Posts by Tom

Joe from Looper

In Looper, young Joe (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is a time-traveling assassin paid to kill victims sent back in time by a crime syndicate. Things are going just peachy until they send back old Joe (Bruce Willis), his 30-year-older self.

Léon: The Professional

Leone “Léon” Montana (Jean Reno) is a professional hitman living a quiet life in New York City, sipping milk, raising houseplants, and taking jobs from the mafia. That is, until his 12-year-old neighbor Mathilda’s family is killed, leaving him to take her under his wing.

Mathilda from Leon: The Professional

In Léon: The Professional, Natalie Portman debuts as Mathilda Lando, a street-smart girl who witnesses the murder of her dysfunctional family by corrupt DEA agents. She is taken in by a hitman named Léon who trains her to use guns, and in turn she teaches him to read. How sweet.

Sawyer in The Dharma Initiative

In Lost, James Ford, alias Sawyer, alias Josh Holloway, is a handsome and charming con artist whose sarcastic personality belies a more tender side. Following a chain of events too convoluted to describe in mere words, he ends up as the head of the DHARMA Initiative, alias Jim LaFleur. Or something like that.

Solid Snake

In the Metal Gear Solid series, Solid Snake is special ops agent who infiltrates enemy installations and disrupts their operations. When he’s vastly outnumbered, he’ll do whatever it takes to remain stealthy, and isn’t above camping out in a cardboard box.

Spider-Man

When Peter Parker gets bit by a radioactive spider on a school field trip (don’t you hate when that happens?), he develops super strength, the ability to cling to any surface, and a spidey sense. At that point, he has no choice but to build web shooters for his wrists and call himself Spider-Man.

Storm

Storm (Halle Berry) is one of the mainstays of the X-Men. Originally from Kenya and named Ororo Munroe, she joins the superhero team after she discovers she has the ability to create tornadoes, thunderstorms, and hurricanes with her mind. All that humidity must wreak havoc on her hair.

Oldboy

On his daughter’s third birthday, businessman Oh Dae-Su is kidnapped and held for 15 long years without any human contact or explanation in Oldboy. He passes the time shadowboxing, which, along with a hammer, comes in useful when he has to fight his way through 25 gang members.

Lady Vengeance

In Sympathy for Lady Vengeance, Lee Geum-Ja (Lee Young-Ae) is released from prison after serving 13 years for a murder she didn’t commit. She cuts off her pinky as contrition for her role in the kidnapping, then starts her meticulously planned revenge on the true murderer.

300

300 shows a slightly dramatized account of the Battle of Thermopylae, where Spartan King Leonidas (Gerard Butler) clashed with Persian King Xerxes. The vastly outnumbered Spartans make a valiant stand, but I can’t help wonder how they’d have done with some armor, or a shirt, on.

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