The second “Transformers,” 2009’s “Revenge of the Fallen,” was without a doubt the worst movie-going experience I have ever had. I’ve lost fist fights at the movies and that experience wasn’t comparable to sitting through director Michael Bay’s dreadful, punishing, confusing, migraine-inducing piece of junk. I don’t care that “Revenge of the Fallen” mocked Obama and made his administration the arch-villain; I don’t care that it was openly pro-military and pro-American. It was still utter torture to sit through, and I would rather watch “Crash” Clockwork Orange-style than put myself through that again.

But all is now forgiven.

“Transformers: Dark of the Moon” is not only a terrific piece of popcorn entertainment, it’s far and away the best of the trilogy. And the best news is that Bay’s delivered another pro-freedom, pro-American, pro-military blockbuster that made somewhere around a billion dollars. We don’t get too many of these, and we should embrace and support the good ones.

The film isn’t perfect. In most cases, I still can’t tell an Autobot (the good guys) from a Decepticon (the bad guys), which makes it difficult to understand who to root for during the many action sequences, but unlike its predecessor, “Dark of the Moon” has a story that sets up and explains the stakes well enough that you don’t feel like you’re watching someone else play a video game for two hours.

Length is another problem. This is a four-act story instead of the standard three-act, but the too-long climax really is jaw-droppingly well done and on Blu-ray the only thing that surpasses the fantastic picture quality is a sound design that made my archaic 5.1 system do things I never thought possible.

(more…)

Name this movie: An ace CIA operative, condemned as a rogue and now hunted by the Company, bashes and crashes his way through colorful foreign settings, pursued by heavily armed hit men, while back at Langley headquarters an inscrutable deputy director and one of his top lieutenants are arousing the suspicion of another officer, a woman, who’s starting to wonder why her two bosses are so intent on terminating this troublesome renegade.

Yes, it does sound like a “Bourne” movie, doesn’t it? But no, this is “Safe House,” with Denzel Washington taking over for Matt Damon, Sam Shepard replacing Scott Glenn as the steely Agency overseer, Brendan Gleeson in for Brian Cox as the dodgy controller, and Vera Farmiga stepping into the Joan Allen role as his straight-shooting subordinate.

The picture has a familiar swarming hand-held visual style, thanks to cinematographer Oliver Wood (who shot all three “Bourne” films) and editor Richard Pearson (who worked on “The Bourne Supremacy”). At one point, an agitated spook even yelps out a demand for remote surveillance with the words “I want eyes on this!”—a line previously yelped by David Strathairn’s agitated spook in “The Bourne Ultimatum.”

“Safe House” may be faux Bourne, but for those counting the moments till the release of “The Bourne Legacy” next August, it might seem better than no Bourne at all. Swedish director Daniel Espinosa has a flair for action staging—the one-on-one fight scenes, agreeably many in number and often set in confined spaces, are smashingly effective. And first-time screenwriter David Guggenheim has usefully adjusted the Bourne template. Here, Washington’s character, Tobin Frost—nominally the Jason Bourne figure—isn’t an unwitting innocent being set up by his shadowy CIA masters; he’s an actual traitor who has been selling Agency secrets for nearly a decade.

Read the full review at Reason.com

This week on the HomeVideodrome podcast, Jim finally sees “Drive” and weighs in, Hunter reviews “A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas” and Jim reveals his love affair with “A Fish Called Wanda.” Also, we discuss Ryan O’Neal’s finest moment on film in Norman Mailer’s “Tough Guys Don’t Dance.” Head over to The Film Thugs to give it a listen.

You are already aware of whether or not “A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas” interests you. “Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle” is a bit of a stoner classic, possessing the sort of random logic that strings the best weed-fueled movies together. The sequel, “Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay,” was raunchier and had some hilarious bits, but never really came together as a complete product the way a lot of modern comedies fail to do. This third outing fares better than the second, adding a Christmas-driven plot to the stoned “After Hours” shenanigans.

This time around, Harold & Kumar have gone their separate ways as friends. Harold is a big-shot executive on Wall Street and lives in mortal fear of his father-in-law, which is completely understandable since the in-law is played by Danny Trejo. Trejo’s fearsome father has an intense love of Christmas, with special attention reserved for the magic of his homegrown Christmas tree.

