Expectations were blown completely out of the water with this one. I thought I'd be getting traditional rom-com sludge, but this one was much more layered than that. The premise itself is where you as the viewer has to suspend your disbelief: Tim (Dubliner Domnhall Gleeson, best known previously as the eldest Weasley brother, Bill) is a young man when his father, played the always dependable Bill Nighy, pulls him into his study and tells him that all men in the family have the ability to time travel. To do so, they must go into a small, enclosed dark place, like a closet, close their eyes tight and imagine the place and time. I realize how stupid that sounds after writing it, but sometimes you just have to go with it. I mean, the beloved LOST had a principal character that was a pillar of smoke, did it not?
Early on in the movie, Charlotte (Margot Robbie), a friend of Tim's sister, comes to live at there house for the summer. He falls for her, hard, and uses his time traveling ability to go back, sometimes even minutes at a time, to fix something stupid he said or did. Eventually he comes to realize that no matter how many times this scenario plays out, she won't go for him. But soon after, he and his mate go to a London restaurant whose whole schtick is that you are paired with blind dates of the opposite sex while the lights are off (continue to suspend your disbelief, people!). There, he meets Mary (Rachel McAdams), and they hit it off. He gets her number at the end of the night. When his playwright roommate gets a lackluster review, he goes back to make the actor not screw up his lines. And lo and behold, when he goes to check for her number, it's no longer there.
From there, the movie focuses on how he can find her and win her back, using his ability. But it's also largely about his relationship with his father. When something happens to the father (won't tell you), Tim has to figure out what his ability is really for. I unabashedly really liked this movie, and I think you will too.
#11 The Place Beyond the Pines
Early in '13, I was wanting to see this movie and then came across this marquee:
And I knew I had to go.
We are a couple of years removed from 2011, the Y.O.G. (Ides of March, Crazy Stupid Love, Drive), but there is still a certain national obsession with the mysterious Mr. Gosling. He stars as Luke, a stunt driver in upstate New York who does performs dangerous motorcycle stunts at a local carnival. When he comes to realize former flame Romina (real life sweetheart Eva Mendes) has had his baby, he demands to be involved in his life and begins to rob banks with the help of pal Robin (Ben Mendelsohn) to provide for them. Tasked with taking down the robbery squad is fresh-faced detective Avery Cross (Bradley Cooper), working for corrupt-ass police chief DeLuca (Ray Liotta) who will stop at nothing to get his hands on the money. 15 years after the events unfold, we meet two high school boys (Emory Cohen and Dane Dehaan) whose lives come to be directly affected by Luke and Avery's legacy.
This marks the second pairing of Gosling with writer/director Derek Cianfrance. Their first was Blue Valentine, which was also just as intense and even a touch better. Place Beyond the Pines, with it's stellar action sequences and multilayered plotline, is much more than simply Gosling on a motorcycle.
I'll be coming at you with the top 10 split in 3 ways real soon!
-Mulhern
No comments:
Post a Comment