Madonna’s second directorial effort W.E. has been greeted by a torrent of negativity, with critics assailing her revisionist portrait of the illicit romance between King Edward VIII and the American divorcée Wallis Simpson to the tune of a 14% on the all-powerful Tomatometer. If it’s not quite the unholy mess that the reviews have promised, there’s no question that this is a sloppy, hubristic affair. It looks pretty, with style and eloquence to spare, but it’s perilously over-directed. Apparently the Material Girl never met a random cross-cut, outsized camera movement, or other unneeded flourish that she didn’t like. That penchant for pristine visuals at any cost is just part of what detracts from the terrific performance by Andrea Riseborough as Simpson, which could have provided the core of a great picture. The British actress has beauty and intelligence to spare, the sort of charismatic movie star screen presence that carries you through the slowest moments. You want to watch her. Unfortunately, Madonna only lets you do so for half of the movie’s rather trying two hours. The rest of the time, we’re stuck with an unnecessary 1998-set corollary to the 1930s-set main action. There, lonely American Wally Winthrop (Abbie Cornish) obsesses over Wallis and Edward, spending all her time at a Sotheby’s auction of their estate.

This week, Fat Guy Kevin Carr hunkers down and braces for award season. He also prepares for an onslaught of celebrity guest stars in New Year’s Eve, which features a poster that looks like a “Friends available to chat” sidebar on Facebook. In order to watch all the movies for the week, Kevin hires the only babysitter available… Jonah Hill. What could possibly go wrong with that? Fortunately this frees him up to see some of the smaller releases, like Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, W.E. and I Melt with You. And he wraps up the week wondering why everyone needs to talk about him.

Just because the hot girls in Zach Snyder’s visually assaulting film Sucker Punch aren’t old enough to drink, nothing is stopping you from watching the movie and playing this drinking game… unless you’re as old as the main characters of the film. While Sucker Punch has its ups and downs, it’s a visually interesting flick with plenty of fishnets, stockings, push-up bras and a bad Russian accent courtesy of Carla Gugino. What’s stopping you from watching it on DVD or Blu-ray and knocking back a couple sips of your favorite spirit? You know you want to.

Sucker Punch feels like Zack Snyder‘s response to all those awkward and sexist nerds he and his cast have to deal with in Hall-H nearly every year. You know, the ones that cant help but to shout out how “hot” the actresses are during the panel, and without actually asking any real questions or treating them respectfully. Those nerds are the sideline oppressors of Sucker Punch: the revolting-looking Chef and Mayor, the ones that love seeing their women in degrading and sexualized outfits, but don’t care about how or why they’re in said outfits. As long as they get their joy out of sexy women doing sexy things, and nothing outside the basic titillation, they’ll be happy. This is the subtext that many seem to not be getting or talking about from Sucker Punch. Snyder’s work has always been divisive, but never has one of his films been this polarizing, and he knows that. Snyder is well-aware of the response the film has been getting, and he’s the type of self-aware filmmaker who probably expected this type of reaction from day one of shooting. The fact that Sucker Punch isn’t a film for everyone surely must have caused problems along the way, and as Snyder states, the test-screening process was no help in that regard.

This piece contains spoilers for Sucker Punch. If you haven’t seen the movie yet, go watch it before diving in. Once the first images hit, or when the first synopsis hit, or maybe even when Zack Snyder dreamed up the concept for Sucker Punch ten years ago – a time bomb was set to explode twice, and it finally did this weekend. The first explosion was the basis for the existence of the movie, and it continued exploding many, many times during the runtime. The second was the question of feminism. Now that the movie is out, it has also exploded. The reactions from before the film was released varied, and they still do. Some see it as feminism merged with geek culture (which assumes geek culture isn’t sexless to begin with). Some see it as an affront to the advancement of women parading in thigh high boots. One who gives a strong argument for the latter is Angie Han of /film, who writes the hell out of an editorial called “On Zack Snyder’s Sucker Punch: Why Ass-Kicking and Empowerment Aren’t Always the Same Thing.” You should absolutely go read it before reading this, although I’ll do my best to condense her arguments (in a fair way) in order to respectfully counter them.

