Time travel has long been a baffling fringe thought of science fiction. Time is an ever flowing continuum, seemingly impossible to stop. The subject has been explored in countless forms of media, visual, written and I’m sure aural (there are always books on tape). Ray Bradbury’s novel, “A Sound of Thunder” is the examination I’m most familiar with, if only because of “The Simpsons.” This takes the idea that if one were to travel back in time and alter just one miniature detail, it could have disastrous effect on the future. It was turned into an unwatchable film with Ben Kingsley and Ed Burns a few years ago. The misplacement of something in the past affecting the future has no place in The Time Traveler’s Wife. As its title would suggest, this film takes the scientific thought to a romantic level.

A car crash when he was six years old was the first instance in which Henry DeTamble (Eric Bana) had been exposed to his time travel ability. He’s visited by his elder self, telling him the crash is nothing to worry about. This is presumably to just calm the younger Henry down, as his mom is killed in the crash, usually something one would worry about. The time-traveled Henry then dissipates, fleeing the scene, leaving the young one to deal with the tragedy at hand. A few rules to this time travel story are established in the quick scene. Henry travels back to times only in which he’s already been born. His travel location is only to where his younger self is present. When he travels, anything he’s wearing stays in the present and he must immediately seek clothing to cover his nudity in the past. Lastly, he has no control over when his current self travels and when he ends up.

Clare Abshire (Rachel McAdams) is the chronological constant in the story and as her age progresses, so do the details of the story, for the most part. Around college age, she stumbles upon Henry working in a library. She recognizes him, but he fails to recognize her. She tells him he told her he’d react that way when they met again. She first encountered Henry’s time traveling ability when she was a young girl, setting up a picnic for herself on her family’s vast property. She immediately takes a liking to him and he vows to continue to visit her. She of course tests his claim of being able to travel through time by asking about the future. His dematerialization in front of her helps make her a believer.

Once Henry and Clare meet up again in the present tense of the story, they fall immediately in love and get married, even with Clare’s knowledge of how difficult his inability to be constantly present may pose problems for them in the future. She chooses to looks past this caveat, but it rapidly becomes an issue when he travels on their wedding night, even leaving his wedding ring behind. Like any couple, they face trials and tribulations, with Henry’s involuntary extended stays away from her only adding to the frustration. The question becomes if the romance they’ve maintained through the course of decades is enough to carry them into future happiness.

"Don't ever leave me for another woman. Unless it's another version of me."

The Time Traveler’s Wife is based on a novel of the same name by Audrey Niffenegger. I’ve never read, nor heard of it, so any discussion of how the film adheres to the source material coming from me, would be fruitless. The script, written by Bruce Joel Rubin (Ghost), is itself a decent one. Given his past credits, it’s obvious he was a great choice for a romantic film set between two people who are only sometimes together. The romance that ensues between Henry and Clare, although a bit forced by Henry’s traveling back in time, meeting with Clare (did she really have a choice in the matter?), is a love that resembles most relationships, but becomes a bit supernatural in the elements it faces. There are times I felt the film defied its own logic, with Henry always traveling to where another version of himself seems to be, but yet appears in Clare’s bushes for some reason. Perhaps it was time travel destiny for “star-cross’d lovers.” There’s also a connection made between Clare’s father and Henry, which proves important, that I have a feeling was a big part of the novel, but here is treated as pure coincidence.

As the titular character, Rachel McAdams is essentially the main protagonist, even if it’s not her whose genetic defect grants the burden of traveling through time. The film seems a bit too focused on Eric Bana, since he possesses the oddball character trait. It would have been a slightly different movie if the focus was on McAdams’ character, and perhaps a more interesting one. Since this is a movie and we’re to be dazzled by the visual, the time traveling aspect gets a bit too much play. The film straddles the fence when it should have leaned a bit more one way. McAdams is playing closer to her age, and I think she’s become an engaging actress who can carry more weight in the not-too-distant future. I like Bana, but fear he might not end up the A-list talent Hollywood has tried to mold him into. The scales are tipped toward McAdams here, in terms of acting prowess.

Director Robert Schwentke (Flightplan) does an admirable job keeping the story cohesive and comprehendible, which is always a tricky proposition when playing with time. He’s not much of a visual stylist, but manages to keep the story moving without any true lulls within. Although perhaps jarring at first, Henry’s fading away when on the verge of leaving current time and space, is a neat effect that’s able to create the sense of longing Clare feels, having to watch him slowly drift from her presence.

P.S. I Love You and The Lake House are two movies that came to mind when viewing this, and although I know they aren’t necessarily time travel love stories, the longing of having a love you aren’t exactly able to hold on to was resonant throughout this film. I haven’t actually seen the former movies for myself (having no desire), so I’m not quite sure what kind of quality bar has been set for the time travel love affair genre. I felt good about The Time Traveler’s Wife immediately finishing it, due to the romantic relationship, but there are a few nagging script issues that came to light which I think draw it down a notch or two. If only they could go back in time and fix it, a better product might materialize.

