Source Code

Rated PG-13 (for some violence including disturbing images, and for language).

Source Code is TV’s Quantum Leap with a heavy dose of Groundhog Day and seasoned with a hunky portion of handsome Jake Gyllenhaal thrown in the mix; a simple recipe for basic, comfort food, entertainment.  

United States Air Force Captain Colten Stevens (Gyllenhaal) is sent back in time (not really but hang in there with me) for eight minutes and eight minutes only on a train that is about to be blown up. His “mission” is to find the terrorist, not to save the train and the occupants because the train is already destroyed and all the people are dead. No, his job is to find out the identity of the bomber so the good Captain can be prevented from using a dirty bomb on the city of Chicago.

Here is a problem: our hero, the Captain, is having what a buddy of mine calls “a confusion.” As far as he knew, he had been flying a mission in Afghanistan. (Wink, wink; this is a hint.) His bosses (also from the air force) tell him it doesn’t matter — go back again and again — to the train and experience the last eight minutes of its existence until he discovers who is the mass murderer. Pretty soon, Captain Stevens gets into “the cycles” and discovers the bad guy but along the way learns about life, death, regret, and something about parallel universe physics that made my eyes cross and head hurt.

I liked Source Code. And I knew what was coming and the reason for the captain’s “confusion” way before it was disclosed before me. But no matter; it was just a very nice science fiction tale, like watching a Twilight Zone episode. It was a nice touch that the captain’s father’s voice (we never saw him) was my old classmate (name dropping alert) Scott Bakula. This was a tip of the hat to the Quantum Leap connection. Very classy.

My only gripe about Source Code is that make-up should have done something with Jake Gyllenhaam’s nails. HD close-ups can show that they need a soaking and a buff before that shot.

Source Code earns three and a half bow ties out of five

Insidious

Rated PG-13 (for thematic material, violence, terror and frightening images, and brief strong language).

First of all it is a PG-13 horror film. And it will make you jump. As in: here is a happy family; they seem ideal. Oops, moppet number one gets a boo boo on his noggin (cue eerie music); he goes into a coma-like condition. Spooky sounds. Things go bump in the night. And then…boo!…boo!…and the people in the back of the theater start talking to the screen. And then more scary flashes on the screen…and people start shouting at the screen and popcorn jumps out of the giant tubs and falls upon the heads of the attendees sitting in rows in front of the popcorn tub-toters.

Here is the plot: child who cracks his head is possessed. No he is an astral projector which means his spirit walks around outside his body and gets lost (according to a character) into the “Further.” The Further” is like a dimension where electricity is not invented.

OK. There are a lot of scary moments; about one every five minutes. The consumer gets a lot of boo for the buck in Insidious, no doubt about that. It clearly is an updated and slimmed down version of Poltergeist, right down to the odd “ghostbusters” that come to diagnose the house.

This is a non-gross-out scary movie. No beheadings, no vivisections, no guts and gore scenes; there is no virgin about to have sex and gets skewered by a fence post instead.

Insidious may be jammed pack with cliches but scary cliches they are indeed.

Insidious gets three bow ties out of five.