In Time

Don't Give It A Second Thought

Director: Andrew Niccol

Writers: Andrew Niccol
Cast: Justin Timberlake, Amanda Seyfried, Cillian Murphy, Olivia Wilde, Johnny Galecki, Matt Bomer

SYNOPSIS: In the future, men and women stop aging at 25, but are granted only one more year of life. If one has the money or the means, they can extend their one-year clock indefinitely, closing in on immortality.

REVIEW: Andrew Niccol, writer and director of Lord of War, S1m0me and Gattaca, returns to double duty as writer and director of his new high-concept sci-fi thriller In Time. Following in the footsteps of his sci-fi efforts for Gattaca, where society favored the genetically superior, Niccol now broaches a new twist on the same futuristic utopian concept - genetically altered humanity and society's effects on it longevity.

In the film In Time, people have been genetically engineered to age until 25, then have a remaining year of time that displays as a digital readout on the forearm. Set in a future where the currency is measured in time, seconds, minutes, hours, days, months or years, people work to have time added to their lifeline, and pay for rent, food, and goods in the same manner. Once the lifeline counts down to zeros, the person will drop dead. In this future, which looks suspiciously like our recent past, people live in 'time zones', effectively separating the idle rich with their mansions and extravagance from the working poor with their time lending banks and ghettos.

Will Salas (Justin Timberlake - Alpha Dog) is a 25 plus 3 year old who works all day just to have enough time on his lifeline to wring out a living day to day for rent and to add time to his mother Rachael's (Olivia Wilde - Cowboys & Aliens) lifeline. Long time friend Borel (Johnny Galecki - The Big Bang Theory) works with Will at the factory, trying to churning out assembly line time cartridge sleeves fast enough to meet their weekly quota. One day, a man named Henry Hamilton (Matt Bomer - White Collar) appears in the bar with over a century of time on his arm, bringing the notice of local ghetto thugs led by Fortis (Alex Pettyfer - I Am Number Four) who look to steal his time away. Will intervenes and Henry gifts his century of time to Will before timing himself out in a suicide. With all of the extra time, Will agonizes when he still cannot reach his mother in time to keep her from timing out herself. With the notable death of a rich citizen, Timekeeper Raymond Leon (Cillian Murphy - Inception) is called to investigate his death. Now accused of murder, Will runs. Using years of time, he crosses several 'time zones' to escape the ghetto and enter the world of the rich. Eventually, Leon catches up with Will, setting off a chain of events that involves car chases, hostage taking, time bank stealing, and social and political intrigue.

Timberlake puts his best foot forward, but falls short of his performance as Frankie in Alpha Dog. Seyfried as Sylvia looks gorgeous and almost unrecognizable as the young heiress to the Weis banking and stock empire, walking the fine line between disdain, boredom, and regret. Murphy, his chiseled face and sharp blue eyes convey more than any of his dialogue. Vincent Kartheiser (Mad Men) as the elder Weis controlling more than just a stock portfolio brings his Mad Men sensibility to the role with a wisp of wisdom thrown in. Pettyfer's ghetto thug and enforcer Fortis adds a new dimension of drama as Salas runs from the Timekeepers, Weis, and the endless countdown of seconds.

Reminiscent of William F. Nolan's novel Logan's Run, subsequent Michael York 1976 film and television series of the same name, people live in a dystopic ageist future society where their lives are forcibly cut short at 30 years of age. When a person's palm flower crystal turns black on their 'Lastday', they are required to submit themselves to extermination. If they try to run, a Sandman is tasked with their return to the Sleepshop or with their immediate execution. 35 years after the original film and 44 years after the book's release, Niccol tries his hand at a slick new approach similar to Logan's Run's dystopic ageist future society theme.

In Time makes Logan's Sandmen obsolete by making people drop dead when their timeline zero out. But the fact that time can be gifted, inherited, or stolen between people provides new dynamics to explore. Instead of an forced utopian society based on a limit of age, In Time is based on time. While the poor can barely scrap together enough hours to survive another day, the rich barter and save their years and decades. And when the ghetto class may verge on moving up in the world, the cost of goods and interest rates controlled by the rich rise to knock the poor back down.

