Blu-ray Review: Time Freak (2018)

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Writer-director Andrew Bowler has been making movies about righting past wrongs since his very first IMDb credited short back in 1995.

Switching gears to zero in on interpersonal versus criminal wrongdoing both in and beyond his 2002 feature filmmaking debut — similar to the way that his protagonist in both the Academy Award nominated 2011 short film Time Freak and its titular 2018 full-length adaptation discover an inventive way to make things right — Bowler managed to do the same for his favorite theme with Time.

Believing that nothing focuses your mind like a broken heart, after his beautiful girlfriend Debbie (Sophie Turner) breaks up with him, Stillman (Asa Butterfield) gets to work. Using a formula he came up with on the day they first met to create what anyone who's ever been dumped desires most, the physics wunderkind invents a time machine to give him a second chance to fix his mistakes.

Having laid out a timeline of their entire relationship complete with smiley faces and red dots to differentiate the good times from the bad, Stillman sets out to repair every one of his blunders with a little help from his goofy yet surprisingly wise best friend Evan, played by Skyler Gisondo (who frequently steals the film away from the leads).

A clever idea brought affably to life, Time Freak benefits from a game group of actors and sharp editing, which boosts the film's comedic energy and pacing, particularly in a playful scene that finds Evan stuck in an elevator from hell while Stillman relives one of his favorite moments from his relationship again and again.

Yet while it's surprisingly effective as a whole, Bowler's script begins to lose its momentum midway into the second half, due as much to repetition as to the fact that the characters themselves are nowhere near as interesting as the overall premise. Likewise, with Stillman — the film's most one-dimensional character — running the show from start to finish, it becomes noticeably apparent that the others have very little agency.

Saying a lot for the chemistry and skill of its cast that the film's character problems were easy to overlook for so long, fortunately Time's Stillman-centric narrative hinders Evan only slightly because he has the ability to engage with the lead on a more knowing level as he watches his friend become self-centered and obsessive.

However this leaves the already underwritten, slightly daffy Debbie (and regrettably the talented Sophie Turner) with nothing to do but react to the latest whim and/or variation of whatever it is that Stillman's trying to fix as little more than an idealized Romcom Manic Pixie Dream Girl.

Still a valuable reminder to everyone — especially fellow overly analytical, apologetic Type A overachievers — that regret and respectful disagreement are healthy and necessary parts of life, despite some clunks in Time Freak's final act, Bowler's energetic film earns far more happy faces than red dots.

Arriving on Lionsgate Blu-ray with an insightful commentary track and making-of featurette, the highlight of the newly released title is the inclusion of the original imaginative Oscar nominated short, which not only started it all but also gave Bowler the time (machine?) and second chance he was looking for to make the big screen version of the film right.

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TV on DVD: Torchwood: Children of Earth (2009)

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Torchwood: An Anagram of Doctor Who
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When I began Torchwood: Children of Earth, I couldn't help remembering the time I saw The Ring with a few relatives who to me are just family members, but to strangers could otherwise be called a cop and a marine.

For some bizarre reason, although the two are able to walk into buildings at two a.m. in dodgy neighborhoods when alarms are going off, patrol a cemetery, break up a domestic fight, get stationed in Iraq, assemble and disassemble a helicopter-- when a little kid in a film acts in the slightest bit peculiar, they completely freak out.

To the point where I remember one informing me that they had to turn all of the lights on in their home after they watched The Sixth Sense and seriously jumped a foot when the boy said "REDRUM" in The Shining-- as soon as not just one but every single child around the globe went postal in Torchwood, I couldn't help but laugh and wonder if this would find the cop and marine hiding for dear life.

However, the first time Gwen (talented actress Eve Myles) notices the children turning into unresponsive statues in Torchwood's five episode miniseries which comprises its third season, they only do so briefly for a few moments before going right back to normal shortly thereafter.

Although when the kids start getting somehow taken over repeatedly throughout the course of five terrifying days and eventually begin speaking in unison the promise that "we are coming," former police officer Gwen (who is now employed at the Cardiff branch of the top secret Torchwood Institute) realizes that the visitors they're warning about are not of this planet.

Admittedly, it's a B-movie plot for sure and there's a certain amount of self-conscious cheesiness about the alien hunting group that seem to follow in the footsteps of not just The X-Files but also Joss Whedon's Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel. However further research revealed that Torchwood originated from the anagram of the long-running BBC favorite science fiction classic Doctor Who wherein scripts and footage were sometimes labeled Torchwood to try and prevent theft etc.

