Star Trek (2009) : An “exit poll” review

I am a Trek fan. There, I said it. It’s out there. Grew up on it, learned it, lived it, love it. Trek fan, somewhere between “Trekkie” and “Trekker” I guess, if you want to put it on the Boy Scout merit badge scale.

That being said, when the idea of this “re-imagining” movie came out, all I could think was “OMG… Why don’t the people in Hollywood ever come up with new ideas?” and “Great.. here comes another Battlestar Galactica style reboot, replete with sex-changed characters I’ll bet”.

Clearing that out of my head, and being the fanboy that I am, a friend and I went to see an afternoon matinee today, and I thought I’d share my quick thoughts on immediately leaving the theater, rather than letting it sink in and depress me that they can’t make “real” Star Trek movies any more.

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Storyline
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As other critics have said, “meh…” The storyline in “Star Trek” was your typical “pissed off Romulan going back into the past to exact revenge and change the future” thing. It’s sad that they couldn’t use another type of storyline, but it works out ok. ESPECIALLY when they’re trying to intertwine all these legendary characters that we’ve known and loved for decades… Just don’t expect too many Oscars.

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Special Effects / Sets
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The special effects team did a good job, better than I might have expected, but the problems I had are as follows;

- When there was an action scene, it was often TOO much happening on the screen at once to really get a feel for what was happening.

- This is supposed to be more of a remake of the 60’s era Trek, right? So why did all the ships and sets look like something out of, oh, I dunno, Deep Space 9″?

- The ICONIC bridge of the Enterprise now looks like the bastard stepchild of an 80’s discoteque and an Apple store.

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Actors / Characters
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Bruce Greenwood … Capt. Christopher Pike
A *perfect* choice to play Christopher Pike, and a GREAT way to give us the back story on the history between Pike and Kirk.. Excellent.

Zachary Quinto … Spock
Rumored to be Nimoy’s own choice, Quinto did a 100% phenomenal job at portraying a younger, half-Vulcan, half-Human Spock. I cannot imagine anyone outside of inventing a time machine and kidnapping Leonard Nimoy who could have done a better job at this role.

Karl Urban … Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy
When I first heard Karl Urban in association with this film, my mind immediately went to the near-straight-to-video “Doom” starring Dwight “The Rock” Johnson. ‘Nuff said about that… Of all the “old characters” portrayed by “new actors” in the movie, I have to admit that Urban absolutely 100% NAILED IT and it was a pleasure to watch his portrayal of a younger Dr. McCoy

Zoe Saldana … Nyota Uhura
Unfortunately, not surprised here. According to the IMDB profile, she didn’t even bother to watch the original series before taking on the role. Despite her naivety as an actress, making a character your own is one thing, but ignoring the history of a virtually household name character… that’s simply something you do NOT do. She did ok, but again zero insight into Uhura’s character didn’t help.

Chris Pine … James T. Kirk
Imagine an ego like Shatner’s Kirk growing up without a father figure and subject to a more turbulent childhood, and you get the cocky, arrogant, want-to-kick-his-ass-yourself James T Kirk that Chris Pine portrayed. Accepting the context in this new “re-imagining” that James T Kirk’s past was change, I can accept his portrayal of a bar-brawling Kirk. Decent. Not much else.

Eric Bana … Nero
Seriously, Eric Bana was in this movie? Where? (haha). Good job playing the bad guy, but — aside from being totally unrecognizable throughout the film — I can’t say much else, as the story really didn’t seem to actually go anywhere with his character.

Simon Pegg … Scotty
I am a fan of Simon Pegg. I’ve seen almost every movie he’s done, and own almost every one I’ve ever seen. That being said, I think it’s more a matter of writing that the role of “Scotty” in this film was turned into far more of a comic relief role. I’m sad to report that while Simon got a lot of laughs out of me as “Scotty”, I think Paul McGillion (the doctor on Stargate: Atlantis) would have done a more respectable job at playing the whimsical mechanical genius that is Montgomery Scott.

Leonard Nimoy … Spock Prime
Always an honor to see the master himself. Truly high points in the movie were his sheer presence on screen. Nimoy is literally what pulled the movie together for me, and for that, I say “thank you”.

John Cho .. Hikaru Sulu
Anton Yelchin … Pavel Chekov
Both excellent choices for their respective roles, and I honestly want to see more of them. Sorry to be so short, but you’re getting tired of reading, and we’re almost at the end.

Ben Cross … Sarek
Winona Rider … Amanda Grayson
Spock’s parents. Again, excellent choices, though I somehow feel old watching Winona play the role of Amanda. I’m shutting up now before I spoil it.

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Summary — aka, Thank God he’s finished talking.
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Like the eternal Spock, I am a divided soul on this movie.

On one hand, I openly and weepingly mourn the past that no longer exists. This is not the Trek that we know and love. On the other hand, I sincerely cannot fault Abrams and his team because I think they did a fantastic job with the almost Herculean task of revamping what has always been a legendary TV series.

