AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:
Time now for our first home viewing recommendation of 2013 from film critic Bob Mondello. In case you missed it in theaters this fall, Bob suggests you head boldly into the future with the time travel thrill ride, "Looper," just released on video.
BOB MONDELLO, BYLINE: Welcome to a future when time travel has been outlawed, meaning only outlaws, like Joseph Gordon-Levitt, travel through time.
(SOUNDBITE OF MOVIE, "LOOPER")
MONDELLO: Gordon-Levitt's been made up to look like a young Bruce Willis, who's playing a man he's supposed to kill because...
(SOUNDBITE OF MOVIE, "LOOPER")
MONDELLO: That's called closing the loop, in this case with young Joe meeting old Joe. And there you have director Rian Johnson's nifty premise.
"Looper" is plenty of fun on its own, but on Blu-ray, along with the usual commentary tracks, you'll find not two or three, but 22 deleted scenes. There's one that expands a nightclub sequence from the finished film's 12 seconds to well over a minute, including a blink-you'll-miss-it walk-through cameo by Tobey Maguire.
Another expands a diner conversation between the old and young Joes, explaining a line that flew right by me originally.
(SOUNDBITE OF MOVIE, "LOOPER")
MONDELLO: Diagrams with straws. That was the set-up for a sequence you never see in the completed film. Bruce Willis takes the top off a salt shaker, and empties the salt on the table, with most of it ending up near one of two straws.
(SOUNDBITE OF MOVIE, "LOOPER")
MONDELLO: The actors spent an entire weekend rehearsing this bit, so it's nice to see it play out, with the director and another cast member talking it through.
(SOUNDBITE OF DVD COMMENTARY)
MONDELLO: Not lost any more. Great fun to close that loop and a nice way to spend a little extra time with "Looper," a seriously cool time-travel movie.
I'm Bob Mondello.