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Looper (dir. Rian Johnson; Gordon-Levitt, Willis)

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One thing that'd take this film from great to exceptional, for me, is a better score.

Yeah, there was nothing about it that stood out to me. It was just kind of there, inoffensive.....which of course is the worst offense a score can commit.
 
Also, the kid was an interesting little actor and was a creepy enough character that I was wishing that someone "did something" about him. If the Rainmaker only took over a city then that is a little underwhelming. I assumed he went national and his larger plan was much broader than that.

That would emphasise how powerful and dangerous he was.
 
I don't know why, but asshole-driver JGL made me smile. Driving over sidewalks, on curbs, almost hitting people - junkie Joe don't give one single fuck.
 
Yeah, there was nothing about it that stood out to me. It was just kind of there, inoffensive.....which of course is the worst offense a score can commit.

The score was great at times and completely flat at others. It was like it was scored by two different composers.

Agree. And there's almost no excuse for it considering some of the scenes in this film.

It extracted the greatest emotional response after Willis shot the child, and collapsed by the bridge support. But even then it wasn't that stirring. Given the right composer I could've been balling in the cinema at that point.
 
It wasn't the first time she's done it
(she did a lesbian movie with Mad Men's Jessica Pare some years back),
but for whatever reason it caught me off guard :lol
 
Also - because I heard some people from my screening say this, a new method for population control should be to ask people whether or not they thought the little kid was Joe. Because anybody who thought that should find themselves the nearest suicide booth.
 
Also - because I heard some people from my screening say this, a new method for population control should be to ask people whether or not they thought the little kid was Joe. Because anybody who thought that should find themselves the nearest suicide booth.

I didn't think that, but I did concoct some theory in the cinema that the Rainmaker was JGL, given the remark about how his mother used to stroke his hair, then the tipoff that the Rainmaker saw his mum die.

I thought the boy and her mother were a red herring and at some point JGL was going to get his jaw fucked up. I just didn't see why the boy, even if he turned into an evil little shit, would feel compelled to close all the loops. JGL on the other hand...
 
Also - because I heard some people from my screening say this, a new method for population control should be to ask people whether or not they thought the little kid was Joe. Because anybody who thought that should find themselves the nearest suicide booth.

I thought that for a moment then realised it made no sense and assumed he was the rainmaker due to his screentime. This thought process happened in the span of 3 seconds.

I didn't think that, but I did concoct some theory in the cinema that the Rainmaker was JGL, given the remark about how his mother used to stroke his hair, then the tipoff that the Rainmaker saw his mum die.

I thought the boy and her mother were a red herring and at some point JGL was going to get his jaw fucked up. I just didn't see why the boy, even if he turned into an evil little shit, would feel compelled to close all the loops. JGL on the other hand...
I thought the kid came across as an evil little shit from the start. He reminded me of the kid with the reality creation powers in the Twilight episode/TV movie. I thought for sure he had some power over his mother, and low and behold...
 
Would have been great if after Joes died and Blunt hugs little Akira, we pan over and see Marty Mcfly running toward them.

I know you changed the future. But now I'm back FROM the future! Dun! Dundundundun duuuun!
 
It was a good movie but anyone saying it's better than Inception is crazy. I don't like how they made up JGL to look like Willis. He looked really weird lol
 
As far as anime to compare it to, I would compare it more to (I guess this technically also spoils the anime so...)
Occult Academy, which also has TKs and time travel
.

I would consider the movie this year's Inception. I think we'll going to see crazy Inceptionesque diagrams of time lines and movie events.
 
As far as anime to compare it to, I would compare it more to (I guess this technically also spoils the anime so...)
Occult Academy, which also has TKs and time travel
.

I would consider the movie this year's Inception. I think we'll going to see crazy Inceptionesque diagrams of time lines and movie events.
I don't see why. It's really not that complicated. Inception wasn't that complex either, just completely convoluted.
 
