THE DARK KNIGHT RISES – 2012 – A FITTING FINALE

 "Scene for scene, The Dark Knight Rises is by far the most exciting and visually stimulating of the three Nolan Batman films and definitely my favorite."

Superhero and Action

Starring - Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne / Batman, Michael Caine as Alfred Pennyworth, Gary Oldman as Commissioner James Gordon, Anne Hathaway as Selina Kyle, Tom Hardy as Bane, Marion Cotillard as Talia al Ghul / Miranda Tate, Joseph Gordon-Levitt as John Blake and Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox.

Director – Christopher Nolan

Writer(s) – Christopher and Jonathan Nolan

Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action, some sensuality and language.

Runtime - 165 min.

I am not a huge fan of the comic book Batman. My first exposure to the character, like many children who grew up in the 1960’s was the TV show that ran from January 12, 1966 to March 14, 1968. I do remember collecting bubble gum cards that featured photographs from the show and later painted artwork of the comic book characters, but for whatever reason the TV show never inspired the then 8 to 10 year old me to buy the comic book.

I have since as an adult bought many different runs of the The Batman, Detective Comics and even the The Dark Knight, but I have never bought it for more than a year or two at a time. For reasons that are too deep to go into here, I have always felt more connected to the superheroes of the Marvel universe than those of the DC universe. Therefore, I am not an expert on Batman the comic book character, but merely a fairly educated fan.

I loved the 1960’s TV show as a child, but have not been able to enjoy it much as an adult. I did find out that the show was based on the 1940’s serials Batman (1943) and Batman and Robin (1949), more so than on the comic book, which explains the serialized nature of the show.  The Batman films of the late ‘80’s and 90’s were also somewhat of a disappointment to me as well. While I thought Tim Burtorn’s first film, Batman (1989), captured the mood of the character, I didn't like it for much more than Nicholson’s inspired portrayal of The Joker. Burton’s second film, Batman Returns (1992), was a self-indulgent mess that had more to do with Burton’s demented world view, than with the character of Batman. Joel Schumacher’s Batman Forever (1995) was slick and slightly more super-heroic, but was already bordering on the ridiculous that would be his disastrous follow up Batman & Robin (1997).

With a fair amount of time to get the fowl taste of those films out of my mental palette, I approached Christopher Nolan’s first film, Batman Begins (2005), with reserved optimism. While I think Nolan got the tone of Gotham and all the supporting characters just right, Christian Bale’s Batman still seemed too grim and one-dimensional. However, this was definitely the best film version of the character and I looked forward to the sequel. The Dark Knight (2008) was an immense success, both critically and financially, but I disliked Heath Ledger’s portrayal of The Joker as an insane serial killer and that ruined the film for me. I was still hopeful that that the next – and last for Nolan – Batman film would be a good solid finish to Nolan’s vision of the character. For the most part, I wasn't disappointed.

I’m sure anyone who cares enough about Nolan’s Batman trilogy has already seen it (perhaps multiple times) at the theater, so I won’t reiterate the details of the plot here. I waited to rent The Dark Knight Rises for the simple reason that I wasn’t sure if I would like it enough to sit for two-hours and forty-five minutes in a theater to watch it. I was glad I did watch it at home, because much of the middle portion of the film is weighed down by a complete lack of Batman. I understand that Bane wanted to make Bruce Wayne suffer as he had in the inescapable pit-like prison, but this part really does slow that film down to a crawl.

I did like the set up to the film and didn't have too much of a problem with how Bane converts Wayne Enterprise’s reactor core into a nuclear bomb to put Gotham under his control. While Bane’s plan seems ridiculously over-complicated  it did make for some intense drama. I particularly liked the sequence where Gordon has rounded up as many of the Gotham police as he can, to push a frontal assault on Bane and his mercenaries, while he attempts to place a device on the reactor core that will disable the remote control trigger.

The last act of The Dark Knight Rises is filled with fantastic sequences of action and character drama. I love the way that Bruce/Batman manages to keep coaxing Selina/Catwoman into helping him thwart Bane’s plan to destroy Gotham City. In fact, Selina basically becomes The Robin to Batman in this film and I think she was one of the most enjoyable aspects of the film.

