Escape to the Movies: Sucker Punch

Turkey Braveheart

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DSQ said:
Turkey Braveheart said:
I am so f-cking glad to hear someone likes this movie. When I heard the guys at Spill give it a Sum ol Bullshit my jaw hit the floor.
Off Topic:
I'm glad to see somone else likes spill, those guys arn't nearly as popular as they deserve. I've never met a bunch of guys so willing to get invoved with there audience. If i'm ever in austin i'm definatly going to one of their epic meet ups!
Me too man, in fact, the way they talk about the nerd community in Austin makes me want to move there.
 

Apples_McGrind

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Love it or hate it is going to be the definitive response, although I think more people will be prone to land on the hate it side. I kind of saw a female empowerment fantasy as a possibility for the movie when I saw it last night at a midnight showing, but the film is just all over the place. Plus the characterization of the girls is too minimal for it to come across like something profound. I can definitely say that I truly utterly hated this movie.

Interesting analysis Bob, although I can easily say while both Scott Pilgrim and Sucker Punch are ambitious, Scott Pilgrim is the only one that is actually a good movie (best movie of last year I should say). I thought the potential for a fully realized world with dragons, Ninja's and robots was something out of a childhood fantasy that I always wanted to see. I just wish, Sucker Punch was actually not a sack of crap.

I do see this poised though as a cult classic in a few years, just for the ambition behind it.
 

Yosato

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Apr 5, 2010
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AWW RIGHT! I clicked on this thinking 'ah shit he's gonna rip it to shreds' - ever since I saw the trailer for this film like two years ago I've had my eye on it, to say it's 'up my alley' would be an understatement, it's like someone looked at me and said 'hey, let's make a film just for that guy', and I'm sure I'm not the only person who feels the same way.

Can't wait for its UK release
 

Turkey Braveheart

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Falseprophet said:
Turkey Braveheart said:
I am so f-cking glad to hear someone likes this movie. When I heard the guys at Spill give it a Sum ol Bullshit my jaw hit the floor.
Speaking for myself, I find Bob steers me right about 95% of the time and the Spill guys about 60% of the time. So I'll be there tonight.

Plus, any movie with a Brazil reference--especially the giant metal samurai--is alright in my book.
I've noticed I'm more in line with Moviebob too. The first time I noticed that was the WILDLY different reviews of the Watchmen. While I didn't love it as much as Moviebob, I was baffled at the fanboyish scorn heaped on it by the Spill Crew.
 

Redem

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Watchmen was only good for me cause Zack Snyder managed to put what was in the graphic novel right (which is commendeable I admit considering its very hard) a lot of what seem to be more original on his part rather bad (although I still think his change to the ending were good movie-wise, unlike a lot of people seem to think)

So a 100% original creation don't really stimulate me all that much, I think the guy even thought he's very stylistic still can be fairly dull to watch
 

Spinwhiz

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Sylocat said:
By the way, Escapist, is there a REASON your forums have to wait for a connection to static.ak.connect.facebook.com every time I try to post a comment, even though I don't have a Facebook account? And is there a reason it always takes so goddamn long to connect to it?
If you are having a problem, please contact our tech department here: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/contact/
 

Gxas

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Kitsuna10060 said:
Gxas said:
SON OF A *****!!!

I was going to see this movie tonight. We had everything planned. Then what happens? My friend sees its score on metacritic and "won't pay for a shitty movie" so now we're seeing Paul...


I WANT TO SEE THIS FUCKING MOVIE!!!!!!!

Hopefully I can persuade him otherwise...
>.> or ya know, pay your own way, this looks a hell of a lot better the Paul i'm a go see it, >.> after i get paid that is
I can't see movies by myself in a theater. I have to have someone to turn to. Its a curse...
 

Scars Unseen

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May 7, 2009
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DearFilm said:
Scars Unseen said:
DearFilm said:
Pro Tip: If you want a movie to be successful, don't compare it favorably to Scott Pilgrim.
I liked Scott Pilgrim. I imagine I'm going to enjoy Sucker Punch immensely.

One pattern that I've picked up on... If Movie Bob gives a recommendation, even if it goes against the general consensus of other film critics, I'll usually like what the movie has to offer. It's when he pans a movie (especially if he invokes the Rant of Bob) that I usually ignore him. This holds even more true with his opinions on video games.
Personally, I found Scott Pilgrim the movie to be fun and energetic for the first third. The second third was draggy and the last third was confused and tonally uneven. Scott Pilgrim the character, on the other hand, as a complete loss on me. A serially depressed, mopy loser.

