Hey Amy, was this blog post partially created out of you wanting to tell people that you saw LOOPER before it was even out in theaters?

Why yes, yes it is.

That, and writer/director Rian Johnson’s films make all of my top ten movie lists. If I were stranded on a deserted island, I’d bring his high school noir film Brick with me. If I had three hours left to live, you can bet I’d be watching his feel-good con man love story adventure, The Brother’s Bloom. What’s that you say? There’s been a nuclear war and I’m only allowed to save five movies from the impending destruction? Looper, consider yourself saved.

P.S. As much as I want to burst out in song and share my bundle of feelings about LOOPER to the world, there will be no spoilers in this post. Cross my heart, guys.

Lesson #1: Play With Genre Expectations

Brick Logline: A teenage loner pushes his way into the underworld of a

high school crime ring to investigate the disappearance of his ex-girlfriend.

Brick is one of those rare films where the literary design is as interesting as the visual design. We’ve got all the ingredients of a hardboiled detective story wrapped in the neo-noir genre: crime rings, drug wars, violence and revenge and love triangles… but the characters in this story are all in high school, still living with their parents and attending classes. It’s a twist on the traditional genre that surfaces every once in awhile to wink at you before submerging again and allowing the darker tones of the story take over. [Read more…]