Speaking of Robin, the character, the young police officer John Blake becomes an integral part of the film, where he sort of fills in for Batman; working with Commissioner Gordon while Bruce is recovering from his broken back in the hell hole prison. I liked the character, but he seemed rather forced into the story and I’m not sure I buy his explanation of how he figured out Wayne was Batman. I also don’t understand why Nolan felt compelled to end the film with Blake quitting the force and going off in search of the Batcave.

Nolan’s subsequent Batman films each attempt to “up the ante” in scope. Rise features a new flying machine for the Batman to use against Bane’s militia that its inventor Lucius Fox dubs “The Bat”, for reasons I’m not sure of because it looks nothing like a bat. Still, it does present Batman with some cool action sequences; particularly at the end of the film when Batman is shooting at the several Batmoblie prototypes that Bane’s mercenaries have stolen to help with protecting the truck transporting the reactor core.

I liked enough of the positives of the film, so that the negatives didn’t deter from my enjoyment of it. Christopher Nolan’s strengths as a director and storyteller are in creating mood and character drama and The Dark Knight Rises has both in abundance! While the plot contrivances and outright illogical narrative events in this film could ruin it, I decided early on while watching this film that I would not let these things spoil my pleasure in watching it.

Scene for scene, The Dark Knight Rises is by far the most exciting and visually stimulating of the three Nolan Batman films and definitely my favorite. It will be interesting to see where Warner films take the character of Batman next. With a JLA film reportedly in the works for a release in the summer of 2015, I can only assume that there will be another Batman film, with a new and younger actor playing the part, coming in the near future as well.

TECHNICAL: Acting – 9 Directing – 9 Cinematography – 9 Script – 8 Special Effects – 10

VISCERAL: Visual – 10 Auditory – 9 Intellectual – 8 Emotional – 9 Involvement – 9

TOTAL - 90

THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN – 2012 – AMAZINGLY, MY SPIDER-MAN!

“This version of Spider-man offers enough new insights into the character’s past that the first film didn't,  that I think it will keep you interested enough to get to the good stuff.”

Superhero, Fantasy and Action

Starring - Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker/Spider-Man, Emma Stone as Gwen Stacy, Rhys Ifans as Dr. Curt Connors/Lizard, Denis Leary as Captain George Stacy, Martin Sheen as Ben Parker, Sally Field as May Parker, Irrfan Khan as Dr. Rajit Ratha and Chris Zylka as Flash Thompson

Director - Marc Webb

Writer(s) - James Vanderbilt, Alvin Sargent and Steve Kloves

Rated PG-13 for sequences of action and violence

Runtime: 136 min.

I bought my first issue of The Amazing Spider-man from the magazine rack of my local drug store in the summer of 1971 at the age of thirteen. I had been buying and reading several different comics sporadically before then (most notably JLA, The Flash and a few others I’ve forgotten), but the cover of The Amazing Spider-man #100 with the John Romita drawn image of Spider-man wall-crawling over a chalkboard-like background of the portraits of all the supporting characters from the past just set my young imaginative mind afire! Most of all, in typical Marvel fashion, the cover blurb announced “At last! The long-awaited 100^th anniversary issue! With the wildest shock-ending of all time!” I had to read this comic! I never missed an issue of The Amazing Spider-man after that for many years to come and even when I was a Marvel Maniac throughout the ‘70s – buying almost every Marvel superhero title - Spidy was always my favorite Marvel character!

I bring up my historical relationship with Spider-man, because I think it helps to explain why I was not a fan of the three previous Sam Raimi directed films and why I enjoyed the latest Marc Webb directed film so much. I don’t want to waste time comparing Spider-Man (2002), Spider-Man 2 (2004) and Spider-Man 3 (2007) to The Amazing Spider-Man (2012). I’ll just say that I never liked Tobey Maguire as Peter Parker and I didn’t like the many stylistic changes to the character that director Sam Raimi and writer David Koepp made; the worst being making Spider-man’s webs biologically shoot out of his hands (yuck!).