A wonderful high concept sci-fi film in theory, a satisfying first act ends and is replaced by strange humming vehicles from the 60s, 70s, and 80s, overly sparse landscapes, and lots of running. Many elements are cool and well-thought out, but the overall story and tension falls flat. The worry of running out of time like sand running through an hourglass seem to come to a standstill when you can swap seconds and minutes as easily as gum.

WORTH: Netflix

Friends With Benefits

How Can We Be Lovers If We Can't Be Friends?

Director: Will Gluck
Writers: Keith Merryman, David A. Newman, Will Gluck, Harley Peyton
Cast: Justin Timberlake, Mila Kunis, Patricia Clarkson, Jenna Elfman, Richard Jenkins, Woody Harrelson

SYNOPSIS: Dylan and Jamie, after their last break-ups, decide to close themselves off from the perfect "Hollywood" romances and have casual sex with each other, not realizing that even being friends with benefits comes with its own set of complications.

REVIEW: Fired Up and Easy A director Will Gluck takes a stab at a slightly more adult, if much more raunchy, romantic comedy with Friends with Benefits. Coming out at the peak of the Summer season, Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis still have to contend with being second fiddle as a "me, too" to Ashton Kutcher and Natalie Portman's No Strings Attached released at the start of this year. Both films are quirky, silly and focusing on unattached intimate contact, but which one, if either at all, come out the winner? HotButterReviews.com gave No Strings Attached a 2.5 out of 5 on the Popcorn Meter for their effort in the casual sex sub-genre of romantic comedies. Let's see how Friends With Benefits fared.

Justin Timberlake, drawing on his boyish charm, film street cred with Alpha Dog, and comedy chops culled from his SNL experiences, tackles his first truly leading man romantic comedy role. Mila Kunis, no stranger to film with turns in The Book of Eli and Black Swan, and no stranger to comedy with television's That 70s Show, joins Timberlake opposite as his leading lady. Dylan (Timberlake), an internet blogger entrepreneur in Los Angeles, is lured to New York City by corporate head hunter Jamie (Kunis) for an editor position at GQ magazine. Both of them have run into and out of bad relationships in the past, and as their friendship develops they drunkenly decide one night that they would make a perfect casual sex, booty-call couple. Since one is emotionally shut-down and the other is emotionally damaged, they start having a great time with each other - and each other's bodies! But as with any romantic comedy, one or both start to have real feelings with the other and the casual relationship starts having unexpected complications and turns.

Trying to complicate the story more are Jamie's flighty mother Lorna (Patricia Clarkson), Dylan's sometimes lucid father (Richard Jenkins) cared by Dylan's sister Annie (Jenna Elfman) and her son Sam (Nolan Gould), and a GQ sports editor Tommy (Woody Harrelson) trying to persuade Dylan that he should be gay. Completing the cast are silly opening scene cameos from Andy Samberg as Jamie's soon-to-be ex-boyfriend Quincy and Emma Stone as Dylan's soon-to-be ex-girlfriend Kayla. Even snow boarder Shaun White plays himself for comic effect.

Timberlake is quirky and funny as one would expect him to be, although his dramatic, tender side does not play as strongly as his Alpha Dog role. Mila Kunis is strong and sexy, with her exotic looks and sharp tongue, weaving her Black Swan mystique into a lighter, funny lead. Serious moments with Dylan and his once mighty father, and Jamie and her commitment-phobic mother keep the film grounded, but would have worked better is a more serious film.

If you like No Strings Attached, you will probably enjoy Friends With Benefits, but it is certainly is no The Proposal. It is interesting, though, that Kutcher and Kunis both worked on That 70s Show, Kunis and Portman both worked in Black Swan, and Timberlake was Punk'd by Kutcher. Is this history repeating itself, or are we just getting punk'd again?

WORTH: Matinee or Netflix

Bad Teacher

Doing The Minimum Effort

Director: Jake Kasdan
Writers: Gene Stupnitsky, Lee Eisenberg
Stars: Cameron Diaz, Jason Segel, Justin Timberlake, Lucy Punch, Phyllis Smith, John Michael Higgins


SYNOPSIS: When a disinterested junior high teacher Elizabeth Halsey gets dumped by her rich fiancee, she sets her sights on a wealthy substitute teacher to make end meet, much to the chagrin of a well-loved teacher.

REVIEW: Director Jake Kasdan, best known for helming Orange County and Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, takes a script from Year One and television's The Office scribe team Gene Stupnitsky and Lee Eisenberg to bring a raunchy, randy look at junior high school life - this time from the point of view of the overworked and underpaid staff.

