Friday, August 19, 2011

Source Code

      “An action thriller centered on a soldier who wakes up in the body of an unknown man ……”   This is how IMDB begins to describe Source Code (2011)  I would have to say that is pretty accurate.  The opening scene is Jake Gyllenhaal (October Sky, Jarhead, Prince of Persia) joltingly waking up on a train.  He has no idea where he is and appears to be in the middle of a conversation with the woman sitting across from him.  The “woman” is Christina who is played beautifully by Michelle Monaghan (Gone Baby Gone, Eagle Eye, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang) what follows is what is now called a “Groundhog day” sort of story.  We see the same final eight minutes of a man’s life over and over.
      Groundhog Day (1993) starring Bill Murray (Ghostbusters, Scrooged, Lost in Translation) seems to be a very popular version of the “time loop” movies, even coined a sort of phrase for it I guess you could say. I really like these kinds of stories, both in movies and on TV shows.  Source Code does this well with a very different kind of sci-fi twist.  With an excellent cast and some intriguing story telling it really held my interest.
        Source Code also has a very entertaining audio commentary.  Jake Gyllenhaal does the commentary with the writer and director.  Ben Ripley (Species, Species III) wrote the script, it was really one of his firsts. Duncan Jones (Moon) directed it, one of his firsts as well.  It will be interesting to see what these two do from here on out. Anyway, the three of them really discuss the story and what it all means.  They even talk about the ending and some variations that were discussed. If you enjoy the "whys?" of a script you should give the commentary a try.
     

Monday, August 15, 2011

Red Riding Hood


      What did I think of Red Riding Hood (2011)? I don’t really know. Kind of hard to say I guess.  It was alright, not bad.  Catherine Hardwicke (Thirteen, Lords of Dogtown, Twilight) directed it.  I am not to sure I enjoy her style.  While I absolutely loved Lords of Dogtown, her other movies, not as enjoyable I guess you could say.  David Johnson (Orphan, Clash of the Titans 2) wrote the screenplay. There is a  novel by Sarah Blakely-Cartwright. It is based on the shooting script not the finished film. (Just some interesting trivia for you.)  Anyway, it is an iteresting twist to the Little Red Riding Hood story and I did enjoy that aspect of it. Instead of there just being a big bad wolf it is actually a werewolf.  So, they had a werewolf hunter come into town to help.  I really liked how they tied in an old werewolf legend.  A man was hunting in the woods, and cut the paw off a wolf, though the wolf itself managed to escape otherwise unharmed. He kept the wolf paw and put it in his hunting bag as a trophy. When he got to his friend's house, he told the story and pulled the paw out to illustrate- except it was no longer a paw, but a woman's hand! The man's wife was found to be missing a hand. That was a fun twist as well.
     My husband asked if it was a “chick flick”.  In a way you could say it is, for the 12 to 14 year old “chick”.  Which isn’t to say that is a bad thing, just to give you an idea. That seems to be the age group that would enjoy it the most. It is not a horror movie! For some reason people got the impression that it is scary, well it isn’t. It is just the story of Little Red Riding Hood with a different sort of twist.