Wildly exploitative sexism, couched as girl power, from 300 director Zack Snyder. A teenager named Baby Doll (the entirely dull Emily Browning) is tossed into a mental asylum by her evil stepfather, who either raped and killed Baby's little sister or just killed her. Within the confines of the loony bin, Baby Doll visits various alternative realities, all populated with other beautiful young girls wearing rompers, schoolgirl kilts and such. The other realities include a busy bordello and ongoing martial-arts/steampunk/dragon-filled battles directed by the Wise Man (Scott Glenn). Abbie Cornish and Jena Malone, poor things, are fellow inmates in all realities. Baby Doll hatches a plan to escape using a combination of kung fu moves and supersexy dancing that the audience never sees (Snyder chooses a strange time for discretion), but it's a race against time, since she's scheduled to be lobotomized by a handsome doctor (Jon Hamm). Snyder, who has a story and screenplay credit, appears to have been influenced by everything from Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar to Sin City and maybe some old episodes of Charlie's Angels. That's a combination that can make you beg for the ice pick and mallet.
The Top 10 Everything of 2011
- Top 10 Albums
- Top 10 Animal Stories
- Top 10 Apologies
- Top 10 Business Blunders
- Top 10 Buzzwords
- Top 10 Comebacks
- Top 10 Consumer-Spending Trends
- Top 10 Crime Stories
- Top 10 Campaign-Debate Moments
- Top 10 Best Fashion Moments
- Top 10 Worst Fashion Moments
- Top 10 Feuds
- Top 10 Fiction Books
- Top 10 Fleeting Celebrities
- Top 10 Food Trends
- Top 10 Gadgets
- Top 10 Green Trends
- Top 10 Marriage Stories
- Top 10 Medical Breakthroughs
- Top 10 Memes
- Top 10 Movie Performances
- Top 10 Worst Movies
- Top 10 Best Movies
- Top 10 New Findings in Parenting
- Top 10 New Species
- Top 10 Nonfiction Books
- Top 10 Numbers
- Top 10 Oddball-News Stories
- Top 10 Overreported Stories
- Top 10 People Not Running for President
- Top 10 Plays and Musicals
- Top 10 Political Gaffes
- Top 10 Protest Signs
- Top 10 Quotes
- Top 10 Religion Stories
- Top 10 Ridiculously Obvious Study Findings
- Top 10 Scandals
- Top 10 Smart-Phone Apps
- Top 10 Songs
- Top 10 Space Moments
- Top 10 Sports Moments
- Top 10 Toys
- Top 10 TV Ads
- Top 10 TV Episodes
- Top 10 TV Series
- Top 10 Best Tweets
- Top 10 Worst Tweets
- Top 10 U.S.-News Stories
- Top 10 Underreported Stories
- Top 10 Video Games
- Top 10 Creative Videos
- Top 10 Viral Videos
- Top 10 World-News Stories
- Top 10 Photos of the Year
In 54 wide-ranging lists, TIME surveys the highs and lows, the good and the bad, of the past 12 months