Stamps in new movie "Paycheck"
Paul Edney
Just saw the new movie "Paycheck" starring Ben Affleck and Uma
Thurman.
Stamps play a key part in the movie.
They are fictitious 50c Albert Einstein stamps loosely based on Scott
#1774 released in 1979. There are 5 or 6 of them in a strip on a large
manila envelope. The strangest thing about the stamps is that they are
all imperforate on all 4 sides.
You would have thought the Director John Woo, who usually has a good
eye for detail, would have at least consulted with a stamp dealer or
collector and made the stamps perforate. The envelope in the movie was
mailed in the year 2007 when most (if not all) stamps will probably be
self-adhesives. However, even self-stick U.S. stamps have teeth on 4
sides or at least 2 sides in booklet or coil form.
The stamps are a clue to solving a puzzle, just see the movie to
understand why.
"Paycheck" is highly recommended. Great script, great acting. Lots of
action for the guys, romance for the gals. Plus a great BMW
motor-cycle chase scene which I would love to see again in slo-mo. I
am not going to tell you the plot as it is very cleverly written and
would only spoil it for you. Go see it.
Cheers,
Paul
Rodney
On a close tangent, there is a marvelous TV serial on here at the
moment called "shooting the past", and centres around a very large
English country Manor house, being taken over by a ruthless
American promoter of a business school.
The Manor house holds a collection of 10 million black and white images
from the advent of the camera, the collection will be broken up
if the owners cannot find another suitable residence.
I had immediate recollection of the photo of the aircraft over New York that TL
posted recently.
Looks to be a fine drama, with mouth watering glimpses of
stunning photos of the past.
--
rod...@touch88gum.com.au
(Remove gum to reply)
"Paul Edney" <ene...@hawaii.rr.com> wrote in message news:ac808eca.04010...@posting.google.com...
Rodney
TC
wrote:
=======================================================================
Paul:
Sounds a bit like Chasrade to me.
Not much mention of stamps in the reviews.
Blair
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
December 25th 2003, Rating: PG-13, 119mins, Paramount
Cast: Ben Affleck, Uma Thurman, Aaron Eckhart, Paul Giamatti, Colm
Feore, Joe Morton, Michael C. Hall, Kathryn Morris, Paul Giamatti,
Michelle Harrison
Plot: Ben Affleck stars as Michael Jennings, a brilliant computer
engineer hired by high-tech corporations for specialized top-secret
projects. Once a job is complete, Jennings routinely has his
short-term memory erased so as not to divulge any sensitive company
information to future clients. Highly paid for his work, he expects to
earn $4.4billion at the end of his latest 3-year project. But upon
completion of the job, instead of a big paycheck, Jennings is handed
an envelope filled with random objects and told that he has agreed to
forfeit all payment. With his memory erased as usual, Jennings has no
way to prove them wrong until he discovers the objects are clues to
the puzzle that once was his past. But with Federal agents hot on his
heels, Jennings quickly learns that more than just his paycheck is at
stake. In a race against time, Jennings must put the pieces together
with the help of Rachel (Uma Thurman), the woman he has worked with
and loved for the past three years who rekindles his memory of their
life together, before the people he once worked for have him killed.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Film Review #1: A slick little piece of entertainment, "Paycheck" is a
light on the brain enjoyable action vehicle which, whilst certainly no
classic adaptation of a PKD story (ala "Blade Runner", "Minority
Report"), is still a nice alternate this Christmas to those looking
for an energetic diversion from all the soggy dramas and brilliant but
heavy going "Return of the King". Granted it has all the problems you
come to expect from studio blockbusters with plot holes galore,
somewhat unbelivable action stunts of derring-do, and some rather thin
characterisation all across the board. Yet the idea and premise it
sets up is an interesting one and brings up some interesting questions
which, whilst not explored much, do keep you compelled to watch and
even think about how it all might go whilst the pacing keeps things
tense and moving fast.
