Category Archives: Featured

It’s once upon a darker time in “Snow White and the Huntsman”

Snow White's connection with nature is so strong even this never-before-seen creature come to visit (photo courtesy Rhythm & Hues/Universal Pictures)

Snow White is a popular girl this year, but the two movies based on her classic Brothers Grimm tale are about as opposite as Snow White and her evil stepmother. While Mirror Mirror put a comical spin on this timeless tale just a couple of months ago, Snow White and the Huntsman is a decidedly darker take more akin to the earlier folk tales on which the Grimm version was based. And whether you’re accustomed to the animated Disney version of Snow White that has permeated pop culture or the distantly dark fantasies that portray Snow White herself as a monstrous vampire-like creature, this latest version of the story is unlike any previous versions, though it borrows heavily from each of them.

In Snow White and the Huntsman, Snow White (Twilight‘s Kristen Stewart) is raised in captivity after the evil Queen Ravenna (Charlize Theron, playing a cold-blooded witch not unlike the character you’ll see her portray in Prometheus next Friday) deceives the king into marrying her only to murder him and usurp his throne. Though birds and other animals don’t sing to Snow White or tie ribbons in her hair, she does have a magical connection with nature that allows, for example, birds to help her escape (she’s later able to summon a mystical multi-horned horse-like creature, which solidifies her status as the good witch to Revenna’s bad witch).

Mirror mirror, off the wall... (photo courtesy The Mill/Universal Pictures)

After Snow White escapes, an enraged Revenna promises a widowed huntsman (Thor‘s Chris Hemsworth, who would have been better off if he had just brought his hammer) she’ll bring his wite back to life if he’ll hunt down Snow White and bring her back to the queen. But Snow White’s magic seems to affect even this drunken lout and he soon finds himself helping her escape from the queen. Meanwhile, the queen’s mirror, which had previously reassured her she was the fairest one of all, goes all Dorian Gray on her by informing her that someone fairer has recently come of age. Unable to continue hiding her true age, she sends her vaguely incestuous albino brother (Sam Spruell) to find Snow White and the huntsman who is now helping her.

The huntsman and the princess encounter various people (and other creatures) along the way and it seems the everyone aside from Snow White herself realizes that she is the key to overthrowing the queen’s dark reign and restoring life and happiness to the kingdom. They eventually come across eight dwarves (is it any coincidence that the one who gets the Star Trek redshirt treatment happens to be the one with red hair?) who are, for some reason, played by regular-sized people like Ian McShane, Bob Hoskins and Eddie Marsan. Though there is no “Heigh-Ho,” it is off to work they soon go as Snow White comes to the conclusion that she must overthrow the queen and take back the kingdom that is rightfully hers. But the queen certainly isn’t going to make that easy, even in her ever-weakening state.

Snow White bites into a juicy red apple, but it comes from a very different source in "Snow White and the Huntsman" (photo courtesy Universal Pictures)

And so much for the damsel in distress we’ve come to expect from Snow White as she gears up with the rest of the troops, looking more like Joan of Arc than Sleeping Beauty riding into battle clad in armor and wielding weapons. But just because this Snow White’s a bit of a badass doesn’t mean she doesn’t still succumb to a poisonous apple and need a prince charming (of sorts) to awaken her with a kiss.

Though this version of Snow White isn’t as familiar as the version most people are accustomed to, it retains all the fantasy elements in interesting and unique ways that are closer to what those Grimm guys had in mind than what Disney has taught us. And perhaps the most “happily ever after” thing about Snow White and the Huntsman is that the female characters (be they good or evil) are portrayed with convincing strength without weakening any of the male characters in the story.

Snow White and the Huntsman. Directed by Rupert Sanders. Starring Kristen Stewart, Charlize Theron, Chris Hemsworth and Sam Spruell. Rated PG-13. www.snowwhiteandthehuntsman.com.