So what is it about The Amazing Spider-man that made me think it was the best film version of the character yet? The most important part of Spider-man’s characterization is that he is a high-school geek, a loner, a quietly angry teenager who has never gotten over the loss of his parents. When he is bitten by the radioactive spider and acquires the proportional strength and agility of a spider, Peter is elated and revels in his new found powers. The Amazing Spider-man establishes all this characterization in the first forty minutes of the film. We see Peter riding his skate board in school, belligerent to school rules. We see Peter being bored in Physics class, because it’s obvious that he already knows more than the teacher. We see Peter watching Gwen Stacy from afar, wishing for a way to meet this beautiful girl. We see Peter being beaten by Flash, despite his best efforts to try and avoid the confrontation. We see Peter’s warm relationship with his Uncle Ben and Aunt May in the form of quiet moment between he and Ben, when Peter attempts to hide the beating from his Aunt.

The performance of Andrew Garfield is amazing – especially when you consider he is a 29-year old, who grew up in England – is playing a 17/18-year old Manhattan high-schooler. Before and after he becomes Spider-man, Garfield plays Parker with just the right balance of darkness and inner strength. He plays Peter as the awkward geek and Spidy as the quippy jerk; making both likeable and identifiable. I can’t say enough good things about Emma Stone’s portrayal of Gwen Stacy. She plays her as a beautiful and smart teenage girl, who still is self-conscious and quiet around Peter, who she clearly likes before he becomes Spider-man. This relationship between Peter and Gwen is very important in making Peter and Spidy the man he needs to become.

I haven’t even mentioned the special effects, because at this point, I expect high quality digital effects in a film of this enormous budget (estimated at $230 million!). There are wonderful scenes of Spidy web-slinging through downtown Manhattan and I really loved how much Spider-man uses his webbing as both a defensive and offensive weapon. One of my favorite scenes is where Spidy is hunting down The Lizard in the massive sewer system of NYC and he sits in a web sling at a central hub after shooting web strands down all the adjoining tunnels. The design of the Lizard is not completely faithful to the comic book version; especially in the area of his facial structure. The Lizard was never one of my favorite Spidy villains, as I always thought he just looked like a giant lizard in a lab coat – and don’t get me started on those magenta pants! So, the redesign of The Lizard didn't bother me and as a CGI-only character, I thought he was fairly effective.

The story of Spider-man is well told, even if we do get his “origin” story again only ten-years removed from Spider-man (2002). I liked the fact that the filmmakers didn't rush to get Peter out of high school, just so we could get to him shooting “pics” for The Daley Bugle and working for his public nemesis James Jonah Jameson. Captain Stacy filled in nicely as Spidy’s new public menace, without feeling too forced. The ending, which I won’t ruin here, did feel a little hokey, but of all the Marvel superhero characters, Spider-man is one character that can pull off hokey.

For anyone who didn't go to the theater to see The Amazing Spider-man because they didn't want to see another re-telling of his origin, I recommend giving it a rent. This version of Spider-man offers enough new insights into the character’s past that the first film didn't  that I think it will keep you interested enough to get to the good stuff. The good stuff, by-the-way, is very good indeed!

TECHNICAL: Acting – 10 Directing – 9 Cinematography – 9 Script – 9 Special Effects – 10

VISCERAL: Visual – 10 Auditory – 9 Intellectual – 9 Emotional – 10 Involvement – 10

TOTAL - 95

IRON SKY – 2012 – AN IRONCLAD SCI-FI SATIRE

 

“Iron Sky is not a film for everyone, but if you are able to appreciate a science fiction satire that delves into politics, Nazism and some other uncomfortable areas, than I recommend giving it a try.”

Science Fiction, Action and Satire

Julia Dietze as Renate Richter, Götz Otto as Klaus Adler, Christopher Kirby as James Washington, Tilo Prückner as Doktor Richter, Udo Kier as Wolfgang Kortzfleisch, Peta Sergeant as Vivian Wagner and Stephanie Paul as the President of the United States

Director: Timo Vuorensola

Writers: Johanna Sinisalo and Michael Kalesniko

Rated R for language and some violence

Runtime: 93 minutes

Satire is one of the most difficult of all genres to do well; even more so when combined with science fiction, horror or fantasy. Parody is another of my favorite sci-fi sub-genres and these are sometimes, but not always satirical in nature. Science Fiction has been the subject of satire for years now. Some of my favorites include: Dark Star (1974), Galaxina (1980), Night of the Comet (1984), Galaxy Quest (1999) and The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra (2004).Of all of these, Dark Star is the darkest in tone and I think Iron Sky falls nearly into this level of dark comedy as well.

