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In Time starring Justin Timberlake, Amanda Seyfried & Cillain Murphy: Fast, Fun, Romantic

Posted on February 18, 2013 Written by ripitup

In Time -Justin Timberlake- Amanda Seyfried — In Time starring Justin Timberlake, Amanda Seyfried & Cillain Murphy. A 2011 film. Written & directed by Andrew Niccol. Image via northernarizonanews.com

Jerry Maguire might have had Dorothy Boyd from hello; Andrew Niccol got me from Gattaca. He then got me again with Lord of War, with bigger impact. And while Just in Time isn’t as painfully effective and emotionally disturbing as Lord of War or as highly rated as Gattaca, it doesn’t lack in the entertainment department. It also has a lot to show about societies and human nature.

Let’s go over the plot before I list why it is good entertainment:

Will (Justin Timberlake) lives in a world where time is the only currency. Keep getting it, and you might as well be immortal. Unless someone kills you, you’re golden – if you are rich. Oh, and you stop aging at 25. One can argue that at least you get to die pretty regardless of how.

But just like in the world there are different classes classified as zones. One of the unluckiest is where Will has lived his whole life. His father has died when he was a kid, and it is just him and his mother (Olivia Wilde) working hard, barely making through each day.

But when, in a twist of fate, Will saves the life of the suicidal rich (and old) man Henry Hamilton (Matt Bomer), he awards him his time. Unfortunately, his mother dies, which sends Will on a quest of revenge instead of living a happy, long life with his mom.

He does, however, enjoy a few perks before he can figure out a plan, including having met and attracted the beautiful & rebellious daughter, Sylvia (Amanda Seyfried), of the wealthy Peter Weis (Vincent Kartheiser). But before he gets to live life to the fullest for a little more, the time-keepers are on to him-thinking he has murdered Henry.

Time-keepers are the cops of this world, ensuring the balance. Unfortunately, led by Raymond Leon (Cillian Murphy), they are more concerned about the balance than justice. Making it his sole mission to catch Will, he leaves the young man no choice but to go on the run, taking Sylvia hostage.

While Sylvia hates her situation at first, she teams up with Will when she realizes that he only wants to live a normal (mortal) life and help out as many under-privileged and overworked people as he can.

But unfortunately, Raymond isn’t their only obstacle: “crime” boss Fortis (Alex Pettyfer) is after them, hell-bent on getting the reward put on their heads…

The good, and the better

For an action/sci-fi film with romantic elements, it is not a shallow ride at all. This is not Fast and Furious (though I do appreciate that series’ entertainment value). It tackles immortality, unfair distribution of income, friendship, morality, doing things by the book vs. doing the right thing, greed, love and beyond. It just does it at a satisfying speed, with enough decent one-liners and a good cast.

Who doesn’t want to be immortal, stuck at the beautiful (apparent) age of 25? I know I would. I also wouldn’t mind stopping aging now at 28, or 10,20,30 years later. The issue here is how you get the “immortality”. You have as many years as your money can afford. Sure, you can die if someone kills you or you kill yourself. But watch your diet and you’re golden. But would you want to earn those years through the lives of others?

Everyone automatically gets a year after 25. Work, steal, borrow…if you can’t collect time one way or the other, you are dead as soon as time runs out.

The rich are afraid to be reckless and impulsive. The poor barely see the next day. It’s unfair, just like the real world. Money can’t buy happiness (for some), but it sure improves your living conditions.

Crime rate is higher in the ghettos, and the rich are well-protected.

It’s a little look into our world, with a twist on our genetics and the replacement currency.

Niccol is great at looking into human nature, and combining a few different natures in his films. He gives us the good, the bad and the grey (Timekeeper Raymond, Will’s best friend). He can shock and entertain as much as he wants. He doesn’t have a problem a set of famous and capable actors.

Yes, I loved Lord of War, despite it was an emotionally disturbing and thought-provoking experience. I loved Gattaca for it was a great sci-fi with substance about how far we can go with genetics and In Time is the movie to remind you that you don’t have forever. But even if you could, you need to be able to more than just breathe and look nice to feel alive.

