Looper(2012)

 From the outset, this movie seems promising. The starting scene is one of the best I’ve seen for a while, providing enough punch to pull you in the story.

While the overall movie explores the concept of time traveling, it actually focuses more on the relationship between the present Joe (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) and his own future self (Bruce Willis) and it is sufficient to say that there is enough chemistry between both of them, with the future Joe having ‘outgrown’ the present Joe so much that it seems that it reflects the same reality that being a man and being a boy are like complete different existences; thus making the story more relatable to us. However, the concept of time traveling is simplified to such an extent that even The Butterfly Effect explores the concept better.  I’m going to digress a little here, but the tagline of The Butterfly Effect – change one thing, change everything seems to be not applicable in this movie, although it is to this author’s humble opinion that it should.

Nonetheless, the strong performance by the 2 main actors, coupled with the performance of Cid (Pierce Gagnon)  made the movie worthwhile. While the movie starts to explore a theme similar to that of the movie Chronicle (wouldn’t reveal too much here) , I would say the cinematography and even the overall feeling of the scenes is very much on par and resembles Chronicle. So yeap, if you liked Chronicle, I think there is a high probability that you would enjoy the second half of this movie.

Although the plot should be praised for infusing originality (afterall, the theme of time traveling has been used and reused for ages, but couple it with another theme as pointed out above, and you will get something original) , its ending is foreseeable, thus taking off a little taste away from the movie. But, really, that doesn’t mean you should give this movie a pass, for the overall direction of the movie is clear and interesting; and while the ending is predictable, that doesn’t mean you won’t feel the impact of the ending.

My verdict? Go watch it already.

The Butterfly Effect(2004)

Being a psychological thriller, this movie reminds me a lot of Memento, where the main character suffers from temporal memory loss, though the memory loss in this movie seems to  be specifically ‘designed’ to create nasty surprises to the viewers.. a flash and we are seeing something shocking, yet often times we won’t get the whole picture(a break in the causal link). We are brought through the events of the life of Evan (Ashton Kutcher) when he was a kid, adolescent and subsequently a young adult, with his days as being a kid and adolescence haunting in the sense of the nature of the events themselves and also the intention of the production team to create some shock value.

By leaving gaps in some major events in the early half of the movie(as part of Evan’s temporal memory loss), the movie essentially forces you to continue to watch the movie as you would know the gaps would be filled.. just how? And to discover the main character’s ability to travel back to the past to revisit the gaps in his memory and subsequently learning that he could inhibit his past self to change his past to affect his future… was somewhat of a lame discovery (simply because it lacks originality) ,but I digress.

Does the movie lives up to its tagline? I would say yes. We would see the change of fate of the main characters of the movie with just some tweak in Evan’s choice of actions as he inhibits his younger self and changed the way he responded to the events. What’s really fascinating about the movie is that the changes in the main characters at the young adult stage (where Evan would eventually return to after inhibiting his past self) seems believable and logical, and it is disturbing that how significant the changes in the main characters could be after Evan performed his little trick (although some changes were unintended and yet unavoidable simply because our fates were always entwined together). Of escaping death and 180 degree changes in personalities, outlooks and circumstances in life;  change one thing, change everything. 

There are also alternate endings for this movie ( although I’ve only learnt about this after completing the movie). I would urge you to watch the director’s cut of this movie, simply because it really hit a note at the end of the movie .. it would make you think about the timeless question of “what if”..what if you have done or haven’t done something in the past? Will you still be who you are today?.. and begin to realize that we, no matter how insignificant we think we are, have powers over matters we decide, which would subsequently impact our own future and the future of others close to us in unimaginable ways.

And for a movie to make a lazy bum like me to contemplate more about life, I would say, give this movie a go.

The Dark Knight Rises(2012)

Lets start of by saying that I’m a huge fan of Christopher Nolan. And I’m not one who really makes it a point to remember the name of directors, unless they have created a string of movies which are memorable. Having watched almost all of his works ( all except Following) ,I have very high expectations for this movie, only so because all of the works that I have seen is freaking good(okay, maybe except for insomnia, but I deem it as a little misstep in his career)

And I’m sad to say that I’m disappointed. The trailer for this movie itself is one that gave me chills, which of course fueled my hopes for the movie to be an awesome one. Sadly though, it is one of hundreds of films who all have great trailers but tend to disappoint in the end.

Lets start with my first point of discontent. Bane’s (the main villain of the movie) debut/appearance is so strikingly predictable and similar to the Joker  ( the main villain of the Dark Knight) that I was a little turned off.  Granted though, the action sequence which he debuts in is original and majestic enough to still hope that there is much to be in store for the movie.

After seeing the appearance of our lovely hero,  Mr. Wayne, who has resorted to shut himself off the world for 8 years, you would wonder if it’s possible for his actions and the huge shift of his mindset after an event  that has occurred in his home. In other words, I feel disconnected with the core character of this movie as I presume one in his state of mind shouldn’t  have acted the way he did.  Half-way through the movie, my inability to connect with his character deepens.

