Looper

Tali: Looper is a science-fiction action film staring a rubbery looking Joseph Gordon Levitt and Bruce Willis. Taking place in the not too distant future, time travel is controlled by gangsters and telekinesis is possible. JGL, an assassin, spends most of the moving chasing his future self, who he is assigned to kill. Both impeccably thrilling and utterly mind blowing (literally), Looper has all of the elements of a movie in this genre. Yet, the film takes it to another level (due to the time travel), and the usual hero decides what is right or wrong motif is taken to the next level. And it works. This movie gave me another reason to not have kids.

Leo: I don't get what the problem is with Joseph Gordon Levitt and Bruce Willis playing the same character. The only time I actually found it weird was the moment when they actually switched, and Bruce Willis looked ridiculous with that fake hair. The movie itself was incredibly layered and is, in my opinion, the perfect way to make an action movie. It can't just be all blowing up, guns, and hand-to-hand combat. There needs to be a reason for it, and development around it. That is why I feel this movie hits the mark. At the middle-end when Bruce Willis kills all of the people running the looper business, that is basically all of the action I really wanted out of the movie. Emily Blunt plays outside of her usual role, which is odd at first, but after the first scenes I stopped noticing. All in all, this movie is a perfect mix of engaging and entertaining. See this, or your loop will end.

Argo

Tali: Argo is a thriller.. or is it political drama? Spy story? Either way, Argo is a GREAT film directed by and starring Ben Affleck. He stars as Tony Mendez, a CIA man who plans the elaborate and sometimes unimaginable stunt to bring 6 stranded US diplomats home from being stranded in Iran during the 1979 hostage crisis. Based on a true story (one in which everyone knows the ending already), this film kept the audience captivated and literally salivating for more - even down to the nail-biting final scene at the airport. This film deserves the Oscar buzz surrounding it!
My only qualm - did a white actor have to play the role of a Mexican character in order to make the hero more appealing for mainstream America? Discuss

Leo: If you haven't seen argue yet, "Argo fuck yourself". This movie is one of the many must-see movies this year. While the acting is not oscar-worthy, it is believable and fits with the movie very well. The most impressive aspect of this movie, in my opinion, is that I still feel suspense even though I know how the story ends. The way it is told is most appealing and makes you care about all of the characters.  To further discuss Tali's point, I do not have a problem with Affleck playing Tony Mendez (mexican) because I just think he wanted to star as Tony Mendez rather than specifically because he's white. Alan Arkin is absolutely hilarious and deserves the Golden Globe nomination for best supporting actor (even though his competition is too much).

ParaNorman

Tali: I have to admit right off the bit that Leo initially had to talk me into seeing this movie. I am usually hesitant to see movies that I feel are geared toward kids (even though I wrote a [brilliant] paper on Finding Nemo once) because I am not usually sold on "this is for adults, too." With that being said ParaNorman is one of those movies I surprisingly found myself enjoying myself more and more and more. The plot is pretty straight forward - the kid in the centre (who looks like Ben Stiller) can talk to the dead, nobody believes him, adventures ensue. But what makes this film special (and appealing to adults as well) are the grand messages of right and wrong, doing unto others etc etc... as well as the brilliant one-liners of his family and friends (particularly the curly haired Neil). You should go see this!

Leo: This movie is one of those creepy movies that isn't actually too creepy because it's made with kids in mind and has so many points of comic relief. The characters are hilarious and all have great (and surprisingly very deep) personalities. The one-liners in this movie are funny and clever. The plot is very easy to follow and linear for kids and very engaging for everyone else. Though this is not a Tim Burton movie, it's hard not to see the similarities. They even worked on Coraline together, which shows that it's no coincidence. You should definitely see this and take anyone with you since it is a great movie regardless of your age.

The Bourne Legacy

Tali: The Bourne Legacy is the latest installment in the Bourne series, replacing Matt Damon with Jeremy Renner. The film picks up from the Bourne Ultimatum with various US Intelligence branches attempting to fix the mess created in the previous series. I am not super into action films, and I find that the Bourne series (particularly this one), holds a great balance between political drama and action thriller. What I actually liked best about this film is the emphasis on the political scheming and that this film places in comparison to the others. It definitely gets the audience closer to finally (??) figuring out the mystery that is Bourne, Treadstone, etc etc..

Leo: While I'm sure many of the hardcore Bourne fans did not like this movie as much as the other Bourne movies, make no mistake, this is a Bourne movie. It does not have as much heart racing action packed fighting and chase scenes but it almost makes the scenes in which there are tons of action and awesomely choreographed scenes that much more intense. I really like how we sort of have some realism behind the apparent "super soldier" aspect of Bourne and the new character. More specifically, I like how it finally makes sense to me why he's really that good at everything. Edward Norton is an amazing actor and is a great villain. He really just looks like the guy who would be running that operation. All in all the reviews do not do it justice, this movie is pretty fucking good.

A Beautiful Mind

Tali: A Beautiful Mind is the incredible real-life story of John Nash, a physicist and Nobel Laureate who struggles with Schizophrenia throughout most of his adult life. I have to admit - reading the Wikipedia entry before writing this entry has made me question some things about this film (in particular the discrepancies surrounding Nash's use of medications as a means of therapy), but I highly recommend that you do NOT read the entry and instead watch the film with an open mind (a beautiful one, even). The film is done very well, allowing the audience to both want the best for Nash, yet finding yourself increasingly concerned by his erratic behavior throughout the film. Slow to start but if you don't cry at the end you have no heart. Period.

Leo: I have to admit that I did not suspect the schizophrenia until it was a little more explicit --SPOILER-- though I actually did notice the girl staying the same age before it was mentioned --END SPOILER--. This made the movie an equal amount of a mind fuck as it was an excellent story. It was funny, sad, and it actually made you feel good at the end. I have been really interesting in Game Theory since I learned about it about 2 years before seeing this film, so to learn about John Nash's story was a real treat. Even though some things may have been exaggerated or misinformed, this movie was incredible and got the point across and no one can argue with that. I put this movie off for a while since I disliked Russel Crowe so much after Master and Commander, but that was clearly a mistake. This movie is incredible.