I want to see it again, but I’m torn. Maybe I should cash in those 109 minutes for a different experience. I mean I don’t live forever right?

Red Riding Hood starring Amanda Seyfried, Shiloh Fernandez, Max Irons, Gary Oldman & Billy Burke

Posted on June 13, 2011 Written by ripitup

Red Riding Hood starring Amanda Seyfried, Shiloh Fernandez, Max Irons, Gary Oldman & Billy Burke

Valerie (Amanda Seyfried) is a beautiful young woman living in a medieval village by a forrest. The most common fear among the people is the wolf that keeps attacking the village. While they managed to keep the wolf from attacking the humans by presenting it with animals, the wolf starts killing with Valerie’s sister. This infuriates them all,and the town priest (Lukas Haas) calls for the expert werewolf-hunter priest, Father Solomon (Gary Oldman). However many of the villagers don’t want to wait and kill the wolf themselves. Among these brave men are Henry and Peter, the two men who make Valerie’s lives highly complicated:

Peter (Shiloh Fernandez) is Valerie’s childhood friend and the love of her life. He is a loner without much money. Henry (Max Irons), on the other hand, is well-off, and Valerie’s mother (Virginia Madsen) is adamant? that her daughter marries Henry to get a better life.

As the villagers come back with the head of the wolf, and minus Henry’s father, they are certain they don’t need Father Solomon. However Solomon arrives with bad news. He informs the villagers that what they hunted is a simple wolf, whereas they are being hunted by a werewolf. He closes the village doors and tells everyone to be suspicious of each other, as the werewolf has a human form and could be any one of them. When the werewolf attacks, he doesn’t harm Valerie. Instead he talks to her, and apparently only she can hear it. It asks Valerie to come with it, and if she doesn’t, it just won’t leave the villagers alone. This sends the villagers into suspecting that she is a witch, and she starts suspecting everyone. Can the werewolf be Henry or Peter? Or her own grandmother (Julie Christie). And whoever it is, why does it want Valerie?

Red Riding Hood takes the basic elements from the fair tale, plays around a little, puts in a werewolf instead of wolf, puts in a love triangle and serves it with a good cast. We get a mystery thriller, which is more of a gothic romance than a thriller.

While it is not a bad experience overall, I just had one big annoyance: the werewolf. Directed by Twilight’s director Catherine Hardwicke, the werewolf- very much like the wolves in Twilight– big and very badly structured on the computer. When you have a laughable villain, It really takes a lot from the movie, a movie that is supposed to be a thriller.
But the ridiculousness of the villain aside, it is a fun film. You get to guess who the wolf might be, who Valerie will end up with and when she just might have sex with one of them…
I did mention good cast, right? You have Amanda Seyfried, Gary Oldman, Billy Burke, Virginia Madsen & Julie Christie.
It is not great, but it is not bad (apart from the wolf’s appearance). It also has a decent soundtrack. It is watchable if you are in the mood for a romance with supernatural elements lurking around.

Fun notes:

– Many watchers inevitably compared this to Twilight, where there the series are based on the love triangle. Here, the love triangle consists from 3 humans- although we suspect there is a werewolf among them.

– Twilight’s Chief Swan (Billy Burke), a.k.a. Bella’s father again gets to play the female protagonist’s father. Although Valerie’s dad could learn a thing or two from Swan when it comes to parenting.

– You might be bothered that a medieval village is dominated by modern English and American accents. But if I can accept a werewolf exists (for a movie), I can accept the accents.

Currently Rated 4.9 on IMDB. I suspect it could have earned higher votes, had the wolf looked menacing and not fake.

