Quick Impressions: Safety Not Guaranteed

 

Safety No Guaranteed is an independent movie by Colin Trevorrow who recently landed the massive job of making the next installment in the Jurassic Park series Jurassic World. But the reason I was drawn to it when it appeared on my recommended queue on Netflix was the involvement of Aubrey Plaza who plays Darius an intern at a Seattle Magazine, who along with Jake Johnsons reporter Jeff and Karan Sonis fellow intern Arnau, investigates an ad in the personal ads looking for a partner to travel back in time.

 Who could resist?

Plaza has a unique acting style that has grown during her time on Parks and Recreation which she employs here as she plays a 21 year old who has been stumbling through life seemingly always on the outside looking in. This is a theme that runs throughout the film as each character is struggling to understand there place in the world. Even Johnsons ultra confident and cocksure Jeff is shown to be vulnerable and unsure of himself as his side story develops.

The three go to find the person who placed the add and try and get a story about presumably a nut job who thinks that he can time travel. They find Mark Duplass' Kenneth who at first glance seems to fit the bill and when Jeff's attempt to become Kenneth's partner in time travel fails it's up to Darius to get close to Kenneth and get the story.

Darius and Kennith

What follows is a beautifully paced story of friendship, love, loss and understanding as Darius and Kenneth become friends and open up to each other about their reasons for wanting to go back in time. I really enjoyed the chemistry between the two leads which is largely down to Plaza who's has a natural quality to her acting that perfectly suits the mood of this movie. Scenes between the two as they get to know each other are both funny (hand gun & martial arts training) and moving (the camp fire scene) and their growing relationship goes along hand in hand with the elephant in the room...Can Kenneth actually travel in time?

So if you have an hour and a half to spare and fancy a charming, funny and moving movie then I recommend giving Safety Guaranteed a watch.

Written by

Owen whilst listening to the wonderful Welsh weather outside aka wind & rain!

It's alive!!! ALIVE!!

With all the super sad and meaningful films around I decided that I cannot be dealing with it, so I watch something light... I, Frankenstein... I actually seen it twice. And I think now I know how I feel about this film. 

So when I saw this for the 1st time, I knew I enjoyed visual... It was a bit Gothic, dark, beautifully executed, good effects, good looking actors, amazing location and an interesting plot.... But there was something that was bothering me. 

As you know I am a sucker for a main dude, who is misunderstood, preferably half nude and involved in some fights, muddy with swords. So I am biased a bit... 

Victor Frankenstein had created a human, reanimated him. Then though, poop, what have I done, must kill that thing... Well thing did not die, but took revenge on his maker. By doing so he came across some demons and gargoyles. 

The whole story kicks off when Adam (main dude with sexy abs) goes back to the cities to hunt instead of being hunted. Good action scenes all around, some of them a bit sloppy I though and were not choreographed properly, but eye catching. 

However, after watching it today I can tell that there are some faults or things were too simplified... Such a, big evil by Bill Nighy, been called by name to clarify it for the viewer when it was actually dead obvious, and the last scene... WTF! That's like that scene from the 1st Spider man movie with Toby Maguire when Spidey show next to american flag, beyond cheesy! 

Another thing I though was a bit strange for film sake, "most trusted" guard or a fighter makes a silly move. I think there should be more to story, that he loves the Queen, that would make sense. But that story line was not developed. Film seem to lost bits of it in the editing room, looks like there were a lot of things altered and taken out. I think it should have more stories between characters...

But it is still a spectacular film, visually could have been like not boring Zach Synder film!

Well, I definitely more interested in Aaron Eckhart, he did not have many lines but he had a lot of looking into the camera looks. And these abs!!

 And I actually want to get my hands on this graphic novel.... :) 

I would definitely see it again, but its one of these films I really enjoy... 

It was kind of like Buffy the vampire Slayer, but you know Adam the demon descender... 

Written by Daria, simply because I cannot wait any longer for Owen to contribute! Hint! Hint!