THE TIMEKEEPERS AND MINUTEMEN OF “IN TIME”

Cillian Murphy as Timekeeper Leon

It’s a race against time for two young fugitives in a society where time is the currency and there is never enough of it in the philosophical action thriller “In Time.” Starring Justin Timberlake and Amanda Seyfried with Olivia Wilde, Cillian Murphy and Alex Pettyfer, “In Time” clocks in a world where which people stop aging at 25. From that point onward they have to buy, borrow or steal time in order to stay alive. Every second counts.  For the poor like Timberlake’s Will Salas, life is a constant struggle for survival, while the wealthy have enough time to live forever.

Alex Pettyfer as the Head Minuteman

Falsely accused of murder and on the run, Will (Timberlake) meets the rich and beautiful Sylvia (Seyfried). Together the charismatic pair is trying to bring down the corrupt system. The world created by director Andrew Niccol in “In Time” is corrupt and unjust. For the poor it is a daily battle to acquire enough time to stay alive. The rich on the other hand have centuries and can potentially live forever. There is a yawning gap between the haves and have-nots.

            Sylvia and Will are running for their lives – not just to find enough time to make it through another day, but from the Timekeepers out to capture the fugitive duo.  “Timekeepers keep the system running; they actually keep time,” says Niccol.  “And our principal antagonist, Timekeeper Leon, is not really a villain. He is just a bureaucrat, an authority figure who has allegiance to no one, rich or poor.  His only allegiance is to minutes and seconds. He believes (or has to believe) that you are either working for the system, or you need to be eliminated.”

            For the role of the Timekeeper Leon the filmmakers cast another “old soul,” Cillian Murphy. Murphy acknowledges the circumstances of his character – “he’s a cop charged with keeping this system going” – but the actor finds the deeper layers of Leon more compelling to play:  “What’s great about the character is that he is a contradiction, because he’s actually from that same ghetto where Will lives.  Deep down, he knows that it’s a corrupt system, and yet he’s decided to accept that and pursue his goal of keeping time.  He’s a very kinetic and focused character, and for him it’s just about constantly moving forward.  I think he’s suppressed all of his past. What I liked about the writing is that Will and Leon, they’re the flip side of each other.  It’s just different paths having been taken.  This is the path he’s chosen, and he suppresses all of the misgivings and issues he has with this system.  He’s tried to leave them behind over the course of his life.” 

            As with the classic archetypal chase – the hunter and the hunted – so beautifully realized in, for example, The Fugitive, a bond forms as the chase quickens.  Murphy adds, “Not only does Leon realize he’s from the same side of the tracks as Will, but there is a sense of history; Leon knew Will’s father.  I think over the course of the story, they gain a respect for each other.”   

            Part of the menace of Dayton, apart from the possibility of timing out should one not amass a day’s wages, is the presence of Minute Men, who are thieves out to steal time.  Alex Pettyfer portrays Fortis, the leader of the Minute Men – a refined 75-year-old psychopath (who of course looks 25).  “Because of the character’s age, he’s quite articulate,” says Niccol.  “He has more sophisticated taste in clothing than a younger man would have.  That makes him seem different from the younger characters.”

            Pettyfer offers, “Fortis is a bruiser, though not without a certain elegance.  And he’s just a complete psycho, and crazy-hungry for time.  I think the scariest thing about him is that he feels he has nothing to lose.  He just doesn’t care.  He’s just now gone completely insane and is on a rampage for more time.”

            The actor enjoyed his trip to the dark side, finding it a liberating experience:  “You can’t do everything you want playing a villain, but you have room to create.  And I think that’s the most attractive thing about playing a character like Fortis; it’s that you can build so many layers with him.”

            Riveting action thriller “In Time” opens October 28 in cinemas from 20^th Century Fox to be distributed by Warner Bros.

Sneak Peek: 'New Year's Eve' Poster Revealed

Warner Bros. Has just shared the official poster of its holiday themed “New Year's Eve” from director Garry Marshall and a stellar ensemble cast.

“New Year’s Eve” celebrates love, hope, forgiveness, second chances and fresh starts, in intertwining stories told amidst the pulse and promise of New York City on the most dazzling night of the year.

The film stars Academy Award® winner Halle Berry, Jessica Biel, Jon Bon Jovi, Academy Award® nominee Abigail Breslin, Chris “Ludacris” Bridges, two-time Academy Award® winner Robert De Niro, Josh Duhamel, Zac Efron, Hector Elizondo, Katherine Heigl, Ashton Kutcher, Seth Meyers, Lea Michele, Sarah Jessica Parker, Academy Award® nominee Michelle Pfeiffer, Til Schweiger, Ryan Seacrest, two-time Academy Award® winner Hilary Swank and Sofia Vergara.

Opening across the Philippines on December 2011, “New Year’s Eve” is a New Line Cinema presentation distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company.

SNEAK PEEK: “SHERLOCK HOLMES 2” CHARACTER POSTERS!

Robert Downey, Jr. as Sherlock Holmes

            Warner Bros. debuts the international character posters of its upcoming action-adventure “Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows,” the follow-up to the 2010 smash hit “Sherlock Holmes.”

