Last movie watched...

[JamesC]

Sucker Punch

I know it's not very popular around these parts but I really like this film. It's so enthusiastically over the top! The whole thing look great and all the performances are strong. It doesn't have the strongest plot in the world but what it has ties everything together - I think I've said this before but I see this film as similar to one of those anthology horror films but with the horror stories replaced with action/Sci Fi set pieces.
Anyway, it works for me! Great fun.

[Frank]

Finally got around to seeing Despicable Me 2 I was actually surprised the moment I walked into the screening room and found it close to being completely full even after the amount of time the film has been out.

James King said he thought Despicable Me 2 was on course to end up trumping Irony Man and POS for the title of most obscenely profitable merchandising opportunity of the year. Given that it was released two months after RDJ's swan song as Tony Stark, that doesn't seem impossible:

1   Iron Man 3                          $407,848,523      
2   Despicable Me 2                   $341,475,645   
3   Man of Steel                        $289,023,787   
4   Monsters University              $260,566,991   
5   Fast & Furious 6                   $238,340,140   
6   Oz The Gr't and P'ful             $234,911,825      
7   Star Trek Into Darkness        $226,927,100   
8   World War Z                        $197,778,968   
9   The Croods                          $186,902,812   
10   The Heat                           $154,144,225   

http://boxofficemojo.com/yearly/chart/?yr=2013&p=.htm

[Recrewt]

Apparantly Despicable Me 2 is set to become Universal's most profitable film.

http://www.imdb.com/news/ni55997390/

[Frank]

I should have said, those stats are US domestic grosses. Worldwide, Tony Stark's worth 1.2 billion and the minions are 750 million strong.

[Professor Bear]

I was going to do a hilarious juxtaposition in response to JamesC's post where I trash Sucker Punch and then mention how great Batman & Robin was, but it has been pointed out that B&R is at least consistent within its own gay and silly world.

It doesn't have the strongest plot in the world but what it has ties everything together

Except all the anachronisms and the director's use of videogame logic to make characters' stories and scenes work - and I do mean actual videogame logic, mind you, with characters on quests to locate and retrieve objects and keys to complete quests to unlock new levels and fight boss characters, and even doing Limit Breaks on occasion.  Sucker Punch really is an odd duck, because it is a film that demands you look upon it as complete trash because approaching it sensibly just makes things worse: if you try to view it as commentary on sexism or violence, for instance, you run up against the problem that it is wall to wall with unironic sexism and violence.

As the board's Mr Clements rightly points out, though, it's a great music video.

[JamesC]

I know I'm really going to struggle if I try to defend Sucker Punch as making sense or having any logic other than the video game type but I really think that the overt fantasy framing device makes terms like 'anachronism' redundant.

[Richmond Clements]

I watched DOA on the television box tonight, and commented to a friend that it made Sucker Punch look like The Thin Red Line.

[JamesC]

I watched DOA on the television box tonight, and commented to a friend that it made Sucker Punch look like The Thin Red Line.

But did you enjoy it? The Thin Red Line doesn't have Holly Valance in a bikini.

[Professor Bear]

DOA is complete shit.  I could make an attempt to grade it and Sucker Punch in such a way that one is technically defined as being "better" or "worse", but what would be the point?  I suppose DOA does deserve credit on a technical level for shooting fights in such a way that it makes it look like Kevin Nash can take two steps without pulling a muscle, though.

[sheldipez]

Just watched the two Lady Snowblood movies back to back. Highly recommended if you want a cure for the likes of Sucker Punch and DOA i.e strong female kicking ass without the sexist undertones.

[JamesC]

Just so I know, what, exactly, is sexist about Sucker Punch?

[Richmond Clements]

Just so I know, what, exactly, is sexist about Sucker Punch?

Seriously?
Jesus...

http://www.feministfrequency.com/2011/04/zach-snyders-sucker-punch-is-a-steaming-pile-of-sexist-crap/

[JamesC]

Fair enough - there are some decent points in that link but the woman does seem a little unhinged. I'm not sure what's infantilising about a mini skirt.
I'm playing Devil's Advocate really - the film's plot isn't sexist and despite what the lady in that article says, there's nothing pornographic about it. I get that the costumes in the film could be considered a male's fantasy, but really, at what point does a mini skirt make a film sexist?
The film is all about fighting back and using your strength to beat those that are trying to control you. The character of Sweat Pea escapes in the end and gets shot of the sexy clothes.
Anyone who tries to objectify the women is clearly marked out as a baddie and comes to a sticky end.
The point I'm trying to make is that once you get past the 'OMG all these women are in mini skirts' factor there's not actually that much that I would consider sexist. There are so many Hollywood films that feature helpless females that need men to rescue them ( a recent example being Taken 2 in which the female character does literally nothing to help herself and is entirely dependent on Liam Neeson to help her) that I would say calling the producers out for their sexism should be about more than what the characters are wearing.

And apart from all that there's a really cool bit with a dragon.

[Frank]

Just so I know, what, exactly, is sexist about Sucker Punch?

I'm sure there's a way to make a movie about schoolgirl victims of sexual abuse who become sexy strippers and are subjected to even more horrific abuse in a way which isn't leering and exploitative, but Zac Snyder wasn't able to find it. I wasn't repulsed by the film and didn't hate it, I just thought it was boring, disjointed, derivative, and very forgettable.

[JamesC]

I may as well give this up - but they aren't school girls and though you may find it 'leering and exploitative' there's no nudity or any depictions of sexual abuse that spring to mind other than when the cook tries it on and ends up with a knife to his throat.
Anyway, I liked it and others didn't - fair enough.