Looper
What’s it about?
In a future where time travel has been invented, mob bosses send their enemies back to the past to be killed by “loopers”. Joe lives the high life eliminating whomever the mob bosses send back, no questions asked. Which works fine, until they send future-Joe back to be disposed of… and he escapes.
What did we think?
Elizabeth says: A taut, well-paced thrill ride, this feels like one of the freshest takes on the whole time travel schtick in a long time. The script sets up the sci-fi premise of the tale, before cleverly a shifting the focus onto the characters, giving Looper an emotional weight I wasn’t expecting. Joseph Gordon-Levitt does a great young Bruce Willis, and Bruce Willis plays a great old Bruce Willis. And who doesn’t love Bruce Willis? Serious acting props also have to go to the creepy kid (Pierce Gagnon).
It doesn’t pay to look too closely at the logic behind this flick; there are holes in the time travel theory and thinking about them may make your brain explode. But really, when a movie is this entertaining, who gives a damn about logic?
Wuthering Heights
What’s it about?
A Yorkshire hill farmer “does the Christian thing” and takes in a homeless boy. The boy falls in love with the daughter and becomes obsessed with her.
What Angela Bowen thought:
This adaptation of Wuthering Heights is dark and disturbing. There are moments that are beautiful, ominous and some that are just weird and uncomfortable. I’d pop a few no-doz before this one and prepare to feel depressed for exactly 129 minutes.
The scenery shots are so plentiful it starts to feel like David Attenborough should be commentating but the real problem is that the relationship between Cathy and Heathcliff misses the mark. Stitched together by a lot of flashbacks that aren’t particularly moving to start with, the film features limited dialogue and is certainly not for animal lovers.
The redeeming feature is Solomon Glave’s performance of a young Heathcliff. His violent and animalistic up-bringing is heart- wrenching and you just want to reach out and give him a big hug. This movie is one that can be appreciated after it’s over. If you stay awake.
Taken 2
What’s it about?
Former CIA operative Bryan Mills returns to our screens with the father (and crime boss) of those he killed in the first movie, seeking revenge and targeting both Mills and his family.
What did Anthony Sherratt think?
Quite simply this should haven been called Taken Lite. A suprisingly logical premise justified the sequel but the general action from then on mirrors the original to a point where you’re left wondering where the ‘meat’ was.
It’s not bad – in fact it’s quite fun and worth seeing – but there’s a lack of originality that leaves it feeling like quite a short romp that really had little point to it other cashing in on the popularity of the awesome first flick.
Quote simply it’s the Diet Coke version of Taken. Less calories, less filling.
Movies taught me how to talk
There’s no doubt that I talk a lot. And the only time I’m ever quiet is when I sit down to watch a movie. Even then however, I somehow become the annoying impersonator – the one who mimics the actors playing on screen, trying to do as they do, be as they are. Let’s face it, you know my type. You feed my type popcorn, because it will get you half way through the show in silence. But there’s something I’ve noticed that’s affected me. Every line I recite becomes a line of my own. Like glue, it sticks and no matter what I do to shake these lines off, they stay.
When faced with indifference I don’t say “I don’t care”. No, instead I say “frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn”. I often declare myself the king of the world (gender notwithstanding) and the first time I set foot in the alien world of Ipswich I looked around and actually uttered “I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore”.
It’s true – movies have shaped my entire vocabulary.
This obsession started at an early age. With a keen attitude towards being a doctor, Kindergarten Cop taught me all about health. If I had a headache, well the symptoms might just be a bit more serious than that. But wait… ‘It’s not a tumour!’ Not to mention, I learnt the anatomy of boys and girls pretty fast and would advise others as such.
Cartoons paved a potential career in home economics. Shrek helped me understand that the best activity one could do was ‘stay up late, swapping manly stories and in the morning, I’m making waffles.’ However with a short attention span, I was easily distracted by other things. ‘I like that boulder. That is a nice boulder.’ Chicken Run further educated me about crime and the difference between holidays and solitary confinement. I knew that I had to make an impact in my life. Some could say I had an epiphany where ‘my life flashed before my eyes and it was really boring.’
Therefore, I gathered that to be employable I needed to refine my skills. ‘Like my nun chuck skills, bow hunting skills and computer hacking skills.’ Napoleon Dynamite encouraged my interest in politics and I learnt that ‘if you vote for me, I’d make all your wildest dreams come true.’ On a side note, this quote actually made its way into my Year 12 captaincy speech. I can vouch for its ability to work as I landed the position I was after.
Entering adolescence, some could say that I became a bit of a Mean Girl. If you didn’t wear the right clothing on some days then I shouted you ‘can’t sit with us.’ I prided myself in looking fabulous and people knew that my hair was so big ‘because it’s full of secrets.’ And I didn’t calm people down with hugs or soothing words, preferring to simply yell “there’s no crying in baseball!”
It took me awhile to realise ‘houston, we have a problem’. It’s true: without knowing it, I’d almost joined the dark side and become a walking quoting machine. The force was VERY strong within this one.
Ultimately, I realised how negative ‘mean’ was and stopped fantasising about jumping over tables and clawing other girls. Instead I wished ‘that I could bake a cake made out of rainbows and smiles and we’d all eat it and be happy.’
My love for all things creative provided a welcome distraction and fellow bombshells Kath and Kim reminded me that ‘it’s noice, it’s different and it’s unusual.’ And I revelled in the knowledge that nobody could put baby in the corner. But in all honesty I couldn’t handle the competitiveness of this business. There were only A Few Good Men in show business and I couldn’t handle the truth they gave me.
I also discovered that in the performing arts, screaming “show me the money” only gets you a reputation as a prima donna princess.
Finally, I settled on Journalism as a career choice and set about improving my grammar by watching Clueless. I learnt the essence of inserting rather big words into my sentences, though this didn’t happen ‘sporadically’ or ‘spontaneously’. I learnt other lingo as well ensuring I was mature with my chosen language. Despite this, I knew that at the same time I could always chill and ‘roll with my homies.’
Though to this day I meet confrontation with a steely gaze and ask them if they feel lucky.
And these are just some of the movies that form the crux of my everyday sayings. Spend any amount of time with me and you’ll start questioning whether I have any original dialogue (I do by the way – but you’re really not giving me enough credit for my ability to communicate via movie-speak).
I had no need to look any of these up as I wrote this. They are deeply entrenched in my brain, taking up valuable space that was meant for university study notes. Oh well. I’m sure you have the same problem, right?
Hasta la vista baby.
Do you have any quotes you use in everyday life?
Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted
What’s it about?
Alex the Lion, Marty the Zebra, Gloria the Hippo, and Melman the Giraffe are still fighting to get home to their beloved Big Apple and of course, King Julien, Maurice and the Penguins are all along for the comedic adventure. Their journey takes them through Europe where they find the perfect cover: a traveling circus, which they reinvent – Madagascar style
What did we think?
Dreamworks have often struggled to get the formula really working but here they’ve nailed the blending of adult humour and child entertainment. In fact, this third instalment might be the pick of the bunch.
It’s genuinely gleeful and worth seeing with or without the kids as an excuse.
Resident Evil: Retribution
What’s it about?
Does it matter at this point? There are undead monsters and Alice and guns.
What did we think?
The Resident Evil movie franchise is the perfect analogy of zombies: It smells and actually died sometime ago but keeps getting back up no matter what you do.
The video games have better storylines and acting. And directing.