The Adjustment Bureau

[Howard Schumann]

Yes, I noted that, with one important exception.

Yes I could see you were trying to be cute about Justin Bieber concerts. I don't think saying you enjoy every movie Matt Damon is in is much of an argument in favor of this or any other movie, however. I don't share your admiration for all that he does. Some of his efforts seem much better than others. Only the rare actor is infallible in his choice of projects.

That's all you noticed - that I was trying to be cute about Justin Bieber? You must have lost your sense of humor somewhere in the Larchmont Hotel.

If you noticed, I wasn't taking the film all that seriously or trying to analyze it. I just had fun at the movies and in writing my review. I hope that's not an unpardonable sin.

[Chris Knipp]

I guess your Canadian sense of humor was too subtle for me here at the Larchmont on a drowsy Sunday afternoon. Please forgive.

[Howard Schumann]

I guess your Canadian sense of humor was too subtle for me here at the Larchmont on a drowsy Sunday afternoon. Please forgive.

My sense of humor is neither Canadian nor particularly subtle. It is universal (meaning humor has a universal appeal)

[tabuno]

Sometimes an idea and a sequel that's not a sequel gets better with time and THE ADJUSTMENT BUREAU does just that. With strong elements from "A Matter of Time," an episode of the contemporary THE TWILIGHT ZONE (January 26, 1986), MEN IN BLACK (1997), THE TRUMAN SHOW (1998,)THE MATRIX (1999), BEING JOHN MALKOVICH (1999), and ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND (2004), the movie script adapted from the amazing mind of the late Philip K. Dick's short story (whose written work inspired - A Scanner Darkly, 2006; Paycheck, 2003; Minority Report, 2002; Total Recall, 1990; Bladerunner, 1982) brings together the often times human element that is only experienced as a supporting role but in this movie is made the central element in this movie.

The beginning scenes, especially with the John Slattery's character having an uneven tone between dramatic and wry humor, seem to almost take its manipulative premise almost too well and comes across just a scripted and manipulative for the audience as the characters in the movie itself. The Wil Smith character-look-a-like also is a bit distracting and his role in the movie seems a bit too obviously interfering and distracting somehow taking a little away from the totality of the movie's suspended authenticity.

Overall though, this movie quickly merges into a finely honed character-driven, emotive and compelling dramatic thriller and allows its principal characters to show the audience (us) in a fantasy in a fantasy of how we ourselves would like to see ourselves. A genuinely solid and qualitatively superior film follows in the footsteps of THE SOLOIST (2009); THE TRUMAN SHOW (1998); CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND (1977); Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004); Twelve Monkeys (1996); The Bourne Identity (2002); The Cooler (2003); Brazil (1985); Blade Runner (1982), Inception (2010), and Nomads (1986).

[Chris Knipp]

I can never understand your lists, what those movies esp. in your last paragraph have to do with each other. THE ADJUSTMENT BUREAU is another one I couldn't share enthusiasm for, but it was much less received than SOURCE CODE, and is way down in the critics polls.

[tabuno]

Sometime I am going to have to discompose and examine my brain while I sift through just such a list looking for the connections among such films whch I drew together in probably a three or five second blitz per movie. Such a list does make for some deep questions about if I do have a brain. There really is a connection somewhere. If I find it, I'll post it.