SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN (Rated PG-13)

The legend of Snow White has been revived this year in a TV series and two movies, the previous one in late March.

What accounts for this phenomenon is a mystery that defies explanation, at least from my vantage point.

As far as movies go, it is clear that Snow White has slipped from the grasp of the Walt Disney kingdom.

Earlier this year, “Mirror Mirror” proved an amiable, comedic take on the timeless fairytale.

“Snow White and the Huntsman,” elevating a warrior to co-equal status, is a darker, foreboding tale, where the cruel Queen is the ultimate incarnation of villainy. Again, no Disney magic found here.

But first, a prologue sets the stage. Snow White is a young child when her widower father, King Magnus, defeats an army and rescues the beautiful Ravenna (Charlize Theron) from supposed captivity.

Sad and lonely, the King is smitten by Ravenna’s beauty and quickly decides to marry her. On their wedding night, Queen Ravenna reveals her true colors, and it isn’t pretty.

On the marital bed, the King, for reasons to be left unexplained, demonstrates a lack of staying power. Thus, the evil Queen Ravenna promptly seizes the throne, tossing Snow White into a cold, damp cell in the palace tower.

To keep her status as the fairest beauty in the land, the Queen talks to her magic mirror, takes milk baths and in vampire-like fashion sucks the life out of every fair maiden she can find.

The Queen’s loyal sidekick is her wretched brother Finn (Sam Spruell), whose unfortunate blond page-boy haircut and pale skin apparently render him a pliable henchman serving her every twisted whim.

Foretelling the doom that awaits, the Queen’s fabled mirror, a shape-shifting device, warns that the kingdom is running out of fresh virgins and the sacrifice of Snow White is the Evil Queen’s only salvation.

Not surprisingly, Snow White breaks free of the castle and runs to the Dark Forest, a really grim place that is nicely realized by blackened trees, slithering snakes, and a monstrous troll. It’s dark enough that it should give nightmares to very young kids.

The Queen possesses numerous supernatural powers, including the ability to turn black ravens into an army of warriors, but she’s not keen on pursuing her stepchild into the forbidding forest.

Thus, the Huntsman (Chris Hemsworth), a fierce warrior reduced to a bitter drunkard as the result of the death of his wife, is enlisted to hunt down Snow White by a false promise given by the Queen.

Knowing the tricky terrain of the Dark Forest, the Huntsman takes little time in finding the princess and then precious little more time to be entranced by Snow’s plucky resolve.

Eluding the Queen’s brother and his gang, Snow White and the Huntsman end up seeking refuge in a camp where the only residents are women who have disfigured themselves as protection against the Queen’s ravenous appetite.

On the run once again, they end up being captured by the proverbial dwarves, this time all of them played by recognizable actors like Ian McShane, Nick Frost, Bob Hoskins and Ray Winstone.

A nice cinematic trick has miniaturized full-grown men into little people, the effect of which is so jarring that one ponders more how this was accomplished than to pay attention to the unfolding story.

As it should be, the dwarves add some much-needed humor into this bleak fairytale, but in the end they don’t provide as much comic relief as the story requires.

The dwarves serve a meaningful purpose of leading the Huntsman and Snow White into a magical fairyland, where cute animals and sprites frolic in a lush green forest.

After our duo hooks up with Prince William (Sam Claflin), the action then shifts abruptly to a medieval battle scene with a full-scale assault on the Evil Queen’s island fortress.

Snow White, dressed in a suit of armor like Joan of Arc, suddenly abandons her blank-eyed look and takes on the steely determination of a fierce warrior similar to that of her savior the Huntsman.

Of course, as to be expected, there is a showdown between Snow White and Queen Ravenna, where at first the princess is tossed around like a rag doll.

“Snow White and the Huntsman,” with elements of fantasy, romance, adventure and intense action, seems calculated to appeal to a wide-range of audiences. Indeed, it succeeds on several levels.

DVD RELEASE UPDATE

Long before he played the weary private eye James Rockford, James Garner was the wisecracking ladies’ man Bret Maverick in a Western TV series.