Straight Line Stitch fights for its life on spring/summer tour

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Having woven itself tightly into the national metal scene with an an intensely aggressive sound complemented by the alternating roars and purrs of front woman Alexis Brown, Tennessee’s Straight Line Stitch continues to lacerate listeners with a rigorous tour schedule in support of last year’s The Fight of our Lives. And with a steady stream of dates through July followed by another round of dates in late August, SLS doesn’t plan on letting up anytime soon. Having already begun writing for the next album, Brown takes a moment amidst her hectic schedule to chat briefly with Wrestling with Pop Culture about what the band has planned for the rest of the year.

It looks like you’ll be touring all summer, with a short break in July before hitting the road again in August. Are you touring with other bands or just doing your own thing?

We’ve been on the road since April 24 and we’re touring through July 9. We pick up with a band called Blameshift June 5. But we’ve been out by ourselves and we pick up with a band and do some shows, then we just continue out by ourselves.

You’re being joined on this tour by former Darkest Hour guitarist Kris Norris, who also played with Straight Line Stitch briefly a couple of years ago. Is he officially in the band or just filling in for this tour?

Yes, Kris has been out with us and has been helping out with the tour. Then we have Andrew Mikhail, who used to be in a band called Oceano, picking up the rest of the dates with us starting June 5.

Photo courtesy Adrenaline PR and Straight Line Stitch

You’re still touring behind 2011’s The Fight of Our Lives, which has been the band’s most successful album in many ways. When can we expect a new album from Straight Line Stitch?

Right now we’re writing on the road like we always do, and just recording ideas. When we get off the road, we’ll probably take three weeks off before we start working on songs and stuff. We hope to be in the studio by the end of the year.

What can you tell me about the new songs thus far? How do they compare to The Fight of our Lives?

I feel like we’ve definitely matured in our writing. With this album and our previous album, I think it was more hands on. The band did most of the pre-production stuff and it was more so our album. We had more of a say in what was going on and what we wanted to do, whereas when we did our first album it was like people were holding our hands and telling us what to do and how we should do it. I just felt like The Fight of Our Lives was more us taking a stand as a band.

How has that experience carried over to the stuff you’re working on now?

With the new stuff we’re going to experiment, which I’m excited about. We’re just going to let it develop itself and see where it takes us. Now we have new members in the mix, so that’s definitely going to change our sound a little bit. But we’re pretty much just going to see what happens with the new members, as far as changes to our writing process.

You’re known for your intensity, both on the albums and at live shows. How have these shows been going and how would you say they compare to what you’ve done on previous tours?

It’s always a priority to have energy and make sure the fans get what they pay for. The goal is still the same and we’re just trying to keep busier than before. And the tour’s been going really well.

It seems as if female-fronted metal bands and bands with female members are becoming more and more common. You’ve been doing it for a few years, but why do you think there’s been a bit of an emergence of more female metal singers and bands?

I think it’s just been really popular, especially with people making such a big deal about it. People are actually starting to pay attention. With us, we just want to make music. It’s not about being a female fronting a band. We just want to make this music and tour. It doesn’t matter what gender you are, we just want to go out and make the music.

TNA President Dixie Carter hopes changes will make an Impact

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As Total Nonstop Action Wrestling prepares to celebrate its tenth anniversary, wrestling fans have seen some big changes on Impact Wrestling over the past few weeks. And beginning May 31, there will be two more big changes as Impact goes to a live format and begins airing at 8 p.m. EST, one hour earlier than its previous 9 p.m. start time. With additional behind-the-scenes additions such as General Manager Hulk Hogan‘s daughter Brooke as the new Executive in Charge of the Knockouts Division, TNA is once again looking for ways to shake things up in the wrestling world. As she prepares for at least 12 weeks of live airings, TNA president Dixie Carter takes a moment to talk to Wrestling with Pop Culture about these and other developments in TNA.

With Impact Wrestling going to a live format starting May 31, what is the company’s attitude towards this change in comparison to the short-lived live Monday night broadcasts a couple of years ago?

