Jake Gyllenhaal | pinartarhan.com

Source Code starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Michelle Monaghan & Vera Farmiga: A Should-See!

Posted on August 11, 2011 Written by ripitup

Source Code starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Michelle Monaghan & Vera Farmiga. Image via movienewz.com

Source Code: Plot Summary

Military pilot (Jake Gyllenhaal) finds himself on a train to Chicago, sitting across a beautiful woman named Christina (Michelle Monaghan) who keeps calling him Sean. And the reflection in the mirror is someone else’s… He has no clue how he has got there, and before he can figure out, a huge explosion occurs, killing everyone on the train.

Only, Stevens isn’t dead. He wakes up in a strange capsule, where female military officer Goodwin (Vera Farmiga), who keeps asking him about a bomb. Instead of answering his questions, she seems to stick to an urgent schedule and sends him back to the train. He only has 8 minutes to find the bomb and the bomber.

As almost the same things happen over and over during those 8 minutes, and something goes wrong each time, they keep sending him back, only reluctantly giving bits of details about the mission, and why the hell Sean is involved in the first place.

We root for Stevens as he tries to solve two “cases” at once, and learning shocking things about himself in the process. To the annoyance of Dr. Ruthledge (Jeffrey Wright), developer of Source Code, Stevens develops an agenda of his own.

Is the source code only able to help them prevent future disasters? Or can Stevens actually use to alter the past? Oh yeah, and we are still trying to find the bomber…

Worth Seeing? : Definitely!

I hadn’t been that impressed with Source Code’s trailer. But then again, while trailers typically show the parts with most action, they tend to leave the whys/hows/whos out. It is a risky way, because the trailer had let me to think that this movie would be very typical, apart from the “8-minutes-only”, hence my not-so-hopeful preview post on the movie.

But the movie, apart from some scenes, is anything but typical. It is (quite) original (apart from the parts when my mind went back to a “Supernatural” episode, fast but with enough emotional moments and character development, a romantic sub-plot that feels quite natural. And the whys/hows/whos make the movie.

Source Code is creative and engaging. And it is a sci-fi movie that will even appeal to the non fans. Sure, some things will definitely feel like a stretch, even by sci-world standards. Still, the movie offers a good time with a very likable protagonist. And it offers all this in a little over than 90 minutes.

Written by Ben Ripley. Directed by Duncan Jones (Moon). And finally, a cool story that wasn’t adapted from a book!

Currently rated at 7.6 on IMDB.

Other Articles on the Cast

Jake Gyllenhaal

Jake Gyllenhaal Trivia

Donnie Darko starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Jena Malone, Drew Barrymore & Patrick Swayze

The Day After Tomorrow Starring Dennis Quaid & Jake Gyllenhaal

Preview: Love and Other Drugs starring Jake Gyllenhaal & Anne Hathaway

Actors Born In Between 1980-1990 feat. Gyllenhaal

Michelle Monaghan

The Heartbreak Kid starring Ben Stiller, Malin Akerman and Michelle Monaghan

Made of Honor starring Patrick Dempsey & Michelle Monaghan

Vera Farmiga

Up in the Air starring George Clooney, Vera Farmiga and Anna Kendrick

Return to Paradise starring Vince Vaughn, Anne Heche and Joaquin Phoenix

Love and Other Drugs starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway

Posted on January 29, 2011 Written by ripitup

Love and Other Drugs starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway

1996. Jamie (Jake Gyllenhaal) is an attractive, charming and smart guy who uses all his brain cells to make more sales and have sex with as many women as possible. But when he screws his boss’s wife, he finds himself looking for a new job and with the help of his brother Josh (Josh Gad), he starts working as a drug rep. for Pfizer. With the help of his politically incorrect mentor Bruce (Oliver Platt) and his own skills, he is getting the hang of the job, while sleeping with even more women.

