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Today’s quick review: Edge of Tomorrow. Cage (Tom Cruise) is an army propagandist who irritates the wrong general and finds himself assigned to front-line combat with a squad of misfits. Armed only with power armor he doesn’t know how to use, he is sent into battle against the Mimics, deadly aliens that have already conquered most of Europe. Cage dies on the battlefield, spattered with Mimic blood, but wakes up again at the beginning of the day. He finds himself trapped in an endless loop, reliving the same doomed offensive over and over again and starting the day over again each time he dies. His only ally is Rita (Emily Blunt), a legendary soldier who was trapped in a similar loop during a previous battle. Together they look for a way to win the unwinnable battle and defeat the Mimics once and for all.

Edge of Tomorrow is a compelling sci-fi movie with a strong premise, a couple of great gags, and a healthy dose of action. Over the course of his ordeal, Cage develops from a self-serving coward into a responsible soldier in his own right, forged in the fiery crucible of battle. Cage and Rita are up against an impossible puzzle; only through successive iterations are they able to chart a safe route through the battle. Every death brings Cage new knowledge, but even with the ability to try again and again, the power of the Mimics is overwhelming. Most of the movie’s tension comes from this grind, the incremental search for a way to live out the day that defeats an unbeatable foe.

Edge of Tomorrow succeeds admirably in bringing its premise to life. Those who love time travel movies, action sci-fi, or the concept of Groundhog Day crossed with D-Day and aliens should give Edge of Tomorrow a shot. Those who are looking for a light sci-fi movie should skip it: despite a handful of jokes, the setting is rather bleak and the two lead characters start off somewhat prickly. Those who tend to pick apart movies should also be wary going in: while most potential plot holes are addressed at one point or another, the plot invites questions that distract from the watching experience. Overall, you should watch Edge of Tomorrow for its intense combat and the video game-like grind of making progress at an impossible task through iteration. 7.9 out of 10 on IMDB.

Today’s quick review: Van Helsing. Hugh Jackman stars as the titular Van Helsing, a Victorian-era monster hunter who uses a wide array of weapons and gadgets to fight the unholy creatures that prey on humans. The Catholic Church sends him to Transylvania to help Anna Valerious (Kate Beckinsale) in her quest to kill Dracula. Anna is the last surviving member of her family, and an oath sworn by her ancestor dooms all their souls to hell should the bloodline perish before Dracula is slain. Together Van Helsing and Anna go toe-to-toe with a host of monsters from the gothic horror tradition, including Frankenstein’s monster, a werewolf, and Dracula and his brides, to stop Dracula before he completes his plan for unlimited power.

Van Helsing is an enjoyable, action-heavy take on the monster genre. The fights are fast-paced and creative, the tone is just the right blend of horror and adventure, and the visuals hold up well. The plot is satisfactory for an action movie, moving the action along without feeling too linear. The setting includes a few interesting bits of lore, and its grab-bag approach to the gothic horror genre gives the movie plenty of material to work with. The characters are entertaining but not especially deep. The film features a few comedic moments, particularly involving Van Helsing’s aide Carl (David Wenham), a put-upon monk from the Vatican. Between these moments and Van Helsing’s exaggerated weaponry (handheld rotary saws, an automatic crossbow, and more), the movie manages to effectively balance out its dark setting and horrific monsters, producing an overall tone that dilutes horror with fun.

Overall, Van Helsing is an excellent popcorn film. The action is exciting, the monsters are frightening, and the premise is an excuse to cut loose and have some fun. Those who prefer their movies serious should skip it, as should those who can’t stomach horror or violence. But anyone who is in the mood for a fantasy action movie and doesn’t mind watching a few monsters get killed should give Van Helsing a try. 6.0 out of 10 on IMDB.

Today’s quick review: I, Robot. Will Smith stars as Detective Spooner, a Chicago police officer who distrusts the robots that have become ubiquitous in society. When famed roboticist Dr. Lanning commits suicide and a robot flees the scene, Spooner suspects foul play. His investigation reveals a pattern of strange behavior among robots, but his conclusions are seen as paranoid by both his boss and Dr. Calvin (Bridget Moynahan), a roboticist helping him with his investigation. With the Three Laws of Robotics apparently failing, it’s only a matter of time before worse happens than one man’s murder. And at the heart of it all is the enigmatic Sonny (Alan Tudyk), the robot that fled from Dr. Lanning’s lab.

