This past weekend, my wife and I watched the movie "Safety Not Guaranteed". It's not a new movie (it's from 2012), but we hadn't seen it. I had heard about it before; it's based on a joke ad that someone placed in a magazine in 1997 about someone looking for someone to go back in time with him. Part of the ad text was "Safety not guaranteed", which is where the movie title comes from.

The movie: A local newspaper is trying to come up with ideas for a story, and someone mentions seeing an ad for someone looking for someone to go back in time with him, and he offers to find him and come back with a story about it. He brings 2 interns with him, and they end up finding where he lives. The newspaper employee approaches him about it, pretending to actually want to go with him, but the guy doesn't respond well to him, so he (newspaper guy) has one of his interns try instead, to pretend to want to go, gain his trust, and go along with it for the story. This actually works, and every day, the intern meets up with the guy to get ready and 'train' to go back in time; the guy also needs to find information and parts for his supposed time machine (while the newspaper crew people still question whether this guy is insane or not) Then, every evening, the newspaper crew meets up in their hotel room to share notes.

Side stories: The intern and the guy planning to go back in time start to fall for each other, and the newspaper employee reveals he went to this town to find and meet up with an old ex-girlfriend. Stuff ensues.

I don't want to give away the ending, but overall, we thought this was a fairly entertaining movie.

Nightfox
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Nightfox wrote to All <=-

This past weekend, my wife and I watched the movie "Safety Not Guaranteed". It's not a new movie (it's from 2012), but we hadn't seen
it. I had heard about it before; it's based on a joke ad that someone placed in a magazine in 1997 about someone looking for someone to go
back in time with him. Part of the ad text was "Safety not guaranteed", which is where the movie title comes from.

I read up about it, sounds good. I'm going to try and find it online.
Googling it led to a movie called "The One I Love", with Mark Duplass
(Kenneth in "Safety...") and Elizabeth Moss involving married couples
and doppelgangers. Looks interesting, too.

Hollywood can be formula-driven and unoriginal ("A remake of the sequel
of a reboot based on a board game") that finding smaller, original
indie-ish films is a rewarding pasttime.

The movie: A local newspaper is trying to come up with ideas for a
story, and someone mentions seeing an ad for someone looking for
someone to go back in time with him, and he offers to find him and come back with a story about it. He brings 2 interns with him, and they end
up finding where he lives. The newspaper employee approaches him about
it, pretending to actually want to go with him, but the guy doesn't respond well to him, so he (newspaper guy) has one of his interns try instead, to pretend to want to go, gain his trust, and go along with it for the story. This actually works, and every day, the intern meets up with the guy to get ready and 'train' to go back in time; the guy also needs to find information and parts for his supposed time machine
(while the newspaper crew people still question whether this guy is
insane or not) Then, every evening, the newspaper crew meets up in
their hotel room to share notes.

Side stories: The intern and the guy planning to go back in time start
to fall for each other, and the newspaper employee reveals he went to
this town to find and meet up with an old ex-girlfriend. Stuff ensues.

I don't want to give away the ending, but overall, we thought this was
a fairly entertaining movie.

Nightfox
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Reminded me of Primer...

Pol Malvinas.

Islas Malvinas, siempre Argentinas!

... Islas Malvinas, siempre Argentinas.

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Malvinas wrote to Nightfox <=-

Reminded me of Primer...

Oh man - that movie was something else! I've seen
it several times and recommended it to others...



... When cheese gets its picture taken, what does it say?
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Hello Jimmy!

** On Saturday 03.05.25 - 18:44, Jimmy Anderson wrote to Malvinas:

Reminded me of Primer...

Oh man - that movie was something else! I've seen
it several times and recommended it to others...

Read about it. Not really a fan of most time-travel movie
ideas, but maybe this one will be different.

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Oh man - that movie was something else! I've seen
it several times and recommended it to others...

I remember watching both Primer and another movie right about the same time period, and both were kinda related in the genre/subject matter. The other movie being Coherence. If you haven't seen that one and liked both Primer and Safe not Guaranteed, I highly recommend Coherence, too.

Pol Malvinas.

Islas Malvinas, siempre Argentinas!

... Islas Malvinas, siempre Argentinas.