We’ve had two or three live Impact shows in the past, but this is a completely different feeling. The fact that we’re going live all summer, it’s a new time slot shifting an hour earlier, everybody’s really excited. It’s better than a one-night kind of event because we’ve got things planned all summer long, including some new things I’m very excited about. And to be able to do them live will make them that much more impactful.

It’s also been announced that Impact will take on more reality TV-like elements starting with this first live broadcast. Following last week’s segment where Hulk Hogan was trying to determine who would take on Bobby Roode for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship, what’s your take on that form of reality being interspersed into pro wrestling?

In that very segment you saw a different view of five very important people on our show. I am more excited about doing that than anything we’ve done in our company history. Fifteen years ago, reality TV didn’t exist. But it’s permanently altered the way the landscape is for network and cable television viewing today. We’ve done some stuff in the past, such as the fly-on-the-wall backstage element and the deliberation scene that you mentioned, and I think we’ve done an outstanding job of it. But it’s really time for us to take this to another level. It’s going to be an evolution in the coming weeks and months, but it is something that is going to be, in my opinion, a very much needed way of watching wrestling.

Why did you decide to hire Brooke Hogan to oversee the Knockouts instead of giving that role to someone with more wrestling experience?

This division is very important to me as the female head of a predominantly male wrestling company. For women to get out there and do this, I feel like we have to have a certain standard that needs to be better than anything else that’s out there. I feel like we have the best female wrestlers on the planet on any roster. I met Brooke a couple of years ago and we hit it off. My past life was in the music business and she’s been pursuing a music career and we really bonded over talking about music. Quite honestly, I went in with one perception of how she’d be talent wise and I was really blown away. I’ve been guiding her more and becoming more and more involved because I think she has a lot of potential. But during these conversations, they’d always find their way back to wrestling. Here’s a girl who has been living and breathing wrestling her entire life. She has been under the greatest single wrestler that will probably ever live in the history of our industry. We were having dinner with my daughter and my family the other night and she was saying, “I remember being 7 and sitting there while my dad was talking business with some of the greats.” She’s always learned from this, she’s incredibly intelligent and I think she’s a big star in her own right. We’ve got the big wrestlers, but what we really need is somebody to give them more exposure. I think Brooke is going to be a great character on television. She is not going to wrestle, she is going to continue to pursue her music. But one of the biggest things she will do for us is shine a spotlight on the Knockouts that they very much deserve.

With TNA celebrating its tenth anniversary this month, what has been your biggest challenge so far?

If you’re smart, you listen to your fans and you listen to your criticism and you learn from it and grow. Not everybody has the perspective or the information I have to make decisions within, so that’s a unique position to be in. But I do weigh that very carefully. I am so proud that in just a few short days we will be celebrating our tenth year in this business. I’ve never been more proud to be associated with anything in my professional career and I truly, truly love the men and women that make up our roster, that are behind the scenes and that work in the office. You have a group of people who work harder and care more, we have a really great working environment and we’ve achieved so much in ten years. It’s been really tough. There were times when I didn’t know if we were going to be in business for ten months – we almost didn’t last ten weeks – but we were strong, we pulled together, we made better decisions and I’m very proud of how much we’ve accomplished and where we’re going. I look back and we’ve made a ton of mistakes. I’ll be the first to say that and I’ll take responsibility for them, both creatively and how we’ve approached certain things. It’s been a learning curve and I think we’re on a very good road. If you’ve not watched our show in a long time, I would encourage people to tune in because I don’t think we’ve ever produced such quality television as we’re doing right now.

With the live format, do you plan on continuing to broadcast from Universal Studios in Orlando or would you like to eventually air live while on the road?

I think it’s interesting to hear about the rich history of wrestling in Florida, and I’ve gotten to experience a lot of that and hear about it from some of our talent. But as far as Orlando’s concerned, I’d rather be able to go live and stay there. The goal is ultimately to go live and on the road. There’s no doubt that that would be the very best product we could put out. But I want to be in business and having this conversation with you in another ten years, and to do so we’ve got to make some good business decisions. The touring market is soft right now and we’ve got to get to a place where we can generate the kind of income that will help cover the expenses of going both live and on the road. I think the new format will allow us to utilize the Universal property to its best ability, then take viewers on a greater journey outside the other seven days a week where you might see scenes playing out from any city in the country in a variety of different ways. And I think that will, in itself, freshen up our show, even staying at Universal.