I, Robot is a sci-fi action thriller loosely adapted from Isaac Asimov’s book of short stories by the same name. The film features elegant CGI, a creative yet grounded vision of the future, plenty of high-speed action, and a gradually unfolding mystery that leads into an impressive finale. Will Smith brings his usual hard-headed heroism to the role of Detective Spooner, whose issues trusting robots make him the only one willing to follow where the clues lead. Bridget Moynahan plays Dr. Calvin, a stern scientist who views Spooner as a throwback. Alan Tudyk rounds out the cast as Sonny, a seemingly gentle robot who is keeping secrets.

I, Robot does an excellent job of merging classic sci-fi themes with modern cinematic action. The film explores the role of robots in society, the pitfalls of artificial intelligence, and the appropriate level of trust for such beings, all while delivering healthy doses of robot action. The mixture of a strong core plot and satisfying action gives the film longevity, and subsequent viewings are just as enjoyable as the first as long as they are a few months apart. I, Robot ranks very well as both a science fiction movie and an action thriller. While there are perhaps stronger movies in either of these categories, few of them handle the intersection of sci-fi themes and action as cleanly or as satisfyingly as I, Robot. 7.1 out of 10 on IMDB.

Today’s quick review: Memento. A man (Guy Pearce) suffers from a peculiar form of amnesia in which he cannot form new memories. He lives life in bursts of several minutes, guided only by notes, polaroids, and tattoos left by his past self. Waking up in a hotel room, he learns that he has been hunting after his wife’s killer and now may have enough clues to find him.

Memento is a fantastic thriller from Christopher Nolan. The story proceeds in reverse: the first several minutes of the movie are the last chronologically, and each subsequent scene takes place a few minutes farther into the past. This setup ensures that the events of the film are just as much of a mystery to the audience as they are to the main character. Using this one concept, Memento weaves a tale of uncertainty and paranoia. The main character depends entirely on the information he receives from himself and the people around him to make his decisions, and not everyone has his best interests at heart.

Memento is a must-see for its unique premise and its phenomenal execution. Fans of cerebral thrillers will have plenty to chew on, while fans of Christopher Nolan can look forward to a movie as mind-bending as Inception but darker in tone. However, Memento is a difficult watch and should not be tackled lightly. The complicated nature of the plot requires the viewer’s full attention, while the high levels of tension throughout the movie make it emotionally wrenching to watch. Watch it when you’re in the mood for a tense, well-crafted thriller with plenty of mystery. Put it off for another time if you don’t feel like investing the effort needed to follow what’s going on, and skip it altogether if you prefer lighter movies. 8.5 out of 10 on IMDB.

Today’s quick review: Burn After Reading. John Malkovich plays Osborne Cox, a low-level CIA agent with an inflated sense of worth and a drinking problem. His forced retirement prompts him to write his tell-all memoirs, which fall into the hands of his cheating wife Katie (Tilda Swinton), who is planning her divorce. By chance, the memoirs end up in a gym locker room, where they are found by two gym employees, Linda (Frances McDormand), a middle-aged woman who is insecure about her aging body, and Chad (Brad Pitt), her young and clueless coworker. The two attempt to return the memoirs to Osborne, but the phone conversation goes awry and their act of kindness turn into blackmail. Meanwhile, Linda begins to date Harry (George Clooney), a charming philanderer who is cheating on his own wife with both Linda and Katie. The plot grows more and more complicated as Chad and Linda ineptly try to get rich off of the worthless memoirs, believing the intelligence in them to be top secret.

Despite a strong cast and an interesting setup, Burn After Reading does not quite click the way other Coen Brothers films do. The tone changes jarringly between the early and late parts of the movie, abruptly switching from a low-stakes comedy to a black comedy in a burst of violence. The Coen Brothers’ trademark sense of humor works just as well in both flavors of comedy, but the mixture of the two violates the promise of the early movie and prevents Burn After Reading from standing out in either genre. Those who are less affected by the transition may find the film to be more in line with the Coen Brothers’ other works.

