Lazy Adam an embarrassment
It’s been a while since I’ve seen a film as lazy as The Adam Project. Touting a cast of performers who should know better than to sign on to a cookie-cutter film such as this, the script is a by-the-numbers exercise that all involved should be ashamed to be associated with. Checks containing many zeros have a way of assuaging such qualms.
Ryan Reynolds is Adam, a pilot who steals a spaceship in 2050 and comes back to present day via a wormhole. He needs to alter the past as the future is not what it should be thanks to his father (Mark Ruffalo) having discovered the secret of time travel, which has been corrupted by his partner (Catherine Keener). Oh, he’s also looking for his wife (Zoe Saldana), who traveled back in time four years earlier. That he happens to run into his younger self (Walker Scobell) complicates things even further. Director Shawn Levy knows he doesn’t have an original idea at his disposal, so he inserts poorly rendered action sequences with regularity to distract us. Dull and repetitious, this is the very definition of “waste of time.” Streaming on Netflix.
Subtle Yang resonates
Kogonada’s After Yang is not the sort of film you’ll find at the multiplex. It’s quiet, smart and deliberate in execution. It’s not everyone’s cup of tea, and while it’s a movie that taxed my patience, I’d be lying if I didn’t admit it resonated with me long after seeing it. Taking place in the near future, Jake (Colin Farrell) finds himself in a desperate situation as Yang (Justin Min), the android his family has grown close to, has malfunctioned and is no longer working. Knowing his daughter, Mika (Malea Tjandrawidjaja), is particularly close to the mechanical man, Jake’s desperate to get him fixed, a procedure more complicated than it should be.
In the process, Jake gets access to Yang’s memories, and what he learns about the family’s companion is a revelation. What Yang regards as precious suggests that he’s far more human than anyone comprehended, and it proves to be a wake-up call for the family that’s taken him for granted. The lesson is an obvious one, but it’s delivered with grace and subtlety, though Kongonada’s languid pacing dulls the impact somewhat. Streaming on Showtime.
Spall makes Bus worth taking
Gillies MacKinnon makes no bones about the fact that whole intent is to elicit an emotional response with his film The Last Bus. There’s certainly nothing wrong with that, what with the insular, cynical world we live in. Screen veteran Timothy Spall anchors the movie as Tom, a 90-year-old who leaves Scotland for Land’s End at the tip of England, taking a series of buses along the 838-mile route. Why he’s taking this journey is revealed through flashbacks that are triggered by old sights and sounds, and it becomes apparent he and his wife fled their home due to some tragedy.
As with most road trips, there are a few bumps in the road Tom must contend with. But at each bad turn, the kindness of strangers provides a safety net for Tom, one that rekindles his — and our — faith in the power of compassion and charity. To be sure, the film wanders, but be that as it may, Spall keeps you hooked throughout, the actor providing a quiet sense of dignity and determination that makes us root for Tom. Bus is a bit uneven but, in the end, it proves to be a movie worth watching. Available through Video-on-Demand.
This article appears in Overcoming the odds.
