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Back To The Future

Synchronic: Time Is On My Side

February 17, 2021 by Steve Norton Leave a Comment

It never feels like we have enough time.

Set in the shadows of New Orleans, the new action-drama Synchronic follows paramedics and long-time friends Steve Denube (Anthony Mackie) and Dennis Dannelly (Jamie Dornan). Though both men seem to have their lives together, they soon find themselves in over their heads when they are called to a number of increasingly strange and grisly deaths which appear to be linked to a new drug called ‘Synchronic’. If that weren’t enough to deal with, Denube is soon after diagnosed with brain cancer, causing him to fall into a deep depression that opens the door for him to use the drug himself. However, in doing so, he soon discovers an unexpected side effect of Synchronic that seems to provide hope for the future, even if it lies in the past.

Written and directed by Justin Benson, Synchronic is a surprisingly engaging film that brings a new twist to the time-travel genre. Less Back to the Future and more The Butterfly Effect in its tone, Synchronic is a darker entry into the genre that leans more heavily into the trauma of loss than it does the fun of quantum leaping. Despite the fact that there are some items that move between eras, Benson opts to ignore most of the potential ramifications of time travel. (There’s no ‘Grey’s Sports Almanac’ or ‘Infinity Stone’ ripple effects in this film.) In doing so, Synchronic gives itself the freedom to use the device to reinforce the overall story’s themes and ideas without being bogged down by silliness that often comes with these stories. Instead, Benson uses the premise to focus on the present, as opposed to the past. 

As the film’s heart, Mackie’s charm and charisma give an affability to Denube that comes through despite the pain that his character is experiencing. At the same time, Dornan excels in roles that have an aura of inner darkness and Dannelly’s heavy emotional burden provides ample opportunity for him to show his talent.

Somewhat surprisingly, Benson makes an interesting choice by linking time travel with drug use. Similar to the way in which addicts will use their respective vices to escape from the pain of reality, so too does Synchronic give users the option to return to a ‘simpler time’. 

The problem is that the past offers no comfort either.

Though they may wish to flee their problems, Synchronic users usually find themselves in the most difficult eras of the past. Whether its fighting conquistadors, evading alligators or running from the KKK, those that take the drug seem to discover that the struggles of the past are no less traumatic than the present. In this way, the drug offers no solace for those who are running from the pain of their lives as it transports them to places in time that are no safer than what they were enduring already.

And that’s entirely the point.

By choosing to use time travel in this way, Syncronic is well aware of the fact that we can often become so wrapped up in the troubles of today that we think we are living in the worst period of human history. Instead, the film reminds us that each day has  troubles of its own. This is probably best exemplified through the journey of Denube who becomes more aware of his relationship to the present the more he learns about how Synchronic works. Told that his brain cancer is likely terminal, Denube suffers from depression and an increasing inner rage. Crushed under the ticking clock of his condition, Denube realizes that time is not on his side.

However, as he spends more time in the past, he recognizes the importance of living for today. Though he understands that his life is coming to an end, he also comes to realize the value of the moments that he has right now, whether it’s celebrating the people that he loves or simply being grateful for his time on Earth. While the film fully acknowledges the pain of the present, Synchronic actually finds joy in the midst of trauma that many other films fail to recognize. 

In other words, although the times we live in are not easy, there still remains things worth celebrating in the darkest of moments.

While the film is a bit of a slow starter, there’s a lot to like about Synchronic. Bolstered by engaging performances from its cast, the film’s creativity and commitment to the premise work well to be worth your time. Though the use of time travel is hardly original, Benson uses it in such a unique manner that it feels fresh in a lot of ways. Ultimately however, the most noteworthy aspect of the film lies is not just its ability to explore the past. It’s that it reminds us to find things worth rejoicing in the present.

When we can find a way to do that, time is always on our side.

Synchronic is now available on VOD, DVD and Blu-Ray.

Filed Under: Film, Film Festivals, Reviews, TIFF, VOD Tagged With: Anthony Mackie, Back To The Future, Jamie Dornan, Justin Benson, Synchronic, The Butterfly Effect

READY PLAYER ONE Giveaway!

March 26, 2018 by Steve Norton 6 Comments

Are you ready?

In the year 2045, much of Earth’s population centers have become slum-like cities due to overpopulation, pollution, corruption, and climate change. To escape their desolation, people engage in the virtual reality world of the OASIS (Ontologically Anthropocentric Sensory Immersive Simulation), where they can engage in numerous activities for work, education, and entertainment.

Wade Watts (Sheridan) is a teenage Gunter (short for “egg hunter”) from Columbus, Ohio who frequents the OASIS and attempts to win “Anorak’s Quest”, a game created by the deceased creator of the OASIS, James Halliday (Rylance), by finding the Easter Eggs. The winner is to be granted full ownership of the OASIS, among other things.

