64 Films

2. Looper

A plastically enhanced Joseph Gordon-Levitt goes back in time to assasinate fellas the future bosses want disappeared. It's well paid, but the quid pro quo is that eventually the bosses want the assassins assassinated too, and by themselves. His future self, Bruce Willis, reneges on the understanding and "all fuc*ing hell is gonna break loose". Confused? I was, too.

Throw in a telekinetic kid with the power to make people explode (think X-men or the shlocky 70s Medusa Touch with Richard Burton) and an electric Emily Blunt (as in smokin') and you have Back to the Future meets Inception.

It's pretty hard to follow but not unlikeable. Bruce willis manages not to overact too much and avoids yippee kiyaying his way through the movie. Jeff Daniels completes the mêlée with a icy calm mobster who breaks fingers. Shave 30 minutes off and I would really have loved it.

*** (3 stars)

IMO it will be relocated to different forum, but I like this, so no DELETING

Looper - I liked it, unfofrtunately it suffers a lot with logic of time travel = doesnt make sense, but OK, am use to it when it comes to time travelling...on the other hand, why the f* they make movie all about time travel when it makes no sense later on...
I think I did write few words about it in my blog, u know I have "movie window" there

Keep it up

[Edit]: This post was edited before it was written.

Watch a film called The Watch and review that

3. Night of the Sunflowers 2006

Powerful spanish noir thriller. This is Strangers on a Train meets Jean de Florette meets The Descent meets Fargo. Cavers visiting in a small town in rural Spain accidentally dispatch the wrong man as they seek vengeance for the attempted rape of one of their girlfriends. A corrupt cop needing an escape from his small town existence colludes to cover up the accident but is found out by the dogged yet wearied Commantante de Policia. And no one believes the mad old neighbour who saw the corpse before it was hidden down the cave, of course. This film is all about the law of unintended consequences, as more and more people are caught up in the fallout from the initial depraved assualt by the dull travelling salesman who returns to his dull and evil existence none the wiser. Beautifully shot, with largely convincing dialogue and a persisting sense of menace despite the small town feel.

***/* (3.5 Stars)

4. End of Watch 2012

Jake Gyllenhaal shaves his head and goes all gritty LA cop on us in this impressive docu-flick. Despite the silly conceit that everyone (cops n robbers included) would go around filming themselves while robbing and copping (as if trying to reenact a kind of South Central gangsta version of Blair Witch) it's engaging stuff. We can almost believe your average jobbing leuitenants would manage to snag models for wives and we feel genuinely bereft when our heros get surrounded by the gangstas. In a Butch n Sundance style finale our intrepid duo almost make it but LA is not a place for sentiment, it seems. With Michael Peña. Dir. David Ayer

*** (3 Stars)

5. Side Effects

**1/2

Derivative "double-jeopardy" thriller using so many old, tired thriller memes that it's impossible to enjoy properly the stylish sideways glance it gives to the modern US drug industry. All that is good here gets chemically supressed by all that is bad.

In double jeopardy thrillers (Jagged Edge, Basic Instinct, Double Jeopardy, Primal Fear etc. etc.) the audience and hero are jointly convinced to believe that the murderer in question is not guilty, often by reason of insanity or mistaken identity or whatever. There's usually a court scene. The murderer is aquitted - phew!

But then the hero starts to discover things that make him/her/us nervous. Things that lead us to doubt the aquittal. And eventually it becomes clear that the "innocent" murderer was guilty all along. What fiendish calumny!!! But, since villain has already been aquitted, what to do? (You can't try them twice for the same crime). Enter elaborate amateur investigation/revenge section of movie, where duped hero gets the better of mastermind criminal.

Common modern DJ memes: the lesbian criminal; the faked lie-detector test; the slip-up by villain that hero notices; the clever stock market manipulation.... etc.

This film has some interesting things to say about Americans' reliance on pharmaceuticals and the grey moral area that doctors may find themselves in when sponsored by pharma companies, but its mostly lost in a grey fog of film staples. And we've built up too much resistance to them through overdose to be cured, now.

Can we request your reviews? If so Dead girl (2008) and Fear and loathing in Las Vegas. Where will you find the time inbetween childminding/coaching etc etc

Originally posted by ipeaceonu
Can we request your reviews? If so Dead girl (2008) and Fear and loathing in Las Vegas. Where will you find the time inbetween childminding/coaching etc etc

You can request, but as you say, time is short Not much time for films these days, but I try to keep my toes wet

6. Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol

*1/2 (1.5 Stars)

The fourth installment of the Mission: Impossible saga sets itself an almost impossible task: be more appallingly acted, ridiculous and disappointing than its predecessors.

Unsurprisingly, it succeeds.

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to sit through this drivel without using a corkscrew to remove your own eyeballs from their sockets just so as to end the agony. Old Hollywood heartthrob Cruise may be. Producer of entertaining action thrillers he is decidedly not. This really is... um... how can I put this delicately?

Yes, that's it: "Shit".