NOT QUITE PUNCTUAL

“In Time” was not quite true to the title. Drawn out and low in substance, the latest from Andrew Niccol, lacked tension, but had a very interesting premise. Though the plot was far-fetched, it created an insightful mirror for our society, which isn’t surprising seeing as Niccol’s other films including the also disguisedly pensive “The Truman Show”. The slow tempo made the film so much longer than it needed to be. 


The film starts out with a flimsy explanation of how time became currency and for being what the entire film’s plot is based; it doesn’t really create a solid foundation for the plot of the movie. Will Salas, played by Justin Timberlake (who is unfortunately not as good of an actor as he is a singer) is your everyman, making just barely enough to scrape by. When Will comes into some time from a random wealthy man who has lost the will to live after a century, he crosses from the ghetto into the classier side of town (New Greenwich). This introduces us to the pampered daddy’s girl seeking adventure, Sylvia Weis (played by Amanda Seyfried) and they go on a wild romp, trying to bring some sort of fairness to their top-heavy society where the rich can live forever but the poor live day to day (literally). One of the things I thought the film did well was use contrasting colors to offset the two different worlds- the ghetto and the rich neighborhood. The ghetto had some color, but was mostly grayscale. The rich and wealthy scenes had very stark and edgy colors. Another cool aspect of the film was the watches that everyone had on their arms. When a person in this dystopian future turned twenty-five, their clock started, counting down one year. If they just let it run, they would “time out” when the clock hit zero. Things are paid for in minutes and hours and transfers of time-money are made by locking arms… it got weird, let’s leave it at that. The green clocks were a constant reminder of the status of the character but the constant cuts to people’s arms got annoying after a while. I kept thinking, We get it, they are running out of time! Unfortunately, the ticking arm-clocks were not enough to drive the pace of the film. It seriously lagged in the parts between the sparse dialogue. There was a cool speech given by a Time Keeper (a policeman), however, about how corrupt their society is.


The way in which their society mimics and exaggerates ours resonates deeply, especially with the Occupy Wall Street protests with their “We are the 99%” chants. The line repeated several times that harkens back to that is “For few to be immortal, many must die”. This attitude is much like the one shared by America’s wealthy and Niccol is trying to get this audience to see this. I think this movie’s release date worked very well for it.





2 1/2 out of 5 minutes

SUPA DUPA EIGHT

Have you ever seen E.T.? it's a cute movie about an alien trying to get home. Well, Super 8 is the same story except imagine that E.T. resembled a giant spider and ate people.  Mix that with a coming of age story and a tale of coming to terms with grief. and you've got yourself a Super 8. All of the thrills and scares were predictable and expected, but they packed a punch all the same.  I would say the best thing that they did with the movie was that, even though the alien murdered people throughout the entire movie, somehow the audience (or maybe it was just me) didn't hate the thing. The more you found out about the monster, the more you came to feel sorry for it.  All of the actors and actresses involved did an amazing job.


And by the way, LOVED the little zombie movie they were filming the whole time.  It was a really cool touch.




4 1/2 lockets

THE CLASSIEST OF ORIGINS

     I won't call myself a X-Men officiando. I've seen some of the movies before this one and enjoyed the fairly recent Wolverine origins movie. But I have an issue with origin movies. I know how they end. The same could be said for most movies, since the good guys usually win, but that is the only thing you can almost totally expect going into a movie. With origins or prequels, a viewer who has seen other movies in the franchise knows exactly what state the characters will end the movie in. It's like going to see Romeo and Juliet. Everyone knows they die in the end, but yet we still watch it. We watch movies (and plays) where we know the outcome because it's how the movie gets to the known ending, not the finale itself. If you have seen any of the previous X-Men movies, (spoiler alert) you most likely know that Charles Xavier ends up in a wheel chair. I certainly didn't know HOW he ended up in one, but now I do, thanks to X-Men First Class.

     Overall, it was an enjoyable movie.It was fun sitting in the theater trying to put the pieces of the character's past together.  The actors who played Erik/Magneto and Charles/Professor X did a REALLY good job.  Especially Michael Fassbender, who played the deeply angry Holocaust survivor, Erik. He was the best actor in the movie by far. Kevin Bacon was a very poor choice for the villain.  He did all of this really evil stuff, but all he seemed to be was power hungry (literally and figuratively). TO get away from the negative, there was that moment when the good guys did something clever/unexpected to win a battle, which, along with some humor sprinkled within the serious plot line, made the movie fun. I recommend it to anyone who likes morals mixed in with their mutants.