To enter, simply like or share our post on Facebook and answer the following question in the comment section: Tell us your favourite Steven Spielberg film and why!

The winner will receive a copy of the original book for Ready, Player One, written by Ernest Cline.

For a bonus entry, like or retweet this post on Twitter.

All entries must be completed by 11:59pm on Thursday, March 29th, 2018.

 

Ready, Player One will be unleashed in theatres on March 29th, 2018

Filed Under: Film, Giveaways Tagged With: Back To The Future, Ernest Cline, Jurassic Park, Mark Rylance, OASIS, Ready Player One, Steven Spielberg, tye sheridan

Back To The Future 30th Anniversary Trilogy: Great Scott!

October 22, 2015 by Jacob Sahms Leave a Comment

b2f3This week, cyberspace has been abuzz with the thirtieth anniversary of Marty McFly’s ”flight’ to the past, and the future, and the past past. [As an English teacher, I will just say… go with it.] While the Chicago Cubs went down in flames, and not every invention of the imagined future has come to fruition, a trip down memory lane proves that the Michael J.Fox/Christopher Lloyd still holds its own. (Or should I say, this is heavy!)

Robert Zemeckis, who has gone on to make profound inroads in the realm of digital animation and performance capture footage in The Polar Express and The Christmas Carol [Jim Carrey version], wrote and directed the first film in the trilogy after nailing the romance/adventure genre with Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner in 1984 with Romancing the Stone. [This is another profoundly funny film that those born post-1990 should revisit, but, I digress.] Zemeckis teamed again with Alan Silvestri, who composed all of the scores for Zemeckis films after the aforementioned Romancing, including Forrest Gump, Cast Away, and Flight. Not a bad team, eh?

Marty McFly: Hey, Doc, we better back up. We don’t have enough road to get up to 88.
Dr. Emmett Brown: Roads? Where we’re going, we don’t need roads.

As to the story: unless you were born in the 2000s, you’ve probably seen some of the footage on reruns or commercials for DirecTV, Nike Mag, or Pizza Hut. And if anyone has stared in awe at a DeLorean in front of you, then you know why. But, if you don’t, here’s the rundown: In 1985, McFly (Fox) meets his friend, Doc Brown (Lloyd), after Brown has nearly mastered time travel using a modified DeLorean and stolen nuclear material from ‘the Libyans.’ The Libyans kill Brown, and McFly finds himself returned to 1955, when his parents were just teenagers. McFly intervenes in their lives, and alters the history of his father, George (Crispin Glover), and mother, Lorraine (Lea Thompson), while mixing it up with the timeline bully, Biff (Thomas F. Wilson, whose career clearly peaked in 1985…) Hijinks ensue, two sequels are spawned, and McFly ends up in both 2015 and 1885.

b2f2Marty McFly: One other thing. If you guys ever have kids, and one of them, when he’s eight years old, accidentally sets fire to the living room rug… go easy on him.

Ultimately, the film is timeless because it’s, well, timeless. Watching the films, you could recognize aspects of yourself, your parents, and your community. You could see the moments in retrospect that determined who you would be when you grew up, why your parents were the way they were, and ultimately, what outside factors impact our lives at any given moment. It’s clever, funny, and, as Steve writes here, hopeful. We want to be the heroes of our own lives and we want to make a difference in the world we live in. We want to believe that our actions could make it better.

Marty McFly: If you put your mind to it, you can accomplish anything.

I would hope that you’ve stopped reading by now to go check out the first film (at least). If you haven’t, it’s not too late to buy this special edition available on Blu-ray and Digital HD. It’s definitely rewatchable like The Goonies or anything involving James Bond, and it holds up better than some one-time awesome films, like Star Wars. [Gasp, yes, I said it.]

b2f1

Dr. Emmett Brown: No! Marty! We’ve already agreed that having information about the future can be extremely dangerous. Even if your intentions are good, it can backfire drastically!

Consider this: what if seeing the future – or even visiting the past – changed how we behaved? What if seeing what could bechanged how we saw our world? We could slice and dice it any way you want, but knowing those things would change you. And yet, we know the future because we have the promises of Jesus to be fulfilled in our future, and still we’re sometimes stuck in where we are or where others expect us to be. Whether it’s the plan explained in Jeremiah 29:11-14, or something from the New Testament like Romans 8:37-39, we have God’s grace for our future laid out in front of us. But what we do in the present is the thing that we have control over, and the things we should apply ourselves to, like saving the world, stopping the Libyans, and putting an end to Biff’s reign of cruelty.

George McFly: Last night, Darth Vader came down from Planet Vulcan and told me that if I didn’t take Lorraine out, that he’d melt my brain.

btf4This set is fantastic, whether you check out some previously-conceived special feature or something brand new. There are literally enough features here to take up days (and take this reviewer longer than normal to unpack it). Special opportunities that look at:

-Two scenes from the 1991 animated series featuring Lloyd as Doc Brown (“Brothers”, “Mac the Black”).

