Now or Then

Now or Then - Legion (2010) or Dogma (1999)?

by Sara Cardace on Jan 25 2010

Now: Legion (2010)Then: Dogma (1999)

The silly action-drama Legion stars Paul Bettany as a fallen angel who's desperate to save the world despite the loss of faith of his old boss (a.k.a. God). Naturally, things get freaky for the humans once they've figured out Armageddon is imminent. Yet strangely, it's hard not to think of Kevin Smith's comedic Dogma, in which a pair of fallen angels (Ben Affleck and Matt Damon) have an action-packed vacation on Earth. Because aside from the genre differences, these two movies have stories so ridiculously similar that you'll wonder whether Legion's masterminds weren't inspired by a spoof. Think about it...

Mankind in Peril!
Legion: God has grown disgusted with his once-favored creation and has decided to bring extinction to the human race.
Dogma: A number of earthly and supernatural circumstances come together in such a way that if the forces at work aren't stopped, the non-existence of God will be proven, and mankind will cease to exist.

God's Agents on Earth
Legion: Michael (Paul Bettany) is a fallen angel whose unwavering faith in and desire to save humanity puts him at odds with the commands of his maker, who sends the unflinching Gabriel (Kevin Durand) to set things straight.
Dogma: Bartleby (Ben Affleck) and Loki (Matt Damon) are a pair of fallen angels whose desperation to get back into heaven puts them at odds with other agents of God, such as the thirteenth apostle Rufus (Chris Rock) and Serendipity (Salma Hayek).

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Now or Then

Now or Then - The Book of Eli or The Road?

by Bilge Ebiri on Jan 18 2010

Now: The Book of Eli (2010)Then: The Road (2009)

The post-apocalyptic craze definitely hasn't run its course. This week's action blockbuster The Book of Eli offers us yet more blasted landscapes, charred corpses, roving gangs, and other images of humanity going down the toilet following a mysterious "flash." So we decided to compare it to the last year's post-apocalyptic drama The Road. True, the new movie is more a scifi samurai-Western, while the former is a somber drama in which Viggo Mortensen gets really, really thin. Nevertheless, the similarities were too hard to ignore...

As usual, spoilers follow for both films.

That Which Must Be Preserved
Book of Eli: Eli (Denzel Washington) is carrying with him the last known remaining copy of the Bible, which he believes can help people lead righteous lives once again.
The Road: According to the Man (Viggo Mortensen), he and the Boy are carrying within them the Fire, which we take to mean represents what little goodness is left in the world.

A Young Ward Who Will Carry the Torch
Book of Eli: Solara (Mila Kunis) joins Eli on his travels, and he teaches her about religion and survival. After Eli dies, she demonstrates her newfound appreciation of Christianity by taking his machete and heading out on the road to wreak vengeance.
The Road: The Boy learns from his father about the goodness within humans, and about survival. After the Man dies, he vows to continue carrying on the Fire within himself.

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Now or Then

Now or Then - Youth in Revolt or Superbad?

by Bilge Ebiri on Jan 11 2010

Now: Youth in Revolt (2010)Then: Superbad (2007)

With the release of Youth in Revolt, Michael Cera's domination of the Ironic Teen Comedy genre is probably complete. Sure, Miguel Arteta's film version of C.D. Payne's cult novel, about a young Oakland oddball who goes through the tortures of the damned to prove his worth to the girl he loves, is artier and and a lot more stylized, but we figured it might be telling to put it up against the last great Michael Cera Ironic Teen Comedy, the wondrous, amazing and legendary Superbad. Herewith, our comparison.

Horndog Teens and the Girls Who (Might) Love Them
Youth in Revolt: Nick Twisp (Michael Cera) is a desperate, geeky virgin who is amazed to discover kindred spirit Sheeni (Portia Doubleday), a beautiful, headstrong young woman who like him is also into movies, poetry, and the Europeans. But does she like him in that way? Unclear.
Superbad: Sensitive Evan (Michael Cera) and irreverent wise-ass Seth (Jonah Hill) are two desperate best friends and -- wait for it -- virgins with crushes on, respectively, sensitive Becca (Martha MacIsaac) and irreverent wise-ass Jules (Emma Stone). But do the girls like them in that way? Unclear.

