The Butterfly Effect 3: Revelations

In this direct-to-DVD installment of the Butterfly franchise, Sam is a psychic detective for Detroit PD, who has a time travel ability vaguely similar to that of Evan from the first film.  This time, though, he has a knowing sister and friend/professor who help him with his jumps, so long as he sticks to the code and never affects his own past.  But when the sister of his murdered first girlfriend needs his help to prove the innocence of the man sitting on death row for the crime, his jumps starts to unravel his life.  Each time the death count grows, and the police think he's the murderer.

Unfortunately the true criminal is apparent half an hour into the film, what with the no-so-subtle repeated dialog about his past choices.  Unlike in the first film with Evan, though, this time Sam has a solution that can put everything right...

The Butterfly Effect 3: Revelations
2009, 89 minutes, directed by Seth Grossman

The Butterfly Effect

My review of this is mostly spoilers.  Sorry.

I prefer films with happy endings.  Shallow, I know, but I don't watch a movie so I can make some haughty film critic pronunciation on its worthiness in the cinematic arts.  I want to lose myself in another world for a little while, to have an opportunity to see what it's like to be someone else.  Such sessions end better if they end well.

So why am I not satisfied with this one?  Ostensibly it ends as well as it could.  Everyone's happy.  Sort of.  Maybe the guy who gets the girl in the last scene shouldn't be an extra?

I watched the director's cut.  I would have enjoyed another hour of film if they could have kept the roller coaster going long enough for him to find a better solution.

The Butterfly Effect
2004, 120 minutes (director's cut), directed by Eric Bress and J. Mackye Gruber

Deja Vu

This film starring Denzel Washington starts as a straight-forward police procedural, investigating a terrorist attack that destroys a New Orleans ferry carrying returning sailors and their families.

Then the time viewing/interference starts and it gets weird.  Couple that with an ending of imperfect knowledge and I hesitate to like it as much as I think I should.

Deja Vu
2006, 126 minutes, directed by Tony Scott

Hugo

I read a few reviews of this last week - and I agree with them all.  It deliberately stays very real where it could become farcical.  Yes, the inspector is rather out of place in this otherwise grounded story, but it's not to the point of distracting from enjoyment of the story.

Hugo in 3D
2011, 126 minutes, directed by Martin Scorcese

Terminator: Salvation

They've run out of ways to exploit their "go back in time to save the future" schtick, so at this point they've just turned this franchise into post-apocalyptic warfare with an abundance of references to story lines we're assumed to know.  It could be a Resident Evil script if they'd just replace robots with demons - totally generic.

Terminator: Salvation
2009, 115 minutes, directed by McG

Collateral

My parents were watching this when I arrived at their house this evening, so I admit I missed the first 45 minutes or so.  But the rest of it was good - at least a good performance by Jamie Foxx - and the story was sufficiently interesting to stick around in the living room and see it to the end.  Foxx plays Max, a cab driver who is tricked and coerced into chauffeuring around Vincent, a hit man played by Tom Cruise.  Through threatened and plenty of actual violence, Vincent forces Max to help him with a series of murders.  Tension escalates as Max tries different angles of escape, until he learns that a woman he likes is the target of Vincent's next hit.

Collateral
2004, 120 minutes, directed by Michael Mann

The Rum Diaries

I tried to read the book once, but Hunter S. Thompson's writing style wreaks havoc with my reading, my eyes flitting around from line to line at random, piecing it all together in my mind a few moments later.  I just can't make that work when his words flitter about with the same randomness.

So while watching this film - what I believe to be a true-to-the-book portrayal of his story - I was never sure how much of this is based on real events and how much is pure story.  The resulting confusion left me puzzled by the abrupt ending and text-on-screen epilogue.  I would have liked to like it, but I'm too confused.

The Run Diaries
2011, 120 minutes, directed by Bruce Robinson