Awards Roundup – Family, Liebster, Sunshine Awards

(Note: this post does not follow the normal 200-word word limit of this blog) First up – I’ve been pretty slack when it comes to posting these awards. This is mostly because I’m still venturing my way into the blogosphere (if that’s even a word), and partly because it was basically impossible to do an…

Brick (2005)

A friend commented last year that Rian Johnson’s Looper made her feel “stupid” for having to read a plot synopsis to understand a sci-fi action film. Of course, Looper was an astoundingly complex film (to its benefit), and the same attributes are found in Johnson’s directorial debut, Brick. But where Looper’s complexities held audience attention…

Breaking Bad – “Fly” (Season 3, Episode 10)

“Fly” is one of my favourite episodes of Breaking Bad, yet many were disappointed by its simplicity. Admittedly, it’s not overly important to the show’s plot development, but as an insight into Walt’s obsessiveness and the bruised intimacy between Walt and Jesse, it carries spare, aching power. It wasn’t until a recent rewatch that the…

Looper (2012) and the “Rules” of Time-Travel

Looper seems to upset dedicated nerds; people who’ve read The Silmarillion from cover-to-cover, people who like “hard sci-fi” – think Roman from Party Down. Rian Johnson’s time-travel flick annoys these people because it doesn’t play fair with the rules of time-travel, and isn’t interested in explaining or caring about those rules. I’m also a gigantic…