            The one-sheets feature the individual characters of bestfriends Holmes and Watson, played respectively by Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law.

            The sequel reunites director Guy Ritchie with stars Downey and Law, as well as producers Joel Silver, Lionel Wigram, Susan Downey and Dan Lin.

            In the film, Sherlock Holmes has always been the smartest man in the room…until now. There is a new criminal mastermind at large—Professor Moriarty (Jared Harris)—and not only is he Holmes’ intellectual equal, but his capacity for evil, coupled with a complete lack of conscience, may actually give him an advantage over the renowned detective.

Jude Law as Dr. John Watson

            Jared Harris (TV’s “Mad Men,” “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”) joins the cast as the notorious Professor Moriarty. Also joining the cast, in her first English-speaking role, is Swedish actress Noomi Rapace, who gained international attention in the Swedish film “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.” Stephen Fry (“Alice in Wonderland,” “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire”) plays Mycroft Holmes, Sherlock’s older brother.

            Opening across the Philippines in January 2012, “Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows” is distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company.

Marvel's The Avengers trailer is out

Coming soon May 2012. Now, who will get to be the first to say the battle cry, "AVENGERS, ASSEMBLE!"

JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE “IN TIME” FOR GRIPPING ACTION

Multi-talented Justin Timberlake debuts in his starring role as Will Salas in the gripping action-thriller “In Time” opposite Amanda Seyfried.  Under the direction of genre-bender director Niccol Andrew whose works include “Gattaca” that introduced the unthinkable in genetic engineering and “The Truman Show” that sparked today’s reality shows, “In Time” advances to a near future where time is literally at arm’s reach. 

            Justin Timberlake’s Will Salas struggles every second of every day and is  is constantly on the run, fighting to get more time. While people stop ageing at the age of 25 in the movie,  life beyond that point is precarious, at least for the poor like Will and his mother, Rachel (played by Olivia Wilde who looks the same age as her son). They are only given a year’s grace, after 25, that it is a battle for survival which means that every moment is precious.

The rich at the other end of the spectrum have excessive amounts of time and they are effectively immortal. They have a decadently indulgent lifestyle where little is achieved because there is no sense of urgency.  It’s an unjust society implemented as a way of stemming over population. 

When Will ‘inherits’ a lot of time from a wealthy man who wants to give it all away., he crosses all borders to get the zone where the rich lives.  He then  meets Sylvia (Amanda Seyfried), a beautiful but bored and over-protected heiress in the rich zone and takes her hostage.  Together on the run, Will and Sylvia try to put an end to the corruption and redistribute time.   

Being a longtime fan of action thrillers, Timberlake immediately jumped at the chance to play the ‘old soul’ Will.  “When I was a kid, some of my favorite movies were action pieces like First Blood, The Fugitive, and Die Hard,” says Timberlake. “The one thing I loved about those specific movies was that the protagonists were everyday people placed into extraordinary circumstances and doing extraordinary things.”

Timberlake adds, “Will’s heroics are triggered by an easily relatable factor.  Will has grown up with essentially nothing. He wakes up every day and goes to work to stay alive.  Through a series of events, he decides that he’s not going to take it anymore, and takes it upon himself to try and change the way things work in this world.” 

“Will grows up in Dayton, which is somewhat of a ghetto.  It’s kind of ironic that the word ‘day’ is in its name, because most of the citizens only walk around with a day to live.  So the day-to-day life in Dayton is quick.  People don’t have time to walk slowly, so they run, almost all of the time, to where they are going, and they’re constantly eating and drinking on the run.  They don’t have time to spare or to waste.  Everything’s frenetic and alive, in a kind of dangerous yet beautiful way.  When your back is up against the wall and you don’t have a choice, you make revisions and you live your life the way that it has to be, to survive.”

Ironically, having had an unconventional childhood due to his early success in the music industry, Timberlake has come of age and is much comfortable as he was than his younger years. ““I am happy about getting older. I like myself much more at 30 than I did when I was 25. You accept things more and you become more patient. I have been really lucky; I have made the most of my luck and I am happy about that.  I think the idea of immortality is actually frightening to me especially because I look back at my younger days as a lot of visual mishaps. I don’t know what I would do if I possessed immortality.  It’s definitely a mind trip getting into the idea that it could exist as we see it in the film. My character Will is always moving, always running and it’s mostly because he literally lives day to day.  I think I’ve probably spent time moving at a fast pace, so I identify with that.”

“In Time” opens October 28 in theaters from 20^th Century Fox to be distributed by Warner Bros.

Real Steel: Boxing the Heavy Metal Way

Story: In the near future, Former number two boxing contender Charlie Kenton lost his chance for the number one boxing title when 2000-pound, 8-foot-tall robots took over the boxing ring and replaced humans in the sport of boxing.

Atom, in shadow mode, imitates Charlie Kenton's(Hugh Jackman) boxing techniques

Review:  When I first read about this movie, I thought it was just another underdog movie gone high tech. Comparing it to Transformers meets Rocky and I already outgrew Rocky which I used to watch all five movies except Rocky Balboa when I was a kid. But when I watch it last night at SM North EDSA IMAX, I was proven wrong and found the better underdog story the way it should be.

