Source Code

Director Ducan Jones' follow up movie to his brilliant, if flawed, Moon is due out next Spring (April 15, 2011) and is called Source Code.

Here's the synopsis from the website ENTERTHESOURCECODE.COM

When decorated soldier Captain Colter Stevens (Jake Gyllenhaal) wakes up in the body of an unknown man, he discovers he's part of a mission to find the bomber of a Chicago commuter train. In an assignment unlike any he's ever known, he learns he's part of a government experiment called the "Source Code," a program that enables him to cross over into another man's identity in the last 8 minutes of his life. With a second, much larger target threatening to kill millions in downtown Chicago, Colter re-lives the incident over and over again, gathering clues each time, until he can solve the mystery of who is behind the bombs and prevent the next attack.

You can see the trailer here as well.

At first glance it seems like a cross between Groundhog Day + 12 Monkeys + The Matrix, which isn't a bad thing if its done right. What worries me is when you watch the trailer, they lean way too heavily on the love interest. Then it starts sounding a bit like the Denzel Washington movie Déjà Vu and that can be a problem.

I'll reserve judgement on it until I see it or learn more about it, but I pray and hope that Jones doesn't turn into another M. Night Shyamalan, and fails to live up to his promise.

Check back in the spring for a full review of the movie.

Awesome Anachronistic Alt/1977

I just stumbled upon Alex Varanese's website courtesy of Boing Boing and am in love with his Alt/1977: We Are Not Time Travelers. He takes 2010 technology and re-imagines it in glossy 1977 ads with faux-wood products, red LEDs, and a orange and yellow color scheme straight out of the 70s. Even better than the retro-mp3 players or the LapTron is the ad copy.

Sample line from the Pocket Hi-Fi:

"So next time you are looking for a way to bring your tunes with you on the go, remember two things: Nothing beats the Pocket Hi-Fi^tm and our company definitely wasn't started by rogue time travelers from 33 years in the future. Like at all."

Priceless.

Now, I need framed prints of these ASAP!

Summer Movies with Time Travel

There are at least two movies coming out this summer with elements of time travel and alternate universes.

Due out May 21st is Shrek Forever After, the fourth installment in the franchise. This go around finds Shrek doing battle with Rumpelstiltskin who tricks him into wishing for a universe where he never met Fiona and still lives in the swamp. This alternate universe has Rumpelstiltskin as King and Shrek is forced to try to set things right.

Due out May 28th is Prince of Persia: Sands of Time which is based on the video game of the same name. Starring a very buff Jake Gyllenhaal, as the Prince Dastan who is trying to stop the Sands of Time from destroying the world. The Prince is able to control the flow of time using a magical dagger.

Hot Tub Time Machine

Yup, you read that right. Hot Tub Time Machine is coming to a screen near you this March. A R-rated comedy starring John Cusack, Rob Corddry, Craig Robinson, and Clark Duke, the group is transported back to 1986 and a ski weekend via a hot tub time machine.

It looks ridiculous and who doesn't love to make fun of the 1980s. Those of us that are of the main character's generation remember it well and anyone born in the 1980s is sure to love the retro-nostalgia of a time they don't remember. Only an iPod-generation would find the thought of a chunky, yellow, Walkman, that plays cassettes funny.

The trailers do look funny and I think its largely a combination of the material and the deadpan comedic timing of the actors involved.

Check out the latest trailer here at i09.com http://bit.ly/90mxhs

The trailerw can also be found here - http://www.apple.com/trailers/mgm/hottubtimemachine/

Or you can go to the official website http://www.kicksomepast.com

io9.com also has the Restricted trailer (NSFW)here - http://io9.com/5454056/raunchiest-hot-tub-time-machine-trailer-to-date-%5Bnsfw%5D

Time Travel is a Bitch

"Time travel is a bitch" - Sawyer from "Lost"

Time travel's a bitch sound bite  LOST sound bites

I was just browsing this site Entertonement.com which has a wealth of clips from everything and anything imaginable including Time Travel related quotes like the one from Sawyer above.

There's also the sound from Lost when they are travelling through time.

Time travel sound sound bite  LOST sound bites

You can also find audio clips from Terminator, Back to the Future, and Dr. Who television series. Surprisingly there are very few clips from movies like Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure or say Donnie Darko.

Let me know if you know of any other great sites for sound clips (especially time travel / sci-fi related ones).

I'll leave you with this last one with wise words from Doc Brown.

If my calculations are correct, when this baby hits 88 miles per hour, you're gonna see some serious shit sound bite  Back to the Future sound bites

Inglorious Basterds - Alternate History (?)

Finally got around to seeing Tarantino's Jewish revenge epic Inglorious Basterds on DVD yesterday.

I generally thought it was well done despite feeling like it was overly slow in places. Was surprised how little the over-the-top violence factored into the story. They sure played it up in the marketing when the film first debuted. I figured it was going to spend a lot of time focusing on how the Basterds found creative ways to take revenge on the Nazis they caught. While the scalping and the other torture is pretty graphic it didn't amount to a lot of screen time. It's almost like Tarantino want's to make a 'straight' movie but can't quite let go of the gimmicks. The morality is a bit murky throughout the film which contributes to a lot of the controversy.

Tarantino's revisionist history results in an unique alternate history tale. It works on a number of levels the most obvious of which is the divergent timeline and the outcome of World War II.

Watched a really good discussion on the film online here today - Inglorious Basterds: Can Hollywood Rewrite History? which has a lot to say about cinema, Jewish history, holocaust, Tarantino's work in general. It's in several parts and runs over an hour.

Hirsute - Time Travel Short Film

I saw this short film about time travel called Hirsute a couple years ago at a film festival and love the tone and simplicity of it.

A man trying to invent time travel is visited by a future (parallel) self who is more arrogant and devoid of body hair. The movie plays with time travel and sexual themes, but in my mind is really about identity and self-perception.

It's well acted and directed and takes you places you probably don't expect. All things a good movie should do.

You can watch the entire movie at the Internet Movie Database site. Here's the URL.http://www.imdb.com/video/wab/vi1670644505/ You can also catch it at the Vimeo site here: Hirsute. It's about 14 minutes long.

Visit the film makers A.J. Bond and Amy Belling website at http://hirsute.thesiblings.ca/

Read a review of the film here - TIFF 2007: Hirsute And The "Many Martys" Theory