5 Movie Comments

Over the holidays, I watched five different movies, four American and one French. For those of you who might be interested in my comments, here they are.

I'll discuss the English speaking ones first (in the order I watched them).

#1 – Total Recall (2012).
From my perspective, this was a non-stop action movie with very limited character development. It had great special effects, talented actors, but the screenplay didn't cut it. Even in science fiction, you need to have believable characters, events and plots. I give the movie 2 out of 5 stars.

#2 – Resident Evil: Retribution (2012)
A few years ago, I found myself hooked after I watched the first Resident Evil movie, which means I've watched every sequel since then. Unfortunately, with the last two, they've gone down hill. This last one was awful. It broke my addiction. I give the movie 1 out of 5 stars.

#3 – Premium Rush (2012)
This movie had good reviews and as an avid bike rider, I was looking forward to seeing it. Alas, I was very disappointed. Maybe being an experienced road bike rider was part of the problem. But aside from the movie's bike riding action not being believable (at least to me), the storyline was also unbelievable. That said, there were some great up close shots of Manhattan. I give the movie 2 out of 5 stars.

#4 – Looper (2012)
Anytime you have movies/stories dealing with time travel, there are inherent flaws (IMO) that you have to gloss over. With a poor to middling story/screenplay, it can be next to impossible to let yourself go, to lose yourself in the story. Thankfully, this was not the case with this movie.

I found this film to be fast-paced and action-packed. The acting was excellent, the screenplay tight, and the dialog snappy. I watched it twice, enjoyment and also to pick up a few things I missed the first time around.

The story takes place in the year 2044. The discovery of time travel is still thirty years in the future, but upon its discovery, it's outlawed. Of course, that doesn't stop criminal organizations from getting their hands on the technology and sending back one of their own to the year 2044. This mob agent from the future has organized a group of killers—called Loopers—and tasked them with terminating people being sent from the future for disposal.

At some point during their career, each Looper must also terminate their future self when the older version of themselves is sent back from the future. They are then released from their contract/duties and given thirty years to live their lives in an opulent manner—before they'll be sent back for termination.

If you like science fiction, I recommend this movie. I give it 4.5 out of 5 stars.

Plot

The resulting chaos when a Looper fails to terminate his future self.

And now for the last movie I watched over the holidays. Note: the comments on the movie below were also posted under the European movies group.

#5 – Nobody Else But You (French, 2012).
This was a strange movie. The core premise concerns a mystery writer who's under pressure from his publisher to come up with an idea for his next novel. As he approaches a small French town on the Swiss border, he comes across a police hearse loading the body of a dead woman. He then continues on into town and grabs himself a motel room for the night.

The next morning he learns a little about the dead woman from the television news. One thing then leads to the next and soon he's investigating her death, feeling the story may prove an excellent plot for his next novel. He's also interested in just how she died. Was it suicide as the police claim? Or was it murder?

This movie will not be for everyone. It's slow paced and takes place in the dead of winter. Snow is everywhere. The film is what I would term a light quirky mystery, with some subtle undertones of humor. I liked it.

I give it 4 out of 5 stars.

Plot

Unraveling how a local celebrity died.