CINEMANIA:

Primer (2004, USA, Shane Carruth) AKA Time is on My Side

A little Memento meets a whole lotta La Jetee, Primer is the first film I’ve seen since David Lynch’s nearly-impenetrable but clearly-brilliant Mulholland Dr. that I have wanted to re-watch IMMEDIATELY. I have restrained myself from doing so, and this review is based upon a single viewing, so forgive me if I get some things wrong; this is just the sorta film that will do that to you.

So for starters we have Aaron (writer/director Shane Carruth) and Abe (David Sullivan), a pair of ambitious and industrious 20-something engineer-types who work 50 hour weeks in the office, then spend most of their remaining waking hours toiling in Aaron’s garage on their next Great Scheme, a prototype for Who the Hell Knows What.

Oceans 12 (USA, 2004, Steven Soderbergh) AKA It Takes One to Know One

All right, so it’s three years later, and the crooks who made away with a casino’s worth of dough in the original have been tracked down, one by one, by the casino owner Terry Benedict (Garcia), who demands the money back (with interest) or dire consequences will rain down upon the perpetrators.

Polar Express (USA, 2004, Zemeckis) AKA Six Flags Magic Mountain: The Movie*

My full-length review's up at Apollo, so I'll only add a few scattered notes here. The film's gorgeous, that's for sure, and Zemeckis does a great job of turning the first half of his movie into a carnival ride, but when it comes to the nuts and bolts of constructing a complete narrative, the wheels fall off at about the half way point.