Since it seems the art book was picked up by scalpers I took the time to scan some of the better images from the book. This book is too cool not to share. For those that want one I hear they are reprinting it. Do not pay those ebay prices. I can’t wait for the BluRay director’s cut. some of the dance numbers look really nice.
If everyone will excuse me taking this slightly OT.
There you go live and learn. I had always thought of them as a purely Allied weapon. I would have thought it’s ammunition type wouldn’t have been compatable with the German ammunition? Didn’t the Lewis use the British 303 round?
Yeah, it’s funny how you see the german soldiers setting it up on a tripod, and Babydoll just hoists it and fires from the hip. 
Too Cool!
They were made in two calibres during WWI: .303 British (by BSA) and in .30-06 (by Savage Arms in the US as, confusingly, the M1917). A number were also ordered by the Russian Government presumably in 7.62x54R calibre around the same time, but there’’ some debate as to whether they actually received the guns.
The Germans in WWI wouldn’t have been short of captured .303 ammunition for their captured Lewis guns. They quite probably rechambered some of them for German service ammo as well- they certainly did that sort of thing with captured Russian SMGs in WWII.
Incidentally, the Belgian Lewis Guns were chambered for .303 British ammunition, even though their service rifle was a different calibre. It’s surprising how common an occurence that was during WWI/WWII. Japan also made a knock-off of the Lewis during WWII that was chambered for several different cartridges, one of which was more or less identical and interchangeable with .303 British.
Back OT, I’m definitely looking forward to the Blu-Ray when it comes out!
Finally saw this movie. (Hey, I’m cheap and I wait until movies get to the second-run theatres.)
===Warning: Spoilers ahead.===
My main thought is that I liked this movie better when Terry Gilliam made it. There’s traces of Brazil, 12 Monkeys, The Fisher King, Tideland, The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, and Jabberwocky. That and I spotted the Owl Creek Bridge ending right away.
I can see where the movie had problems finding an audience. It’s tough mixed mindless action adventure with a grim story. And the story-within-a-story-within-a-story was going to confuse people looking for simple summer movie entertainment.
I wonder why Baby Doll’s visions were framed as video games. The “real” setting was supposed to be in the nineteen-sixties (although it actually appears much earlier). Where was the video game imagery supposed to be coming from?
I can see a justification for the scanty costumes in the orphanage and quest scenes (beyond the obvious fan service). I think it’s clear that Blue was raping the female patients so it made sense that Baby Doll’s dreams would portray them in a sexualized metaphor.
I have a hard time accepting the claim that this is a story about female empowerment. The dream sequences were clearly mirroring real life events in the asylum. So there must have been a real escape plan and Rocket, Amber, and Blondie were presumably really killed. Baby Doll was lobotomized. And their only “victory” was that Sweet Pea was able to run away. None of them actually did any significant harm to their tormentors or stopped them through their actions. (The ending where Blue was arrested seemed tacked on and had nothing really to do with anything the women had done. Blue was only caught due to his own actions or due to bad luck, depending on how you consider it.)
It took me a few minutes to figure out the ending. I was trying to figure out why the guide was driving the bus. Did it mean that Sweet Pea was also living in a fantasy? That would imply she hadn’t really escaped.
But then I realized it wasn’t Sweet Pea’s fantasy - it was Baby Doll’s fantasy. After all she had gone through, her biggest consolation was thinking about how Sweet Pea got away. So that was the happy ending she mentally escaped to. (Once again, an homage to Gilliam.)
Didn’t get a chance to see it on the big screen. I wish I had. Obviously because, the visuals and soundtrack were awesome and deserved a big screen/sound viewing. And also because the film seemed like it got unfairly panned. As so rarely happens, I thought the trailer was perfect - told me exactly what to expect without spoiling anything important. And, this film was pretty much exactly what I could expect, without spoiling anything important or ruining any surprises.
Having read the interview, I can see where it was intended to be feminist, or at least not misogynist. Or ironic, or whatever. And even just having watched it I got some of that. But…
I guess there are levels/stages of feminism…
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Men are great and women are dumb/whatever pejorative. Obviously misogynist.
