Schu's Review: Limitless

When it comes to movies at the theatre, I've always enjoyed going for a good action flick or a comedy. Anything else, I can easily wait til it comes out on DVD. So, I was really waiting for Limitless with Bradley Cooper. The previews showed a distinctly different side to Cooper. After all, I've watched the Hangover about 8 times and he makes me laugh every time. This movie starts with Cooper being anything but funny.
He's disheveled, lives in a ripped up and rotten apartment, and is trying to write a boo. Eddie Morra is a bumb trying to be a writer. Not long into the movie, his girlfriend calls to provide us with Eddie's first dilemma: she dumps him on his ass. This is Eddie's motivation to get out and try to figure out what's going on with his pathetic life. He wanders around aimlessly trying to get his motivation, and he ends up meeting his ex-wife's brother. I mean, what are the chances? It's only New York City! Millions of people walking around, and Eddie bumps into his ex brother in law. They still get along too. It's unreal. "Hey, let's go for a drink". They do. Here's the best part: "I know you're my ex's bro and all, but dude, I'm stuck. I don't know what to write".
"I have an idea, Eddie. Why don't you take this pill I have. It's only a sample. But see this really nice suit I'm wearing? I can afford it cuz this pill kicks ass". "Really, how is a pill going to make me write a book?" Okay, he doesn't really ask that last question, but you get the idea. The pill is some kind of sample, and Johnny (the brother in law) works the streets trying to sell these things. The pill causes humans to access 100% of their brain. It acts very fast, too.  I caught myself wishing someone would come up with a pill to reduce my beer gut in 30 seconds, but I digress. Eddie takes the pill. You guessed it. His life turns around. He writes the book. It's awesome. He's wicked smart. Makes some money. Then, more conflict: the pills are killing  people, the lab rats, if you will. Wait. There's more. If the subjects 'stop' taking the pills, they die. It's a  conundrum. Get greedy, take too many, you die. Stop taking them, you die. Eddie's pills are running out. However, Johnny's been killed. See, that's why you never keep up those relationships with the ex wife's family, it's only gonna get ya in trouble. The previews really made the movie seem to be 'edge of your seat'. It
wasn't. It's a movie that's 'good' for DVD. Not for a theater. Cooper was good. Not great, but good. It was
a really predictable movie. The writers/director really tried hard at the end to make up for it, but by then, it was too late. Limitless was an average drama. A bit of action, not a lot. Robert De Niro was forgettable. The way his character slid into the plot and carried it along was very 'B-Grade". It felt like he made the movie as a favor to someone. As a villain, I didn't hate him. For Cooper, I didn't feel bad for the guy. I wasn't pulling for him. I didn't care if he found more pills and saved the world with books. Limitless was an average movie with a good cast. I'm sure a lot of people will enjoy watching it on DVD, when they're bored on Sunday night. But that DVD will be at your next garage sale, guaranteed.

Schu's Review: Source Code

Source Code. Hey, it’s Jake Gylenhaal taking Keanu Reeves to the land of laymen’s terms. To be brutally honest, it was like watching the Coles notes version of the Matrix. One of my best buddies told me “I had to see this movie cuz Duncan Jones rocks. He’s the guy who did “Moon”. Well, I didn’t see “Moon” and I don’t really find a lot of director’s work different from the others. I honestly only have a few faves: Tarantino, Bruckheimer, Woo, Tony Scott. You know, the guys who can make a big screen movie loud and obnoxious? It’s not to say a guy like Edward Burns isn’t good. I like his stuff, too. Source Code really looked like a movie that would keep the action rolling beginning to end. But once I sat down, I realized there was a computer programmer and Quantum Physics major behind the scenes pushing play on this one. Gylenhaal was Colter Stevens. A guy who flew helicopters in Afghanistan. We found out he crashed, and lost most of his crew. Then he was put to work inside a government program. Of course, we don’t know this until he wakes up on a train for the second time doing the exact same thing. Hello, Groundhog Day! But, this isn’t a comedy. This government program was made by a math and computer genius, Dr. Rutledge. He has a team of military ‘computer geeks’ running this bank of computers from deep inside an Air Force base. The train has a bomb on it, bound for Chicago. It blows up. Like 4 times. Kills everybody. And every time it blows up, Colter Stevens gets ‘transported’ back to his ‘happy place’.
This is where he finds solace talking to Colleen Goodwin. A fellow Military Officer who tells him, “It’s okay, you screwed up this time, but we’ll send ya right back in there, and you can tell us who planted that bomb and why would they do something like that?” Now, you and I both know we would ask some pretty strong
questions if this happened to us. I mean, the first time I survived an explosion like the one in Source Code, I would probably thank my lucky stars I woke up dreaming. But, if I had someone telling me through a little computer screen I had to go right back in there, well, I would ask for something in return. Colter doesn’t do this until the end. So I giggled a little bit. Then I suspended disbelief cuz you know, it’s a movie.
So, Colter Stevens travels repeatedly back to the train. Back to the same spot in time. Then, searches for the clues to complete his mission. Oh, yeah, each time he wakes up on the train, the token ‘love interest’ is sitting right in front of him. Michelle Monaghan. Her name is Christina. He doesn’t know her last name though. In a Sixth Sense type of twist, we discover Colter’s a dead man computing. He actually died in that original chopper crash in Afghanistan, but this weird Quantum Physics Military Dude, Dr. Rutledge came up with a computer program that could attach to the brain of a recently deceased corpse, and plug into the ‘last 8 minutes’ of operation which every human brain has for ‘mortality storage’ when we die. It’s a stretch, but
it’s a cool theory in the movie. Rutledge says “the human brain will continue to function for 8 minutes after death”. Using some wicked smart algorithms, he comes up with a computer, some wires, and a dead soldier’s body inside a steel box, which probably is a metaphor for the physical hard drive we have on our desktops, I’m just guessing. Then, using quantum physics, and alternate realities, Dr. Rutledge thinks he’s found his perfect ‘specimen’ to attach his invention to. The problem is, Colter Stevens understands all that math. Plus, it’s Jake Gylenhaal. He knows how to swoon the ladies. And that’s exactly what he does to Colleen Goodwin, his commanding officer. He convinces her to let him go back to the train one last time to save Christina. Even though Dr. Rutledge said, “You can’t do that. You can’t change the alternate reality”. Well, this boy’s smart. He flew helicopters in the middle east, man. Quite frankly, Goodwin’s not liking the fact this Dr. Rutledge is treating her new friend like this. She hits ‘enter’ one last time, and sends him right back to the train. This time, though, Colter knows he’s dead. He sends an ‘alternate reality text’ to Goodwin. Then changes everything , including the detonating bomb. Goodwin then realizes her loyalties are not with crazy science guy. She unplugs the ‘machine’. We get a glimpse of Colter, inside the hard drive…. 'er….sorry, box. The back of his head is carved off exposing his brain plugged into wires. Oh, it’s only half of him too. The entire bottom half of his body was gone. We’re left assuming it was because of the accident. Don’t worry, though. In the alternate reality, Colter gets the girl, and keeps her. He’s really positive thinking though. Then, Goodwin actually received the ‘text from the alternate universe’. Weird. Overall, I liked it. Only giggled once. Because we see a train blow up 5 times!