The characters are one of the strong points of the film and the source of much of its humor. The characters are given interesting flaws and good reasons to interact with one another. However, the cast as a whole is missing the heart found in the casts of other Coen Brothers films. There is no Marge Gunderson investigating violent crime in small-town Minnesota between quiet evenings with her beloved husband. There is no Ulysses Everett McGill prevaricating his way to a prize worth more to him than all the many trials along the way. There are only shallow, self-interested players without the virtues or good sense needed to escape the trouble their flaws led them into.

Burn After Reading is a quirky comedy with a star-studded cast and an entertaining plot that ultimately does not live up to its potential. The abrupt shift in tone coupled with the lack of a sympathetic character to act as a palate cleanser make this one of the Coen Brothers’ weaker comedies. The movie does have its high points—most notably a handful of marvelous scenes with J.K. Simmons as a CIA officer monitoring the “crisis” as it develops—but isn’t as satisfying as it could have been. Those who are drawn to the high-quality cast, offbeat sense of humor, and well-written plot should give the movie a watch in spite of its flaws. Anyone else should steer clear in favor of other Coen Brothers comedies, like Fargo or O Brother, Where Art Thou?, or other ensemble comedies, like Ocean’s Eleven. 7.0 out of 10 on IMDB.

Today’s quick review: Looper. Joseph Gordon-Levitt stars as a looper named Joe, a hitman in the present who helps the criminals of the future dispose of their victims. The victims are tied up and sent from the future to a predetermined location in the present, along with payment. The looper kills the victim, takes the payment, and disposes of the body. The job lasts until the looper kills his future self, “closing the loop” and terminating his contract. Everything proceeds as normal for Joe until he tries to close his loop. His future self (Bruce Willis) gets the drop on him and escapes into the present, intent on changing the course of history. Now it’s up to Joe to kill his future self before he ruins the present.

Looper is a mind-bending time travel thriller. The rules of time travel are such that everything that happens to Joe affects his future self, wherever he is. Memories, scars, and deformities fade into existence in real time, so that if Joe’s employer’s catch him, they can take out his rogue future self with no hassle. This makes Joe a fugitive who is not only trying to chase down himself but to avoid capture and elimination long enough to do so. For his part, Future Joe has grown a lot since the irresponsible days of his youth, but he’s just as stubborn and twice as crafty.

All this boils down to a thriller plot with a few sci-fi twists. Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Bruce Willis play off each other well, each bringing to the table a startling amount of loathing for his alternate self. The tone of the movie is somewhat dark: while Joe and Future Joe each have their moments, neither is a particularly sympathetic protagonist, and the enemies they’re up against are cold-blooded killers. The time travel mechanics are explained well enough to understand, but they are still difficult enough to understand that suspension of disbelief is the best way to approach the movie. There are slight sci-fi elements other than time travel, but these are introduced gradually and are not central to the plot. Overall, Looper is an unconventional thriller with a clever premise, a few touching moments, and heavy tension throughout. While not the top of its genre as either a sci-fi film or a thriller, Looper makes for a solid watch that time travel fans will want to check out. 7.4 out of 10 on IMDB.

Today’s quick review: A Fish Called Wanda. A gang of four thieves pulls off a diamond heist, but their leader George is arrested. Wanda (Jamie Lee Curtis) makes plans with her lover Otto (Kevin Kline) to abscond with the diamonds, but finds that George moved the diamonds before his arrest. To find out where the loot is stashed, she attempts to seduce Archie (John Cleese), George’s lawyer. Meanwhile, Ken (Michael Palin), a man with a good heart and a bad stutter, is tasked with eliminating an old lady who saw George at the scene of the crime, a job that proves difficult for him to carry out.