It's not just a plot concept that makes a great movie. It's the setting, music, directing and how you react to it afterwards etc.. I thought about Inception for a long time after watching it. That's the sign of an epic movie to me. Then again, maybe it was just a mindfuck? lol

Looper was a good movie and I like JGL but the movie isn't very memorable IMO. I've only seen Inception once but some of the scenes and music in that film will never get out of my head.
 
I saw this today. It was pretty meh. Some scenes were so weirdly shot that the audience laughed.

The time travel logic was also pretty bad, and dat ending. Actually, a lot of the character motivation was really ham-fisted.

No matter how much Bruce Willis fucked up the past, he still ended up in China married to that woman? Killing the Rainmaker in the past was the only way to save his wife? Maybe, I dunno, give the kid all your gold so he doesn't become a criminal? Seems like there would be a million ways to change the past. Also, the loop of vengeance goes both ways. We don't know exactly how the loop started. The Rainmaker wanted to kill Joe for killing his mom who did that because the Rainmaker killed his wife who did that because Joe killed him mom. They painted the kid as more deserving just cuz he was a kid and we never see him as the Rainmaker consumed by vengeance like future Joe. Past Joe could have, I dunno, shot his gun hand off and then mediated the whole situation? Since future Joe would get the memory of realizing what caused the loop. Hell, just realizing what caused the loop could have made future Joe disappear.
 
Just got back from.

I enjoyed it immensely. Johnson shot the shit out of this movie. The script and editing are tight as shit. There was a lot more witty dialogue than I expected. I found the characters kind of blah, but since this is one of those movies that's driven by the plot, not the characters, I found them passable. I still think JGL is a really overrated actor. He wasn't anything special in this.

As for the ending...

I would have preferred a downer ending where pretty much everyone dies and time stays on a loop. I can see why Johnson wanted to give lil Rainmaker and his mom a happy ending, but Joe killing himself is completely out of character. Dude is a selfish douchebag the entire movie, then suddenly grows a heart after banging Emily Blunt one time and seeing her kid literally rip a guy apart.

Sans ending, it's without a doubt the best movie I've seen this year. Rian Johnson is gonna go far.

also...

Was anyone else royally confused for a second during the 30 years montage? I finally started to understand what was happening when Emo Bruce showed up.
 
The movie didn't do much for me for some reason. Might just not have been in the mood for it. I wanted the plot to be a little smarter or something. I kinda saw most of it coming.
 
Just got back from it. It was fantastic.

Just got back from.

I enjoyed it immensely. Johnson shot the shit out of this movie. The script and editing are tight as shit. There was a lot more witty dialogue than I expected. I found the characters kind of blah, but since this is one of those movies that's driven by the plot, not the characters, I found them passable. I still think JGL is a really overrated actor. He wasn't anything special in this.

As for the ending...

I would have preferred a downer ending where pretty much everyone dies and time stays on a loop. I can see why Johnson wanted to give lil Rainmaker and his mom a happy ending, but Joe killing himself is completely out of character. Dude is a selfish douchebag the entire movie, then suddenly grows a heart after banging Emily Blunt one time and seeing her kid literally rip a guy apart.

Sans ending, it's without a doubt the best movie I've seen this year. Rian Johnson is gonna go far.

What you have spoilered is the exact same thing I thought.
 
So. I'm guessing Cid
was the one who invented time travel? Given the film showing how much of a genius he was at building stuff from such a young age, being a TK and definitely having motive.
 
It was a good movie but anyone saying it's better than Inception is crazy. I don't like how they made up JGL to look like Willis. He looked really weird lol

Name one thing Inception did better (aside from the score, which yes, is leagues better in Inception).















And no, "feature nice menswear" is not a category.
 
Really enjoyed Looper and not too fussed about time travel contrivances which if you think too hard about it will probably ruin the enjoyment of the movie.

Im in the Inception camp though, i didn't really like the TK thing which doesn't really add anything to the movie... you could take that out and it would be the same movie. I thought Willis didn't really have much to do. JGL was really good. First half of the movie (the setup) is amazing but the rest of the movie is basically set at the farm house and the movie just basically stops. Didn't particularly care for the mother at all, or the kid because she had no motives.