Also on Amanda Seyfried:

Chloe starring Julianne Moore, Liam Neeson and Amanda Seyfried

Veronica Mars starring Kristen Bell, Teddy Dunn, Jason Dohring & Enrico Colantoni

Also on Gary Oldman:

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When adultery is okay, part 3: The Scarlet Letter

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Veronica Mars starring Kristen Bell, Teddy Dunn, Jason Dohring & Enrico Colantoni

Posted on January 18, 2011 Written by ripitup

Veronica Mars starring Kristen Bell, Teddy Dunn, Jason Dohring & Enrico Colantoni. Image via dizim.org

Californian high school student Veronica Mars (Kristen Bell) is an outcast. She is pretty and smart, yet the popular circle despises her since her best friend Lily (Amanda Seyfried) got murdered at her own house and Veronica’s sheriff father Keith (Enrico Colantoni) blamed Lily’s dad for it. But Lily’s dad being a rich and powerful man, Keith got fired and ridiculed. Lily’s friends asked her to choose, and she stuck with her dad. So her boyfriend Duncan (Teddy Dunn) dumped her, and so did his circle of friends. Moreover she was raped at a party. Oh, and Veronica’s mom couldn’t handle the pressure, loss of income/reputation and left the family “for a while”.

But being an outcast made Veronica the strong, sassy and the independent girl she is today. Her father was replaced by the jerk of a sheriff. Keith Mars now runs a private investigation business and Veronica helps him .

The episodes include that week’s case for Keith, sometimes a separate case for Veronica while father and daughter try to solve the mystery of Lily’s death and Veronica’s mom’s whereabouts, usually keeping their efforts from each other.

Of course being the high school student, Veronica needs to deal with Logan (Jason Dohring) – Duncan’s best friend and constant trouble-maker, the local motorcycle gang and possible romantic involvements.

Veronica Mars is a really fun crime/mystery/drama that is not quite like your other high school series. Veronica has really original and entertaining ways of dealing with trouble and cracking her cases. She is more than able to take care of herself. But of course things with Duncan are really complicated. It seems like Duncan isn’t over Veronica and doesn’t quite know how to handle it. Who can Veronica really trust apart from her new friend Wallace (Percy Daggs III)?

Rated at 8.7 on IMDB (voted by nearly 14,000 people) Veronica Mars is a must-see for mystery lovers. The cast and writers do a good job, although I strictly prefer season 1 and 2 over season 3.

Fun notes:

You might remember Enrico Colantoni as the fashion photographer from the comedy series Just Shoot Me.

One of the guest actors is Sydney Tamaiia Poitier. As the name suggests, she is the daughter of Oscar-Winning actor Sydney Poitier.

If the name and face of Jason Dohring seemed familiar, it is because you might have watched him as a fun-loving, 400 year-old, rich vampire in Moonlight. He played Josef, Mick St. John’s best friend.

Paris Hilton appears as Logan’s annoying girlfriend for a couple of episodes. No worries. She fits the popular/dumb/bitchy blonde part.

Also on Kristen Bell:

When in Rome starring Kristen Bell and Josh Duhamel

Couples Retreat starring Vince Vaughn, Jon Favreau, Kristen Bell, Kristin Davis, Malin Akerman and Jason Bateman

Forgetting Sarah Marshall starring Jason Segel, Mila Kunis, Kristen Bell and Russell Brand

Serious Moonlight starring Meg Ryan, Timothy Hutton, Kristen Bell and Justin Long

33 Actors From My Generation – Actors Born in the Years Between 1980-1990

Also on Amanda Seyfried:

Chloe starring Liam Neeson, Julianne Moore and Amanda Seyfried

Also on Jason Dohring:

Moonlight starring Alex O’Loughlin, Sophia Myles and Jason Dohring

Chloe starring Julianne Moore, Liam Neeson and Amanda Seyfried

Posted on June 25, 2010 Written by ripitup

Chloe starring Julianne Moore, Liam Neeson and Amanda Seyfried. Image from http://moviecultists.com

And there will be SPOILERS

Well, there will be-not because I want to tell you the ending- but because you will know what to expect from the movie.

The Plot

Catherine Stewart (Julianne Moore) is going through a very problematic and lonely time in her life: Her husband D avid (Liam Neeson) seems to be evasive, negligent and overly flirting with other women. Well, younger and beautiful women, to be exact. To top this, her son Michael (Max Thieriot) seems to despise her and is a lot closer to his father.

