LOOPER

Would you sacrifice the future to enjoy the present?  Conversely, how far would you go to protect the future?  These are some of the questions raised in Looper, a very original science fiction thriller that delves deeply into time travel -- and personal choices.

"Time travel has not yet been invented. But thirty years from now, it will have been."  So says Joe (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), an assassin known as a Looper in the year 2042.  We're told that in 2072 time travel was invented and almost immediately outlawed, so it's only used by organized crime.  Since people are almost impossible to make vanish in the future, the mob sends its victims back to 2042 (hands bound, with a hood over their face), where a waiting Looper blasts them with a blunderbuss and collects a reward of silver bars tied to the victim's back.  However, there's a price: Since the mob wants to sever all ties with time travel, if a Looper lives to 2072 their 2042 version will kill their future self ("closing the loop"), enjoying a reward of gold and living it up until their inevitable self-termination.  Future versions don't get far (as injuries to the present version carry through to the future self), and Abe (Jeff Daniels) is a mob rep from the future who runs the 2042 Loopers to make sure nothing goes wrong.

Of course, something goes very wrong: The future version of Joe (Bruce Willis) is sent back, but he escapes and is determined to change the future.  "Old Joe" wants to restore the life he had and then lost, while "Young Joe" is determined to kill his future self to get back in Abe's good graces and return to a life of hedonism and self-destruction.  There are also flying vehicles, low-level telekinetics, farmer Sara (Emily Blunt) and her creepy kid Cid (Pierce Gagnon), and a mysterious future mob boss called the Rainmaker who single-handedly took over five cities.

Looper is an intriguing look at the potential of time travel -- and its potential abuses.  While I don't know why the mob wouldn't use time travel to make a fortune (from the stock market, betting on sports, etc.), the setup allows for a class of people who sell out their futures to party in the present.  Gordon-Levitt and Willis are great as two sides of the same coin: the young kid who wants to enjoy himself no matter what, and the older one willing to commit a horrible plan to fix the future.  There are times Looper falls into action movie cliches (like people dodging bullets), but this movie is exciting, thoughtful, and entertaining.

Overall grade: A-
Reviewed by James Lynch

RED

While some movies promote ageism in a world of hot, athletic stars in their 20s and 30s, Red goes the opposite way: an action flick where the people who are old enough to retire (and have done so) consistently shoot, blow up, or beat up the folks in their 20s and 30s. Otherwise, it's more or less the same old.

In the very quick opening, we see Frank Moses (Bruce Willis) living alone in his home. His life seems quiet, and his main occupation seems to be ripping up his social security check so he can talk about it with Sarah Ross (Mary Louise-Parker), a government underling who likes trashy romance novels and chatting with Frank. When a covert assassination squad shows up at Frank's home with machine guns, it's no contest: Frank kills them with ease! It turns out that Frank was one of the best secret agents ever. He realizes he's been under surveillance, so he visits and kidnaps Sarah to keep her safe.

The rest of Red has Frank trying to figure out why someone is out to kill him now. This involves his linking up with old (figuratively and literally) allies: steadfast friend Joe Matheson (Morgan Freeman), crazed conspiracy theorist Marvin Boggs (Jon Malkovich), and elegant killer Victoria (Helen Mirren). Chasing these retired agents are government hotshot William Cooper (Karl Urban) and his boss Cunthia Wilkes (Rebecca Pidgeon). There are also cameos by Brian Cox (as a Russian agent), Ernest Borgnine (as a keeper of secret records), and William Dreyfuss (as a corrupt businessman).

Red is based on a comic book (which I haven't read), and while the movie has no superpowers, it might as well: The stars can shoot missiles out of the air, beat up numerous people with ease, and apparently walk away from any area no matter how many opponents are swarming about. And that's the problem: While both the movie and the stars approach this more as a joke than a serious action movie (the title, for example, is an acronym for "Retired, extremely dangerous"), the over-the-top action and slowly unraveling conspiracy has been done plenty of times before. Red has more chuckles than excitement, and when you get past the fact that it's the older folks kicking ass, what's left is another deliberately ridiculous action movie.

Overall grade: C+
Reviewed by James Lynch

Live Free or Die Hard (2007)

I've never been a big fan of the Die Hard movies, and even less of a fan of Bruce Willis. They keep churning out these 80's flicks reloaded (eg: Terminator, Knight Rider, Rocky, Voltron, Rambo, Transformers, etc) to capitalize on the nostalgia of the Generation Xer's, and I generally see right through it as most have fallen quite short of the originals. However, when I read the back of the DVD, I was intrigued by the plot, and brought Live Free or Die Hard home.

Live Free or Die Hard focuses on an online terrorism scenario where the FBI Cyber Security division gets hacked, as well as multiple vital services that our country depends on: energy, transportation, water, and communication. Think this is a ridiculous plot? Unfortunately, it's not. I'm still bothered by the blackout that affected most of the Northeast US back in 2003 for a few days. What did they tell us at the time? Lightening storm when there weather radar was clear? Who really knows, and according to the conspiracy theorists, it may have been Chinese hackers. Lest we think this is limited to some kooks out there, here's something more authoritative and recent.