Right around ten years ago Zack Snyder had an idea. An idea that would come to take up about thirty seconds of Sucker Punch, but lend to the film its main character, its title, and its sex appeal. That original idea revolved around a girl named Baby Doll who escaped into the recesses of her mind while dancing for some very bad men. He then partnered with his school buddy Steve Shibuya to start working that into a script. Things were probably going pretty okay on that, but they were about to get a lot better when Snyder found himself helming Dawn of the Dead, my personal choice for best zombie movie ever. You heard that right, Romero. Sitting next to Snyder at the press junket, the man did no less than doodle an X-Wing on a pad of paper while talking, as if he needed anything more than Watchmen to solidify his nerd-cred. Before talking about the visually complex Sucker Punch, Snyder, sitting alongside wife and producing partner Debbie, the director took a moment to give us a glimpse into his filmmaking past, revealing as one might expect he was an early overachiever. One of his student films in the basic introductory film classes was a World War I epic, complete with trenches dug by a rented backhoe. Before you get antsy, I’ll tell you what he said about his upcoming Superman movie: nothing. As in, he’s not allowed to speak of it. Duh. What he did express was [Due to Content Scraping and Theft, we have been forced to try abbreviated feeds. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and woud very much appreciate you clicking through to view the full article on FilmSchoolRejects.com]

This week, Fat Guy Kevin Carr felt so trapped by the weight of the world that he escaped into an amazing world inside his mind. Ironically, this world bore a striking resemblance to Zack Snyder’s Sucker Punch, what with all the scantily clad, kick-ass hotties running around. Once free of oppression, Kevin took his kids to check out the new Diary of a Wimpy Kid movie in a desperate hope for Rachel Harris’s approval.

Zack Snyder’s return to (mostly) live action hits screens today, bringing to life the fetishistic dreams of many a teenage boy as a mostly female cast in anime-inspired garb storm through mind of the troubled Babydoll, battling dragons, orcs, and samurai. On paper it sounds pretty amazing: sexy young actresses, plenty of firearms, the directing of Zack Snyder, wild nightmare action sequences, and a minimum amount of leather inspired clothing. In small doses, say in trailers and commercial spots, the film looks amazing. Fast paced action, again the sexy ladies, and amazing, lush digital sets, brimming with fireballs and bullet hits. Then some slow motion, and some fast motion and some slow motion again. By now you’re probably starting to predict where I’m going. I said it’s amazing in small doses and in paper, but how is it stretched out to two hours?

This week, Fat Guy Kevin Carr starts a new regimen of drugs that comes in a clear little pill. The guy on the street corner told him that it would unlock the full potential of his mind, and he assured Kevin it was FDA approved. Why would this guy lie to him? While waiting for the drugs to kick in, Kevin decided to take a trip across the American southwest and search for skinny little aliens with fat man voices. He knows he’s safe, even if he’s picked up by the cops, because he’s retained a dead-sexy lawyer who runs his practice out of the back of his Lincoln Town Car.

With any luck, the Holistic Healing League (which I just made up) will be boycotting Limitless in no time. The idea is shockingly simple – a man starts taking a pill that opens up the rest of his mental faculties to his use. He’s a medicated genius, and he uses that genius for personal gain. Then, Robert De Niro gets pissed about it. The lesson here is that as long as drugs are FDA-approved, they’re totally kosher to take (unless De Niro gets mad at you, then you should stop immediately). So remember, kids, don’t do drugs except the ones your government tells you are A-Okay. Limitless stars De Niro, Bradley Cooper, and Abbie Cornish. It was directed by The Illusionist director Neil Burger, and it will see theaters March 18, 2011. Check out the even higher res version of the trailer at Apple.

