Looper

First Hit:  A film that had me thinking about the story the morning, which bodes very well for it.

While the film attempts to draw one in about time-travel, it is the strong acting and inventive story that makes it work well.

Joe (played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt) puts aside any feelings he has about assassinating people because; it makes him a good living, the people are from the future – so they’ve already had a life (30 years more than if he were to kill them in real time), and it pays for his drug habit, which is one way he escapes caring much about his actions.

The way this works is that only organized crime, which lives 30 years in the future, has the ability to send people back to the past to be killed. The future world sends notice to Abe (played by Jeff Daniels), who is in the present (or past world) to have a “Looper” (one who assassinates) ready to kill whoever arrives at the designated spot from the future.

The Looper's payment for the kill comes with the person killed in the form of silver strapped to their backs. As a film viewer, you could get caught up in the time dilemma by wondering how the film explains both the past and future existing in the same moment of time, but I strongly don’t recommend bothering with it, especially if you wonder why only crime organizations uses time travel. 

If you buy into the story as the film presents it, the time travel phenomena the director takes us through is used to share meaningful parts of the story. And the meaningful parts of the story are about loving someone and how that love drives us to act in ways of honor and dishonor.

The future or Old Joe (played by Bruce Willis) comes back to change his future destiny because of love and Young Joe finds love with Sara (played by Emily Blunt) and her son Cid (played by Pierce Gagnon) and wants to see them live on.

Gordon-Levitt once again shows why he is being a frequently sought after actor – he’s excellent here as Young Joe and carries just enough of Willis’, Old Joe, look and feel to make it believable. The one thing that did bug me was Willis’ ear lobes and Gordon-Levitt’s ear lobes are very different (but they got the injured top part of the ear just right). Willis, is as he does of late, provide an intelligent, relaxed performance that is believable. He’s very good. Blunt, despite a wobbly accent, is outstanding and continues to show me why she is one of my favorite actresses. Daniels in a limited role is perfectly wonderful and takes scenes over when he is in them. Gagnon as Blunt’s child is creepily and charmingly fantastic. Piper Perabo (as Suzie) is wily and wonderful as Young Joe’s favorite hooker. Rian Johnson wrote a strong character script and although the requirement of parallel realities existing at the same time wasn’t handled real well – this film isn’t about time travel and he directed this cast in a strong story about love and redemption.

Overall:  The title of the film detracts from a film that is full of excellent acting and an intriguing story.

Arbitrage

First Hit:  Although not much about how the finance business works, the character study, at times, was pretty good.

While we are still coming out of a huge financial meltdown and with Europe continuing to have financial troubles, I would have liked to see more about how the financial system works, doesn't work or gets manipulated.

There have been some films, like Margin Call, which have done this recently. What this film does, is give you a look at how a man named Robert Miller (Richard Gere) deals with a mistake he makes with an investment judgment.

At first there is a sense that the film’s main character Miller is like Gordon Gekko, arrogant and the only important thing is MONEY. But then Miller's character shifts a bit and seems more like Bernard Madoff with his family tied into the family business but not knowing how he kept a separate set of books.

The film takes place over a week and if he can’t find anyone to buy his company by Friday it all blows up. Miller’s wife Ellen (played by Susan Sarandon) seems to know all of what is going on, but stoically carries on with her charities.

Brooke (played by Brit Marling), Miller’s daughter figures out the problem, that her father is cooking the books, and is shocked and dismayed. Their dialogue was some of the best in the film. I also enjoyed the dialogue between Miller and the potential company buyer James Mayfield (played by Graydon Carter). Although their conversation was, at most, 5 minutes, it was riveting.

The side story about Jimmy Grant (played by Nate Parker) helping Miller out of a jam when he gets into a car accident, which kills his lover, and leaves the scene (think Kennedy and Chappaquiddick) carries much of the film. This is unfortunate because what could have been a great financial thriller ends up being a poor film about bad character.

Gere’s beady small eyes are great for his sneaky ways as a financier. Outside of this he does a pretty good job of emoting his calm, in charge, exterior while his total world falls apart. Tim Roth as Detective Michael Bryer is too laid back, lazy, and filled with spite to be good. Sarandon was next to horrible and un-emotive as Miller’s wife. She didn’t portray her character in a way that would make her remotely desirable by Gere. Laetitia Casta, as Gere’s girlfriend Julie was neither interesting, attractive or worth watching. Marling was a joy to watch in her role as a daughter whose trust of her father falls away with her own discovery. Carter in his brief part was very effective. Parker as the young man who assists Miller was very good. Nicholas Jarecki wrote and directed this poorly constructed film. Instead of it being called Arbitrage it needed to be call “dilemmas”.

Overall: I think the full-theater audience I was sitting with was interested in a financial thriller but ended up seeing a standard film about a man in a dilemma.

The Cold Light of Day

First Hit:  Poorly constructed story with mostly pitiful acting.

Will (played by Henry Cavill) is meeting his family for a sailing trip on the Mediterranean.

His parents Martin (played by Bruce Willis) and Laurie (played by Caroline Goodall) have rented a boat for themselves and their sons Will and Josh (played by Rafi Gavron) and Josh’s girlfriend Dara (Emma Hamilton).

The boys view their dad as a difficult man, especially as a culture coordinator for an embassy. In a fit of anger Will dives off the boat and heads to town. Upon his return, the boat is gone and he soon discovers that the police are not really interested in helping him.

