It's TJ Time

Just came back from seeing Sucker Punch.  I haven’t read any reviews in depth because I don’t like having any aspect of a film I’ve yet to see spoiled outside of what is put into the trailer or TV spots; but, being an editor of #Film, I have been tricked into reading the beginnings of people’s impressions of this movie over the last couple of days and, in general, they have not been positive.  Despite the negative press this film seems to be receiving, I have to say that I dug the shit out of it.  Sucker Punch won me over through what I’m determining is a three-pronged attack:

1) Steampunk hyper-violence with attractive 20-somethings in skimpy clothing: this is the name I’m giving for the genre that was created by this film.  Though the violence (read: blood and gore) is significantly toned down, the body count is still pretty steep in this film.  And the girls are simply beautiful, shot in a way to highlight their best features and hide any flaws (which, last time I checked, was a sign of good cinematography if nothing else).

2) This is one of the best personifications I have found of how a video game movie should play out on screen, and it’s not even based on a game.  If I were reading opinions about Sucker Punch: The Video Game, complete with the same plot, I could almost guarantee the reviews would be a sight more positive than they are for the movie.  The backlash this film has recieved says to me that either Roger Ebert was right and video games are not a legitimate art form, or people just need to take a step back and maybe just look at this through a new lens. 

3) This movie is just an entertaining little escapist flick.  There are undoubtedly areas in which this film lacks (writing, acting), but this is a perfect movie to just shut off your mind and enjoy watching a motion picture for 2 hours.  I have 2 papers due by tomorrow for class, which means I am facing a night of ridiculous, tedious research and almost non-stop writing until the morning, yet while I was sitting in the theater watching Sucker Punch I forgot all about this.  This movie is great to just take a break from life with and realize that just because it’s art doesn’t mean it needs to take itself so seriously.

You can expect a full review coming soon from Joshua Richey to Movies on Film which may not be as kind as what I had to say here, but if you are one of those people feeling put off by what you’ve read or heard others say about this film so far, all I can really say is just go see it and judge for yourself. 

Tonight begins my first night of vacation.  This week is the first time I’ve been off from work and school for over a year, so it’s fair to assume that I’ve been looking forward to this like kid a Christmas.  I’ve adequately stocked my refrigerator with food, beer and mixers and plan on keeping my belly full and mind on joyous and relaxing thoughts.  This week brings with it one more task, however.  One more action which, as I’ve been told, I must accomplish: this week I’m watching The Wire.  With the amount of hype my good friends have put behind this show I wanted to make sure that it was given my (relatively) undivided attention.  I’m about to start the first episode right now.  Wish me luck.

“Save the Cock-Block Tower!”