Netflix Review: Don Jon (2013)

The adult version of Gordon-Levitt morphed from Bruce Willis into Tony Danza.

Having known the basic premise of the movie, I find myself wondering why I ever bothered to watch it. The protagonist, Jon, has his simple pleasures in life: his body, his pad, his ride, his family, his church, his boys, his girls, and his porn. His problem is that the latter seems to be his greatest preoccupation. What possibly drew my interest to this film was the idea that it might address the issue of porn addiction, something that would be pretty bold for a major feature film to do. However, it fails to do this and really offers nothing of value in its place.

It is intentionally repetitive in how it structures its narrative, but despite this self-consciousness it is not any less repetitive to the audience. The story moves as if on a treadmill; there is no progress or climax or resolution. Jon starts as a guy who likes to watch porn and to sleep around and is dissatisfied with it, courts and sleeps with Scarlett Johansson and is dissatisfied with it, sleeps with Julianne Moore, stops watching porn, and apparently finds things more satisfying even though he knows they have no future as a couple (she is 21 years his senior, after all). And then the credits roll, leaving me wondering, "What just happened?:

The characters are annoying throughout. Scarlett appears to be a strong reactionary to 2nd wave feminism, abhorring the idea that Jon would vacuum or mop his own floors. Are there really women who exist who prefer men who have a strong aversion to household cleaning? Tony Danza couldn't have been more obnoxious; I'm not sure if he was acting. Why am I still writing about this? Don't watch it.

Movie Review: Looper (2012)

Recently, it seems that Joseph Gordon-Levitt has been riding an increasing wave of popularity with release after big release. Some of them have been very good, such as the Chris Nolan films Inception and The Dark Knight Rises, as well as 50/50, while some have been questionable, like Hesher. But it seems that he is not yet big enough to command that other actors conform to his image. In Looper, he plays the younger version of Bruce Willis, being made up to have somewhat similar but unconvincing facial features. Even though he doesn't look like a real person, I somewhat like the caricature-esque face, which makes it almost more play-like. It is not written for the live performance format, though, as it is a science fiction thriller set in 2044. Gordon-Levitt plays the role of Joe, a looper, which is an executioner. Time travel is invented in 2074 and by this time body-tracking has made it difficult to dispose of bodies, so what the mafia does is send them into the past to be killed by a looper. However, a looper has only a limited-time contract with the mafia until their future selves of 30 years are sent back to be killed by themselves, which is called "closing the loop." After this they are allowed to retire and enjoy the next 30 years. The reason for closing the loop, if it was explained in the movie, was missed by me (nor was the reason for the prevalence of such anachronistic weapons given). It simply seems to be a poor business practice. And what happens is a case in point: Joe fails to kill Old Joe, played by Bruce Willis, who escapes and wants to keep the undesirable events of the future from happening. Like any good sci-fi film, Looper clearly has a very interesting concept, but unlike movies such as In Time, it develops this concept into a good story. It is more than just an action film, blending themes of difficult moral decision making involving selfishness and loyalty, as well as being disturbing enough to leave me a little trippy while walking out of the theatre late at night (I thought that one time through the loop was enough). At no point is it boring; I was engaged throughout. In addition, Looper seemed like classic Bruce Willis, in that the action scenes were more like the ones in the first Die Hard rather than the outrageous ones in the sequels. Sometimes simple plausibility in these matters is more appealing than the MacGyver/van Damme/Brock Sampson who can kill legions with only a pair of chopsticks and some fishing line. It is by no means the best sci-fi thriller, but I think it gets the job done, particularly if that job is watching a satisfying movie of this genre when there are no other film priorities.