Looper

Expectations:
In my opinion, Joseph Gordon-Levitt is one of the biggest stars in Hollywood, at the moment, and I am a huge, huge fan of his work. Last year, I even awarded him the high honor of best actor in a dramatic role in my first ever "Above Average Awards." Although I missed out on Premium Rush, which looked a tad bit cheesy, I was super excited about Looper, which looked a tad bit freakin awesome. However, I am not a huge fan of action films that suck men into the theater in an attempt to entertain them by blowing stuff up and killing people. Most guys like that, but I find it a bit shallow. I was a little worried that Looper was going to turn out to be too much action and not enough story, but the cast was great and the storyline intriguing, so I decided to go watch...

Plot:
Heading into the film, I was thinking that the storyline in Looper would have to be good if there was any chance of me liking the film. Oddly enough, I didn't think the story was all that great. The idea itself was very, very interesting, but the execution was mediocre. I just kept waiting for that moment that would absolutely shock me and make me think "didn't see that coming," and it never came. The interaction among the actors really disappointed me as well. In my opinion, Gordon-Levitt's younger Joe and Bruce Willis's older Joe didn't have enough time on screen together. They really only had one scene where they had a conversation. Considering how long the movie felt, I just expected more interaction between the two of them. With all that being said, I was, nonetheless, impressed with the action in this film. Was it mind-blowing? NO... But they never let the action take the focus away from the story, and that is something that is rarely accomplished. Kudos to the filmmakers on that one!

Characters:
As I said before, the character interaction was not always the best. However, there were some very good individual performances, and I really, really enjoyed the smallish cast. The focus was almost always kept on one of the two Joes, which was a huge plus for me.

Negatives:
The one character that screamed negative! to me was Kid Blue, played by Noah Segan. I believe he was supposed to be some sort of comic relief, but I just didn't really understand why he was necessary. As far as I can remember, he is the only character who ever took the focus off of the Joes, and I did not like it when he did. Also, I didn't understand why Paul Dano's Seth was at all necessary in the film. Basically, all he did was show the audience what might happen if Joe did not kill his future self, which, I believe, did not help with the lack of suspense.

Positives:
Without a doubt, Bruce Willis gave the best performance in Looper, but I do believe he was under-utilized. In the final scenes, he had almost no presence in the film, whatsoever. I know that doesn't sound positive, but I wanted to be sure to recognize him for his performance. Gordon-Levitt was nowhere near his 50/50 performance from last year, but he still did a great job.

Conclusion:
While I wasn't overwhelmed by Looper, I did enjoy the differences that this film had compared to your average action film. The ability to tell the story without forcing the action down my throat was very impressive. The story just needed to be better. It was a great attempt, but it just didn't have everything it needed. I do believe, however, that Joseph Gordon-Levitt has cemented himself into a long term role as one of Hollywood's leading actors, and I can't wait to see what he does next. As for Bruce Willis, he is getting old. I would certainly suggest Looper to any guy out there who enjoys a high-action drama. Just go watch this and see how much you enjoy seeing a story told, and I bet you won't even realize that the action was minimal. I give Looper 2.89 out of 5 stars.

Movie News for the Week of August 16, 2011

With school starting back up next week, the blog will be forced to conform to my schedule. Because of this, movie news will be moving to Fridays, starting next week. Just wanted to let everyone know, because I know you would just be worried to death next Tuesday. Also, there has been a lot of news this week so enjoy!

1. With the great succes of the first Smurfs film, Sony pictures has already ordered a sequel. They have set the release date for August 2, 2013, making this the first film to lock up an August release date in 2013. I have my own opinion about a sequel, which you can read on my review of the Smurfs.

2. Mila Jovovich has committed to a fifth Resident Evil film. She has tweeted that the film may be called Retribution, but this has not been confirmed.

3. Bruce Willis is in talks to appear in the next G.I. Joe film. The actor would play the character of original Joe, which I imagine is just an old G.I.Joe.

4. Casting is underway for a third Riddick film, and Vin Diesel has already committed to returning as Riddick. The studio has promised that the third film will be on a smaller scale, much like Pitch Black, rather than a large scale like The Chronicles of Riddick.

5. Justin Lin, the director of Fast Five, is becoming more and more popular each and every day. He has officially signed on to direct the sixth Fast and Furious film and is also being associated with a new Terminator film. Lin himself has said that he has met with Arnold Schwarzenegger and James Cameron about making a fifth film in the famous series. Cameron has said that he will not produce if the film is made, but Lin has been very appreciative of Cameron's input. 

6. Earlier in the week, Paramount announced that it would be releasing World War Z, a zombie takeover film, on December 21, 2012. This was a bit confusing, because this was the same date as The Lone Ranger and Life of Pi were due out, but, on Saturday, Disney shut down production on The Lone Ranger. The film, starring Johnny Depp and Armie Hammer, was going to cost over $250 million, which Disney thought was a bit much for western-like remake. The Lone Ranger very well may get made eventually, but the price tag will have to be lower for director Gore Verbinski. I am super pissed about this, because I was really looking forward to this movie.

7. The Lincoln Lawyer, starring Matthew McConaughey, was not the biggest movie of 2011, but TV Land has decided to turn the film into a TV series. It is highly unlikely that TV Land would be able to afford/convince McConaughey to reprise his role, but nothing has been announced yet as far as casting goes.

8. A third Bridget Jones Diary film is being made, which mean more eyes are going to burn out after looking upon the face of Zellweger!

9. Earlier in the week, it was reported that Michael Myers is officially on board for a fourth Austin Powers movie. This turned out to be a false report, but Myers has said that he is interested in making another Powers film, so we will just have to wait and see.


The Batplane has reemerged in the streets of Pittsburgh. No one knows if the new Tumbler will transform into the Batplane or if the plane is its own accessory, but here is a clip:

Movie News for the Week of August 2, 2011

1. The book ESPN: Those Guys Have All the Fun, based on the early years of the sports channel, could be turned into a movie. 20th Century Fox is close to a deal that would give them rights to the film. Many say that the film would probably have strong similarities to the feel of The Social Network.

2. Now that the hype surrounding Super 8 has settled down, J.J. Abrams has officially announced that he will be directing the second Star Trek movie. All main characters from the first film are returning, and the release date will either be at the end of 2012 or during the summer of 2013.

3. After directing both The DiVinci Code and Angels and Demons, Ron Howard has said that he will not be involved with The Last Symbol. Dan Brown, the author of the books turned movies, has reportedly reached out to Howard about making a third film, but Howard is not interested.

4. A fifth Die Hard movie is almost a sure thing. The movie will take Bruce Willis's character outside of the United States for the first time. It has been rumoured that Russia might be his destination.

5. The director of The Expendables 2 has stirred the pot a bit by hinting that three big name actors might be a part of the sequel. Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger are already signed on to return in larger roles, but now it is being said that Chuck Norris, John Travolta, and Jean-Claude Van Damme will also be joining the cast.

This is a cool opportunity to watch the making of a scene from The Dark Knight Rises. Very cool stuff, so check it out: