★★★★★ YES! ★★★★ Very Nice. ★★★ T'was good.
★★ Meh. ★ Oh. dear. (eg. Battle Los Angeles)
"Django Unchained" ★★★★★
"The Great Gatsby"" ★★★★1/2
"Star Trek Into Darkness" ★★★★
Directed by Baz Luhrmann
Directed by J.J. Abrams
"Iron Man 3"" ★★★★1/2
Directed by Shane Black
"Oblivion" ★★★★
Directed by Joseph Kosinski
"Evil Dead" ★★★1/2
Directed by Fede Alvarez
"Trance" ★★★
Directed by Danny Boyle
"Oz: The Great & Powerful" ★★★★
Directed by Sam Raimi
"Cloud Atlas" ★★★★★
Directed by Lana & Andy Wachowski and Tom Tykwer
"Django Unchained" ★★★★★
Directed by Quentin Tarantino
"Wreck-It Ralph" ★★★★
Directed by Rich Moore
"Les Misérables" ★★★1/2
Directed by Tom Hooper
"Jack Reacher" ★★★★
Directed by Christopher McQuarrie
"The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" ★★★★1/2
Directed by Peter Jackson
"Seven Psychopaths" ★★★★
Directed by Martin McDonagh
"Life Of Pi" ★★★★
Directed by Ang Lee
"Great Expectations" ★★★
Directed by Mike Newell
"The Master" ★★★★1/2
Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson
"Skyfall" ★★★★★
Directed by Sam Mendes
"Argo" ★★★★
Directed by Ben Affleck
"Frankenweenie" ★★★
Directed by Tim Burton
"Sinister" ★★1/2
Directed by Scott Derrickson
"Looper" ★★★★
Looper pits Levitt, as Joe, an assassin known as a 'Looper', against Bruce Willis, his future self. In 2074, time travel has been invented, and due to 'advanced tagging techniques', assassination is impossible without sending back the target thirty years to be killed and disposed of by professional Loopers. However when the future mob wants to terminate a Looper's contract, they send back the future version of them for their final kill. This is known as 'closing the loop'. Their contract is ended and they have the next thirty years to spend their immense fortune before their inevitable fate. However it's not always easy to 'kill yourself', and sometimes the target can get away. It is Joe that finds himself in this exact predicament. This is what kicks off the main story line of the film, and where the film descends from greatness and begins to fall flat.
The first act or so, when we are introduced to young Joe and the world he inhabits, as well as the fierce brutality of the people he works for, is handled extremely well. A spectacular montage which depicts the transition of Levitt's Joe into Willis' older Joe is a highlight, as well as graphic demise of a minor character. However during the second act, when a number of new characters are introduced, and fundamentally a new plot line, the film starts to drag, as Bruce Willis dissapears from the film for great chunks and you lose the threat and tension that had been so prevalent before.
Overall, though, Johnson is an accomplished director and his latest offering is his best work. Looper is a fine sci-fi movie, but not a particularly great one. My main problem is the lack of scenes featuring Levitt and Willis on screen together as their chemistry was great, and I found the general lack of action in the second half, with the exception of a particularly gratifying shootout, to be disappointing. Time travel can be very hard to do right, however, and Looper provides a satisfying sci-fi thriller, that will inevitably be placed alongside films such as 12 Monkeys, and more accessible fare like The Matrix and Inception, in years to come.
"Liberal Arts" ★★★
Directed by Josh Radnor
The second directorial effort from Josh Radnor, of How I Met Your Mother fame, is an overall stronger film than happythankyoumoreplease, his debut film. Liberal Arts tells the tale of Jesse (Radnor), a thirty something who is invited to a party for his old college professor. At his old campus, he meets nineteen year old Zibby (Elizabeth Olsen) who he promptly falls in love with, causing him to question whether or not he is too old for her.
Liberal Arts is an original and satisfying movie, that creates a cast of characters who each have their faults, but who the audience can relate and follow. Throughout its ninety minutes, Radnor has given us an enjoyable romantic comedy that explores the themes of mid-life crisis and regret.
Liberal Arts is an original and satisfying movie, that creates a cast of characters who each have their faults, but who the audience can relate and follow. Throughout its ninety minutes, Radnor has given us an enjoyable romantic comedy that explores the themes of mid-life crisis and regret.
"Dredd 3D" ★★★★
Directed by Pete Travis
Dredd takes place predominately in a 'mega-block', a huge 200 hundred story slum, run by the drug lord Ma-Ma, whose drug, 'Slo-Mo', creates a clever way in which the filmamkers can employ slow-motion sequences, which look stunningly bloody in 3D. Dredd (Karl Urban), a 'judge' for the Hall of Justice, and his rookie Anderson (Olivia Thirlby) are trapped in the building and must make their way up, floor by floor, dispatching villians in increasingly inventive and violent ways.
This is a suprisingly impressive movie and a hell of a ride, completely deserving of its almost universal praise. Its excellent execution of a simple premise, and fares well compared to many of the popular comic book movies of recent years.
"Killing Them Softly" ★★★
Directed by Andrew Dominick
Set against the backdrop of the 2008 Presidential Election, Killing Them Softly, tells the story of two petty felons who foolishly rob a card game run by gangsters, and the hit man (Pitt) hired to hunt them down. However the film is not just a chase thriller, as it attempts a social commentary on the financial crisis of the late noughties and the state of American politics, but as I am not entirely knowledgeable with these ideas, they went mostly over my head. The real meat of the film, though, are the conversational scenes that make up a great deal of the picture, especially exchanges between Pitt and both James Gandolfini and Richard Jenkin's characters.
Overall, what we are left with is a solid gangster film, but one that could've have been so much more, Dominick's latest film paling in comparison to its predecessor.