What happens when you team Cameron Diaz, How I Met Your Mother's Jason Segel and the always watchable, in demand and busy Justin Timberlake? How about an adult sexy school comedy is part adult Mean Girls and School of Rock.

Where School of Rock takes a desperate broke musician and thrusts him into a private school substitute teacher role with an ulterior motive to try and win the Battle of the Bands competition using the kids in his class, Bad Teacher takes a desperate full-time public school junior high teacher Elizabeth Halsey (Cameron Diaz) found out by her fiancee to be a gold digger, forcing her to return to the school system she just left to make the rent. Along the way, she attempts to woo a wealthy substitute teacher Scott Delacorte (Justin Timberlake), clashes with the goody-goody, super chipper fellow teacher Amy Squirrel (Lucy Punch), and shields against the advances of the gym teacher Russell Gettis (Jason Segel) while trying to raise money for a boob job in an attempt to make herself feel better about herself.

Cameron Diaz is sultry cool as Halsey, her piercing blue eyes, wicked mouth and golden blonde curls eating up her scenes. She wears her character's distain, displeasure and disinterest like a tight, curvy well-loved T-shirt. Fellow educator Amy Squirrel played by Lucy Punch provides a perfect ticky, twitchy foil to Diaz, a teacher with goofy methods and a dedication to the children of her class and a threadbare sunny deposition ready to crack at any moment - like what happened back in 2008, according to dolphin-loving Principal Wally Snur, played by John Michael Higgins. The real scene-stealers, though, are Jason Segel's gym teacher Russell Gettis with his laid back,"ah shucks", water down a duck's back tireless pursuit of Halsey, Phyllis Smith's quirky, timid teacher Lynn Davies who always follows the rule, and sub teacher Scott Delacorte (Timberlake) who seems to have all the wrong moves with his singing and dancing but still draws all of the attention of the lady teachers.

Bad Teacher focuses little on the plight of the 7th graders, other than one kid who is head-over-heels with a popular girl who thinks she's too good for him. Instead, we are treated with various money-making schemes by Diaz to raise the up-front money for her chest enhancement appointment, a high noon feud that brews with fellow educator Amy Squirrel, and some weird passions by Timberlake, most notably an original ballad sung to sweetheart Amy or a strange passionate moment with Diaz in a hotel room during a class trip.

Many of the best gags are in the trailers, but there are a few surprises along the way that get a few laughs. We are treated to plenty of breasts and some choice curses throughout the film, some perfectly placed and some simply sprinkled in to spice up the dialogue. The ending is typical romantic comedy fare, but I did feel a little cheated by the lack of "just deserts" - almost like how Halsey gets her hands on the State Aptitude Tests!

WORTH: Matinee or Netflix

Yogi Bear (3D)

Yogi Bear-able

[Tom Cavanagh, Dan Aykroyd, Justin Timberlake, Anna Faris, T.J. Miller]

image from hollywoodgo.com

RANT: The first day of my Christmas vacation from work brings the third flick on my pre-Christmas list. First and second were Tron: Legacy and The Fighter, leaving a fuzzy talking bear and his pint-sized sidekick.

SYNOPSIS: Jellystone Park celebrates its 100th year celebration on the verge of closing due to poor admissions and a city mayor who wants to sell the land to loggers. Enter talking bears Yogi and Boo Boo to make both a mess of things and to try and save the day.

After years of dominating the 2D space of the small screen as a cartoon, Hanna Barbara has let Warner Brothers plump up the pic-a-nic basket stealing bear with a live-action CGI adventure. Both Yogi and his sidekick Boo Boo come to life in 3D furriness. Director Eric Brevig, better known for his visual effects work than his directing work on Journey to the Center of the Earth, takes a crack at another mixed media film.

Although the spitting image of their animated counterparts, Yogi and Boo Boo suffer from issues greater than poison ivy or what bears do in the woods. The story, although cute and lightly entertaining, is about as thick as a picnic tablecloth. Of course, the kids will barely care about the closing of the park due to financial worries and a dastardly city mayor looking to cover his losses on his way to make a run at the governor's mansion. Youngsters probably will not even blink an eye at the way Tom Cavanagh's Ranger Smith and Ana Faris' documentary film maker Rachel fail to interact all that well with the troublesome computer animated brown bears.

