Three friends, who live and manage a real estate community of apartments, discover a machine from a recently deceased tenant that takes photos 24 hrs into the future and creates a Polaroid. The machine is pointed at the living room of the friends, from across the yard.
After discovering this, they get to figure out what its all about, the boundaries and then feel they can use this for their own personal gain. This includes placing large illicit bets with a local underground bookie. Of course this is going to end in tears, particularly when he gets suspicious and comes over to rough them up a bit.
The premise for the movie is fantastic. But it isn’t really explored terribly well. The movie was obviously shot on a very tight budget, with character development and narrative being the main vehicles. One of the biggest issues the film producers had was sourcing the necessary quantity of Polaroid, resorting to eBay to find them,
It drags on too long with a plot that once you twig you will see coming at you in a very predictable manner. This is one of those movies that has that straight-to-Netflix written all over it. Watch it once you have exhausted all other items in the Netflix library.
The date is 21st October 2015 and of course it is Back to the Future day. The day Doc and Marty travel forward to fix his children who have managed to screw things up that a little help from our time traveling duo. So it is very fitting that we watch this movie on this very iconic day, following on from my earlier Back to the Future outing.
So this is what we thought the future was going to be 30 years ago. Flying cars, hover boards, power laces and rapid justice. We can lament on how off the film makers got it in some respects, but they got it spot on in many other respects. What is such a joy with these movies is the attention to the detail in all respects. Keep an eye on the background and the small things the writers have put in.
While not as iconic as the first, there are so many quotable lines and beautiful scenes. Doc and Marty travel to the future, but of course they have to go back to 1955 as they have screwed up the time line and need to recorrect. This gives us a peek back into the first movie but seen from a completely different perspective. It plays in the background while Marty of the second movie, interacts and ensures the Marty of the first movie completes his mission without deviation.
Crispin Glover was a difficult chap to deal with both on and off set. He demanded equal salary as Michael J Fox for example to sign on for this movie. The movie producers naturally didn’t agree, and instead, cast a different much cheaper actor, but took the unusual step, or having Jeffery put on a Crispin face mask to make him look like the original George McFly. Crispin wasn’t too pleased and took the studio to court.
Doc can only be played by Christopher Lloyd and is such a joy to watch on screen. The man has captured the mad scientist just perfectly. I love the scene near the end, when the Doc of the first movie rejoices after sending Marty from the first, back to the future after sliding down from the clock tower. He dances in the street and when Marty from the second movie comes running in and asks him for help to do it again, the way Lloyd plays that surprise/shock/horror and wrap it up in humor is genius.
This movie was made along side the third one and to that end, they have this wonderful opportunity to give you more than just say “To be concluded” but a full trailer to the last installment. How torturous is that? Takes you on edge of your seat ride and then asks you to wait a year to conclude! Rotters. But at the time it was a revolutionary film production technique.
Think on this. We live in a world where our time line has caught up with the Back to the Future universe and we are now further ahead in the future than we have seen Doc and Marty travel. I don’t know about you, but that makes me a little sad, and a little excited all at the same time.
Great movie, not the best of the trilogy, that honor will always be the first one but a wonderful setup and stands on it own very well. Hands off beautifully to the last one, which I will watch later on in this marathon series.
Viewing Date Wednesday, 21st October 2015 (Back To The Future Day)
This is a rather sweet romantic thriller built upon the premise that the leading the lady never ages after getting into a road accident in her early 20′s. Therefore she never wants to fall in love because she knows she will out live any partner. She also moves around a lot, both to avoid detection, but also to rekindle a new identity and for people not to become too suspicious that she is never aging.
So of course you know she is going to eventually find someone who she would love to tell her secret too and try and carve out a life with.
Blake Lively plays Adaline, the main lead, who looks a dead ringer for a young Jane Seymour.
The person she falls in love with is Michiel Huisman playing Ellis. Now he is introduced as a bit of a greepy character. At first I thought he was going to do very bad things, and if he did indeed approach her like this in main life, I am sure she would run a mile from.
There is an interesting twist with a character from her past coming in which I won’t spoil but it is done in a very nice way. This is when
The movie has a great story but is very light on details. There is so much that could have been explored here and dive deeper into some of the problems forever staying young would be. At first it sounds great, but there are a huge number of logistical problems that come along that would make it for a very sad story.
It is an okay movie, not an epic by any stretch, with a very predictable ending that you can see coming nearly at the start.
What more can be written about this masterpiece? 30 years old this year and this movie simply does not age. As fresh and as thrilling as the day it was first shown. Even the DeLorean is not aging after 30 years still looking futuristic.
Living out in the Scottish sticks, I did not get the opportunity to see this movie on the large screen the first time around. In fact, the first time I seen it was in 1990 when I as at university and we rented this on VHS. I fell in love the instant Marty was blown back by the huge amplifier.
This past Friday, I had the opportunity to right a terrible wrong, and at midnight witnessed the beauty of this story on the silver screen at the local cinema here in Richmond. Seeing this with a large group of people, whooping, shouting and cheering was an absolute joy. My only criticism of this experience was that it made the movie feel very short.
A couple of months I finished the excellent book on the making of the trilogy, which was a wonderful insight into a lot of stuff I had never even known – and I pride myself on knowing a LOT about the adventures of Doc and Marty.
On the surface, this story of teenage incest, high school bullying and age inappropriate relationships should have us in disgust. Yet we seem to skip past all of that and enjoy what is the ultimate (and yes flawed in places) time travelling story.
Just the thought of playing out that teenage fantasy, what were my parents like at high school? is just too juicy a concept not to explore fully. Would you actually like them? Would you get on with them? Would you think them cool?
All of these concepts and more are explored in this movie (and the two subsequent movie followups).
The movie just keeps getting better on each watch. Every time invested you will be rewarded with a new nugget of discovery. Just keep your eyes open and watch for the subtle queues, in various background signs, posters and props. You think you are watching the same scene again (time travel is like that) but you aren’t, there are changes.
If you haven’t seen this movie this year, then treat yourself. You deserve it.
alan williamson 