5punk

Sucker Punch.

The trailers really hyped me up for this, but the fact that it had released kind of snuck up on me. I had a quick look at some IMDB reviews and was surprised at the 6.7 rating. The reviews seemed to be split along a not unfamilar line of "boring and pointless" vs "appreciate it for what it is". Well I thought I'd fit into the latter given the premise. An ultra-sexy comic-stylised action movie from the director of 300, what could go wrong? Well, everything.

Firstly, the acting, terrible. The story, shit. The plot, nonsensical, seriously - imagine watching the third Matrix film with out seeing the first two and trying to make sense of it. It pretty much doesn't even try to make sense.
Of course things don't have to make sense as long as they just "work", but this doesn't. The movie discription that she's using a "coping strategy" is reasonable, but it doesn't even want to point that out. And of course coupled with the bad acting and storytelling it can't redeem itself. Or can it...

You're left falling asleep waiting for the next action piece to start, but considering it is actually an action film maybe they will hold the film up? Er, no. The very first fight was great, a real sense of weight to a twenty foot tall samurai and good choreography. After that though, despite looking fantastic, they were mostly utterly boring. There are two main things which I think contributed to that. One, the 12a rating, and two, guns. One of the girls has a sword which is far more interesting than the others with M16s. More melee, more blood please.

TL;DR: It's shit. I wouldn't say avoid it, but prepare for a potential let down.

:starfull::starfull::starfull::starfull::starempty::starempty::starempty::starempty::starempty:

WereRabbit wrote:Sucker Punch.

I concur, it is indeed dull. I felt more sympathy for a baby dragon, the main characters butchered in its nest, than the characters themselves. But I am playing Dragon Age 2 and they may have skewed my view.

While I wasn't being taken in by the acting or story I was well aware of the soundtrack. Which seemed to be mostly bad cover versions of classics, some sung by the lead actress I've since discovered. Although I did like the use of Army of Me by Bjork and up-tempo White Rabbit.

Soundtrack @ Amazon

spoodie wrote:the soundtrack. Which seemed to be mostly bad cover versions of classics, some sung by the lead actress I've since discovered

Hmm, Emily Browning, of barely-legal interest in Lemony Snicket - the Sweet Dreams cover is better than Marilyn Manson's effort I suppose, but she butchers Asleep quite unforgivably.

Thor (2D)

Pretty much what you'd expect, in a good way. And as you'd expect there's lots of action involving gods and various godly melee weapons. As far as enjoyment goes I'd put it next to the Iron Man films, although the lead isn't quite as charismatic. A good portion of the film is set off Earth, which I found an interesting change for a superhero film. And it's got the usual references to look out for, for those that know something about the Avengers. Including another post-credits teaser. Presumably nerd stuff for the Norse mythology as well but I couldn't comment on that.

And I notice that the UK has got this before the US, which is strange.

Ive also just come back from Thor. Pretty much agree with spoodie, it was very well done. Especially seeing as it could easily have been cheesy as hell.

Some surprisingly good funny bits (but not out of place), decent special effects, reasonably solid acting. There was indeed some Norse mythology nerdage too, although I feel I should warn people who are fans of Thor the mythological figure rather than Thor the comic book: brace yourself for things to not be "right". As far as you can be "right" when talking about entirely fictional things, anyway.

Lucky Luke (2009)

Film based on the comic of the same name. I didn't have high hopes for this as I tend to dislike French movies in general, but they make absolute gems every now and then, and I'm glad to say this is one of them. It manages to capture the feel of the comic, spoof it, and spoof westerns as a whole. The jokes are mostly slapstick but it works very well, along with the weird set pieces. Some knowledge of the comic is required though, because they don't really give a proper background and explanation to Lucky Luke's relations with some of the characters.
Also it's in French so; subtitles.

X-Men: First Class

Not bad, quite entertaining. To be honest I had relatively low expectations of this film - I really wish Marvel Studios would buy the rights back from Fox.

Michael Fessenbender is brilliant as Magneto, it's always good when he's on screen. The guy who plays Beast is also rather good. Not keen on McAvoy as Xavier though, didn't really warm to him. Brilliant cameo from another staple character as well.

The thing that irks me though is the way they keep dicking around with the history. Don't get me wrong, the comics get retconned all the time, but that usually to tie up a loose end (or to bring someone back from the dead. Again.). The films just seem to go along the lines of "he's a cool character, let's stick him in the film". Case in point for this film is Darwin...spoilers!
So it's entertaining, but I really have no idea what they're going to do after chopping and changing the stories about so much between films.

