Omni Loop

It's quite a long movie for the content that is on offer. I found myself lagging after 45 minutes and never really regained the level of interest that I experienced at the start of the movie, and indeed, my interest wanned considerably after that.

Its not really a science fiction movie at all, more of a drama initially burgeoned with a science fiction narrative. The goundhog day theme is excercised fairly well and even though I rolled my eyes a little when this came into play in fairness its done well and doesn't give you that sense of fermented nostalgia that normally detracts from a screenplay.

I think the movie is half an hour too long, and the script and story needs to be condensed into something that doesn't cause your attention to stray and your patience to wear a little thin. Although Mary Louise Parker is pretty good, I found Ayo Edebir's style of delivery painful to experience. Her hesitant, stumbling, deliberately inarticulate manner of portraying natural interactioon is overplayed and irritating. I found the exact same issue with her portrayal of Sydney in 'The Bear' so this certainly seems to be a characteristic of he acting style rather than one of direction. There are no stand out performances here, the meterial is handled competently but never really ventures far above mediocre.

The 8-bit styled score thats overlayed throughout sections of this movie will give you flashbacks of you early Atari and Sega game systems and repeatinig piano sequences are a little threadbare in some places. It becomes noticeable at times, but its just another one of the poor factors at play which don't bode well for an viewing experience.

All this said, the main issue I found is the movie just drags and is without the excitement or key development events that are really needed to keep it interesting. A bunch of stuff happens but nothing signficant or essential that couldn't be omited without detriment. Its also worth mentioning that there is no big payoff or resoution in the ending, which isn't what you'd normally expect in with this type of repeating history endevour.

So, all that said, it's not a bad movie its just a bit... meh. It was interesting enough for me to watch to the end, (primarily because I wanted to see what eventually happened) but not good enough for me to be anything more than moderately interested after the first 20 minutes. It certainly works way better as a drama than a sci fi, but I think a bit of focus would probably have gone some way to making it a better production.

Truthfully there just isn't any payoff in watching this, it's a drama but without the emotional depth to bring it to the fore, its has a sience fiction theme, but witout any substance or investment in the science to peak the interest, and in all honesty you're better off giving it a miss.

5/10 from me.

Excellent and often strange look into our human lives and how time impacts them, the fear of death, and what is worth spending our time doing.

There's a slew of films lately that seem to be exploring motherhood in a smart SciFi manner. This is one of them. Mary Louise is a mom who is at the end of her life questioning what was life's meaning. There the movie takes a heavy magical SciFi tone that is more dedicated to symbolizing our struggles with significance than saying anything scientifically significant.

This is a great framing device and gimmick. Everyone seems to be handling the script well and it keeps a sort of charming patter as we discover why motherhood is the purest form of immortality.

Solid movie worth the suspension of disbelief to watch.

First off, the movie is watchable. You can get to the end. You just need to turn off your expectation for answers. For those of you who like relationship and character drama, this is a great movie you'll enjoy.

This movie dangles some interesting tidbits the heavy scifi fan enjoys but would like a payoff on in explanation: a time loop, a black hole, a small man in a box who has been shrunk to subatomic levels. ALL of this is dropped halfway through for some thinking time and character development. While the plot is resolved, your questions about "why?" and "how does this work?" will go unanswered. The answers you do get will be arbitrary with little leadup to them.

Still, not a bad movie. I've seen worse with clumsier handling of science.

Greetings again from the darkness. Writer-director Bernardo Britto has delivered a modern-day cinematic rarity: a Science Fiction film without overblown special effects. Time travel is a vital part of the story, but at its core, this is a film about human emotions, and it has quite a message for viewers.

Mary-Louise Parker ("Weeds") stars as Zoya Lowe, a quantum physicist and our story's time traveler. Only this isn't the kind of time traveler you are thinking of. Zoya neither travels back to medieval times nor forward to some future high-tech civilization. See, the magic pills she found as a kid only take her back 5 days. This is less THE TIME MACHINE (1969) and more GROUNDHOG DAY (1993) ... without the laughs or Ned Ryerson.

Zoya has been diagnosed with 'a black hole growing in her chest.' Now, I'm not sure if that diagnosis is an actual medical affliction or rather a metaphor, but it doesn't really matter. What matters is that Zoya has been given a week to live, which means with those pills, she's forced to re-do every day since her diagnosis in hopes of discovering what the pills are and how they work. To do this, she collaborates with Paula (Ayo Edebiri, "The Bear"), a community college science student with access to the campus lab. For some reason, this particular lab hosts an extreme sci-fi secret that Zoya and Paula believe can help solve the mystery.

Part of the gag here is that Zoya must re-live the terminal diagnosis, blow out the candles on her early birthday cake, and then convince Paula to assist over and over again. As Zoya goes through her daily re-dos, the supporting cast around her consists of Carlos Jacott as her husband, Hannah Pearl Utt as her daughter, Eddie Cahill as a brilliant scientist, Fern Katz as her assisted-living mom, and Harris Yulin as her old college professor. We may overdose on the electronic music that plays through most of the movie, but there is a terrific message here - being there for others is so important, and we should focus on what really matters in this all-too-short life.

In theaters and on Digital beginning September 20, 2024.

'Omni Loop (2024)' is a low-key sci-fi dramedy about a dying woman who decides to finally try and reverse-engineer the time-travel pills she found as a child that have been allowing her to relive her final week over and over and over again. Despite the best efforts of Mary Louise Parker and Ayo Edebiri, both of whom are undeniably charming in this, the flick just feels ever-so-slightly flat. It's never quite as moving or profound as it's clearly trying to be, nor is it as funny or disarming as its mildly idiosyncratic and notably dry sense of humour initially indicates it will be. It all just plays out in a single, relatively uninspiring register. Still, it's never anything less than interesting and it's entertaining enough to keep you watching for its duration. While I can see why some people would find its end point disappointing, I personally feel that it's the only destination the affair ever even contemplated arriving at. As relatively minor as the experience is, it still feels like it's exactly what its creators intended it to be. I'm tempted to rate it higher because it is enjoyable in the moment, but it's undeniably a tiny bit underwhelming overall and I doubt it's going to stay with me for very long. Still, it's a solid effort that makes good use of its budget and cast to keep you engaged for its duration. It isn't great, but it's good enough for what it is.