• Abstract and Figures
• Public Full-text

[email protected] Technique Entertainment Editor: Patricia Uceda 17 Assistant Entertainment Editor: Friday, Entertainment Zheng Zheng April 1, 2011 By Hank Whitson '()* Sta! Writer Sucker Punch Zack Snyder has developed a reputation known for his !lm GENRE: Action adaptations of comic books that are as visually striking and STARRING: Emily Browning, unsubtle as neon pink jackhammers. Sucker Punch is the most Abbie Cornish & Jena Malone “Snyderian” !lm to date, having been directed, produced and co-written by the 45-year old comic auteur. So grab some pop- DIRECTOR: Zack Snyder corn, turn up your eyeballs and check your brain at the door. RATING: PG-13 "e !lm follows a young girl, played by Emily Browning, RELEASE DATE: March 25 who is sent to an insane asylum after her mother dies and her SUCKERSUCKER PUNCHPUNCH evil stepfather murders her sister, framing her in the process. OUR TAKE: !!!!! "is cheery opening is conveyed through what feels like a cross between a moving comic book and a slow motion music video, with a voice-over musing about guardian angels in the MISSES MARK WITH background. "e girl arrives at the asylum wide-eyed and catatonic, and she is ushered into a room called “"e "eatre” where patients act out their trauma on a dilapidated stage, under the care of Dr. Vera Gorsky, played by Carla Gugino. Isaac Blue, the sleazy administrator played by Oscar POOR PLOT Isaac, strikes a deal with the evil step-dad to have our heroine lobotomized in three days. We #ash forward to the operation, but just before the doctor can do the deed, the scene becomes an act in a stylish burlesque/brothel that bears a striking resemblance to the asylum’s theatre. Here we are introduced to Sweet Pea, played by Abbie Cornish, the haughty star-performer and See Sucker, page 18 Image courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures Cut Copy excites Masquerade with !awless set !"#!$%& ment. Along with the copious albums Zonoscope and In Ghost Cut Copy gear, the stage also housed a large, Colours, as well as a song from mysterious white door right in the their !rst album, Bright Like Neon PERFORMER: Cut Copy center of the electronic music uto- Love. "e Zonoscope tracks in- LOCATION: Masquerade pia. "e door’s purpose became cluded the more paced, chant- evident later on in the show. !lled “Where I’m Going,” the vi- DATE: March 28 "e show opened with Holy brant pop track “Take Me Over” Ghost!—a Brooklyn-based elec- and the In Ghost Colours tracks OUR TAKE: !!!!! tronic house group that melds included the beautifully thrashy heavily disco-in#uenced vocals “So Haunted.” "ese songs gave By Matt Cohen and synthesizer parts with bouncy the band an opportunity to dem- Contributing Writer drum beats. "eir short setlist did onstrate some of their strongest a brilliant job of getting the fans’ elements. Many modern bands have blood #owing and bodies lightly One of these is their profound tried to revive the synthesizer grooving. By the time their 30 ability to execute builds in songs. and electronic pop sounds of the minute set reached its end, the "ey do so while also maintain- 1980s, and some of these bands excitement was nearing an intoler- ing well-written, incredibly solid have done so with great success. able level. music. "eir beats do not com- Cut Copy, a synthpop group from After a prolonged break, the pletely make the song. It’s the full Melbourne, Australia, is one of lights went out and the back- package that does it for them. It’s these bands. "eir ability of fus- ground music reached a steady the intricate instrumentation, the ing the beloved sounds of ‘80s pulse. Right as the pulse reached ‘80s synth and drum !lls and the Photo by Anton Molla / Student Publications new wave music with alternative its end, the white door in the catchy vocals that complement manner to build the crowd up with the powerful tracks “Need and dance music, while blending middle of the stage swung open the beats and grooves. "e com- to an uncontrollable level of ex- You Now” and “Out "ere On in smooth lyrics, creative vocal and Cut Copy emerged from the ponents are capable of standing citement just before unleashing the Ice.” melodies and pulsating synthesiz- darkness with looks of excitement, alone, but the full combination is relentless beats for the crowd to Cut Copy could do no wrong er parts has made them a highly energy and disbelief in their mod- much more forceful. dance freely along with. with their #awless set at the Mas- successful group in many subsets est eyes. "e crowd became com- "e other element that these As the show began to reach its querade. "ey delivered a per- of music listeners, such as the pletely hysterical with excitement, songs