Sucker Punch

Title: Sucker Punch

Genre: action / adventure / fantasy

Rating: PG 13

Opinion: 4/10

Running Time:

Directed by: Zack Snyder

Starring: Emily Browning, Vanessa Hudgens, and Abbie Cornish

Blurb (quoted): “A young girl (Baby Doll) is locked away in a mental asylum by her abusive stepfather where she will undergo a lobotomy in five days' time. Faced with unimaginable odds, she retreats to a fantastical world in her imagination where she and four other female inmates at the asylum, plot to escape the facility. The lines between reality and fantasy blur as Baby Doll and her four companions, as well as a mysterious guide, fight to retrieve the five items they need that will allow them to break free from their captors before it's too late...”

My Summary:

‘Baby Doll’ is admitted to a mental institute by her stepfather, but the institute doubles as a sort of Burlesque house (secretly). But there’s more to it than that: when the music starts playing, the dancer retreats into their own mind to a world they envision. Throughout the course of the movie, ‘Baby Doll’ and some of the other prisoners develop a plan to escape.

Review:

I hadn’t heard anything very good about this movie, but no one said it was particularly bad. Mostly people just told me it was confusing. So, I had to watch it for myself.

Sucker Punch is… well, as everyone has said, a little confusing. It’s like a movie within a movie of another movie (if that even makes sense!).

I didn’t exactly enjoy it, but it was watchable… The rest of my family got bored and left though. I personally believe it was created for guys: a bunch of girls wearing skimpy clothes with guns and weapons? Explosions, war, and hot chicks – a guy’s dream, right? Yet not even my brother liked it.

To be honest, I was highly disappointed by this movie; I’d been looking forward to seeing it, and then it just… yeah, you get the idea.

Plus, VAGUE SPOILER, I didn’t understand why some of the characters died. Like, the first one to die was just… sort of pointless. You may or may not know this, but in a movie everything is supposed to mean something but I don’t understand the reason for this death – it’s like the director just though he needed and introduction to start killing the characters or something.

Lastly, I can’t help but feel that at the end it was just a whole heap of scenes/actions and words that were supposed to make it meaningful. Admittedly, the voice over used at the end was kind of important and was thought provoking, but it just dragged on too long and basically said the same thing in several different ways.

However, I will through in that I didn’t entirely get sick of it – it’s a very watchable movie, and I liked how different characters tied in together in different ways (probably would make more sense if you’ve seen it). And I do rather like how it ended: a very unexpected twist that I never saw coming.

I recommend this as a movie to watch when you’re bored with nothing else to do, but it’s not in any way a favourite.

Our Fake Relationship, by Belle

Title: Our Fake Relationship

Author: Belle

Target Audience: Mature Teenagers

Chapters: 50

Genre: Romance

Person: First

Tense: Past

Opinion: 7/10

Link: http://www.booksie.com/xxbellexx

Blurb (quoted):

“Olivia and Zane are just normal teenagers with normal relationships. But they hate each other. When Olivia's boyfriend breaks up with her and Zane's girlfriend breaks up with him, what will happened when they both want revenage and they decide to get into a fake relationship to get their lovers back? But what if Zane and Olivia accidently fall in love in that time? This story is of two teenagers who hate each other and don't get along but things start to heat up between them and their past relationships won't matter, will they?”

My Summary:

Olivia had a good life: trustworthy best friend, amazing boyfriend, rich parents. But when she finds out the love of her life is dumping her for her best friend, Kendra, who he’s been cheating with, everything falls apart.

As if her life hadn’t just become enough of a struggle, Kendra’s now-ex-boyfriend is the biggest pain in the ass she’s ever known – but he wants his girlfriend back and Olivia wants her boyfriend back. That’s when the two enemies cook up a scheme to make their ex’s jealous enough to take them back: they’d have a fake relationship.

But when things start heating up for reasons other than anger, Olivia begins to question who her heart actually belongs to…

Judgment:

I found this book on the website Booksie and fell in love with it; Booksie is a site where aspiring authors can group together, post their work and read other people’s work.

Personally, I would have altered the way some of the scenes were written. I’m not saying I didn’t thoroughly enjoy reading this, because I honestly did, but it’s not the most polished piece of writing – but I whole-heartedly believe this could be a published novel.

It has everything from drama, to romance, to comedy – the number of laughs from this is heart-lightening, but it can just as easily bring tears. The story line goes up and down with twists and turns, just like a REAL romance does. There is at least one scene that requires a mature mind, so don’t say I haven’t given fair warning.

The fact that the two main characters are practically bipolar opposites gives it a spark and I love how the storyline is all nicely linked together – everything is explained well. The characters have depth and strong personalities, which only makes the clashing more enjoyable.

It’s unlike any romance I’ve read before in that it doesn’t have the typical dates and events, but rather ends up so far outside the square you’d never have guessed!

I think it’s one of those pieces I could read again and again, and is well worth your time – if you can stand cheesy lines and gooey scenes.

Hmmm, and she maybe uses a few too many rhetorical questions in the blurb, but I adore the name – the title was what originally caught my attention.

This book is published online at Booksie and I had permission to review her work. You can read it at this web address: http://www.booksie.com/romance/novel/xxbellexx/our-fake-relationship

Make it Happen

Title: Make it Happen

Genre: Drama

Rating: PG 13

Opinion: 7/10

Running Time: 90 minutes

Directed by: Darren Grant

Starring: Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Tessa Thompson, Riley Smith

Blurb (quoted): “Embarking on a journey to fulfil her dreams as a dancer, a young girl discovers a new style of dance that will prove to be the source of both conflict and self-discovery.”

“A bleak drama about a small-town girl who migrates to the Windy City, where she hopes to build a career as a respected dancer. Instead, her life spirals hopelessly downward and she ends up working at a burlesque club to pay the bills and support herself.”

My Summary: Lauryn Kirk has always dreamed of dance and studied for it her whole life despite the death of her parents and being a small town girl. She gets an audition at a dance school in Chicago, but after being told she wasn’t sensual enough and lying to her brother about getting in, Lauryn stumbles into a job behind the scenes at Rubies, a burlesque style club – but she doesn’t stay back-stage for long. Soon enough, she’s dancing on the stage with the other girls, and even manages to land a boyfriend.

But when her brother finds out the truth and gives her a guilt-trip, she moves back home to help him with his financial chrisis. Luckily, Lauryn finds the courage to go to a second audition and fights her way through this time, impressing the judges.

Opinion: Cute, sexy, and inspiring. Make it Happen is all about fulfilling dreams, dancing and life.

Review: I personally love this movie, but that’s a little biased I guess considering I love almost all dance movies. The storyline, admittedly, has been done a good few times: small town girl moves to the big city chasing dreams, but things go wrong, and you know the rest.

Even so, it’s still an enjoyable movie and I recommend it to anyone who loves dance. There’s bite, there’s romance, there’s drama, and it all adds up to one great movie.

If you liked Coyote Ugly, Burlesque, Honey, or even Step Up, then this is a movie for you!