A Teenager's Filthy Mind Is a Good Place to Start
Youth in Revolt: The movie opens to the sounds of Nick masturbating beneath the sheets of his bed.
Superbad: The movie opens with Seth telling Evan which porn site offers the most value for his subscription dollars.

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Now or Then

Now or Then - Looking Back at the Movies of 2009

by Sara Cardace on Jan 4 2010

Public Enemies or The Untouchables? The Hangover or Old School? See how the biggest votes of 2009 panned out.... more »

Now or Then

Now or Then - Sherlock Holmes or Young Sherlock Holmes?

by Bilge Ebiri on Dec 28 2009

Now: Sherlock Holmes (2009)Then: Young Sherlock Holmes (1985)

When director Guy Ritchie was handed the reins of Sherlock Holmes, there was grousing about his decision to reinvent the iconic detective as an action hero. But almost all Holmes movies have put a new spin on the detective. Remember Barry Levinson's Young Sherlock Holmes? That 1985 flick had Holmes and his sidekick Watson as young students at a London boarding school. Is the Robert Downey, Jr. vehicle just a muscle-flexing retread of Levinson's movie? Here's our comparison. (Beware: Spoilers abound for both movies!)

Sherlock Holmes, Swashbuckling Action Hero
Sherlock Holmes: This Holmes (Robert Downey Jr.) might have a brilliant mind, but he's got serious brawn as well: He's an expert bare-knuckle fighter, swordsman, and martial artist extraordinaire.
Young Sherlock Holmes: This Holmes (Nicholas Rowe) isn't exactly beefy, but he seems to spends more time swordfighting than he does investigating crimes.

Human Sacrifices!
Sherlock Holmes: Holmes and Watson (Jude Law) sneak into an underground temple and thwart the ritual sacrifice of a young woman who's been drugged.
Young Sherlock Holmes: Holmes and Watson (Alan Cox) sneak into an underground temple and thwart the ritual sacrifice of a young woman who's been drugged.

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Now or Then

Now or Then - Avatar or The Last Samurai?

by Bilge Ebiri on Dec 21 2009

Now: Avatar (2009)Then: The Last Samurai (2003)

James Cameron once described his stunning scifi opus Avatar as being based on every single science fiction book he'd ever read as a kid. We'd add some other titles to that list: Observers have already remarked on how the eye-popping Avatar resembles other films -- Dances with Wolves, The New World, and Delgo, among others. But the movie that most screams for a comparison is actually 2003's historical epic The Last Samurai, in which Tom Cruise played a troubled soldier going native in Japan and joining the rebels he was supposed to fight. Here's our comparison. (Beware: Spoilers abound for both films.)

A Troubled Former Soldier Gone Corporate
Avatar: Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) is a paraplegic former Marine who is hired by mercenaries working in collusion with a moneyed backer to help relocate the planet Pandora's Na'vi population from a resource-rich area.
The Last Samurai: Captain Nathan Algren (Tom Cruise) is an alcoholic former Army man who is hired by mercenaries working in collusion with a Japanese businessman to fight back rebels in order to clear the way for a lucrative new railway.

Our Hero Goes Native
Avatar: After he gets lost in Pandora's forest, Jake is caught by the Na'vi, who take him in and teach him about their culture. Jake begins to find himself drawn to this world, in opposition to his employers.
The Last Samurai: After getting injured in battle, Algren is captured and taken in by a group of Samurai rebels who nurse him back to health and teach him their ways. Now alcohol-free, Algren finds himself drawn to this world, in opposition to his employers.

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Now or Then

Now or Then - The Lovely Bones or Ghost?

by Bilge Ebiri on Dec 14 2009

Now: The Lovely Bones (2009)Then: Ghost (1990)

Granted, Peter Jackson's adaptation of Alice Sebold's afterlife-coming-of-age-fantasy-cum-serial-killer-thriller The Lovely Bones would seem to have very little in common with Jerry Zucker's swooning 1990 romance Ghost. Well, aside from the fact that they're both about what happens to their characters after they die, of course. But if you look closer, you realize that these two movies share a lot more in common than just a basic premise. Here's our comparison.

