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Waste of Time

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  • Title: In Time
  • IMDB: link

in-time-dvdIn a world where the population is genetically engineered to stop aging at 25, time becomes a commodity to be bartered, traded, and stolen. Without acquiring more time those who have already reached their 25th birthday begin to see the final year of their limited life start to fade away.

When a wealthy benefactor (Matt Bomer) looking to die bequeaths Will (Justin Timberlake) a century of time the young man from the ghetto learns the truth about how time is horded by the wealthiest class and decides to do something about it.

Kidnapping a young girl (Amanda Seyfried) and persued by a time cop (Cillian Murphy), Will does his best by living day to day with a limited amount of time by committing the worst crime in the world, the same thing that got his father killed – giving away time.

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Project Nim

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  • Title: Project Nim
  • IMDB: link

project-nim-dvdFrom director James Marsh, Project Nim examines the study undertaken in the 1970’s which was an attempt to prove a chimpanzee, raised by humans, could be taught to act human and communicate through Sign Language.

The documentary includes interviews from several of those involved in the project including Herbert S. Terrace who led and championed the study for years but eventually concluded Nim only learned signs tied to certain rewards but never developed a full understanding of the language he was using.

Project Nim has an amazing wealth of documentary footage taken from the study. With this footage, and the interviews, Marsh puts together a film that not only documents the study but captures the emotional experiences of those involved with Nim including those who only saw him as an experiment, those who thought of him as part of their family, and those who were physically attacked by a chimpanzee they had come to view as a friend.

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Drive

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  • Title: Drive
  • IMDB: link

drive-blu-rayBased on James Sallis‘ 2005 novel, adapted for the screen by Hossein Amini, Drive stars Ryan Gosling as a getaway driver with no name who finds himself in a sticky situation when he breaks his own rules. If this sounds a little like The Transporter franchise, well it is, but director Nicolas Winding Refn decides to treat a rather ordinary action tale as an art house film drawing comparisons to dramatic action films of the late 60’s and 70’s like Steve McQueen‘s Bullit.

The Driver has everything he needs. His evident skill gets him consistant stunt car work and the far more lucrative (though far less legal) jobs no one else can do. His business partner (Bryan Cranston) has just closed a deal with a mobster (Albert Brooks) to buy a stock car which will allow the Driver to finally hit the big time. But when the Driver allows himself to be sucked into the troubles of an attractive neighbor (Carey Mulligan) and her young son (Kaden Leos) by agreeing to help her husband (Oscar Isaac) pull off a big score things go horribly wrong.

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Happy Happy

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  • Title: Sykt lykkelig
  • IMDB: link

happy-happy-blu-rayAfter his wife (Maibritt Saerens) has an affair with a another man, Sigve (Henrik Rafaelsen), moves his family and their adopted Ethiopian son Noa (Ram Shihab Ebedy) into the Norwegian countryside. The couple’s only neighbors are the perky Kaja (Agnes Kittelsen) whose sunny disposition is matched only by her husband’s (Joachim Rafaelsen) grumpy disinterest of everything to do with his wife.

Happy Happy, or Sykt lykkelig (it’s original Norwegian title which translates more exactly into “insanely happy” – which can have both a positive and negative conotation) reveals its secrets through Kaja’s intense loneliness and the brave smile under which she hides it.

Kaja’s affair with Sigve reveals both couples’ dysfunction. It’s obvious Sigve would rather spend his nights with Kaja, Elisabeth (Saerens) may have been better off with the man she was having an affair with, and Eirik’s (Rafaelsen) week long trips into the woods have far more to with his closeted urges than hunting game.

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50/50

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  • Title: 50/50
  • IMDB: link

50-50-blu-rayWhen a 27 year-old journalist (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) wakes up to discover he has a rare form of cancer he’s unprepared for how much his life will change in the coming months. He’s afraid to tell his overprotective mother (Anjelica Huston), his girlfriend (Bryce Dallas Howard) tries but fails to handle the situation, and his best friend (Seth Rogen) thinks he should use his situation to try and pick up chicks.

Director Jonathan Levine and screenwriter Will Reiser deliver a story that balances humor and the drama of the situation well for most of the film’s 100 min. running time. Sure the film goes for laughs, but its also surprisingly frank about the emotion of the situation (which is not surprising given the story was adapted from Reiser’s own experiences).

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