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Re: Movie: Primer
By: Ogg to Jimmy Anderson on Sun May 04 2025 10:15:00

Not really a fan of most time-travel movie ideas, but
maybe this one will be different.

Don't let the past impede your future. Only time will tell.
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Ogg wrote to Jimmy Anderson <=-

Hello Jimmy!

** On Saturday 03.05.25 - 18:44, Jimmy Anderson wrote to Malvinas:

Reminded me of Primer...

Oh man - that movie was something else! I've seen
it several times and recommended it to others...

Read about it. Not really a fan of most time-travel movie
ideas, but maybe this one will be different.

If not a time travel fan, probably won't enjoy it. But for
hard core time travel fans... It's right up there!!!


... I know a good tagline when I steal one!
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Malvinas wrote to Jimmy Anderson <=-

Oh man - that movie was something else! I've seen
it several times and recommended it to others...

I remember watching both Primer and another movie right about the same time period, and both were kinda related in the genre/subject matter.
The other movie being Coherence. If you haven't seen that one and liked both Primer and Safe not Guaranteed, I highly recommend Coherence, too.

I will add it to my list!

Okay - looked it up - yeah that one was interesting. :-) I remember
watching it get deeper and deeper into the weeds. Very cool concept.
:-)



... WWhhaatt ddooeess dduupplleexx mmeeaann??
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Re: Re: Movie: Primer
By: Jimmy Anderson to Ogg on Sun May 04 2025 01:49 pm

If not a time travel fan, probably won't enjoy it. But for
hard core time travel fans... It's right up there!!!

I am definitively not a Primer fan. Give me Synchronicity any day.

Primer definitively needed better production than it got, the dialogue scenes were made hard to follow because they tried to make them realistic (with people speaking over each other and interrupting each other, which is how works in real life, but makes it messy for the screen). And the plot was kind of meh. It was material to be subjected for the Eight Deadly Words (I don't care what happens to these people).

They nailed the part were they discovered time travel, because I think they reproduced quite well how scientific advances are done. People does janky stuff and notices something weird, then say "look, this is interesting, why do you think it is happening?"


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screen). And the plot was kind of meh. It was material to be subjected
for the Eight Deadly Words (I don't care what happens to these people).

The message of the movie Primer is: "if you're crooked... you're crooked all the way.."
(at least, that's the message of the movie *for me*).

Pol Malvinas.

Islas Malvinas, siempre Argentinas!

... Islas Malvinas, siempre Argentinas.

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Arelor wrote to Jimmy Anderson <=-

Re: Re: Movie: Primer
By: Jimmy Anderson to Ogg on Sun May 04 2025 01:49 pm

If not a time travel fan, probably won't enjoy it. But for
hard core time travel fans... It's right up there!!!

I am definitively not a Primer fan. Give me Synchronicity any day.

Primer definitively needed better production than it got, the dialogue scenes were made hard to follow because they tried to make them
realistic (with people speaking over each other and interrupting each other, which is how works in real life, but makes it messy for the screen).

I'll agree with you there. It was less 'movie' and more 'over the shoulder,' but not in a documentary way. And some of the dialogue was fast, just like
two engineers talking to each other! To me that made it more realistic.

And the plot was kind of meh. It was material to be subjected
for the Eight Deadly Words (I don't care what happens to these people).

I can see where it doesn't build on the WHY I care, but to me the science
of it and the explanations and such... I think they nailed it in that
sense.

They nailed the part were they discovered time travel, because I think they reproduced quite well how scientific advances are done. People
does janky stuff and notices something weird, then say "look, this is interesting, why do you think it is happening?"

Yep - exactly! And then the 'trial run' that Abe (?) did - and how he took
the other guy with him, showing him the 'exit' before they even 'entered.'

A head scratcher for sure - and they never really explain everything, which makes for good cinima too. :-)

But, to each his own. :-)


... Dr. Livingston I. Presume (Dr. Presume's full name)
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Hello Arelor!

** On Monday 05.05.25 - 10:07, Arelor wrote to Jimmy Anderson:

I am definitively not a Primer fan. Give me Synchronicity
any day.

