Looper

Continuing the Summer of Cinema, I got this through my LoveFilm subscription. In a dystopian future, an assassin (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), or Looper of the title, finds himself in trouble with his employers when his future self (Bruce Willis) outwits him.

Not a bad movie, if a little over long for my taste. Gordon-Levitt spends most of the movie hanging around a farm looking at a loss for something to do, while Bruce Willis does his thing and shoots up the rest of the cast. One particular pleasure, though, is Gordon-Levitt's impression of Bruce Willis. Given Willis's limited range, I couldn't see them doing it the other way around.

The problem with the plot is that it exhibits a twist on the Grandfather paradox, which states that time travel does not work because if it does, you could go back in time and kill your own Grandfather before your father was born, thus preventing your birth and preventing you going back in time and killing your own Grandfather. In Looper, you can't forsee the future in such a way that you can change it and thus prevent yourself seeing the future.

Sorry. Just got a bit carried away there. You enjoy the movie and don't try to get your head around all the time-travel stuff. Otherwise, you'll end up trying to figure out Primer.

36 and Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel

I snagged a couple of DVD's from the shop (Cowboys & Aliens had been bagged by a customer). First up, F.A.Q. About Time Travel:

Billed as a Shaun of The Dead for time travel, which means that it all takes place in a pub. I can't quite bring myself to like it that much. The plot's okay, and the paradoxes work well enough, but it seems that the plot is the only joke in it and that's told over and over again.

There are a fair number of films about time travel, but one of the more serious ones is Primer.

Each "copy" of the protagonists tries to make sure no paradoxes occur and repair the ones that do. The film is really confusing and takes some time to understand (and I'm not that sure I do now), but there is a rather good explanation on Wikipedia and one or two graphs around, so it has a cult following.

36 is a French cops-and-robbers movie. Two rival detectives try to take down a hardened gang of armed robbers with devastating consequences for both of them.

A really good cop drama, Daniel Auteuil plays Vrinks, head of the BRI (a sort of Flying Squad). Gérard Depardieu plays Klein, head of the rival BRB, as much an antagonist as the criminals. It ends up a bit like The Count of Monte Cristo, with lots of twists and turns and a surprise ending. Based on a true story.