Using that clever coded name for the extra creative kick-start that series developer Russell T. Davies needed when he decided to devise a more modern crime drama/science fiction work-- Doctor Who laid the ground work for the new series by referencing the Torchwood Institute and a few characters before the show took to the airwaves in 2006.

Although reviews were mixed, actress Myles and the series itself beat out Who for 2007's Best Drama at the Welsh based BAFTA Cymru Awards. However, despite what seems to have been indications that the show got off to a somewhat rocky start, the second season which was also recently released on Blu-ray and DVD from the BBC received a critical and ratings boost.

Additionally, due to the strength of the third series which consisted of the five-part miniseries Children of Earth that premiered in both the UK and the US last month, a fourth season has been secured. Obviously, when you're dealing with not just one science fiction series but one like Torchwood that was derived from the decades old classic Doctor Who-- both of which I'm unfamiliar with as a viewer-- I was worried that I'd have a hard time just jumping in midstream into a rich mythology of complex characters.

However, possibly written and produced with this in mind, Children of Earth which was heavily advertised even here in the states in a way that made one instantly curious why so many kids were suddenly repeating "we are coming" sheds the basic B-movie plot quickly. Therefore the idea of aliens temporarily speaking through children may be the basic set-up but what ultimately evolves is one intense, psychologically powerful, and engrossing work that delivers as a standalone miniseries for those who are unfamiliar with the background of the characters and series.

And foolishly I reached for the set before the research which left me with a few unanswered questions as I began growing more and more concerned upon the arrival of a vague alien form called the 456 who threatens mankind. Yet in a way, going in blindly was an ideal approach since it illustrated the power of Torchwood from a storytelling standpoint.

Basically, I didn't want to get bogged down in printed words on a page telling me who the mysterious, handsome Captain Jack Harkness was and why he couldn't die or just what exactly Torchwood was in its relationship to the government because its richness was in its mystery, not to mention the fact that within a few episodes, I realized I wanted to see the other seasons only this time in Blu-ray.

Like all great science fiction especially in the same 50s and 60s era of B-movies the plot seems to emanate from both creatively and literally as we discover that the 456 had already made an Earthly appearance once before in 1965, Torchwood: Children of Earth is filled with moral, ethical and existential dilemmas and questions that come into play during the final episodes.

While given the fact that essentially there's only one major dilemma and just a few subplots, it does feel as though the fifth episode wind-up consists of so much talk and action that the earlier installments had suffered by comparison in their pacing. However, its weaknesses can be easily dismissed by its numerous strengths since it's intelligent, mind-blowing Twilight Zone like TV that makes you ask some insanely difficult questions of how you would act if you were faced with the demands leveled by the 456.

Produced for the BBC and greenlit by the same brilliant visionaries who brought Life on Mars to the air during the same time period, once again, the BBC reminds us that they're always there to deliver top-notch programming when our own networks see fit to throw more reality shows our way. So in the end, even though this one may scare a certain cop and marine I know and it's not for the faint of heart, go ahead and unscramble that anagram and check out Torchwood: Children of Earth for five installments of something that's definitely hard to shake.

Text ©2009, Film Intuition, LLC; All Rights Reserved. http://www.filmintuition.com
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Blu-ray Review: Paycheck (2003)

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As a technologically gifted wizard who reverse-engineers devices in order to find out precisely what makes them work for his greedily amoral employers, Michael Jennings (Ben Affleck) is used to solving puzzles when all of the pieces have already been assembled and he can relish in taking it apart.

However, when he finishes up his most recent top-secret effort of technological piracy and submits to the requisite short-term memory wipe which deletes all memory of his participation in the event from his brain, Jennings is startled to discover that-- in lieu of a seriously large paycheck-- he’d changed his mind sometime during the process and instead requested that an envelope filled with twenty everyday items be placed in his hands instead.

An odd twist of fate of receiving parts to assemble instead of a whole product to disassemble, Jennings must work backwards trying to build the mystery from the ground up in a way that involves the audience into the quick witted mind of an engineer.



