Showbits

Time travel is a fascinating concept that is bafflingly unpopular at the box office. With the exception of Back to the Future, few films that dabble in this science fiction staple have become household names — and those that do, such as The Lakehouse and Click, owe their recognition more to the stars than the plots.

Yet even Sean "Hobbit" Astin couldn't elevate Slipstream out of obscurity. But before I review this film, I'd like to rewind the clock and examine its ancestry of other little-known time travel films: Time After Time, Time Changer, Timestalkers, Out of Time, and Happy Accidents.

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[Editor's note: I'm not in the habit of using Showbits to repost press releases verbatim. But this one comes from a fan club, not a corporation — and the club supports one of my favorite films of all time, featuring one of my favorite actors of all time. Thus, an exception follows.]

Somewhere in Time BIG NEWS! Our Annual "June 27, 1912" Newsletter…..

JANE SEYMOUR is expected to attend the Somewhere in Time Weekend at Grand Hotel in October (Oct. 26–28, 2007). This will be the 17th Annual SIT Weekend, and Jane's second time attendance. She has not joined us since 2002.

Jane will arrive on Saturday afternoon. She has made the SIT Weekend a stop on her book tour, for her new decorating book, "Making Yourself at Home" a very personal look at Jane's own home in Malibu, CA. The book features 150 color photos of every room in Jane's home…and includes tips on making your own home a reflection of your taste, with seasonal change suggestions, tablescapes, themes, etc.

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I don't often watch trailers of films I've never heard of (self-defeating, I know), but something about the title of I Am Legend struck me as familiar, so I loaded the preview of Will Smith's latest film. It's about the supposed last man on Earth, wandering a desolate New York City. Oh, but wait — "he's not alone".

So it's a horror flick. Yawn. I was hoping for something a bit more sci-fi and culturally declarative, like last year's Children of Men (not that I saw it, but great concept). Except for vaguely resembling Y: The Last Man (why can't they make a movie of THAT?), I don't know why I was drawn to this trailer.

Some cursory sleuthing revealed the answer: the movie is based on a book by Richard Matheson. Aha! Mr. Matheson has written several other books that were adapted to films: What Dreams May Come, Bid Time Return, and Stir of Echoes among them. I've read the former two books and consistently showed the second's film adaptation — Somewhere in Time, starring Jane Seymour and my hero, Christopher Reeve — in the film studies course I used to teach. Considering the poetic, romantic, philosophical themes of those two titles, I'm surprised to discover Mr. Matheson wrote horror as well — though given that the main character of I Am Legend spends most of the book alone, I suspect this novel, like his others, lends itself well to a first-person, introspective narrative. I've not read the book, but I'm interested in seeing how well the author, style, and genre translate to the silver screen, considering what I consider to be his past successes.

See also: Reinventing the Reel comments