[SPOILER AHEAD *****]




I mean, how could you have loved someone for so long and being unable to move on, but after realising that she has chosen someone over you, you just got over her and proceeded to fuck another woman a few days later?!  It’s like he has been waiting for this to happen all along just to free himself from his long period of abstinence. You might say that he’s just horny and wants a one-off, but does the character of Bruce Wayne seem that way to you? ! I’m not saying that he wouldn’t move on after realising the truth, but it just seems unreal that he moved on that soon.




[SPOILER ENDS *****]

And there’s the issue of the flow of the movie. Never have I experienced in a Nolan movie that my mind wondered off a little during the movie.. Story telling has always been the hallmark of a Nolan movie, with or without action sequences. And this movie just did not grip me enough when its moving. Of course, I wouldn’t say that I was entirely bored, but the scenes which gripped me was mostly the action scenes, sad to say.

And what’s most unacceptable of this movie is its plot holes. I’m not smart enough to spot minor plot holes, so when I’m able to spot one, I trust the common layman to be able to do the same.


[SPOILERS AHEAD*****]

One of the most blatantly obvious plot holes is the thin ice scene. How could more than five men move across the ice together without the ice giving way when there was a scene shot not too long ago where only three people moved along the ice and were far apart, and the focused character met his death?!

Another obvious one is the location of the prison. It’s obvious that the spot is located outside of Gotham city. So how could Batman enter the city when all links to the city(the bridges) are already broken or barred off by the police? The police would never had let him through as you could extrapolate to the last scene and see how they have treated our cute little Mr. police officer-turned-detective.



 [SPOILERS END *****]

It is inevitable that Bane’s character would be compared to the Joker ..and to a huge extent, Bane is just like your average villain from another superhero movie. Even his socialist tendencies is not obviously portrayed from the start of the movie, until the prison scene, which just made me go, “oh, didn’t know he was a socialist.” And the failure to put the viewer in the mind of the villain is something that I have never expected from Nolan. To balance things up though, Anne Hathaway delivered a good performance of her role as the Catwoman. I said good, not great;  because her premise was promising, but just somehow degenerated to a character that you would just cared for… a little.


Having said that though, the action sequences in the movie is brilliant. It is obvious that a huge budget has been funneled to the movie and the action scenes are simply spectacular. The ending is something I dig (the ending is a little cheesy but at least I think it wraps out the trilogy just fine), especially when our little detective (note the scene about the name he rarely uses)discovered the bat cave which indicates the continuation of the legacy.


But for a large part, this movie is still disappointing. Perhaps I’m expecting too much from Nolan but the only reason I have high hopes is because he’s my favourite director. Still, most of us would watch the movie nevertheless since it wraps up the trilogy of the Batman series.  Before entering the cinema, I expect myself wanting to watch this movie again, but it doesn’t seem to be the case anymore. I just pray to God that the next work of Nolan reflects his ability better, as this movie just shows that he has lost a lot of his touch.

Blue Valentine(2010)

Blue valentine(2010)

Like the movie title suggests,the movie is not really a happy one (that’s why people have what you call Monday blues),so let me tell you right off the bat, if it’s a love story that starts well and ends well with a storyline that is every girl’s dream, you’d be better off watching The Vow instead.

The theme of the movie is a simple one, that is a relationship which has turned sour. As such,whether the movie is deemed successful or otherwise relies heavily on its main actor and main actress . And fortunately for us, there is a lot of chemistry going on between Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams. The movie tries its best to portray a relationship that is deemed as a normal one, that is your average guy coupled with your average girl. I personally think that Ryan Gosling is a little bit of a distraction here as he’s a little too good looking to make you feel that hes ‘ordinary’ . Michelle Williams ,though, fits in her role excellently. Coupled with her decent acting skills, she’s the main star in the movie. You could see bitterness, rage, hopelessness all portrayed by her without a sliver of doubt that she’s faking it.

The plot is a straight-forward one without any twists, and the outcome is guessable from the start , but it’s the execution of the movie which makes it brilliant. We move to and fro from the past and the present to sharply contrast the dynamics between Ryan and Michelle. We would see that what was deemed as cute in a partner’s eyes eventually turns to become a point of annoyance in the same partner’s eyes. We would see what was shrugged off by each partner when they were in a sweet stage of relationship eventually comes to haunt them after the romantic notion comes off. We would see how a thorn in the past could be such a point of frustration as to rip the whole relationship apart.

It is only deemed fit that at the final scene, the movie flashbacks to the point which Ryan and Michelle felt was the happiest moment of their lives. The blatant difference between now and then and the notion the past is long dead will strike you hard and you will know the feeling of bittersweet (if you haven’t experienced feeling so after seeing a movie). That’s the beauty of this movie, you are still sucked into the story although you know how it’s going to end. You still root for the couple to be together although that’s almost impossible. And that is not an easy feat to accomplish for a movie, for a plot line that is as plain as it is. My verdict?Watch this.