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Years after rescuing his daughter (Maggie Grace) from a group of Albanian sex traffickers, retired CIA operative Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson) is a wanted man by thugs out to avenge the deaths of their relatives. Now in Istanbul with his ex-wife (Famke Janssen) and daughter the entire family is kidnapped and separated, it’s up to Bryan to use his unusual skill set to break free and track down his loved ones before time runs out. Perhaps in the running for the best incidental comedy of the year, it’s a little hard to take this one seriously. While action sequences seem interesting and Neeson brings an elegant gravitas to the way he downs his opponents, the dialogue is otherwise laughable. Practically demanding a suspension of disbelief the actual plot feels thinly concocted meanwhile the actual cinematography has its redeemable merits leaving the film as an odd blend of quality production with underdeveloped writing. Knowing this, the film is still entertaining in its own simplistic way and maybe a matinee but really sings more rental. Taken 2 is rated PG-13.

In the year 2072 disposing of a dead body is very difficult, so, when the mafias of the future need to make someone vanish they use the illegal technology of time travel to send their victims back in time 30 years where they are immediately shot and killed by someone known as a “looper.” The bodies of the departed are then disposed of leaving no trace. The catch being that in order to keep things quiet the mafia will eventually “close the loop” by forcing a looper to eventually kill their future self and dispose of their own body. Joe (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is a looper, and he’s just been given the assignment to kill his future self (Bruce Willis); but, before he can even get a shot off, the wily older version of himself manages to escape sending a cascading chain of events off course. Now it’s up to young Joe to stop his older self from making matters worse before mobster Abe (Jeff Daniels) catches them both and before the innocent mother and son, Sara and Cid (Emily Blunt and Pierce Gagnon), are killed in the process. Sounds confusing on paper, but well thought out time travel flicks are often hard to wrap your mind around at first; fortunately, writer/director Rian Johnson, has done a fantastic job thinking through the plausibility and accuracy of how such a possible scenario could come into being– revealing just the right amount of detail, carefully constructing suspense, and telling a well spun story to spark our imagination and ask “what if?” Gordon-Levitt and Willis seem to do a fine job blending into one man, albeit it’s really Gordon-Levitt mugging Willis here, but the two actually fit together nicely. Except for the prosthetic makeup for Gordon-Levitt, it’s actually distracting and really un-necessary. Once again Emily Blunt miraculously disappears into her character and brings her “A” game to the plate. And, bit parts from Paul Dano and Piper Perabo add some interesting colour. There are a lot of moving parts here, and the film does start to feel a little long in the last few minutes, still, this one’s worth the price of admission! Looper is rated R.

Based on the novel of the same name, writer/director Stephen Chbosky has adapted his coming of age tale for screen to create this gem. An antisocial freshman, Charlie (Logan Lerman), finds his crowd to run with when seniors and step siblings, Patrick and Sam (Ezra Miller and Emma Watson), take him under their wing. However, gaining confidence aside, Charlie still has a dark passenger that rides in his psyche and it could be his downfall. Surviving his freshman year, finding his first love, gaining a pillar of support in his English teacher (Paul Rudd), and facing his darker side just begin to touch the film’s core. While fans of the novel will of course have criticisms of what’s been left behind, Chbosky has gone through over a year of painstaking edits to shape the tale we see, all in effort to maintain the integrity and flavour of his original piece. As a first time director/screenwriter the future looks bright. Admittedly, while some scenes carry a sense of stilted language and perhaps could have been given a bit more attention, the spirit of John Hughes appears to have graced the set and given a blessing. Furthermore, if you were a high school student in the early 90’s, prepare for flashbacks (good and bad, HA!). This is no doubt a magic journey, doesn’t overstay its welcome, and delivers the goods over and over. Worth it! The Perks of Being a Wallflower is rated PG-13.