While his wife is out with the family for midnight mass, Harold pledges to decorate the tree, hoping to make into a magical display and win the respect of his in-laws. His hopes are dashed when Kumar, still a bloodshot walking disaster, shows up to give him a mystery package, which contains a magical joint. One thing leads to another, and Trejo’s Christmas tree is destroyed in a freak accident, leading Harold & Kumar on an evening excursion to replace the tree, even if it means getting attacked by Russian mobsters, going on a claymated acid trip, or having yet another run-in with Neil Patrick Harris.

(more…)

Whatever your opinion might be of stoner, gross-out comedies, there’s much to admire in the third chapter of the adventures of Harold Lee (John Cho) and Kumar Patel (Kal Penn). For what was a mid-level budget, the look of the production is first-rate. Nothing screams low-budget and the Christmas “feel” does come through. There’s also an actual theme at work here, which is established quickly, manages to hold on through all the shenanigans, and does pay off.

A few years have passed since Harold and Kumar escaped from Guantanamo or killed time hanging out together smoking their beloved mary jane. And sometime over the course of the last few years, the boys went their separate ways and became estranged. They’re now two completely different people who haven’t seen each other in over a year and probably wouldn’t become friends were they to meet for the first time today.  In fact, they would probably hate each other.

Harold now works in high finance. His is now THE MAN and even has to deal with Occupy Wall Street-types who protest outside his offices. Harold also enjoys an upper middle-class life in the suburbs with a nice car and an even nicer fiancée. Kumar, however, is still Kumar — an unemployed burn-out who smokes weed all day and avoids responsibility like he does a shower. Closing in on 30, sadly, the reefer’s become an escape for Kumar, a way to avoid coming to terms with the emptiness of his life and the loss of his girlfriend. What had been recreational and rebellious in his youth, is now a pathetic crutch.

It’s Christmastime and Harold’s smoking-hot fiancee’s rather large family has come to stay for the holidays. The most important thing to Harold’s future father-in-law (Danny Trejo), a man who’s crazy about Christmas and someone with whom Harold is desperate to make a good impression, is the perfect tree. Harold promises everyone that when they return from church, the perfect tree will be decorated and waiting for them. They leave. Kumar shows up. Mayhem ensues.  

(more…)

The onscreen Catherine Zeta-Jones is quite the contrast to the off-screen one. While off screen, she prefers 67-year-old hubby Michael Douglas; on screen she prefers her 25-year-old nanny. Or, at least, her character Sandy in “The Rebound,” a mother of two and recent divorcee, does.

There’s a lot to like about “The Rebound,” available on DVD and Blu- ray tomorrow, but it ends up too much like typical rom-com fare than it needs to be. Director Bart Freundlich (who has directed some great episodes of Showtime’s “Californication”) talks about how he was inspired by the New York set films about relationships by Woody Allen in an interview on the DVD, but “The Rebound” never lives up to that kind of potential. It’s tame when it needs to be excessive and excessive when it needs to be tame.

Sandy (Catherine Zeta-Jones) is living a typical suburban life with her two kids and husband when she stumbles across a tape of her husband cheating on her with a neighbor. After packing up the kids and heading to the city, she meets Aram (Justin Bartha), a young coffee shop employee living in the apartment beneath hers who agrees to start babysitting for her as she works late and goes on disappointing dates. As Aram becomes more and more responsible for the children, Sandy realizes she enjoys spending her late nights at home with the mature-beyond-his-years nanny than spending them with dates who have a bad habit of talking to her while they utilize a porter potty (Eh, it’s the city. Who can judge?).

Sandy and Aram begin seeing each other but have to face a world that scoffs at the idea of their 15-year age difference. Sandy’s friends see Aram as nothing but a rebound, and she becomes confused as to whether he is or isn’t. Thus, “The Rebound” presses forward trying desperately to be the next Woody Allen pic; the problem is there’s none of the subtlety or depth of Allen’s work. (more…)

With “Chronicle,” the shaky-cam “real footage” movie, on the cusp of propelling some viewers into face-clawing lamentation, finally grows up.

The picture has a rousing spirit and an unexpected emotional warmth. It features good (if little-known) actors, a solid genre plot, and surprisingly slick effects that are especially impressive for being so seamlessly woven into the film’s low-budget look. The movie hustles by in less than 90 minutes, and it’s a lot of fun.

