Movie Review Sucker Punch

Sucker Punch (2011) 

Directed by Zack Snyder

Written by Zack Snyder

Starring Emily Browning, Abbie Cornish, Jena Malone, Vanessa Hudgens, Jon Hamm, Carla Gugino

Release Date March 25th, 2011

Published March 24th, 2011

"Sucker Punch" is ostensibly a story about an abused teenage girl who is sent to an insane asylum by her evil step father who hopes she will be lobotomized before she can tell anyone about his crimes. Babydoll, as the girl comes to be called for her affinity for pigtails and short skirts, has five days before a doctor will come to deliver her lobotomy.

In those five days the hospital transforms from an asylum to a brothel where Babydoll and fellow inmates, Sweet Pea (Abbie Cornish), Rocket (Jena Malone), Blondie (Vanessa Hudgens) and Amber (Jamie Chung) are featured performers in a burlesque show. Babydoll quickly becomes the main attraction with her mesmerizing dances.

We, however, never actually see Babydoll dance. For Babydoll, dancing becomes a fantasy world where she retreats into a chimerical world filled with dangers that she and her friends must defeat in order to gather the materials they will need for an elaborate and fiery escape.

Babydoll's dance fantasies are fanboy dreams realized with monster robot ninjas, dragons and Nazi machines right out of a bizarre sci fi comic book. The images that Zack Snyder crafts in "Sucker Punch" are extravagant geek fantasies where gorgeous girls in fetish wear wield swords and machine guns against the kinds of villains only Frank Miller or Neil Gaiman might imagine.

If that sounds cool to you then you are likely in the target audience for "Sucker Punch." For me however, "Sucker Punch" is a confounding exercise in Zack Snyder's typical style over substance filmmaking. As with his "Dawn of the Dead" remake, his interpretation of "300" and his take on "Watchman," Snyder's "Sucker Punch" is yet another impersonal homage to what he thinks the audience wants to see.

Zack Snyder as an artist is a cipher; he has no style of his own. "300" was the vision of Frank Miller taken almost frame by frame from his graphic novel. "Watchman," though disowned by creator Alan Moore, was as faithful to the graphic novel's imagery as Snyder could be while adapting the story to cinema standards.

"Dawn of the Dead" too has little life of its own beyond the 1979 George Romero original. The film has the same beat and energy as the original and while the characters and settings have been updated to modern times, there is little that Zack Snyder brought to "Dawn of the Dead" in terms of subtext that George Romero hadn't brought to the original.

Now comes "Sucker Punch" , a seemingly original effort. Yet, despite not having a literary source, "Sucker Punch" still plays homage, like a movie made for others and not by one visionary artist. The geek fantasies at play in "Sucker Punch" are so market tested to particular fanboy tastes that one could assign "Sucker Punch" as an adaptation of Comic Con, the annual comics and entertainment gathering in San Diego, California.

Comic Con invites fans from across the globe to San Diego where costumed characters celebrate their favorite geek fetish properties from "Star Wars," to the latest comic book movie adaptation to little known Asian import comics and movies. Fans of sci fi, swords and girls in schoolgirl uniforms carrying swords cannot get enough of comic con.

Zack Snyder even announced the planned production of "Sucker Punch" at Comic Con 2009 while promoting his "Watchman" adaptation. Now, there is certainly nothing wrong with knowing your audience but "Sucker Punch" has nothing of substance beyond the demonstration of geek fetish imagery.

Zack Snyder's highly stylized CGI worlds are impressive technical creations but his characters are cardboard cutouts placed inside a computer image and dressed to please the drooling masses. Fans of a well told story will be out of luck watching "Sucker Punch" which can barely be considered coherent at times.

The switch from the insane asylum to a brothel to the fantasy fight landscapes are so bizarre that many will be too confused to bother trying to figure out why person A is shooting robot B while blowing up robot C. There is zero logic in "Sucker Punch" and that leaves only the titillating aspects which, as I mentioned before, will only satisfy the faithful.