As for Bob, he is one of the few critics I cannot predict, and that makes him unique and special to me. I love watching his reviews and placing them against my own thoughts on films.
I think the pacing issues primarily stem from the fact that it's a feature length film adaptation of a 6 volume comic. I can forgive it that, and really didn't even notice on the first viewing (because I was too busy having fun watching it). As for the character, I think that, after reading the comic, Michael Cera wasn't the best casting decision they made with that movie. The problem is that I can't really tell you who would fit the character.

All in all, I enjoyed Scott Pilgrim for what it was, and believe that the only real way to improve it would be to stretch it into TV series, preferably of the sort that HBO would host, or possibly some of the better SciFi Channel mini-series (BSG, Dune, etc). Oh, and change the Katayanagi twins back into robot engineers instead of the lame retcon into DJs. That would be great.
 

2xDouble

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Well color me surprised. I fully expected this movie to be utter tripe and shallow, blatant pandering to the male audience. (Don't get me wrong, I appreciate being pandered to, but it does get old after a few dozen samey action movies).

I'm equally surprised that Bob didn't make the connection to Psychonauts. Yeah, they're different and relatively distinct story-wise, but if you think of each girl's individual fantasy as a "level" in a game, it starts to add up. Maybe you haven't played the game? It's cool.
 

KefkaCultist

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Yes! I was hoping that this review would be praising the movie and not trashing it. I want to see this so bad, but sadly I am broke...

:(
 

googleback

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Apr 15, 2009
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wow, really? The trailer made this film look fucking stupid. I might actually see it now.

Nice one ad department...
 

Primus1985

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I wish I had already went out and seen it instead of waiting for the review, but I had to be sure, now I know I'll love it :)


My only concern is what exactly is Bob's deal against 300? Its one of my favorite movies. And for him to call Frank Miller's work "drivel" is appalling to say the least.

What about Sin City, or Miller's adaptation of The Spirit? Bob claims he's for artistic stuff as well as grindhouse style action so what exactly is his beef?
 

Lunar Templar

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Sep 20, 2009
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Gxas said:
Kitsuna10060 said:
Gxas said:
SON OF A *****!!!

I was going to see this movie tonight. We had everything planned. Then what happens? My friend sees its score on metacritic and "won't pay for a shitty movie" so now we're seeing Paul...


I WANT TO SEE THIS FUCKING MOVIE!!!!!!!

Hopefully I can persuade him otherwise...
>.> or ya know, pay your own way, this looks a hell of a lot better the Paul i'm a go see it, >.> after i get paid that is
I can't see movies by myself in a theater. I have to have someone to turn to. Its a curse...
:( that sucks
 

Dastardly

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Apr 19, 2010
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MovieBob said:
Sucker Punch

MovieBob reviews Sucker Punch, which is "intelligent and moving, if utterly deranged."

Watch Video
Between Brazil and Pan's Labyrinth, the "visually-stylized movie about dreams as an escape from a harsh, unforgiving reality that occasionally intrudes on those dreams" is covered without having to invoke Inception.

But it's a worthy theme to look into--there's a lot of depth in that concept--and it appears to have been handled in a very different way. It works because it allows us to connect real-life experiences (like loss, war, or captivity) to our own heroic fantasies, and in doing so escape with these characters.

Watchmen also did this with the human drama between the various vigilantes--it became apparent that their superheroic alter-egos were a way of dealing with, escaping, or exerting power over their own out-of-control (and very human) lives. It did, however, also show the danger in actually living out those power fantasies, whereas movies like Brazil and Pan's Labyrinth still treat them as fantasies...
 

The Youth Counselor

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Well along with this and his opinion on Paul and Bayonetta, I've never disagreed more with Bob.

I would have never seen this on Wednesday, if I hadn't scored a free screening ticket. Though in the end I admit that I enjoyed this, I can not take someone serious when they say that it was in any form imaginative or heartfelt, feminist, or empowering.

The extent of imagination in this movie was some guy thinking "You know what'd be dope? A trippy ass story where Alice In Wonderland was kicking ass with a machine gun and samurai swords. And there'd be some complicated dream world thing, I haven't really worked that part yet, but it'll be deep and meaningful." The heartfeltness extended to the fact that the creators put effort into it and enjoyed what they're doing. To claim that it is feminist or empowering is as misguided as the claim that girls gone wild, strippers, and porn stars are feminist, empowering themselves because because they reclaimed their feminitity and showed independence by choosing their line of work. (In reality porn studios and viewers think little more of them than objects.)

