Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters

I was not expecting much from this movie. I saw the trailer and it doesn't look very good. More disjointed and plotless then most movies trailers do. I watched a short interview on foxtel with the cast and I thought Gemma Arterton sounded nice, so I went to see it. When I got to the cinema and saw they sold these cool green sippy cups for frozen coke, I bought one and kinda thought that would be the highlight of the day.

I was not prepared for the movie to be pretty great, and it was. So the sippy cup, wasn't as cool, which is crazy, because the sippy cup is awesome! Don't get so excited and rush off to go see it though. I think one of the reasons I liked it so much much was because I had such low expectations. After watching the trailer it reminded me of Snow White and the Huntsman, and that was a terrible movie.

Hansel and Gretel, had a really great relationship on screen. As you all know, their parents left them when they were little and they have only had each other since. They bickered like siblings, fought like siblings and protected each other like siblings would. It was clear they were very close. It was fun to watch then, Gretel was particularly kick arse and Hansel, all roguish. There were some really great side character's too, and I relished in their inclusion. 

The plot actually made sense! Which is quite out standing considering most movies taken from fairytales are always changed. Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters had changes a plenty. Of course, the children become witch hunters after killing they witch in the candy house but there are others too. Their parents are mentioned and there is a revelation that I thought was a great addition. 

With these glasses comes great
reflexes and super strength

I saw it in 3D and there were arrows flying at me and trees fell on me, but I have ninja like reflexes and I am super strong, so I lived to tell the tale. It wasn't anything to write home about, it was good, not great, Hansel's bending over backwards to miss an arrow made me laugh out loud rather be amazed. I guess that is CGI and action packed flicks this days, it's hard to stand out, or be taken seriously (like this movie wth? and where is the plot?). 

I really enjoyed this movie. It didn't take itself too seriously, the plot flowed, the acting was good and I would definitely go see another one. 

3.5 out of 5 - decapitated witches.

The Tales of Dunk and Egg - G.R.R. Martin

The Hedge Knight, The Sworn Sword and the Mystery Knight are the three short stories that have currently been published. These three short stories are collected in various volume's called Warriors in where authors write short stories set in there most famous worlds. I don't care about the other authors, I just wanted the G.R.R Martin ones :P.

The tales are set 100 years BEFORE the events of Game of Thrones. If you pay more attention to things than I do in the ASoIaF world you will see the references made to people that lived and breathed in Dunk and Egg's day. Unfortunately I don't pay much attention so I guess I missed out. Not that I minded, I loved these short stories anyway. The only bad part is because it is 100 years before GoT I that Dunk and Egg die, but oh well, all things die eventually.

The short stories are ... ready ... this is pretty huge ... get ready ... they are light. They are light and fun, there is not so much doom and gloom and perpetual winter that characterises ASoIaF.  That is not to say the stories aren't interesting reads. I read them all one after the other and even tried to get out of breakfast so I could finish the last 100 pages when I woke up. The best thing about these books were the characters. You can't help but love them and it is a nice change of pace to follow a hedge knight and his squire around the place rather reading pages and pages of heavy court intrigue.

I can't recommend these short stories highly enough. They were short, great reading and I sense you will get so much more out of them if you paid more attention to things when you read ASoIaF.  There are more coming too so look out for that! Oh and they are in graphic novel format as well.

5 out of 5 - hedges with knights