“The closest I ever came to dying was when I masturbated with a 104-degree temperature.” That’s one of my favorite jokes from Larry David when he returned to stand-up comedy for the HBO Special that later became the pilot for “Curb Your Enthusiasm.” I think that joke works on two separate planes for this review. First, it’s a stand-up comedy joke and the entire world contained in Funny People revolves around stand-up. Secondly, David is talking about being on the edge of death. Staring it in the eye. The main character in Funny People faces a similar quandary, although his situation is far less humorous.

George Simmons is a comedic movie star not unlike Adam Sandler. His ascent to stardom bears a strong resemblance to the plight of other comic film leading men. He began on stage telling jokes to rooms full of drunks in comedy clubs. His fame and persona took off and he moved on to such silly heights as headlining films about a merman and Re-Do, about a man who goes back to being a baby (a literal man-head on baby body) to remind himself of how to live. George’s string of hits ends when he is diagnosed with a type of leukemia, leaving his life as lived and decides to revert to a time when he was happiest and go back to performing stand-up comedy. He takes a young comedian, Ira Wright, under his wing as a last gesture of his time on Earth.

Ira isn’t the funniest of people. Not yet, at least. He’s a nubile talent stuck working behind a deli counter at a local grocery store, begging his co-workers to come to his shows, even having to offer to pay their cover charge. Fortunately, Ira has some support or rather constant motivation surrounding him at home. He lives with two buddies who are both firmly rooted in the comedy career path. Leo is another disciple of stand-up, trying to build through that. He’s had some more success that Ira, but still performs at the same venues. Their roommate and landlord, Mark, is the most successful, as he stars on an NBC sitcom called, “Yo, Teach,” resembling something along the lines of “Saved By the Bell.” He’s known to casually leave his $25,000 per week paychecks on Ira’s pillow. All of this only fuels Ira’s excitement toward George’s offer to be his assistant, as well as write jokes for him.

Ira is the only person George lets in on the secret of his disease. Ira, in turn naturally tells his closest comrades, but luckily it never reaches beyond that. Faced with the pressure, Ira eventually convinces George to let a few select others in on the news. George uses his illness to make amends with Laura, the girl that got away. They were to be married until his immaturity and lifestyle led to him cheating on her. She is now married with two children, albeit not the happiest. After bouts of suffering, George finds himself in the 8% of people who survive his condition and steps away from the porch in front of death’s door. Given a second lease on life, George has a chance to right his wrongs with Larua and share with Ira the path to success.

"If this was a lesser film, you'd just challenge George to a rugby match."

Judd Apatow’s name has been permanently fixated with cinematic comedy over the past few years, though this is only the third film he’s directed, after The 40-Year-Old Virgin and Knocked Up. It’s more of his producing duties that makes his name a mainstay in our filmgoing subconscious. That, and his band of talent he’s helped blossom into becoming their own headliners, thus spreading the Apatow brand, even when he isn’t directly involved. It’s similar to the Bill Walsh coaching tree that still survives in today’s NFL. What Apatow is a master of is blending what can be considered crass and vulgar humor with a story that contains a bit of sweetness, realism and heart. Sure he’s produced a story of man-children with Step Brothers and wacky sports comedy in Talladega Nights, but that’s not how he writes. He separates himself from the pack and elevates the genre by doing so. In Funny People, he blends comedy and drama seamlessly. It’s not a jarring transition from laughs to tears and the two dueling themes, death and comedy, work together like strawberries and chocolate as opposed to oil and water. This is a very funny film, as you would hope for, set in the world of comedy, but it may well induce some salty discharge at the same time.

I’ve never been a fan of Adam Sandler. In fact, I’ve been more of an anti-fan. It’s the whiny voice that’s driven me crazy through the years. Only in Punch-Drunk Love did I respect him for a bit, but that goodwill was quickly squandered. I’m pleased to say this is the best performance of his career. The whiny voice pops up now and then, but only as a character his character is playing. You get the feeling he’s baring his soul in this film as if it were a documentary reflection on his own life, since it so closely adheres to his real-life rise to fame. Acting accolades also belong to Seth Rogen. He plays a character who’s very grounded and identifiable. It’s a performance like no other we’ve seen from him. Over the past few movies of his, he has become quite stale. The shtick that worked so well for him before and rocketed him into our collective minds had worn thin. I believe this is a turning point for him, or at least should be. He can build on this next step of his career and hopefully continue to evolve as an actor.