However, after he’s chased by both the authorities as well as ruthless killers-- the Cary Grant likened Michael becomes a Hitchcockian “wrong man” on the run, turning to an Eva Marie Saint style cool blonde in the form of Uma Thurman’s Rachel-- an old flame he doesn’t remember since his involvement with Rachel along with what exactly he did while working for his friend Aaron Eckhart’s company have all been conveniently erased from his mind.



No, this isn’t a play on Christopher Nolan’s brilliant unreliable narrator neo-noir Memento but yet another adaptation of the dangers of technology, the undeniable lure of the almighty dollar, major governmental conspiracy, and psychological paranoia as originally penned in story form by Total Recall, Blade Runner, Minority Report, Next, and A Scanner Darkly scribe Philip K. Dick.

Although it's filtered twice to decidedly different effect, first through the screenplay crafted by Dean Georgaris (Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life, the newest version of The Manchurian Candidate, and the underrated Tristan and Isolde). And secondly it's changed again by filmmaker John Woo, who-- despite doing one hell of a great job making us think otherwise with Face/Off--notes on this Blu-ray that he dislikes science fiction. So in response, decided to draw greater inspiration from Hitchcock’s North By Northwest than the Philip K. Dick cinematic landscape with which we’re usually presented.

The results are mixed for the most part for Paycheck as a film overall, but I found myself instantly riveted. For from the start, the brilliant concept of presenting our hero with all of the puzzle pieces he’ll need to survive over the course of the next 118 minute running time is great fun and it works in an effective way similar to David Fincher’s The Game which found Michael Douglas needing to figure out exactly when he had to insert the key into a lock or a handle into a door to escape to safety.

Unfortunately for a movie that’s rooted in an intellectual set-up and—memory wipes aside—a very believable practice of reverse-engineering technology, Paycheck begins to suffer from memory loss fairly on after Jennings only uses one or two puzzle pieces in an in increasingly mindless fashion. And ultimately, we're left understanding that it's a film that cares less about the overall puzzle and pieces involved and more about trying to distract from plot-holes with bravura action sequences and constantly moving, fluid camera work.



Having already succeeded brilliantly at this practice in John Woo’s MI:2 and the cheesy yet ultimately thrilling Broken Arrow, Woo’s attempts here are entertaining from the overall look and retro style of the film (whether it’s in the costuming homage or the fact that just like Hitch, every part of the set was movable and he could shoot in all directions). Likewise, it's a given that his action sequences are first rate but in the end, it’s a dubious and odd work where the actors all seem as though they’d just met each other on the day of filming.

The usual radiance of Thurman is lost here and most likely it’s due to her visibly tired and unhealthily thin physique following her extraordinary turn in Kill Bill 1 & 2. Furthermore Aaron Eckhart and Paul Giamatti’s genuine talent as cerebral actors is wasted in the visual polish and punch of the plot-addled picture, and Ben Affleck isn’t given enough to work with to make Jennings an endearing or likable lead.

In other words, he may be modeled on Cary Grant and Affleck’s movie star looks are well-suited to the production as we discover amusingly that he came highly recommended as the “next” choice when his best friend Matt Damon turned down the script because of its obvious similarities to the Bourne Identity franchise but Affleck is never offered a chance to leave a Grant like impression on a film that isn’t done any favors by its interchangeably bland title.

Overall, one of Woo’s weaker American efforts—Paycheck is additionally one of those films I’ve ended up having to describe to others to remind them that yes, they have seen it since aside from the less than memorable title, in the same token, the film unfortunately drifts from our minds as though we too have had a memory wipe once it’s ended.



A stylishly glossy puzzle that tries to dress itself up with a phony high I.Q. the way a girl puts on high heels to look like her mother and succeeds for thirty minutes or so, Paycheck ultimately stumbles, loses the heels and I.Q. along with its pretense and just tries to deliver on action alone.

However, in the hands of the master who made the incredible Chow Yun Fat picture The Killer, Paycheck keeps you watching with Woo’s trademark motorcycle chases and high impact action sequences but plummets in a ridiculously silly ending that made me hope in earnest that Eckhart’s paycheck was impressive enough to warrant the talented actor’s involvement.



Newly released on Blu-ray—Paramount retains the standard definition presentation of the special features including seven extended and/or deleted scenes, two commentary tracks (one from Woo and the other by Georgaris) and two featurettes that celebrate the Hitchcockian influence and Woo’s work on his Hong Kong features.

