SmugKitZine Tied for the best movie I have ever seen

Solidrariol Am I Missing Something?

AnhartLinkin This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

Luecarou What begins as a feel-good-human-interest story turns into a mystery, then a tragedy, and ultimately an outrage.

marieltrokan Impenetrability, that's irresponsible, is vulnerability that's responsible. Vulnerability is weakness. Weakness that's responsible is weakness that's careful. Weakness that's careful is strength that's careless.Carelessness is mindlessness. Mindlessness is randomness. Randomness is lack of intent.Strength is authority. Authority is logic. Logic is the lack of intent - logic is the lack of foresight.Foresight is foreknowledge. Foreknowledge is advantage.Logic is the lack of advantage.Advantage is necessity of battle.Logic is the lack of battle being necessary.The lack of battle is peace.Logic is peace being necessary.Necessity is certainty.Logic is peace being certain.Certainty is redundancy of battleLogic is peace being redundancy of battle.Logic is peace being the illusion of pointlessnessLogic is the illusion of pointlessness being goodLogic is the weakness of illusion being goodThe weakness of illusion is the strength of realityThe strength of reality is the illusion of strengthLogic is the goodness of illusion being goodLogic is the goodness of false goodnessLogic is the goodness of fair evilFair evil is the illusion of evilLogic is the goodness of evil being an illusionThough charming, Nick of Time is a disheartening film for its ethos is that goodness should be preoccupied with evil just being an illusion - or better yet, that it's good that illusion can't be inspiring

SnoopyStyle Accountant Gene Watson (Johnny Depp) arrives on the train with his daughter Lynn from San Diego. Mr. Smith (Christopher Walken) and Ms. Jones (Roma Maffia) are debating about people at the train station and pick out Gene and his daughter. They flash a badge and take them back to their van. They kidnap his daughter and demand that he murder Gov. Eleanor Grant (Marsha Mason). He has less than ninety minutes. With Smith watching over him, he is finally able to convince Grant's assistant Krista Brooks (Gloria Reuben). Smith kills her revealing a big conspiracy within Grant's inner circle. Gene has only shoeshine guy Huey (Charles S. Dutton) to turn to.It's an intriguing premise of a thriller taking place mostly in real time. It does feel like the movie is trying too hard. Walken keeps coming by injecting his weirdness as threats. It needs a few moments of quiet to build up the intensity. I would also think that Gene would take the shot when he has Jones cornered with his daughter. There are a few moments where the movie stuck me as wrong. I like the premise more than the result.

petra_ste With movies like The 39 Steps, The Man Who Knew Too Much, Rear Window and North by Northwest, Hitchcock perfected the template of the thriller with the ordinary guy enmeshed in a crime/conspiracy - a model which inspired directors like De Palma, Argento, Zemeckis, Fincher and countless others.The plot? Conspirators kidnap everyman Johnny Depp's daughter and blackmail him into murdering a politician.Unfortunately, the movie commits a few serious blunders. First, as magnetic a presence as Walken is, villains in these scenarios are best used as ominous, vague threats in the background. Here, Depp keeps bumping into a grimacing, threat-spouting Walken every two minutes, so any sense of menace fades and the story takes a farcical turn. Second, when it becomes apparent *everyone* is involved in the conspiracy, suspension of disbelief shatters into tiny pieces. Why introduce such an erratic element in your plan when you have this kind of complete control over the situation? The movie reaches its nadir with an incredibly clichéd dream sequence halfway through, but even the rest is far from stellar. Hitchcock, this ain't.5/10

thesar-2 Previously, when initially released in 1995 and in years following, I was a huge fan of Nick of Time. I had loved Johnny Depp's straight man performance, even though in 1995, he hadn't gone all crazy-role just yet.It's been probably well over a decade since I've last seen this movie and back in the 1990s, I had seen it multiple times. Today, it somewhat holds up.I still like Johnny in a non-looney role – ironically, I think he's trying too over-the-top for his past decade roles in order to be original, and yet, it might actually be original for him to return to this kind of character. I also appreciate Christopher Walken in pretty much anything, including this and always have liked Roma Maffia. I dig that chick.The movie cannot be taken seriously and you might enjoy it a little more. I don't think they were trying for anything too heavy and as a short and tight thriller with actual decent performances (not mentioned above, but still good, was shoe-shinning Charles S. Dutton,) it's entertaining.Pre-24 days, everyday man, Gene (Depp,) travels via train with his daughter when they're approached and coerced into assassinating the Governor at a nearby hotel and rally. Basically, and the plot is basic, two parties, Walken's Mr. Smith and Maffia's Mrs. Smith are watching Gene and his daughter, respectively and separately. Gene can't go to the police because bad man Mr. Smith's got eyes everywhere and his daughter is unaware she's in danger.Oh, and he's got 90 minutes to get close to and kill the Governor, or his daughter dies. Probably him, too.On the surface – or from a distance, the premise seems exciting and thrilling. And for the most part, the ingeniousness of Gene to handle something, including a gun, that he's never had to before, was pretty entertaining. But, once watched, it does show a little bit of B-movie qualities that reminds us again: don't take this seriously.Sure, I recommend it, but if I watched it for the first time today, I probably wouldn't have seen it the many times I did back in the 1990s.