Posted on Tuesday, October 9th, 2012 by Angie Han
Continuing a tradition that started with last year’s surprise unveiling of the then-unfinished Hugo, the New York Film Festival this week revealed a first look at a work-in-progress cut of Steven Spielberg‘s Lincoln.
Though we’ve seen little of the film so far, aside from a couple of trailers, the subject matter and the talent involved have marked it from early on as a potential Oscar contender. Based on the version I saw Monday night, that buzz is well-earned — it’s tough to imagine this film coming out the other end of awards season without at least a couple of little gold men. On the other hand, Spielberg falters by letting the Sixteenth President remain more myth than man, and the resulting film is a polished period piece that only occasionally feels truly vital.
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We’ve been pretty high on the idea of Rian Johnson‘s third film, Looper, since the movie was first announced, especially as we learned that Joseph Gordon-Levitt would play a near-future assassin who kills mob victims illicitly sent back in time. Add Bruce Willis as the older version of the same character, who becomes a target for JGL, and things got really interesting. Then a test screening last fall got word out that Johnson may have really knocked Looper out of the park, and expectations for the film went through the roof.
And now, as we fairly easily begin to forget the unsatisfying sumer of 2012, Looper has hit theaters. And I’m happy to say that it is an excellent film. Not only is Johnson firing on all cylinders as a storyteller and director, the film is both a great piece of sci-fi and a satisfying character piece that really puts that central assassin character through the wringer. And even for those who have been paying attention to all the marketing, Sony left a few things unrevealed, so Looper gets to keep a few tricks hidden up its sleeve right until the end.
Moreso than for any other recent genre film, I’m curious to know what people think about Looper. So have at it in the comments below, where spoiler discussions of the film’s story and meaning are fair game. Read More »
No one goes into a time travel movie expecting all the answers. Time travel films are often filled with unanswerable mysteries, because the idea of moving characters against the normal flow of time creates problems and paradoxes. Bending your mind around the layers and repetition of time travel is part of the fun, even in a bad time travel movie. Writer/director Rian Johnson loves time travel movies too, even the bad ones. Thankfully, he made a great one in Looper, now in theaters. (Read our review right here.)
Even after you walk out of Looper, though, you’re bound to have questions that need answering. In a recent 15 minute interview with Johnson, that’s all we focused on. Spoilers, spoilers and more spoilers. Questions that the movie doesn’t answer, ideas the movie hints at, character motivations, all of it. On Monday, we’ll run the full video interview but, for now, we provide answers to ten unexplained mysteries from the film with the help of Johnson himself.
Beware, MASSIVE SPOILERS for Looper after the jump. Read More »
Excited for Looper? You should be. Rian Johnson‘s return to the big screen featuring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Bruce Willis, Emily Blunt, Jeff Daniels, Paul Dano and a whole bunch of time-travelling awesomeness is fantastic. Lots of new posters, videos and more have been popping up leading up towards the September 28 release and now two videos of behind the scenes footage have come online.
Both are certainly filled with spoilers but, if you’ve seen the film or don’t care about a few small things being revealed, there are much worse ways to spend 12 minutes. Check them out below. Read More »
The best sci-fi movies aren’t defined by their sci-fi elements. Hovercars, cool guns, time travel and other sci-fi tropes are merely used to put a unique spin and visual style on a story with themes universal to almost any genre. And if it does that by blowing your mind with some cool stuff? All the better.
Rian Johnson‘s Looper is very much in that vein. A time-travelling, sci-fi movie to be sure, ultimately the film features very unexpected, yet welcome, fundamental themes. It almost becomes something that feels out of place in a world of time-travelling assassins and hover bikes which, of course, is exactly the point. Johnson hooks you with big action and reels you in for bigger ideas and that’s why Looper is so damn good.
After the jump, continue reading my review of the film, which opens September 28 and just premiered at the Toronto Film Festival, and watch a 100% spoiler-free video blog about Looper. Read More »
Hey, remember Google+? The company wants you to remember that the social networking/info sharing service exists, and is using Steven Spielberg and his trailer for Lincoln to do it. When the film’s poster (cropped above) showed up online we figured the trailer might only be a couple days away. In fact we have to wait just a bit longer than that, but not by a whole lot.
The first Lincoln footage will be shown via a Google+ hangout (that is: a fancy video chat) with Spielberg and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, on September 13.
A bit more info is below. Read More »
Though Rian Johnson‘s sci-fi film Looper doesn’t open for a month, you’re soon going to be hearing a lot about it. It has its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival next week and /Film will be on the scene. The film, which stars both Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Bruce Willis as a character named Joe, takes place in a world where time-travel was invented but quickly made illegal. The technology is primarily used by the mafia, which sends targets back in time to be assassinated by special killers called loopers. However, when Joe realizes his latest victim is his older self, he learns the future is not what he expects it to be.
In the first full clip released from the film, you’ll see a bit more of a sit down encounter between the old and young version of Joe, and get a bit of that self-referential time travel edge you’d expect from Johnson. Check it out below. Read More »
Marketing a film can be tough but when you’ve got an intriguing, original idea like Rian Johnson‘s Looper, it almost sells itself. The film opens September 28, but will play both Toronto and Fantastic Fest before that. It stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt as a man who kills people sent back to him from the future. When his future self, played by Bruce Willis, is sent back to be murdered, things get a little bit crazy.
Johnson’s idea blending time-travel, action and the duality of man has already resulted in some kick-ass trailers and gorgeous posters. This latest one, featuring Bruce Willis bursting out the chest of Joseph Gordon-Levitt, continues the good trend. Check it out below. Read More »
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