And while overall the clarity of the high definition picture impresses indeed and adds a greater depth perception to the work, the balance of the sound is a bit out of whack as the dialogue is barely audible at well past volume level 60 on a high quality LCD television whereas the sound of gunfire and explosions nearly thrusts you out of the chair.

Obviously, with this decision to go for amped up action instead of dialogue—the Blu-ray reaffirms the way that ultimately brains lost out in favor of brawn and the clever little puzzle pieces started to seem like video game pellets to propel Jennings to the next level.

Despite this, it’s a fast-paced Saturday afternoon mindless work of action guaranteed to entertain much, much more than your standard game store cardboard puzzle and looking at Affleck and Eckhart in HD beats looking at a generic postcard landscape any day of the week.

DVD Review: Escape to Witch Mountain (1975); Return to Witch Mountain (1978) -- Special Edition Discs

The Disney Classics Return
On Special Edition DVDs
3/10/09



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Over the years when I've been asked by other people just why and how I know so much about film, the reply I cite the most often comes from 1998’s overlooked gem of an ensemble film--Playing by Heart-- wherein Ryan Phillippe’s character tells Angelina Jolie, “I have an endless capacity for useless information.”

Yet this being said--I'm always amazed whether in regular conversation or in some terrific reader e-mails when I am asked about movies about which I am largely unfamiliar and/or of which I have never heard.

When I received an e-mail announcing the brand-new special edition DVDs from Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment of Escape to Witch Mountain and Return From Witch Mountain to debut just three days before Walt Disney’s big screen launch of Race to Witch Mountain (that would continue the 30-year-old franchise), I was convinced that I remembered the earlier films.

Part of my confusion derived from reading the press release far too quickly, seeing the names Bette Davis, director John Hough, and the genre of science fiction/fantasy and instinctively recalling the terror I faced by watching the other movie involving the aforementioned contents—namely Watcher in the Woods. So upon the arrival of these two beautifully packaged silver boxed DVDs, it only took a few moments to realize that despite my “endless capacity for useless information,” I had never seen the Witch Mountain saga.

An eager and devoted fan of all things Walt Disney, I couldn't wait to dive into the original Escape to Witch Mountain which first premiered in theaters in 1975. Although I must grant you that some of the special effects seem a bit dated, the movie-- which was based upon the young adult novel by Alexander Key-- actually holds up surprisingly well even by today's standards.

Pretty typical for the genre and studio's love of precocious children, we’re introduced to our young heroes who have been dealt a tough lot in life and forced to become independent and look after themselves in the vein of Charles Dickens and ultimately JK Rowling’s Harry Potter as we're faced with the adorable Tia and Tony (played by Ike Eisenmann and Kim Richards).

The young actors who look so much alike that as Eisenmann notes in a DVD extra even as a child he thought that the studio would have to pick them because they seemed as though they could be brother and sister take on their challenging and highly coveted roles (including Richards’ whose Tia was initially tested by the young Freaky Friday star Jodie Foster who passed in favor of another project). Today, Witch is is still considered one of Disney's overlooked 70s science fiction classics.

Upon their initial arrival at an orphanage in the start of the movie, we-- as well as the kids-- realize that they are not ordinary youngsters. With zero recollection of whom they are and where they've come from—Tony and Tia’s peculiarly effortless skill in communicating with one another and moving solid objects solely with their minds among other paranormal gifts quickly call attention to themselves.

While first it’s just the other orphans who give the siblings a rough time, soon they garner the interest of a more dangerous threat in the form of two older schemers who conspire to usurp and exploit the children’s penchant for clairvoyance and extrasensory perception to increase their power in the world.

Forging documents to pose as their long lost uncle, the wealthy Aristotle Bolt (Ray Milland) and his nefarious sidekick Lucas Deranian (Donald Pleasance) bring the children into their care, luring them with rooms full of toys, without the kids’ knowledge that they’re watching their every move on the endless hidden cameras placed throughout their home.

However when the kids ascertain that the men are not whom they seem to be and find their suspicions confirmed, they flee the premises with only the vaguest idea of where to go after finding a map that should lead them to Witch Mountain as well as Tia’s startling flashes of who they are and where perhaps they had come from.



Fortunately and of course-- despite his reluctance to get involved initially-- the kids win over the lonely RV driving eccentric delightfully played by Eddie Albert who assists the kids on their journey. And predictably, given the title, we're led down the path of thinking that the kids have witch-like powers but by the 70s it was far more in vogue to go the full science fiction route and the film makes the most out of Disney's special effects department in some fun scenes as the kids combat those who get in their way.

