FILM REVIEW: "In Time" Is Confusing but Thrilling

   
     When I first saw the commercial for In Time, a film where Olivia Wilde plays the mother of Justin Timberlake, I was, in a picture-

     The concept behind In Time is intriguing. Timberlake plays Will Salas, a man who lives in the year 2161, where human genetics has been adapted so that everybody can live to 25 years old immune to disease, but when they turn 25, they have only one year left to live- a year that shows on a countdown clock on their arm. But wait, there's more. Time is the only currency, so the broke are dead and the poor live "day to day". The rich are immortal, but they don't live because they don't want to risk getting their time being stolen. So it's paradoxical- the poor die and the rich don't live, as character Slyvia Weis puts it. "In Time" may be the most mind-boggling film since Inception, but it's just as entertaining. Timberlake proves he can act and In Time proves to be an intense and watchable movie. 

     The plot is basically this- a random rich man who has a century of time left decides he has had enough of immortality and gives all of his time to Timberlake, killing himself. Timberlake then sets off to practically pull a Robin Hood- steal the million years that world's richest man Philipe Weis has. To sum up, I don't want to spoil any of the plot, but it's interesting and you should watch it. 

     Visually, the film is good. It's no Avatar or Inception, but it works for what it's doing. The dialogue isn't spectacular, but the acting is done well. The music is nothing special, but it is music. 

    Overall, "In Time" is a great film that sci-fi fans all over should watch. 

TV SHOW REVIEW: "Top Shot" Hits the Bullseye in Third Season

     History Channel's "Top Shot" has been one of my favorite shows ever since it started in 2010. The show highlights the skills in marksmanship of 16 competitors who get placed on two teams-red and blue- and compete for a $100,000 prize. The show is creative in it's challenges and it really allows viewers to take allegiances to certain competitors with it's superb skill levels and entertaining behind-the-scenes drama. The first season, one in which a Brit, Iain, won, was fun and exciting. The second season (actually the first one I watched) was outstanding, although the series lost many fans when they seemed to put drama in front of marksmanship (I disagree, but that is what the fans who left thought). Now fall 2011 brings the third season of top shot- but does it continue the superb trend the series have set, or does it fall flat?
     To sum up, Top Shot blows away with it's third season. The show brings back a lot of the old favorite weapons, and the final episode has, as usual, the exact same challenges, but the new things brought to the table are astounding. Now the challenges are much more team-oritented and physical, including rope climbing, log carrying, crawling under barbed wire into mud, and traversing obstacle courses while shooting. Additionally, new weapon challenges have been added that bring diversity to the table- players now must bounce arrows off ramps into a target, fire gattling guns and cannons, and shoot targets on a 50 feet tall rotating circle.
     The contestants this year are some of the most energetic and entertaining yet. The winner, Dustin, may just be the best shooter I've ever seen- with a perfect run on almost all challenges. Jake Zweig, a football coach and former Navy Seal with an attitude, is the funniest contestant on a game show since Elise in Hell's Kitchen and it is amazing how messed up his mind is (trust me, it is shocking some of the things he does). There is also nice guy Gary Quesenberry, who competes in the show against his best friend Jarrett Grimes, and Mike Hughes, the first competitor to be let back into the competition after elimination.
    To sum up, Top Shot's third season impresses in all levels. A flawless season, Top Shot Season 3 is not to be missed.

BOOK REVIEW: Moby-Dick by Herman Melville

An eloquent tale of whaling, teamwork, and revenge, Herman Melville's novel, Moby Dick,  the epic of Massachusetts, is truly epic. While unpopular in its day, Moby Dick is currently regarded as an all-time classic, and while plagued with minor style and flaw issues, is definitely an excellent book that everyone should read.

Moby Dick follows a plethora of characters in its 135 chapters and 479 pages- swapping between first and third person and limited and omniscient perspectives voraciously throughout the novel. The book starts with the story of Ishmael (the opening words "Call Me Ishmael" being symbolic of the novel), a man looking for a job who happens upon the Pequod, (albeit with horrible pay) a whiling ship run, but not owned, by the vindictive Captain Ahab, minus one leg and plus a vendetta for the notorious whale Moby Dick, a white monstrosity that is seldom sighted but incontrovertibly real and deviously powerful. Through soliloquies, monumental descriptions, and intense dialogue, Melville delivers the mental and physical battles between Ahab, the capitalist crew of the Pequod who signed up for money and had no intentions  of a circumnavigating rat race (until money is put into the equation), and the vast biological landscape of the ocean with it's great White Whale, Moby Dick.

Pros

• End Abruptly and Violently
• Humorous in its cultural differences
• Excellent Character Study
• The White Whale is a beast

Cons

• Superbly Lengthy with mostly description
• Random way of Storytelling
• Makes one lose the game