Zach Snyder is the epitome of style over substance and excessive visuals. He's just a Michael Bay who likes painterly style filters and able to pick respectable scripts. Although commendable I don't care how much work and detail he went into plugging as many details as possible through reference and production design into Watchmen, because he completely missed the tone. Watchmen was written and illustrated as a melodramatic story with a prevailing aura of dread. When I first read the book, I got the impression that at any moment any character could die and that that impending doom would befall the world and that we were just waiting for the timer to click. Snyder's interpretation was awkwardly strung together with no pacing and overwhelmed by his obsession of injecting slow motion scenes and pornographic violence. In the book we were alluded to the theory that the Comedian may have played a part in the JFK assassination. Since Snyder knows no subtlety, he decided to show within the opening of the movie: JFK being shot and the camera panning to a closeup of the Comedian with a smoking rifle at the grassy knoll. All before any characters are introduced or developed.

I will admit to the fact that Snyder is a great craftsman and technical director. However it would be disingenuous to claim that his work is much higher than pandering to nerds simply because he scatters minute amounts of sociopolitical issues into it. And it's sad that the lure of sugary technicolor, CGI, explosions, and girls in cute costumes fools people into thinking otherwise.
 

mcnally86

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Apr 23, 2008
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Personally I watch the trailer and get turned off to this. It starts with a woman being sexually assaulted and ends with her running around dressed like a school girl fetish. Sure she has a sword now so instead of slow mo cat scratching she is slow mo slicing but she also shows her crotch off a lot more. I would think she would keep the private now that she can protect it. I get mixed messages from this movie and feel like I have to see it to find out if it makes sense. Though after Movie Bob's take on it I'm sure it doesn't. He seems to like movies that don't.

EDIT: Oh and when the trailer says "I can't imagine anything like this," I'm pretty sure the movie looks like I could. A D&D campaign played on the Nazi zombie mode of an FPS while Samurai Jack screams girl power. On Shrooms. There movie decoded.
 

Apples_McGrind

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Scars Unseen said:
DearFilm said:
Scars Unseen said:
DearFilm said:
Pro Tip: If you want a movie to be successful, don't compare it favorably to Scott Pilgrim.
I liked Scott Pilgrim. I imagine I'm going to enjoy Sucker Punch immensely.

One pattern that I've picked up on... If Movie Bob gives a recommendation, even if it goes against the general consensus of other film critics, I'll usually like what the movie has to offer. It's when he pans a movie (especially if he invokes the Rant of Bob) that I usually ignore him. This holds even more true with his opinions on video games.
Personally, I found Scott Pilgrim the movie to be fun and energetic for the first third. The second third was draggy and the last third was confused and tonally uneven. Scott Pilgrim the character, on the other hand, as a complete loss on me. A serially depressed, mopy loser.

As for Bob, he is one of the few critics I cannot predict, and that makes him unique and special to me. I love watching his reviews and placing them against my own thoughts on films.
I think the pacing issues primarily stem from the fact that it's a feature length film adaptation of a 6 volume comic. I can forgive it that, and really didn't even notice on the first viewing (because I was too busy having fun watching it). As for the character, I think that, after reading the comic, Michael Cera wasn't the best casting decision they made with that movie. The problem is that I can't really tell you who would fit the character.

All in all, I enjoyed Scott Pilgrim for what it was, and believe that the only real way to improve it would be to stretch it into TV series, preferably of the sort that HBO would host, or possibly some of the better SciFi Channel mini-series (BSG, Dune, etc). Oh, and change the Katayanagi twins back into robot engineers instead of the lame retcon into DJs. That would be great.
Personally, I loved the movie the first time, but did feel a little held back by the pacing. The second time I watched it though, The pacing issues totally vanished. It felt like once you know where the movie is going, Scott Pilgrim's pacing is actually perfect for the kind of movie it's trying to be. Give it another watch, you may be surprised.
 

MrJoyless

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May 26, 2010
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This is why i go to Movie Bob for movie reviews, you havnt missed with me once.

Other outlets like Rottenangrycritictomatoes.com always seems to skew the reviews to the bad for movies that just dont hit critics in the same place as they do Bob.

Its so funny to see the tomatoemeter so polarized between critics and viewers on damn near half the movies on that website...
 

For.I.Am.Mad

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I want to see this movie just to see how bad it is. I mean some reviewers are giving it 0 stars. I gotta see something that bad, I have to see something that makes people angry when they leave the theater.

The Spill review was hilarious by the way.