Now for the first time, “Maverick: The Complete First Season” is being released on DVD, containing all 27 episodes of Season One that average 50 minutes a clip.

Bret Maverick and his more serious brother Bart (Jack Kelly) are two handsome bachelors on the loose in the Wild West, traveling with a sense of humor and a knack for getting into trouble.

The two have more success at the game of poker than the game of love, yet their fondness for gambling invariably leads to some sort of frontier hassle.

“Maverick” is a classic and sometimes humorous Western series that was nominated for four Emmys and won one during its successful 5-year broadcast run.

For the right person, “Maverick: The Complete First Season” may prove a fitting Father’s Day gift.

Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Lake County Arts Council will host its next First Friday Fling on June 1.

The fling will take place from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Main Street Gallery, 325 N. Main St., Lakeport.

The First Friday Fling will introduce the work of Kevin Village Stone, Cathy Farris, Bonnie Tringali, Terry Drunil. Diana Leibe and Richard Seisser.

Currently showing at the gallery are Kathy Dutra, Clementine Hall, Ron Snider, Bill Rose, Linda Richmond, Evelyn and Dennis Robison, Linda Fielding, Linda Riedel, Toni Hyden, Leonora McKenzie and John Winslow.

Pianist Andy Rossoff will provide music and Chacewater Winery will pour its vintages. Finger food also will be offered.

For more information contact the Lake County Arts Council, 707-263-6658.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – A full concert by the young people of the Clear Lake Performing Arts Youth Orchestra is scheduled for Sunday, June 10, at Lakeport's Soper-Reese Community Theatre.

The concert starts at 3 p.m. Admission is free.

Susan Condit, music director and conductor of the orchestra, said the orchestra has outgrown its previous venue – Kelseyville's Presbyterian Church – and is grateful to the Soper-Reese and its volunteers for making the concert possible.

Condit has assembled a wide-ranging program which, although youth-oriented, includes music intended to please all generations.

She also is joining forces with several members of the Lake County Symphony and other community members to ensure a top quality presentation.

“We've had some of the symphony members sit in with us in the past,” she said, “and it was a lot of fun, so we're planning to do it again.”

The concert opens with a rousing fiddle favorite "Cripple Creek" arranged by Edmund Siennicki, followed by a contemporary piece entitled "Mythos" composed by young Korean music and acting impresario Soon Hee Newbold.

"Hit the Beach" is another contemporary number written by Dean Sorenson with a jazz arrangement in a Bossa Nova style. It features a solo selection for violins and cellos and a driving percussion that accompanies the ensemble. Aaron Stevens, a recent CLPA scholarship recipient, will join the orchestra on drums.

One of John Williams' noted movie themes will be next on the program. It is "Harry's Wondrous World" from "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets." Arranged by Douglas E. Wagner, it is an exciting but difficult piece with challenging rhythms and numerous accidentals.

“We worked hard to get this number together,” Condit admitted.

Next on the program is the theme from the film "Pirates of the Caribbean – The Curse of the Black Pearl," written by Klaus Badelt and arranged by Ted Ricketts. This is the number where each section of the Youth Orchestra will be joined by one of the players from the senior symphony.

After intermission, a special treat will be offered in the form of Camille Saint-Saens ever-popular "Carnival of the Animals" arranged by Harry Alshin for piano and strings.

Saint-Saens actually composed this for friends, never intending that it be performed publicly, but it has since become one of his most popular compositions. It is a collection of short pieces that depict lions, donkeys, the elephant, hens and roosters, kangaroos, the aquarium – even some fossils – and is complete with overture and finale.

Wally Fuller, a volunteer technician with the Soper-Reese, has assembled a slide show with appropriate pictures accompanying each piece.

Lower Lake High School seniors Kaylee Smith and Rebecca Sires also will perform interpretive dances saluting the animals. Audience members who may be unfamiliar with "Carnival of the Animals" will be brought up to speed by announcer Doug Rhoades' reading of the explanatory verses written by Jack Prelutsky.

