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IMMORTALS - REVIEW

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Comparisons with Zack Snyder's 300 were unavoidable: the themes, the silly costumes, the crazy gold filters, the titan-ic budget... This is not 300. And as awful as Tarsem Singh's upcoming take on Snow White ( Mirror Mirror ) looks, his back catalogue has been pretty creative, especially visually. The Cell being probably the most OTT CSI episode ever, it looked great. There was a surrealism about The Fall and, indeed, The Cell which used special effects in an interesting, arty way and added a certain unique look to otherwise pretty bare stories. For Hollywood, it was a breath of fresh air. Tarsem, like Snyder, is very much a visual director but where Snyder's style feels overblown, bloated and predominantly cliched, Tarsem at least has the decency to throw odd, unlikely imagery at you and although that's not always necessary plot-wise it makes for an enjoyably eyebrow-raising watch. With Immortals , he takes a stab at Greek mythology and, you know what? He was

SUCKER PUNCH - REVIEW

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Zack Snyder is a weird one. Directing career so far: 300 , Watchmen , OWLS, Sucker Punch, Superman. I can't say it's been a smooth, flawless ride so far but it's been...interesting. Even the best of the bunch, Watchmen, was far from perfect and failed to to live up to the source material's deeper aspects. What it seems to come down to is a disconnect between style and content. Snyder's films, Sucker Punch included, look fab from start to finish and the over-ambition is always welcome as it gives us the sense that there's nothing Mr Snyder will shy away from. Alas this can also prove to be something of a curse. Titanic scales, tedious slo-mos, gratuitous sex/violence, CGI up the ass, grungy pop music...these seem to be regulars now when it comes to Snyder's films. He's like a Michael Bay wrapped inside a Robert Rodriguez. And although I can't stand 300 and care not for owls I enjoyed Watchmen in parts and was looking forward to this new comic b