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Inspired by Chris Marker's acclaimed short film La Jetée (which is included on the DVD Short 2: Dreams), 12 Monkeys combines intricate, intelligent storytelling with the uniquely imaginative vision of director Terry Gilliam. The story opens in the wintry wasteland of the year 2035, where a virulent plague has forced humans to live in a squalid, oppressively regimented underground. Bruce Willis plays a societal outcast who is given the opportunity to erase his criminal record by "volunteering" to time-travel into the past to obtain a pure sample of the deadly virus that will help future scientists to develop a cure. But in bouncing from 1918 to the early and mid-1990s, he undergoes an ordeal that forces him to question his own perceptions of reality. Caught between the dangers of the past and the devastation of the future, he encounters a psychiatrist (Madeleine Stowe) who is initially convinced he's insane, and a wacky mental patient (Brad Pitt in a twitchy Oscar-nominated role) with links to a radical group that may have unleashed the deadly virus. Equal parts mystery, tragedy, psychological thriller, and apocalyptic drama, 12 Monkeys ranks as one of the best science fiction films of the '90s, boosted by Gilliam's visual ingenuity and one of the finest performances of Willis's career. (synopsis provided by Amazon.com)

directed by Terry Gilliam

released 1995

Weekend Viewing - Feb 26-28 (part 1)

The Stewardesses [1969, directed by Al Silliman Jr.]

We follow a bunch of sex craved stewardesses as they have sex - in this 3D cult classic.

I typically don’t go for dated sex comedies – but this one had a bit of charm to it and I found it somewhat amusing. There was the LSD trip that made one stewardess want to have sex with a lamp - which I found both bizarre and funny. The whole movie climaxed in a strange murder suicide that made very little sense – but I guess there had to be some kind of climax. I’m giving it a 3 out of 5 for the laughs.

Surrogates [2009, directed by Jonathan Mostow]

Everyone has chosen to experience the world through their robot selves – making the world a safer and sexier place – that is until someone figured out how to kill the operators of the robots.

This film made very little sense when it all boils down to the ending. It obviously tried to make a statement about how people live their lives on the internet more than in person – which I appreciated – but that was about it. At the end I kept shouting at my TV saying “how does this make any sense?” because the plot hinges on one particular thing – and it turns out that this ‘one particular thing’ is being enacted by someone and it just doesn’t add up. I’m giving it a generous 2 out of 5 because of the message and a couple of good action sequences – but the rest sucked.