The CLPA Youth Orchestra is wholly supported by the nonprofit Clear Lake Performing Arts, which also underwrites the Lake County Symphony.

The orchestra is constantly evolving as members graduate into the symphony or leave for college or other activities, and therefore Condit is always looking for new participants, especially string members, but also a pianist for the fall session.

Rehearsals take place on Sundays from 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. at Kelseyville Presbyterian Church. Those interested may contact her at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

CLPA President Ed Bublitz urged members – and the general public – to attend the concert.

“These kids work very, very hard to learn and present the highest possible quality music, and they deserve our support,” he said.

He also noted that the young musicians would hopefully one day graduate into seats in the symphony.

Although admission is without charge, donations at the door are encouraged for the CLPA Youth Music Education programs, which include scholarships, the Youth Orchestra and in-school programs.

The Soper-Reese Community Theatre is located at 275 S. Main St., Lakeport.

The following poem by Kathryn Stripling Byer is the second in a series of related poems called Southern Fictions.

Despite all the protective barriers we put up between us and the world, there’s always a man with a wink that can rip right through.

Byer has served as North Carolina’s Poet Laureate.

I still can’t get it right

I don’t know. I still can’t get it right,
the way those dirt roads cut across the flats
and led to shacks where hounds and muddy shoats
skulked roundabouts. Describing it sounds trite
as hell, the good old South I love to hate.
The truth? What’s that? How should I know?
I stayed inside too much. I learned to boast
of stupid things. I kept my ears shut tight,
as we kept doors locked, windows locked,
the curtains drawn. Now I know why.
The dark could hide things from us. Dark could see
what we could not. Sometimes those dirt roads shocked
me, where they ended up: I watched a dog die
in the ditch. The man who shot him winked at me.

American Life in Poetry is made possible by The Poetry Foundation (www.poetryfoundation.org), publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Poem copyright ©2001 by Kathryn Stripling Byer from her most recent book of poems, Southern Fictions, Jacar Press, 2011. Descent, her new collection, is forthcoming from LSU Press. Reprinted by permission of Kathryn Stripling Byer and the publisher. Introduction copyright © 2012 by The Poetry Foundation. The introduction's author, Ted Kooser, served as United States Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 2004-2006. They do not accept unsolicited manuscripts.

MEN IN BLACK 3 (Rated PG-13)

More often than not, sequels that may have seemed like a good idea on paper prove not to have achieved the desired effect.

Even George Lucas lost the magic touch when he got to the fourth “Star Wars” adventure. And what about Harrison Ford, entitled to Medicare, still trying to be a vital, energetic, whip-snapping Indiana Jones?

When did a second sequel to “Men in Black” become a good idea? It’s been 10 years since “Men in Black 2,” which was such a dud that I bet few can recall the plot or main villain. I know I am stumped.

It was 15 years ago that the original “Men in Black,” was released, with Tommy Lee Jones as the cranky Agent K and the youthful Will Smith as Agent J.

Heck, I wasn’t sure if Tommy Lee Jones was still alive. If the filmmakers wait another decade for “Men in Black 4,” the main star will definitely have to be wheeled out of the Old Actors Home in Woodland Hills.

The burning question is whether “Men in Black 3” is a smash hit or a stinker. After all, it’s tempting to think the franchise has the “sure thing” appeal going for it.

I have mixed feelings about “Men in Black 3.” On the one hand, it’s relatively true to its heritage, though it is lighter on comedy and heavier on the action.

“Men in Black 3” also goes far to erase the bad taste of the second film, which even though I have forgotten the details, I know enough not to watch it ever again.

This third installment has a nice twist with the appearance of Josh Brolin in the role of a young Agent K. In chameleon-like fashion, Brolin is a dead ringer for Tommy Lee Jones, in speech if not completely in looks.

The nasty chief villain this time is Boris the Animal (Jemaine Clement), a hideous beast who’s been confined to a maximum security prison on the moon.

Harboring a grudge from an incident in 1969, Boris blames Agent K for the lost of his right arm during a horrific battle that led to his imprisonment.

As a result, Boris breaks out of prison and time travels back more than four decades so that he may change the course of history by eliminating Agent K permanently.

