Sucker Punch

Jethro’s Note: Hold on here! I’m still trying to make sense of this film. And now, you want me to review it? OK, let’s see what I can do.

A few movies that emphasize style over substance just kindly ask the audience to go with the flow. A few others that do the same just beat the audience over the head with its production values. Sucker Punch, director and writer Zack Snyder’s first original film, is the latter type.

What story is in here involves Baby Doll (Emily Browning). Yes, that is her real name, apparently. Anyway, she’s sent to the mad house by her wicked step-dad. It turns out the mad house also doubles as a cabaret show where the inmates are the stars.

With the aid of her fellow inmates, Sweet Pea (Abbie Cornish), Rocket (Jena Malone), Blondie (Vanessa Hudgens) and Amber (Julie Chung), Baby Doll hatches a plan to bust out. Her performances on-stage are told exclusively on-screen as epic battles with ghostly samurai, zombie soldiers, dragons and killer robots. Yeah, it’s that kind of movie.

Its over-the-top fight scenes are well stylized, I can tell you that. After a while, though, the mess of sound and sight becomes just that. To make matters worst, it's also over-serious; as in, quite over-serious. Whatever uplifting message comes at the end about “your mind can set you free” just becomes lost in the chaos.

It’s a video game that just won’t let you quit. For another film, that would’ve been part of its charm. For a film like this, it becomes its tragically fatal flaw. In other words, it's just Sucker Punched itself.

Limitless

Charlie Gordon, the hero of the classic novel Flowers For Algernon, learned the hard way why getting smarter artificially stunk. You’d think that Eddie Morra (Bradley Cooper), the hero of Limitless, would know better.

Morra is a failing writer and lover; he’s behind on his new novel, was married for all of five minutes to Melissa (Anna Friel), and now dumped by Lindy (Abbie Cornish). Melissa’s brother Vernon (Johnny Witworth) offers him a solution in NZT-48, a new brain-boosting miracle drug.

One pill later, and Eddie Morra, struggling writer, is now Eddie Morra, the smartest man in New York. He also becomes the financial advisor of businessman Carl Van Loon (Robert De Niro). Yet, his newfound intelligence depends on his stash of NZT-48. Someone else wants it too, and they’ll kill to get it.

There are a few people responsible for this cinematic rendition of Alan Glynn’s novel The Dark Fields. They are director Neil Burger, writer Leslie Dixon, and the editors Tracy Adams and Naomi Geraghty. The editors, along with cinematographer Jo Willems, give the film a uniquely trippy visual style that’s simply amazing.

As our hero, Bradley Cooper’s performance is a great benefit. Throughout the film, he presents Eddie as a charismatic, likeable guy. Despite any shortcomings, he’s simply one you want to succeed. It’s this performance that lets the film’s premise work on screen.

It’s not exactly sci-fi, and it’s very much a thriller; I’ve seen it called a “techno-thriller.” Whatever you call it, Limitless is a visual experience that’s worth remembering.

Paul

Last week, I reviewed Battle: Los Angeles, a grim sci-fi film about nasty aliens wreaking havoc. And now, here comes Paul, the hilarious tale of a rude, yet likeable spaceman who just wants to go home.

Seth Rogen, through the use of motion capture, is Paul, a spaceman held in Area 51. He’s been there since 1947, ever since he crash-landed not in Roswell, but in Wyoming. By the time we first see Paul, he’s already escaped with a stolen car that he crashes.

Meanwhile, Grahame and Clive (the film’s writers Simon Pegg and Nick Frost), two British Sci-Fi geeks, have just spent a glorious time at Comic Con, San Diego. It’s the first stop on their UFO road trip, the last stop being Roswell. They meet Paul on the road, and take him aboard with them. Paul wants them to help him get back home, while a trio of government agents wants him back dead or alive.

The film comes through with its combination of its writing and its cast. The script knows when and how to pull off its jokes, many of which are pop culture related. The cast has great chemistry together and also have great fun as their characters. The best one is Sigourney Weaver, who relishes her role as the Government head “The Big Guy.”

While director Edgar Wright collaborated with Pegg and Frost before on Hot Fuzz and Shaun of the Dead, this time Greg Mottola (Superbad) is in charge. Despite the change in directors, the writers’ enthusiasm for their films' subject matter still shines. That's why Paul is certainly a fun road trip for geeks and "normal folks" alike.

Battle: Los Angeles

As of recent, the city of Los Angeles has suffered many cinematic deaths. It's been torn up by an Earthquake (twice), saw its citizens sucked up into the Skyline and there was a Volcano even. And now, a new film has come out that has Los Angeles in the cross-hairs again.

