Rian Johnson’s time-travel action thriller ‘Looper’ hit theaters Friday, September 28, 2012 and competed with the family friendly ‘Hotel Transylvania.’ Initial reports show it holding up relatively well with a modest $21 million premiere and the reviews have been relatively positive. ‘Looper’ showcases stellar acting from its main protagonists, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Bruce Willis, but falls short on some of the story elements and character development.

Spoilers ahead!

‘Looper’ takes place in the not-too-distant future where we follow the life of Joseph “Joe” Simmons (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), who is the titular Looper, or someone who is paid by a future mob boss to murder people that the boss sends back in time. The Loopers are paid handsomely for their work until they are no longer of use. When this happens, the Looper’s future self is sent back and he is required to kill him.

Shortly after meeting our protagonist, Joe’s future self, played by Bruce Willis, is sent back, but the encounter does not go as planned. Future Joe is not tied up so he knocks the young Joe out and escapes. He leaves a note telling Young Joe to run, but Young Joe ignores it and returns home only to find his boss’ henchmen looking for him. The two Joes later meet up and discuss what the problem is. Future Joe lived a full life and eventually got married to a lovely woman in Shanghai, but when the Looper henchmen showed up to collect him, they killed his wife.

Future Joe found out who ordered all the loops to be closed and it turned out to be a mysterious man called the Rainmaker. He found out there are three children who potentially grow up to be the Rainmaker so he wants to kill them to prevent the future death of his wife. However, Young Joe doesn’t care about finding the woman who changed Future Joe’s life and pursues him through a cornfield.

Young Joe finds the scrap of paper with coordinates on it that Future Joe had been carrying and finds a farm with a young mother, Sara (Emily Blunt), and her son, Cid (Pierce Gagnon). He tells her he thinks his future self is going to come after them so he will stake out the farm until he shows up. She reluctantly agrees as long as Young Joe stays away from her troubled son. From there, the chaotic events tear the mother and son’s world asunder and force Joe to make harrowing decisions about his future.

‘Looper’ has great cinematography, good dramatic moments, and phenomenal acting by the main leads. Levitt’s body of work is already impressive with films like ‘Inception’ (2010) and ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ (2012), but this movie proves that he can handle the limelight as the main character. He imitates Bruce Willis’ grim smiles and verbal tics magnificently while still providing his own voice as the Young Joe. Willis is an action flick veteran and puts his best foot forward as the psychologically and morally tortured soul known as Future Joe. His pain is palpable and presents a load of questions for the audience to ponder over the course of the film.

However, ‘Looper’ has a few issues. First, the time travel concept always creates confusing continuity questions that are not always addressed. For instance, there is a bit where Young Joe does kill Future Joe right as he appears and then they later show the version where he does not kill Future Joe. Thus, which of these events actually happened? It is by far one of the strangest parts of the film.

Second, the morality theme the movie plays with is long, exhausting, and may be grating to some viewers. Neither version of Joe is a good person. He is violent, he is addicted to drugs, he is unbelievably selfish and shortsighted, and he is generally not a nice man. However, the film seems to imply that Young Joe is the one the audience should be rooting for because he protects Cid and Sara, but at the same time, Future Joe only wants to protect his future wife. Both of them do unspeakably horrible things so it is hard to relate to either one or want them to succeed.

Third, one of the minor characters, Kid Blue (Noah Segan) is a thoroughly useless character who has no arc and serves very little purpose, but he uses up such a large part of the screen time that his ultimate fate is disappointing. It seemed unnecessary to include him when his story does not enhance anything else in the movie.

‘Looper’ takes some risks and loses a few times, but overall, it is worth a watch.

GRADE: 3/5

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‘Premium Rush,’ an action film starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt delivered to theaters Friday, August 24, 2012, had a charm of its own despite not being of traditional action caliber. Although the cast isn’t bursting with well-known actors and actresses, they pack a punch in character and witty jibes.

Written and directed by David Koepp, known for ‘Jurassic Park’, ‘Panic Room’, and ‘Spiderman,’ ‘Premium Rush’ is a $35 million movie that opened at $6 million. Critics were not too impressed with the underrated action film.