accentuated was the band’s end, the white door transformed formance that drew the crowd Pitchfork music scene. and this excitement was converted ability to obtain complete control into an LED screen that was used into a state of euphoria, but the Upon entering Heaven, the into a wave of jumping and sway- of the crowd. Whitford and Hoey, to display interesting visuals to euphoria did not quickly subside upper level and more spacious ing as Cut Copy began the show the band’s guitarists, delayed the complement the light show during once the show ended. "e haunt- portion of the Masquerade, the with “Nobody Lost Nobody climax of the builds and posi- the epic “Sun God,” which ended ing performance left fans dancing !rst thing to catch one’s attention Found,” a track o$ of their second tioned themselves at the front of the main set of the show. "e and grooving to the beats that re- was the stage setup. "e stage ap- studio album, In Ghost Colours. the stage. "ey treated their arms crowd, eager for more, cheered mained in their heads long after peared to be a junkyard for won- Cut Copy’s setlist contained a like a conductor’s baton, waving and chanted the band back onto the band struck the !nal synthe- derful expensive electronic equip- perfect blend of songs from the and weaving them in a precise the stage to !nish the show right sizer note. 18 • April 1, 2011 • Technique ENTERTAINMENT Sucker from page 17 battle-mech, is the cleverest of these surreal dream battles and queen bee of the brothel, and her the highpoint of the !lm. Homefront re-imagines history friendly sister Rocket, played by Unfortunately, the exchanges +,*$- Jena Malone. Sweet Pea dismisses between !ghts are two-dimen- Homefront our heroine, but Rocket shows sional, arti!cial and excruciat- her around and gives her a name: ingly predictable. Blue comes o$ CONSOLE: Multi-platform Baby Doll. In this other world, as petty and annoying rather than GENRE: First-person shooter Vera is a stern dance mistress and a genuinely menacing villain, and Blue is the pimp and proprietor of the girls are literally names with DEVELOPER: Kaos Studios the club. Baby has a hard time !t- pretty faces and single-adjective RATING: M ting in with the other girls until personalities. It is a shame because Vera insists that she dance. Every- the premise of using performance RELEASED: March 15 body who watches her is rapt by and imagination to do metaphori- her performance, but the audi- cal battles with one’s personal-de- OUR TAKE: !!!!! ence never sees her do so much mons is full of promise for charac- as shake her hips. Instead, we terization. "is could have been a By Andrew Akker watch her dream. Baby appears genuinely smart movie in addition Contributing Writer in a snowy pagoda in her dream, to being beautiful. "e plot and where she encounters a wise old the characters’ personalities are In the world of military based man played by Scott Glenn. "e stunted by the brothel frame nar- video games, it’s not uncommon wise man tasks her with !nding rative, however. Instead of grap- for developers to create outlandish the !ve items that will lead to pling with the duality between scenarios for the player to trudge her freedom and arms her with the dream battles and grim real- through while playing the game. Image courtesy of Kaos Studios an ornate katana and a matching ity of the asylum, Snyder situates Homefront o$ers a premise that is occupation, your ride is abruptly or BP. BP is accumulated by get- handgun adorned with adorable the story in this overly sexualized probably the most outlandish that held short by two members of the ting kills or completing objectives little cellphone charms. "is !rst middle-world that serves as a pre- I’ve played to date. American resistance, Connor and in the various modes. Players can !ght is where the movie really hits text to put the girls in underwear "e game starts out with a ba- Rianna. You then join them in or- then use their BP to either buy its stride. Snyder has thankfully for most of the !lm. sic explanation of the setting by der to free the world from Korea’s killstreak rewards, such as a com- backed away from the wanton As Sweet Pea remarks after way of a movie before you begin oppression. bat drone or a rocket launcher, or brutality of Watchman and re- watching Baby Doll perform for playing. After the death of Kim "e gameplay in the single they can purchase vehicles such as turned to the poetic rhythm and the !rst time, “the dance should Jung-Il, his son Kim Jung-Un has player campaign is pretty similar a Humvee or an attack helicopter subtle abstraction that made 300’s be more than just titillation.” succeeded him as the leader of to that of the Call of Duty fran- to spawn in.

Load more

  9

Copy Link