At this particular juncture in her life, she runs into a very beautiful young woman named Chloe (Amanda Seyfried). Chloe is an expensive hooker/escort who Catherine used to see with different men from her office window. Yeah, Catherine is an expensive gynecologist with a big office and an amazing house and they hang out in the same neighborhoods.

Anyway, one day, a desperate Catherine gets to meet Chloe. And no longer able to stand the suspicions about her husband, she hires Chloe to see if she can seduce her husband. She does, as expected, and reports back to Catherine.

Now, of course, this is the point where you expect any woman to do one of the following:

– To confront David and to either forgive or dump him.

– Or not confront him and just deal with it on her own.

– Or maybe have a little affair of her own out of spite/revenge.

I am guessing, however, you don’t expect her to be turned on by Chloe’s storytelling about how she slept with her husband and you definitely don’t expect Catherine to sleep with Chloe.

OK, I am guessing, some of the men would expect or at least want Chloe and Catherine to get together. So to satisfy your curiousity, there is a sex scene with nudity. And it doesn’t involve Liam Neeson.

Having gotten that out of the way, the movie takes a turn where Chloe is obsessed with Catherine. Maybe she was from the beginning, but it becomes much more apparent. She would be more than willing to be her girlfriend. Of course Catherine wants none of that. So Chloe goes after the son. Why not the husband, if he enjoyed the affair as much as she described? Maybe because he never slept with her in the first place and all the scenes Chloe described were nothing more than detailed storytelling?

I will admit that the movie is not exactly boring. However, the writing doesn’t really flow naturally. Sure, it is an original twist, compared to other “fatal attraction” sort of movies where the woman had an actual affair with the man and then threatened the whole family because she wanted the man. Herevwe have a girl who wanted the woman. And she was never really a violent threat, but an obsessed and emotional one who did everything to get closer to Catherine, rather than destroy her.

But how is it supposed to make sense that a woman who has been heterosexual all her life, depressed about her son and husband, will hire a prostitute to prove he is cheating and then accept her words as proof? So you don’t believe your husband? Fine, hire a P.I. Because P.I.s aren’t paid to tell stories. They are paid to show proof: video, photographs…You know, actual proof.

And why would you send the hooker to seduce him? There is a big chance that she could want him for herself. He is handsome, well-off and well, nice! So let’s say that you are so desperate, you don’t think naturally and you did hire her. And you believed her. When did you decide to sleep with her???

I know writing a good screenplay is difficult. And while this one makes an OK job for the most part, some things just don’t really add up. How stupid can a woman be? So she slept with her. Wasn’t she supposed to wake up about how obsessed Chloe was when she didn’t want money or wanted to give her hairpin that was given to her by her mother…How twisted is that?

Oh- and then there is the scene where she does prove to herself, unexpectedly, that in fact her husband never cheated. He was so hurt and disappointed. Do you think he would have forgiven her so easily if she had slept with a man? Oh, you might see the ending coming. But you may or may not see the final scene coming. I am wondering whether you would say “Great job” or “Come on!!! You have got to be kidding me!”

While the director is a man (Atom Egoyan), I am surprised to see that the screenwriters are women. It might be old-fashioned of me but I find everything in the movie very hard to relate to, as a woman. I also find it hardly believable that Liam Neeson’s character would actually say no to all women, even though they weren’t really having sex anymore and his gorgeous female students were probably coming on to him. I am not just buying that. Call me a cynic.

I do, however, have to admit that this movie is much more intriguing than the last love triangle movie I saw Liam Neeson in. That time he wasn’t suspected of cheating or wasn’t flirting with anyone. He was being cheated on by his beloved wife who was cheating on him with Antonio Banderas’ character. The movie was called The Other Man.

I think I should give this movie a 6, that is the highest rating I can give. It had its moments and it certainly had flaws. Tell me you didn’t see Liam wasn’t cheating the moment we weren’t given actual scenes but just story telling from Chloe?

If you like dramas/thrillers, twisted characters with the most irrational behavior and the actors, see it. It is a 6.6 on IMDB.

Other Posts on Liam Neeson

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Seraphim Falls starring Neeson and Pierce Brosnan

The Other Man starring Neeson and Banderas

Buy Chloe on Amazon.com