Looper

It’s a great feeling for a movie fan when a highly anticipated movie exceeds your expectations.

Rian Johnson’s “Looper” was one of the most eagerly awaited films of 2012. The combination of Johnson, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Bruce Willis, and the high concept cross-stitching of hit men and time travel held a potential that people couldn’t help but build hope for.

I’m happy to report that “Looper” delivers on its promise in a big way. It’s a sci-fi thriller with a soul. Clever, intense and original, “Looper” is easily one of the best movies of 2012 so far.

The 2012 Fall Movie Preview – Part I

With this weekend’s release of “The Expendables 2” and “ParaNorman”, the summer movie season is pretty much over. One weekend remains in August, and those movies wont have much room to run before school is back in session.

Nope, the season of the big blockbuster is behind us. It’s time to look ahead to the fall.

Not to despair, though, the fall brings sharp movies for the thinking movie fan. Movies which may have more selective box office appeal, but which may be some of the best movies all year.

So click through to take a look at the first part of this year’s fall preview. Today we’ll look at the last week of August, plus September, and then we’ll come back tomorrow with October and the first week of November. Together they’ll take us right up to the start of the Holiday movie season, and the November 9th release of Skyfall!

Cowboys & Aliens

I don’t know if calling “Cowboys & Aliens” a disappointment is fair. I really didn’t have high expectations for it, so when I came out of it feeling like I saw a decent movie, what I should feel is pleasantly surprised.

But there’s a lot of talent surrounding this film. And after attending Favreau’s “Visionaries” panel, which he shared with Guillermo del Toro, I really wanted this film to be excellent.

Unfortunately, it’s not. It’s not bad, but it’s certainly not great, and in the end I wound up wishing they had just made a straight up Western instead.