The Minority Report - "Primer" (2004)

“What I'm saying is, we drop the box down on it, okay, focus our own magnetic field to negate and knock out the inverse—what's going on inside the ceramic—and that should change the transition temperature to something we can work with.”
What happens when a mathematician/engineer decides to write a screenplay? You get this movie. Primer is what I am calling, as a warning (to those of you who like fully understanding movies and not having to cycle through things said 10 times before you only slightly understand them), an intellectual’s movie. I had to watch it twice before I fully understood the plotline. I still don’t fully comprehend the math and engineering, though. This movie is a shock to the dying heart of the sci-fi genre as more and more ideas get recycled. I can’t describe this movie as a simple sci-fi movie, nor can I call it a simple time travel movie. I wish to describe it, rather, as a journey into the full extent of human ignorance and innocence in the face of omnipotence. It is truly an intertwined story of self discovery as well as a psychological masterpiece.

The story begins with a voiceover that guides most of the movie along. Four different friends—Aaron (Shane Carruth), Abe (David Sullivan), Robert (Casey Gooden), and Phillip (Anand Upadhyaya)—all working different jobs, occasionally meet up in a garage to make a pet project that is supposed to counter the effects of gravity. One day, Aaron and Abe decide to go ahead themselves with the project and leave the others in the dark. This is when things get freaky. Abe one day discovers that when he leaves a watch inside the machine when it’s on, the watch will show a 1300-fold increase in time. Also, when Abe finds a protein coating the inside of the machine and realizes that the amount can only be produced over a number of years, not minutes, by certain fungi, he ascertains that the machine must be allowing the objects inside to travel through time. What ensues is the creation of a machine where they can enter and travel through time themselves, causing a chain of events that tests both of their resolves and holds many philosophical and personal implications.

Not recommended for movie nights, this movie should be one to watch when you are in an intellectual splurge. Get a couple of your smartest friends, watch it, and then have your brains fried for a couple of days. From its low budget, to its amazingly complex and technical dialogue, this movie is definitely tailor made for a small viewer audience. It has the honesty of an indie film, and yet the ability to stand up to most big-budget films. The way it is filmed is beautiful in a way that makes you want to contemplate every frame and enjoy every second, however fleeting it may be. This movie is like watching paint dry, but being able to turn back the clock, so if you want, the paint can be fresh again every time you go back.

By Kulguy

The Minority Report - "Scott Pilgrim vs. The World" (2010)

“That's it! You cocky cock! You'll pay for your crimes against humanity!”
Fantastic, highly-anticipated, breathtaking visuals—need I say more? I actually saw the trailer to this movie about 6 months before the movie came out (as I usually do…it kind of sucks) and I had been awaiting it ever since. What caught my attention was the actual filming. The movie looked like it was going to be a cross between a comic book and a video game. I had no idea how correct I was. I watched this movie with V-Dawg and we both fought over who would write this review because we enjoyed it so much. After that, I watched it 2 more times for good measure, something I rarely do with movies. Usually they aren’t worth revisiting until a while later, but this one was too much of a good time to pass up.

The basic premise of the story is that there is a guy by the name of Scott Pilgrim (Michael Cera), who is pretty much your average guy who’s in a band, has a high school girlfriend (even though he’s already into his 20’s), and lives in a pseudo comic book/video game-like world. All is going well in his life until he sees Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead). She is perhaps the quirkiest girl anyone will ever see, and he falls in love with her instantly. The cost of his attraction to her? He must defeat her seven evil exes to stake a claim on her heart. In what proceeds like a live-action comic strip, he faces each of them as the movie gets closer and closer to comic book fiction, quickly learning who he is, who she is, and how to break up with a high schooler.

The movie really impressed me because it managed to be a really honest comedy. Some of the dialogue was purposefully dumb and coated in bad puns because of the movie’s attempt at imitating a comic strip. Also, many songs and sequences in the movie are references to different videogames from different times, so a certain geek knowledge base is a must for one to fully enjoy the movie. Apart from that, nothing brings more joy to my heart than seeing intensely colored lightning bolts come out of a punch to the face, the words “riiiiiiiing” appear on screen and vanish as they trail to the phone, or the letters K.O. appear when Scott beats one of his opponents. Overall, the movie is a sight to behold simply because of its great laughs, amazing sequences, and stunning visual cinematography and special effects. It is definitely not like watching paint dry on a comic book rendition of a classic, 8-bit video game.

By Kulguy

The Minority Report - "The Expendables" (2010)

"Next time, I'll deflate all your balls, friend."
Guns, women, blood, violence, coarse language, action, explosions, and, of course, tons of old actors that primarily did action films. I have just described for you the film, “The Expendables.” “The Expendables” is nothing more then an action flick, but it certainly is nothing less than an action film. In fact, I could have walked in with a checklist of action movie stereotypical scenes and there would have been multiple checks next to each one. This does not mean this movie is boring; it just means it is predictable.

Let us be honest here…if you walked into this movie looking for a profound experience that would alter your entire existence, you obviously have never seen an action movie. Action films are about big, flashy scenes of crazy explosions, shallow dialogue, awesome stunts, and fight scenes galore. The story is about mercenaries (Stallone, Statham, Li, Crews, and Couture) that have to overthrow this general who is in cahoots with a rogue FBI agent (Eric Roberts). The plot is that simple, and it rolls with it. There are also some twists and various events that spice up the standard action template that this movie follows so diligently.

This movie could have afforded to break the mold even a little bit, but instead, it just pumped the movie up with pure star power. There are so many action legends that it is enough to satisfy your action needs for years to come. This movie is perfect for you and your guy friends. With a group of dudes, you will come in with a grin and come out high fiving. Go with a girl on a first date and you will leave without the girl, as she left after the extremely gory (yet epically awesome) ten minutes. So this movie is not like watching paint dry, it is more like looking at a mural that includes every action star ever and throws it together in a familiar setting.

By V-Dawg