pjvanes69

I guess I'm in the minority here and yes I enjoyed it for the most part (though probably mainly for nostalgic reasons) but it was tough to really lose myself in the film as I felt I'd been there before.

The hardcore fans are celebrating the fact that J.J. ticked all the boxes but for me that was part of the problem, too many boxes were ticked making it little more than a remake with old actors thrown in.

On top of that there were some serious plot holes and inconsistencies as well, things I didn't expect J.J. to let slip though. I can't go into them without giving away spoilers but if you've seen the film you should know what I mean.

I guess it was always going to be a tough ask to continue the saga and do it justice (though it seems most people think that's what has been done) but I feel that the problem is that the Star Wars story really ended with EP6:ROTJ, sure there's always the chance that the Empire rebuilds and a new Sith Lord shows up but so what? That's a remake or reboot right? Anything after that is hitting the reset button (which ironically is what J.J. did with Star Trek allowing him to essentially remake Wrath of Khan but do it fresh). That'll work great for the new fans but for those of us that were there at the start it feels like just another reboot of something we loved as a kid.

EP7:TFA has a lot of good stuff in there as well, it's not a 'bad' movie and it's certainly far better than EP1:TPM (what isn't) but over all I felt EP 7 really didn't continue the story it was just J.J. remaking his childhood memories which to me was disappointing. To be honest I'd love to know what George Lucas had in mind for episodes 7 - 9.

I'll give it 6/10 but mostly for nostalgia.

At it's most basic level Sucker Punch is a great fun popcorn flick, more like an extended trailer for an action video game than a movie. Visually stimulating though somewhat exhausting at times, it's a mash up of various genres and styles and is certainly not for everyone but delve a little further and there's a lot more going on than chicks with guns kicking butt. Buried way below the spectacle is a much deeper story which has been explored in an unusual but very effective way, if only it wasn't so open for misinterpretation.

Unfortunately the main themes of the story are overshadowed by heavy handed style and over-the-top action pieces that will distract all but the most willing to see past the pop culture facade, which is a pity because it's a much more thought provoking and well constructed film than it has been given credit for. Snyder's 'rock video' approach kind of trivializes the subject matter of mind and spirit triumphing over circumstance pushing it back to the point of obscurity.

It would be fascinating to give the bare bones of this script to a director like David Fincher, who has had a lot more success at delving into the dark side of human psyche and serving it up to audiences in a palatable way from rock videos such as Aerosmith's Janies Got a Gun to films like The Fight Club and Zodiac and see what results.

Although the action / fantasy sequences were executed amazingly well and are great fun to watch, I found they did drag on a bit longer than necessary (how many robot Nazis do we really need to see being decapitated?) and they assaulted the senses so much that it was difficult to get back into 'plot mode' after each one but despite this I personally really enjoyed Sucker Punch.

Snyder is certainly carving out his own niche in film history and I'm enjoying the ride so far and am certainly looking forward to his take on Superman.

The problem I find with a lot of comedies today is that directors often have too much faith in their leading comedians to be naturally funny and almost no faith in the comedic value of the script. It's almost as if the screenwriter hasn't bothered to write any dialog figuring that the actors will just make up funny stuff anyway so there's no point. How often have you heard a director say "I just rolled the camera and witnessed improvisational comedic genius take after take" in a making of which is usually followed by " I just didn't want to cut any of it out" and unfortunately they usually don't. 

Comedy works best when its found within the circumstances of the plot not forced out of every moment. Comedy also usually works best when it's balanced with drama. The filmmakers have to realize that not every moment can be funny, you have to have a release before the next build up. Same goes for any form of audience mood manipulation, one cat jumping out of a closet will probably scare your audience, the fifth in a row almost definitely wont but these days when it comes to comedy everything is over played for laughs. It's almost as if the actors are ramping it up more and more in each scene, shouting out hey look at me I'm soooo funny right now. 

Ferrell is a funny guy, there's no doubt about it, but of late he's been let off his leash far too often and ends up rambling, falling back on his ever faithful man-child persona. 

Wahlberg on the other hand is not a naturally funny guy and he's left to compensate by exploding into an over the top performance in every second scene, so much so that Ferrell's character even points this out and verbalizes what the audience is thinking - "we're so sick of it already", yes Mark, it's not working. 

The other downer is that like Cop Out there's not that much chemistry between the two cops, though at least both actors appear to want to be there rather than just going through the motions as Bruce Willis did with Tracy Morgan.

To top it off, for what is meant to be a comedy, we're presented with a rather convoluted and surprisingly involved plot about financial embezzlement and corporate greed committed by the most boring, unfunny bunch of non-villains I've seen in a long time. 

There's a few laughs here and there and the production value is great but ultimately there's very little to like about The Other Guys.