Tuesday, April 12, 2011

I watched some movies

Country Strong

Starring: Gwyneth Paltrow, Tim McGraw, Garrett Hedlund & Leighton Meester
Directed by: Shana Feste
Approx Time: 117mins
Genre: Country Drama
Rated: PG-13

A year after the tragic events of Dallas in which she lost her unborn child, fallen country star, Kelly Canter (Paltrow) finds her in a rehabilitation center where she meets Beau Hutton (Hedlund), a indie country singer who is known around the Honky Tonks he performs in. When Kelly's husband, James (McGraw) decides to pull her out of rehab for a comeback tour, both Beau and raising singing sensation, Chiles Stanton (Meester), join them as Kelly's opening acts. 

The story focuses on the relationships of Beau: the one he holds with Kelly and the budding relationship with Chiles. It's not hard to miss that both Beau and Chiles represent James and Kelly when they were just beginning. And not since Pure Country have I seen a country music film this heartfelt.

Overall rating: four stars.

Sucker Punch
Starring: Emily Browning, Vanessa Hudgens & Abbie Cornish
Directed by: Zack Snyder
Approx Time: 110mins
Genre: Action/Adventure/Fantasy
Rated: PG-13

After being institutionalized by her abusive stepfather, Baby Doll (Browning) is sold(?) to some dancing crew - possibly burlesque - where she escapes to an imaginary world to do somethings that really never make any sense even after one practices suspension of disbelief.

The first movie I've walked out on since Corky Romano, Sucker Punch is just that - a sucker punch to its audience. What it lacks in originality, it makes up in camera angles, plotlessness, special effects and girls in skimpy outfits. I think the feminists were wrong in their argument. The crime against women here isn't objectifying, but torturing these actresses by handing them this shitty script that even Zack couldn't save. For shame that this movie was even made, let alone how it managed to skip by the obvious direct-to-DVD stereotype. It tries so hard to be poetic, leaving you wonder just how many clichés the production team thought they could squeeze into the movie without anyone noticing. It's just a pet peeve of mine when a terrible movie attempts to take itself so seriously.

The entire moral is summed up in one battlefield quote made by the Scott Glenn character, Wise Man: "If you don't stand for something, you'll fall for anything." Well, I'm not falling for the hype, Sucker Punch. Overall rating, zilch. You owe me stars.

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