There were some hampering and nagging points to be had, mainly with Sandler’s character arc. George isn’t the nicest of guys. Even when he recovers, he doesn’t undergo much of an arc and makes it harder to sympathize with him, even at the end. Ira is far more indefinable and the two characters never even really meet in the middle. The lack of bromance between the two is at least partly made up for by the interplay between Ira, Mark and Leo. Jason Schwartzman brings his usual suave egotism he’s been perfecting since Rushmore to Mark. Jonah Hill as Leo is more subdued then he’s been in the past, but his climbing off the ledge didn’t hinder his ability to invoke laughter.

Death is not a particularly funny subject, so I find it brave of Apatow to base his film around the subject. He succeeded in blurring the lines between comedy and drama and in turn made more than just a funny film, but a well-balanced movie worthy of following in Knocked Up‘s large footsteps. There’s a line in the film, which for obvious reason led to the title, which George uses to belittle Ira. “Usually, comedy is reserved for funny people.” Thank goodness for all of us, Judd Apatow is one of them.

Since The 40-Year-Old-Virgin in 2005, Judd Apatow has been a breath of fresh air in the comedy world.  For almost five years now, Apatow has had a hand in either writing, producing and directing some of the biggest comedies to hit the screen.  Most of his movies have been box office gold, such as 40-Year-Old, Superbad, Knocked Up and Pineapple Express.  Of course, he has dropped some clunkers of late with Drillbit Taylor (producer) and Walk Hard (producer, writer). This year, he has produced Year One and will direct his third film, Funny People.

I tend to favor his directorial work because his comedies are so much better than the rest.  Yes, they’re funny, but they also have elements of drama and are relatable.  Funny People will focus on the themes of friendship and struggling with an impending disease.  It will also feature more drama than Apatow’s first two films, despite the title.  Adam Sandler will take another stab at drama having had success with this before, most notably with Punch-Drunk Love. Sandler, who could have easily made a quality career for himself after his critically acclaimed performance in Punch-Drunk, stuck with the brain-dead comedies and occasionally did drama, like Spanglish and Reign Over Me, the latter being particularly poor.  I would hope this performance will finally put him on a proper path.

Baking cookies can only be funny if you make them into vulgar shapes...like circles.

Sandler stars as George Simmons, an established and successful comedian/actor who has made a name for himself in the stand-up circuit. He gets the debilitating news that he’s suffering from a blood disorder and will die within a year. Ira Wright (Seth Rogen), a deli employee and comedian, who has grown up idolizing Simmons, befriends George when he hears of his condition.  They become close and George makes Ira his assistant and teaches him the ways of a good comedian.  Meanwhile, his ex-girlfriend, Laura (Leslie Mann), hears of his condition and re-establishes herself in his life as a friend. Just when George had lost all hope, he gets the startling news that he will make it.  While getting close with his ex, her husband Clarke (Eric Bana) becomes extremely jealous and causes friction between him and his wife.  Despite this setback, George has a new outlook on life and with the help of his friends, he tries to seek meaning and purpose within himself.

The movie also co-stars Jonah Hill, Jason Schwartzman, Aziz Ansari and RZA.  Funny People is written, directed and produced by Judd Apatow and after the wonderful Knocked Up, I think Funny People might match it, though I can’t say it will top it.

"I think if you just did, like, the 'whale wave' on stage, it'd totally kill."

Covering a whole array of issues like life, death, love and friendship, all wrapped up in a Judd Apatow bun, complete with his unique brand of humor could make this the comedy hit of the summer.

Funny People opens July 31^st.

Thank you J.J. Abrams for not only meeting my expectations with Star Trek, but also surpassing them.  You are now the saving grace behind the franchise and you gave it a much-needed dose of adrenaline.  Through all the years that I’ve liked Star Trek, I’ve never experienced a mass communities excitement over a new film set in that universe.  Usually people would mock it and often associate its fan base with being “nerds” or “dorks.”  Especially in the past seven years, Star Trek was at a low point.  The last film, Star Trek: Nemesis (2002) was the lowest grossing film of the franchise and its last remaining TV Show, “Star Trek: Enterprise” was canceled in 2005. There was little interest by the public and it appeared Star Trek would just be a celebrated franchise of the past.  Thanks to director Abrams, I can now (for the first time) talk about Star Trek with anyone and not feel embarrassed about it.

I loved this movie. Loved it.  I’m perhaps saying this because I’m a huge fan, but anyone will enjoy this.  This Trek takes a different approach, by making the characters more human than before.  Abrams (not a “trekkie,” but actually a Star Wars fan) had the right idea by taking the characters of Kirk, Spock etc. and focusing on their younger lives, before they joined Starfleet.  We are already familiar with these characters and we get a chance to see them when they were young, reckless, inexperienced and only on the verge of greatness.  Of course, how can younger audiences be familiar with these characters when they weren’t exposed to the shows? Easy, Abrams plays it loyal to the original show, but starts from the beginning of everything so we become familiar with the characters at the start of their lives. We all start from the beginning.

