Timecrimes (2007) Movie Review

Albert Walker October 23, 2009

“Timecrimes” (original title: “Los cronocrímenes”) is a small, low budget sci-fi film from Spain about a crazy hour in the life of an accidental time traveler. The movie doesn’t break any new ground when it comes to the subject of time travel, but there’s just enough humor and complexity to make it an engaging puzzle of a movie. Karra Elejalde is Héctor, your average, workaday, middle-aged married man. At the start of the film, he and his wife have just moved into a new house. One evening, just as the sun is setting, Héctor finds himself with time on his hands, so he grabs a pair of binoculars to scope out his new neighborhood. He sees an eerie yet titillating sight in the woods behind his house: a young woman stands there, and slowly begins taking off her clothes. Being your average male, Héctor immediately goes to investigate. There, he finds the nude woman lying unconscious in a clearing. Suddenly,… Continue Reading »

Ink (2009) Movie Review

Albert Walker September 20, 2009

“Ink” is a dark, modern-day fairy tale in which our nighttime world is inhabited by two factions of unseen, supernatural beings. On the side of good are the Storytellers, pretty twentysomethings who come to us as we sleep and give us happy (though clichéd) dreams. On the dark side are the Succubi, men with creepy faces that are only seen as black and white images through panes of glass permanently bolted to their chests. As you might imagine, the Succubi are the ones responsible for our nightmares. Another mysterious creature exists apart from both groups: a hunchbacked, ragged character with an enormous nose who (for unknown reasons) is called Ink. In a bid to join the Succubi, Ink steals the soul of a little girl, holding her hostage in dreamland while her physical body remains comatose in the real world. The Storytellers stage a rescue attempt, which seems to hinge on breaking through to the other side and getting in… Continue Reading »

Primer (2004) Movie Review

Albert Walker August 30, 2009

“Primer” is a raw, low-budget take on that staple of filmed sci-fi, the time travel tale. But unlike movies that take you through time on a DeLorean, or on a comfy chair with attached roulette wheel, or simply through the power of wishing really hard, the time machine in “Primer” is built (partly) with present-day technology, and it looks and feels like something that could exist in the real world. The movie achieves verisimilitude through an almost documentary-like approach, making it one of the most engrossing time travel movies ever told… for the first hour, at least. After that point, it devolves into a confusing morass of causality loops and overlapping timelines that demands multiple viewings. However, it’s unclear just how many viewings are required before the movie’s third act even begins to make sense. Abe (David Sullivan) and Aaron (writer-director Shane Carruth) are entrepreneurial scientists, working on experiments in Aaron’s garage, hoping for the big breakthrough that will allow… Continue Reading »

A Scanner Darkly (2006) Movie Review

Albert Walker August 10, 2009

Of all the movie adaptations of the works of legendary sci-fi author Philip K. Dick (“Blade Runner”, “Total Recall”, “Minority Report”, to name a few), “A Scanner Darkly”, based on his 1977 novel, is by far the most faithful to the source material. But don’t rush out to rent it just yet—that’s not necessarily a good thing. In “A Scanner Darkly”, Keanu Reeves is “Fred”, a narcotics agent operating in Anaheim, California sometime in the near future. “Fred” has been assigned to locate the source of a new street drug called “Substance D”, a potent pill that leads to extreme brain damage in its users. As part of his assignment, he goes undercover as Bob Arctor, a druggie living with two druggie friends (Robert Downey Jr. and Woody Harrelson) while trying to make time with a druggie chick (Winona Ryder). At the start of the movie, all four addicts are already living with the unpleasant side effects of Substance D,… Continue Reading »

Moon (2009) Movie Review

Albert Walker June 8, 2009

“Moon” explores one of the possible reasons that mankind might colonize the moon in the not-too-distant future. In the film, nuclear fusion has become a reality, providing limitless cheap and clean energy to the entire world. And the most readily available source of Helium-3, the fuel needed for the fusion reaction, is on the surface of the moon. Sam Bell (Sam Rockwell, “Choke”, “Confessions of a Dangerous Mind”) is the lonely astronaut assigned to live alone on the moon and oversee the automated mining operation. Sam is nearing the end of a three-year contract, which means that for three years he’s been in total solitude, his only companion an artificially intelligent computer named Gerty (voiced by Kevin Spacey), who nimbly maneuvers its robot arms around the base, and has a tiny screen where it displays a myriad of emoticons. Sam’s live satellite feed to Earth hasn’t worked for a while, meaning his only glimpses of his wife and baby back… Continue Reading »