Mountain Views News          Saturday, April 9, 2011

11

ARTS & ENTERTAIMENT

 Mountain Views News Saturday, April 9, 2011 


SEAN’S SHAMELESS 

REVIEWS: 

SOURCE CODE

 Hurray! 
Hurray! After 
coming off 
a few less-
than-stellar 
outings, Jake 
Gyllenhaal 
is back in 
the game with 
an irrefutable winning effort in “Source Code”. 
Additionally, director Duncan Jones’ (son of 
David Bowie) sophomore film proves that he 
himself is the real deal. His 2009 low budget sci-
fi flick, “Moon” almost cracked my top 10 and 
utterly took me by surprise. I’m not the biggest 
sci-fi devotee, but Duncan Jones is a special kind 
of storyteller/ filmmaker. Ben Ripley, a relatively 
unknown screenwriter with a few direct-to-DVD 
writing credits, wrote this brilliantly executed 
screenplay. It’s wonderful to see original 
ideas come into fruition on the big screen. We 
desperately need more movies like this and less 
sequels, remakes, and comic book adaptations. 
I really have to tip my hat to the independent 
studio Summit Entertainment for taking a 
chance with a fresh and invigorating concept 
from an anonymous screenwriter and a director 
with only one film under his belt. 

 “Source Code” grabs you right from the 
start. Jake Gyllenhaal portrays Captain Colter 
Stevens, a decorated pilot who awakens in the 
body of a man called Sean Fentress inside a 
train in Chicago. While on the train, he meets 
a woman named Christina (characterized by 
the captivating Michelle Monaghan). However, 
before he can understand what is occurring, a 
bomb goes off and destroys the train. After the 
explosion, Stevens finds himself in a capsule 
chamber greeted by Colleen Goodwin (the 
always superb Vera Farmiga) from a computer 
screen. Bewildered to why he’s located here, she 
informs him that he’s taken part in a scientific 
program that allows him to take over someone’s 
body in his or her last eight minutes of life. It 
is then revealed that earlier that day, a bomb 
exploded and destroyed a train in Chicago. 
Goodwin notifies Stevens that his primary 
mission is to locate the bomb and discover who 
created it before another nuclear bomb detonates 
somewhere in Chicago. As he continues to oblige 
to his orders, Stevens starts to believe he can 
prevent the initial bombing from actually taking 
place. Source Code’s inventor, Dr. Rutledge 
(ferociously represented by Jeffrey Wright), sheds 
some light about the experiment. He notifies 
Captain Stevens that the Source Code is merely 
a simulation and that he cannot alter the past. 
Stevens strongly believes he can and his motives 
for trying to become apparent, as he grows fondly 
attached to Christina. However, Rutledge makes 
it painfully clear that he has one mission and 
one mission only. So Stevens is then transported 
back on to the train over and over again until he 
discovers the culprit behind the terrorist attack. 
One may perceive the repetitiveness of being 
sent back and forth onto the train to be tedious 
and boring, but that’s not the case in the slightest 
form. As we head into the second and third act 
of the film, more and more surprises begin to 
unravel. Source Code will undoubtedly keep 
you completely mesmerized from beginning to 
end. A true keep-you-on-the-edge-of-your-seat 
thriller that does more than just provides you a 
quick thrill or two. 

 Provided with a quartet of strong performances 
from Gyllenhaal, Monaghan, Farmiga and 
Wright, a dynamic screenplay and faultless 
direction, “Source Code” is easily thus far my 
favorite movie of 2011. This is Jake Gyllenhaal’s 
most electrifying performance to date. For me 
personally, it puts him in a whole new category. 
The ending may spark some controversy with the 
most devoted sci-fi fans. I honestly thought the 
film was going to end at a particular point, but 
it carried on for another five to seven minutes. 
Personally, I was still fully satisfied by it. I felt 
that the extended ending brought a whole new 
element and meaning to the movie.

 “Source Code” has a bit of an Inception feel 
to it, but is definitely more restrained and less 
convoluted. This is an innovative, outrageously 
compelling, and thought-provoking film with 
plenty of heart and soul to boot. It’s the reason 
why we go to the theater and, if more movies like 
Source Code can be developed, then mainstream 
Hollywood may not be a complete wash after all. 

Grade: 4.5 out of 5 

Sean Kayden

“Source Code” 

Release Date: 04/01/2011

Directed by: Duncan Jones

Screenplay by: Ben Ripley

Rated: PG-13* 

*for some violence including disturbing images, 
and for language.


The Warning: Accident at Three Mile Island: A Nuclear Omen for the Age 

of Terror by Mike Gray & Ira Rosen 

 By 6:00 a.m. on the morning of March 28, 1979, the reactor core at Three Mile Island 
was thirty minutes away from a meltdown, an apocalypse that would render a huge 
swath of eastern Pennsylvania permanently uninhabitable. The control room crew was 
at a loss. The memo that would have warned them was never sent. This factual, riveting 
thriller is based on exclusive interviews with key operating personnel. Mike Gray, author 
of The China Syndrome, and Ira Rosen, producer for CBS's 60 Minutes, have updated 
this jackhammer narrative of mechanical failure and human error with an analysis of the 
current threats to our nuclear power plants. With a new introduction and epilogue for 
this reissue edition.

MGM: Hollywood's Greatest Backlot by Steven Bingen, Stephen 
X. Sylvester, Michael Troyan 

 Going behind the scenes at one of Hollywood’s greatest movie studios 
“dream factory”, this extraordinary illustrated history reveals the untold 
story of the soundstages and outdoor sets where many of the world’s 
greatest films were produced. Featuring candid, previously unpublished 
photographs from the studio’s archives and exclusive interviews with 
actors and staff, this detailed exploration of MGM’s backlot, the setting 
for more than a fifth of the films produced prior to 1980, takes film buffs 
back to Hollywood’s golden age, offering an insider’s look at the movie 
business and celebrating many of its best films and the leading actors of 
the studio system. Today, when a film set can be anywhere at anytime, 
this treasure trove of information reveals the creativity and ingenuity of a bygone era when the studio system, 
coping with the limitations of space and technology, produced screen gems such as The Wizard of Oz, Gone with 
the Wind, and the ‘Our Gang’ shorts.

The Book Report

Acting classes for REAL people, at the...
Join the “FOR THE LOVE OF ACTING” class.
Saturdays 2:00 to 5:00pm on our STAGE. No experience necessary! 
NEW BEGINNERS class starts APRIL 02. 
For reservations and class info, call June Chandler (626) 355-4572