Doomed To Repeat It

Conditions: Brittle

Mad World
The shooting at a high school last week in Oregon marked the 74th American school shooting since the Sandy Hook massacre of December 2012, - that's the one where a bunch of children in a classroom got gunned down. Seventy Four. And no changes have been made to gun laws whatsoever since then. I’d advise that we should contemplate that for a moment, but we all know there’s no point. It’s like it's all a great big physics experiment, something to do with charging up giant capacitors until they explode.

The list of shootings, which includes 13 school shootings in the first six weeks of this year, was compiled by Moms Demand Action for Guns Sense in America.

- oregonlive.com/

Film Review: Edge of Tomorrow

The Groundhog day concept has been done many times, in many different ways, and I think that because of it’s familiarity the audience can just go with this film right from the start, and hang on through all the twists and turns. Here Tom Cruise ends up as a futuristic soldier who dies in battle against invading aliens and then wakes up a day earlier, only to have to go through it all again. He starts out as someone who very much does not want to fight, and is dumped into a combat platoon just one day before the big attack. The aliens are ready for them, and in the ensuing slaughter Cruise gets some special alien blood on him, which gives him the ability to reset each subsequent time he dies.

The hook is in Emily Blunt’s character, a tough combat veteran who recognizes what has happened to him, because it once happened to her. She’s not only able to explain it, but puts together a plan of how they can use it to go after the big alien that controls all the soldier ones. The film then becomes a very entertaining exploration of how Cruise is able to learn from each mistake he makes in carrying out their plan together. This is a very well made film. Not afraid to embrace the silliness of some of the scenes and ideas, while still showing a serious portrayal of combat against impossible odds, and sacrifice.

Tom Cruise yet again proves how good he really is, as he is totally convincing – first as a coward who is terrified of being dropped onto the front line, and is completely lost once there, all the way through to a grizzled combat veteran who leads his team into a final battle with an uncertain outcome. Emily Blunt is also terrific as a no-nonsense soldier who has to repeatedly commit to this guy coming up and telling her he’s basically a time traveler. Director Doug Liman has done a great job of telling an odd story balanced between a gritty war movie and a crazy time travel film. The effects and action sequences are all totally convincing and well done. And Cruise seems to revel in his chance to show a character going through an arc for once, and growing as the story moves along. Basically, it’s a very entertaining film. Four power suits out of five.



- Peace out