 

Iron Sky starts out in the year 2018, with America’s return to a manned mission to the Moon. We find out that the mission is done only as a publicity stunt for the President of the United States' re-election campaign. The astronauts discover a hidden Moon base, but before they can radio back to Earth, they are shot down by Nazi soldiers. Only James Washington escapes into the hidden base, but eventually he is captured and taken to a scientist for interrogation. Doctor Richter finds Washington’s smart phone and he recognizes that it is a computer that can be used as a control unit for their Nazi space battleship Götterdämmerung. When Richter tries to demonstrate the cell phone’s power to the new Führer, Wolfgang Kortzfleisch, the battery runs dry. Nazi commander Klaus Adler, offers to go to Earth on a secret mission to collect more phones for the future invasion. Earth specialist Renate Richter, Doctor Richter's daughter, volunteers to go as well, but when she is not allowed to go, she sneaks on board anyway. Washington is experimented on by Richter and turned into the perfect Nazi, so that he will assist them on their mission to Earth.

 

Landing on Earth, Adler finds the president’s aid, Vivian Wagner, and forces her to take he and Richter to meet the President. Meanwhile, Washington escapes and attempts to warn NASA of the impending invasion of Nazi’s from the Moon, but they don't recognise him and thinks that he's crazy, so he ends up becoming homeless instead. Wagner uses Adler and Richter as faces for a revamp of the President's re-election campaign, which looks a lot like Nazism, but is disguised as benevolent socialism. Growing impatient after months of waiting, Kortzfleisch sends his armada to Earth orbit and begins the invasion without the Götterdämmerung.

Like much satire, Iron Sky isn’t a film that inspires large laugh-out-loud moments, but it more than makes up for it with clever satirical messages. While some of the satire is obvious, such as the Sarah Palin look-alike U.S. President, much of it breezes by so fast that even the jokes that don’t work are more than balanced by the ones that do. Some of my favorite moments are between Washington and Richter; especially after the African American Washington is transformed into a blond white Aryan, minus the Nazi idealism.

 

Where Iron Sky really excels is the amazing special effects and visualization of the retro Nazi technology. The Moon base, the space ships and even the costumes are all slightly modernized versions WWII era designs. The amount of detail that went into the look of Iron Sky is amazing and worth watching the film for this reason alone! Still, there is a fairly complex and compelling story here, so it’s not just ninety minutes of flashy CGI.

The acting for the film is also quite good. Julia Dietze as Renate Richter is both lovely and brilliant as the Nazi “Earth expert”, conveying a certain naiveté and courageous individualism both. Christopher Kirby as James Washington manages to pull off a black man as a white man, without insulting either race, but delicately satirizing the flaws of both. Udo Kier as Wolfgang Kortzfleisch is the most well-known actor of the cast and he grounds his character in a weird reality that manages to make the rest of cast seem even more outrageous by comparison. Stephanie Paul as the President of the United States is the weakest of the cast, as she plays her character too big to be either funny or satirical.

 

Iron Sky is produced by the makers of Star Wreck: In the Pirkinning. It was produced by Tero Kaukomaa of Blind Spot Pictures and Energia Productions, co-produced by New Holland Pictures and 27 Films, and co-financed by numerous individual supporters through their web site. Director Timo Vuorensola, who also directed Star Wreck: In the Pirkinning (2005), does an admiral job of keeping everything from getting too silly and causing Iron Sky to go from satire into over-the-top parody. Samuli Torssonen, who was responsible for the computer generated effects in Star Wreck: In the Pirkinning, gathered a young team of European CGI effects people, who stepped up the quality to the level of much more expensive Hollywood productions. The fantastic orchestral score of Iron Sky incorporates elements from the operatic cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen, music which was favored by the Nazi leaders and the Slovenian industrial music group Laibach also adds some cool futuristic music to the film.

 

Iron Sky is not a film for everyone, but if you are able to appreciate a science fiction satire that delves into politics, Nazism and some other uncomfortable areas, than I recommend giving it a try.

 

TECHNICAL: Acting – 8 Directing – 9 Cinematography – 8 Script – 9 Special Effects – 10

VISCERAL: Visual – 10 Auditory – 9 Intellectual – 8 Emotional – 9 Involvement – 10

TOTAL - 90

 

 

THE DEAD – 2010 – A DEAD END

“I honestly can’t recommend The Dead as either an exciting zombie-horror film or as a compelling character-driven drama, so I reluctantly have to advise you to avoid The Dead because it is a dead end.”

