SUCKER PUNCH (2011)

 

Coming from the director of 300 and Watchmen if you expect anything less of action and CG from Sucker Punch, you are dead wrong! You will be instantly blown away by the visual effects and the sheer amount of mind blowing action throughout this flick.

The plot is not complicated yet when you watch it you will definitely be lost here and there. The story is about a girl (AKA Baby Doll) who is abused by her stepfather and then condemned in to a mental asylum. While she plots to escape from the horrible place she gets the help from few other girls. With her buddies and borderless vivid imagination she set up a plan to get away and set to execute it step by step.

Sucker Punch is all about visual fantasy than being a hard hit story line. Sexy set of girls wearing tight pants and skinnies shooting and kicking the butts of weird creatures and robots and Hitler’s mechanic army doesn’t sound realistic at all. But when the movie rolls out each of these scenarios becomes practically extravagant with minute and breathtaking detail. Some of the action sequences like the attacking of robots in disarming the nuclear bomb (AKA kitchen Knife)  are totally amazing. The work done for CG, live action and set creation is maybe one of the best which I have seeing in recent movie making.

Thought The plot is weak it’s not entirely bad. From one angle it’s a psychological thriller.  From another it’s a fantasy. Put them together it’s a thrilling movie about an escape plan made uniquely than any other. And the fantastic sound track consists of heavy metal and soft rock music just purely adds up to the thrill. And the first 5 mts of the movie is purely a ground breaking start with a touch of a music video. Fantastic!

Genre: Action, Adventure, Thriller

Director: Zack Snyder

Writers: Zack Snyder (screenplay), Steve Shibuya (screenplay)

Stars: Emily Browning, Vanessa Hudgens and Abbie Cornish

THE LINCOLN LAWYER (2011)

When the deal of a life time comes his way, the low rent defense attorney Mickey Haller decides to grab the most out of it. Defending low life criminals who cannot afford good attorneys, Mickey usually works his cases on the backseat of his Lincoln. With a broken marriage and a cute daughter and a still friendly x wife in his life Mickey somehow keeps his head above the water when the tides are high. But when this new high price deal comes his way unexpectedly and a rich family boy and his mother is involved in it Mickey sets to sail the deep water. But soon he realizes that he is becoming a pawn in a wicked game which he cannot simply quit even though his life is at stake. 

Lincoln Lawyer is a crime thriller with a twist of legal background to it. The story is fast phased and gives little details to hang in to most of the time. It has flashbacks of events which occur earlier and assumptions which is normal to crime scene story telling. Yet as the main lead is an attorney than a police investigator makes this twist a bit unique. 

The plot doesn’t make a great deal of sense but it sure can hook you up for good two hours. When the story starts like a normal drama that features a twisted attorney in the middle it gradually evolves in to a thriller with quite a bit of blood and gore. Like I said before it can make you wonder throughout the plot of what’s to come next. 

 Good performance by the feel free Matthew McConaughey and more than good performance by Ryan Philippe. If your ‘thing’ is crime and drama then this will keep you entertained. 

Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller

Director: Brad Furman

Writers: John Romano Michael Connelly

Stars: Matthew McConaughey, Marisa Tomei , Ryan Phillippe

PAUL (2011)

Simon Pegg and Nick Frost are reunited in this hilarious science fiction which even drive alien’s nuts. You may remember how they were in Hot Fuzz and Shaun of the dead. And this one is no less entertaining. 

When Graeme Willy and Clive Gollings travel all the way from UK to USA to visit the comic con and make a road trip they bump in to someone very special.  Strangely an alien named Paul. And this big green headed alien with a skinny body and a shiny pair of goggle eyes doesn’t seems like any one they expected to meet. Surprisingly witty and mischievous Paul tags along with Graeme and Clive, or rather they had no other option but to take Paul with them. Soon the duo realizes that Paul is on the run from the government and he has already spent 60 years on earth. While trying to help Paul to get back to his planet the duo face the resistance from the government agents and the father of the girl they happen to kidnap by ‘mistake’.

Maybe ‘Paul’ is something that never was screened before. It carries a familiar theme of an alien who is lost in our planet and seeking a way back. But it’s more than that. This alien is not just some creature who speaks a native tongue and hides away from the humans. This dude is a pure crazy smart ass alien who just will play any havoc in a split second before you even blink. He speaks pure English with a curse in-between each line and smoke weed like a pro. Topless and wears shorts but don’t think twice to get rid of it. He even has the ability to bring life back to dead creature’s right before he gulps them up for a meal! And when he says “What the Fuck?” you might actually burst by laughing. 

Paul has a good mix of live acting and CG. The alien is well rendered and emotional up to a great detail with the brilliant voice acting of Seth Rogen. And Simon and Nick just do the wonder to main roles.  They are unintentionally hilarious and made me laugh quite loud. 

‘Paul’ is a light weight scientific comedy. It has enough lines to laugh with and action to fulfill your thriller cells. 

Graeme Willy: How come I can understand you? Are you using some neural language router?

Paul: Actually I'm speaking English you fucking idiot!