Roman Totale wrote:The thing that irks me though is the way they keep dicking around with the history. Don't get me wrong, the comics get retconned all the time, but that usually to tie up a loose end (or to bring someone back from the dead. Again.). The films just seem to go along the lines of "he's a cool character, let's stick him in the film".

I guess it's brand rather than a comic now, and since they own it they can do what they want with the story. I rather prefer origin stories or completely new stories, as I can join in the fun without having read the comics.

Roman Totale wrote:

Spoiler:

So you've got a guy whose mutation is to adapt and evolve to any situation - develop gills for breathing underwater or rock hard skin for being pummelled etc. So, you show a couple of scenes having fun with that but...shit - won't he be a bit overpowered for the big fight at the end? Oh well, best kill him off early on then!

Weeeeell, I kinda know what you mean, but

So it's entertaining, but I really have no idea what they're going to do after chopping and changing the stories about so much between films.

How have they changed things between films? It all seemed fairly consistent to the other X-men films to me, have I missed something?

Hobo with a Shotgun

Fuck me this film is amazing, best fake grindhouse film yet in my opinion. Everything just feels completely right in this, from Rutger Hauer's very apparent Dutch-ness and one-liners, to the crappy acting and ridiculous villains and gory deaths. It even has the cheesy 80's song at the credits!
Watch this for it is a tribute to what you love.

The trailer for Hobo looked ace - I'll have to watch it.

I watched 'Paul' the other day, the Simon Pegg and Nick Frost one. My in depth review would be, "meh".

I liked Paul, it was a bit hit and miss and some of the jokes were too obvious and the plot twist was pretty weird and didn't seem to make a whole lot of sense. It could've been a lot better but I enjoyed it for what it was, And Simon Pegg and Nick Frost still make one of the best duos (or is it duo's?) out there I think.
Still find Seth Rogen irritating even when he's not actually on screen though.

It's duos. Plural of duo.

Thought so, but at least I'm sure now.

I probably should add some more films on to this owing to my flights to and from NZ last month turning into film watching benders as I can't sleep on planes.

So, first up:

Season of the Witch.

Nic Cage being Nic Cage with a sword. It's not bad. I'd say it's worth a rental to watch while drinking beer in the knowledge that it's simply an okay film.

My biggest issue with it is that it could have been so much more, with more commentry on peoples perceptions, bias and their predispositions in light of the medieval setting with all the god fearing religious nature of the time. It could also have gone the other way and ramped it up into a good action film. Or it could have gone into action horror territory. The problem lies with it doing neither and just kinda coasting along in the middle. Truth be told, it's a little boring but watchable.

Green Hornet

Boring. Not much more to add. It had me chuckling a couple of times, and it's quite pretty, but there's not much else there.

The Company Men

Ben Affleck actually fully believable as the main character and doing a good job as well. It's a film about three chaps who hold various high up postions in a manufacturing company who face the company nearly going bankrupt and how they handle losing their jobs in hard times. Tommy Lee Jones is rather win as the elderly division chief who is shafted by his good friend the CEO after he helped build the company up from nothing, but I think Chris Cooper probably steals it, then again, he's got the most dramatic character plot.

It's certainly worth watching in my view.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2

Yes I went to see Harry Potter, and yes I enjoyed it. The final film has what the entire series has been lacking until now, a large amount of magical fighting. If you like Harry Potter, you'll like this, if you're indifferent to Harry Potter, you'll still like this. Darker than the other films and a satisfying amount of things exploding due to stick waving. The added bonus being Emma Watson.

Transformers: Dark Side of the Moon

I'm a huge fan of the previous Transformers films, and thoroughly enjoyed this one too. Has plenty of conspiracy type stuff in it, and enough big stompy robot action to keep you satisfied for a long time. My only complaint would be that the films are starting to get a bit repetitive now, this feeling similar to the second film only BIGGAR. A great film if you want to see a nice and easy, big guns and big explosions film.

eRabbit wrote:Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2

Yes I went to see Harry Potter, and yes I enjoyed it. The final film has what the entire series has been lacking until now, a large amount of magical fighting. If you like Harry Potter, you'll like this, if you're indifferent to Harry Potter, you'll still like this. Darker than the other films and a satisfying amount of things exploding due to stick waving. The added bonus being Emma Watson.

It is indeed quite good. It's got the darker, grown up feeling of the last one, but with the improvement of actually having something happen. Plus, some of the funny lines made me do actual, albeit small lols.

Oh excellent, I'm off to see it tonight, I paid extra to not watch it with yoofs, although I didn't go for the 3D version as the price for that strecthed it a bit too far.

Did anyone see it in 3D?

I saw it in 3d, some random bits of awesomeness, but mostly the feel of gimmick