When a Starship named the U.S.S Kelvin is investigating a strange black hole, it’s mysteriously attacked by a huge ship coming from the hole.  When the Kelvin asks the mystery ship about the unprovoked attack, they respond by asking the captain, Richard Robau (Faran Tahir), to come aboard.  Robau meets Nero (Eric Bana), a Romulan miner bent on revenge. Robau is unfamiliar with Nero’s questioning and is killed as the Romulan ship continues its attack on the U.S.S. Kelvin. The acting captain, George Kirk, takes control of the Kelvin and orders the evacuation of the ship, including his pregnant wife.  When his son is born during the evacuation, he names him James Tiberius Kirk.  Kirk Sr. collides with the Romulan ship on a suicide mission to give the rest of the crew time to get away.  It’s revealed that the Romulans were accidentally sucked into the black hole while their home world, Romulas, was destroyed by a supernova. The Romulans, who were from the 24^th century, realize they’re 154 years in the past and can’t get back. Before the time warp, Nero was seeking revenge on Ambassador Spock (Leonard Nimoy) after he failed to save Romulas.

"Westsiiide...I mean, live long and prosper."

Twenty years after the Kelvin attack, an older Kirk (Chris Pine) is convinced by Captain Christopher Pike (Bruce Greenwood) to join Starfleet. Spock (Zachary Quinto) also joins Starfleet because he doesn’t feel fully accepted by the Vulcan culture, since he’s half human. While at Starfleet, Kirk meets and befriends Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy (Karl Urban) and Nyota Uhura (Zoe Saldana).  After beating the impossible Kobayashi Maru test (a Starship bridge simulation test), Kirk is accussed of cheating (which he did) by Spock (who programmed it) and must stand before the Academy to await his punishment.  This is one of the few times where Abrams actually references an older Star Trek movie, which talked about Kirk cheating the Kobayashi Maru in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. During the hearing, Starfleet receives a distress call from Vulcan (Spock’s home world) that they’re under attack from an unknown ship.  Kirk is suspended indefinitely and the rest of the cadets are rushed into action aboard the brand new U.S.S. Enterprise (which hasn’t even had a maiden voyage). Kirk, wanting to get into the action, becomes a fake patient of McCoy’s and he manages to sneak aboard the Enterprise.  While on board, Captain Pike discovers Kirk and promotes him to first officer, since he had a terrific tactical record at the Academy. Spock is also promoted to captain in case something ever happens to Pike.  Kirk recognizes the similarities between the attack of the Kelvin and Vulcan and warns the crew that the Romulans are behind it.  The Enterprise must travel to Vulcan to stop the attack during which Kirk and Spock are uneasy with each other.

Star Trek will certainly rank at No. 2 on my “From First to Worst” list of the Star Trek films.  It is also the first Star Trek movie to features the Romulans as the principal antagonists, despite them being the longest running de facto alien villains of the TV series.  I was really impressed with Eric Bana as Nero. You feel for him, but also hate him at the same time.  Chris Pine is a good Kirk and didn’t do any William Shatner impressions. I can’t say he’s better than Shatner, but we’ll see over time, as he develops the character in future reprisals.  He portrays Kirk on a new level and it’s good to see the character young again, not an overweight captain who wears a “Go Climb a Rock” t-shirt (Star Trek V: The Final Frontier).  Karl Urban is eye-popping as McCoy.  Not only did he quote famous lines like “God damn it Jim,” but he also has the same speech delivery and body mannerisms as the original McCoy, DeForest Kelly. Urban did mimic Kelly, yes, but did it so well that it works in his favor.  He was very funny and definitely one of the brightest parts of the movie.  The best performance, however, goes to Zachary Quinto as Spock.  He looks like a younger Leonard Nimoy reincarnated, but plays it better than Nimoy ever has. Quinto’s Spock is a lot darker and edgier, which easily makes him the most interesting character.  Nimoy returns as an older Spock (Spock Prime) and I got chills when I saw the legendary character return to the big screen.  Nimoy plays Spock as cool and intellectual as ever and I was glad Abrams made him a major character and didn’t reduce him to a stupid cameo. Simon Pegg as Scotty and Anton Yelchin as Chekov also provide the movie with some humor. I did, however, think Zoe Saldana’s portrayal of Uhura is weak, as it’s forced and actually made her come across as a bitch.

The effects are good (provided by Industrial Light and Magic), but the true visuals were the actors.  They made us fall in love with the characters all over again and even improved on some of them, mainly Kirk and Spock. Abrams focuses on the most important element of Star Trek, the characters, and it paid off.  Yes, it’s an action-oriented Star Trek and it has mind-blowing special effects, but it’s the characters that ultimately draw us in.  Once again, thank you J.J. Abrams for making a once proud franchise, proud again.