ChiefJournalist

6/10

Spoilers

One of the producers on this film is Jonathan Nolan; brother and sometimes collaborator with his brother Christopher Nolan. And although he's not been given any screen credit for the script on this movie it; I'm betting that his marriage to the film director Lisa Joy allowed both Jonathan and Christopher Considerable input to the script development and the eventual shape of the finished project. (From this point forward there are some mild spoilers.) Like most Nolan films this movie deals with time shifting and memories. Hugh Jackman runs a memory clinic in the futuristic sunken/water logged Miami. He and his Army Buddy (Thandiwe Newton) help their customers do everything from find lost keys to reliving the actual feeling of being held in the arms of their lover. The technology is amazing and allows Jackman & Newton to guide their customer through the catacombs of memories in their mind and view it as a 3D representation and record a legal document for posterity. They are licensed by the state and also are called upon by local prosecutors to recover memories that could prove the guilt or innocence of criminal suspects. Against this backdrop Rebecca Ferguson plays a fem-fatale who's featured presence in the movie is all too short. She drop's into Jackman's life; he falls for her and the she's gone as quick as she appeared. Leading him to spend the rest of the film try to find her. For me this is where the movie began to go off the rails. The hunt begins a series of disjointed sequences -- including; 1). clients recorded memory sequence. 2). encounters with leads generated thru from scrubbed memories sequences. 3). leads generated from leads, leading to leads... etc. You best be paying rapt attention here because the story pacing is breakneck speed. To say the least Rebecca Ferguson's character is not what Jackman thought. Jackman's fixation on her isn't healthy, but he can't help himself. Thandiwe Newton's character could have used more development, but she did very well with little time that was allowed to her. The very end of the movie tried to be both innovative and sentimental... but somehow seemed trite and fell flat; in keeping with the movie as a whole.

Erebos

5/10

Spoilers

Every single film-noir cliche is in this movie. If you're familiar with the genre, you'll immediately recognize and predict every story beat. [spoiler]The majority of Nick's monologues was used as opportunities to soapbox about climate change, socioeconomical inequality and segregation, instead of how he views himself living in that world.[/spoiler] Hugh Jack(ed)man was completely wrong for the part IMO, both physically and with his performance. [spoiler]I just didn't buy the whole "PTSD-riddled, handicapped veteran, working as a smooth-talking, empathic hypnotist, in a black suit" package when he plays him so blandly. Was the role supposed to go to Keanu Reeves? Because the character is 80% Constantine already and Keanu would've done a better job. He also looked so out-of-place compared to how everyone else was dressed and behaved. And how the hell does he stay so jacked if he's supposed to sleep all-day and work with clients or "reminisce" all-night? At least write him as a fitness junkie that swims for hours every day, while monologuing. That would've also tied-in with the overabundance of underwater scenes.[/spoiler] [spoiler]The use of a literary reference, in this case of Orpheus & Eurydice, as well as the use of a motto ("don't look back"), is so characteristic of Joy's writing, it almost becomes cringe-inducing. However, I was annoyed that she switched Hades/Pluto for "the Devil"...[/spoiler]

JPRetana

0/10

Reminiscence is a movie where people buy the cow even though the milk is free. In an indeterminate future where Miami has become a Venice of the New World, Nick Bannister (Hugh Jackman) runs a business that uses technology to access the memories of people who want to relive their past. These people, mind you, do not suffer from amnesia; they're just too lazy and/or stupid to use their own brains — not even to remember something as pedestrian as playing with a dog (here’s an idea: buy another dog). We see the memories of Nick's clients as if they were home movies, which is very convenient but makes zero sense, considering that people don't remember things from a third person perspective; for example, if I wanted to remember watching Reminiscence (fat chance), I wouldn't see myself watching the film. Writer/director Lisa Joy tries, and fails miserably, to explain why we don't see her characters' memories from their own point of view with a "demonstration" by Nick that proves absolutely nothing except that you can throw as much shit at the wall as you like, but that doesn’t mean it will stick. This is a less than auspicious debut for Joy, who settles for projecting the usual fixations of her husband and his brother, Jonathan and Christopher Nolan. At least in Memento, as the name implies, the hero relied on reminders rather than memories per se, which are subjective and unreliable; in contrast, the memories in Reminiscence are as pristine as the dreams in Inception. Ever hear of photographic memory? This is more like photogenic memory.

FWMAM

0/10

An interesting combination of science fiction and film noir. Not a perfect film - it drags in spots - but it is enjoyable if you're a sci-fi or noir fan. The performances were solid. Rebecca Ferguson pulls off a very good femme fatale but the whole cast deserves a slow clap. Lisa Joy, director/writer, shows that she certainly has talent even though the movie is not a home run. Call it a solid double. She's definitely worth keeping an eye out for. Don't go in expecting a perfect movie and you will enjoy what it does have to offer as there are some very good scenes, some less so. Overall it's a 3.5 to 4.0 star effort depending on your taste.

JPV852

0/10

Kind of a hollow grounded sci-fi film noir mystery yarn that features decent performances from Hugh Jackman, Rebecca Ferguson and Thandiwe Newton but the story wasn't terribly compelling and never quite believed the relationship between Jackman and Ferguson. Kind of ran out of steam early on and spent the remainder of the time not exactly interested in the mystery elements. I don't know, wanted to like it but highly doubtful I'd ever want to revisit. **2.75/5**