Wilee (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is a New York City bicycle messenger whose reckless behavior earns him the reputation as an adrenaline junkie. His bike has no brakes, allowing him to hone his abilities to imagine and execute multiple escape routes, reminiscent of Sherlock Holmes’ (Robert Downey Jr.) ability in the ‘Sherlock Holmes’ movies.

On one of his jobs, he unknowingly picks up a valuable delivery from his ex-girlfriend Vanessa’s (Dania Ramirez) roommate Nima (Jamie Chung), who sports a blatantly fake Chinese accent. This catalyzes the explosion of action as he is chased by not only what seems to be a crazed stranger in a suit demanding he hand over the delivery, but a bicycle cop who witnessed him breaking a few laws. Confused at the danger of the secret package, Wilee heads back to campus to confront Nima about what he’s carrying.

It wasn’t the plot that held intrigue—although the storyline format unfurled similarly to ‘Vantage Point’ peaked curiosity—but the characters and tone of the overall film. The dry and sometimes violent humor of the characters, circumstances, and events added a complexity to the film rare in other action movies.

It is rare when action films have time to flesh out the characters, however ‘Premium Rush’ does that with Wilee’s voice overs and interactions with other characters. Michael Shannon, the actor that plays dirty cop Bobby Monday, was particularly impressive. By including competitive, romantic, and compassionate qualities to the main characters, ‘Premium Rush’ creates a very real society that comes to life on screen.

Had it not been for David Koepp, director and writer, revealing the storyline in a way that piqued curiosity, the plot would have been predictable and redundant. The characters and their respective backgrounds were pieced together like a puzzle sporadically between gripping action scenes that left little time for the audience’s attention to wander. Combined with the dry humor the movie offered, ‘Premium Rush’ delivered high-quality entertainment.

Overall, ‘Premium Rush’ is a delightful surprise that offers much more than action. Though not bound to win awards anytime soon, it is remarkably different than other blockbusters, combining comedic wit and tragic elements that culminate in a satisfied sigh at the film’s end.

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In some respects, ‘Not Suitable for Children’ is too cool for school. The Australian movie is so indie that the Wikipedia article, so far, consists of one not particularly descriptive line. Unsurprisingly, this lack of notoriety has resulted in prospective audiences that are uniformly clad in skinny jeans, flannel shirts, oversized glasses and a mobile fog of “Rockstar” hairspray. In other words, ‘Not Suitable for Children’ could be used as the masthead film of the Hipster Generation.

Indeed, even the basic plot of the movie sounds like a pretentious mishmash of various hyper-realistic pseudocomedies starring Joseph Gordon Levitt, or some other underdeveloped manchild who looks good in a beanie. In this case, the role of intense woolen hat-wearer falls on the lean Ryan Kwanten of “True Blood” fame.

Jonah (no surname) is a single, directionless, twenty-something party animal who lives with his two best friends, Stevie (Sarah Snook) and Gus (Ryan Corr), in the house left to him by his recently deceased mother. Jonah’s primary form of income is derived through hosting massive house-parties fueled by incredible amounts of drugs and alcohol. It is during one of these ragers, that a lump is discovered on Jonah’s testicle. The diagnosis is testicular cancer, and, as an eventual consequence, post-operative sterility.

In view of this prognosis, Jonah sets his mind to conceiving a child before his operation occurs, a few weeks in the future. That’s right, ‘Not Suitable for Children’ is essentially an Australian amalgamation of the American independent comedies, ‘Friends with Kids’ and ’50/50′– favorites amongst the cool kids. And, if the storyline was not enough, the most damning proof of this movie’s Hipsterdom undoubtedly lies in the presence of not one, not two, but three,“The Black Keys” songs featured prominently on the ubertrendy soundtrack.

But regardless of how one might feel about black nail polish and skillfully shaped facial hair, it is impossible not to appreciate how young, fresh, raw, well-made, and yes— cool— ‘Not Suitable for Children’ is. The movie approaches its subject with a wry, fairly unstudied, uniquely Australian wit that’s largely missing from ‘Friends with Kids’ and oozes a charming vivacity that, to a great extent,’50/50′ lacks.