Horror and Drama

Starring - Rob Freeman as Lt. Brian Murphy, Prince David Oseia as Sgt. Daniel Dembele, David Dontoh as The Chief, Ben Crowe as the mercenary leader, Glenn Salvage as a mercenary and Dan Morgan as James

Directors - Howard J. Ford and Jonathan Ford

Writers - Howard J. Ford and Jonathan Ford

Rated R for bloody zombie violence and gore

Runtime - 105 minutes

There have been so many zombie films made in past decade that it is more difficult than ever to do something different with the genre. I was interested in The Dead because it was billed as “the first Zombie Road-Movie set against the stunning backdrop of Africa, shot on locations in Burkina Faso and Ghana, West Africa.” That alone should have made it visually unique enough to make The Dead worth watching. Unfortunately, its unique setting is all that is remarkable about The Dead.

A U. S. Army engineer, Brian Murphy, is the only survivor of a plane crash off the coast of Africa. Murphy makes his way on foot to a seemingly deserted village and finds and fixes a truck. Getting the truck stuck in the mud, he is suddenly attacked by zombies, but is saved by an African soldier named Daniel. Daniel explains that his wife was killed by the zombies, but is looking for his son, who he told to leave the village during the zombie outbreak. Murphy and Daniel drive off together in the truck. Daniel agrees to drive Murphy to the nearest airport in exchange for helping him look for his son.

A film like The Dead, whose story depends so much on developing its two lead character's personalities and background, is also dependent on the strength of the two actors portraying those characters. Rob Freeman is a versatile character actor who has been featured in over a dozen genre TV programs in the past decade; most recently playing Coach Quigley in Smallville. He has also played supporting roles in Dark Angel, The Lone Gunmen, The Outer Limits, Strange World, Millennium, First Wave, Viper and The X-Files. Rob Freeman has appeared in feature films as diverse as Ten Dead Men, Shanghai Knights, Prozac Nation, New Blood and Saving Private Ryan. I have seen many of these TV series and films, yet I have no recollection of his characters from these roles. It might be a credit to his ability as an actor to disappear into his characters, but I unfortunately think it is more likely that Freeman is just not a very memorable actor. This could explain why The Dead is his first starring role in a feature film. Rob Freeman is perfectly serviceable in his role as a U. S. Army engineer, but he isn’t able to add any gravitas to his character and the entire film suffers because of it. So much of the film is spent with Murphy and Daniel wandering in the deserted landscape and discussing what might be happening in the rest of the world, that without crafting truly three-dimensional characters, the film just drags along.

A zombie film that features the slow-Romero zombies has to rely on character and dramatic tension to create suspense and horror. While the several zombie attacks that appear in The Dead are handled with great technical skill, they still lack any real emotional weight. Blame for this should go to director and writers Howard J. Ford and Jonathan Ford. Their directorial resumes are pretty slim: They consist of the low-budget thriller Distant Shadow (2000) and the even lower-budgeted crime-drama Mainline Run (1994). I don’t blame the lack of budget on The Dead being less exciting than bigger budgeted zombie films, because the master George Romero has proven that with a powerful script, a low budget can be overcome. The Dead may have been better if the script had explored more of the zombie-infested African setting - and to be fair, it does touch on this in small part. However, too much of The Dead is just our two protagonists wandering the landscape, looking for transportation and moping about missing their respective loved ones.

I honestly can’t recommend The Dead as either an exciting zombie-horror film or as a compelling character-driven drama, so I reluctantly have to advise you to avoid The Dead because it is a dead end.

TECHNICAL: Acting – 6 Directing – 7 Cinematography – 8 Script – 6 Special Effects – 8

VISCERAL: Visual – 8 Auditory – 7 Intellectual – 6 Emotional – 6 Involvement – 7

TOTAL - 69

RED LIGHTS – 2012 – PULLS OUT ALL THE STOPS

“If you are interested in a film that plays with the ideas of the paranormal and how it affects the lives of some remarkable characters, give Red Lights a try.”