Bonding via Hobbies
The Lovely Bones: Susie Salmon (Saoirse Ronan) and her father Jack (Mark Wahlberg) share a gentle moment early on as he pursues his hobby of building ships in bottles. After she's dead, Susie tries to connect with her father through a candle placed over a ship-in-a-bottle.
Ghost: Lovers Sam (Patrick Swayze) and Molly (Demi Moore) famously share an intimate moment over a pottery session. After he's dead, Sam attempts to connect with Molly again after seeing her working away at her potter's wheel.

Dead or Alive?
The Lovely Bones: After she's kidnapped by her creepy neighbor George (Stanley Tucci), Susie attempts to flee his clutches. She then escapes his lair and sprints down the street, but when she sees her father looking for her, she realizes she's no longer alive, and that she left her body back in George's lair.
Ghost: After he gets shot by a robber, Sam runs off in pursuit of the man. After he comes back and sees Molly weeping over his corpse, he realizes that he's no longer alive.

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Now or Then

Now or Then - Up in the Air or Intolerable Cruelty?

by Bilge Ebiri on Dec 7 2009

Now: Up in the Air (2009)Then: Intolerable Cruelty (2003)

The image of George Clooney playing a smooth, cynical professional who has his life changed is a familiar image by now. Even so, while watching his latest, Up in the Air, it's hard not to shake this feeling that you've seen this story before. Then we remembered the Coen brothers' underrated 2003 romantic black comedy Intolerable Cruelty, decided to tally up the similarities, and were kind of shocked. (SPOILER ALERT - some serious plot points are given away below.) We kept it to our usual five items, but there's a lot more where these came from...

Our Cynical Hero, George Clooney
Up in the Air: Termination counselor Ryan Bingham travels the country firing people on behalf of other companies. He's at the top of his field, and he's best-known for a motivational speech he gives to various business groups about shedding all the material and emotional baggage in their figurative "backpacks."
Intolerable Cruelty: Miles Massey is a divorce attorney who spends all his time coldly dividing (or seizing) marital estates. He's at the top of his field, and he's famous for "The Massey Prenup," an iron-clad prenuptial agreement that protects wealthy spouses from losing their assets due to divorce.

...Who Meets His Match
Up in the Air: Alex (Vera Farmiga) seems to know as much about travel, frequent flier mile programs, and rental cars as Ryan does. But they're both lonely, and they find themselves falling for each other in a more profound way.
Intolerable Cruelty: Manipulative, ice-cold Marylin Rexroth (Catherine Zeta-Jones) is initially on the other side of a divorce case involving one of Miles's clients. But they're both lonely, and they find themselves falling for each other in a more profound way.

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Now or Then

Now or Then - The Road or The Road Warrior?

by Bilge Ebiri on Nov 30 2009

Now: The Road (2009)Then: The Road Warrior (1981)

Not all post-apocalyptic wastelands are created equal, and it's fair to say that there are many differences between John Hillcoat's somber survival drama The Road and George Miller's scifi Western demolition derby The Road Warrior. But the two movies do make for an interesting comparison -- whether it's in the changing nature of how their generations thought of The Apocalypse, or in their common tales of men redeemed by children. Herewith, an assessment.

An Unexplained Apocalypse
The Road: For some reason, the world is now basically a dead wasteland where all vegetation and animal life (except some humans) has vanished. Global warming is briefly hinted at.
The Road Warrior: Some kind of resource war has led to the world becoming a dead wasteland, where fuel is now the most precious commodity on earth. World War III is briefly hinted at.

The Man Who Lost Everything
The Road: As we see in flashbacks, The Man (Viggo Mortensen) lost his wife (Charlize Theron) after the apocalypse. He still has his son (Kodi Smit McPhee) but he has lost the ability to trust others, and refuses to help those in need.
The Road Warrior: As we see in flashbacks, Max (Mel Gibson) lost his wife and child after the apocalypse. He now has his dog and his car, but he has lost the ability to trust others, and refuses to help those in need.

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Now or Then

Now or Then - New Moon or Twilight?

by Bilge Ebiri on Nov 23 2009

Now: New Moon (2009)Then: Twilight (2008)

Vampire-crazed teens (and their moms) are already frantically comparing the latest episode of Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series, New Moon, to its first installment, Twilight. Amid the discussions of which movie is better directed, written, and/or acted (and which actor's bare chest is more awesome), we couldn't also help but notice that both films stick to a fairly similar template. So, without further ado, here's our comparison of the two films.