The story, by director Josh Trank and screenwriter Max Landis—both feature-film first-timers—is a clever riff on the superhero theme. Andrew Detmer (Dane DeHaan, a True Blood alumnus) is the kid with the video cam—a lonely nerd documenting his miserable homelife with an abusive father (Michael Kelly) and bedridden, dying mother (Bo Petersen). Andrew is a high-school senior, shunned by the cool kids and tormented by the usual crew of varsity troglodytes—all the more so after he starts bringing his new camera to school. His only semi-friends are his amiable cousin Matt (Alex Russell) and, for reasons unclear, the gleamingly popular Steve Montgomery (Michael B. Jordan, of Friday Night Lights).

One day, out in the woods, these three happen across a large hole that leads deep underground. Descending into it, they find something very strange, and soon after clambering back up to the surface discover that they’ve suddenly developed nifty new telekinetic powers. At first they use this gift for fun and pranks—floating little Lego bricks up into the air, baffling car owners by shuffling their vehicles around in parking lots. Then, with continued practice, they discover that they can rise up into the air themselves, and soon they’re swooping around through the clouds.

(more…)

The 2011 thriller “In Time” tells the dystopian science fiction story of a world where time means everything.

Social classes are not determined by income, but by the amount of time a person can live. The humans are genetically engineered to stop aging when they turn 25. At that point, their clocks begin ticking and they must earn or steal more time to stay alive. Lower classes work menial jobs for pay in days, while the upper class hoards centuries. Gangsters prey on the weak to steal their time. “Timekeepers’” or law enforcement’s primary concern is to make sure the “wrong people” – the lower class – never have too much time.

Will Salas (Justin Timberlake) is from “the ghetto,” where people live hour to hour. He meets Henry Hamilton (Matt Bomer) in a bar flashing around a wealth of time – 100 years. After Will rescues him from gangsters, Hamilton gives Will his entire store of time. Sadly, Will can’t get home in time to prevent his mother (Olivia Wilde) from “clocking out.” In retaliation, Will travels to the top “time zone” on a mission to take as much time from the wealthy as he can.

However, possessing time that you didn’t earn is illegal. Timekeeper Leon (Cillian Murphy) catches up with Will and takes back what time he’s managed to accumulate. To avoid capture, Will takes wealthy Sylvia Weis (Amanda Seyfried) hostage and goes back to the ghetto. He realizes it’s not enough to take time from the wealthy, he needs to redistribute the time to the poor. Sylvia falls in love with Will and joins him on a crime spree to spread the wealth of time around as much as they can before they are caught…or their own clocks run out.

We’re lead to believe that a small portion – the one percent? – of the population not only controls the vast majority of wealth, but is actively engaged in preventing the 99 percent from ever progressing outside of their “time zone” by strategically raising taxes and interest rates whenever people start accumulating too much time.

(more…)

“Pina,” the new 3-D movie about Pina Bausch, isn’t a typical documentary detailing the highs and lows of her dance career.

This Oscar-nominated production merely explores one thing about the late choreographer: her legacy. Although Bausch may be well-known to those who have studied dance intricately, the name is likely an unfamiliar one to other viewers.

I didn’t know anything about her until I was invited to the film’s screening.  That being said, “Pina” delivers on what it attempts to do– it is an honorable and well-filmed tribute to a woman who changed the lives of so many of her students.

The history of the production of “Pina” is quite compelling. According to the film’s website, director Wim Wenders originally planned to make a movie about the dancer and the work she was doing, and Bausch fully approved the production. That film– a story about her ongoing work– was canceled when she died unexpectedly during pre-production.

But the end of that film begot the beginning of another– one that honored the legacy of the late dancer.

(more…)

Uber-producer David O’ Selznick would bring director Alfred Hitchcock to America from England, team him up with one of the most popular novels of the day, Daphne du Maurier’s 1938 phenom, “Rebecca,” and win that year’s Academy Award for Best Picture (Selznick’s second in a row after a little programmer called “Gone With the Wind.”) Not a bad start.  Of course, it helps if you make an amazing motion picture in the process, which is exactly what “Rebecca” is.

Our heroine is never named other than with the pronoun “I,” and is portrayed by the then somewhat-unknown Joan Fontaine (sister of Olivia De Havilland), who offers up one of history’s most impressive “arrivals” as a full-blown movie star. Our heroine is an innocent who’s terribly vulnerable and a newlywed very much in love with her husband, Maxim (Laurence Olivier), a deeply troubled man still working through the death of his first wife.