Horror, Thriller, Mystery and Drama

Staring - Cillian Murphy as Tom Buckley, Robert De Niro as Simon Silver, Sigourney Weaver as Margaret Matheson, Joely Richardson as Monica Handsen, Elizabeth Olsen as Sally Owen, Craig Roberts as Ben. Toby Jones as Dr. Paul Shackleton, Burn Gorman as Benedict Cosell and Leonardo Sbaraglia as Leonardo "Leo" Palladino

Director - Rodrigo Cortés

Writer - Rodrigo Cortés

Rated R for language and some violence

Runtime - 113 min.

Red Lights is a psychological thriller in the tradition of films by Hitchcock and De Palma. While those directors dealt strictly with perceptual reality, Red Lights director and writer, Rodrigo Cortés, adds a paranormal element to his film. Rather than detract from the dramatic impact of the film, I felt it contributed greatly to it.

Red Lights plot focuses on Margaret Matheson and her assistant, Tom Buckley. Matheson has spent thirty years investigating and disproving the existence of the paranormal. Working for an underfunded University department, Matheson and Buckley continue to investigate false psychics, while teaching at the university. Simon Silver, one of the world’s most renowned psychics has come out of retirement and Buckley wants to investigate him. Matheson refuses and Buckley finds out that early in her career, Matheson had an encounter with him which shook her firm disbelief in the paranormal. Buckley decides to pursue Silver himself and tragedy befalls not only his investigation, but Matheson herself.

Red Lights is a film that hinges so firmly on the events of the character’s past and how they relate to their actions in the present, that I would be doing you a disservice if I went into any further detail of the story. I will say that it is the type of film that builds very slowly, as much of the film is spent detailing the history of the main characters and how it affects their current lives. Fortunately, these characters are interesting and sympathetic enough that you are captivated by their seemingly routine and yet, peculiar lives.

Sigourney Weaver is remarkable as the paranormal investigator Margaret Matheson. She brings real conviction and gravitas to a role that could have been played more overtly melodramatic by a lesser actress. Cillian Murphy, who plays Matheson’s assistant, is an actor whose wide-eyed looks have always vaguely disturbed me. However, he is perfectly cast in this role, but for reasons I can’t say here without giving away one of the film’s truly remarkable revelations. My initial interest in Red Lights was in Robert De Niro playing the role of psychic Simon Silver. De Niro has been in many roles lately that have not required him to do more than reiterate tropes from previous performances. Here De Niro plays a blind psychic, whose controversial past has caused him to go into hiding, but suddenly puts himself back into the limelight for unknown reasons. De Niro perfectly captures a man who on the exterior exudes calm confidence, yet seems to be quietly hiding darker and more complex motives. All these three actors make Red Lights worth watching, even in the longer stretches where nothing important appears to be occurring.

While Red Lights does occasionally get bogged down with somewhat simplistic melodramatic character motivations, particularly the revelation of Matheson’s son being in a coma for decades, for the most part the complex character interrelationships ring true. I found Red Lights to be both captivating as a character drama and as a moral examination in regards to the paranormal.

It is a shame that Red Lights did not get a wider release in this country. It was only released in eighteen theaters for one week in this country and as a result made very little money. It has been unfairly compared by some critics to some of M. Night Shyamalan’s lesser efforts, but unlike his films, I felt Red Lights plays fairly with the audience and doesn’t completely live or die on the film’s final revelations. If you are interested in a film that plays with the ideas of the paranormal and how it affects the lives of some remarkable characters, give Red Lights a try.

TECHNICAL: Acting – 10 Directing – 9 Cinematography – 9 Script – 9 Special Effects – 8

VISCERAL: Visual – 9 Auditory – 9 Intellectual – 8 Emotional – 9 Involvement – 9

TOTAL - 89

Without sounding too self-congratulatory, (I hope) this is my 200^th post on Guardians of the Genre and my 58^th movie review. I didn't set out with any set goal of a number of posts or reviews when I started this blog with my (mostly) silent guardian members, but I do feel a certain degree of satisfaction with these two accomplishments. Thank you for reading and commenting on my posts.

LOOPER – 2012 – THROWS YOU FOR A LOOP!

“I think Looper works best as a character piece, but the time travel aspects of this futuristic crime drama are also well utilized and satisfy this science fiction fan’s love of the genre.”

