The Time Traveler's Wife

GREEN'S "NEXT TIME BRING ME SOME CLOTHES" REVIEW:

For most of her childhood, Clare Abshire (Rachel McAdams) has known Henry DeTamble (Eric Bana) as a friend and a man who comes in and out of her life at the most unexpected times. Now, as an adult, Clare discovers that she loves him and wants to spend her life with him. Against the advice of her friend Gomez (Ron Livingston), Clare and Henry get married. They live as happily as can be, considering Henry's "condition" which sometimes is hard for Clare to deal with emotionally.

I've always been fascinated with stories that have to do with time travel, in some fashion, and the various ways to accomplish it. In this movie, the questions of how and why Henry DeTamble travels through time are never discussed, dissected or analyzed in any great detail and it is not essential to the story, only that he does it and therefore becomes an obstacle to be overcome. Though I do like the idea that if time travel were possible, only living, animate objects would be allowed (as in the Terminator films.)

What this film is really about is how two people who love each other deal with difficulty and stress that any worthwhile relationship entails. In addition to all of the usual married stress, Henry's penchant for random and uncontrolled time travel adds another layer of problems.

Because one element of the story concerns time travel, the non linear format that the story takes works well, primarily because the story is told from both Clare and Henry's viewpoints at different times.

Rachel McAdams is captivating as Clare and gives a sparkling performance. She displays a good on screen chemistry with Eric Bana, who handles his role well. Ron Livingston (of Office Space fame) is excellent as the best friend of Clare and then of Henry too.

I had no problem with the direction of Robert Schwentke, meaning he did a good job of getting out of the way and letting his actors act. Bruce Joel Rubin did an admirable job adapting the novel into the screenplay, which never becomes too cliche or overly sappy.

As McAdams and Rubin point out in the lone DVD extra feature, there were challenges in adapting a 546 page novel into a roughly 107 page screenplay. McAdams stated love for the story and her desire to play the part of Clare comes through in her performance and is one of the reasons why I got my hands on a copy of the novel to read one of these days.

I watched this movie for the first time with my daughter and we both enjoyed it. When the price comes down to under $10, I can see myself eventually adding this movie to my DVD collection.

***½ out of *****

SCRIBE'S WERE WE WATCHING THE SAME MOVIE? REVIEW:

It’s so easy to dismiss The Time Traveler’s Wife as a useless, thinly plotted, emotionally manipulative chick flick...so let’s get to it, shall we?

What we have here is another in a strong of superficially rendered novels daring to utilize scientific speculation as a mere plot device for yet another banal tale of undying love. And if that’s not enough of a yawn-inducing concept, there’s the movie.

Frankly, too much has been made of the theory of pedophilia in this film. While it is true that the character of Henry (Eric Bana) appears to Clare (Rachel McAdams looking sumptuous as usual) when she’s a child to tell her they’ll meet again someday, anyone with the tiniest knowledge of time paradox theory would know he’s there because he has no choice. Much like in the vastly superior Somewhere in Time, what has gone before can only happen based on what happens next.

Henry and Clare fall in love and eventually marry but it’s a tough arrangement, considering he is unstuck in time due to a car accident in his childhood...yes, a crash causes him to...jump around....in time. Hmm, it’s even stupider when I see it in print.

Naturally, Claire is the perfect woman because the novel was written by a woman and she sticks by her unstuck man as he appears and reappears throughout her lifetime, sometimes looking older, sometimes younger.

The acting in the film is its saving grace. Both leads are better than the mediocre material and their chemistry feels genuine. The situations range from dull to interesting to riveting, like life, and that would be fine with a stronger central concept.

Don’t expect much in the way of philosophical speculation in this Harlequin Romance of a movie. Never do we get an answer to the conundrum created by Henry’s contacting Claire as a child nor any plausible theory as to why a car accident...A CAR ACCIDENT...causes him to jump around all Quantum Leap style.

Oh, and of course there’s a touching ending involving a child at the end because the female audience hasn’t been properly manipulated until that takes place. A pile of melodramatic rubbish masquerading as more.

** out of *****

The Time Traveler's Wife (2009, PG-13, 107 minutes), starring Rachel McAdams, Eric Bana, Ron Livingston, Arliss Howard and Steven Tobolowski. Based on the novel by Audrey Niffenegger, screenplay by Bruce Joel Rubin and directed by Robert Schwentke.

Battle for Terra

GREEN'S TOXIC ATMOSPHERE REVIEW:

I had seen previews for this movie on television and in the theater but never went to see it. I really didn't think it would be the kind of film that the scribester would want to review, knowing his previous disdain for kids movies and slightly less disdain for animated films. Much to my surprise he suggested that we review it, probably as a gag reaction to Avatar.

This is a movie that made its way through all of the various independent film festivals starting with Toronto in September 2007 and all throughout 2008 but didn't gain wide release in the US until May, 2009.

My kids and I liked this movie, but we liked Avatar much better. They are essentially the same movie, though Battle for Terra is less than half the length. Of course there are differences in the two stories but it comes down to this in both films: Humans have a problem and want/need something real bad in order to fix it. And they don't care what alien life form is in the way or what they have to destroy to get what they need.

Aside from the obvious live action vs. animation difference, Battle for Terra doesn't give as much in the way of developing the world the aliens live on or the relationship between the human Jim Stanton (voiced by Luke Wilson) and the tadpole like Terrian Mala (voiced by Evan Rachel Wood) like Avatar does between its major characters. Terra also doesn't rely as much on the musical score than Avatar does to set the tone and emotional levels.

The remaining voice cast actors are all good, though none stuck out to me as outstanding.

The animation is stunningly rendered throughout the movie. Watching the animated space battle sequences reminded me of watching the "live action" battle scenes in the Star Wars films.

I didn't have time to watch the bonus features included on the DVD. Perhaps if the price comes down to the $5 range, I'll add this movie to my DVD collection.

***½ out of *****

SCRIBE'S JAMES CAMERON OWES THEM MONEY REVIEW:

Not only did this film share a concept with the bloated, misdirected epic Avatar, but it got the job done in less than half the running time. What sets this movie apart from most of the American animated film coming out nowadays is its adult storyline.

The film centers around the last humans who are desperately searching for a new world to ruin since Earth is no more. Unlike Avatar, the humans in this film are not all mindless idiots obeying a greedy corporation/government. They're people, some of them assholes, some of them, good, all of them afraid for their survival.

Unfortunately, like all folks of Western European descent throughout time, their solution is to take land from an indigenous population regardless of its effect on them. The humans seem to be more advanced than the peace-loving and adorable floating beings currently residing on their intended new home.

The voice talent is superb as are the visuals. These aliens are much more fully realized than Cameron's over-sized, obnoxious smurfs. It's hard to dislike these guys and soon the viewer finds himself conflicted as far as who to root for. The twist during the battle scene at the end and the final solution make this a much more satisfying film than Cameron's preachy sequel setup.

**** out of *****

Battle for Terra (2007, PG, 84 minutes), starring the voice talents of Evan Rachel Wood, Luke Wilson, Brian Cox, James Garner, Chris Evans, Danny Glover, Amanda Peet, David Cross, Justin Long and Dennis Quaid. Written by Aristomenis Tsirbas. Screenplay by Evan Spiliotopoulos. Directed by Aristomenis Tsirbas.