Movie Review Tag

Tag (2018) 

Directed by Jeff Tomsic

Written by Rob McKittrick

Starring Jeremy Renner, Ed Helms, Jon Hamm, Jake Johnson, Hannibal Burress

Release Date June 15th, 2018

Published June 16th, 2018

Is Tag juvenile? Of course, the comedy featuring an all star cast playing an extreme version of the schoolyard classic game will inspire a number of think pieces about growth stunted man-boys and their unwillingness to grow up. This however, misses the genuine and very sweet, and very funny point of Tag. Based on a true story, Tag is an ode to friendship and how the friends we make as children remain special whether we stay in touch or not.

Tag stars Ed Helms as Hoagie, a veterinarian with a thriving practice, a loving and supportive wife, played by Isla Fisher and even kids that we don't meet in the movie. However, for one month of each year, all of Hoagie's grown up responsibilities go out the window. In the month of May, Hoagie plays an unending game of Tag with his group of childhood friends including Callahan (Jon Hamm), Chili (Jake Johnson), Sable (Hannibal Burress) and the best of the best Tag champion, Jerry (Jeremy Renner).

In the nearly 30 years that these friends have played Tag, Jerry has never been tagged and now, he's decided to retire, un-tagged. This sends Hoagie and the rest of the gang on a desperate quest to get Jerry before the end of the month and his retirement. How far is Jerry willing to go to keep his streak alive and make things interesting? He's scheduled his wedding on May 31st and specifically did not invite his four closest friends.

Naturally, Hoagie finds out about the wedding and notes it as the perfect time to tag Jerry. However, these guys are actually Jerry's friend and don't want to ruin the big day, thus allowing for rules to be in place specifically to cater to the feelings of Jerry's new bride, Susan (Leslie Bibb), who may or may not be in on Jerry's scheme to remain un-tagged. Along for the ride is a Wall Street Journal reporter, Rebecca (Annabelle Wallis) who drops her story on Callahan as the CEO of a major company in favor of this story about this epic game.

Tag is the first feature film for director Jeff Tomsic. Previously, Tomsic has made his career in television, directing comedy specials for people like T.J Miller and sitcoms such as TBS's underrated The Detour and Comedy Central's much loved Broad City. Tomsic doesn't yet have much visual invention in his work but it's solid and professional. The stand out moments are the big comic set pieces such as a forest chase where Jerry has an elaborate escape and a church set scene that once again finds Jerry out thinking about his buddies.

As I was saying in the opening however, as juvenile as Tag unquestionably is, there is a good heart to it. The goal of these guys, characters who are based on a real group of friends in Oregon, is to remain friends and remain in touch, quite literally. Many of the set pieces in Tag are based on bizarre things these real guys have actually done including dressing in costumes and chasing one another on golf carts.

The point is that the childlike joy inspired by the game Tag keeps these lifelong friends from growing complacent. That's the thing about friendships from childhood, complacency and distance creeps in and while modern technology allows many ways for us to stay in touch, there is nothing better than a milestone moment of being in the same place at the same time to really remind you how important having friends is. Life can so easily get in the way, a game of Tag now and then, or your friendship equivalent, may be just the thing an adult needs to get by.

Movie Review The Day the Earth Stood Still

The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008) 

Directed by Scott Derrickson

Written by David Scarpa

Starring Keanu Reeves, Jennifer Connelly, Jaden Smith, Jon Hamm, Kathy Bates, Kyle Chandler

Release Date December 12th, 2008

Published December 12th, 2008

My fellow critics are being far too hard on the remake of The Day The Earth Stood Still starring Keanu Reeves and Jennifer Connelly. Maybe it's fond memories of the 1951 Robert Wise original or maybe they are just grumpy, but my fellow critics have come out hard against this movie and I think they are overreacting. I will stipulate that from the standards of a traditional good movie vs bad movie standard The Day The Earth Stood Still is a bad movie. On the other hand, I think all of us knew that going in.

Keanu Reeves stars in The Day The Earth Stood Still as Klaatu, an alien from some unnamed universe collective. He has come to rescue the earth. From whom you might wonder. Autobots and Decepticons? No. The Borg Collective? No. Gremlins? No. No Klaatu is here to save the earth from you. You and me and your brother, mother, sister and cousin. Yes, humanity is a threat to the planet and if you can't pull that metaphor out of thin air, you really need to pick up a freakin' newspaper.

