Self doesn’t know why JGL had to wear prosthetics, because he didn’t look anything like the young Bruce Willis. What was up with those heavy eyebrows! Even when Bruce Willis was a young whippersnapper, in “Moonlighting,” with Cybill Shepherd, he never had those eyebrows! They were so distracting!
Emily Blunt is great. Whether she’s chopping up a tree trunk, gazing miserably at her blistered hands, wielding a rifle, mouthing cuss words, miming the smoking of an illusory cigarette, feeling wistful and hot for JGL, hiding in a safe, or protecting her weird kid from the entire world, she looks great doing it. (Self also wishes she could say Ms. Blunt’s American accent seemed very authentic, but the memory of how convincing she found Tom Hardy’s supposedly backwoods accent in “Lawless” — an opinion apparently not shared by reviewers on Rotten Tomatoes — still reverberates)
The little kid was like something out of “The Omen.” Seriously, he was like the Second Coming of Damien.
The whole time travel thing? Self is so over it. Having been present at the birth (with the first “Terminator”), she would like to preside over its demise. The only time travel movie of relatively recent vintage that self enjoyed was the adaptation of Audrey Niffenegger’s “The Time-Traveler’s Wife.” Self cried buckets after that one. Well, technically “Midnight in Paris” is also a time travel movie. But no, it wasn’t! That was more like a Cinderella story!
Paul Dano, as a hapless looper, whose motorcycle is very integral to the plot (at least in the beginning) was also great.
Jeff Daniels, as an amiable Bad Guy, is wonderful. Just flat-out wonderful. His lines, even the silliest, were invested with so much droll wit. Self remembers that he and JGL were in a movie together, some time back: “The Lookout.” Jeff Daniels played JGL’s blind mentor. That was a really terrific movie.
Maybe it’s because self liked “Premium Rush” so much, she was disappointed by this one. JGL needs no special effects. He is a good actor. Please take the gun out of his hand. Mebbe it’s time for him to do a comedy.
As for Emily Blunt, she and Jessica Chastain are now self’s favorite actresses, as of this moment.
Oh, before self forgets: Piper Perabo is in this movie as well, and she is great! Not only that, she must be one of the few dozen actresses in Hollywood today who do not feel it necessary to get a boob job.
(Thank God, today self did not have to sit through another preview of “Taken 2.” How long can things keep going this way, with the family of Liam Neeson constantly being “taken” when they’re overseas? In this one, the stakes are upped because it’s not just the daughter who’s taken, but apparently the entire family. Well, at least in this one, the daughter is apparently able to do some action scenes herself. That is, the preview shows her driving a car during a high speed chase)
Stay tuned, dear blog readers. Stay tuned.
Kanlaon 