-A nine-part documentary from 2009 explaining how the series impacted our world (have you seen the inventions that were supposed to be real by now!)

-The 2012 restoration of Doc Brown’s DeLorean.

-A Q&A with the ageless Michael J. Fox.

-The physics of Doc Brown’s proposals about time and space.

–Another six-part documentary on the film’s Future.

-And the all-new featurette, a short film really, that allows Lloyd to play as Doc Brown Saves the World! and works out the problems with various technologies from II that we don’t have access to.

Marty McFly: Right. Give me a Pepsi Free.
Lou: You want a Pepsi, pal, you’re gonna pay for it.

This excellent set comes in a book form, with four discs and hours (days?) of special features. For those who love Fox, Lloyd, or the ’80s, this is the way to go. For the uninitiated, let me repeat: this is heavy!

Filed Under: #tbt, Current Events, DVD, Editorial, Film, Reviews Tagged With: Back To The Future, Christopher Lloyd, Doc Brown, Marty McFly, Michael J. Fox, Robert Zemekis

Back to the Future 2015: The Future is History

October 21, 2015 by Steve Norton 1 Comment

687883034_4329859718001_back-to-

By the time you finish reading this, it’ll be the future.

(Okay, technically, it’ll be the present—but it’ll be the future too.)

As anyone who has a Facebook account knows by now, October 21st, 2015 at 4:29pm is the scheduled moment that Marty McFly arrives in the future in Back To The Future Part II.

While this may seem like a somewhat insignificant point (although it has been a lot of fun over the internet), it is interesting to consider that this isn’t the first ‘movie future’ to meet the present. Films such as Terminator 2: Judgment Day, 2001: A Space Odyssey, A Scanner Darkly, 1984 and even Conquest of the Planet of the Apes have all set specific dates in the future that have come and gone with the passage of time. In almost every case, the vision of the future portrayed in film has been dark, oppressive and terrifying; a grim vision of things to come.

But Back to the Future was different.

In this film, even the year 2015 carried with is a sense of nostalgia and familiarity. It was the future but it was recognizable. It was ­our future. In fact, as Marty stepped out of that alley to see the new world around him, Zemekis deliberately draws comparisons to the scene where he arrives in 1955. There’s a sense of wonder in the midst of the confusion. Marty stumbles into the Clock Tower square because he is awestruck. Things are different—and yet, they aren’t. Jaws movies? Check. Gas stations? For flying cars… but yes. Video games? Still there—even if Elijah Wood thinks its a ‘baby’s toy’. Even Pepsi exists… and it’s Perfect! Despite the fact that he’s a stranger in a strange land, there’s warmth in the moment that connects with his “present” reality.

33b48f427b4eb85b4eadfb595b0050b5b05d53d6-1024x553

There’s an innocence to the future. A purity.

More than this though, BTTF stands apart in that it reveals a future with hope. There are problems in the future, for sure. Marty loses his job after corporate espionage. Griff is a hooligan. However, these all seem to be the result of poor decisions of a few individuals. As a whole, this vision of the future seems vibrant and exciting. It’s a place that you want to be. While other visions of the future usually come across as cold, dark places where humanity has come to the end of itself, BTTF depicts it as an upgrade to our world.

And, it’s for this reason that I believe it’s become such a big deal.

Although today is really nothing more than a silly excuse for cross-promotions and internet memes, the excitement truly taps into something within the heart of our culture. There is a passion that we should see our world become something great. Our hearts have yearned to see what the future held because we wanted to believe that something wonderful was coming.

Our culture can change.

We know it.

We can feel it.

date-back-to-the_future

As a Christian, I live in this expectation of God’s Kingdom as it breaks through into our world. True hope for our world doesn’t lie in our own initiative but in the hope of Jesus Christ’s promise to restore the broken in His timing. Still, I also recognize that, even though it may feel like the future, this reality is not far from us. We see in Scripture that Christ has established His Kingdom today and that His hope is breaking into our world. Because of His love for us, we are made new and invited to signal that hope for the world. His reality is both the Now and Not-Yet of our world.

In Christ, we can feel the hope of the future at this moment.

So now, here we are. Marty has come and gone (well, technically, he’ll leave at 7:28 tonight but that’s besides the point) and we’re left in the present future. While we move forward to the unknown, we recognize that, while our decisions often determine our own future, the hope of humanity lies in Someone much bigger than ourselves. In Him, we can experience the new life of the future in the present.

And that news—dare I say it?—is better than a hoverboard…

back-future-part-ii_1

Filed Under: #tbt, Current Events, DVD, Editorial, Film, News Tagged With: Back To The Future, BTTF, BTTF Day, Christopher Lloyd, Doc Brown, Marty McFly, Michael J. Fox, Robert Zemekis

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