At work the other day, we were talking about favorite movies and that got me thinking about my favorite movies of all time. So, I decided to name my 5 favorite movies and explain why I love them each so much in order:
[1] Latter Days- My favorite movie is Latter Days, which is a movie written because the director (C. Jay Cox) was wondering what would happen if the person he is now could meet the person he was when he was younger. The movie is about a Mormon missionary, Aaron (played by Steve Sandvoss), on a mission in California who meets Christian (played by Wes Ramsey), a young, gay party animal. The two of them meet and fall in love, only to be caught hand have Aaron sent home in disgrace. See, at first Christian has a bet that he can't fool around with one of the Mormon missionaries, but thanks to Aaron, Christian realizes that there is more to life than the next trick. Aaron attempts suicide and is sent to be "rehabilitated" when he realizes (thanks to a music video) that Christian does love him. So, he goes back to LA and reconnects with Aaron. I know it sounds very after school specialish, but the movie is really one with heart and soul. After I saw this movie, I knew how incredibly lucky I was to have family and friends who accepted me for who I am. My favorite line is the last line of the movie, as the whole gang in LA sits down as a family and Aaron says: "Sometimes it all still feels like a mass of dots. But more and more these days, I feel like we're all connected. And it's beautiful... and funny... and good."
[2] To Save a Life- This is a movie about a popular guy in high school, Jake (played by Randy Wayne) who sees a former friend from middle school bring a gun to school and commit suicide. This event sends him on a quest to find meaning to life. He ends up in a church and connects with the youth pastor and other people there. Gradually, he opens his circle to other kids who are unpopular until he discovers that his ex is pregnant and he has a major crisis of faith. One of the unpopular kids is accused of a crime and Jake helps to vindicate him and then sets up a website in honor of his friend who committed suicide. In the end, the guy tells Jake that he had been contemplating suicide until the day when Jake talked to him and made him a part of the group. Again, maybe a little after school specialish, but the message is wonderful. While you may never make a huge difference, as you go through life, you touch the lives of others in ways you may never know. I also talk about the movie here.
[3] The Perks of Being a Wallflower- This movie is based off of a book by Steven Chbosky. Logan Lerman plays Charlie, a troubled and introverted high school freshman who is befriended by Sam (Emma Watson) and Patrick (Ezra Miller), two seniors who make him a part of their group. The movie shows how Charlie grows, lives, learns, and loves over the course of his freshman year. The book is wonderful and since Steven Chbosky also wrote and directed the film, the big thumping heart of this awesome book really comes through.
[4] Defying Gravity- This was actually the first "gay" movie I ever saw and as such, it occupies a special spot in my heart. The movie is about Griff (Daniel Chilson), a frat boy in a secret relationship with Pete (Don Handfield) who is attacked by some men shortly after he and Griff have a fight about whether or not they should reveal their relationship. Griff is forced to grapple with his secret and eventually reveals his secret to his best friend. He eventually discovers that the attackers were members of his own frat and after they are arrested, he moves into Pete's room. This movie really helped me to discover who I was and made me think about what I wanted out of my life.
[5] The Amazing Spider-Man- This movie shouldn't need much explanation. I know this is radically different from the other movies, but I do love superhero movies and I think this was, by far, the best Spider-Man movie I have seen. I wrote about this already here, so I really won't say much in this post.
Some of my other favorite movies are (in no particular order): X-Men: First Class, A Walk to Remember, Shelter, and Rock Haven (talked about here).
Friday, November 29, 2013
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
On Looper *POTENTIAL SPOILERS*
My brother and I watched Looper on Sunday and loved it. However, after I watched it, I was thinking about it (as is my wont) and it occurred to me that during the climax/resolution of the movie, there was a major logical plot hole that throws the whole ending into a state of doubt. Of necessity, I am going to talk about the plot of the film and especially the climax/twist, so if you haven't seen it and don't want to be spoiled, turn back now.
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The movie is about a "looper" named Joe. A "looper" is someone living in 2044 who acts as an assassin for the mob from 2076 (I think). Basically, the mob sends back people who are to be killed and the loopers kill them. At some point, the future self of the looper is sent back to be killed as a part of what is called "closing the loop". Joe fails to kill his future self (reasons to be explained later) and spends a good portion of the movie trying to rectify that failure.