For the supremely dull, The Day The Earth Stood Still is an environmentalist parable. Humans are poisoning the planet and Klaatu is here to rescue it and the non-human inhabitants that are the earth's real friends. Standing in Klaatu's way is scientist Helen Benson (Jennifer Connelly). Well she isn't physically standing in his way but she does appoint herself the savior by trying to reason with the killer alien.

Helen and her supremely irritating son Jacob (Jaden 'Big Willie's kid' Smith) team up to show Klaatu that humanity can change, learn lessons and maybe stop killing the planet. All we need is a wake up call. How about the destruction of most of the eastern seaboard?

Kathy Bates, Jon Hamm and Kyle Chandler round out the rest of the main cast in inconsequential roles. Then again, there is little of consequence in the whole of The Day The Earth Stood Still. Which brings me to my central thesis. Despite the environmental parable, at its heart The Day The Earth Stood Still is not a message movie. This is pure popcorn entertainment. Director Scott Derrickson gets it. He focuses great attention on the special effects which even the most ardent haters admit are pretty cool. The tiny metal bugs that begin eating humanity are badass effects and that truck eating scene. Very Cool.

So what if the metaphor is obvious and Keanu is a total cheeseball and that the film is more blatant about cross promotion than your average commercial TV broadcast, we knew walking into this movie that great art was not in our future. What The Day The Earth Stood Still was meant to deliver and what it does deliver are eye catching effects and some unintentional humor. We got those things in spades. I laughed throughout and left the theater with a big smile on my face. This goofball, popcorn blockbuster is fast paced, fun and the effects are dynamite. To expect this movie to treat serious topics with serious intent is a fool's errand.

You walk in knowing this is a big dumb movie and that is part of what you get. You also get a kick out of just how big and dumb the movie is. The filmmakers may not have meant to make me laugh and my smile at the end may have been somewhat ironic but so what. I truly enjoyed the experience of The Day The Earth Stood Still. How could I not recommend to you such a good time movie.

Movie Review: The Town

The Town (2010) 

Directed by Ben Affleck

Written by Peter Craig, Ben Affleck

Starring Ben Affleck, Jeremy Renner, Jon Hamm, Blake Lively, Chris Cooper

Release Date September 17th, 2010 

Published September 16th, 2010 

Ben Affleck has spent the past decade, give or take, getting a hard time for his choice of friends, relationships and films. Since his break out success, and Oscar win, for “Good Will Hunting,” the knives have been out for the Boston native. At times it's been deserved, “Armageddon” and “Gigli” are terrible films, oftentimes it has not been deserved, his personal life is none of our business and “Jersey Girl” was unfairly maligned by those attacking 'Bennifer.'

Though he may deny it, the digs did get to Affleck in the mid 2000's and it drove him away from Hollywood for a time. Back in Boston he got the nerve to go behind the camera and the result was the highly compelling crime drama “Gone Baby Gone” starring his little brother Casey. Growing bolder from that success, Affleck is back in front and behind the camera for his latest effort, another gritty crime drama, “The Town.”

In “The Town” Ben Affleck stars as Doug MacRay a life long resident of the crime riddled neighborhood of Charlestown. Doug was born into crime and as a grown up he has taken up the family business; robbing banks. With his highly efficient, professional crew, including his best friend Jem (Jeremy Renner), Doug plots highly detailed heists that leave law enforcement officials baffled.

The latest heist however has an unexpected twist. In a fit of pique over a silent alarm trigger, Jem takes the bank manager, Claire (Rebecca Hall), hostage, a first for this crew. Doug manages to convince Jem not to kill her but releasing her is a decision that will come to haunt them all.

With Jem suspicious of what Claire may have seen of the crew and wanting to go back and finish her off, Doug decides to protect his hot headed friend by tracking her himself. However, upon meeting Claire in person he is drawn to her and against all good judgment a romance develops.

As all of this happening an FBI Agent, Adam Frawley (Jon Hamm) catches the bank robbery case and seeing the level of efficiency involved, he becomes even more determined to catch the bad guys. Claire is the main lead and with her direct link to Doug you can imagine the intrigue and drama. Add Jem's growing suspicions and hothead tendencies to this mix and you have a recipe for piping hot drama.