Although her husband thinks she’s the new Sigourney Weaver, Milla Jovovich isn’t on the short list of actresses being looked at for the leading role in Ridley Scott’s new 3D Alien movie. The production has seriously looked at Abbie Cornish (who you know and will know from Bright Star and the forthcoming Sucker Punch) and Carey Mulligan (who you know from being adorable and Oscar-worthy in everything), but the front runner is apparently Noomi Rapace from The Original Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. All the usual caveats apply here (including that she’s not actually Ripley because Ripley hasn’t been born yet in this story), but if Rapace gets the job, it tells us one thing about the character Scott and company have in mind: she’s a bad ass. This would be great news not only because Alien is a stand out as far as strong female leads are concerned, but because it would mean introducing Rapace to a larger American audience as a woman who could make you want to move in with her and then beat you in the face with the butt of her gun for thinking it. Sounds like a brilliant casting choice. [Deadline Mansfield]

This week, Fat Guy Kevin Carr is coming at you in eye-popping 3D, and like money, he doesn’t sleep. He sets his time machine way way way back to 2002 to pick on Kristen Bell in high school. The story is loosely chronicled in You Again. Kevin also practices some insider trading with Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps then takes flight with a bunch of CGI owls from Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole

The word from Comic-Con was that Zack Snyder’s Sucker Punch, while difficult to explain, was one of the more stunning highlights of a quality overall showing. The posters we showed you mere days ago were hot, wet and on fire. Cole Abaius’ report from the Hall H panel talked about a some of the strongest female characters we’ve seen on screen in a while. It all sounds like a wild Kill Bill-esque ride through the visually supercharged mind of director Zack Snyder. Nothing about that seems underwhelming. At least not to me. Today brings us the first bit of bonafide proof that Sucker Punch is going to be off-the-rails, both visually and conceptually. It’s a trailer that features badass ladies, burlesque musical numbers, dragons, samurais and suits of armor. As Cole said in his report, it’s breath-taking. And it awaits you after the jump.

Our Comic-Con 2010 coverage is in full swing, and while the gents on the ground in San Diego continue to bring you their assessment of what’s happening in and around Hall H, I’ve got the lovely task of keeping up with all of the hot materials being released by studios. This means trailers, posters and hot breaking news. This little update is red hot — a set of character posters for Zack Snyder’s stylish, sexy actioner Sucker Punch. If you remember, we showed you the first photo last week. Now we’ve got individual looks at each of the film’s dangerous ladies — and you’ll be hard pressed to be able to take your eyes off of them. Check them out after the jump… Click here for more from Comic-Con 2010

The upcoming issue of Entertainment Weekly, their yearly look at Comic-Con, has drawn a lot of attention even before hitting news stands, as it is showing off some of the hot geek properties that will grace the stages of the San Diego Convention Center next week. Yesterday it was a first look at Green Lantern. Today we get a look at the cast of Zack Snyder‘s girl-power shoot ‘em up Sucker Punch. It’s got sexy and dangerous visions of Emily Browning, Jena Malone, Abbie Cornish, Vanessa Hudgens and Jamie Chung. And as an exclamation point on the whole affair, Scott Glenn as a Nazi. Check out the full image after the jump.

It may just be me, but the first several moments of this brand new Legend of the Guardians trailer — the new animated film from director Zack Snyder — feels a lot like 300. Super slow-motion and angry warrior faces. All that’s missing is the voice of Gerard Butler screaming “This is Ga-HOOLE!” while one owl kicks the other one down a pit of despair. That doesn’t exactly happen, but some other cool stuff certainly does.

Jane Campion’s ‘Bright Star’ is an intensely romantic film that’s never trite or dated, despite its PG rating and early 19th century setting.

Snyder works to assemble an all-female cast for his upcoming Sucker Punch, an action fantasy set in the 1960s featuring crazy people.

Although the picture is occasionally compelling and has hints of honesty, the script by Pierce and co-writer Mark Richard is a one-way ticket to nowhere.

I am getting so tired of these movies about the war in Iraq. But Hollywood isn’t. And they are doing exactly what they’re accusing George W. Bush of doing – not listening to the American people. But like John Stewart pointed out at the Oscars, it’s Hollywood’s job to stay the course and keep making these movies. [Grade: C-]