Acting wise there's not too much going on here - Ben Affleck holds his
own in the role well, making this essentially tech geek into someone
whose appealable to both collar colours. Thurman, who always seems to
be shot with a vaseline lens, is a likable female love interest who
does a decent job with an essentially flat character. Sadly Aaron
Eckhart whom I'm a big fan of is a cardboard cut-out villain and
there's little he can do with the limited part. Small turns by great
actors like Colm Feore, Joe Morton and Michael C. Hall are all sadly
lacklustre. Paul Giamatti delivers his usual fun comic relief job.
The much vaunted '19 objects' which will help him workout the solution
to the central mystery turns out to be a clever idea as every few
minutes we get to see a small 'payoff' of sorts as to how these
everyday items help to save Affleck's ass from the bad guys. The
script requires defiance of logic, in some cases small (such as how in
the world can an engineer also be one of the world's greatest
motorcyclists) although one or two really big ones are there - much
like the series "24" though, things move so briskly there's not much
time to think about them and the more you do the less you'll probably
like so its best not to.
Production wise the film's look is interesting - giving us a future
that's more like the world today albeit cleaner and a little more
hi-tech. Too many sci-fi movies rely on slick gadgets to distract you
but this one almost underplays that idea and what 'wonderous machines'
we do see are usually relevant to the plot. The cinematography and
lighting is also distinctive and suits this cleaner hi-tech look -
even the actors themselves are more tonned and tanned than I think
I've ever seen them before (Affleck especially has suddenly become a
real hottie) although this doesn't always work - the walkway lit
face-off of Eckhart and Affleck scene will probably earn the film the
nickname "The Battle of the Cleft Chins" as the pair's striking
protrusions stand out hard in some of the lighting conditions.
Those going in expecting a John Woo movie are going to be
disappointed. "Paycheck" is no "Face/Off" and in fact is one of the
'softest' movies Woo has ever done with a reliance more on story and
wild stunts than action shootouts. For me that's a plus but those who
love their incessant gunplay will be a little letdown. Woo pokes fun
at himself, squeezing in his now trademark flying dove shot in one big
action scene which will bring a laugh or two from audience members.
This isn't a great action movie by any means and certainly won't go
down as a highlight of the genre in this or any other year. What you
have here is essentially a quite good Sci-Fi Channel TV movie with a
bigger budget at the cinema. Its pure fun escapism and for the
two-hour runtime it does its job well.- Garth Franklin
3 Stars out of 5
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Film Review #2 : ''Paycheck'' Written 11-26-2003 by TrojanMan
Last Thursday, there was a test screening for an "original, non-sequel
sci-fi/action thriller from a major motion picture studio" (as the
flyer put it) all the way out at the Century 16 in Ventura County.
People in line were abuzz. What could it be? I was betting on "The Day
After Tomorrow," but quixotically hoping for a very, very early
screening of "I, Robot." The thought that it could be "Paycheck"
crossed my mind, but no, it's far too close before release - wait, was
that John Woo taking a peek at the audience? Yes, it was. My girl
wanted to leave right then and there because anything Affleck does
makes her reach for the pink stuff. I made her stay for the screening.
And now I offer her my sincere apologizes. John Woo is officially an
old man. It breaks my heart to write that. I first became aware of Woo
after watching "Hard Target." It blew my mind. I had never seen
anything like it before. You can imagine the des**tment that occurred
after I got my hands on "The Killer" and "Hard-Boiled." We've all been
witness to his steady decline since those films, but with "Paycheck"
he's reached a new nadir.
This is the most boring, tired and dim-witted film he has ever made.
He's just going through the motions now. Remember all the emotional
passion in Woo's earlier work ("Don't let me die like a dog!")? Gone.
The meditations on honor, loyalty and what separates good from evil?
anished. Kick ass action scenes? Some other guy must be directing
those now because Woo certainly isn't.
Ben Affleck plays a reverse engineer in the near future who helps
corporations get a leg up by figuring out how their competitors'
products operate. For reasons not fully explained, after each of these
jobs Ben has to get his memory wiped so he can't remember any of the
work he's done. Enter Aaron Eckhart, an old friend, who offers Ben a
job to build something that will net Ben $90 million - one big
paycheck. After some truly embarrassing dialogue exchanges with Uma
Thurman that are supposed to set up some sort of romance, Ben rolls up
his sleeves and gets to work. Of course we don't see on what because
that would spoil the "mystery."