”The Town” burns with drama, tension, excitement and action. Overcoming the challenge of directing and starring, Ben Affleck dominates the screen and turns in an Oscar caliber lead performance. The romance between Affleck and Rebecca Hall is subtle, natural and would be downright sweet if we weren't aware of just how it came to be.

Affleck and Hall do a tremendous job of bringing us into their world and nearly making us forget about the rest of the plot when they are together. That feeling is brilliantly shattered in the film's most effective scene, when Jem bumps into Claire and Doug having lunch at an outdoor cafe.

Jeremy Renner and Jon Hamm are tremendous back up for Affleck and Hall in the leads. Renner's string of brilliant performances, stringing back to his stunning debut as Jeffrey Dahmer through last year's Oscar nomination for “The Hurt Locker,” continues here as he essays a hotheaded psycho who with a cool streak of mean that separates him from similar characters in other crime dramas.

Jon Hamm does something similar to Renner, taking a character that is quite familiar and giving the expectations a twist. The key to Hamm's performance is his focus on the job, being an FBI professional, right down to the clipped speech direct manner, over looking cool. Hamm is essentially the good guy, he's fighting criminals but he's not afraid of playing the heavy and letting the audience not like him even as we know from a moral standpoint we should admire him.

It’s a trick of the best crime dramas to get the audience to abandon their better judgment and come to root for the bad guys. It’s exciting to have your values challenged and live vicariously through eyes and lives of those who live outside the law. Most will never have this experience but we can all easily understand the allure of easy money and of the bad guys who do things we know we could never do.

Ben Affleck and the crew behind The Town certainly know this appeal of the bad guy and the bad deed and they cleverly manipulate that appeal to draw the audience into this criminal world as well as into the forbidden romance between Doug and Claire.

“The Town” is smart, compelling, fast paced and exceptionally well crafted. Watch out for Affleck at the Oscars as “The Town” could bring nominations for Ben in front of and behind the camera.

Movie Review Kissing Jessica Stein

Kissing Jessica Stein (2002)

Directed by Charles Herman-Wurmfeld

Written by Heather Juergensen, Jennifer Westfeldt

Starring Heather Juergensen, Jennifer Westfeldt, Scott Cohen, Jackie Hoffman, Tovah Feldshuh, Michael Ealy, Jon Hamm 

Release Date March 13th, 2002 

Published September 18th, 2002 

When it comes lesbian relationships in film, we generally get distracted by the sex stuff and the relationship aspect gets lost. That is not the problem with the comedy Kissing Jessica Stein. In fact you would be hard pressed to find many problems in this wonderful comic romance. Written by and starring Heather Juergensen and Jennifer Westfeldt, and adapted from their stage play, Lipschtick, Kissing Jessica Stein is the non PC story of two straight women who begin a tentative lesbian romance. 

Helen (Juergensen) is an art gallery owner who has dabbled in bisexuality but is first glimpsed cheating on a jerk boyfriend in the middle of a gallery show. Helen is tiring of the meaningless sex and is exhausted of men so she places a personal ad seeking a woman. Helen's ad catches the eye of a copy editor named Jessica (Westfeldt) almost by accident. As Jessica and some friends are glancing over the personals they come across an ad in which there is a quote from Jessica's favorite poet. While Jessica's friends dismiss the ad after finding it's a women, Jessica finds herself strangely intrigued. In a move that totally goes against her conservative nature, Jessica answers the ad.

Helen and Jessica hit it off and thus begins a series of funny, sweet moments of a budding relationship. The film is well written and well acted. It's no surprise that Juergenson and Westfeldt, who have been doing this material for a long time, have chemistry unmatched by many straight romantic comedy couplings.

The supporting cast is as strong as the two leads, especially veteran actress Tovah Feldshuh as Jessica's mother. The role could have been a sitcom knockoff of a stereotypical overbearing Jewish mother. Instead, Feldshuh brings a wonderful calmness and ease to her performance and has one extraordinary scene with Westfeldt as she finally opens up about the new relationship that is funny, smart and touching.

Kissing Jessica Stein never gets overly caught up in the sexuality of Helen and Jessica's relationship, at least not in the sleazy B-movie way most lesbian relations are treated. Sex is an issue in their relationship but it isn't the only issue. While the ending left me cold, I still really liked Kissing Jessica Stein, one of the best comedies of the year.