Last movie watched...

[Hawkmumbler]

Indeed, no sooner had I typed that comment that I remembered the child rape sequence. Luckily I feel that due to framing certain younger viewers might just take it as just assault (JUST Assault! When did this become acceptable juxtaposition in a 12A?!).
Sucker Punch was incredibly meh in my books. Lavish and very much the best "Live Action Anime" your ever likely to see, sharing a lot of the stereotypes of the medium (SPEED LINES!) and one or two memorable action sequences. Alas it lacked anything in the way of character development or plot and instead I prefer to look at it as a series of Zack Snyder's recycled story boards.

[Mabs]

Sucker Punch. I solemnly vow never to venture outside my comfort zone (or give Zac Snyder another break) ever again.

I thought Sucker Punch was really mild. What made it hard to watch for you Sauchie?

What everyone else wrote (above), young Hooermonger. I didn't hate it and it wasn't the worst thing I've ever seen, but it tried my patience mightily. There are lots of individual bits of production design on show which are wonderful (the Hunnish troops in the trench warfare scenes and their spooky eyes were a highlight) and I'm all in favour of the bricolage approach to forcing different aesthetics, narratives and genres together and letting the interplay of those elements cohere and find their own meaning in the mind of the viewer - I'd just prefer it to be done with greater panache than was in evidence here.

The aesthetic and tone seemed to be lifted wholesale from Jeunet and Caro, but the practical effects and production design of their films was replaced by some of the most technically inept and insipid CGI work I can remember witnessing in a mainstream film. Whereas J & C bring a playful, light-comedic touch to matters of sexuality, Sucker Punch marries unremarkable voyeurism, and the attempt to lend gravitas to the candyfloss fabula by bringing child rape (!) to the party is disastrously misjudged. I think child rape's an excellent subject for a film; but not a film which is a cross between Resident Evil 4 and Showgirls.

[/b]

Lol. Now this i gotta see! 

[Dandontdare]

I always get it mixed up with Donkey Punch and end up discussing an entirely different (shit) movie

[Charlie boy]

A friend brought up Sucker Punch the other year in the pub after a lecture. I said a part of me wanted to see it because it looked like an instantly forgettable popcorn movie that could have some moments. My friend warned one reason why it is so terrible is because it tries to be more than this. It got brought up again recently by another friend, he also said it's awful (he didn't even finish it) because it tries to be more than what it is. After what those two have said and on reading comments made here, I probably will still give it a go once it makes it to TV and if there is nothing else on.

[TordelBack]

The Hunger Games.  Quite a frustrating film in that so much of it is very good and surprisingly thoughtful, whereas other parts are achingly dull and downright stupid.  I enjoyed the design of the thing hugely, the garish costumes and makeup were a brilliant 70s/90s/Gwen Steffani mix, and I liked the fact that the riot troops looked resolutely daft and thus extra-sinister in their Spaceballs outfits - very nice to see a SF thing that harks back to Logan's Run, rather than Aliens. 

I've never read the book, so it's possible many of the niggles I have here are a result of adaptation.  Anyway, heavy SPOILERS AHEAD.

It's hard to get a handle on the logic of this world: the technology exists to raise truly ridiculously enormous domes and levitate vast aircraft, but somehow there's still readily accessible coal to be mined in Appalachia, and a reason to do it. Someone has gone to the bother of genetically engineering super-lethal wasps and insta-death berries, but why?   Many of the higher-district Tributes have been trained from birth to fight in the games, but they never post a sentry or keep watches, and none of them can fire a bow.  Then they rig all their food to blow up as a 'booby trap'. Who's the booby now, huh, huh? 

The conscious use of Greek myth, and the obvious satire of wealth imbalance, should permit the setting a certain amount of fantasy fiat, but incongruities did still pull me out of the story.

I felt the set-up phase was overlong for its content - we don't see enough of the training, we don't learn enough about the other characters, but even so it seems to go forever.  The violence, when it eventually comes, is handled in a young-teen-friendly way:  it's sudden and brutal, surprisingly so, but somehow not explicit or indulgent.  Katniss' hide-in-a-tree strategy is sensible, and gives a good pacing to events.