Essentially, ‘Not Suitable for Children’ is stripped of the slick Hollywood self-consciousness that tends to stifle some of the unadulterated honesty that directors of lofi films claim to seek. Comparisons between ‘Not Suitable for Children’ and Diablo Cody’s  2011 ‘Young Adult’ would not go astray.

To be sure, it is amazing that a movie with such a contrived premise— things progress along fairly familiar lines— manages to appear both completely natural and decidedly watchable, despite the odd, unnecessarily abrupt, but nonetheless expected, plot turn. This movie is not trying too hard.

At least part of the credit must go to an incredibly fresh-faced performance by Snook, who is infinitely approachable and breathtakingly vulnerable. Kwanten, too, very capably fulfills his role as the bewildered, blank-faced, Jonah.

Perhaps the most striking thing about the film, is that it is stylistically stunning. Under Peter Templeman’s direction, the streets of Sydney burst with life, and Jonah’s parties are brash and intoxicating. The camera work is frankly beautiful, and manages to provide visual interest without disrupting in the least the narrative flow of the movie itself (the very graphic sex scenes are particularly well-shot. No doubt a labor of love.) A mixture of pushy Winding Refn-like non-diegetic and diegetic music brings everything together. The whole package is neat but powerful.

It’s a bloody cool movie, mate.

Grade: 4/5

Image Courtesy of   Not Suitable For Children

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In Toonari Post’s ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ review, the plot, actors, and their characters were examined. All of these elements were able to come together through careful writing and masterful directing that brings honor to filmmaking as well as storytelling. Another aspect that makes ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ so amazing is how it integrates comic book and graphic novel storylines in a way that pays homage to past writers of Batman and takes its own creative spin on their work.

One of the most excellent things about ‘Rises’ is that it incorporates storylines from the Batman comics. “Knightfall,” a comic series written in 1993, is an intense story in which Bane learns Batman’s identity and breaks his spine, leaving him paralyzed for an extended period of time. ‘Rises’ also includes elements of anarchy from the 1999 comic “No Man’s Land” where an earthquake leaves Gotham cut off from the mainland and the city erupts into chaos.

Another aspect the film adapts is that Bane and Ra’s al Ghul are connected because in the comics “Bane of the Demon,” after Batman refuses to marry Talia, Ra’s daughter, Ra’s seeks out Bane instead to continue his quest to dominate the world in order to save it. Ra’s recognizes the same power and discipline in Bane that he formerly saw in Bruce, but he notices Bane is willing to kill and sacrifice innocent lives in order to achieve the League of Shadows’ ultimate goal of world peace. ‘Rises’ cleverly plays on the dynamic between Ra’s and Bane as well as Ra’s and Bruce to make them foils of each other.

Additionally, Selina Kyle is accompanied by a young woman who may or may not be her best friend from the “Batman: Year One” comics, Holly Robinson. The small references to these comics and characters show that Christopher Nolan understands the mythos that helps make Batman one of the most notable and incredible heroes to date.

‘Rises’ also draws inspiration from Frank Miller’s “The Dark Knight Returns” because of its character arc for Bruce Wayne. In ‘Rises’, Bruce has to overcome the physical limits of his body as well as the psychological problems he has developed after the death of Rachel Dawes and Harvey Dent, both of whom were dear friends.

As Alfred points out, Bruce never returned to being himself after Rachel died because he thought she never got a chance to move on and so he felt that he had no future without her. After Alfred reveals that Rachel had chosen Harvey over him before she died, Bruce is motivated to come out of retirement and pick up the cape and cowl once again, thus forcing him to rise above his own limitations as well as the obstacles presented by Gotham’s criminal underbelly.

In fact, the rise theme is woven into the story with all of the characters as they are forced to become even better than they ever thought they could be in order to save Gotham City. For instance, Detective John Blake (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) becomes an unofficial apprentice to Bruce not long after he returns to being Batman.

