Double Bill Mini Musings: Strange Cameras and Stolen Culture...

Time Lapse:
What's it about?
Three friends discover a bizarre camera, in the home of their recently deceased neighbour, which can take photographs of future events.
Who would I recognise in it?
Danielle Panabaker.
Great/Good/Alright/Shite?
The film wastes little time in convincing its protagonists in the existence or mechanics of this strange photographic device, preferring to get the setup done quick and then take time with what comes next. There are familiar themes relating to time travel, such as using it for greed or the mind-twisting workings of the concept itself, but the film still feels more fresh than you might initially expect. The characters aren't necessarily the deepest or most complex, but their wants and needs are clear, and the performances help bolster their curious predicament as believable. Inevitably things take darker and more troubling turns, and while some twists are relatively predictable, the climax is deliciously satisfying. Good.

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Double Bill Mini Musings: Top Drawer, Bottom Drawer...

Looper:
What's it about?
Rian Johnson's time travel sci-fi thriller set in the near-future where time travel hasn't yet been invented, but in thirty years it will have been. After its invention it is immediately outlawed and becomes the preserve of the mob, who send people they want killed back-in-time for "Loopers" to kill. One day though, each Looper will have to "close their loop" and kill their own future self - however Joe's elder-self has other ideas.
Who would I recognise in it?
Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Bruce Willis, Emily Blunt, Noah Segan, Jeff Daniels, Paul Dano, Piper Perabo, and Garrett Dillahunt.
Great/Good/Alright/Shite?
The best films, particularly genre films, always have a fantastic central idea to them. In the case of Looper it's the idea of your present self trying to kill your older self who just wants to survive to preserve their own future, and the schism that this presents. Packed full of ideas (an older incarnation of one character finds themselves literally falling apart, for example), Johnson's film is a spectacular mix of mind-bending sci-fi (set in a near-future world that is, for the most part, recognisable), retro chic ("Gat Men", for instance), thoughtful ideas, and blazing action. An instant classic of the genre. Great.

Click "READ MORE" below for "Contraband" starring Mark Wahlberg...