lethalweapon

In the far future, time travel is invented, but outlawed, and used only by criminal elements of society. However, in the far future, the underworld has a difficult time getting rid of bodies, which are tracked efficiently by the Government. So they come up with a creative way of disposing bodies. They send an operative, Abe, back in time (by a few decades) to monitor a group of hit men called loopers. Loopers are contractually obliged to receive masked victims from the future; they lie in wait at a predetermined hour, rifles cocked and ready to shoot. In front of them, the victim suddenly appears; the looper then shoots him down, wrap up the body and cremate him, leaving no trace.

The loopers are monitored actively by the 'Gat Men', who work under Abe to ensure that the Loopers stick to their contract. The loopers are paid princely sums, but accept an expiration date for their services in a unique way; one day, in the far future, his own self would be blindfolded and sent back in time to be executed. The looper is supposed to kill his older self, an act they call 'closing the loop'. (How that closes the loop is beyond me.) Once they execute themselves, they are retired from service with a heavy gold retirement package.

The protagonist is Joe Simmons, who has been a looper for a long time. He faces his own future self, but is overpowered. Joe begins a hunt for his older self.

Fast paced, novel, and gripping, Looper is a strong entertainer. I've always enjoyed Gordon Levitt's performances, and Bruce Willis, playing Gordon's older self, gives a strong performance himself. The story is well drafted, the action sequences are well done, and the story for the Rainman character is masterfully molded in the background.

However, while I enjoyed the movie, it has its own flaws. My friends raved about the movie and heralded it as groundbreaking. I don't think I would go that far. The time travel rules established in the movie are clumsy at best. The truly great time travel movies generally stick to their own rules and make sense in some manner. Here, it seems to have superficial thought at best. The future self is affected by the actions done on the current person. In one sequence, the older self is trying to flee, but the Gat men are actively torturing the current self as this happens. They wound the person, and the older self gets a corresponding scar; they cut off limbs and the future self physically changes accordingly. This was a wonderfully horrific sequence, and built on to a gripping tension, but it just doesn't make sense. If such drastic changes are made, then the entire future life has to be affected... in this case, the implication is that the guy's future doesn't change at all even through something drastic as amputation.

But if you can stop your thoughts from frowning at the logical inconsistencies, the Looper is a strong entertainer.

Two friends, Emma (Natalie Portman) and Adam (Ashton Kutcher), decide to have a pact where they would have casual sex whenever they needed it, and not bring in emotional baggage and work that goes into building an actual relationship; i.e., sex with 'no strings attached'.

This is one of three prominent movies around casual sex and 'friends with benefits' that popped up in 2011. 'Friends with Benefits' starring Mila Kunis and Justin Timberlake follows a similar thread. 'Love and Other Drugs' starring Jake Gyllenhall and Anne Hathaway also apparently started out in the same vein, but developed into something between a drama around Parkinsons and a Viagara drug biopic. It was definitely the best of the three.

For the most part, No Strings Attached is bland, tasteless, and predictable. I think Natalie's a very talented actress who usually picks good roles for herself, but this one fell flat from the get go.

Hindu youth Vinod has a chance encounter with Aisha, niece of a powerful Muslim political leader, Abdul Khader, and falls in love. The movie starts mid-story, with the hero being jailed for trespassing into Abdul Khader's property to see Aisha. The story unfolds as narrated by Vinod to the Sub Inspector. The soul of the movie is how Vinod explores his feelings for Aisha, and tries to see how she would fit into his life. The style of narration is the revised, youth-centered, casual form that is becoming increasingly popular in Malayalam movies; it's the shifting of gear to a new era.

However, as far as the plot goes, it is simple, cute, and pleasant, but not novel. There is absolutely nothing new in the story. I have been getting rave reviews about the movie, and went in expecting something fresh. It's not. It's enjoyable enough, but simply doesn't have enough content.