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Starring: Leslie Odom Jr., Cynthia Erivo, Orlando Bloom, Freida Pinto, Jadyn Wong
OUR RATING: ★★½
Story:
Sci-fi romance written and directed by John Ridley. Set in the near future, Needle in a Timestack (2021) follows Nick and Janine (Leslie Odom, Jr. and Cynthia Erivo), who live in marital bliss, until Janine’s ex-husband, Tommy Hambleton (Orlando Bloom), warps time to try to tear them apart using Nick’s college girlfriend, Alex Leslie (Frieda Pinto). As Nick’s memories and reality disappear, he must decide what he’s willing to sacrifice in order to hold onto, or let go of everything he loves.
Our Favorite Quotes:
'Happiness is the only thing more fleeting than time.' - Tommy Hambleton (Needle in a Timestack) Click To Tweet
Best Quotes
Janine Mikkelsen: Love is drawn in the form of a circle. No one knows where it begins. And it never really ends. You and I, we are just forever. Always, and all ways.
Nick Mikkelsen: Sometimes when you’re not looking, I watch you from across the room. And I ask myself, if I didn’t know you, would I still fall in love with you?
Janine Mikkelsen: And what’s the answer?
Zoe Mikkelsen: You and Janine should come rock climbing with us.
Nick Mikkelsen: No. No. I don’t like doing things where I could potentially…
Zoe Mikkelsen: Have fun?
Nick Mikkelsen: Get killed.
Nick Mikkelsen: Who are you married to?
Janine Mikkelsen: I’m married to you, Nicholas Perry Mikkelsen. See? Nothing’s changed. We’re okay. We’re fine, we’re still together. You can’t panic over every little time shift, okay?
Nick Mikkelsen: That’s weird, don’t you think?
Janine Mikkelsen: What?
Nick Mikkelsen: Sibila and Zoe. Having a best friend who doesn’t speak English.
Janine Mikkelsen: That’s not weird. It’s different. Different doesn’t make it weird.
Janine Mikkelsen: Tommy used to be your friend.
Nick Mikkelsen: That was before. That was way before. He wants you back, Janine. He wants you back! And now he’s going jaunting through time, to make us never happen!
Janine Mikkelsen: [to Nick] The only reason we’re together is because of Tommy. I never marry Tommy, I never meet you. Never.
Nick Mikkelsen: Something’s not right.
Janine Mikkelsen: Will you stop it? Please. We’ve been married for five years. We have a cat, Charlie, who we adore. We have each other. You always say to me that even if you didn’t know me, you would still love me. No one can make us not happen. No one.
Zoe Mikkelsen: Honestly, to me the part that’s a little pathetic is you and him fighting over Janine. You’re like cavemen.
Nick Mikkelsen: Yeah, well, she’s my wife.
Zoe Mikkelsen: She was Tommy’s wife first.
Nick Mikkelsen: They got a divorce!
Zoe Mikkelsen: [to Nick, referring to Tommy and Janine] Maybe you changed their lives a little. I’m not saying on purpose, but maybe there’s something that you did that changed them just enough for them to not be a couple anymore.
Zoe Mikkelsen: Sometimes change isn’t a bad thing. Remember Alex? You used to be so sure that you were going to marry her.
Nick Mikkelsen: Alex was long before I met Janine. I’m not losing my wife to her ex-husband.
Zoe Mikkelsen: You talk about Tommy being obsessed. You are so worried about life not changing, you are going to end up losing what you have.
Nick Mikkelsen: You’ve got a lot of advice for somebody who’s never actually been in a relationship.
Tommy Hambleton: You never been jaunting? It’s amazing. Time traveling. The past doesn’t just belong to old photos and history books anymore. Now, we can live it. Touch it. Be part of it.
Nick Mikkelsen: Change it.
Tommy Hambleton: Nobody can really change the past. Just clean up the present a little.
Nick Mikkelsen: I’m afraid that one day I’ll wake up and Janine won’t be there, I won’t remember her, or being married to her. I’m worried somebody’s trying to break me and Janine up.
Tommy Hambleton: Why would that surprise you? Janine’s an amazing person. As soon as we got divorced, she couldn’t wait to marry you.
Nick Mikkelsen: I didn’t steal Janine from you.
Tommy Hambleton: Nobody belongs to anybody, Nick. But you meet a person, you become their partner. And once you’re together, you alter maybe a dozen other timelines. None of them ever happened, because one relationship negates all other possibilities.
Tommy Hambleton: Love is its own kind of crime, and every time we fall in love, we’re just stealing a person from somebody else, and all the possibilities that come with them.
Tommy Hambleton: Let me tell you something. I was lucky one time in my life. The day I met Janine. And if I’d really known that, I never would’ve let our marriage fall apart. So, you know, from the man who lost her, to the man who’s with her, cherish the day, Nick. Be happy. Happiness is the only thing more fleeting than time.
Janine Mikkelsen: [referring to Tommy] I was married to him. You don’t just stop caring about the people you used to love.
'Don't regret the past. The past is what brings us to where we need to be.' - Alex Leslie (Needle in a Timestack) Click To Tweet
Janine Mikkelsen: I know you used to be friends with Tommy, and because you despise him you think I should just be able to hate him too. But it’s different for me. You’ve never been married before. I spent almost eight years with Tommy, and that doesn’t just go away. I don’t love him, but I don’t not care about Tommy, and I can’t forget about the time we spent together. Because the good, bad, the everyday things, because every day led to the moment that I met you.
Janine Mikkelsen: The money Tommy spends on going back in time to try to break us up. He can’t undo us. Only we can do that. Love is drawn in the form of a circle. No one knows when it begins. And it never really ends. You and I, we’re just, we’re forever. Always, and all ways.
Nick Mikkelsen: [to Zoe] I used to joke with Janine I didn’t get it. I didn’t get it, how you have a best friend, you don’t speak the same language. But that’s how tight you two were. You didn’t need to speak the same language to be with one another, care about one another. And when you care about somebody, that’s all that matters.
Zoe Mikkelsen: I didn’t have a clue what it was like to lose somebody you love. Hold onto her, Nick. With everything you’ve got. Hold onto your wife.
Nick Mikkelsen: [to Janine] Just be with me always. And all ways.
Nick Mikkelsen: [after another timeshift] Wherever you are, whenever you are, I will find you. Okay? We’ll find our way back. Alright? Janine?
Nick Mikkelsen: [referring to Janine] I’m starting to forget my wife. I’m starting to lose her.
Alex Leslie: There’s something different with us. I know things don’t change overnight, but it feels like they have. We’re just becoming so distant, and I don’t know why. And I miss spending time with Nick.
Tommy Hambleton: [referring to Nick] We’re not really that close anymore. He and I, we kind of had a falling out.
Janine Mikkelsen: [referring to Alex] Over her?
Tommy Hambleton: Why did you say it like that?
Janine Mikkelsen: Because when guys have a falling out, usually it’s over a woman.
Tommy Hambleton: It wasn’t over her. I always wanted them together. I thought they’d be good for each other. I really thought they’d be happy.
Alex Leslie: [to Nick] Look, if it’s over, just tell me. Because something is different, and I can feel it. I know things change. But I always thought you and I would be timeless. I come home at night, and you’re there, and I’m here, and I just don’t see us. I don’t. So it needs to get better, or it needs to be done, but I’m not going to put up with not knowing which. Because I shouldn’t have to. I deserve better than that.
Trailer: