Sucker Punch

Directed by Zack Snyder

Written by Zack Snyder 

Zack Snyder's film “Sucker Punch” is yet another attempt at snagging the attention of the testosterone pumped moviegoers who desire nothing more than to see scantily clad girls blow shit up. If the goal of this film is to be “action-packed” and recreate a Lara Croft level of sexiness, then it is a mild success. However, this film failed to even grab the attention of even these horny males hoping to see plenty of the film’s platinum blonde star Emily Browning (The Uninvited). It is the perfect example of how the singular combination of overt sexuality and violence do not make a movie successful. There has to be a connection with the characters and their goals, which is something this movie completely lacks.

The film follows a young woman named Baby Doll, played by the stunning and powerful Emily Browning. She has been framed by her abusive stepfather for killing her sister and is now being institutionalized in a mental hospital. The owner of the hospital, played by Oscar Isaac, is bribed by Baby Doll’s stepfather and asked to forge a signature of fellow Dr. Ver Gorski, permitting Baby Doll’s lobotomization.

The beautiful part of the film is the way Baby Doll copes with her rather dark situation. She uses her imagination to escape from the reality of her life, similar to Ofelia in Guillermo del Toro’s “Pan’s Labyrinth.” She imagines herself as part of a brothel, along with the other randomly attractive crazies in the hospital. Whenever she “entertains” men or dances, she further escapes into several varying fantasy worlds.

In one of these worlds, Baby Doll meets the guidance of Wise Man played by Scott Glenn (Silence of the Lambs, Apocalypse Now). This man tells her that if she wants to escape, she needs to find a map, fire, a knife, a key, and a super secret mystery item! Luckily, if the audience has any memory at all, we can remember the opening of the film where Snyder shamelessly focused 10 minutes of camera time on each of these items. Now all Baby Doll has to do is rally her fellow hotties and get them all to team work it up and find the items…yay!

If this is the kind of storytelling you are into, then high five. For any of the video gamers out there, the plot may seem a little familiar. “Gather these obscure items and you will be led to your freedom!” The movie follows this “video game plot” only further emphasized by Baby Doll’s trips of escapism as she and the gang attempt to obtain the items. Each time they begin the quest of finding the next item, they embark on a different adventure that parallels their goals in a more fantastical manner. When they were trying to get fire, they invaded a dragon’s castle. When they wanted the map they infiltrate a zombie infested World War I trench-warfare scene. Logical right?

I am not by any means bashing  the creativity of Zack Snyder. This man brought you “300,” “Watchmen,” and “Dawn of the Dead.” However, there is the faintest possibility that this movie might have been a tad overdone and therefore incapable of reeling any audience members in. When the characters are being bounced from fantasy world to fantasy world, and the audience never gets to bond with them, how are we supposed to understand them let alone enjoy the film?

Go see “Sucker Punch” if you’re bored and want to see some stuff explode. If you want to see a quality movie, you’re looking in the wrong direction.

The Adjustment Bureau

Director: George Nolfi

Writer: George Nolfi

“The Adjustment Bureau” was a box office success as a result of its two stars Matt Damon and Emily Blunt. Damon plays David Norris, a charismatic and impulsive politician who while seeking a career in the senate, simultaneously fights for the love of dancer Elise Sellas, played by the extraordinary Emily Blunt (whom I freaking love!). Their opponents turn out to be supernatural and take the form of a Adjustment Bureau or bureau of angels who intervene with the mysterious objective of separating the two lovers and keeping them “on track.” This is the perfect layout for the short story written by Philip K. Dick, however, does not nearly reach its full potential as a movie. The Bureau becomes overdone and extraneous causing the film to be so jam-packed that the audience neither processes the plot, nor fully understands the conflict. How could this problem have been fixed?

Not to be a complaining fool, but why didn’t they just make the film about the couple!? I have yet to read the short story, and after seeing this movie twice (a second time on a plane - out of sheer boredom) I have no interest. But in this presentation, the group of angels becomes completely melodramatic and laughable.

The introduction and nugget of the film takes place in the beginning when Norris goes into the men’s bathroom to prepare a speech for his candidacy. He calls out to make sure the restroom is clear and then begins to practice. After fifteen minutes, and once his speech becomes personal, we realize that hiding in the bathroom is the adorable Elise Sellas. After an awkward acknowledgement of each other’s presence, they begin to playfully banter and make the audience fall instantly in love them. This relationship between the two is what the Adjustment Bureau must end. Once again, if the film had just continued on from this bathroom scene and avoided the super natural aspect (which I would normally love) the movie would have been wonderful. We understand this pair of characters and could easily have enjoyed a movie following their romance. Instead, the conflict shifts to the supernatural and moves to being unjustified and unexplained.

