Two Jews On Jack The Giant Slayer

For those of you, who managed to get through childhood, without hearing the story of Jack, a farm boy, who sold his horse for some magical beans, don’t worry…director Bryan Singer has recreated the story, with some added touches, in his new 3D IMAX film, entitled ‘Jack the Giant Slayer’.

Once upon a time, a race of giants were exiled from the Earth to a land far, far, in fact, really far away, known as Gantua. Seems these big guys were into ravishing the Earth, instead of living peacefully with us humans.

Anyway it’s been over a thousand years since man and giants occupied the same space, but soon, that’s about to change when…

Jack (Nicholas Hoult) a farmboy unwittingly opens a gateway between our world and the giants, when a monk gives him some magical beans, in exchange for his horse.

The one instruction the monk gives Jack is…’Do not let the beans get wet’.

So guess what happens next? Yep, one of the beans winds up in a pool of water and before you can say ‘a tree grows in Brooklyn,’ a beanstalk shoots up…and up…and up…leading straight to the Giants’ homeland.

Of course there’s more. What would a fairy tale be without a Princess in distress?

In this case, the Princess is Isabelle (Eleanor Tomlinson) who’s being forced to marry her King Daddy’s (the always excellent Ian McShane) right hand man, Roderick (the ever so sleazy, Stanley Tucci).

No matter how hard Isabelle tries to convince her father that Sir R isn’t her soul mate, the King won’t budge.He thinks Roderick is a prince among men and the best match for his daughter.

Boy is King Daddy in for a surprise. But not just yet.

Seems the Princess, when the Princess isn’t arguing with her father about her impending nuptials, likes to sneak out of the Palace and walk among the masses.

Well, one dark and stormy knight, during one of these outings, Isabelle gets lost, comes upon Jack’s farm and before she knows what hits her, she gets swooped up by the beanstalk and winds up in Gantua, aka home of the big guys.

Lucky for Isabelle, she has a band of soldiers, led by Ewan McGregor, as well as Jack (who by now has a mad crush on her) willing to climb the outrageously tall beanstalk and come to her rescue.

‘Jack The Giant Slayer’ written by Christopher McQuarrie (‘The Unusual Suspects’) Dan Studney and Darren Lemke (‘Shrek Forever After’) is a great film for the whole family. And that’s exactly what it is…a family film.

It’s basically a straight ahead story…Giants want to eat humans and take over the Earth. There are no female giants, so parents don’t have to worry about sex and the violence is the usual type you find in cartoons.

There’s also a good amount of humor and the two young leads are charming.

Bill Nighy as General Fallon, the ferocious two-headed leader of the Giant army, is alone worth the price of admission.

I gave ‘Jack The Giant Slayer’ which opens in theatres Friday March 1st, four bagels out of five. Check out our video to see what John thought and for more of our witty banter.

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Joan and John Schwartz

Joan and John Schwartz are ex New Yorkers, living in Los Angeles. They are married and see a lot of films. They usually disagree but always tell it like it is. John is most famous for creating the cult classic films Faces of Death. He has also written for various prime time series and has written movies for both Showtime and HBO. In the world of reality television John has produced, written and directed over 450 segments for various magazine shows He has also written and Executive Produced several Prime-Time Specials. Joan has appeared on the New York Stage on and off Broadway…and has been in several Los Angeles theater productions as well.. Joan has been in several low budget films and at present she is busy writing screenplays with her husband, John.

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