Primer definitively needed better production than it got,
the dialogue scenes were made hard to follow because they
tried to make them realistic (with people speaking over
each other and interrupting each other, which is how works
in real life, but makes it messy for the screen). And the
plot was kind of meh. It was material to be subjected for
the Eight Deadly Words (I don't care what happens to these
people).

It was a grueling watch for me. The plot seemed disjointed. I
really hated the "speak over" that you mentioned. Reading the
wikipedia version of the plot helped, but I am not interested
to rewatch it to see if it clicks better after knowing what to
expect. The "A<->B" (and the wikipedia shows an illustration of
it) still makes little sense to me. Originally it's some
weight-reduction experiment, but then it turns out to be a
time-machine?

I generally have trouble embrasing the idea that "one" machine
and the actions of one person can alter a whole timeline of
future history affecting millions of people.

Time travel is a fun idea, but trying to present it in film or
story form simply breaks down at some point.

I think there are other "time machine" films that are much more
entertaining.

They nailed the part were they discovered time travel,
because I think they reproduced quite well how scientific
advances are done. People does janky stuff and notices
something weird, then say "look, this is interesting, why
do you think it is happening?"

Ok.. but that's just a brief scene. The rest of the film
seemed like a series of disjointed scenes.

I really liked the way the filmaker/director/writers of Mememto
stitched the story together for a powerful conclusion.



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Hello Jimmy!

** On Sunday 04.05.25 - 13:49, Jimmy Anderson wrote to Ogg:

Reminded me of Primer...

Oh man - that movie was something else! I've seen
it several times and recommended it to others...

Read about it. Not really a fan of most time-travel movie
ideas, but maybe this one will be different.

If not a time travel fan, probably won't enjoy it. But for
hard core time travel fans... It's right up there!!!

Sorry. It didn't work for me. I watched it in two parts. The
first night I could only bear it for about 30 min. Then I
resumed the rest of it the next night. Even through the second
part it [with the plan to change the party-scene events) was
not making me enough to care what happens.


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Ogg wrote to Arelor <=-

to rewatch it to see if it clicks better after knowing what to
expect. The "A<->B" (and the wikipedia shows an illustration of
it) still makes little sense to me. Originally it's some
weight-reduction experiment, but then it turns out to be a
time-machine?

I thought the explanation of the "back and forth until interrupted"
made perfect sense. Getting in and having a timer meant you didn't
SKIP any time. If you went 'back' eight hours, you still AGED those
eight hours.

And Abe's plan to not do anything to alter the day made perfect
sense.

I generally have trouble embrasing the idea that "one" machine
and the actions of one person can alter a whole timeline of
future history affecting millions of people.

In the way the movie is framed, they aren't actually altering a
timeline, though, are they? Are they CHANGING things? Or at the
end of the day did things play out a certain way?

Looking at it as the viewer with the full story in front of us,
it APPEARS they 'changed' things, but did they? Or did they just
live out the time back and forth?

Time travel is a fun idea, but trying to present it in film or
story form simply breaks down at some point.

Oh I agree completely! Even if you look at Back to the Future in
a scientific way, it breaks down. But keeping it on the level
of 'fun' works. :-)

Somewhere in Time is another one... How old is that watch REALLY?
LOL

I think there are other "time machine" films that are much more entertaining.

To each his own. Time Bandits is a favorite of MANY many people,
but I coudln't get into it at all. Time Rider was a fun one,
back in the day. :-) Even Time After Time - HG Wells and Jack
the Ripper - was fun, IMO, but others didn't like them. :-)

They nailed the part were they discovered time travel,
because I think they reproduced quite well how scientific
advances are done. People does janky stuff and notices
something weird, then say "look, this is interesting, why
do you think it is happening?"

Ok.. but that's just a brief scene. The rest of the film
seemed like a series of disjointed scenes.

I think Arelor's point is valid. There are discoveries made where
you are looking for a way to do A and accidently stumble on B. :-)

And I think the rest of the film is not told in a linear fashion.
If someone were to make a cut showing (can't remember his name)'s
trips and his entire point of view, it would be interesting! But
that's not how the story is meant to unfold for the viewer.

I really liked the way the filmaker/director/writers of Mememto
stitched the story together for a powerful conclusion.

Yeah that was interesting - the whole 'point of view' changes at
the end and the back and forth.


... Does the National Ballet travel by Tu Tu Train?
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