Rock'em Sock'em Robots

As for Hugh Jackman, you can't separate him from his trademark role as Wolverine but he proved he can shed off his adamantium claws for other roles he play like this one. As for the boxing mechs, you can't help notice that they are similar to Rock'em, Sock'em Robots because that was the whole idea. Real Steel's robots was patterned after the popular toy. For the younger generation who haven't seen this toy, it's a miniature boxing ring with two joysticks on each side controlling the red and blue robot. The first robot who gets the head of the opponent tilted wins. 

Boxing legend Sugar Ray Leonard trains Hugh Jackman

Of course Hugh Jackman is not a professional boxer in real life so the producers hired a boxing consultant none other than Sugar Ray Leonard to train Jackman for the movie. The boxing moves Hugh Jackman delivers in the movie are not just acting but real boxing techniques trained by a boxing champ. Real Steel opens October 12 in cinemas and is distributed by Dreamworks' Pictures Philippines.

CHRIS EVANS KEEPS MUM ABOUT HIS NUMBER

Chris Evans in "What's Your Number?"

Almost in the nude in the upcoming romantic quirky comedy “What’s Your Number?,” Chris Evans keeps mum about his number on women when asked in line with his upcoming sexy romcom opposite Anna Faris. 

            Evans plays Colin who willingly helps Ally Darling (Faris) in her quest to track past lovers who might happen to be her ideal one.  Fun and sexy, Ally dismisses Colin as a potential lover because she sees him as a womanizing lothario rather than marriage material.  The movie opens up a lot of questions on adult relationships in the most absurd way possible and Evans shares in the following q&a his thoughts on some of those questions.

Q:         What do you think the film has to say about sex?

A:         I think the film is a ‘sexually forward’ film willing to tackle areas that traditional romantic comedies have not explored before. That’s what I love about great movies; they are always going to take chances and risks, and that’s what this film does. The more you can emulate life the better it’s going to be, and this movie really does a good job of taking the funniest parts of adult life and mirroring those back to the audience.” 

Q:         How do you find humanity and warmth in a character like Colin who is a bit of a rogue and a ladies man?

A:         That’s what’s great about him.  Even though he starts out as a womanizer, at the end of the day I think he’s a good man who has a good heart.  He’s at a stage in his life where he’s not looking for commitment, but Anna’s character brings out in him.  I think everybody’s looking for a soul mate, for love and a lifelong companion.  I don’t care what they say, that’s what people want.”

Q:         Do you prefer being a single man or do you want to settle down yourself?

A:         Oh yes, I want to settle down eventually. These days everyone is liberated.   You can do whatever you want to and to some degree that idea is socially acceptable. My philosophy in life is rooted in having no judgments one way or another about how other people choose to live their lives.  Be a good person.  Whatever you want to do is fine, whether you want to go out and have sex with a thousand women, or whether you want to marry at eighteen and pop out nine babies; just be a good person.”   

Q:         What has it been like to work with Anna Faris?

A:         She’s just great.  When I signed on to do this film I was ecstatic, because I   cannot think of another actress who is funnier than Anna is.  She’s hilarious both on and off camera. She’s also very smart, a really clever girl.  Anna is always one step ahead and she really does her homework when it comes to acting.” 

 Q:         What do you think men can learn from watching women talk about sex and relationships, which they tend to do so frankly and without inhibition?

A:         I think men and women really aren’t too dissimilar at the end of the day, at least the women that I know.  When you get them alone and talk with them, you suddenly think ‘man, you guys talk about the same stuff we do.  This is kind of crazy.’  Any guy that who thinks that doesn’t happen needs to wake up because it sure does.  In fact, sometimes women are worse!  Guys will make sexual comments in broad strokes, but they don’t go into detail. Girls will give go into extraordinary detail.  They really  break it down.”

Q:         What’s your number? (if you want to share that information!)

A:         I’m not telling my number! What’s too high and what’s too low?  If you’re 18 and you’ve had sex with 30 people that might be a bit high, but if you’re 40 and you’ve had sex with 30 people maybe that’s okay?  It really depends on what you’re looking for.  Maybe it’s not wrong to have sex with 200 women, who knows? By the way, that is not even close to my number.  But I don’t judge; it doesn’t matter to me at all.  I think that this movie is trying to express the idea that the preoccupation with people’s numbers is the very thing we need to start letting go of, because it’s an unnecessary judgment.”

Q:         Is there a broader message that you deliver in the film about sex and romance?

A:         “I think it says that whenever you do want to stop that part of your life (having different partners) and move on to try to find the person you’re meant to be with, you can do just that. The number of people you’ve slept with in your past should have no bearing on whether or not you’re able to find that one special person. I think there’s an idea people have that if you’ve had sex with too many people, you’re somehow soured and that number will eventually ruin you for true love. That shouldn’t be the case and that’s the message we’re trying to send in our movie: that whenever you’re ready to take the next step, whether you’ve had sex with two or 20, or 200, it  shouldn’t matter.”

            “What’s Your Number” opens October 5 in theaters from 20^th Century Fox to be distributed by Warner Bros.