The biggest problem I had with the whole thing was that I simply did not understand the relationships, other than the subtle and well-played fake love-affair between Katniss and Peeta.  Everybody hates Katniss, then everybody loves Katniss, but we never seem to find out why.  Woody Harrellson is a belligerent drunk who doesn't care, then he very much does; Lenny Kravitz seems to become devoted to her because she waxes up nicely.  Rue and Katniss never exchange a word, then they're instantly sisters.  This aspect is where the film veers closest towards making Katniss Everdeen the Mary Sue her name worryingly suggests from the outset. 

All of the hilariously-coiffured media-types are brilliantly played, and Sutherland's Minos/Zeus/Col Sanders is appropriately distant and menacing.

The most satisfying part of the film for me was what was left largely unsaid:  Katniss 'gaming' the Reality TV system, and the fact that her 'success' is not based on her own martial prowess (as you might have expected from the hunstwoman setup), but cynical manipulation of the medium.  Jennifer Lawrence comes across as a really remarkable actress here, with a range and subtlety of expression that was effective at almost every turn, it's just a pity she didn't have more to work with in terms of other characters.

I tell you what though, this is smart-enough SF with some good points to make and some clever aesthetics, and it's entirely carried by an unsexualised, competent solo heroine: these points alone make this an important film, and if the next installment can manage to be a little less flat I have high hopes. 

Also, Jennifer Lawrence is going to be a huge star: she's amazing.

[JamesC]

The thing that frustrated me most about Hunger Games was that they went to the trouble of showing how important camouflage was and then hardly anybody used it. The person that did use it was supposed to come across as remarkably resourceful but to me it seemed like a no brainier.
All in all I think Battle Royalle had a better story but I agree that Katniss was a good character and that Jennifer Lawrence is a bloody good actor. She reminds me of a young Helen Mirren - not sure why.

[Richmond Clements]

Read the books, TB.

[TordelBack]

Read the books, TB.

I probably will at that.  I did feel that a lot of what was annoying me was probablystuff lost in translation, but I was trying to decipher it all based on what was actually on the screen. It may suffer from the Harry Potter film effect - that despite slavish adherence to certain elements, all the bits that would actually make the whole thing make sense get cut, leaving the audience thinking it all operates by hand-waving. 

While I realise there was a lot of negativity in this morning's drivel, I did think it was an admirable SF film, and I'd certainly recommend that people see it.  The very fact that I've expended so much effort thinking about it means it was worthy of my attention.  And (look away now) speaking as a father who despairs of the crap that surrounds the notion of being a young woman, this is only the second film I've seen in a very long while that places a girl alone centre-stage and lets her 'succeed' (in this case survive) through her own skill, wits and sense of independence, and without even once flashing her knickers.

[Hawkmumbler]

Battle Royale > The Hunger Games

[MR. ELIMINATOR]

Olympus has fallen. Save the president of the united states cliche filled action movie. Pretty shit.

[Richmond Clements]

It may suffer from the Harry Potter film effect - that despite slavish adherence to certain elements, all the bits that would actually make the whole thing make sense get cut, leaving the audience thinking it all operates by hand-waving. 

Good analogy. The books are great. What I  admire most about them is how Katniss is a thoroughly unlikeable person throughout. Her self awareness as she knows she manipulating those around her and watching on TV is brilliant.

[Charlie boy]

Battle Royale > The Hunger Games

Lord of the Flies meets The Running Man. Because every idea somehow becomes better when you add MEETS THE RUNNING MAN to the end of it. Try it if you don't believe me.

[Hawkmumbler]

Battle Royale > The Hunger Games

Lord of the Flies meets The Running Man. Because every idea somehow becomes better when you add MEETS THE RUNNING MAN to the end of it. Try it if you don't believe me.

Surely thoug, The Running Man is the deformed offspring of The Most Dangerous Game, no?

[Charlie boy]

But The Running Man is the popular TV show the film gets its title from, as is Hunger Games. You can make the connection to Dangerous Game and a couple of other stories that followed but these weren't featuring the hunt as televised entertainment.

[Hawkmumbler]

But The Running Man is the popular TV show the film gets its title from, as is Hunger Games. You can make the connection to Dangerous Game and a couple of other stories that followed but these weren't featuring the hunt as televised entertainment.

Turkey Shoot? Diplomatic immunity is the prize there, more in line with Runing Man than MDG.
It's a populare genre on the undergound level.