Movie Review- "Looper"

Ok, first off, I love movies that involve time travel. From "Back to the Future" to the 3rd Harry Potter movie. But with all time travel movies, inconsistencies are boundless. But with this movie and it's plot that just pulls you in from the get-go, you never really notice any inconsistencies;

Joseph Gordon-Leavitt is a great actor. And this movie (as well as "Inception" and "The Lookout") proves it even more. He made a great younger version of Bruce Willis (nose shape / jaw area, especially) but I think they went a bit too far with the contact lenses, as they were practically bursting out of the screen whenever it cut to a close-up shot of Joseph.

Emily Blunt was an interesting choice for her role in in this. I would never have expected to see her in a role like this. But, she played it really well.

And Paul Dano is a bit role did great with what he had. He freaks out really well.

Final Rating: A-

Movie Review- "The Words"

As a struggling writer of short stories, I could relate to the idea of this movie. And this movie does not disappoint much. Bradly Cooper and Zoe Saldana had great chemistry on screen. This movie was multi-layered. It, in essence, was a story within a story within a story. It was portrayed in a great, engaging way, dealing with an emotional struggle many writers go through.

From the moment the movie starts, it just pulls you in and never lets go. I did find Dennis Quaid and Olivia Wilde's chemistry to be a bit off-putting at first, but there was just something about it that really worked. Jeremy Irons worked really well as an unnamed old man who is integral to the plot of the film. This was probably the most emotional movie I have seen so far this year.

My only real complaint about the movie was the ending. I personally thought that an important piece of information was going to be revealed, but the movie ended before it was revealed. I may be wrong about this information, but it would have been nice to have it confirmed.

Final Rating: A-

Movie Review- "Branded"

The trailers for this movie did not get much air play. I only saw the trailer once. Maybe I misinterpreted what I saw. I got the impression that this was going to be a comical satire on mass consumerism. And had they kept this in a humorous light, then this would have been a really good movie.

However, they kept a mostly serious tone throughout the movie. For the first half of the movie, it did seem as if the scenes lasted 5 minutes each, then faded to black. And the awful, monotone narrator was very boring for the first half, along with the awkward musical cues.

But, as the film crossed into the second half, it did seem to pick up a bit. I had high hopes for this, as Leelee Sobieski was in this, but her character had no depth, I thought the main actor did an ok job for what he had. I'm upset that this movie had great potential, but was ultimately letdown.

I would not recommend this at all. Sorry, folks.

Final Rating: D-

Movie Review- "The Odd Life of Timothy Green" (Spoilers Within)

Ok, I am not really much of a Jennifer Garner fan. I haven't seen her in anything really good since she played the villain in "Juno". But, the plot of this intrigued me, as I though that there was going to be something of a plot twist near the end of the movie. But, this is a Disney movie. And what you see in the trailers is pretty much what you get. There are no real surprises here.

I did like the way that the movie started, in the present, with the story part being a flashback. It was a great way to pull the viewer in. However, from a storytelling perspective, there were a few issues I had with this film. So, the kid grew in the garden, but yet he knew social mannerism and spoke English. How would he know this?

And in the movie, he meets this very unique girl (played brilliantly by Odeya Rush). We never see her with her parents or any parents for that matter. I got the impression that she was an orphan. So it would make perfect sense if she was the one the parents adopted at the end of the movie, but instead they end up adopting a random Asian girl whom we never met in the movie whatsoever. If we had met her at some point in the movie, it would have made a bit more sense.

I don't feel we got enough character development from the secondary characters at all. With the adoptive parents, we got a good sense of who they were as people. But, the other people in their lives (family, co-workers, etc.) felt like they were just on screen to fill space.

This movie could have been a lot better, but the way the film "flowed" left a lot to be desired. I have seen enough "special child with unique gift" movies that I was hoping for something a bit more. I did not see anything special or innovative about this film, it was just okay.

Final Rating: C-