The Hunk
New Moon: After her love Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson) abandons her because he loves her too much, young Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) gets close to her childhood friend Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner). How'd he get so buff so quickly?
Twilight: Newly arrived in town, Bella is taken with the mysterious and handsome Edward, especially after he saves her from being hit by a van. How'd he reach her side so quickly?

Meet the Whole Family
New Moon: Bella discovers that Jacob and his diverse, occasionally temperamental fellow tribesmen are all werewolves. They consider it their duty to protect her from vampires.
Twilight: Bella discovers that Edward and his diverse, occasionally temperamental clan are all vampires. They consider it their duty to protect her from other vampires.

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Now or Then

Now or Then - 2012 or The Day After Tomorrow?

by Bilge Ebiri on Nov 16 2009

Now: 2012 (2009)Then: The Day After Tomorrow 2004)

What exactly does Roland Emmerich have against humanity that he seeks to destroy it in his movies -- over and over again, in increasingly spectacular fashion? Or perhaps the better question is: What do we have against ourselves that we continue to flock to his epics of CGI extinction? Either way, the German Master of Disaster is back at it, wiping out mankind all over again in 2012, in which solar rays overheat the Earth's core and cause it to wreak havoc on the surface. This is technically different from what happened in Emmerich's 2004 opus The Day After Tomorrow, in which environmental pollution suddenly caused a new Ice Age to occur. But, as might be expected, not all that different...

The Scientists Who Saw It Coming
2012: U.S. scientist Adrian Helmsley (Chiwetel Ejiofor) and Indian researcher Satnam (Jimi Mistry) discover that the Earth's core temperature is rising, and begin to warn that the crust will soon become unstable. Of course, it happens much sooner than expected.
The Day After Tomorrow: After a massive ice shelf breaks off Antarctica, paleo-climatologist Jack Hall (Dennis Quaid) and climate researcher Terry Rapson (Ian Holm) realize a new Ice Age is headed our way. Of course, it happens much sooner than expected.

Estranged Families, Reunited
2012: Divorced writer Jackson Curtis (John Cusack) is a kind but somewhat neglectful father of two who races to save his kids, his ex-wife Kate (Amanda Peet), and her new boyfriend Gordon (Thomas McCarthy) when he realizes what's happening.
The Day After Tomorrow: After America freezes over, neglectful career man Dr. Jack walks (walks!) from Washington, D.C. to New York City to save the son Sam (Jake Gyllenhaal) he had with his estranged wife (Sela Ward).

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Now or Then

Now or Then - The Fourth Kind or Close Encounters of the Third Kind?

by Bilge Ebiri on Nov 9 2009

Now: The Fourth Kind (2009)Then: Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)

Although its use of fake documentary footage represents a pretty obvious attempt to emulate The Blair With Project (as well as, perhaps unexpectedly, the recent horror smash Paranormal Activity) the new scifi flick The Fourth Kind was pretty much asking for comparison when it decided to consciously echo the title of Steven Spielberg's now-classic scifi epic Close Encounters of the Third Kind. We're more than happy to oblige.

Our Credulous Hero(ine)
The Fourth Kind: Alaska psychiatrist Abigail Tyler (Milla Jovovich) discovers during her research that a number of her traumatized subjects have had violent encounters with UFOs. She's determined to find out more.
Close Encounters: After encountering UFOs in the middle of a dark country road at night, Indiana power station worker Roy Neary (Richard Dreyfuss) becomes obsessed with aliens. He's determined to find out more.

The Action Hits Close to Home
The Fourth Kind: Dr. Tyler is convinced that her husband's ghastly, gory death was secretly caused by aliens.
Close Encounters: Gillian Guiler (Melinda Dillon) becomes distraught after her three-year-old son Barry (Cary Guffey) is abducted by aliens, in an intense and iconic scene.

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Now or Then

Now or Then - This Is It or Shine a Light?

by Bilge Ebiri on Nov 2 2009

Now: Michael Jackson's This Is It (2009)Then: Shine A Light (2008)

At first it looked like Michael Jackson's This Is It was just a shameless attempt to capitalize on the legendary singer's death. But the end result is actually a lot more complicated than that -- a strange hybrid of rehearsal footage, poignant moments, and pop kitsch. As such, it's a concert film unlike any other -- but it will get you thinking about Martin Scorsese's glossy, high-profile Rolling Stones flick Shine A Light, another strange hybrid. So how do these two high-profile music movies stack up against one another?