Science-fiction, Crime-drama and Action

Starring - Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Joe, Bruce Willis as Old Joe, Emily Blunt as Sara, Paul Dano as Seth, Noah Segan as Kid Blue, Piper Perabo as Suzie, Jeff Daniels as Abe, Pierce Gagnon as Cid, Qing Xu as Old Joe's Wife, Tracie Thoms as Beatrix, Frank Brennan as Old Seth, Garret Dillahunt as Jesse, Nick Gomez as Dale and Marcus Hester as Zach

Director - Rian Johnson

Writer - Rian Johnson

Rated R for strong violence, language, some sexuality/nudity and drug content.

Runtime - 118 min.

There are three different reasons that I will go to the time and expense of seeing a movie at the theater. The first reason is that it is a film in one of my three favorite genres: science fiction, fantasy and horror. The second reason is that it is directed by someone whose films I have enjoyed in the past. The third reason is that it features one or more actors whose work I have admired in the past. It is rare when all these reasons for wanting to watch a film as soon as it is released to theaters occurs, but that is just what happened with Looper, the new science-fiction thriller released to nearly 3000 theaters this weekend.

I have always been intrigued by science fiction films that deal with time-travel and Looper uses it to tell a fascinating story about a man whose job is to kill people that a crime syndicate thirty years in the future wants to disappear. Time travel was invented in this future, but was quickly illegalize, so of course the only ones to possess it are the mob bosses. In the year 2044, Joe is a looper who works for a mafia company in Kansas City. Joe's boss, Abe was sent back in time to manage the loopers and also owns a club where Joe spends his down time taking drugs and having sex with a club dancer, Suzie. Loopers are so named because at some point the crime bosses will end a looper's contract by sending his older version back to be killed by his younger self; referred to as "closing the loop.” One night, Joe's friend and fellow looper Seth, visits him and begs for help, telling Joe that he was supposed to close his own loop but couldn’t. Eventually Joe gives his friend up, but soon thereafter is assigned to close his own loop. Joe’s older self keeps from being shot by young Joe and escapes. Young Joe goes on the run, hoping to kill his older self and get back into the good graces of Abe.

Director of Looper, Rian Johnson, has directed and also written only two other feature films: The darkly-comic romance and heist drama The Brothers Bloom (2008) and the teen crime-noir drama Brick (2005). I have seen both of these films prior to watching Looper and knew that Johnson was capable of crafting a complex story featuring characters that develop and change with the circumstances that they find themselves in. Looper takes its basic premise of a man who has made the difficult decision to work as a looper and be an assassin instead of a victim. Johnson is not content to tell the more-or less simple story of a man faced with the prospect of killing his future self, because more than half-way into the film, he adds a twist to the plot that makes Looper much more than a futurist time-travelling crime-drama. In this version of the future that Johnson has created, 10% of the population has become genetically altered and have telekinetic powers. Most of these powers are inconsequential, but there are rumors of someone called the Rainmaker, who is taking over organized crime and for unknown reasons is closing all the loops. In a way that is both natural and complicated, Johnson ties the story of the two Joes and the Rainmaker together, ending the film by tying up all the many plotlines and character stories together satisfactorily. With Looper, Rian Johnson proves that he is a director to watch out for and I will be very interested in future film projects.

Two-thousand twelve has been a very good year for Joseph Gordon-Levitt. He first appeared this past July as Blake in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises. He then starred this August in the action-thriller Premium Rush.        I first noticed Joseph Gordon-Levitt playing Arthur in Christopher Nolan’s brilliant film Inception (2010). In Looper, Joseph Gordon-Levitt not only plays a morally complex assassin, but does a skillful impression of Bruce Willis, who plays his character thirty years in the future. Gordon-Levitt also wore prosthetics throughout Looper, to make him look more like a younger Bruce Willis. Gordon-Levitt has so much screen time that if he didn’t pull this off, the film would have been a failure. Fortunately, he was more than up to the task. Bruce Willis who plays the older Joe from the future has always been a favorite actor of mine. Willis often plays variations of his John McClane character from the Die Hard films, but every once in a while he gets to play a character with more depth of emotion. Willis not only conveys the loss of his life in the future, but ably conveys the physical difficulties of a man forced into violent action at an advanced age. Two other favorites of mine, Emily Blunt as Sara and Jeff Daniels as Abe add depth to their characters, despite their somewhat small amount of screen time.

