Movie Reviews

Looper

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  • Title: Looper
  • IMDB: link

looper-posterWritten and directed by Rian Johnson (Brick, The Brothers Bloom), Looper gives us a time travel story that focuses on how far a man will go to protect his future, and how far the world will go to stop him. In the year 2072 time travel has been outlawed but is still used by gangsters and shady corporate big wigs who send their victims back in time to be killed in the days before the invention of time travel by hired assassins known as Loopers, thus creating the perfect crime.

The film centers around the actions of a single Looper named Joe (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) whose largely empty life is filled by bad diner coffee, learning French, doing lots of drugs, shooting hooded strangers who suddenly appear in an empty field and disposing of their bodies, and carrying a torch for a stripper (an alluring, and scantily clad, Piper Perabo) who cares only for his money. In other words, his life is perfect (for what he wants out of life – money, women, and drugs), at least until the arrival of his Loop (Bruce Willis) derails his entire future.

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Phoenix & Hoffman deliver a pair of Masterful performances

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  • Title: The Master
  • IMDB: link

the-master-posterIt’s only September, but it’s quite possible the latest film from writer/director Paul Thomas Anderson may be the best collection of acting seen in theaters this year. The Master, inspired (in part) by L. Ron Hubbard and the rise of Scientology, is a terrifically produced look into the life of a disturbed young man and his relationship with the leader of a cult.

The film is less concerned about the specific inner workings of a cult than what kind of life it’s leader might live and how he might react to those around him and those in need of his help.

When we meet Naval Officer Freddie Quell (Joaquin Phoenix) in the final days of WWII it’s obvious there’s something very wrong with the man whose violent and blunt interactions with everyone he meets fail to earn him friends. After the war, Freddie travels around the country in various jobs, including a department store photographer and field hand – both of which he’s forcibly removed from due to his poor judgement.

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Eastwood and Adams have plenty of Trouble with the Curve

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  • Title: Trouble with the Curve
  • IMDB: link

trouble-with-the-curve-posterTrouble with the Curve, a tale of an old baseball scout (Clint Eastwood) reconnecting with his estranged daughter (Amy Adams) on his final recruiting trip, is exactly what you’d expect. In fact, less than halfway through the film I correctly predicted how every single storyline would end.

The by-the-book tale is an odd mashup cashing in on the success of Moneyball and Grand Torino (with a romantic comedy thrown in for good measure). Sadly, but not surprisingly, Trouble with the Curve is nothing more than blatant Oscar bait and forgettable feelgood pre-holiday fodder.

Clichéd and as subtle as a kick to the groin, the screenplay by first-time screenwriter Randy Brown doesn’t so much foreshadow events as scream loudly from Hollywood playbook exactly what will occur. Overly sentimental, and not ambitious in the least, the film is a crowd pleaser with well-placed grumpy old man jokes that won’t force audiences to think much (or at all).

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Romanticized Plagiarism

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  • Title: The Words
  • IMDB: link

the-words-posterIt’s like Inception but with all the fun, action, and humor taken out. The Words provides stories within stories within stories. After all, why settle on a single plot with one narrator, when three will do? The film by directing and screenwriting duo Brian Klugman and Lee Sternthal certainly does its best to fill all the major roles with capable actors but somehow still comes off as a bland romance novel which never justifies its existence.

Dennis Quaid stars as Clay Hammond, a celebrated author who, as the film opens, is giving a dramatic reading of his latest novel. Clay’s narration introduces and concludes each of the passages as we find ourselves in a world of his imagination invoking yet another author and a story about yet another book.

Bradley Cooper stars as Rory Jansen, the main character in Clay’s novel, a struggling young author, with a wife (Zoe Saldana) who is obviously too good for him, who has finally hit the big time with his first best seller. The trouble is, Rory didn’t actually write the book that made him famous.

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Robot & Frank

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  • Title: Robot & Frank
  • IMDB: link

robot-and-frank-posterRobot & Frank isn’t the kind of film that will surprise you. The story about a grump old ex-jewel thief with early onset Alzheimer’s who learns valuable lessons about life, friendship, and family is fairly predictable, and more than a little schmaltzy.

Frank Langella stars as Frank, a thief who spent the better part of his offspring’s childhood in prison creating a resentful son (James Marsden) and a loving absentee daughter (Liv Tyler). Unable to give his father the daily care he needs in the New York wilderness outside the small town, his son comes up with a solution – a personal robot.

Although initially resistant to the idea, Frank begins to soften to the robot (voiced by Peter Sarsgaard) when Frank sees the potential to use his criminal past and the robot’s skills to resume his life of crime. As you might expect from a film like this, Frank begins to see the robot as more of a friend than a tool and the robot proves to be far more human than Frank, or the audience, is initially led to believe.

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