A Fish Called Wanda is a skillful comedy with a colorful cast of characters. The humor derives from the characters’ larger-than-life personalities and their ill-fated attempts to double cross each other for the diamonds. Coincidences and hasty decisions abound, and soon nothing is going according to plan. Michael Palin pulls off a suitably pathetic Ken, who is used by Wanda, abused by Otto, and generally deprived of even the simple joys in life. Kevin Kline plays the bombastic Otto, a self-taught disciple of Nietzsche who wrongly considers himself the brains of the operation. John Cleese brings his typical humor to the role of a man whose quiet life is gradually dragged into chaos through his involvement with the gang. Jamie Lee Curtis rounds out the gang as the fickle Wanda, whose attempts to manipulate Archie do not go as smoothly as planned.

A Fish Called Wanda is a clever and entertaining movie with a memorable cast and an unpredictable plot. Fans of John Cleese or Jamie Lee Curtis should give it a watch, as should future fans of Kevin Kline and anyone who’s in the mood for a light comedy. 7.6 out of 10 on IMDB.

Today’s quick review: Matchstick Men. Nic Cage stars as an OCD conman whose life is upended by the sudden appearance of a teenage daughter he never knew he had. She quickly ingratiates herself into his life, and while her sloppy habits are a source of stress for him, he comes to appreciate her company. Against his better judgment, Cage teaches her how to con, and soon she ends up involved with his latest major con alongside Cage’s partner in crime.

Matchstick Men is credible father-daughter film worked into a crime drama plot. Nic Cage brings his signature style to the role, projecting cool confidence in his role as a criminal, burgeoning tenderness in his role as a father, and extreme irritability in his role as a man suffering from neuroses. His daughter brings out the best in him, and in spite of himself he begins to come out of his shell. Fans of Nic Cage for his acting and fans of Nic Cage for his freakouts should both have something to enjoy in Matchstick Men. The plot is well-constructed and well-executed, and while the film isn’t groundbreaking in its concept or presentation, it is a satisfying watch. Give Matchstick Men a shot if you’re in the mood for a crime film with a quirky protagonist and a fulfilling emotional arc. 7.3 out of 10 on IMDB.

Today’s quick review: The Fifth Element. When an enormous orb of death appears in the far reaches of space during the twenty-third century, an alien race sends their secret weapon to Earth to prevent the death of all life in the universe. The weapon, a genetically perfect being named Leeloo (Milla Jovovich), is destroyed in an attack on the transport ship, but she is reconstructed on Earth from DNA recovered from the crash. Confused and alone, she escapes confinement and plunges into the cab of Korben Dallas (Bruce Willis), an unlucky taxi driver and former soldier. He takes her to Father Vito Cornelius (Ian Holm), the aliens’ contact on Earth, where Leeloo explains that the four elements needed to activate the superweapon are missing. Thus begins a race to find the remaining elements, activate the weapon, and save all life in the universe from extermination. Opposing this endeavor is Zorg (Gary Oldman), the mega-corporation head whose hired goons were responsible for the attack on the transport ship.

The Fifth Element is a movie that has to be seen to be believed. Broadly speaking, it is a sci-fi adventure with an intricate plot and heavy comedic elements. But more than that, The Fifth Element offers a unique tone that would be hard for any other movie to replicate. The setting is a colorful mishmash of futuristic convenience and futuristic impracticality. Bulky, armored aliens, who arrived in an enormous, faster-than-light spaceship, walk at a snail’s pace. Junkies perpetrate elaborate muggings but don’t know how to use their own weapons. An alien diva uses her incredible vocal range to sing what can best be described as dance opera. The Fifth Element takes a sci-fi setting built on old-school costumes and props and runs with it, embracing both the most marvelous and the most mundane visions of the future that the genre has to offer.

The characters operate along similar lines, mixing serious motives with unserious means. Korben Dallas finds himself dragged into the story by chance, drawn by his affection for Leeloo and pushed by a military that wants to use his skills for more or less the same mission. Vito Cornelius sees it as his duty to recover the elements so that the universe can be saved, causing the otherwise peaceful priest to resort to subterfuge and (mild) violence. Zorg has a small army of hired thugs at his disposal, but misfortune and poor management keep them from being an overwhelming advantage. Even the government gets in on the action, sending a general to try to strongarm Dallas out of retirement to help retrieve the elements. The various factions, even the nominally allied ones, are in constant competition, and even minor twists of fate are enough to set one group or another ahead in the race for the elements.