I love supernatural, sci-fi fantasy movies… if they are done well. But in this instance, the over coat and fedora wearing angels become extraneous and just confusing. Half way through the film we are told that angels don’t like water. Also that the angels only have super powers if they wear their hats...awk? These tools are unexplained and thrown into the film to further the conflict. George Nolfi choses to tell the audience and not show the arch of the characters and, therefore, loses all momentum. If the angels only obstruct the plot and do not reveal further character growth, they have no job being in the movie.

I REALLY wanted to like George Nolfi’s interpretation of “The Adjustment Bureau.” With extremely likeable leads and a charming backstory, the film should have been a cinematic success. Due to the success of the stars, the film was a hit commercially but will not be remembered in the years to come.

Taxi Driver

Directed by Martin Scorsese

Written by Paul Schrader

I watched Martin Scorsese’s “Taxi Driver” while on a plane to Mexico, and I am pretty sure that everyone else on the flight thought I was having a mental breakdown due to the sounds I was making while watching. My one and only excuse for my precarious behavior, is that this film might be the most bizarre and unique movie’s I have seen in a long time.

“Taxi Driver” is about a young man named Travis Bickle, played by Robert De Niro, who gets a job as a nighttime taxi driver in the heart of New York City. Why would someone want such a demanding and unpleasant job you ask? To do something productive with this time as he suffers from insomnia L. This message of using one’s time wisely may be the only positive message delivered in the film, as nearly every other character is highly negative and miserable. Anyway, Travis works his shifts and nightly discusses with himself and the film audience how much he hates the filth of New York City. However, this is a not a film about how much one man can complain; there is much more depth that follows.

As an audience member, we sit with Bickle in the passenger seat of his taxi, and follow his nightlife of driving around prostitutes and mischief-makers and simultaneously his daily pursuits of a young woman named Betsy, played by Cybill Shepherd. Betsy is your pretty, perfect, and yet somewhat fake campaign volunteer for Senator Charles Palantine, played by Leonard Harris. Bickle’s many strange attempts at obtaining her affection in the early parts of the film, are only spoiled by his idea to take her to see a porn film on a date. Gentlemen, I hope all of you have enough common sense to know to NEVER TAKE YOUR DATE TO SEE A PORNO. Obviously, she responds negatively and calls off the relationship enlightening Bickle on his unacceptable behavior.

Bickle’s actions expose how truly isolated and different he is compared to everyone else in the city. Your average Jo knows that taking your date to a porn is a recipe for disaster, yet we can see from Bickle’s face his intentions were only positive and naïve. His inability to interact with Betsy is one of many clues to the audience, opening their eyes to the fact that something is seriously wrong with this man and that he is freaking crazy. While spending his days attempting to regain contact with Betsy, he drives around at night hoping for something or someone to cleanse the city of its darkness. In this manner, Travis begins to portray a character similar to the Joker from Batman by exposing his lack of sympathy or human compassion. He dreams for one day a storm to come to shake everything apart and “wash the trash off the sidewalks.”

This lack of compassion is then contradicted by the introduction of a young child-prostitute named Easy or Iris Steensma played by Jodie Foster.  The presence of her character, allows the audience to see the good side of Travis Bickle through the fatherly compassion he shows her.  He meets with her on several occasions, hoping to get her to leave the city and return to her family. This is Bickle’s last act of charity in improving the world of New York in a peaceful manner.  Foster delivers a compelling performance of this young girl who is struggling with the freedom she has obtained as a young soul in New York City and the cost it has on her body as a prostitute along with her controlling pimp.

It isn’t until halfway through the film that the rising action begins to appear. After I watched the film I asked myself why I even sat through the first hour? Aside from the awkward interactions with Betsy, nothing of any significance occurs. I then realized that Scorsese takes his time to set up Bickle’s character, preparing the audience for the shock of the latter half.  Scorsese draws you into this character by showing you how human he is until something ignites in Bickle. After one of his interactions with Iris and he begins to prepare himself for battle. He does pushups and illegally purchases guns preparing the audience for the last twenty minutes of the film when the movie screen literally turns red.

Upon watching several interviews with Scorsese on the project, one can quickly come to the realization that this film is one of his earlier “Passion Projects.” Teaming up with the writer Paul Schrader and lead actor De Niro, the group made this film because they all related to the story and themes presented in the film. They had no hopes for it being remotely successful or well received which, as it turns out, the film accomplishes both garnering the Palm d’Or at Cannes and four Oscar noms. Bickle is alone in one of the most populated cities in the United States. He allows for every audience member to feel both estranged by his clear madness and also sympathetic of his circumstances. The film is a mixed bag of emotions, which takes the audience through every emotional twist and turn possible. Shot in a dark and shadowy film-noir style similar to Coppola’s “Apocalypse Now,” one quickly realizes how similar these two films are. This is exemplified by the similarities in the souls of the lead characters and the heart that the director places in both films. De Niro, Schrader (the writer), and Scorsese all place their soul into this movie, exemplified by the theatrical coma it’s audience members soon find themselves in.