Swept off her feet, this orphan who made un undignified living as a paid companion and doormat to an insufferable woman, is suddenly thrust into a world she never knew existed. Maxim is incredibly wealthy and sole-owner of Manderley, a breathtakingly gothic estate populated with servants and also the intimidating and suffocating shadow of Rebecca, Maxim’s dead wife.

It’s within this shadow that the new mistress of the house, already a fragile flower, wilts even further. Rebecca’s hold on the living is supernatural and the primary keeper of that flame is housekeeper Miss Mrs. Danvers (an unforgettable Judith Anderson), who wields the memory of her former mistress like a psychological club to break down her “replacement.” Miss Danvers is destined to succeed until a shipwreck uncovers truths that will either result in the destruction of all involved or their salvation.

(more…)

To celebrate its centennial, over the course of 2012, Universal Studios will release 13 of their masterpieces on Blu-ray after a full restoration. Titles include, “The Birds” “Bride of Frankenstein,” “All Quiet On the Western Front,” “Buck Privates, “Jaws,” “The Sting,” and “Schindler’s List.”  Appropriately enough, this campaign starts off with that most American of films, director Robert Mulligan’s stunning 1962 adaptation of novelist Harper Lee’s Pulitzer Prize-winning “To Kill a Mockingbird.”

Set in the Depression-era South in 1936, our narrator (Kim Stanley) is Scout Finch (a remarkable Mary Badham), who tells the story as an adult looking back on three defining summers of her childhood as an impoverished tomboy who lives in a small town with her older brother Jem (Phillip Alford) and their father Atticus (Gregory Peck), a lawyer and widower in his middle age.

The story’s themes are as rich as they come. We see everything through the eyes of the children and though they don’t realize it at the time, this is when they lose their innocence — thanks to events that involve the very worst kind of bigotry, the kind that leads to death and murder. But they will also learn to overcome their own childish prejudices when, as children will, a man they turned into a boogeyman turns out to be just the opposite.

For his portrayal of the quietly heroic Finch, Peck would win one of the biggest no-brainer Oscars in Hollywood history. In the special features, Peck’s co-stars and others involved in the film’s production (he would remain friends with many of them, and Harper Lee, until his death in 2003) compliment the actor by saying he won an Oscar playing himself. That might well be the case, but possessing certain qualities and having the talent required to portray them on screen are two entirely different things. 

(more…)

The new horror film “The Woman in Black” does just about everything right.

The setting is true-blue gothic down to the creaky mansion at the heart of the story. Star Daniel Radcliffe looks appropriately 19th century as the film’s worried lead. And director James Watkins, who previously gave us the terrific shocker “Eden Lake,” knows how to tease out every quivering shadow in the house.

But frankly we’ve seen it all before. The haunted house genre desperately needs a rest.

Let’s break down the shocks in “Woman” to better see what the problem is. Radcliffe’s character spends one very long sequence in the ghostly house in question. He sees shadows moving out of the corner of his eye, hears children’s toys whir into life even though no one is there to wind them up and catches glimpses of ghostly faces in window panes.

Seasoned horror fans will see just about every “scare” coming our way. And that’s because movie ghosts act in such predictable fashion.

(more…)

Millennials are obsessed with capturing their lives online. Facebook, YouTube, Twitter. Most people are boring enough that their compulsive documentation is really unnecessary. The story of “Chronicle” is the exception.

Loner Andrew Detmer (Dane DeHaan), his cousin Matt Garetty (Alex Russell) and class star Steve Montgomery (Michael B. Jordan) are three high school students who stumble upon a glowing crystal-like object in the woods during a party at an abandoned warehouse. In the days that follow they realize they’ve acquired some a telekinetic power to control objects.

It’s not unlike the Force – something that first-time feature director Josh Trank dabbled with in his experimental short, “Stabbing at Leia’s 22nd Birthday.” But as their powers grow from moving a few Legos to crushing cars and flying, Detmer begins to change and lash out. When Garetty and Montgomery try to help, he only grows more violent. His downward spiral leads to an action-packed climax pitting friends and powers against each other.

For a “found footage” hand-held film, the movie has some great shots. It fits into the story – as his powers increase, Detmer uses part of his mind to control the camera, so all three young men appear in shots together. It’s a neat choice, and lets Trank be artistic in a movie that’s supposed to look amateurish. The story, by Trank and screenwriter Max Landis, has the depth and structure that films made by much older professionals often lack.

(more…)

Last week’s “Spartacus: Vengeance” season opener began with exactly what we want: some good old-fashioned bloodshed.

