Right On 'About Time '!!

Hello, WORLD! Smokkee here. I've been holding off this
review for a few days now but can't put it off any longer. Why? Not really a long story but...lemme just get this review started first.

Not that this unique British movie About Time isn't a great movie, it's fantastic really. It's also kind of hard to catorgoize. I guess it's a love story at it's core but then it kind of does this complete spin away from that initial story line to address other types of love. I know I might be a bit confusing here but bear with me.

Tim's face when he hears the family secret the first time.

About Time opens with slim, lanky, and awkward teenager Tim starting his narration duties introducing us to his family and their traditions, including a family gathering at the family's summer home, and the movie begins during the year his life changes for ever. Usually just hearing that line only induces a groan but in Tim's case, I think you gotta make an exception. By the way Tim is played by Domhnall Gleeson, whom I was unfamiliar with but would've been familiar with if I'd really paid attention to the Harry Potter series. Domhnall does bear a resemblance to Brendon Gleeson, whom I've learned is his father.  On Tim's 21st birthday, his father (Bill Nighy, lovable here even if his acting like an asshole) tells him the family secret: the men of the family can time travel. All they have to do, Mr Lake says, is find a dark place, think of a time that's like to go back to, close their hands and they're off. Some of the funniest little bits in this movie is watching him find a dark spot to use to correct his missteps. 

After the initial shock of hearing this, and the initial shock of finding out it's actually true by going back to a New Year's party where he's too shy to kiss the girl next to him (managing to kiss her this time), Tim is overjoyed. After the initial warnings of using his powers for monetary gain, Tim's first course of action is to find himself a girl, something that doesn't come too easy to overly awkward teens. He doesn't have to look very far since his sister Kit Kat's drop dead gorgeous friend is spending the summer with them. 

Tim's face when he uses the family secret the first time.

Tim doesn't make a move on her til the end of her stay and she rejects him, saying he should have asked her when she first got there. Tim naturally goes back to the past and tries to do just that. Here's where the first unexpected move comes in. He gets rejected again. Now if he knew anything about women, he would have known that all he had to do is go back and actually talk to her instead just expressing how much he adores her. The movie lets Tim take this initial reaction as she doesn't want him and he just moves on. 


Tim moves in with a playwright friend of his father in London named Harry (Tom Hollander) while he's practicing law. and it's here that he eventually meets Mary (Rachel McAdams, who has been more attractive to me here than anywhere else I've seen her and here she's almost seems middle-aged believe it or not) at a blind blind dating site. Yes, a blind blind dating site and if you think about it, the idea is genius. It's love at first site when they do finally see each other but thanks to a time travel to aid Harry's latest play avoid a disastrous opening night, he some how manages to unmeet Mary. 

I won't describe any more of this movie from this point on. I've only described to you maybe the first 20 or 30 minutes. Of course at this point I expected this movie to be about Tim's efforts to re-meet Mary but I was wrong there. This issue is resolved fairly quickly too. Any time a movie can throw you through a loop with something you're not expecting is cause for celebration, especially in a day and age where we've basically exhausted every genre available. See, this movie goes from telling one type of love story to several, including what I feel is the best love story of them all: the love of living a life worth living. The acting is great but as Bill Nighy really stands out; he owns every scene he's in. I also feel like I fell in love of McAdam's frumpy Mary right along with Tim. She just has this down to earth quality here that I find extremely attractive. Speaking of attractive, London looks absolutely gorgeous. 

Another thing this movie did for me was it made me really think about how precious time is. We really don't have a lot of it to start with and the simply fact is a lot of us waste it by doing absolutely nothing at times when some of everything can be done. I'm definitely guilty of this myself, especially since I saw this movie last Wednesday and I'm just getting around to actually writing this review.    

Avoid this movie if you don't like British accents. Everybody else is gonna love this movie, lol.
Seriously if you want to see a great love story see this movie.

A+

'Captain Phillips' Deserves a Promotion!

Hello, WORLD!! Smokkee here. I saw Tom Hanks latest movie, 'Captain Phillips', this past Wednesday. I wasn't totally shocked that it was great, but I can say I didn't expect it. It earns an 'A', easy, but it wasn't as thought provoking as the other movie I screened this week, 'About Time', so I'll keep this one brief so I can go focus on that one.


'Captain Phillips' tales the incredible story of Captain Richard Phillips, captain of the Maersk Alabama, a US container ship. It's set to deliver some goods in Somali, which is notorious for pirate activity. Of course you know that that's exactly what happens: the ship gets hijacked naturally. There wouldn't be a tale without that happening.

We're introduced to these 'pirates' early and they're nothing like Jack Sparrow. They're more like the grown up version of those kids we see on those "Just $1.00 a day can help feed.." commercials and they're looking like they haven't really changed much from those days. They're the native Somalians who work hard enough as fisherman and other odd jobs to still not have much to live off of who're presented with an opportunity of a lifetime for them: big bucks for finding a ship worth hijacking. All of these guys jump at the chance. It was interesting to see that these characters, for all of their impoverish looks, are actually tech savvy. Those selected to aid the would be pirates rush off to find the lone container ship that separates itself from the rest of the ships, which they scoped out their radars. One tells ultra slim Somalian Muse (Barkhad Abdi) that he better not get in his way. The surprise here Abdi, he who looks slow on the up-think at times but is no where near as naive or as fragile as he appears. From this point on, this movie gets intense.

I'm not gonna get into to much detail about what happens after the first attempted hijacking. It's one of the best scenes in the movie because you really get a sense of who Phillips, and Muse, are. It also sets the stage for a global version of chess that some of these players ain't ranked high enough to play.

As for the acting, Hanks here is flawless. I would say he carries this movie because he's the one lone American we see the most of, even though there's gotta be at least 30-40 crew members on deck. I should add that I should've known Hanks would be flawless here; he thrive's as the everyman against all kinds of insurmountable odds (Cast Away, Philadelphia, Saving Private Ryan, and of course Forrest Gump). An Oscar nod would not be undeserved so no shock if he gets one. But as I said earlier, Abdi is the real surprise, more than holding his own against Hanks' Phillips in a battle that won't turn out as either expects.

I'm sorry if I haven't gave you enough info to decide if you want to see this movie or not. I know I didn't want to see it at all. I didn't think I would be entertained. I was wrong. A tense movie with a great share of comedic moments you may or may not hate yourself for laughing at. I know I felt like I shoulda suppressed a few chuckles. But this is one of the most intense movies I've seen all year. Definitely worth a viewing.

A