But then Jamie meets Maggie (Anne Hathaway) at a doctor (Hank Azaria)’s office and suddenly Jamie is only having sex with Maggie. And why not? She’s hot, independent and she is offering more booty calls than he can handle. But there are 2 problems: Maggie has Parkinson’s disease and the more time they spend together, the more Jamie gets to like her. But Maggie is resisting any commitment or emotional attachment. Even if Jamie can persuade her to be his girlfriend, can they make it work with her symptoms and fears?

The movie has a lot to tell. It has a love story, the launch of Viagra, Jamie’s career, his coming to terms with deeper sides of his personality, very talkative supporting characters who try to steal the scene, Maggie trying to fit in a relationship in her life….

Love and Other Drugs is a film with some original moments and many clichés. Well, telling a mixed genre of comedy/romance/drama is not easy.

But the way director/co-writer Edward Zwick (Legends of the Fall, Glory, The Last Samurai) started telling this story, I thought we were going to a get a Cameron Crowe (Elizabeth Town, Jerry Maguire) or Jason Reitman (Up in the Air) style film – sincere, refreshing & highly entertaining.

A little short of 2 hours, Love and Other Drugs could be edited more. It could also have a better dialogue. And a couple less superficial characters?

Edward Zwick’s film starts in the tradition of Cameron and Jason and then suddenly becomes…well, something different and less impressive. It has a nice soundtrack, though.

Some could argue that the movie tried to be show life as it is – politically incorrect, rude, awkward, competitive, sarcastic….But then I could argue it gives you just as many clichés as your average romantic comedy- just with much more nudity. Come on- the misunderstood, potentially great guy who was previously a womanizer only finding his true self through love. The girl resisting true romance because of her fears? Even the big chasing gesture…

This movie is not bad. It is just not as good as I expected. Its problem? It’s not funny enough and it is not romantic enough. It is just alright. 6.6 on IMDB.

Fun notes:

– Gabriel Macht plays competitive firm’s drug-rep.

– Anne Hathaway and Jake Gyllenhaal hooked up on screen before in Brokeback Mountain, although Jake’s true love in the film was Heath Ledger.

– Hank Azaria had a recurring guest role on Friends as Phoebe’s scientist boyfriend.

Other posts on Jake Gyllenhaal

Source Code starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Michelle Monaghan & Vera Farmiga

Jake Gyllenhaal Trivia

Donnie Darko starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Jena Malone, Drew Barrymore & Patrick Swayze

The Day After Tomorrow Starring Dennis Quaid & Jake Gyllenhaal

Preview: Love and Other Drugs starring Jake Gyllenhaal & Anne Hathaway

Actors Born In Between 1980-1990 feat. Gyllenhaal

Other Posts on Anne Hathaway

Valentine’s Day starring Julia Roberts, Jessica Alba, Jennifer Garner, Bradley Cooper, Anne Hathaway and More

Source Code starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Michelle Monaghan & Vera Farmiga: Preview – Updated!

Posted on January 3, 2011 Written by ripitup

Plot

Soldier Colter Stevens (Jake Gyllenhaal) is given a unique mission: through the help of latest technology, he will go back a little in time, “become” one of the passengers on the train that got bombed that morning. The downside is he only has 8 minutes to identify the bomber. In charge of the operation is Carol Goodwin (Vera Farmiga). If they can find out who the bomber is, they can prevent a second attack from happening. Colter gets to try multiple times but each time he has 8 minutes. And things get even more complicated when he starts having feelings to another passenger (Michelle Monaghan). After all, preventing the first attack or saving these passengers isn’t a part of the official mission…

First Impressions * (This post was written before I saw the movie. My review after seeing the m?vie is here.)

So far I only have the trailer to have an idea and I am not that impressed. The 8-minutes premise is intriguing enough but I am not sure about the “romance” bit. I got the feeling our heroic soldier is going to try to save only Michelle Monaghan’s character and frankly, that is a bit extreme. Why not try to save the whole train? And a couple of 8 minutes for an intense connection? I didn’t exactly buy it.