With his mom, brother and Dara kidnapped, Martin decides to let Will know that he is really CIA and there are enemies after him for a briefcase he stole a few weeks earlier. Martin’s boss Carrak (played by Sigourney Weaver) is a bit twisted and seems to be on the wrong side of equation. Will soon dies and the story becomes about how his oldest son will save the day.

The script does not create any real excitement nor does much of the acting, which seems pressed at best.

Cavill is about as lackluster as can be and this is a huge red flag in anticipation for his role as the man of steel next year. Willis, as he can and does often, steal scenes he is in and when he dies, the film dies with him. Gavron and Hamilton have minor and uninteresting roles. Goodall does her best as the concerned wife and mother, but there is nothing worth showing up for. Weaver is absolutely bad as the twisted CIA boss and she needs to quit taking parts like this. Scott Wiper and John Petro wrote an ill-conceived script which was poorly executed by director Mabrouk El Mechri.

Overall: A complete waste of time and so poorly acted by Cavill, worries will crop up about his Clark Kent role in the upcoming Man of Steel.

Premium Rush

First Hit:  An entertaining and “fun ride” kind of film.

The ending was never in question, but what makes this film very watchable is the bike riding through Manhattan.

We’ve all seen bike messengers in our major cities, and it’s always fun to speculate what their world is like. Does this film do this, probably not, but it does provide one person’s view as to why it is the right job for them right now. Wilee (Yes, his nickname is Wiley coyote), played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt, is a former law school student who discovers he’s just not the gray suit type of guy.

His job as a bike messenger gives him pleasure he cannot find anywhere else. His bike is a point of pride because it has one gear, cannot coast and has no brakes. He always has to keep pedaling and because of this, he’s in perpetual motion riding through the city full-on, all the time. He “sees” options through the various obstacles which confront him on a moment by moment basis and finds his path through them.

The film takes place over a 2 hour time period when he picks up an envelope and delivers it by 7:00 PM. Not a big deal right? It is to a cop who needs to get a hold of the same envelope. The cop Bobby Monday (played by Michael Shannon), has a huge gambling debt and getting the envelope’s contents and delivering it to his debt holders will excuse his debt and the death he caused.

Wilee’s girlfriend Vanessa (played by Dania Ramirez) wants a different lifestyle so she is trying to break up with him. She’s tired of the rough and tumble life of a messenger. Vying for her attention is Manny (Wole Parks) who rides a bike with multiple gears and brakes and claims to be a better rider and man than Wilee.

To bring a level of laughter to this film, there is an ongoing sequence about a bike cop (played by Christopher Place) trying to chase down Wilee because he breaks bicycle laws and runs red lights. As I said, the fun in this film is the riding and Wilee’s avoiding being caught by Bobby for one reason and by the bike cop for another.

Gordon-Levitt is outstanding in both attitude and physicality as Wilee. I believed him in this role. Shannon had just the right level of being stupid, arrogance and bullying in the various type scenes he was given. Ramirez was OK, added some female energy to the film but it was not necessarily needed. Parks was very good as Gordon-Levitt’s competitor for both Ramirez and bike riding. Place was wonderful as the determined bike cop who was going to get his man. Aasif Mandvi as Raj the bike rider’s dispatcher was perfect. David Koepp and John Kamps wrote a fun script and story that didn’t dawdle. Koepp did a wonderful job of choreographing some great bike riding scenes and made it feel as I would imagine it to be like riding in NYC – dangerous.

Overall: This film is very watchable, fun, and very entertaining.

Killer Joe

First Hit:  A film that rides the edge of powerful, violent and absurd.

Chris Smith (Emile Hirsch) lives with his mom but, unseen, he throws her up against a refrigerator. He hates her and he wants to killer her for her insurance money which will go to his sister Dottie (Juno Temple).

Chris doesn't think anything thing through and the results of his actions surprise him. He needs money because he owes $8,000 on a gambling debt and they are out to kill him.

Dottie is oddly brilliant because she actually sees what is going on but everyone else thinks she is too sensitive and slow. Chris’ father Ansel (played by Thomas Haden Church) is even more stupid than Chris.

His responses at the end of the film to questions by Killer Joe (played by Matthew McConaughey) are priceless. Ansel is married Sharla (Gina Gershon) who cheats on Ansel and has fights with Chris. Chris and Ansel hire Killer Joe Cooper to kill Chris and Dottie’s mother for the insurance money.

The plan is to pay Joe his fee and split the remaining amongst the four of them. However, Joe requires his money up front, but decides to change his terms and to take Dottie as a retainer.

Their sensual and sexual scenes are very intensely shot. When the plot fails, Joe takes charge of the family and the scene of making Sharla suck a KFC chicken leg is grossly engaging.

Hirsch is wildly good because he moves from being foolhardy and protective with the same vigor. Temple is very strong as a girl wanting to stay innocent and grownup at the same time. Church is exceptional as a low IQ guy who just doesn’t fully see what really going on and, when lost, takes direction from others well. Gershon is good as a woman who fights for what she wants and is probably the smartest one in the family. McConaughey is fantastic as Joe. He is suave, partially sick in his actions, clear and concise in his instructions to the group as things begin to unfold. Tracy Letts wrote an interesting script. William Friedkin got a lot out of his actors and he made it edgy and oddly funny.

Overall: This is bizarre film, but its absurdity, oddly different script and powerful performances were entertaining.