Source Code

Dir. Duncan Jones
Starring. Jake Gyllenhaal, Vera Farmiga, Michelle Monaghan

We begin with a classic scenario. A man wakes up to find he doesn't know who he is, where he is, or how he got there. It's an excellent start to any story. Instantly we are interested. We are with this character 100%, trying to get answers. And it is in those first few minutes, that Source Code has us hooked. The problem then, is keeping us on the line.

Eventually we find out that Captain Colter Stevens, (Jake Gyllenhaal) has just woken up in another mans body on a train to Chicago, because he is part of a government experiment which allows him to relive the last 8 minutes of this man's life. After these 8 minutes, the train blows up. Stevens is continually sent back into this scenario, each time to make a different attempt at finding out who bombed the train, so that the terrorist can be caught and prevented from future bombings. He is working to protect the future, but he soon begins to wonder: can he also change the past?

As you can imagine, it doesn't make for the most original plot structure. It's a bit like Run Lola Run and Groundhog's Day had a baby with Quantum Leap. Fortunately the idea of the technology behind this time loop tale and the specifics of its behaviors are original enough to keep an audience interested. And just in case your mind does start to wander, there's a big explosion every 8 minutes. BAM! You're right back in it. It's a clever device that I wish I could use to keep audiences interested in my reviews.

BAM! Keep reading.

Director Duncan Jones, who previously proved his ability to master the Sci-fi genre with 'Moon,' seems to get caught up in the conventions of the blockbuster here. Or perhaps the difference is simply that he was the writer of 'Moon,' a credit which he does not claim with 'Source Code.' Either way, the story fails to take off or expand from its original idea, and by the end it all feels a bit too Hollywood cliche to warrant a 'must see' rating.

Nonetheless, this is an enjoyable action-packed movie that really grabs you from the start. It just has a bit of trouble holding on.

Age of the Dragons

Dir. Ryan Little
Starring. Danny Glover, Vinnie Jones, Corey Sevier

As someone who is well-versed in such Syfy Original Movies as 'Bats: Human Harvest,' 'Puppet Master Vs. Demonic Toys,' 'Sharktopus,' and 'Monsterwolf,' I knew I'd need the same goggles I wear to enjoy those films, for my screening of 'Age of Dragons.' For those of you who have the grave misfortune of not yet being acquainted with this film, allow me to elaborate. For years Herman Mellville's "masterpiece" Moby Dick sat on the shelves of bookstores gathering dust. No one had the forethought or the audacity to give it the attention it truly needed: a cinematic re-telling replacing the whale with a dragon and starring Danny Glover and Vinnie Jones...Until now.

That's right, literary scholars. I know you haven't been this excited since the invention of the printing press, but calm down, because it has happened. I give you Danny Glover playing Captain Ahab, a man obsessed with revenge after a childhood encounter with the elusive white dragon left him with a dead sister and a badly singed face and body. Henceforth, he spent the rest of his life hunting the dragon. Cue young Ishmael (Corey Sevier), an expert harpoonist hoping to join Ahab's crew with his Eskimo friend, Emile Hirsch. They want to bring down some dragons in order to sell some sort of glowing liquid which is valuable for some reason or another. The crew includes Stubbs (Vinnie Jones) and Rachel (Sofia Pernas), Ahab's daughter and love interest to pretty much everybody in the film because she's the only female. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say liberties may have been taken.

Despite having some pretty solid source material to go off of, 'Age of Dragons' suffers from a few glaring plot loopholes. For example, despite all of the crew knowing from the get-go about Ahab's obsession with finding the white dragon, they are all surprised and subsequently outraged when they are ordered to abandon the quest for the secret dragon ooze and go after Whitey. Were they not listening to the narration? Also, since dragons live on land and not in the sea, Ahab's ship has been turned into a sort of Noah's Ark on wheels. Well, I assume that it's on wheels, but I can't say for sure because the source which propels this craft is never revealed. I can't help but picture the film's entire crew inside the thing, pushing it, wishing they'd never responded to the Craig's List ad: "Strong Grips Needed for Moby Dick Remake."

Additionally, the dialogue is delightfully bad. It teeters dangerously on the line between modern prose and desperate attempts at Old English. It has that classic problem of all the characters sounding exactly the same, except for Vinnie Jones who's probably the only one with an accent. There's also an utterly redundant strain of narration that constantly gives us useful information like: "We slept in the cabin most nights," over a shot of them sleeping in the cabin most nights. The special effects are striking...in that you are struck wondering whether or not they were done in iMovie, or whether or not that's the same backwards flowing waterfall as in Anaconda. Danny Glover, when asked to comment said, "I'm too old for this shit."*

Rant and rant as I love to do, I can at least say one thing: the film was entertaining...except for when it was supposed to be entertaining, in which case, it was kind of boring. But if you've got love for the whole B movie Sci-Fi Dragon quest thing, I can almost guarantee you won't be let down. If that's what you're after, it delivers on some to most fronts. You know what I always say, "Keep those expectations low and you'll never be disappointed."

*I have never spoken to Danny Glover. He has had absolutely no contact with me or this review. The views and opinions expressed in the interviews and/or commentaries are solely of the individuals and are not the views of BRITFILMS.TV, its parent, affiliate, or subsidiary companies.

Never Let Me Go

Dir. Mark Romanek
Starring. Keira Knightley, Carey Mulligan, Andrew Garfield

Sometimes it's good to catch a flick that isn't all popcorn and candy and happy endings. There's nothing wrong with delving a bit deeper. It's good for the soul. Never Let Me Go is definitely not the fluffy whipped creamy piece of cake kind of film. It's more like the meat and potatoes of cinema; a hearty main course that takes a bit of time to digest and afterward just makes you want to sit on the couch and watch bad reality TV for hours.

The film, directed by Mark Romanek, is based on the novel of the same name written by Kazuo Ishiguro and tells the story of three friends whose tragic destiny limits their lives to barely reaching adulthood. Cathy (Carey Mulligan), Tommy (Andrew Garfield), and Ruth (Keira Knightley) grow up together in a strangely idyllic boarding school where their health and well-being is given ultimate priority and they are told stories meant to frighten them from ever leaving the school grounds. They are eventually told that they are special children and their fate is to have their lives "complete" once they reach their early 20's. The story is mostly about the relationship between the three children and how a complex love triangle develops between them as they grow up.

It's a tragic but beautiful film that explores the basic needs of human beings, particularly when faced with the cruel fact of our own mortality. For the characters of the film, this fact is intensified as their time on earth is cut even shorter than the rest of us. And through them we find out what is most important to those whose time is running out.

Never Let Me Go is visually stunning as every shot seems to highlight the ephemeral beauty of nature and life. The sci-fi aspect of the story (of which I have tried not to divulge since it's cleverly only alluded to in the film's trailers) is only a backdrop to the believability of the three main characters and the complexities of their friendship. The unique bond between them is truly brought to life by Mulligan, Garfield,and Knightley who all give deeply moving performances. Their younger counterparts played by Izzy Meikle-Small, Charlie Rowe, and Ella Purnell respectively are perfectly cast and provide an impressive basis for the characters.

Despite all of the promising elements of the film, it somewhere along the line falls a bit flat. Perhaps it's because the tone is consistently ominous without really any relief. The film moves along at a steady pace without any distinct ups or downs making it feel like it only skims the surface of a story that should have many depths to explore. It's hard as well for an audience to sympathize with characters that simply accept their fate without really putting up a fight for what they want.

Never Let Me Go is overall a poetic and beautiful film that despite dynamic performances from all its lead actors doesn't quite carry the emotional depth that it ought to.