Spartacus and his small band of runaway slaves defeat of group of Roman soldiers. The show still looks like it should. It’s got the “300″-style CGI blood flying everywhere and plenty of slow motion. It also has a new Spartacus, and his name is Liam McIntyre. And no offense to the man, who seems like a nice enough bloke, but he ain’t no Andy Whitfield.

The first season of “Spartacus,” dubbed “Blood and Sand,” began a bit slow, but once the show found its footing by the third or fourth episode, it became almost too good television. It openly exploited violence and sex to push forward its story of the slave who fights for freedom and for his wife who has been taken from him after he and a group of his villagers decide enough is enough and refuse to continue helping fight the Romans’ war (how Libertarian of them).

The show featured great performances from all, including John Hannah (who is sorely missed here). But Whitfield was the solid rock of the show. He was a young Clint Eastwood: charismatic, stoic, a great actor. He told the story through his eyes and face, which was quite an accomplishment considering he was either naked or half naked the entire season.

Then tragedy struck, and unfortunately, the great actor is no longer with us. The show continued with a six episode prequel with a brand new lead. It was different but still good, and it continued the “Spartacus” tradition of delving into the darker and more animal-like sides of human nature through its depictions of sex, seduction, bribery, violence, etc. Now the show is put to the real test. Now we have a new Spartacus. (more…)

“The Theatre Bizarre” arrives as the second new horror anthology in the past few months, and thank the cinematic gods it isn’t as disastrous as its predecessor, “Chillerama.”

That misfire tweaked old school horror to calamitous effect, but “Bizarre” has no allegiance to any period or sub-genre. It’s all about making you squirm in your seat, and on that unambitious level gets the job done. Anyone eager to see gratuitous gore and copious nudity will also stand up and cheer. Those eager for storytelling nuance will find only scraps to feast upon.

The film gathers six short horror films and wraps them around the tale of a woman who wanders into a movie house to find a most unsettling show about to begin. She witnesses a stage full of quasi-humanoids more gears and metal than human. They’re uniquely creepy, and during the weakest segments of “Bizarre” you’ll wish the film would hurry up and get them back on the screen.

(more…)

“The Innkeepers” is the type of movie audiences don’t get a lot of anymore. Instead of relying on grotesque torture sequences (i.e. any entry in the “Saw” franchise) or scenes where things pop up to scare audiences (i.e. “The Woman in Black”), it delivers old-fashioned chills.

With no major stars to speak of and a cast that wouldn’t fill up a small elevator, this old-fashioned ghost story is definitely worth a look.

Written and directed by Ti West (“The House of the Devil”), the movie offers a familiar setting in an old, nearly-abandoned hotel. The creepy building is scheduled to close at the end of the weekend so only two employees remain on the property. Sara Paxton and Pat Healy play Claire and Luke, the two final staffers who are taking  turns working at the front desk. Claire is an inquisitive woman bent on finding out if the hotel is really haunted—as legend suggests—while Luke is a carefree slacker hoping for a relaxing weekend.

(more…)

“I like her make up. I’m pretty sure it was tested on animals.”

That’s one of the many lines the screenwriters use to show off the cold personality of Rachel Kramer (Drew Barrymore) in the new film, “Big Miracle.” Adapted from the nonfiction book “Freeing the Whales” by Thomas Rose, “Miracle” presents Kramer as a hardcore Greenpeace activist who is unwilling to watch three whales die when they are trapped five miles inland in northern Alaska.

Unfortunately, the heavy-handed script — full of obnoxious lines like the one above — and Barrymore’s poor performance undercut what could have been a decent family film.

The story revolves around three whales trapped in the middle of an icy landscape. The magnificent creature need pockets of unfrozen land to breathe and none exist around them, so they are forced to remain in a little hole that could freeze up at any time. That is until a reporter named Adam Carlson (John Krasinki) brings the story to a local television network.

His report receives worldwide attention because– it turns out–Tom Brokaw has “a thing for whales.“ Brokaw includes the report on a national newscast and soon enough, members of the media are swarming Alaska to save three whales that would have died otherwise.

(more…)

One positive thing to be said about Madonna’s new movie, “W.E.,” is that it is leagues better than her first directing effort, the 2008 “Filth and Wisdom.” But then many things are, periodontal surgery among them.

Unlike that earlier film, this one is beautifully photographed (by Hagen Bogdanski, who also shot “The Lives of Others”), and so the endlessly shuttling Grand Tour locations—London, Paris, Cannes—glide by in preening detail, and the deluxe interiors speak softly of serious money.