Is there any possibility of Impact remaining live after this summer series is over?

Right now the plan is to go live a full 12 weeks. There is one dangling week between pay-per-views, so I hope we will at least be able to stretch it to 13. But that’s really all the talk there’s been so far. I wanted to do something and stay with it consistently for a period of time. It’s going to take a little while for us to see what will happen. We’re not only going live, we’re not only working on some elements that are changing in our format, but we’re also changing our time slot, too. And we’re doing it during the summer, so that’s a little bit of an uphill battle. Hopefully the product will speak for itself, people will find us and it will be very successful. We’d love to do it from here on out, obviously.

What have you learned from some of the mistakes that were made during the Monday night live experiment in 2010?

We’ve got an incredible competitor that has a 25-year head start on us. But the main thing I learned was that people watch television differently today than they did back in the Monday Night Wars. Even in the last 12 months we’ve seen a huge shift in how people watch TV. I practically don’t watch any show during its initial broadcast anymore. I’m a DVR person, I don’t have a lot of time in life and I think that we’re finding that the entire television industry is facing this same dilemma right now. I think there’s going to be a shift in how we look at our ratings and that will be interesting over time. But I feel good about the changes we’re making and I think it will have a big impact on our success.

It seems like WWE‘s attitude towards TNA and other wrestling companies has changed over the past several months, specifically with Ric Flair‘s recent induction into the WWE Hall of Fame again with the Four Horsemen. Why do you think that might be happening?

I can’t speak to how they feel. My personal opinion is that to not acknowledge competition is ridiculous. I think competition is absolutely critical to the success of any business, whether you’re The Home Depot and Lowe’s, Walgreens and CVS, Coke and Pepsi, Hertz and Avis. When you look at it, it doesn’t matter what industry you’re in, it makes you better – it makes you work harder, it makes you pay more attention and it makes it exciting and fun. That’s how we feel about it. I don’t know how other people take it, but I think it’s absolutely critical for the fans, more than anything else, to have options.

Heading into your tenth anniversary celebration, and given all the changes that have been taking place on Impact leading into the new time and live format, how do you think all these changes will affect your standing against your bigger competitor? What other changes might you have planned to perhaps further elevate TNA to something close to WWE’s status?

Our thought is instead of trying to compete in the same form and format as our competitor, let’s compete in the same industry but let’s try to be different and unique and look at it through fresh eyes and try to present our product in a way we feel we can do that will be best for us. We feel that will give us a really strong competitive advantage. The thing I’m most proud of is wrestling matters. Wrestling matters to me, to us, it’s not a dirty word and it’s something we’re all very, very proud of. And we’re very excited about taking what we do best and presenting it in a unique way, pulling that curtain back and livening the focus of the real elements that go into our business. I think it’s going to be absolutely fascinating.

Since you will be starting an hour earlier than usual, do you plan on toning down any of the blood, violence and sexual innuendos that have become part of the show?

We do take all of those elements very seriously and try to present them in the right way. Too much blood means nothing, too much language means nothing. I think whatever happens has to have meaning and it’s got to make sense. And in our attempt to keep things as real as possible, some of that is going to [happen].

Is there any concern about not having any sort of filter for censorship in the live format?

