Trailer Tuesday: Looper & A Fantastic Fear

I like sci-fi stuff, especially when it doesn't include aliens. (I like aliens sometimes, but heavily make-upped or CGI aliens are often more distracting than entertaining.) Enter Looper starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Bruce Willis, and Emily Blunt. I'm a fan of all these actors, but I have a special affinity for Bruce Willis. It always surprises me how much I love him. But I digress.

What makes Looper especially exciting for me as a sci-fi movie is the combination of futuristic ideas with old or vintage elements, not unlike the sci-fi westerns Firefly and Serenity. This combination is easier to relate to than the typical sterile slickness of films set in the future. It's also easier for an audience to buy the premise and suspend disbelief, because there is comfort in seeing the familiar of the past and present among the unfamiliar of the future.

I'm looking forward to September.

Late entry: Last night I stumbled on the recently released trailer (in the U.S.) for A Fantastic Fear of Everything. I first heard about the film about a week ago from my friend Seth, because we both have a deep, abiding love for Simon Pegg. Based on the preview, it looks like a Jean-Pierre Jeunet film on acid; meaning it's fanciful, but in a darker, twisted way. Just the way I like it. No release date for the U.S. yet, but based on the June 8 U.K. release I'm guessing we'll see it in the fall.

And I hope that is Simon Pegg's real hair.

Review: Salmon Fishing in the Yemen

Emily Blunt and Ewan McGregor in a Yemen scene.

I'll admit the title is a turn off; it sounds more like a fishing guide than entertainment. But Salmon Fishing in the Yemen (based on a novel of the same title) was a slow-paced and subtly funny charmer. There's an underdog to root for, a government to hate, people to fear, a loss to cry over, a cause to hope for, and even a wee bit of romance.

Ewan McGregor plays Fred, an straight-laced government worker who specializes in fisheries. He and his boss (who has really bad hair) have a mutual disrespect for each other, so Fred gets assigned to this odd-ball, long-shot project of transporting salmon to a river in Yemen, and ensuring the right environment for the fish to survive.

Enter Emily Blunt who plays Harriet. She's an assistant/project manager for a very wealthy Sheikh (he doesn't blink at spending $55 million on this project), and she's the smart as a whip, light-hearted foil to Fred's stuffy practicality.

Amr Waked and Ewan McGregor in a Scotland scene.

Sheikh Muhammad (Amr Waked) wants to bring Salmon to the Yemen because 1) he loves fly fishing, and 2) he believes the river and commodity of fish will greatly benefit his people. The British government, as represented by hard-nosed and hilarious press secretary Patricia Maxwell (Kristen Scott Thomas), are backing the project because they want a "positive story" from the Middle East. But it's up to Fred and Harriet to get along and attempt to make the project that works in theory to work in reality.

Kristin Scott Thomas, the butler, and Amr Waked in a Scotland scene.

The acting is top-notch, the script is excellent and charming, the character arcs are strong and believable, and it's visually appealing. (There's even a little gun-play if you can't stand seeing a movie without it.) I highly recommend it. Its theater run is all but over, so see it immediately, or have the delicious anticipation of waiting for it on DVD.

Also, who doesn't want to see Ewan McGregor in tweeds? Don't miss that opportunity.