Primer

**SPOILERS**

I am so stoked about this movie. Realistically I've just come back from Snakes on a Plane, one of the planets most thoroughly enjoyable action movies of all time (I was surprised to find), and one of the funniest to boot.

Snakes on a Penis? Hell yes.

However, despite only very recently returning from Snakes on a Plane, myself believing I was incapable of being wowed by a film any further that evening, I ended up at a sleepover at my good friend Gareth's house and found myself walking with Al and Em at the briskly chilly time of eight-thirty in the evening to the local DVD repository. Thinking it might be good to utilise the "3 for 2" offer there, Em thought it would be fairest if we picked a DVD each. Fair enough! Emily chose Narnia, I think Alex chose Fun With Dick and Jane (or maybe I chose that one too...) and I picked up Primer.

So, we watched Narnia, some of Gareth and Emily's friends invited themselves over (until 7 in the morning) and the house slowly began to fill with people.

After Narnia we just sat around and chatted for a while, I ended up making "nachos" (cheese Doritos + grated cheese + any kind of salsa dip + microwave on full power for about 3 minutes = boiling heartattack of doom) and eventually we watched the heartwarming and comical look at the downfall of a huge corporation through the eyes of an employee which was Fun With Dick and Jane. This was possibly one of Jim Carrey more manic roles. Yes, nothing can quite beat Ace Ventura, but Dick came awfully close. The rendition of the drunk corporate puppet in the middle of an upscale bar was phenominal. "Dear, I'm in a meeting!"

After that we fell "asleep", if you can call the fluttering, hazy cross-conscious stutters of a sleepover "sleep" at all. What with everyone groping eachother and screaming it's a wonder anyone got a rest at all.

Eventually I packed and left, walking with Emily part of the way and agreeing to give her some music sometime later that day and i was permitted to walk away with Primer.

Now, the movie:

**SPOILLY MCSPOILNSPOIL!**

Primer is set around a bunch of guys (two in particular) who enjoy building mind-bending pieces of equipment to explore the realms of physics in the little spare time that their strenuous jobs allow them. Very early into the movie two of the characters, Abe and Aaron, "break off", after a fashion, to build something a little different from what the group tend to expect.

They end up creating a machine from spare parts hacked from such varying places as their microwave, the under-bonnet of a car and (nearly) the back of the fridge. This machine, initially atleast, appears to reduce the mass of an object within it. Where does the mass go? It appears that it's converted to energy to perpetuate the motion of the machine for a certain amount of time, but that's not the weird part. After a chance encounter with a certain kind of mould which grows on the outside of the test subjects they use (not live, that's just wrong) they determine that what they have created is some kind of time machine.

A variety of crazy stuff ensues and the rest of a the movie is an interesting look into the various paradoxes surrounding time travel, as well as the stirring and provocative pseudo-superhero paternal nature of the two characters in their attempt to create a better world for themselves, their friends and families.

I'll leave it at that, you can watch the movie to find out the rest.

I was incredibly moved by this. The acting is astoundingly good, the cinematography is incredible (and the film makers are not detered by high noise scenes set in real darkness, something i feel a lot of films do not do especially well) and everything about it just screams of something truly special.

This one gets the Joe Beaver seal of approval. Twice. Make it three times, for good measure. And add some ice cream to it too. Yea, it's that good. Haul out the Ben and Jerry's fellas, it's go time!