A special announcement from Timdiana

And now a special announcement from Timdiana!

Silver Screen Review:Sucker Punch

For this week’s review, I look at a film directed by one of my favorite director, Zach Snyder. Zach Snyder has made a career for himself with movies such as “300”, “Watchmen” and more recently, “Legends of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole”. This time Zach Snyder creates a movie both written and directed by him. This movie is “Sucker Punch”, a movie that looked to be a madman’s paradise. But is it a madman’s paradise? Prepare for the unexpected in this review of “Sucker Punch”.

Story:  I like the idea of “Sucker Punch’s plot: exploring the human imagination in a very dark world; however the story is lost in translation. The plot is very confusing and spontaneous. It is difficult to understand what the story is trying to communicate. You would think how this film was advertise that there would be something in the story that would blow your mind away, but there is not, it more of a low blow to the audience.

Characters:   Apparently all the girls in the movie were good while the guys were bad. As interesting as that sounds, the development did not work.  The bad guys in this movie were flat with no thought to their characters except for the fact that they were bad. These characters might as well be wearing top hats as they twirl their mustaches and wave their capes around as they laugh manically.  The main female characters had a little more development then the villains, but I felt there was no real drive to their characters. Though the performances were not bad, the development however did not cut for a film of this caliber.

Directing:  At first sight, you can tell that this is a Zach Snyder movie because of the signature to his movies, which are the zoom ups to significant objects and the cinematography to name a few. The only differences with Sucker Punch and Snyder’s other movies is that these elements are taken to the extreme in this movie.  Most of the time, I like the creativity of Zach Snyder, but not when it comes to “Sucker Punch”. I think with “Sucker Punch”, he was doing little too much to make it unique.

Everything Else:  “Sucker Punch’s” imagination sequences are full of swords, samurai, robots, giant robots, dragons and zombie Nazis.  These reasons alone were all that I need to be excited for this movie, but did they help movie in anyway? My answer to that is yes and no. The imagination sequences were cool to see, but there was little to no explanation about them and as entertaining as they were, there seem to be no reason to the madness.

Overall: I thought “Sucker Punch” could have been something interesting, but the story and characters really killed the momentum for me. I suppose that if you do not think much on it, “Sucker Punch” can be entertaining. Unfortunately, “Sucker Punch” is not something to be unexpected. 3 out 5 hats for effort. 

Silver Screen Review: Paul

You may recall the 2007 comedy known as “Superbad”. It was a critically acclaimed comedy that I did not care for, but that is not important right now.  The point that I am making is what happens when you take the director of “Superbad” and put it together with the minds of Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, you get the movie “Paul”. How does this combination translate on screen and does the comedy work?   Hop aboard this review of the film “Paul”.

Story: By comedy standards,” Paul” has an enjoyable and a surprising compelling story.  This movie is a comedy above anything else, but the story knew how to be serious at times and manage not to have the drama seem out of place. This movie is full of all kinds of movie elements such as being an adventure movie as was as being a sci-fi film. The story never seems to stray and kept my attention all the way through.

Characters/Acting:  This was a really good cast of characters. The movie feature one of my favorite comedy duos, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost. The two seem to do what they do best as play their usual awkward and witty selves and I think it really worked for the movie. Seth Rogen voices the alien Paul and his performance to as a surprise to me as his character was more complex than I would have imagined. The film also has numerous talents such as Kristen Wigg, Jason Bateman and Bill Hader and that is just to name a few.  Bottom line, the characters were terrific with development that had you understanding the characters till the very end.

 Directing:  Greg Mottola not only adds another comedy to his resume, but I would say that this could be one of his best films.  Greg Mottola brought several elements to this film and his ability to work so well with Simon Pegg and Nick Frost made for a really fun movie.

Everything Else:  The comedy of “Paul” was really well done. The humor that I am normally not a fan turned out to be rather amusing. I think what made the crude humor funny was how subtle it was. Not only is the comedy subtle and clever, but the references will make movie goers chuckle.  When it comes down to it, I think really what worked for “Paul” was the writing of the film. So I have to tip my hat to Simon Pegg and Nick Frost for creating such great humor in the script.

Overall:  “Paul” is a movie for those looking for a fun time. It is a comedy that can be just as crude as it can be clever. The combination of Simon Pegg, Nick Frost and Greg Mottola really paid off in the end and made a great time at the movies. “Paul” showed me that there may be some hope in the comedy genre. “Paul” receives 4 out of 5 hats.

Silver Screen Review:Rango

Gather around readers, and let me tell you the story of the review of the movie “Rango”. This is the latest animated film from director Gore Verbinski.  Not only is this film animated but this is an animated movie with talent such as Johnny Depp , and this is an animated movie that is not in 3D.  For this fact alone, I just had to see this movie. So now the question remains is “Rango” worth seeing or is it just another animated movie? Saddle up readers, for this is the review of the movie known as “Rango”.

Story:  At first I thought the plot was not going to be anything special, just another plot of a character coming into a new world and learning some kind of lesson at the end of the film.  Essentially, that is what happens, but there seems to be so much more than just that.  The plot is not only just a story about finding oneself, but it deals with other factors such as being a comedy of errors as well as being an adventure.   The plot will be something you enjoy and something you may take with you after seeing it.

Characters/Acting: “Rango” is full of amazing characters as well as performances. First, there is none other than Rango voiced by none other than Johnny Depp. I am going throw in my two cents and say that this role was made for Johnny. The role of Rango is a Chameleon which seems fitting for Johnny Depp.  As expected Depp’s performance was good, but it did not overshadow the rest of the cast. The cast for this movie was memorable as well as enjoyable which goes to show that it is important to have a great ensemble as well as having a great lead.

Directing:  I got to give Gore Verbinski credit, “Rango” is a kind of film I would not have thought Gore would do; but at the end of the day, he does a very good job with this film.  He was able to use different elements to create something unique and bring something new to the animated genre.

Everything Else: The animation for this film is phenomenal, not to mention the cinematography is innovating. Both the animation and cinematography gave this film a well defined realistic feel to it.  “Rango” also can give tips to most comedies as the humor of the movie was clever in its delivery and it showed that this was not just for kids, but for adults as well.

Overall: I could on and on about how great “Rango” was which only proves that this is worth seeing. This is easily the most fun I have had at the movies this year.  “Rango” is not only one of the best animated this year, but it could be one best animated movies in quite some time. I tip my hat to “Rango” as I give it 4 ½ out 5 hats.