Live TV is live TV. There’s always going to be some mistakes, but I think that’s what makes live TV so special. Since our last TV tapings two weeks ago, all of this has transpired. When I left that week, I didn’t know we were going to be able to go live, much less be going live May 31. This is happening at warp speed for us, but I know we’re ready and we’re going to do great. I’ve gotten more texts than I ever have before from the guys about how excited they are about going live. If an F-bomb is dropped, it’s going to be bleeped out. We have that ability and we will do so. But if you’re watching a sports show that’s taped there’s not the same desire or need to watch it in real time. DVRs are just making our lives completely different and one way for us to try and combat that is to present our show live. One challenge has been that two or three people can sit in our audience during our taped shows and give their opinion of it and tell exactly what order the show’s going to happen in. So if you’re reading that, you’re going to make a decision based upon potentially two or three people’s opinion of a show versus watching it live. You’re also going to know when things are going to happen, so you may think, “This isn’t going to happen until the middle of the show, I don’t need to tune in until the top of the hour.” This eliminates all that and I can tell you from what we are going to do in this format, you are not going to want to miss it. We’re not going to stay the same from week to week. We’re going to mix it up and we’re going to make it a real challenge not to tune in for the full two hours.

For more information, go to www.impactwrestling.com.

Georgia Wrestling Now welcomes Professor Morte and Shane Noles

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Team All You Can Eat’s Matt Hankins, “The Human Hand Grenade” dany only and Wrestling with Pop Culture had lots to talk about this week on Georgia Wrestling Now, including some major announcements. Our guests included Professor Morte from the Silver Scream SpookShow, who let us know what to expect from Monstrosity Championship Wrestling’s matches at the Rock ‘n’ Roll Monster Bash on June 3. We also heard from Peachstate Wrestling Alliance‘s Shane Noles about PWA’s fourth anniversary show on June 2. As always, there were a few other surprises.

Monstrosity Championship Wrestling's Professor Morte

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American tourists face spooky disaster in “Chernobyl Diaries”

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Chris (Jesse McCartney) is one of the first victims of the "Chernobyl Diaries" horror

Any mention of Chernobyl usually evokes disastrous thoughts. That being said, if a Russian tour guide suggests an excursion to the city where a nuclear reactor leak caused one of the worst radioactive catastrophes in human history only 26 years ago, it’s probably a good idea to decline his offer. But in Chernobyl Diaries, a group of young Americans thinks the idea of exploring the nearby town of Pripyat, which was inexplicably abandoned (well, it should be obvious why) around the same time as the leak, sounds like a lot of fun.

After Russian soldiers deny them access, the tour guide (Dimitri Diatchenko) finds a back way in before letting the Americans rummage through the deserted buildings. As nightfall gradually approaches, they, of course, begin to hear things and start getting all creeped out. Then the van won’t start because something (or someone) has messed up its wires. Then it gets dark and the whole things becomes a combination of The Blair Witch Project and Cujo as a shaky camera offers a realistic glimpse at the creatures hungry for those inside the van.

The night gets all the more intense when the tour guide and Chris (Jesse McCartney) decide it’s a good idea to go see what was trying to get them. Chris’ brother Paul (Jonathan Sadowski) goes to find them, but returns only with a wounded Chris. Well, there go Chris’ romantic plans to propose to his girlfriend (Olivia Taylor Dudley) in Moscow.

Michael (Nathan Phillips), Zoe (Ingrid Bolsø Berdal) and Paul (Jonathan Sadowski) are too busy trying to survive to notice the creepy figure in the background

Once the sun has risen again, the survivors try to figure out how to get out of this mess. They soon find that not only are they not alone, but that Chernobyl and Pripyat are fairly well populated by ravenous dogs, flesh-eating fish and zombie-like creatures resembling humans. But since we never get a good look at most of the creatures, it’s hard to tell just what kind of mutants they are. Whatever they are, they’re relentlessly hungry and do not want these people to escape with their lives. And each time there’s any sign of hope for survival, tragedy strikes again, leaving little time to grieve as the creatures responsible for the tragedy are still on the hunt.

Chernobyl Diaries borrows heavily from Night of the Living Dead and Alien with its foreboding feeling of impending doom that’s almost always just out of sight. But it’s the not seeing that keeps things suspenseful until the few survivors make it all the way to the damaged reactor where it all started. And once they get to that point, there’s a shockingly new discovery awaiting them that provides an even more ominous look at the entire disaster.

