Yes, I am going to have to speed up this marathon. Next up will be Moneyball and Rise of the Planet of the Apes!
Source Code
Grade: B-
Rating: 2.5/4
Anyone remember 2010′s Inception? I didn’t think so, it was released in the summer. Source Code is kind of like that, the films match right on in the sense of going back and forth from different worlds, or in the case of Inception, one’s mind. Though I would not rate it too much higher, Inception was far better in nearly every possible way, other than Inception being much longer, and in return making Source Code more entertaining for general audiences. Here’s the deal though, Duncan Jones made one of the finest directorial debuts in a long time with Moon (2009), and after giving us a potential 4/4 film, he hands us Source Code. Disappointing.
Source Code’s idea is fine, where it goes wrong is its explanation. The whole film is an attempt to have some crazy intelligent reason for how ‘Source Code’ is even possible, as if the audience actually wants to know what’s going on. Over many, many years we have all accepted one important thing about science fiction, it sure as heck isn’t real. Source Code tries to be real.
Even so, it is still entertaining and Duncan Jones brings his quick directing to the table, making Source Code a more than watchable sci-fi flick.
Another Earth
Grade: B
Rating: 3/4
Another Earth has a very interesting story, one that focuses more on the human heart than the actual ‘Earth 2′ waiting patiently in the sky. Rhoda (Brit Marling) has just been accepted into the astrophysics program at MIT, and of course the next step is to party and get drunk, right? Well she does, and this results in her crashing into a man and his family’s car, killing them, even though he survived.
There are many lessons to be learned in Another Earth, and I loved how much the film focused on the consequences of Rhoda’s bad decisions perhaps. The audience feels for Rhoda’s pain, we would all absolutely hate to be in the same situation, but when you really think about it, Another Earth could actually only be about the beginning scene. She was unfocused, she was drunk, why did she even get into the car in the first place?
The whole film was just a bit too depressing for me, I wish Rhoda would have been given more of a chance to find forgiveness, but as it stands the ending is fantastic. I recommend the film… but barely. Only if you ar ready to be lost in the depression of the film itself.
