Music and Medicine

In Time (Or 1st #yearofmovies)

Hello! What’s that? I haven’t posted in forever? Yeah well you know, life catches up with you. Anyways, I might update you about that some other time. Right now though, I want to talk about a new blog feature here (it will be regular!) called #yearofmovies. Long story short, I won a year pass to AMC Theaters. This means I will be seeing a lot of movies, good and bad, this year. So the plan is to blog about them, no matter how bad they are. I’ll probably talk more about it later, but in the meantime, I present movie #1: In Time.

So In Time is one of those late year action movies that are supposed to give you a little jolt right before Thanksgiving. The premise, as you might already know, is that we as a civilization have been able to stop aging (yay), so we stop people at 25. The catch is that you have a clock implanted in your arm that counts down the rest of your life. When it hits zero, you die (boo). Now of course because our life is the most important thing, time becomes currency. I’m sure our friends in the Euro zone are right now a bit puzzled how this global currency union could last. But I digress into the complicated territory of things like global trade and bond markets.

Anyways, ignoring the fact that we can stop aging and implant extremely advanced clocks that control our hearts (and know exactly when we turn 25), the world still has problems. Most people live in slums. Drinking and fighting are rampant. The most unrealistic thing though: humanity couldn’t develop a decent security system for the arm clocks and transfer of time. I mean come on, people barely trust anyone with the transfer of money online, how do you expect people to trust other people with their literal life. Congress would surely have something to say about this.

Despite inherent flaws with the plot (willing suspension of disbelief!), the movie starts off strong. Early on the movie makes use of some of the low-hanging fruit in a world where everyone is 25. One character states “You’re probably wondering, is she my mother, daughter, sister or wife?” Despite being a success, the movie forgets the whole gag pretty quick. It then movies into the action part of the movie with characters on the run from an assortment of enemies who were never really thought out, and who lack appropriate follow-through. I frankly would have preferred a calm, chase-less exploration of the world, but alas, I am not a typical consumer. Elements of the story are brought up (daddy issues) and quickly forgotten and never explained. It ultimately ends on an unsatisfying note plot-wise, but we knew that was going to happen from about half way through.

     Ideal movie:  

The movie tries to cover some of its’ economic bases by mentioning things like inflation (a tool used by the rich to keep the poor man down!), but ultimately I feel like it tries too hard to beat the viewer over the head with the simple message that a 1% controls all the time while a 99% languishes. “Many will die so a few can be immortal” is mentioned a couple of times. An appealing idea to discuss in this day and age, but one that falls truly short in this movie where everyone is Hollywood beautiful.

The atmosphere of the movie certainly had a positive impact on my experience. I was the only one in the theater which allowed me to laugh at moments that were surely not meant to be funny. The sound leak from the theater next-door, showing Paranormal Activity 3, with shrieks and shouts made it easier not to take this movie too seriously.

The movie was about as well-done as this blog post (read: not well). But when it comes down to it, In Time is a decent turn-off-your-brain movie with pretty people. If you’re looking for a movie that takes a serious look at a time economy based on sound economic theory, this is not what you’ve been looking for. Overall, even though I got in for free, the movie provided me enough entertainment for my time. Movie: #1