However, by ultimately slapping on a flying saucer ending that weakens the work, it lessens its strength and slows down the momentum that had been building throughout. Aside from what I can only describe a perilously weak conclusion, the premise is terrific and the cast are all first-rate, elevating it to the level of forgotten Disney Family Classic.

And it's still something of a phenomenal cult-classic as Richards notes that hardly a day goes by when the beautiful blonde—now with young children of her own—isn’t asked whether or not she was Tia in the Witch Mountain movies. And in this deluxe treatment which boasts some new extras that weren’t included in the previous special edition takes the roughly ninety minute movie and rolls out the red carpet as though it were last week's other high profile Disney release, Pinocchio.

It includes a nearly half hour and highly entertaining, nostalgic making-of-featurette where Richards, Eisenmann, and Hough (who also includes a feature length commentary) recall life as part of the Disney family in the ‘70s. And the DVD also contains mini-featurettes on Disney Sci-Fi, Disney Effects, a 1975 Studio Album, and an intimate “Conversation With John Hough,” as well as the animated short “Pluto’s Dream House,” along with boasting all new optional pop-up fun facts to heighten the viewing experience for devotees.

While the picture and sound quality are just as first rate on the film’s sequel—1978’s Return From Witch Mountain-- unfortunately and despite upping the ante by serving up the first rate talents of Bette Davis and Christopher Lee, you’ll want to take a cue from the original work’s title and go back to enjoy the Escape once more instead of this messy Return.

Perhaps even foreshadowing the disappointment most would inevitably face with the movie, filmmaker John Hough notes in the DVD’s roughly twenty three minute “making-of-documentary" that he had no input in the script and while he acknowledges it was a fun one to shoot, he essentially looks at it as though screenwriter Malcolm Marmorstein (replacing Escape’s scripter Robert M. Young) derived the plot from popular formulaic paradigms and tried to make it sillier.

And sillier it is, right off the bat as the kids land right smack dab in the Rose Bowl for a brief vacation back on Earth and over the course of the next few minutes, they proceed to break the cardinal filmmaking rule of “show don’t tell,” by ignoring the mystery and haunting vague sense that heightened the opening hour of the series’ first movies by instead just talking directly to the audience in a “here’s what you need to know,” unrealistic segment.

Again deviating from the success of the first film which always was strengthened by the bond of the two children, in Return From Witch Mountain and-- aside from the brief, horrid introduction and its showdown, over-the-top finale that will make you wish for Escape’s flying saucer—Tony and Tia barely appear in the same frame.



This time around, it’s Tony that gets to have the most fun, sharing a majority of his screen time with the extremely campy villains personified by Christopher Lee and Bette Davis who—upon discovering his ability to move things with his mind and save their third henchman from certain death—quickly abduct the boy, remove his ability to have free will with a Lee Fu Manchu-worthy invention and employ him in a ridiculous crime.

Meanwhile, Tia is saddled with once again being primarily the only girl in the piece but in Return, she joins forces with what can only be described as a group of cardboard cut-out ragamuffins with silly monikers who dub themselves a gang. And while always trying to help them avoid the truancy officer played by Jack Soo (in an Asian stereotype role which was tragically the last filmed performance before his death), Tia and the boys try to rescue her brother from this new group of wicked villains.



Of course, and no offense to Mr. Milland and Mr. Pleasance who were great in the original—Return is only memorable for letting Christopher Lee and Bette Davis cut loose in the type of terrifying roles they always loved to play but sadly, the rest of the movie is so darn near unwatchable that it takes the originality of the first one and drains it all into a weird, ineffective hodgepodge of bad B-movie plots.

Again, it’s given the brand new bonus of Pop-Up Fun Facts to liven up the film that desperately needs the boost and the making-of featurette along with extras that match those of the first disc, but manage to unearth a “Lost Treasures: Christipher Lee, The Lost Interview” extra along with the animated Disney short “The Eyes Have It” that matches the movie’s theme.

And while it’s a nice companion piece to the first one and worth a rental if you want to recall your youth with Disney—it doesn’t have possess the same originality factor of the first one and for a better pairing of Bette Davis and director John Hough, be sure to catch Watcher in the Woods which is the film I’d originally mistaken these with in my overly-utilized brain which consists of endless and “useless information.”