But the bears do entertain. The voice talent for Dan Aykroyd's Yogi is almost spot-on, while Justin Timberlake's Boo Boo is a pleasant surprise. I knew Timberlake could sing, but I did not know he used the pipes for anything other than belting out hits. Yogi and Boo Boo are fun to watch, their antics offering up a few laughs. Brevig uses the 3D is the classic fashion, throwing popcorn, spit-takes, fireworks, even toad-faced turtles at the audience.

Andrew Daly plays Franklin City Mayor Brown with enough stupidity and power lust to be entertaining, especially with his yes-man Chief of Staff (Nathan Corddry) in tow. T.J. Miller's Ranger Jones is pointless, although necessary to a key element of the plot. Ana Faris is her typical bubbly self as Rachel, the documentary filmmaker looking to film a couple talking bears in Jellystone. Finally, Tom Cavanagh's Ranger Smith is neither all that annoyed by Yogi's picnic basket napping or all that devastated by the closing of the park. He underplays it all, which is strange since there is a pair of talking bear hanging around!

Not up the caliber compared to Alvin and the Chipmunks, Yogi Bear is entertaining enough for the children. But if adults are hoping to relive their Hanna Barbara childhood roots, they may be both engrossed and disappointed.

Worth: Netflix

Butter Popcorn Meter

The Social Network

65 Billion Reasons

[Justin Timberlake, Jesse Eisenberg, Armie Hammer, Andrew Garfield, Rooney Mara]

image from digitaljournal.com

RANT: There are so many movies to see that I do not have any time between films to even come up with a rant. Sorry, maybe next time.

SYNOPSIS: Mark Zuckerberg develops the coding for Facebook during his under graduate studies at Harvard. Along the way to becoming the youngest billionaire in the world, he alienates his friends and schoolmates, facing multiple lawsuits.

Aaron Sorkin writes and David Fincher directs “The Social Network” based on the book, “The Accidental Billionaires”. The movie deals with the development, launch and success of the social network, Facebook.com, as well as the betrayals, backstabbing, and litigation that occurred along the way.

After his girlfriend Erica breaks up with him, a drunken Mark blogs about the experience and decides to take his mind off of her by creating a face match site where all of the Harvard girls with Harvard house photos are displayed two at a time side-by-side in a “Who Is Hotter?” poll. Writing the code in a few hours, and taking down the Harvard servers a couple hours after the site’s launch, Mark is put in front of the academic board and put on 6-month probation. He draws the attention of the Winklevoss twins with the idea to create a Harvard community site that touts exclusivity to its members. Realizing that he can create a site far superior, Mark goes to his friend Eduardo for money to get his own site running, all the while alleged that he never intended to build the Harvard Community site. TheFacebook.com becomes a hit and launches to colleges around the country, and eventually internationally.

The story is told through a series of flashbacks as Zuckerberg sits in two separate depositions, one against his former best friend and Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin, the other against the Winklevoss twins from Harvard who allege Zuckerberg stole their intellectual property for the Facebook concept. The flashback concept is a little disorienting at first, but it quickly works itself out as a slick way to tell the tale. Jesse Eisenberg plays Zuckerberg with genius level emotional detachment and, ironically, social ineptitude. Andrew Garfield plays Zuckerberg’s supportive friend and business partner, Eduardo Saverin, as if he was truly Zuckerberg’s only friend. Justin Timberlake gains even more acting cred after “Alpha Dog” as Napster founder and eventual Facebook.com partner, Sean Parker. Armie Hammer plays double duty as both Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, with help from Josh Pence from the chest down. Everyone delivers in this film, from Eisenberg’s speed monologues, stoic posture and biting sarcasm to Timberlake’s party pace and paranoia.

Who would have thought that a movie about the development of Facebook.com would be interesting? I certainly did not. But the pace and structure of the film, plus the acting by all involved kept me interested. Now, if I only had a Facebook account so I could tell all of my friends!

Worth: Matinee and DVD

I am also trying out a new rating system shown below based on reader reaction to my somewhat complex monetary rating scale. I will give both ratings and see what kind of reaction I muster. A movie can receive up to 5 popcorn buckets. Why popcorn buckets? Because I am a slave to the thousand + calorie delight! Enjoy!