I think Looper works best as a character piece, but the time travel aspects of this futuristic crime drama are also well utilized and satisfy this science fiction fan’s love of the genre. My only grip with the futuristic aspects of the film are budgetary ones, I’m sure. Like many lower-budgeted science fiction films, most of the fundamental tech of the future looks very contemporary. Some of this is explained away with the poorer population forced to make do with less advanced technology, but it still seemed like the film could have worked at creating a more three-dimensional futuristic look. Like Rian Johnson’s other two films, Looper does not offer a neat and pat conclusion to his film. It does end satisfactorily from a plot point, tying up all the loose story threads, but for those inclined toward films that evict a certain moral and emotional certainty, Looper’s climax may feel you leaving ambivalent and unfulfilled. It will however leave you thinking about it well after having watched it and that is something most films do not do.

TECHNICAL: Acting – 10 Directing – 10 Cinematography – 9 Script – 9 Special Effects – 8

VISCERAL: Visual – 8 Auditory – 9 Intellectual – 9 Emotional – 9 Involvement – 10

TOTAL - 91

THE CABIN IN THE WOODS – 2012 – THIS IS ONE CABIN WORTH FINDING!

“You may love The Cabin in the Woods as I did; or you may hate it, but any fan of the horror genre should watch Cabin in the Woods and decide for him or herself.”

Horror, Dark Fantasy and Satire

Starring - Kristen Connolly as Dana Polk, Chris Hemsworth as Curt Vaughan, Anna Hutchison as Jules Louden, Fran Kranz as Marty Mikalski, Jesse Williams as Holden McCrea, Richard Jenkins as Gary Sitterson, Bradley Whitford as Steve Hadley, Brian White as Daniel Truman and Amy Acker as Wendy Lin

Director - Drew Goddard

Writers - Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard

Rated R for strong bloody horror violence and gore, language, drug use and some sexuality/nudity

Runtime - 95 min.

I am a horror film fan. I have been a horror film fan for over fifty years. Some of my earliest movie watching memories are of watching the Universal monster movies. I was particularly enamored of Frankenstein’s monster and even though he gave me nightmares, I insisted on watching Frankenstein, Bride of Frankenstein and Son of Frankenstein whenever they aired on TV. I have followed all the trends of horror films, watching and enjoying the best of them. Despite my dislike of most of the slasher films of the 1980’s/1990’s, the torture-porn of the 2000’s and the recent found footage fad, I have watched all of the best of them and even many of the worst of them. I say all this to give background to my reason for why I think The Cabin in the Woods is the most entertaining horror film I have seen in over a decade!

The Cabin in the Woods is difficult to describe without ruining the basic premise on which the plot of the film hangs, so I won’t even try. If you watch the trailer for the film, you can tell that this film is not your typical teenagers killed in the woods movie. While the film starts out like every other film of this ilk, it quickly turns into something much deeper, much more disturbing and most unexpectedly of all… one of the funniest dark satires of the horror genre ever made.

The Cabin in the Woods is a dark satire of the horror film genre, but is also perhaps an allegorical parody of our current society as a whole. Dark humor often plays well to some and not to others, so if you don’t like the conventions of all the horror films made in the last thirty years satirized, Cabin in the Woods is not the film for you. However, I personally took Cabin in the Woods to be so darkly humorous as to be almost farcical. The basic premise of The Cabin in the Woods – which I won’t spoil here, because I am trying to convince the few horror film fans that have yet to see it – is the most original, absurd and humorous that I have seen. If you are a knowledgeable and experienced horror film fan, I think you’ll notice and appreciate all the horror film tropes that the film plays with. The Cabin in the Woods is an amazing metaphorical pratfall and a darkly sinister lark, which plays with the common fears of all modern horror films by flipping them upside down and inside out. You may love The Cabin in the Woods as I did; or you may hate it, but any fan of the horror genre should watch The Cabin in the Woods and decide for him or herself.

TECHNICAL: Acting – 9 Directing – 10 Cinematography – 9 Script – 10 Special Effects – 10

VISCERAL: Visual – 10 Auditory – 9 Intellectual – 9 Emotional – 10 Involvement – 10

TOTAL – 96