The stumbling nature of the race makes for a complicated and interesting plot. The core concept of the plot is classic sci-fi fare stripped down to its essentials: a threat to the universe can only be stopped using a prophesied weapon, which must be retrieved before it is too late. But around this core is an intricate web of cause and effect, of fortune and misfortune, that lends the movie its hectic charm. Between its complex setup and its round robin character interactions, The Fifth Element ends up moving at a rapid clip, working a lot of plot into a little time. The nature of the turnabouts is such that key plot points easy to miss, but the general intent of the characters is always obvious, and the missed plot points are quickly buried under further developments. The logic of the plot is robust even down to minor details: an attentive viewer will be rewarded with extra insight into events that seemed random on first viewing.

The direction of the movie gives it an extra bit of character. Parallel conversations are often used for exposition, cutting back and forth between two characters in different locations reacting to the same facts. Scene transitions are often built around related elements in the two scenes, some quite subtle, again rewarding close watching. Lively supporting characters, punchy musical cues, and a continuous trickle of jokes combine to reinforce The Fifth Element’s unique tone.

The acting of The Fifth Element has a number of gems. Bruce Willis brings his usual style to the film as Korben Dallas, an everyman whose clear thinking and decisive action gives him a leg up in a chaotic world. Milla Jovovich plays the innocent but talented Leeloo, who babbles cheerfully in an alien language with interspersed bits of English. Ian Holm and Luke Perry play Father Cornelius and his assistant Billy, a hapless duo whose kindly natures are at odds with the dangerous adventure they step into. Gary Oldman delivers a memorable performance as Zorg, amoral and prone to bouts of temper. And Chris Tucker steals the show as the role he was born to play: Ruby Rhod, a shrill and flamboyant radio personality who gets swept up in the action.

Overall, The Fifth Element is a classic of the sci-fi genre. Its campy setting and characters, energetic direction, and persistent sense of humor make it an eminently enjoyable watch, while an intricate plot and a keen attention to detail give it plenty of replay value. Those looking for a serious take on the future should avoid it. Those who prefer their movies neat and orderly should avoid it. Those who are not willing to put up with Chris Tucker screaming at the top of his lungs for the sake of comedy should avoid it. Everyone else should give The Fifth Element a watch when they’re looking for a fun, frenetic sci-fi adventure. 7.7 out of 10 on IMDB.

Today’s quick review: The Bucket List. Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson star as a pair of aging cancer patients who decide to spend their last weeks on a globe-trotting adventure to complete their bucket list, “the list of things to do before you kick the bucket”. Funded by Nicholson’s riches, the two go skydiving, drive racecars, and see the sights of the world. But their trip runs aground when Freeman cannot convince the irascible Nicholson to make up with his estranged daughter, and the two are left to make what they can of the rest of their lives.

The Bucket List is a bittersweet comedy carried by a duo of excellent actors. Freeman plays a warm and honest working-class man who has spent his life working to support his family. Nicholson plays a grumpy but charming millionaire who has spent his life building his business. The two meet in a cancer ward and quickly become friends. Rather than waste away in a hospital, they decide to live out all the dreams they never had the money or time for before. The two actors are masters of their craft, and they play off each other well, quickly settling into a buddy comedy interaction.

The premise of the movie is a simple one, and its execution is linear. Much of the movie is spent on the pair’s world tour, bookended by the emotional and familial aspects of terminal cancer. The actors do manage to work real bits of humanity into these scenes, from Nicholson’s unwillingness to confront his mistakes to Freeman’s principled devotion to his wife. The tone of the film is one of joyous optimism brought down to earth by its more dramatic scenes. Overall, The Bucket List is a well-executed but straightforward movie. It’s worth a watch if you’re in the mood for a life-affirming comedy that mixes in sadder elements as well as bits of catharsis. Skip it if you want a pure comedy with no strings attached or you are looking for something with a little more meat on its bones. 7.4 out of 10 on IMDB.