Flash forward three years. Ben has completed his task for the
obviously evil Eckhart. Strangely, though, Ben has forfeited all of
his money and mailed himself an envelope containing twenty unrelated,
everyday items. Ben doesn't remember doing any of this because of the
memory-wipe. But before Ben is allowed to moan too much, a pair of FBI
Agents (the criminally wasted Joe Morton and Michael C. Hall) arrest
Ben for treason. There's a silly scene where they interrogate Ben
while he sits on a spinning chair (apparently, in the future, they
force confessions by making you sick to your stomach), but he escapes
thanks to two of the random items in that envelope. It's almost like
past-Ben would know that future-Ben would need those two exact things
to get out a jam. What the audience has just figured out takes Ben
another ten excruciating minutes of screen time to realize - that he
has built the Evil Eckhart a machine that can literally see into the
future.
The only way Ben can evade the Feds and survive the goons Evil Eckhart
has sent his way is through the prodigious use of the items in that
envelope. A neat concept on paper, but it basically serves to make Ben
omnipotent and any suspense the movie may have generated is
obliterated because we know that whenever Ben is in trouble he just
has to reach into the envelope and pull out a paperclip or a
motorcycle key and everything will be a-okay.
If the lack of suspense doesn't turn you off, the utter contempt
"Paycheck" has for its audience will. Hey, filmmakers? Ben Affleck has
the faulty memory, not us, okay? We don't need the scene of Ben
sitting in a hotel room and having a flashback of everything that's
happened to him in the last ten minutes. We just saw it. We also don't
need to be reminded every quarter-hour that Ben built a machine that
can witness things that have yet to happen. We got that. You also
don't have to keep reminding us that knowing one's own future has bad
consequences. Even the high school students you'll be marketing this
to have read "Oedipus." Just get to the action scenes, all right?
Or maybe don't. What you would expect to be the high water marks of a
Woo film, the action scenes of "Paycheck" are depressingly weak. Very
little PG-13 gunplay (and no, I repeat, no two-handed blasting
action), a tepid car chase that has all of one good explosion and a
showdown in a rain-swept botanical garden that climaxes with Ben and
Uma jumping out of the way of a bullet we've known is going to be
fired at this exact moment in time for the last hour-and-a-half. Wow.
How exciting.
Maybe the performances were good, you ask. The movie does have a
strong cast. Well, Ben is...Ben. You either like his schtick or you
don't. Personally, I think it works better when he is the unlikely
hero as in "Sum of All Fears" rather than a superman like he is here
or in "Daredevil." Paramount must be on a crusade to ruin Aaron
Eckhart's career by putting him in drek like this and "The Core." He
must think so, too because he gives without a doubt the worst
performance I have ever seen from him. Paul Giamatti appears to be
paying penance for being given such a good role in "American
Splendor." All he does here is say unfunny lines with impeccable comic
timing - what they call in the business "groaners." And Uma? She gets
to do three things: 1) cry when Ben says he can't remember their love
affair (this happens way more times than you would think possible in a
two hour movie) 2) gaze admiringly at Ben when he demonstrates his
scientific prowess 3) kick people's asses with props such as a giant
wrench and thrown motorcycle helmet. These are the moments when Uma
really comes alive, but I felt the credit for that lies more with
Quentin than Woo.
Woo does give us a dove flying in slow motion and some Christian
imagery, but it all seems like a pale imitation of his older, better
work. "Paycheck" is worse than "Windtalkers" and worse than "M:I-2."
Worse than "Broken Arrow?" Yeah, because at least "Arrow" appealed to
that reptilian part of my brain that needs to see things explode and
people riddled with bullets. "Paycheck" couldn't even deliver that.