Postmodern Concert Flicks
This Is It: Openly acknowledging the fact that it was filmed as rehearsal footage for Michael Jackson's private use, the movie achieves a haunting level of intimacy that simultaneously cuts through and furthers the Jackson mystique.
Shine A Light: With its distracting tracking shots (supposedly shot from Mick Jagger's perspective), the film openly acknowledges its place as a highly-produced tool in the Rolling Stones marketing cosmos.

A Director at the Mercy of His Subject
This Is It: Although Kenny Ortega is the credited director on the film and was Jackson's co-choreographer, more often than not, it's Jackson who seems to be directing whenever he's onstage.
Shine A Light: Scorsese locks horns with Mick Jagger over whether he can have moving cameras at the concert. Later, he is baffled by the Stones' inability to provide him with a set list until the last minute.

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Now or Then

Now or Then - Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant or Something Wicked This Way Comes?

by Bilge Ebiri on Oct 26 2009

Now: Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant (2009)Then: Something Wicked This Way Comes (1983)

Based on the introductory volume of a 12-book series, this week's Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant hopes to be the first installment in a long-running movie franchise. That remains to be seen, but in watching this story about two boys who get taken in by a mysterious supernatural traveling freak show, you can't help but be reminded of Jack Clayton and Ray Bradbury's Something Wicked This Way Comes, the underrated 1983 fantasy cult classic about two boys who get sucked into a mysterious supernatural traveling carnival. So how do these films stack up against each other?

Our Nerdy Hero and His Impulsive Best Friend
Cirque du Freak: Darren (Chris Massoglia) is an obedient teen, except when he falls under the influence of his best bud Steve (Josh Hutcherson), who convinces him to check out a freak show that's just arrived in town.
Something Wicked: Will Halloway (Vidal Peterson) is a risk-averse young lad who gets roped by his best friend, the incorrigible Jim Nightshade (Shawn Carson), into sneaking into carnival shows intended for adults.

When the Carnival Comes to Town
Cirque du Freak: The Cirque du Freak is a traveling freak show that includes a Bearded Lady, a man with exposed ribs, and a strangely tall ringmaster. Naturally, it turns out to be connected to an ancient supernatural war.
Something Wicked: Cooger & Dark's Pandemonium Shadow Show's coterie includes a Bearded Lady, a Dust Witch, and a giant. Naturally, it turns out to be connected to an ancient evil.

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Now or Then

Now or Then - Where the Wild Things Are or Monsters, Inc.?

by Bilge Ebiri on Oct 19 2009

Now: Where the Wild Things Are (2009)Then: Monsters, Inc. (2001)

Spike Jonze's adaptation of Maurice Sendak's classic Where the Wild Things Are gives us a young child who drifts into a world of monsters and learns to love the beasts he encounters. But for all its peculiarities, the story isn't new: It calls to mind Pixar's Monsters, Inc., in which a young human child accidentally enters a world of monsters, and learns to...well, you get the picture. The similarities may not be coincidental: One of the first things Monsters, Inc. executive producer John Lasseter did after joining Disney in the '80s was to direct an animation test of Where the Wild Things Are. Coincidence? Read on.

A World Populated By Monsters
Wild Things: The sole inhabitants of this distant island appear to be large, furry creatures who like to throw each other around, smash their own nests, and cause all sorts of havoc.
Monsters, Inc: Monstropolis is a city filled with monsters who have been hired to terrify human children. They spend most of their time perfecting their scare tactics.

A Human Castaway
Wild Things: Max (Max Records) is a nine-year-old who runs away from home and steps into a sailboat that takes him to the land of the wild things.
Monsters, Inc: Boo (Mary Gibbs) is a young human girl who, thinking the monster sent to scare her is a kitty, accidentally steps through a teleportation door into Monstropolis.

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Now or Then

Now or Then - Couples Retreat or Forgetting Sarah Marshall?

by Bilge Ebiri on Oct 12 2009

Now: Couples Retreat (2009)Then: Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008)

Couples Retreat may not be the first film to mix sun, sand, and relationships, but it may be one of the most earnest: despite its billing as a zany comedy set in a tropical paradise, Peter Billingsley's star-studded laugher (scripted by co-stars Vince Vaughn and Jon Favreau) is devoted to exploring the ins and outs of married life. Its only real competition is Nicholas Stoller's Judd Apatow-produced Forgetting Sarah Marshall, written by Jason Segel, in which an ostensible gross-out comedy set at a Hawaiian resort becomes a surprisingly intimate look at breakups. So how do they stack up?

Couples in Trouble!
Couples Retreat: A group of married yuppies comes to a beautiful island resort, where Jason (Jason Bateman) and Cynthia (Kristen Bell) want to engage in counseling sessions and the others just want to party. It soon becomes clear that all of them need serious therapy.
Forgetting Sarah Marshall: Lovesick composer Peter Bretter (Jason Segel), desperate to get over his breakup with Sarah (Kristen Bell, again), comes to a resort to forget his troubles. Alas, Sarah has come to the same resort with her new boyfriend.

Unlikely Couplings
Couples Retreat: Shane (Faizon Love) may be an obese loser whose wife has just left him, but he shows up at the retreat with an excitable 20-year-old girlfriend, Trudy (Kali Hawk), who calls him "Daddy."
Forgetting Sarah Marshall: Darald (Jack McBrayer) and Wyoma (Maria Thayer) are newlyweds on their honeymoon. He's ultrareligious and doesn't understand sex. She, on the other hand, is active, voluptuous -- and might be a bit too much for him.

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Now or Then

Now or Then - Zombieland or Shaun of the Dead?

by Bilge Ebiri on Oct 5 2009

Now: Zombieland (2009)Then: Shaun of the Dead (2004)

Horror comedies -- and in particular zombie comedies -- have always been a dime a dozen (but still a hard combo to sell). Ruben Fleischer's new flick Zombieland is promising to rise above the rest thanks to its mix of wit, emotional dynamics, and directorial flair... So much so that it is provoking comparisons to yet another recent classic of the genre, Edgar Wright's hilarious and weirdly touching British horror send-up Shaun of the Dead. So, how do these two zom-coms compare to one another? Warning: Major spoilers for both movies abound!

Our Nerdy Hero
Zombieland: Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg) is a romantically challenged, klutzy, yet industrious young college student who is still alive in part thanks to his obsessive list of rules for surviving the zombie apocalypse.
Shaun of the Dead: Shaun (Simon Pegg) is a shlubby young slacker whose girlfriend has just left him. Although initially oblivious to the zombies rising all around him, he eventually discovers his inner zombie killer.

His Distracted Sidekick
Zombieland: Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson) is a cowboy hat-wearing tough-guy who picks up Columbus. And although he's a genuine badass, he's also dangerously obsessed with finding a Twinkie.
Shaun of the Dead: Shaun's best friend Ed (Nick Frost) is a portly, easygoing guy who is dangerously obsessed with checking his cellphone, even as the zombies close in on them.

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Now or Then

Now or Then - Surrogates or Blade Runner?

by Bilge Ebiri on Sep 28 2009

Now: Surrogates (2009)Then: Blade Runner (1982)

OK, maybe we've stacked the deck a bit this time. On the surface, Jonathan Mostow's new Bruce Willis in-a-world-of-robots scifi flick Surrogates against Ridley Scott's Harrison-Ford-on-the-hunt-for-robots scifi classic Blade Runner have little to do with one another. The new movie is a cautionary scifi thriller set in an orderly, antiseptic future where humans have allowed themselves to be replaced by robots; Blade Runner is an existential neo-noir set in a crowded, rain-soaked future where the robots are actually not allowed on Earth. But in comparing and contrasting these two very different movies, we can see how our attitudes about the future have changed in the intervening decades.

The Trouble With Robots
Surrogates: In the year 2017, the vast majority of humans have "surrogates" -- customizable, life-like robots, through whom schlubby, mostly invalid humans experience the world.
Blade Runner: In the year 2019, "replicants" are used as slaves on Earth's off-world colonies. Although they're androids, the replicants are outfitted with their own memories, which to them seem remarkably real.