As the film progresses, he begins to see that the path of a Gotham City detective may not be right for him because of the limited power they have when it comes to saving the city. The decision to imply that Det. Blake would take his place as Gotham’s new savior is even more surprising as Nolan has stated before that he did not have any interest in including Dick Grayson, aka Robin, in his movies.

He even gives a clever nod to the name while still creating a unique character who has bits and pieces of Dick Grayson, the original Robin, in him. Blake’s involvement in the story has a similar tone to a recent run in the Batman comics where Nightwing takes up the cape and cowl as Bruce Wayne has gone missing.

‘The Dark Knight Rises’ shows that it is possible to create a deeply moving story with respect to the comic books as well as original creative vision. Everyone involved in this film, from start to finish, has outdone themselves. ‘Rises’ is a worthy ending to an incredible trilogy that will never be forgotten.

Image Courtesy of   The Dark Knight Rises

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The epic conclusion to Christopher Nolan’s Batman series, ‘The Dark Knight Rises’, hit theaters midnight of July 20, 2012. Teeming masses of fans stood in line for hours waiting to step into the theater and finish the amazing story that started with ‘Batman Begins’ (2005), continued with ‘The Dark Knight’ (2008), and finished with ‘The Dark Knight Rises.’

Expectations are high and well deserved as the previous films have been hailed as some of the greatest comic book hero movies of all time, to say nothing of two of the greatest films of all time. Fortunately, ‘Rises’ does not disappoint as it is a powerful, moving, bold tale that will resonate with fans and moviegoers for years to come.

Spoilers ahead! Proceed with caution.

‘Rises’ begins with the introduction of the merciless mercenary Bane (Tom Hardy) kidnapping a nuclear physicist from a plane overseas. It then cuts to Gotham City celebrating Harvey Dent Day and reveals that it has been eight years since the death of Dent and the disappearance of Batman, who took the blame in order to place the city on the path to peace. Commissioner James Gordon (Gary Oldman) delivers a speech that reveals he is still wracked with guilt for allowing Batman to take the fall for Dent’s murder but is still hesitant to reveal to the people that Dent was not as perfect as he seemed.

Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) has become a recluse and has a limp due to his inactivity and former injuries from when he was Batman. While taking in his dinner, Bruce bumps into a maid stealing his mother’s pearls as well as a copy of his fingerprints. She escapes and he is intrigued by both her crime and her personality so he starts researching her background. He discovers that she is Selina Kyle (Anne Hathaway), a cat burglar and master thief, and decides to finally leave his mansion in search of why she stole his fingerprints.

Selina had been paid by the owner of another major company to steal the fingerprints as part of a plan to take over Wayne Enterprises. Her client tries to kill her to tie up loose ends, but she lures the police to the location by kidnapping a congressman and escapes custody. Selina had also been searching for a program called Clean Slate, which has the ability to wipe a person’s record clean so that they could start over, but she is told it does not exist. Frustrated, she continues working in Gotham’s criminal underbelly as she has heard of Bane’s reckoning for the city and wants to stay out of his path.

Bruce reconnects with Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman) and newcomer Miranda Tate (Marion Cotillard) to try and rebuild the company, which suffered massive losses due to a failed project years ago. He enlists Tate to help him use an energy source Wayne Tech created and they pitch it to the board, hoping to reinvigorate profits at Wayne Enterprises.

Not long afterwards, Bane arrives in Gotham and Commissioner Gordon attempts to raid his lair in the sewers, but is badly injured and hospital ridden. After visiting Gordon in the hospital, Bruce is further motivated to put the cape and cowl back on to stop Bane. However, his bad knees and worn out body become his undoing and Bane defeats him, snapping one of his vertebrae in a vicious fight. Bane then sends Bruce to a prison deep underground in another country where he claimed to have escaped and tells Bruce that he will destroy Gotham as he is the apprentice of the late Ra’s al Ghul.

Bane returns to Gotham and engineers Wayne Enterprises’ energy source into a nuclear weapon. He and his army trap the city’s policemen underground and enforce martial law on the city. He then releases the inmates at Blackgate prison to “reclaim” the city. The only people left to stop him are a beat cop Gordon recruits to be a detective named John Blake (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), Selina Kyle, and a handful of officers.