Yes, I have my misgivings and a few issues with the film (such as the idea that a Fiberglass 1960’s Corvette could survive 200 years) but overall, the only real question I could ask of them is this:

– Did they *really* have to go “where no man’s gone before”?

Then again, as Lee would point out, I actually liked the reimagined Battlestar Galactica series… So there… (pfffft…!)

Movie review : “He’s just not that into you”.

Ok, everyone who reads this knows of my penchant for romantic comedies so I owe no one an apology for it

That being said, Sunday afternoon after lunch, I snuck off to see “He’s just not that into you” which is being billed as a romantic comedy about dating, breaking up, and coming together.

There are “chick flicks (which sometimes masquerade as date movies)” and there are “girl movies”. “He’s just not that into you” falls clearly and strongly into the latter.

While I certainly admit that I laughed a few times, adding the word comedy to the promotion is kinda misleading. Instead, what we get is a — sometimes funny, sometimes painful — look into situations that both women and men encounter while dating, or even in a committed relationship.

- The obsessive woman who goes on what she considers a great date with a guy who never returns her phone calls.
- The married man who got married out of a sense of obligation, and now finds himself attracted to another woman.
- The dating couple who’ve been together for 7 years but aren’t yet married because he doesn’t want to.

etcetera.

I have to say that the casting in this movie is absolutely phenomenal, from Aniston, to Cooper, to Barrymore, to Affleck, to well.. Just everyone in what seems like a 20 member cast. I don’t mean to leave ANYONE out, because EVERYONE did such a great job with their roles, I just would spend the entire blog talking about each individual cast member, and that’s not what it’s about.

What it is about, if I “get it”, is looking at what we — as human beings — put ourselves through to find the perfect soul mate. Presented in “chapters” or better yet, “scenarios”, the movie takes a while to put each couple through the “whyzzat” of how they got to where they are. Trouble is, and the reason I use the word “painful” is because every single one of us has gone through one or more of these scenarios on a very personal level.

Like I said, the obsessive, the cheater, the liar, the “can’t commit” guy, the user, and so forth. Sometimes, especially in my case, watching what appears to be a VERY honestly written movie can strike close to home, but in a good “substitute shrink” kind of way.

Would I recommend this movie?
Yes. I already have recommended it to a friend, but as a matinee.

Will I remember this movie after six months?
Unknown. While the subject matter was phenomenally presented, there’s just something there that is more “art film” than entertaining.

Would I buy this movie?
Yes, probably on DVD (not BluRay) because of the cast and high level of acting and the fact that ya never know when I might want to bundle up on the bed and cry myself to sleep..

Movie Review : Seven Pounds

I’ve said it before. I’m a fan of Will Smith. Always have been, with two notable exceptions, “Six Degrees of Separation” and his later “Hancock” movies. That being said, I can only summarize his latest, “Seven Pounds” in one inextricably speechless word…

WOW…

The premise of the movie isn’t exactly earth shattering for those of you who’ve seen the previews, but to say that you “figured it out” before the last 45 minutes or so would be surprised.

In a nutshell, “Ben” is an IRS-agent on a mission. Whether to pay his penance of to cure his soul, we don’t know, but for the first 2/3 of the movie, what you see seems a bit disjointed but is a very intriguing overview following Ben anonymously helping what he discovers to be good people where he sees himself as “less than ordinary”.

As the story unfolds, you get more and more of the “why”, but never in enough detail to truly understand what’s going on until the very end of the movie.

Frankly, I haven’t seen a better, or a more emotional movie in any time frame I can think of. This movie is amazing. It’s emotionally intense, and it proves once and for all that Will Smith (and Rosario Dawson) has an almost limitless gift for acting that’s just now being scratched at the surface.

If Will Smith, Rosario Dawson, and Barry Pepper don’t walk away with Oscars, there simply is NO credibility to the Academy Awards.

I’m going to go for 5 out of 5 stars here, and it moves to the top of my “Buy it Now” list when out on Blu-Ray.

Day 4: structural collapse

Day 4, and I’m literally too tired to stay awake. Woke up, went to display at the show. Everyone broke down a little early, so after breaking down the booth, I went to change into street clothes and found myself waking up and groggy 3 hours later. No Disney park for me today, so I walked out the door of the hotel and straight into Downtown Disney for a bit of a stroll and some last minute shopping.

A quick boat ride later, and I’m at the other end of the big mall, standing in line to see the latest Bond flick, Quantum of Solace.

One-paragraph review is that the latest Bond flick is much more consistent with the action in this second installment of the “reimagined Bond” starring Daniel Craig. To me, he’s much more Bond-like, much less cheesy than Roger Moore or others. This movie however really feels very much like an episodic sequel to the last movie, picking up exactly where the last left off.

Would it stand on its own? I don’t think it would because of the tightly wound continuance, but I believe that the writing for this movie was completed before the last one even wrapped. It’s that tightly linked to the last.

6.5 out of 10.

