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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.

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I Am Number Four starring Alex Pettyfer, Timothy Olyphant, Teresa Palmer & Dianna Agron

Posted on April 8, 2011 Written by ripitup

I Am Number Four starring Alex Pettyfer, Timothy Olyphant, Dianna Agron & Teresa Palmer

John (Alex Pettyfer) looks like your high school popular kid, however he is anything but. He lives with Henri (Timothy Olyphant), a warrior assigned to protect him. They are both from another planet. Unfortunately, a viloent race from another planet, The Mogadorians , have wiped out John’ race, except from a few gifted kids with special powers. These kids have been sent to Earth, along with their protectors. Unfortunately, Mogadorians have been able to track and kill three of these kids. John is next.

So Henri takes him to a small Ohio town called Paradise, where he feels it will be easier to stay off the grid. Despite Henri’s objections, John decides to go to the local high school. But being invisible will be harder than he imagined as he meets and falls for the pretty Sarah (Dianna Agron) who enjoys seeing the world through her photographs. Then there is Sam (Callan McAuliffe) , a nice kid who keeps being bullied around by the gang of popular kids (jocks), led by Mark (Jake Abel). It doesn’t help matters that Mark is still not over Sarah.Despite what his common sense tells him, John keeps hanging around Sarah and protecting Sam. In the meantime, Mogadorians are getting closer. Fortunately, John’s discovering that he is a lot stronger than he thinks…

I Am Number Four delivers what it promises: good entertainment. It has all the typical, yet required elements: Lots of action and special effects (although I could have done without the gigantic monsters fighting around), charismatic actors (hello, Timothy Olyphant!), funny one-liners, a couple to root for, the likable sidekick, the likeable hero, bullies, the villains and a kick-ass female character (Teresa Palmer), who shows up just in time to help save the day. Nothing extraordinary, but plain fun.

I like the relationship between Henri and John. They are like father and son (with special skills who are being hunted by villainous creatures, but like father and son all the same). John, in many ways, is a typical teen- despite the dangers, he still wants to live his life. And he likes not doing what John tells him to do. John’s primary concern is to live his life, whereas Henri makes sure John has a life to live.

Full of action, romance and attitude, a movie doesn’t get more unisex than this. Based on the novel by the same name (written by Jobie Hughes (as Pittacus Lore) & James Frey (as Pittacus Lore). Directed by D.J. Caruso. Produced by Michael Bay.

Favorite Scenes:

– John having to use his skills at the carnival.

– John and number 6 (Teresa Palmer) fighting together.

Fun notes:

– Mark, played by Jake Abel, is no stranger to Supernatural fans as he played Adam in Supernatural.

– The cast is pretty international. Teresa Palmer and Callan McAuliffe are Australian, Alex Pettyfer is English and Timothy Olyphant is American.

Entertainment Value: 8/10.

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This Is Not My Life starring Charles Mesure, Tandi Wright, Tania Nolan & Miriama McDowell

Posted on March 9, 2011 Written by ripitup

This Is Not My Life starring Charles Mesure. Charles is in the front center, in case you can't recognize him without the beard and gun.

New Zealand. 2020s. When Alec Ross (Charles Mesure– V’s Kyle Hobbes) wakes up in a nice suburban house and realizes that he is supposedly married to Callie (Tandi Wright) with two kids, teenage Christian (Tom Cameron) and little Becky (Ariana Brunet), he is sure this is not his life. He doesn’t remember any of it, yet his wife seems genuinely concerned. She tries to convince him that he is going through a head trauma after an incident at the house. He tries to run but there is nowhere to go.

So he agrees to see their family doctor, Natasha Collins (Tania Nolan) at the Wellness Center. Everyone at the center, especially Collins, is very controlled and annoyingly composed. But it is not until Alec is taken through a back door, all tied up, that he realizes there is something seriously wrong. He runs, but soon he realizes that the cars are only “charged” enough to run within the town limits, he doesn’t seem to have enough “credits” to book a flight and the “Wellness” guys are after him.

After he is captured, he finds himself back in the hospital. This time, however, he wakes up –totally sure that he is Alec, a happily married man. His “memory” is slow, but intact. But just when he is about to go on with his life, he sees the message he recorded during his escape- the message says that he is not sure who he is but he can’t trust anyone, his family included…

Later, he starts to realize that there are even more wrong things with their town and that maybe, there are a few others who don’t fit in, like him… As he digs deeper and meets Jessica (Miriama McDowell), things get even more complicated. What the hell is this place? Why are they there? And can they make it out alive?

This Is Not My Life is a very intriguing and gripping sci-fi/drama/mystery series from New Zealand. Charles Mesure does a great job as Alec. The first two episodes are combined, so brace yourselves for a 85-minute pilot. And while the pilot is not exactly very fast-paced, it does a good job with setting the mood, introducing the characters, giving clues about the potential and building enough suspense to make you watch the third episode. And from the 3^rd episode on, the show becomes a great, gripping ride that you don’t want to get off of.

I like the show’s realistic sci-fi attitude. The technology is quite advanced, but not so advanced that you can’t imagine their tech can’t really happen 10-15 years from now. It really plays the mystery card well. The human factor in everyone is also explored pretty well. To say how would be giving things away, but know that it shows you that you can’t just create a perfect, flawless community with human beings. You can’t just create a master plan for people’s lives and not think that things will not go out of control

Great context, good-writing. Every episode gives you exciting twists and turns.

Don’t worry about the show being from New Zealand. The theme is extremely universal and all the episodes can be easily found online.

The only bad thing about This Is Not My Life is that there’re only 13 episodes. In the end, there are still some questions that aren’t answered, but that’s not the screenwriters’ doing. I have a feeling they were counting on a second season. Still, 13 episodes have prevented the writers from screwing up. All episodes are terrific and the series end with a fantastic finale, even if it was meant for a season finale. Yes, I have seen and loved all 13.

Enjoy!

Also feat. Charles Mesure:

V 2009 TV Series – starring Elizabeth Mitchell, Joel Gretsch, Charles Mesure, Scott Wolf

Trivia for V’s Elizabeth Mitchell (Erica Evans) and Charles Mesure (Kyle Hobbes)

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.

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