The Real Enemy?
Surrogates: A small group of humans who refuse surrogates live in reservations, where they listen to the rantings of The Prophet (Ving Rhames), a cult leader planning a violent human uprising that will do away with the surrogates -- and possibly even their owners. But are humans the problem, or is it the ubiquitous robots that are replacing them?
Blade Runner: A small group of dangerous Nexus-6 replicants have fled to Earth and are hiding in Los Angeles, where their leader Roy Batty (Rutger Hauer) wants to find a way to live beyond their brief, pre-determined life-span. But are these robots the problem, or the humans who have enslaved them?

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Now or Then

Now or Then - The Informant! or The Insider?

by Bilge Ebiri on Sep 21 2009

Now: The Informant! (2009)Then: The Insider (1999)

In some ways, Steven Soderbergh's The Informant! is the flip side of Michael Mann's The Insider. Both movies are about dorky, family-man scientist types working at big agribusiness firms who expose wrongdoings they don't like, while basically destroying their own lives in the process. But whereas (and perhaps because) Mann's fact-based film took a dead serious approach to its tale, Soderbergh & Co. opt for a decidedly more oddball route. So how do these two movies stack up against each other, anyway?

The Actor!
The Informant!: Hunky Matt Damon very publicly gained 30 lbs. and donned a wig to play the average-looking Mark Whitacre.
The Insider: Hunky Russell Crowe very publicly gained 35 lbs. and donned a wig to play the average-looking Jeffrey Wigand. (Being Russell Crowe, however, he also went the extra mile and shaved his head.)

The Whistleblower!
The Informant!: Mark Whitacre is a chemist who helps the Feds bring down an elaborate corporate price-fixing scheme at Archer Daniels Midland Corporation. Alas, he's embezzling millions of dollars from the company at the same time.
The Insider: Jeffrey Wigand is a scientist who helps 60 Minutes expose his former employer's attempts to cover up research about the addictive effects of cigarettes. Alas, he may have lied about being on the US Olympic judo team.

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Now or Then

Now or Then - 9 or Terminator Salvation?

by Bilge Ebiri on Sep 14 2009

Now: 9 (2009)Then: Terminator Salvation (2009)

The kids may be back in school, but the Summer of the Giant Killer Robot Movies isn't over yet. Shane Acker's animated scifi flick 9 posits a world devoid of humans where a group of small, potato-sack-like "stitchpunks" do battle against huge scary machines that have taken over the world. Their plucky resistance is not unlike the human resistance in this May's wannabe tentpole Terminator Salvation, the summer's first Giant Killer Robot Movie. Indeed, the similarities between these two particular post-apocalyptic mechanized nightmares are too prominent to ignore. Check it out...

The Beginning of the End
9: B.R.A.I.N. was a sentient entity which, when inserted into The Fabrication Machine, wiped humanity from the earth. It now spends its time creating new machines.
Terminator Salvation: After becoming self-aware, Skynet launched a nuclear attack that wiped much of humanity from the earth. It now spends its time building terminators to get rid of the rest.

The Well-Meaning Mastermind
9: Our hero 9 (Elijah Wood) learns that his late creator was a Scientist whose experiments with artificial intelligence were appropriated by a power-mad Chancellor, whose actions led to the machines revolting and taking over the world. Near the end of the movie, he addresses 9 in a video message.
Terminator Salvation: Dr. Serena Kogan (Helena Bonham-Carter) is a scientist whose work on advanced technology is used (and abused) by SkyNet. Near the end of the film, her likeness addresses the cyborg Marcus Wright (Sam Worthington) in, yep, a video message.

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Now or Then - Legion (2010) or Dogma (1999)?

Now or Then - The Book of Eli or The Road?

Now or Then - Youth in Revolt or Superbad?

Now or Then - Looking Back at the Movies of 2009

Now or Then - Sherlock Holmes or Young Sherlock Holmes?

Now or Then - Avatar or The Last Samurai?

Now or Then - The Lovely Bones or Ghost?

Now or Then - Up in the Air or Intolerable Cruelty?

Now or Then - The Road or The Road Warrior?

Now or Then - New Moon or Twilight?

Now or Then - 2012 or The Day After Tomorrow?

Now or Then - The Fourth Kind or Close Encounters of the Third Kind?

Now or Then - This Is It or Shine a Light?

Now or Then - Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant or Something Wicked This Way Comes?

Now or Then - Where the Wild Things Are or Monsters, Inc.?

Now or Then - Couples Retreat or Forgetting Sarah Marshall?

Now or Then - Zombieland or Shaun of the Dead?

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