OK, this explains how Josh Brolin comes into the picture as Agent K. With Boris jumping back in time, it’s up to Agent J to also to slip through the space-time continuum to the time when Apollo 11 launched for the moon.

Of course, the late 1960s is something of a culture shock for Agent J, seeing how the Civil Rights movement was still nascent and not many people of color ran around Manhattan dressed like the Blues Brothers.

The fun part is that Agents J and K are now oddly teamed up as contemporaries, with Agent K, though still gruff, not quite as crabby as we expect him.

As it happens, Brolin’s Agent K steals the movie, his deadpan humor just as good as that delivered by Tommy Lee Jones. He’s also very adept at wiping out an entire Chinese restaurant run by aliens and patronized by the same ilk.

Even when Jones’ Agent K is in the picture, the film is lacking the biting contentious banter between the older agent and his protégé that was the best thing about the original “Men in Black.”

This time around, the humor and repartee take a back seat to more full-blown action. There should have been more comic potential for Agent J’s fish-out-of-water experiences as he copes with the strange world of 1969.

Clement’s Boris the Animal is a vile, disgusting creature, all the more so because strange alien things slither in and out of his various body parts.

The central bad guy is more creepy than frightening. Not a moment is to be found where you think Boris just might get the upper hand on the Men in Black.

One of the memorable scenes involves Bill Hader in a cameo as Andy Warhol working with a bunch of rail-thin models who turn out to be aliens.

Another revelation comes during a showdown at Cape Canaveral, on the day that Apollo 11 blasts off for its historic journey to the moon. I’ll say no more, but it’s a truly sentimental and enlightening moment.

“Men in Black 3” – not as good as you hoped it would be, and not as bad as you feared. Overall, it’s better than a lot of what passes for summer blockbuster fun.

DVD RELEASE UPDATE

Just in time for the Stanley Cup, Magnolia Home Entertainment is releasing its hockey comedy “Goon” on DVD, including a tutorial called “Fighting 101.”

If you think hockey is about body slamming and cheap hits, then “Goon” is for you. It’s also for you if you have fond memories of “Slap Shot.”

“Goon” goes a lot farther than “Slap Shot” in glorifying the role of team enforcer during hard-fought, brutal games.

Seann William Scott (aka Stifler) plays Doug Glatt, a simple, lovable guy who dreams of a more rewarding job than bouncer at a dive bar.

When a chance encounter with an on-ice thug leads to a fistfight that Doug easily wins, the on-looking coach sees Doug’s potential, in spite of his lack of hockey skills.

Joining the Halifax minor league team and with encouragement from his buddy (Jay Baruchel), Doug quickly becomes a rising star.

Soon he’ll have the opportunity to face-off against the infamous league thug Ross Rhea (Live Schreiber), perhaps finally land a girlfriend and stick to a job he enjoys.

All Doug has to do is to learn how to skate. And hockey fans will probably love the film’s vulgar, offbeat humor.

Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – Watershed Books will host two local authors who have written about the unique experiences of women in prison on Friday, June 1.

The readings by Myra Sherman and Leslie Levitas will take place from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the bookstore, located at 305 N. Main St., Lakeport.

Myra Sherman has written “Jailed,” described as “a rare example of socially-conscious fiction that also has literary integrity.  ...[her] stories only ask that we look at the institution as it really is. If emotional honesty is the starting block for great fiction, Sherman is off to a great start."

Leslie Levitas has contributed to the anthology, “Razor Wire Women: Prisoners, Activists, Scholars, and Artists.”

Levitas, who holds a master's of art degree, is a writer and photographer. Her oral history project entitled, “Tell Me about Your Life,” depicts women who have been impacted by incarceration and street life.  

She also will share experiences of her work with incarcerated and recently released women in the San Francisco County Jail.  

Also on June 1, the bookstore will collect good clothing and new hygiene products for these women.

Join the authors for a compelling and lively discussion, and as usual enjoy refreshments.

Call Cheri Holden at Watershed Books at 707-263-5787 for more information.