Last movie you watched......

Watched "Lockdown" this morning. Great dumb fun, "Escape From New York" on a spaceship with a big dose of "Die Hard."

I can just imagine that this was at some point intended to be another Bruce Willis-Milla Jovovich vehicle, but Guy Pearce channeled his inner wiseass perfectly.

 

I really wanted to like "Lockdown" but I couldn't watch it without thinking, John Carpenter did this much better 30 years ago.

 

"Looper."

This is what "Inception" should have been. It's not perfect. I don't think it had the emotional wallop it needs, particularly in establishing Old Joe's relationship with his wife. But the director, Rian Johnson, kept the plot clean enough to follow. He didn't overstuff it, like Nolan did. He uses voice over effectively - as usual, Johnson is cribbing generously from noir. The action sequences are easy to track.

Nice movie. Should have gotten some Academy love, but I'm not sure where. Maybe a screenplay nomination.

Oh, and I love that he lived with the R rating. No compromises.

 

Oh, and I think I've heard Johnson say he really likes "Inception." I can tell. I think he sacrifices character for story, like Nolan. But he's way better at story. More sure of himself. He's the sports writer who doesn't write 18 inches when 12 will suffice.

 

You mean 28 when 12 will suffice.

 

Was pumped to see Looper. Finally watched it last weekend. It was definitely bad enough to get some love from the Academy. Not sure what happened there.

Watched Our Idiot Brother last night on TV. Wow, was that horrible.

Hoping ZDT makes up for both of them tomorrow.

 

Searching for Sugar Man - A good introduction to a pretty good singer. I don't like how they tried to frame this as a person who has been presumed dead for decades though. He was only out of the spotlight for 15 years or so until the South Africans found him living in Detroit and going about his business. They want to make you believe they found him yesterday. It seems to me there is a much larger story here about where the money went from his South African sales. The caustic interview with the ex-Motown exec was by far the most fascinating. I also wanted to know if he plays any gigs in the states now or has recorded anything new. They don't go into that.

 

I liked 'Looper,' but I thought it was inferior to 'Inception,' which was good but certainly not great.
The voiceover was one of the things that bothered me about 'Looper.' A dead character can provide narration, but in this case it stuck out to me.
It also bothered me that the narration included the setup for young Joe's solution the final confrontation. If that had unfolded without his narration it would have been much more interesting, and much more shocking.

I know you don't like the use of the Ellen Page character for exposition in 'Inception,' and I agree that it's a bit heavy-handed.
But my major complaint with'Inception' was always length and pacing.

 

Would you agree that "Looper" was better paced, even though you thought it was an inferior film overall?

 

This has inspired me to switch next Netflix DVD from "Hanna" to "Looper."

 

Absolutely, that is very much my assessment. Neither film was great. 'Inception' was better overall, but the pacgin for 'Looper' was much, much better.

I really liked 'Hanna.'

 

No, Hanna is very good.