     The X-Men are different from your average superhero because, instead of just one man or woman living a double life with secret identities and the rest, it's hundreds of people trying to blend in with society despite their obvious differences from the average joe. Every character already has issues because of their misfit status. Which gets boring. Not everyone has to be troubled, ya know. Which brings me to my next point. Of the x-men, very few have strong personalities. You've got Professor X and Magneto (and Wolverine, who wasn't featured in this film) and that's about it. The rest are just angsty for various reasons ALL. THE. TIME. This is because their mutations/superpowers have become their personalities(and to be truthful, some of the mutations are REALLY LAME- just sayin). Flaws with the franchise and prequels aside, X-Men First Class may not be your average superhero movie, but it is an enjoyable one. 

PS- there is nothing at the very end of the credits. 

3 and a half out of 5 lame mutations



maid of dishonor

     Bridesmaids was really funny.  I wont lie to you.  But I can't say that I liked this movie.  It was just too raunchy.  As a very Catholic chick, I just can't sit through this kind of thing and say I enjoyed it.  What made this movie so funny was the craziness in which the characters partook.  It wasn't because any of the characters had particularly funny or witty lines.  The humor came from the crazy, raunchy stuff they did.  Like taking a crap in the middle of a street- in a wedding dress.  A girl in one of my classes said that you shouldn't see this movie with your parents.  DEFINITELY DON'T.  The opening scene involves... never mind- I"ll let it be a surprise. The thing is basically a really long SNL skit.  Don't get me wrong- it's really funny.  I'm just trying to impart on you, my readers, what is in store for you when you buy tickets to this naughty comedy, staring many NBC comedy stars, many playing the same character they do on television.  Which I had no problem with because their characters are hilarious.  









                    3 out of 5 gasp-then-laughs

THE GOD OF THUNDER

I went to see Thor on opening night.  The theater was pretty crowded and we (my friend Maggie and I) ended up in the very back row next to these people who talked about nothing of real consequence the ENTIRE MOVIE.  Which was rather angering.  But even their incessant chattering couldn't take away from the awesomeness that Thor was.  It was the perfect opening to the season of summer blockbusters.  It met all the standards of a solid superhero movie, which some of those in Hollywood have been trying to avoid recently (goodness knows why). The main character had issues that which he fixed by the end of the movie (AHEM Iron Man) and I didn't despise any of the characters I was supposed to like (AHEM Spider Man). There was that moment when those watching actually thought Thor was going to die (he didn't of course).  It wasn't anything extraordinary, but it certainly wasn't disappointing. My knowledge of mythology comes in handy here.  Thor is from ancient Norse mythology, and he is indeed the god of thunder.  Thursday (the day of the week) is named for him- it was originally Thor's Day (Friday was originally Freyja's Day).  Thor was the god about whom the majority of myths from old Scandinavia were told, and who functioned as a cosmological protector of man and gods and gods alike. In mythology, he is a ginger, but I am totally okay with the blonde Chris Hemsworth.  I'm pretty sure the actual plot of the movie is taken from the comics and not mythology, but the most of the characters and their personalities are transferred right from those ancient times.  It's interesting that the first summer blockbuster in the year 2011 is derived directly from stories told to explain natural events as early as the 2nd century CE.  

Craziness.

4 out of 5 hammers

why, hello there

I never thought I would do this- start a blog.  I feel so obnoxious.  Recently, the only movie I have seen in theaters is Thor (review coming soon) and if I'm going to take this blog seriously, I should probably go to the theater more often... There is one thing you should now about me.  Actually there are many, but I'll tell you this one up front: I LOVE SUPERHERO MOVIES.  It's awful because I don't read comic books or anything, but I, just like the rest of America, love a good escapist fantasy.  I'm also taking a film studies class in school next year, so I'll keep you updated on that when it rolls around.  I'm also a super nerd when it comes to the music in movies (Michael Giacchino is ma fave). I love musicals, except when they are cheesy (hard to avoid). I watch a lot of tv. And I judge people and things and ideas all. the. time. I came to love film through my father. He is one of the few people who I can talk to about a movie. He got me a book of the top 100 movies ever and I'm slowly making my way through it and it's been interesting watching these classics that p=modern-day movies steal from. I have a background in mythology (we've established I'm a nerd), especially Greek and Roman. This gives me an interesting perspective on the way stories are told and the background as the most basic plot-lines.  Superhero movies also pull heavily from mythology from days of yore. Being a young woman (a teenage girl), I would usually enjoy chick flicks and rom-coms, but I would much rather watch and action movie or pure comedy.  Don't get me wrong, sometimes I fall subject to my girl instincts and watch a chick-flick here and there, but it isn't often. Just to let you know, I'll watch anything with Hugh Dancy or Ryan Reynolds in it. 


All of these factors combined make me not you average critic






And I also love parentheses (best form of punctuation EVER).