A few decades back Harold Ramis made a small film called “Groundhog Day” set in the winter of Pennsylvania. The protagonist, a crank weatherman (brilliantly potratyed by Bill Murray), has to live the same day again and again, till he learns the lessons of his life and finds his true love. My notes here>>>>

I did wonder back then,  if the same material were picked up by a ‘big’ directors like Steven Spielberg 🙂 Well, guess it happened in some form, with Doug Liman (who directed the likes of ‘The Bourne Identity’, ‘Mr. and Mrs.Smith’ doing the honors, albeit with a futuristic setting and ‘Tom’ Cruise. 🙂

‘Edge of Tomorrow” is “Groundhog Day” with a  little bit of logic (or lot of it, depending on your predilection for science fiction stories) as to why Tom Cruise has to relive the same day/s and peppered with superlative action spectacles. The movie mounted on a US$178 million canvass, spares no expense and it shows on the big screen. But you don’t see is enough of stars, who hide in huge battle suits. Tom Cruise does realize this after an hour or so, and chooses to let go of his helmet. Emily Blunt and the rest of the star cast do what they can, without being trite.

Overall, the movie works at the action level, and makes it a decent watch for action sci-fi film fans. But, if you are/were a’Groundhog Day’ and Tom Cruise fan, then it would leave you a tad unsatisfied.

Tailpiece: Movies like these work with limited budgets? ‘Vantage point’ though not a science fiction movie but with a similar concept was made in USD 40mn and cannot match success of films like  ‘Memento’ (USD $9mn) and ‘Groundhog Day’ (USD 14.6mn).

Related links: 
Wikipedia’s list of films featuring time loops 

Director Bryan Singer’s return steadies the X-Men franchise, after the recent Wolverine dominated film. His  latest installment ‘X-Men: Days of Future Past’ deals with a post-apocalyptic scenario, but not on how to handle it, instead how to preclude it. Wolverine volunteers for a life threatening time travel mission into past and change it for a better future, both for mutants and human beings.

Visually, this is a great  X-Men movie, with VFX, set designs, costumes, and cinematography being exceptional.

Set piece scenes are pretty satisfying, for instance, Prison Break in the first half and Magneto’s attack towards the climax. 3D effects are used judiciously, except for the long sequence at the beginning of the movie. Quick silver’s scene during the escape is definitely one of the highlights of the movie. (FXGuide covers this in detail here.)

The film 300: Rise of an Empire is a stunning visual treat, with most of the battles taking place in the sea, and supported by an excellent 3D design. But one has to navigate through the slush of blood and gore, to appreciate it. Other than the tone and texture,  this movie doesn’t have much in common with 300, that was released in 2007.

A few excerpts from Forbes review. (Web link here)

The film is technically more of a “side-sequel” to Snyder’s 300, with most of the film taking place at the same time as the first picture. The picture has bits of back story and continues after the first film concluded, but mostly it is a concurrent story, showing the same major overall battle on the brutal and unforgiving seas.

She(Eva Green) is worth the price of admission all by herself, and if there were more female roles of this nature in major studio releases I’d complain a heck of a lot less

The film once again shows that be it as a director or a producer, Zack Snyder is among the very best filmmakers in terms of big-scale fantasy action. Everything looks dazzling and everything is perfectly framed and coherently edited for maximum razzle-dazzle.

The first film played well across all demographics, offering beefy eye-candy for women and gay men and large-scale action for men and women of both orientations. This one does the same, with Eva Green also offering prurient interest for those so inclined while also giving the best performance in the film.  

The burning question is whether or not seven years is too long to wait for a sequel to 300.

Couldn’t agree with Scott Mendelson more. I saw 300 in 2007, in San Frisco. And it is a long wait indeed 🙂