8 million dollars over the weekend. Maybe this means Robert Zemeckis will make a movie with real people in it again. (via The AV Club)

Review: Red Riding Hood

Fred Topel — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 17:01:13 +0000

Remember that movie Ever After? It was a live-action, more grounded reality-based version of Cinderella. Still in a historical period, but I don’t even think they had magic. Just a glass slipper and mistaken identity. Well, obviously it wasn’t that memorable but I think I recall it being okay. Red Riding Hood is a bad new version of a fairy tale.

Valerie (Amanda Seyfried) lives in a village plagued by a werewolf that lives in the forest. She’s in love with Peter (Shiloh Fernandez) but her mother (Virginia Madsen) has arranged her marriage to Henry (Max Irons). Her grandmother (Julie Christie) makes her red riding hood, although she never rides so it’s just a red hooded cloak.

Father Solomon (Gary Oldman) arrives in Daggerhorn village. He’s the only character with any credibility, like all Gary Oldman characters in otherwise forgettable films. Solomon is the werewolf expert and he plans to flush out the werewolf living in Daggerhorn. Throughout the story, the movie tries to make you think everyone could be the werewolf.

That’s your bold new take on Red Riding Hood? A whodunit? Clutter the story with red herrings until you get to the reveal? Along the way, dwell in the boring town life? There’s a bonfire dance where Valerie canoodles with Prudence (Kacey Rohl) to make Peter jealous. There’s family scandal because Valerie’s father (Billy Burke) is not her sister’s father. Simplistic drama, only the actors all wear costumes and speak in quainter English.

The wolf CGI is bad and its telepathic communication with Valerie is ridiculous. Audience members rightly laughed. They incorporate the “big eyes, big ears, big teeth” line in a sequence so lame it’s not even relevant to the story.

Also, Daggerhorn’s big problem is they live outside a forest ruled by a werewolf. JUST MOVE! It’s only thatched huts we’re talking about. It’s not like they’re locked in with property values like we are today. They can build more thatched huts be another forest, or better yet in a meadow.

There is a kick ass way to redo this fairy tale. Make Valerie’s trip through the forest a Lord of the Rings epic quest building up to the final battle at grandmother’s house. Instead this is all the boring parts of a teen romance.

Red Riding Hood

Reza F. — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 01:17:12 +0000

Director: Catherine Hardwicke

Cast: Amanda Seyfried, Gary Oldman, Lukas Haas, Billy Burke, Shiloh Fernandez

Synopsis: Set in a medieval village that is haunted by a werewolf, a young girl falls for an orphaned woodcutter, much to her family’s displeasure.

Release Date: March 11, 2011

‘Red Riding Hood’ Looks Even ‘Twilight’-ier With New Trailer

Geoffrey Golden — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 03:23:54 +0000

If I told you that Catherine Hardwicke directed a gothish movie about a teenage girl whose raging hormones get her mixed up with a violent werewolf man, you’d probably say, “that’s not news, dude. Twilight already happened and I refuse to see it, unless it comes on HBO or something, where I’d watch it for, like, 20 minutes and then decide it’s terrible.” Well, check this out: I’m talking about Hardwicke’s new movie Red Riding Hood.

Mind. Blown.

After watching the new trailer for Red Riding Hood above, the film doesn’t just seem reminiscent of Twilight. It is Twilight. The black and white backgrounds with red text, teens having sex and getting violent with each other, mythical monsters, desaturated colors with a lot of slow-mo, two men she must choose between… If Edward Cullen pops in and ties the universes together, I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised.

Yeah, I’ll take the old cartoon version wher Red Riding Hood is hot, but not in a pedophiliac way. The wolves are way awesomer too, cause they have mallets.

Red Riding Hood skips into theaters on March 11. (Collider)

‘Red Riding Hood’ Show Its Teeth In New Stills

Penn Collins — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 23:12:04 +0000

As a follow up to the official trailer released earlier, the producers of Red Riding Hood have released seven official images from their edgy-but-still-Twilight-y take on the tale. Judging from the stills, it appears the big takeaway is that Amanda Seyfried‘s protagonist, Valerie, is really, really red. Critical reaction to the trailer and the PG-13 rating has been that, despite Catherine Hardwick’s involvement as director and the promise of a more gothic telling of the story, the film will be watered-down enough to pander to the fickle teen demographic.

These stills don’t do much to validate or debunk that criticism, though their reminiscence of Sleepy Hollow is somewhat promising. The story begins with a love triangle between Seyfried, her fiance Henry, and an orphaned woodcutter named Peter, but the romance is downplayed as a wolf-like creature begins to terrorize the village.

It’s hard to tell what to make of the story, as the stills are dazzling, but, then again, production stills usually are. The story and acting will end up driving the reception of this film, and no amount of pics will be able to convey what’s going on with those. However, if the movie plays up the impressive imagery in its promotion, there’s a chance this movie could get an audience out of more than just Twilight-deprived teens and tweens. (Screen Rant)

‘Red Riding Hood’ Trailer Is a Wolf In ‘Twilight’ Clothing

Jame Gumb — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 23:59:37 +0000

The Red Riding Hood trailer has hit the internaught, and I have to say, it looks remarkably similar to the trailers I’ve seen for the Twilight films. That’s probably due, in no small part, to the fact that Catherine Hardwicke directed both films. Like Twilight, this film has pretty young women staring longingly at pretty young men, gratuitous slow-motion shots, and a real ‘pedophiles must love this crap’ kind of vibe. Yep, Hardwicke is an auteur. But unlike the Twilight films, Hood, as I like to call it, has real actors. Amanda Seyfried and Gary Oldman are both in the film, and I’m assuming they must have made a boatload of cash to go slumming this low. Kudos to you, Gary. Take the money and run!