In the aptly named Battle: Los Angeles, the titular city is one of many visited by some aliens. These aliens don't come in peace; the minute they start landing, that's when their missile launchers start flying. They want Earth's water, as it turns out, and they've brought out the big guns to get it.

But what about the humans? On the human side is St. Sgt. Nantz (Aaron Eckhardt), called out of retirement when the aliens land. It's up to his unit, led by his new commanding officer Martinez (Ramon Rodriguez), to evacuate what's left of Santa Monica before the Air Force carpet-bombs it. And that's about it for the story.

It wastes no time to get to the action scenes. Within twenty minutes, perhaps less, the aliens are already on the ground making a mess of things. For the rest of the 116 minute runtime, bullets and bombs fly around. What's amazing is that I got so into it all that it felt shorter than that.

What helped the film out the most was not the actors, but the visual effects. From spaceships flying the skies to its shots of wrecked L.A., the film's effects made the fight scenes as intense as they are. On it's $70 million budget, that's quite an accomplishment for an early summer blockbuster.

This time, Los Angeles has won the Battle, but the War, probably not? But then again, it'll certainly win over its target audience, and that's all that matters.

The Adjustment Bureau

Even years after his death, Phillip K. Dick still has literary works that have yet to transition to the big screen. One of his short stories, Adjustment Team, has now made that cinematic transition in the form of The Adjustment Bureau.

David Norris (Matt Damon) is a New York Congressman whose immaturity has just cost him the Senate Seat. He just happens to meet Elise (Emily Blunt), a dancer at a ballet company and then, they fall in love. Right?

Not if the titular Bureau has anything to say about it.

It’s their job to make sure peoples’ lives go according to the plan of the guy they call “The Chairman.” When David accidentally sees them at work, head bureaucrat Richardson (John Slattery) warns him not to see Elise again or else. David, with the support of sympathetic bureaucrat Harry (Anthony Mackie), decides to find a way around the red tape to get to her.

George Nofli, screenwriter of previous Matt Damon hits Ocean’s Twelve and The Bourne Ultimatum, makes his directorial debut here. His film might seem complicated, but really, it’s a rather understandable story. It’s just that it’s told in a unique way (Well, sort of).

One of the film’s best aspects is its stars. As the leads, Blunt and Damon go very well together and on their own. Their antagonists, meanwhile, aren’t simply strict bureaucrats, but decent guys doing their job because they consider it right. It’s a real contrast to their “black and white” worldview, and it serves to make their Sci-Fi environment very believable.

The chase scenes, all on foot, are well-edited, exciting, and even humorous. As I watched the earlier ones, I felt all they needed was Yakety Sax. This wasn’t a problem for me, yet I’d imagine it be for someone expecting a purely serious sci-fi flick.

For those who know what to expect, The Adjustment Bureau'll be a satisfactory experience. Of course, if you don't, chances are you might adjust your perception afterwards.

Jethro's Note: Phillip K. Dick wrote 121 short stories and 44 novels. So, that's plenty of material awaiting the cinema screens.

Rango

In a world where movies are played on overpriced 3-D screens, Rango isn’t one of them. Instead, this tale, co-created by director Gore Verbinski, is on economically considerate flatscreens nationwide. It’s not that it needs 3-D that much; this adventure’s lively to begin with.

Our hero is Lars, later better known as Rango (Johnny Depp), a chameleon stranded in the desert. Thanks to advice from an armadillo named Roadkill (Alfred Molina), Rango heads to the town called Dirt. Almost immediately, our hero spins himself a reputation of heroic gunslinging that gets him appointed sheriff.

Dirt, as Rango finds out, has been having a water crisis. The town mayor, Tortoise John (Ned Beatty), has steady control over the H20. If Rango is to save the day, he has to live up to his reputation and save the aqua.

In the place of 3-D, the film has animation done by Industrial light and Magic. They’ve amazingly rendered the images with the same style they’ve given FX shots to films such as Transformers. As a result, there were some moments where the CGI didn’t look CGI at all.

The film also benefits from its stars, especially Depp in the title role. As for his supporting stars, some of the best ones include Isla Fisher as Rango’s love interest Beans, and Rick Garcia as the Greek Chorus (an Owl Mariachi Band). These are all a colorful assortment of critters who owe much to the writing as they do to the computer.

It’s a western spoof that’s not only fun and exciting, but economical as well. Thus, Rango should more than satisfy both kids and adults for its runtime.