Genre: Comedy, Sci Fi , Adventure

Director: Greg Mottola

Writers: Nick Frost, Simon Pegg

Stars: Simon Pegg, Nick Frost and Seth Rogen

PREDATOR (1987)

I don’t think that this movie actually requires an introduction. PREDATOR is not just one of the action movies. But it is one of those ‘the’ fantastic action movies in the history of movie making. It vaguely hides behind a science fiction theme but represent itself to be loud as thunder and thrilling as lightning. 

Predator represents a certain generation. A generation which expected nothing less than hardcore action and hardcore actors. Hardcore action was delivered by the military or any one above the military only and such action was not possible by any other. When the ARMY helicopters starts to roam the sky and the machine gun bullets starts to rip anything in their way you know what you have got yourself in to. 

 And then there were these men with the most muscular bodies who stop at nothing to achieve their objective one way or the other. And one thing was certain that when you spell out Arnold Schwarzenegger it was all about that action that fills your nerves with a good dose of adrenaline. 

Predator is all about those with a big bonus of brilliantly unique plot. Who could have imagined that when an elite team of soldiers in the jungle starts to disappear one by one and get’s brutally murdered, the real enemy is just a badass alien!! And this alien blends with the environment and goes invisible and tracks living things with thermal imagery. How ‘hot’ is that?

For me there are few things why Predator totally rocks. One it’s Arnold as I mentioned before. I quite don’t see any other actor until now had made their mark in action flicks like Arnold did though few came close. With his emotionless face and nerve carved biceps he is no match. And then it’s the action and the thrill. Predator from start to end is a nonstop rollercoaster ride which twists and fries your organs. Third is the plot. It’s magnificent and unique to start with. Even the alien is one of a kind and brutal creature that shows no mercy.  And when it ends it’s one of the best survival games you will ever see.

There are few sequels which later released on Predator, yet up to date the original holds it strong position to be the best. 

Genre: Action, Adventure, Thriller, Sci Fi

Director: John McTiernan

Writers: Jim Thomas, John Thomas

Stars: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Carl Weathers and Kevin Peter Hall

EQUILIBRIUM (2002)

Feels like a ride in the Matrix train but it feels fun! Packed with smoking gun swinging action and bone breaking hand to hand combat ‘Equilibrium’ is not a disappointment. 

In the future most of the world population is wiped out after the end of world war iii. And in the newly formed nation of Libria a dictator rules. Believing that human emotions lead to wars and destruction a serum is injected to each citizen of Libria that blocks all human emotions. All forms of creativity including writing and drawing are banned. Whoever possessed such material is punished by death. An elite group of soldiers watch over the nation and John Preston (Christian Bale) is one of the top ranking officers who never fail at his job with pin point accuracy. But things change for him when he deliberately skips to take the serum one morning. He starts to find out the wonderful feeling of being able to have emotions and feelings.

This is not a perfect science fiction. But it’s a movie with a heavy heart in places where you will never expect. You will forget how to feel when you watch this for a while and then the movie itself will bring you back to light. In a small miracle moments of Preston cries after hearing a sonata and being licked by a puppy are just amazing flashes of truth for him and for the audience equal. 

Christian Bale who I always trust in does not fail in the role of Preston. He is strong, quick and kick ass perfect. Though the movie is quite low budget there are some scenes which that embed right in the core of your entertainment brain. And the set creation is wonderful. The whole movie is metallic and neat looking with crisp architecture and black leather outfits. 

Maybe you will be happy about all your emotions after you watch it. And thankful that no one controls them other than you!

Genre: Sci Fi, Action, Drama

Director: Kurt Wimmer

Writer: Kurt Wimmer

Stars: Christian Bale, Sean Bean and Emily Watson

GREENBERG (2010)

This movie has the simplest story line. A man from New York moves to Los Angeles to his brother’s place while trying to recover from a bad experience. There he finds a connection with his brother assistant.

The story starts there and ends just there. Yes it’s just a connection and we will never know if they really liked each other or made a couple later on. There is no real start or a real end to ‘Greenberg’ but it just rolls damn well. 

Some of you may call it an utter waste of time or some might just walk out without understanding anything. Because it’s just small talk, total burst of emotions and flowing feelings but not a movie with a real plot to go with. Then what’s so good about Greenberg?

This movie is strongly character driven. It just never stops showing how two people who are totally lost in their own little worlds, without a way of coming out, trying to get along together. People who have their own way of looking at the world and judging what’s going around them all the time but fails miserably when they are being judged by someone else. People who don’t really have a goal or ambitions but just trying to survive the day but knowing that life is not that simple but cannot find where the real values are. 

Ben Stiller on a different kind of a role which he portrays well. And Jennifer Jason Leigh adds her grace all over. 

Greenberg is a painful bag of reality. Some may open it and digest what’s in it. 

Genre: Drama, comedy, romance

Director: Noah Baumbach

Writers: Jennifer Jason Leigh (story), Noah Baumbach (story)

Stars: Ben Stiller, Greta Gerwig and Jennifer Jason Leigh