Sucker Punch

Imagine the combination of "Kill Bill", "The Matrix" and "Girl Interrupted".  One of these things is not like the other, one of these things does not belong.  Can you guess which one?   It's "Girl Interrupted".  I get using girls that look like the group the Pussycat Dolls shooting assault rifles and displaying full on "Girl Power" like steroid-injected Spice Girls.  But come on, spare us the emotionally drama of girls in a psychiatric ward.  If I wanted drama in my action movie I'd watch Ang Lee's "The Hulk" (undeniably one of the worst movie of all time).

 I just have to wonder what the director was thinking when he wrote the script and even more importantly what the executives were thinking when they green-lighted this.  Don't get me wrong, I think the director Zack Snyder is one of the greatest directors of his generation.  With "300", "Watchmen" and "Dawn of the Dead" under his belt, he has a little slack to make a bad movie.  But he better watch it, he's on the razor's edge with me now. 

I'm not saying that "Sucker Punch" is the worst movie ever made.  1/3 of it is actually highly entertaining and exciting.  It's just a couple of small changes could have made it a great movie.  And I hate to see that waste of potential.  I guarantee you a lot of people aren't going to get the movie, especially since Zack unnecessarily put this odd, middle layer into the movie where the girls aren't in the asylum but instead are in a bordello.  That's was confusing with no payoff.  It was like he added another dream layer just to compete with "Inception". 

All and all, entertaining and mind-numbingly dramatic for with no purpose. 

Rating:
6.5 out of 10

Suck Scale:
 Would have sucked had it not been for some kick-ass action sequences

Rango

Witty, nutty and odd with a hint of the eccentric, which is just what  Johnny Depp does best.   Rango is the combination of his greatest characters.  Like Hunter S. Thompson, he narrates his every thought.  And like the Mad Hatter, he's intellectually delusional.  And finally, like Willy Wonka, he's social awkward.

Rango isn't your typical kiddie animation.  In fact, I wouldn't recommend it for kids under the age of 10.  The story is all over the place but basically just borrows its ideas for the vast collection of Western classics.  There are dark and surreal moments and light and fun moments which make an entertaining tapestry of awe.  And where the overall storyline shows some weakness, the animation and voice-acting more than make up for it.  This is by far one of the most interesting and detailed animations that I've ever seen.

So if you're in the mood for something a little different, I would recommend giving Rango a try.  But if your a movie buff or a western buff, then you have to see it. 

Rating: 8.5 out of 10

Battle: Los Angeles

Sometimes the director doesn't flush out and make a character interesting.  And when that happens, you just don't care if a character dies or not because you aren't rooting for them to live.  That's how I feel about Los Angeles.  Every time a building exploded or a city block caught on fire I was like, eh, well, that street probably needed cleaning up anyway.  Lost Angeles is just such a dirty, vile city full of scumbags and deviants.  To stay in the same vein, will the sequel be Battle: Detroit.  The movie will open with a desolate, wasteland and you won't know if the aliens had already attacked or not.

Back to the movie.  It was alright.  If you can imagine a person filming their son playing a war video game with aliens while the camera shakes for two hours becuase he doesn't have a tri-pod, that's a lot like this film.  The acting is above par but the dialague is atrocious.  Think the opposite of King's Speech.

Overall, mindlessly entertaining and will hold off the loud, sci-fi fans for a couple of months until Transformers comes out.  Rating: 6 out of 10.

Limitless

You should know the concept by now.  A slacker gets a mysterious pill that unlocks the full potential of his brain.  Gret premise, good execution, weak ending.  I have to say though that this is one of the most visually interesting movies I've seen in a while.   I sat through the opening credits going, "How the hell did they do that?".  That's a saying a lot for me.  I am not easily impressed by special effects.  This blew my mind though.

The story is definitely well written.  Brad Cooper did a phenomal job acting in it as well.  Robert DeNiro was a waste.  I haven't seen acting that bad since "Little Fockers" (which was just a couple of months ago).  It's just too bad the ending was just okay.  It didn't suck, but it wasn't great.  And it could have been great.

All and all I would recommend this film to general public.  Rating: 8 out of 10.