Inception doesn't have any of the time travel contrivances and it felt like a new concept. Its just a really enjoyable movie, while flawed but entertaining. It was like you were going into the dream sequences with them and thats what makes it so entertaining.
 
Name one thing Inception did better (aside from the score, which yes, is leagues better in Inception).



And no, "feature nice menswear" is not a category.

Not feature a horrendous and laughable
demon child
?

This movie was treading along SO WELL until hey, we ran out of money so let's slow the plot down to an utter standstill and introduce 2 shitty characters nobody gives a flying fuck about.
 
Not feature a horrendous and laughable
demon child
?

This movie was treading along SO WELL until hey, we ran out of money so let's slow the plot down to an utter standstill and introduce 2 shitty characters nobody gives a flying fuck about.

As child actors go, the kid was pretty fuckin' great.
 
I will say this, I was expecting more
mindfuckery with this movie. It's pretty simple and straightforward for the most part.
 
I will say this, I was expecting more
mindfuckery with this movie. It's pretty simple and straightforward for the most part.

I appreciated that. Too many movies of this ilk are trying to be needlessly cute, clever, or complex these days. This one was more about the character motives than the twists.
 
Movie of the year thus far for me. Saw it with my step dad and ended up seeing my uncle there. One question I have. Is Cid
-----------------Joe?----------
My step dad thought so, which....ughhhh. I thought
JGL saw some parallels in his life and spared him
 
Just got back from it, and I'm really impressed. My expectations were low going in, but I thought it was a great movie and I loved the whole Looper concept. Definitely one of the best films I've seen all year.

JGL's face was distracting me the entire movie, though. No idea why they couldn't just have him look like he normally does.
 
I love JGL, but I did not expect much from this movie.
I was blown away. Completely awed.
Fantastic story.


Movie of the year thus far for me. Saw it with my step dad and ended up seeing my uncle there. One question I have. Is Cid
-----------------Joe?----------
My step dad thought so, which....ughhhh. I thought
JGL saw some parallels in his life and spared him

No definitely not, Cid was the Rainman. If Cid was Joe, Joe would have known he wasn't the Rainman, and wouldn't have killed himself
 
Just got back from seeing it, and I loved it!!

One of the most original movies to come out of Hollywood in a long, long while.

JGL was great.
BW was great

Hell, even the
little kid who played Cid (aka Rainmaker) was awesome. When that Gat was in their house, and JGL was behind the couch, and the kid is on the stairs and just looks at JGL and then at the Gat with a gun gesture, holy crap I was dying

If you were on the fence about seeing this movie, just GO! You'll be so glad you did.
 
That was an entertaining movie. I enjoyed it a lot.

Kind of disappointed at how Kid Blue died. Was hoping for something more hilarious and ironic. Really hated that guy.

Seeing Seth's future self slowly chopped up was painful. That was fucking insane. You don't see what's happening to present Seth, but just seeing his future self's fingers turn into stumps, then all of a sudden losing his foot, then legs, and in the end crawling to the door was fucked up. I was expecting this fucked up scene with present Seth on a chair bloody and into pieces, but I'm actually okay with how it played out.

JGL and Bruce Willis sitting on that booth was pretty cool. They really went the extra step with making JGL look like Willis, and it really pays off in that scene. And JGL nailed Bruce Willis' speech and mannerisms.

Emily Blunt is so fine.

May watch again soon.
 
This was... I don't know. I enjoyed it a lot, but I thought it was a big step down from Brick and Looper. If it had any name other than Rian Johnson on it I might have been more enthusiastic walking out.

Highlight was definitely
Old Paul Dano's body rapidly being mutilated.
I just didn't feel that same kind of "spark" in the rest of the movie.

Edit: File this under "glad I avoided trailers." There were many aspects of this beyond time travel that I had zero idea about going in (and I bet I can pick out the exact shots they probably give away in every single ad).
 
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