blanche-2 After a fashion, I really enjoyed this miniseries from 2004, "Five Days to Midnight," starring Timothy Hutton, Randy Quaid, Kari Matchett, Hamish Linklater, Angus Macfayden, and Gage Golightly.Hutton plays physics professor J.T. Neumeyer who, while visiting his wife's grave on the anniversary of her death, finds a briefcase with his name on it. Inside are news clippings that talk about his death five days from now. At first, he thinks it's a joke but ultimately believes it was sent by his brilliant but eccentric student Carl (Linklater) and perhaps is not a joke. With an 11-year-old daughter to care for, Neumeyer isn't about to go down without a fight.Complications abound, including a secret his girlfriend (Matchett) has been keeping, and his brother-in-law's financial difficulties. Then there's the implication of actually changing the future - which Carl warns him can't happen.Quantum physics is extremely interesting to me -- parallel universes and the like, time travel - unfortunately, there was not as much emphasis on this in the plot; instead, the focus seemed to be on making it into a detective story. Less interesting.My big problem was the way the discs were set up. I watched the first disc, returned it to Netflix, got the second, and immediately realized I hadn't seen one episode. I found out I wasn't the only one this happened to - the discs separate the episodes, one hour each, rather than one episode, two hours.Timothy Huttton was excellent, and all the acting was good - Hamish Linklater is always wonderful -- and all of the acting is good. Because of Hutton, you really get involved in the story and in this man's plight.If you watch this, you'll have questions - there is an excellent post on the message board that explains it all.Can we change the future, and if we do, what are the implications? Are the past, the present, and the future occurring at the same time? If we try to change it, are we doomed to the same fate even if the circumstances change? Movies have been asking these questions for years. "Five Days to Midnight" also deals with the future sending us messages. It's all fascinating -- I just wish there had been more of it.

Rick Blaine Yes, we watched enthralled; at least the last episodes. We felt it was too much special effects, all too moody music, and way too much time wasting melodrama. Knowing we had a four hour stretch to weary our way through, we took our time until we knew we were near the denouement, at which point we watched more closely and could then feel the excitement building.But remember: it's television. Television is made in an entirely different way, no matter the artistic ambitions. This would never work in a watered down two hour format at the theatre - it just plays as television. If you're all right with television, fine; if television leaves you flat and wanting to see real cinema instead, this 'movie' will leave you flat too.The device of this movie demands a 'conceit' - and a consequent suspension of disbelief - that you either buy into or else you won't like the whole thing much.After a night of sleep we woke mostly feeling we'd wasted our time. It's not so much the movie makers' fault - remember: it's television.

Nick Damian Wow, I'm amazed at how cool this film was. The entire construction of plot, character and general build is just amazing.What I do not like about it is that the town is supposed to be Everett Washington, but is actually Vancouver, British Columbia.While I think that the entire film is just awesome, the setting should have been Vancouver. It is just very obvious.The buildings, streets, general layout all points to Vancouver...the train station, sky-train, buses and Chinatown/Gastown all reads Vancouver, so why not just call it Vancouver.That aside, what a magnificent film, cast, crew and writers. I am really overwhelmed by the entire package, and yes...I knew who had sent the briefcase, but no...I was not expecting the murderer to be who it was, although I had a suspicion.Very clever, very crafty.It just comes to show, that there are still some creative heads in the film industry with original ideas.

donleo22-1 I was hooked and just awaiting part 4. Timothy Hutton did a great job and Gage Golightly was just outstanding. (And she does resemble Drew Barrymore) She has talent! Very inspiring to see her with such great strength and intelligence. This character could be a role model for the adults! Hopefully will see her in other projects down the road if she so desires! Let's face it; this generated the buzz on the bulletin boards. I am just glad there are stories with plot lines that you can still see on TV. I'm not a fan on reality programming so good or bad, it is great to watch something that is rare on TV today. (Sad isn't it!) So my thanks to Sci Fi for bring new shows to the public. And on a final note; the music used on this series was great.