Turns out that in the original timeline, Joe killed his future self and then years later met a woman and fell in love. A mobster named the Rainmaker came into power and decided to close all of the loops. His men captured Joe who was going to go quietly His wife startled the henchmen and was accidentally shot and killed. Once he got to the time travel facility, Joe freed himself, killed all of the men and went back in time in order to kill the Rainmaker as a kid to prevent his rise to power and thereby save his wife's life.
When old Joe came back, he initiated a new timeline by his actions. Young Joe was injured and taken by a woman to a farm where she took care of him. Young Joe met her son, a young boy named Cid. Old Joe, meanwhile, went around killing 2 possible Rainmakers. Turns out that Cid was the third possibility.
During the climax of the film, old Joe has Cid in his gunsights when Cid's mom steps in the way to allow Cid to escape. Young Joe realizes that what old Joe is doing would cause Cid to become the Rainmaker and thereby cause the very event old Joe was trying to prevent. So, young Joe killed himself to erase old Joe from the timeline and cause Cid to not become the Rainmaker.
Ok, that all makes sense on the surface. However, there is a gaping hole in this logic. In the first timeline, another event had to have occurred to cause Cid to become the Rainmaker. We know this because at that point young Joe closed the loop. Therefore, we can conclude that since the Rainmaker still came about, something else happened that led him to become the Rainmaker. Therefore, Joe killing himself would not *NECESSARILY* prevent the rise of the Rainmaker.
I will grant that there are potential answers to the problem, however they are never addressed. In fact, this plot hole is never mentioned. Instead, the filmmakers seem to assume that the viewers will not notice the plot hole or think about it. I think this bugs me mainly because of the fact that the rest of the story fills in major plot holes, but having this huge one at the climatic moment is enough to cause me to doubt the efficaciousness of Joe's sacrifice.
If anyone can show me that I am wrong, I would appreciate it. My brother and I discussed this for about 30 minutes last night and couldn't see anyway to avoid this plot hole. We could come up with possible solutions, but they all seemed to be a bit of a leap in logic, so we couldn't resolve the issue.
Thoughts?
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The movie is about a "looper" named Joe. A "looper" is someone living in 2044 who acts as an assassin for the mob from 2076 (I think). Basically, the mob sends back people who are to be killed and the loopers kill them. At some point, the future self of the looper is sent back to be killed as a part of what is called "closing the loop". Joe fails to kill his future self (reasons to be explained later) and spends a good portion of the movie trying to rectify that failure.
Turns out that in the original timeline, Joe killed his future self and then years later met a woman and fell in love. A mobster named the Rainmaker came into power and decided to close all of the loops. His men captured Joe who was going to go quietly His wife startled the henchmen and was accidentally shot and killed. Once he got to the time travel facility, Joe freed himself, killed all of the men and went back in time in order to kill the Rainmaker as a kid to prevent his rise to power and thereby save his wife's life.
When old Joe came back, he initiated a new timeline by his actions. Young Joe was injured and taken by a woman to a farm where she took care of him. Young Joe met her son, a young boy named Cid. Old Joe, meanwhile, went around killing 2 possible Rainmakers. Turns out that Cid was the third possibility.
During the climax of the film, old Joe has Cid in his gunsights when Cid's mom steps in the way to allow Cid to escape. Young Joe realizes that what old Joe is doing would cause Cid to become the Rainmaker and thereby cause the very event old Joe was trying to prevent. So, young Joe killed himself to erase old Joe from the timeline and cause Cid to not become the Rainmaker.
Ok, that all makes sense on the surface. However, there is a gaping hole in this logic. In the first timeline, another event had to have occurred to cause Cid to become the Rainmaker. We know this because at that point young Joe closed the loop. Therefore, we can conclude that since the Rainmaker still came about, something else happened that led him to become the Rainmaker. Therefore, Joe killing himself would not *NECESSARILY* prevent the rise of the Rainmaker.
I will grant that there are potential answers to the problem, however they are never addressed. In fact, this plot hole is never mentioned. Instead, the filmmakers seem to assume that the viewers will not notice the plot hole or think about it. I think this bugs me mainly because of the fact that the rest of the story fills in major plot holes, but having this huge one at the climatic moment is enough to cause me to doubt the efficaciousness of Joe's sacrifice.
If anyone can show me that I am wrong, I would appreciate it. My brother and I discussed this for about 30 minutes last night and couldn't see anyway to avoid this plot hole. We could come up with possible solutions, but they all seemed to be a bit of a leap in logic, so we couldn't resolve the issue.
Thoughts?
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