I suppose we will have to wait and see. But it is going to look a little bad if our heroic soldier only attempts to save one life only. What do you think?

A promising note: Source Code was directed by Duncan Jones, who directed & co-wrote the intelligent sci-fi/drama Moon starring Sam Rockwell.

Also on Jake Gyllenhaal

Jake Gyllenhaal Trivia

Donnie Darko starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Jena Malone, Drew Barrymore & Patrick Swayze

The Day After Tomorrow Starring Dennis Quaid & Jake Gyllenhaal

Preview: Love and Other Drugs starring Jake Gyllenhaal & Anne Hathaway

Actors Born In Between 1980-1990 feat. Gyllenhaal

Also on Michelle Monaghan

The Heartbreak Kid starring Ben Stiller, Malin Akerman and Michelle Monaghan

Made of Honor starring Patrick Dempsey & Michelle Monaghan

Also on Vera Farmiga

Up in the Air starring George Clooney, Anna Kendrick & Vera Farmiga

Due Date, Love and Other Drugs, The Tourist: The 3 Comedies to Anticipate This Season

Posted on September 26, 2010 Written by ripitup

For the summer, my top 3 anticipated movies were Knight and Day, Inception and Salt. While I didn’t get to see Salt (I will, eventually), I had a great time with both Knight and Day and Inception. While Knight and Day – starring Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz– gave us the perfect combination of action-comedy-romance, Inception was one hell of a mind-bending ride with a killer script and equally impressive special effects.

For the colder days ahead, there are many good movies coming up, and I picked the three that looked the most fun and well, they also have terrific casts.

The Tourist – starring Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie

The Tourist seems like to be in the same genre as Knight and Day, and it has even got one innocent, clueless character that thinking they met this gorgeous and exciting person from the opposite sex but instead of a mind-blowing romance- or at least they can get to that, they find out that sexy stranger is involved in a very complex career. In Knight and Day it was Cameron Diaz, a car mechanic on her way to her sister’s wedding when she met F.B.I agent on the run from the F.B.I agents trying to kill him, played by Tom Cruise. Here the hapless sap is Johnny Depp, and the agent/spy/whatever is the woman, very appropriately played by Angelina Jolie.

The movie seems to have a good sense of humor, great action sequences and exotic locations. Can’t wait.

Love and Other Drugs starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway

Pharmaceutical Rep. Jamie (Jake Gyllenhaal) is pretty happy with his life: he likes his job (=he makes good money), and he is even better with (seducing) women. However his successful yet fun & simple life gets complicated when he finally meets a girl named Maggie (Anne Hathaway) who pretty much seems to be his female version: she is hot and she loves having sex for the hell of it. But there seems to be more to their attraction and eventually relationship to more than just sex. He really might be falling for her. But maybe there is a reason behind her carefree and fun-loving attitude, and it may be that will alter his life forever…

Don’t worry, I didn’t include anything in the plot that wasn’t suggested in the trailer. This ones seems to be a romantc comedy/drama.

This is Anne and Jake’s second collaboration, the first one being in the award-winning Brokeback Mountain, where Jake played a cowboy falling in love with another gay cowboy, at a time when gay relationships weren’t all that conventional and the two lovers end up marrying women, all the while staying in the affair through a long period of time. Jake’s character had married Anne’s character in the film.

Due Date starring Robert Downey Jr. and Zach Galifianakis

And from the makers of the The Hangover, comes another comedy. While the trailer of Due Date didn’t make me laugh too hard, it entertained the hell out of me. And since I know the writer is a whiz at writing comedy and that both Zach Galifianakis (The Hangover’s Alan, Bored to Death’s Ray) and Robert Downey Jr. are more than apt at delivering perfect comedic performance, I believe it is safe to think that we might have stomach cramps from laughing because of this movie.

The plot: Peter Highman (Robert Downey Jr.) needs to get to his wife’s birth and unfortunately needs to let the weird passenger Ethan (Zach Galifianakis) join his ride. Of course there will hardly anything going normal…