At any rate, getting back to the film Live Free or Die Hard, within the borders of the US the hackers have setup to take down and paralyze the US. By getting snippets of code from the best hackers, and promptly blowing up their computers with their unknowing accomplices, they've created a cold trail and isolated themselves pretty well. One of these hackers is Matt Farrell played by Justin Long. At the start of the attack, the FBI asks for some assistance from local law enforcement, and Bruce Willis, I mean John McLane a veteran NYC detective, is to pick up the hacker and deliver him to FBI Headquarters in Washington, DC. It's not exactly a shock when we end up with Long and McLane in the middle of a gun battle against the baddies unloading the clips in his sorrowfully inadequate pistol against an automatic rifle. As the film progresses, we end up with Willis and Long working some serious OT to save the US of A from heading back into some type of Amish chaos where all technology is not working.

Overall, of all the Die Hard films, Live Free or Die Hard is my favorite. Unfortunately, Willis' acting prowess is still limited and hardly of any breadth or width. If you want a decent summer style blockbuster thriller (the scene in the tunnel was quite good) with some exploding special effects, than this film can get the job done.

Overall Grade: B

Reviewed by Jonas

Lucky Number Slevin

A smart movie is a good thing, but a movie that works too hard at being clever can collapse under its own pretension. This is the fate of Lucky Number Slevin, a crime drama that reminds us constantly how witty it is from the title to the ending.

The movie opens with the killer Mr. Goodkat (Bruce Willis) telling someone at an airport a story of a family wiped out by mobsters and the unpredictable "Kansas City shuffle" where the unexpected happens -- then Goodkat kills his listener.

From there we meet Slevin (Josh Hartness), who's having the day from hell. Slevin lost his job and his apartment and found his girlfriend cheating on him in one afternoon. He's invited to stay at the apartment of his friend Nick Fisher (Sam Jaeger), and on the way Slevin is mugged and loses his wallet. Nick's not at home, and things look like they're improving when Slevin has a "meet cute" with neighbor Lindsey (Lucy Liu) stopping by when Slevin's wearing nothing but a towel. Then the other visitors come.

Two mobsters think Slevin is Nick (remember, Slevin's wallet was stolen) and bring him (still in towel) to the Boss (Morgan Freeman), who thinks Slevin is Nick and wants Slevin to repay "his" debt to the Boss by killing the son of a rival mob boss called the Rabbi. After Slevin is brought back to the apartment, he's picked up by two more mobsters, who bring him to the Rabbi (Ben Kingsley). The Rabbi wants the thousands of dollars Nick owes him in two days, or Slevin will be killed.

From there, things get complicated. Lindsey decided to play amateur sleuth and find out where Nick is. Slevin is caught between the two investigators, plus watched by Detective Brikowski (Stanley Tucci) who's invesstigating the Boss and the Rabbi. The Boss and the Rabbi live in massive apartment buildings across the street from each other, and Mr. Goodkat shows up apparently working for both of them. And Slevin has "ataraxia," a condition that leaves him free from anxiety or worry and lets him drift back and forth as everyone seems to be after him.

The complexity of Lucky Number Slevin could have been forgiven with a dash of realism somewhere. Alas, that isn't to be found here. Virtually every bit of dialogue is so clever it's artificial, and the potentially great cast sounds like it's reading an amateur play. None of the characters are particularly interesting, and considering the immense acting talent here it's a crime for it to go to waste. By the time the movie's convolutions are resolved, you won't care one way or another.

I was unlucky enough to see Lucky Number Slevin. Hopefully you won't be.

Overall grade: D

Reviewed by James Lynch

Perfect Stranger (2007)

I'm no fan of either Halle Barry, nor Bruce Willis. Maybe that explains why this disc sat next to the TV set for months, and never seemed to make it into the machine. The other reviews of this film aren't even good. This all makes me wonder why I really liked this film.

Halle Berry plays Rowena Price, an investigative reporter that writes under a pseudonym. When she gets shut out of exposing a Senator as a pedophile, she turns her attention to a childhood friend's murder. The trail leads to Manhattan ad exec Harrison Hill's doorstep, so Rowena infiltrates as a temp. Along the way she gets some help from Miles Haley (Giovanni Ribisi) who is her computer expert from the paper.

A thriller plot lives or dies on two things in my mind: can I figure it out halfway through, and am I on the edge of my seat for the majority of the film. On both counts, Perfect Stranger does succeed. The film did have me wondering till the very end, but in retrospect, there were clues to the final outcome throughout, which makes for a satisfying "aha" moment with only a few minutes till the final credits.

After months of avoiding this film, I'm surprised to say that this is the best film I've seen this week (although there wasn't much competition). Don't be a perfect stranger to Perfect Stranger.

Overall Grade: B+

Reviewed by Jonas