INTO THE WOODS Review- Jonesy's Take

INTO THE WOODS

Directed by Rob Marshall

Written by Stephen Lapine

Starring: James Corden, Emily Blunt, Anna Kendrick, Johnny Depp, and Meryl Streep.

Synopsis: Fairy tales converge to try and stop a witch's curse in this modern musical.

This review was originally run on Centraltrack.com

INTO THE WOODS Teaser Drops but Where's the Music?

Into The Woods is another amazing musical by Stephen Sondheim. He's the mastermind behind Sweeney Todd and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. His musicals are always full of interesting characters and intricate music. SWEENEY TODD was adapted into a film in 2007 with moderate success.

Now his next musical to be adapted is INTO THE WOODS. This musical smashes classic fairy tale characters (Cinderella, The Baker, Little Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel, Jack and the Beanstalk) into the ultimate story. There's an evil witch who looks to teach various characters a lesson or two.

Check out the trailer after the break!

Fantastic Fest 2012 Review: LOOPER- He Said/She Said

LOOPER

Directed by: Rian Johnson

Written by: Rian Johnson

Starring: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Bruce Willis, Emily Blunt, Paul Dano and Piper Perabo

Synopsis: A Looper, an assassin that murders people from the future for the mob, has to fight his future self while running from his employers. 

New International LOOPER Trailer

Hard to believe, but yes, there is hope after the summer season. Usually there is the lull until all the Oscar contenders come out, but not this year. Rian Johnson's LOOPER will be around to get us through the fall. We posted the initial trailer a couple months ago, but now the new international trailer has been released. 

Of course if you want to stay completely in the dark, all trailers should be avoided. Even director Rian Johnson said today on his twitter, "If you're already set on seeing Looper, I'd avoid any trailers from here on out. They don't ruin the movie, but they tip a few little things." So take that how you will. 

Check the trailer after the break!

LOOPER Trailer Drops!

Director Rian Johnson isn't exactly a household name. He's only made two feature films, BRICK and THE BROTHERS BLOOM, and has directed a couple of TV episodes from Breaking Bad and Terriers. However, that will probably change this fall.

His next film is LOOPER, a syfy time-travel movie. One aspect of Johnson that makes us here love him so much is he always seems to bring his own uniqueness to a film genre. BRICK was a film noir style set in a high school setting, and THE BROTHERS BLOOM was a con-man "period" piece. And now he is about to tackle science fiction. Yes please.

Check out the trailer after the jump.

The Adjustment Bureau- She said

Directed by George Nolfi

Written by George Nolfi

Starring: Matt Damon, Emily Blunt, Anthony Mackie, and John Slattery

Synopsis: A politician falls in love with a dancer, but fate has other plans for them.

Matt Damon just had his world turned upside down. He catches a glimpse of the world behind our doors of fedora toting men who control everyone's fate by their Nook-type books. These men are The Bureau. Damon wasn't suppose to see into this world. None of us are. Our paths are written, and if we ever veer off our path, The Bureau steps in with a missed bus, chance encounter, computer outage, or spilled coffee. However, this doesn't bode well with Damon because he has fallen in love with Emily Blunt and will stop at nothing to be with her. The Bureau has other plans.

Thus our conflict is presented. David Norris (Damon) is a young, up and coming senator from New York. He loses his senate race, but meets Elise (Blunt) who inspires him to make the best concession speech I've ever heard. This boosts his popularity, and he is set to run again in four years. For his fate to be set, he is never suppose to run into Elise again; however, as chance would have it, he does. Now, The Bureau has to take drastic measures to keep them apart. Damon and Blunt have fantastic chemistry. I found myself wanting them to be together through all their trials.

Through the love story, the movie actually brings an interesting intellectual debate of whether humans have free will or if everything is planned out for us. Damon doesn't accept that he isn't suppose to be with Blunt, so he tries to outwit and outplay the fedora brigade with the help of a somewhat rogue agent (how convenient). The fedoras try to reason with him; if he doesn't see her again, he'll eventually become the President and she will be a successful choreographer, and if he doesn't listen, then their dreams won't come true. Tough choice.

I wanted the movie to go deeper with the philosophical questions of free will versus fate. Are humans even capable of free will? Or were we given that opportunity in the past but our own hubris and greed caused turmoil for the human race? If we were made aware of the fact we didn't have free will, could we learn from our past mistakes and given that opportunity again? But the heart of the story ended up being if love between two people can conquer any obstacle. Not nearly as interesting or discussion worthy.

The problem isn't with any of the characters but the wannabe Matrix/Inception love story. The ideas were there and could have grown into something truly unique. However, everything just seems to fall short by the end as we watch Damon fight for his love, and we're left with the advice that anyone with a hat could be messing with our free will.

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