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Men are evil and women are wonderful. But men can and do easily and willingly exploit/harm women. Stage two. Progress but not ideal. This is the level SP is at.
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There are good and bad men and women. Women protagonists will encounter obstacles but not solely at the whims of evil exploitative men. And their obstacles will not be predominantly gender-power-difference based. Opposition genders could be randomly swapped without making a difference to plot.
Yeah, I also wonder what exactly went down WRT that. Whereas the “I’m dancing now, time to achieve one of the goals, enter the Matrix” scenes were pretty clearly delineated from the “I’m a prostitute in a gambling brothel” scenes, the “brothel” scenes were not as clearly divided from the “mental ward” scenes.
Well.. I don’t disagree that it had the feel of a series of music videos strung together with a framing device. But I thought it was executed fairly well given that premise.
Yeah. Well that was one of the main conceits. So I could give it a pass. But MAN if they had ACTUALLY shown a montage of her “fantasy” cut with sequences of her “dance interpretation” of the sequence at some point, after we had given up expecting to see it, and it having been awesome… That would have made the film ascend beyond what it was by several degrees.
And… her “fight” moves were certainly beautiful. So it’s not like they were unable to get the actress to move in a nice way.
That’s not quite the endorsement it used to be…
I’m not sure what to say here… Based on that interview it seems like I saw the directors cut, but not the “ooh Child” final dance number. While I can see where some of the things the directors cut seems to have added were needed, without having seen the “Ooh Child” number, it’s not clear what difference that would have made.
It’s also confusing to me - he implies it was left out due to effects, but he describes it as a stage number - why would that need effects as opposed to one of the imaginary battle scenes with tons of CGI???
I guess having seen the trailer I knew pretty much exactly what to expect and I enjoyed it for what it was, immensely.
My only gripes were:
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“I land on the ground on two feet and one hand and then look up” scenes were WAY too numerous and beleaguered.
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The “I’m dancing sexy and imagining a war mission of varying genre” scenes were a tad too long. The change to “dragon fighting” and “robots on train with bomb that fails” were good choices, but still not quite distinct enough and quick enough. These scenes should have been a little bit more distinct and taken up less time as they went on.
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I think the transition from “brothel” to “varying genre war” scenes were fine, the metaphor was clear, but the transition and metaphor from “asylum” to “brothel” wasn’t as clear.
Why do you think they were framed as video games? True, the scenarios would make pretty cool games, but that certainly wasn’t my understanding of how they were being presented.
Fifty-eight year old female here, so obviously I wasn’t the target demographic, but Mr. singular and I loved this movie. We’re hoping there is a version of this available with extras, since Netfix does a cheap no extras versions these days.
I finally saw Sucker Punch and I have to say, it was flatout fucking awesome. I don’t understand the hate and I especially don’t understand the “hard to follow” complaints. I also don’t think the original ending would have worked. It would have felt like the neverending endings of Return of the King. The ending we got worked, even if the “Babydoll must sacrifice herself” twist was more obvious than this movie tanking at the box office.
Just saw it last night for the first time. Visually it was fantastic, and the music was great. It wasn’t super clear what was the in-story “real” world and what was imagination, but it didn’t feel necessary to know for sure. Worth watching over again.
Did I mention visually and musically it was awesome?
I just saw it on DVD tonight, and I feel much the same about the movie. I was a bit surprised at the dark tone of the movie, since I had pretty much avoided spoilers and I think I only saw the trailer once before. But even while I was watching Babydoll and the rest plow through roboNazis and the like, in the back of my mind the “Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” thoughts were playing through my head, as I was keenly aware that this was NOT likely to be a happy ending for the girl. I mean, the stepfather probably murdered her mother and repeatedly abused her and her sister, her sister was killed, and she was lobotomized. Maybe the stepfather might get his comeuppance, but it’s not clearly stated, and in any case it’s cold comfort for the girl. Geez, what a downer…