MOVIE REVIEWS: SUCKER PUNCH

IN THEATERS

SUCKER PUNCH



The story of Alice in Wonderland receives a hyper-violent makeover in Watchmen and 300 director Zack Snyder's fantastical tale of a young psychiatric patient who escapes into a vivid world of fantasy after being committed to a mental hospital by her abusive stepfather. Set in the 1950s, Sucker Punch takes viewers on an incredible journey into the mind of Babydoll (Emily Browning), who finds herself at the mercy of her malevolent stepfather after her mother passes away. With no remaining family and no friends to turn to, her stepfather has her committed to a bleak mental hospital, where she is scheduled to receive a lobotomy in five days. As the procedure draws near, Babydoll creates a phantasmagorical alternate reality in which she must seek out five items in order to secure her freedom. Should she fail, her mind isn't the only thing she stands to lose. Abbie Cornish, Vanessa Hudgens, Carla Gugino, and Jon Hamm co-star in a film co-written by Snyder and Steve Shibuya. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Director : Zack Snyder

Cast: Emily Browning, Abbie Cornish, Jena Malone, Vanessa Hudgens, Jamie Chung

Release Date: Mar 25, 2011

Rated PG-13 for Thematic material involving sexuality, violence and combat sequences, and for language

Genres: Action/Adventure, Sci-Fi/Fantasy

Review:

I have a serious confession to make. I’m a nerd. It’s something I’ve come to accept over the years and ultimately embrace. Using that old adage that it takes one to know one, it’s not a stretch to say that Zach Snyder is also a nerd. Sucker Punch is his masturbatory love letter to his 13 year old self. Barely coherent with just the slimmest shred of a plot he moves the show forward by showing us what has been knocking around in his head for years. By strapping the storyline with a faux female empowerment theme he forgives himself for the cosplay fetish videogame he puts on screen. At the very least, the action is well executed and fun to look at. In fact it’s so well done that you could skip the “real world” segments and not miss much. The ensemble cast is uniformly stiff probably because Snyder didn’t demand much out of them and mostly just wanted them to look sexy and cool during the endless “money shots” and upskirts he had planned. Personally, I’ve always been a fan of Snyder and thought his cinematic version of Watchmen was an underrated gem. The aptly named Sucker Punch is nothing more than Chicago meets Cosplay, nerd porn that will send launch leagues of teenage boys into puberty. For the rest of us, well there are better ways to spend 2 hours.

D

[Trailer] Captain America: The First Avenger

Full Trailer is out, still kind of undecided about it....

First Look at Adrianne Palicki in the New Wonder Woman costume

First official photo of Palicki in the redesigned Wonder Woman costume and at first glance I was a bit taken a back at how brightly colored it is.

I was expecting them to mute a lot of the colors with darker variations, esp. since it's supposed to be a non campy take, but after looking at it I kind of like it......



thoughts?

MOVIE REVIEWS: BATTLE LOS ANGELES

IN THEATERS

BATTLE LOS ANGELES



A Marine platoon fights to prevent the city of Los Angeles from being overtaken by a race of highly advanced alien invaders in this epic sci-fi action thriller from director Jonathan Liebesman (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning) and producer Neal H. Moritz (I Am Legend, Fast & Furious). After decades of speculation about life on other planets, the people of Earth discover that extraterrestrials really do exist when destruction rains down from the stars on cities all across the globe. When the alien warships descend upon Los Angeles, however, the ferocious invaders discover that humankind won't go down without a fight as a gruff Marine staff sergeant (Aaron Eckhart) and his fearless troop of jarheads point their weapons skyward and make one last stand for the entire human race. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Director: Jonathan Liebesman

Cast: Aaron Eckhart, Michelle Rodriguez, Ramon Rodríguez, Bridget Moynahan, Ne-Yo

Release Date: Mar 11, 2011

Rated PG-13 for sustained and intense sequences of war violence and destruction, and for language

Runtime: 1 hr. 56 min.

Genres: Action/Adventure

Review:

Battle Los Angeles blast on the screen in an endless overlong barrage of explosions and firefights that seem intent on beating you into submission. Borrowing heavy doses from Black Hawk Down and War of the World, everything about this film is clichéd and unoriginal. The insane part is that Jonathan Liebesman seems to believe that if he gives you enough shakey shakey cam action you’ll forget about all that. Liebesman does his best Michael Bay impression whenever he’s not shooting near carbon copy scenes stolen from Black Hawk Down. Characters are incredibly generic and uninteresting. Aaron Eckhart’s square chin and grave voice tries his best give this story some heart and emotion but the script is so incredibly weak that there’s only so much he can do. Michelle Rodriguez and Bridget Moynahan show up to remind that this is a big budget movie but aren’t asked to anything more than shoot and look concerned. These type of films can be fun but even mindless fun needs some substance.

D

[Trailer] Super 8

Full Trailer for JJ Abrams new film....

TV SHOW REVIEW: The Walking Dead: Season One Blu-ray

The Walking Dead: Season One [Blu-ray]

Police officer Rick Grimes leads a group of survivors in a world overrun by zombies.
Cast:

Andrew Lincoln - Rick Grimes

Jon Bernthal - Shane Walsh

Sarah Wayne Callies - Lori Grimes

Laurie Holden - Andrea

Jeffrey DeMunn - Dale Horwath

Steven Yeun - Glenn

Chandler Riggs - Carl Grimes

Norman Reedus - Daryl Dixon

REVIEW:

The first season of The Walking Dead, based on the graphic novel of the same name, comes to the small screen with a palpable sense of heart and devotion to creating well rounded character that inhabit this post apocalyptic world. It succeeds from the opening episode, showing you that there so much more here than your basic zombie brain smashing, which it does still do. The characters are rich and intriguing; the acting from the cast is mostly pitch perfect. The ensemble as a whole work well together with Lincoln and Reedus being real standouts with fine performances. The overall feel of the show reminded me quite a bit of old school Stephen King, mainly The Stand (the Book), with a group of regular individuals being thrust into an insane situation. The characters are the focal point and with Frank Darabont, whose given us some of the best King big screen translations, at the helm for the first episode and as a producer overall, the show never loses its focus and quickly creates an immersive viewing experience. An impressive feat considering there are painfully few episodes in this first season, 6 in total. There are a few unavoidable faults, mainly due the genre being so well worn that it’s general tropes are 2nd hand knowledge for the most causal fan. Some situations will feel terribly familiar for most genre fans, I even noted a few musical cues, which are incredibly similar to motion pictures 28 days in particular in one sequence, that seemed to be acknowledging the fact that this isn’t new territory they are treading on. Still as a whole this show is impressively well done and should appeal to a lot of people, even those who think that the zombie genre is silly.

A-