Upon seeing the destruction of his city, Bruce tries his best to recover from his back injury but is only successful when he realizes that fear of death is instrumental to overcoming his obstacles. He escapes the prison and returns to Gotham, enlisting Det. Blake and Selina to help him take back the city and stop the bomb from detonating.

As expected of the Nolan Batman films, the acting is superb. Particular mention goes to Anne Hathaway as Selina Kyle, aka Catwoman. Most people had reservations about her casting as she is still a young woman, but she pulls off the sophistication, strength, beauty, and poise that characterize Selina Kyle. Her chemistry with Bruce Wayne is absolutely fantastic as the two do not hesitate to test each other’s wits all while sharing steamy sexual tension.

Christian Bale also brings his A-game as Bruce Wayne, who is completely battered and broken over the course of the film, but eventually finds the strength to carry on for the city he loves. His conviction and pain drive the story and make it truly unforgettable.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Det. Blake is also a welcome addition to the Batman canon because of his quick wits, unflinching loyalty to both Batman and the city, and his dedication to saving lives. His story is by far the most surprising as it was downplayed in the trailers and yet ends up being instrumental to the overall story.

Overall, it is a monumental film that no one should pass up. ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ has effectively woven several amazing stories together with phenomenal actors, a dedicated director, and a fantastic production team to make one of the best superhero films of all time. See it. You won’t regret it.

Grade: 5/5

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There are times when it is difficult to follow the career of an actor: the busier he gets, the more there is to watch. It is becoming increasingly expensive to keep up with Joseph Gordon-Levitt as his CV continues to grow. He has been acting a long time–twenty-five of his thirty years–in which time he has established a history of memorable roles in memorable films and received over a dozen nominations and awards. He is starring in ‘50/50,’ out now, and will appear in at least five releases next year.

Mr. Gordon-Levitt impressed a lot of people, even as a toddler, but real fame knocked with his TV role as Tommy Solomon in ‘3rd Rock from the Sun’ (1996-2001). He held his own with such stars as John Lithgow, even though he was only 15 in the first series. After that, most of his roles were in film, and he has made a surprising number of good decisions in the roles he has chosen.

He became an indie-film prince, exercising his acting muscles in a variety of roles: as a homosexual hustler in ‘Mysterious Skin’ (2004), a leading man in the arguably-romantic comedy ‘(500) Days of Summer’ (2009), a megalomaniacal baddie in ‘G.I. Joe’ (2009), and an action-star in ‘Inception’ (2010). ‘50/50’ sees him as a young man battling his odds with cancer.

What sets Mr. Gordon-Levitt apart is the number of arrows in his quiver. His acting is solid, he nails comedy, the drama is compelling, and he can convey the message in an expression or through his delivery. He can also sing, dance, direct and write. He established a web-site to collaborate on projects with other artists called www.hitRECord.org.

His rendition of ‘Make ‘Em Laugh’ on Saturday Night Live (2009), complete with gymnastics, surpasses most performances by a host in that long series. He did most of his own stunts in ‘Inception’s’ complicated fight-scenes.

There have been comparisons to Heath Ledger; they even starred as brothers in ’10 Things I Hate About You.’ He has the intensity and the range. He will be in the follow-up ‘Batman,’ though not replacing Mr. Ledger. Next year alone, he will be working with Spielberg, Tarantino and Nolan. This is impressive company, certainly.

Mr. Gordon-Levitt is accomplished, adored and amiable. He can be serious and he can laugh. He jokes, takes the lead and defers. He is generous with praise, and modest. He is polite. He could be the “nice young man” of whom parents would approve for their daughters; he has a depth of which the daughters would approve for themselves.

He sparred with Zooey Deschanel in ‘(500) Days of Summer,’ and stole the film from the “it-girl.” His dance routine elevates the film above most romantic fare. One begins to wonder if there is anything Joseph Gordon-Levitt cannot master. It is a relief and a pleasure to learn that there is an actor with real depth for two generations.

He is a ladies’ man and a man’s man, with great range and many facets. There will be many more opportunities to see his work, next year and beyond.

RoidRanger / Shutterstock.com

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