(No star rating)
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Kritik's Review - 12/27/2003
Many people are aware f the fact that John Woo made better films
before he came to America to direct big budget action flicks. Many of
them, though, have no idea what those movies are. Films like Hard
Boiled and The Killer come to mind, two action films that display a
love for the genre and a directing genius at his finest.
Before this point, Woo’s American fare (Broken Arrow, Face/Off, MI:2)
has been enjoyable but forgettable. That’s not to say they’re
terrible, they get the job done as far as action is concerned, they’re
just not all that great. Paycheck affirms what many people already
know, that Woo has made it clear that he has no problem making
forgettable action movies for the masses.
William Jennings (Ben Affleck) is a reverse engineer in the near
future. He burrows away for months at a time, takes apart a
technology, and recreates it for another company. The price for his
skills and massive paychecks is that his memory of the job he has done
is erased, with the help of his friend, played by Paul Giamatti.
Jennings is approached by an old friend (Aaron Eckhart) who runs one
of those faceless biotech corporations to build something that will
require thee years of his life. In exchange, the paycheck will be
astronomical. Jennings agrees and three years later goes to collect
his paycheck. Instead of finding a check for $90 million, he finds an
envelope he sent himself that includes nineteen random items including
a paper clip, diamond ring and crossword puzzle. Jennings must now use
these items and the help of Rachel, the girlfriend he doesn’t realize
he had (Uma Thurmon), to find out what he built and why everyone wants
him dead.
Sounds complicated, or so you’d think. For all the complicating issues
and plotpoints surrounding Paycheck, is it’s a painfully
straightforward movie. By this point, we all know how Philip K. Dick
stories unfold and we know his affinity for twists and red herrings.
So where were they? I find it hard to believe such a simplistic story
came from Dick’s writing.
I have a feeling that had a less “Hollywood” director than Woo tackled
the project, it would have been much darker and actually challenged
the viewer. As is, I was embarrassed for the film when the twists and
turns I predicted in my head not only never happened but weren’t even
teased as they should have been. There is a reason this film was
released on Christmas Day, Memento II it’s not.
What I liked about Affleck was the way he masked that real-life goofy
exterior he usually can’t in his characters. The only problem is that
he really doesn’t do anything else of note. There’s a thin character
arc about Jennings caring only about money and the here-and-now and
how that changes because of Rachel. We never actually see those
changes develop, it just kind of plays itself out at some point and
we’re just expected to buy in.
I found Eckhart’s bad guy to be unbelievably one-dimensional. He’s an
emotionless corporate heavy who wants world domination. Yawn. How bout
a grudge against Jennings, since they knew each other when younger?
How bout a love triangle? Is it so much to ask that the script and
film invest the audiences emotionally just a little by making the
characters more than walking archetypes?
Throw in a FBI duo (Michael C. Hall and Joe Morton) that really don’t
do anything except act as narrators and comic relief, and that about
sums up Paycheck. It’s just another PG-13 action film that does just
enough not to bore you but not enough to make you remember it a
half-hour after you’ve seen it. If anything, you walk away with ideas
on how you could have used the fantastic plot device in such a more
interesting manner. -- Kritik, Bikkit.com
Kritik gives this Movie 4 out of 10 stars -
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Kernan's Review - 12/27/2003
In the just over 10 years that John Woo has been working in the
Hollywood system of filmmaking, we have yet to see the potential that
was promised in his earlier Hong Kong work. It's interesting then that
he would work on a film based on a story by Philip K. Dick, the
legendary science fiction writer who's work has also been difficult to
capture in a Hollywood film. An element of both Woo’s best works and
Dick’s best writing have been seen in flashes but neither are fully
realized. Paycheck goes no further toward capturing the best of either
Woo or Dick, and in fact may be a huge step back for both.
Paycheck stars Ben Affleck as Michael Jennings, a reverse engineer who
copies a work of technology and changes it just enough to step around
copyright laws and delivers a similar product to a different company.
For liability purposes, Jennings' works alone, often secluded for
months at a time cut off from the outside world. At the end of his
work, his memories are wiped clean through a disturbing, dangerous
process that literally cooks his brain, burning away the portions of
his memory that relate to his work.