Chernobyl Diaries. Directed by Bradley Parker. Starring Devin Kelly, Jonathan Sadowsky, Jesse McCartney and Olivia Taylor Dudley. Rated R. www.chernobyldiaries.com.

Booker T still brings some Harlem Heat to WWE

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Booker T originally made a name for himself in the ’90s alongside his brother Stevie Ray as Harlem Heat. Together, the brothers won the World Championship Wrestling World Tag Team Championship a record ten times before disbanding at the end of 1999. Booker went on to be one of the most decorated singles wrestlers of his time, becoming a five time (Five time! Five time!) WCW World Heavyweight Champion and having many other title reigns (including a sixth World Heavyweight Championship in WWE). Though he is likely best known to contemporary wrestling fans as the comical, yet dominant, King Booker after winning the 2006 King of the Ring tournament, WWE’s new The Best of WCW Clash of the Champions DVD is a reminder of (among many other things) just how powerfully entertaining Harlem Heat once was. As that DVD hits store shelves today (read my review here), Booker T talks to Wrestling with Pop Culture about who might become the superstars of WWE’s future and the possibility of a Harlem Heat reunion.

Courtesy WWE

What are the chances we’ll ever see a Harlem Heat reunion?

You might. I always say, “Never say, ‘Never.'” Me and my brother actually reunited just [a few weeks ago] after five years. We had a lot of friction between us. We got the same mother and the same father and sometimes it’s hard to get along that way. But [this] was the first time we came together as brothers in five years, so there is a chance you might see a Harlem Heat reunion.

What brought you back together?

Actually, it was my sister’s retirement party. She invited us all to come together and she made it happen. After five years it seemed kind of stupid to go that long without having contact.

With the way The Rock vs. John Cena was built up for a year, do you think we might see Harlem Heat at next year’s WrestleMania?

You never know. I haven’t retired yet. I’m still active. I’m working towards letting these young guys have their due and do their thing because they really are what it’s all about, the next generation. But that would be a great way for me to finish the way I started with my brother.

You have your own wrestling school, Booker T’s Pro Wrestling Academy, in Houston. Is there anyone there, at Florida Championship Wrestling or some of the younger guys on the WWE roster that you think may become some of the next top stars?

One guy I like that’s coming up is Darren Young. He’s one of the guys on our smaller shows, Superstars and NXT, but he’s a guy you really got to look out for. I like Curt Hawkins as well. He’s another kid that’s really got a lot of potential. The way they’re molded is going to really affect how far they go. Right now with a lot of guys like myself, Bill DeMott and William Regal working with them, they’re getting a lot of great insight now. So we can hopefully teach them how to bounce in the right direction. Trust me, it’s really not that easy to learn the entertainment, Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet side of what we do.

Curt Hawkins was originally in a tag team with Zack Ryder. As someone who established yourself as part of a tag team and later went on to become a successful singles wrestler, what do you think someone like Hawkins can do to attain the success that his former tag team partner has achieved, if not more?

He’s going to have to be creative just like Zach Ryder. I always tell the young guys, “Every move has been taken. There’s not anything you can do that’s different from the next guy. But you’ve got to create your aura around you to make people feel a certain way when they watch you.” That’s what Zach Ryder has done very, very well. He’s not a great wrestler at all, but I don’t think too many people care about that.

For more information, go to www.wwe.com.

Georgia Wrestling Now welcomes Mister Saint Laurent and The Wicked Nemesis

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This week on Georgia Wrestling Now, Wrestling with Pop Culture, “The Human Hand Grenade” dany only and Team All You Can Eat’s Matt Hankins welcomed Florida’s Mister Saint Laurent of Major League Wrestling and I Believe in Wrestling, and Beyond Ringside‘s The Wicked Nemesis, who has been creating quite a stir at National Wrestling Alliance ProSouth, Alabama Championship Wrestling and Peachstate Wrestling Alliance as of late.

Mister Saint Laurent (with SoCal Val)

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