That’s the good part. The picture’s problem—well, one of its problems—is that it presents for our appreciative contemplation two of the most worthless jet-setting parasites of the last century: Edward, Duke of Windsor, and Wallis Simpson, the American clothes-horse divorcee for whom he abdicated the Throne of England. In 1937, directly after stepping down, Edward married his brittle inamorata, and together they spent the next 35 years doing absolutely nothing but spending epic amounts of his hand-me-down royal fortune in the gaudiest possible ways.

Having no other purpose, they became style icons among the international idle rich—he in his tailored tweeds, she in pricey Dior and Vionnet and the emeralds and pearls with which he continually showered her. Unsurprisingly, Madonna excavates this aspect of her subjects with gusto.

Real the full review at Reason.com

“The Woman in Black” reaches back into the horror-movie past, long before mad slashers and crazed gore frenzies infested the genre, to present us with an unapologetically old-fashioned haunted-house exercise.

The picture pays vivid tribute to the fog-choked byways and richly decorated interiors of the old Hammer horror films (and is in fact the first release by that newly resurrected studio after some 30 years of commercial hibernation). But it also partakes of the narcoleptic pacing that hobbled some of those old pictures, and so despite this movie’s stylish design and agreeably vintage frights, it is also, sad to report, kind of boring.

The story is derived from a 1983 novel by Susan Hill that was previously adapted for British TV and radio, and has been running in a London stage version for more than 20 years. Clearly there’s an audience for this time-tested material; it only remains to be seen whether it’s an audience that also goes to the movies.

The setting is vaguely Victorian (although a briefly glimpsed newspaper story about Arthur Conan Doyle’s conversion to spiritualism would place it closer to the 1920s). Daniel Radcliffe, in his first post-”Potter” film role, plays Arthur Kipps, a morose young lawyer still shattered by the death of his wife in childbirth four years earlier. He is dispatched by his London office to the faraway village of Crythin Gifford, there to organize the estate of a recently deceased old woman. Arriving by train in the grim, unwelcoming village, he makes his way to her even grimmer residence—a dismal stone mansion situated in nearby marshlands at the end of a long road that’s submerged by high tides for many hours of each day.

Read the full review at Reason.com

Typically when you see a blue helmet on the big screen it means the UN is coming to the rescue.

That’s why they call Hollywood the Dream Factory, one supposes.

In “The Whistleblower,” the UN is part of a nasty racket covering up sexual abuse in war-torn Bosnia. The film, now available on Blu-ray and DVD, is based on Nebraska cop turned whistleblower Kathryn Bolkovac’s revelations about the UN peacekeepers’ monstrous behavior.

Yes, the film implicates the private security firm working alongside UN officials, but it does so in a matter of fact fashion rarely seen in politically charged films. And best of all is how star Rachel Weisz makes the lead character’s plight worth our admiration without any sanctimonious speeches to overrule our emotions.

(more…)

Quick note: For the sake of this review it’s important to explain the world in which “In Time” takes place. The film itself provides details but “The Minutes,” a special feature included with the Blu-ray/DVD set, is all about the origins of this society, so some things you read here come from that.

Director Andrew Niccol’s “In Time” opens with  a lot of promise and no small amount of tension, thanks to a terrific premise. Unfortunately, the narrative sputters and misfires in the second-half, but as a political allegory, by design or accident, we are treated to a damning look at what our culture and country might look like should Obama and his fellow leftists continue to prevail.

The year is 2161 and some years ago, due to fear of over-population, scientists not only discovered a genetic cure for aging, they implanted a clock in the forearm of every newborn that counts down the years, hours, minutes, and seconds you have left before you die. No one ages a day after they turn twenty-five, but once that birthday hits, you’re given a year to live. That is, unless you’re able to earn more time. Where Will Salas (Justin Timberlake) lives, a working class ghetto called Dayton,  your choices are limited to manual labor, begging, and crime.

Will’s not alone, either. In Dayton, the average person won’t survive the day unless they can earn more time. Here, a cup of coffee costs you four minutes, a bus ride two hours, and the rent a couple of weeks. Time is this nation’s currency, and with the cost of living always going up, it’s a hand-to-mouth existence for the half-million or so residents who live with their mortality constantly hanging over them and in the knowledge that something as mundane as missing a bus can mean you count down to zero and die on the spot.

(more…)