Jennings is well paid for his work, often with six-figure paycheck.
His next job however is for more money than he could have imagined.
Michael's friend Rethrick (Aaron Eckhart) offers him an eight-figure
paycheck for a job that will take up to three years of his life. At
that price, three years is worth it and Michael takes what should be
his last job.
Three years later, Michael wakes up in Rethrick's office with his
memory wiped clean. With no memory of the job or anything of the past
three years, Michael's only concern is picking up his sizable check.
However, when he arrives at the bank he is shocked to find that he has
signed away his money, stocks and has only a bag of 19 personal items
which he doesn't even think are his. Through a series of odd
encounters, each of the 19 personal items comes in real handy in
saving Michael's life as he pursues the reason why he refused his
paycheck. There is also a minor romance with a biologist named Rachel
played by Uma Thurman, which is merely functional and unnecessary to
any description of the plot.
Where to begin with the disappointments of this film?
It's big dumb and loud. The film doesn't even have John Woo's usual
stylistic virtuosity to fall back on, assuaging style in favor of a
more bland action movie mode, save for Woo's trademark doves. There
isn't even a scene where Affleck carries Woo's trademark double
handguns, one gun in each hand. There is the usual standoff this time
with two characters standing in a subway with a train coming. Sadly,
it's not as cool as it sounds.
The most egregious problem as I see it is the shoving aside of Philip
K. Dick's sci-fi story in favor of a generic Hollywood action movie.
The story of Paycheck is a man who builds a machine that can see the
future. He then forgets the future he saw, and only through a Sherlock
Holmes set of clues can he reconstruct his memory to save the future.
The implications of seeing the future, of seeing your own future and
changing your fate, these are high minded ideas that are hinted at in
the film but quickly shoved aside for gunfire and car chases.
Ben Affleck is my boy but Paycheck is a second consecutive misstep
after the god-awful Gigli. There is still hope for Ben with Kevin
Smith's Jersey Girl coming in March but he needs to begin choosing his
material a little better.
Only Spielberg's excellent Minority Report has come close to showing
the potential of Philip K. Dick's material on screen. More often than
not, Dick's idea-driven stories are like Paycheck. A clothesline from
which to hang huge special effects and stunt sequences that may or may
not be technical marvels but are definitely less interesting than the
ideas that are the core of the stories.
As for John Woo, it's becoming increasingly apparent that it was hype
as much as talent that brought him worldwide attention. Woo has turned
out a few exciting action pictures since coming to Hollywood but for
the most part he has become a cog in the Hollywood money machine,
pumping out easy to market, demo-driven, action trash. Special effects
films that have posters before they have scripts that he brings a
modicum of style but little else. What a shame. -- Kernan, Bikkit.com
Kernan gives this Movie 3 out of 10 stars -
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Eric Bustad
story. I re-read the original story the other day -- It was not one of
his best, but it sounds like the movie is worse. BTW, there are no
stamps mentioned in the original story.
= Eric
Frank Emanuel
"Tom Loepp" <lo...@mindspring.com> wrote in message
news:3FF5E37E...@mindspring.com...
Perforations on stamps? Sounds like you almost expect some sort of
plausibility in a Woo movie. Not a director that I expect much from other
than the trademark airborn-stuntmen-from-trampolines-after-the-explosion
routines. When it rents for a dollar at the grocery store I'll still have
to think twice about getting taken. Writing is key to a good film but it
hasn't shown itself in one of his films yet. ´:¬p
Awwww. So hard on him. He is trying to use a medium of violence as a canvas
for his art. I just got back from Paycheck and while it wasn't a deep movie,
it was a fun action movie - something you can rely on John Woo for. I love
the strategic placement of doves in the movies, you know things are about to
turn around when... it was especially appropriate in this one. If you don't
like his films don't bother - but if you do like a good action film then
this is a good one.
Now having said it is not a deep film - I should say that this film does
explore its subject well , but that is likely the PKD influence rather than
Woo, Woo just makes it fun.
Frank