After the movie, rather than catching the boat back, I strolled the entire mall, ending up at a forgettable chain, pseudo-irish pub in search of a real Irish stew. Unfortunately since the Henry the VIII hotel in Saint Louis closed about 10 years ago, all I’ve found in “Irish Pubs” was canned beef stew with a little Guiness poured in.. Yuck…

Ended up with a yuppy Chicken dish and topped it off with a sip of 12-year-old Glenfiddich single malt scotch. Suitable, but somehow disappointing.

Costner’s Swing Vote

Been a long couple of weeks.  Went on business travel at the end of the month, got home and was pretty much wiped, which meant an entire weekend spent pretty much asleep in my bed.  Kinda funny, my internal voice was having an argument with my conscience over whether or not to get up and be motivated.   Found my way out of the house a couple of times, but it was too bleepin’ hot, so the “crawl back in bed” voice won.

This, much to the chagrin of my lawn which desperately needs my attention..

… Anyway, went to see the new movie “Swing Vote” this weekend..  You know, the new “Kevin Costner has a message about politics” movie?  Well, despite the potential to be heavy handed and left-coasty, I have to say that it was really a good movie to watch and while lots of messages were presented, none of them seem to be aimed at the viewer and more at the politicians and media, which I’m ok with skewing…

As for the rest, Kelsey Grammar and Dennis Hopper were GREAT as the respective incumbent and challenger hopeful who went out of their way to pander to Bud Johnson, Costner’s “below average, recently unemployed, beer guzzling, every-guy-with-a-heart”.

To me, the real standout of the entire movie was Molly Johnson, Bud’s 12 year old, politically conscious daughter, supremely played by Madeline Carroll who — according to the IMDB — has been acting about as long as she’s been able to talk coherently.  Well done Ms. Carroll.   Well done.

Are there any surprises in this movie?  Nah.  It’s exactly what you’d expect from Costner and crew, but it is well done, and surprisingly fun to watch.  Sort of like the same guilty pleasure you get from watching Bill Maher without all the angry, self-righteous subtext.

Movie review : Hancock

After what feels like 9 months of waiting since I’d seen the first trailer, I finally got to see the new Will Smith movie, Hancock last night.

For unknown — yet appreciated reasons, the local Regal movie theater began showing it pretty much non-stop at 7pm last night.  They also didn’t have it up on the marquee, nor were the showtimes listed anywhere in public view — I found out about it on Fandango — so that meant I had the pleasure of sitting through an opening night blockbuster with no more than 20 other people in a large theater..

Enough about that though, let’s get to the movie…

Without wanting to get into spoilers, what was billed as an “anti-hero superhero movie” got off the ground to a flying start.  Lots of action, lots of laughing, lots of faux pas being committed on the part of our grouchy anti-hero.  Destroying the streets and buildings of LA to stop criminals, then inserting one criminal’s head up another criminal’s rectal cavity is a great start and exactly where we thought everything was going from the trailers that we’d all seen for months.  Lots and lots of fun for moviegoers.

All that being said, much like the well-publicized train derailment in the trailers (and not much afterwards in the movie), where Hancock lost me as a fanboy was about half-way in, when the “anti-superhero movie” turned into “the quest to fit in and be accepted movie” and later the “where is Hancock from?” movie which seemed to drag on forever.

The explanation of the latter being extraordinarily weak at best.

Jason Bateman was great.  Will Smith as always was really, really great.  Charlize Theron was even great in the movie, so it’s not the acting that rubbed me the wrong way.  It was the heavy-handed attempt to be an emotional movie with a point.

I do honestly expect that later when the disappointment subsides, this might become one of those movies you really love, even if you’re not impressed when you initially see it in the theater.  (The original Addam’s Family movie comes to mind)  It just didn’t live up to the initial hype of a movie which kept you laughing from start to finish with a light-handed (if even tangible) sense of morality at the end.  Instead, it could be considered one of those “character studies” that you see on the Lifetime network..

Movie Review: “Don’t mess with the Zohan” — a week later

As the two people on planet earth who read this blog know, I did a “Movie Quickie” review last week of Adam Sandler’s latest movie, “Don’t mess with the Zohan”… In said review, I did admit that it had me laughing through most of the scenes.

That being said, as with most movie Quickies, now that I’ve had a chance to think about it for a week, let it sink in, and even catch a few minutes of it again, I have to wonder, what kind of crack was I smoking?

After seven days or so, I’m sitting here trying to recall the scenes that had me chuckling throughout, and I really, really can’t. As with lots of these “number 1 movie in America” (of the week) movies come and go with the best parts having been shown in the previews. I try specifically to avoid previews whenever possible, but you know how it is. This movie is proof positive that a first impression isn’t everything

A good movie introduces something into the social consciousness. Something that can be remembered, whether it’s Meg Ryan’s infamous diner scene in “When Harry Met Sally“, or something spoken which invades our public lexicon like Dr. Evil’s “One Biiiilllion dollars“… Zohan a week later, proves to have none of that. Instead, despite my initial guffaws, there is very little redeeming value to the entire movie.

Maybe it was the accents, maybe it was the over-the-top nature of it all, but in quick, rambling summation, this one is coming off of my “to buy” list, until it hits the $2.99 shelf.

Special Effects Master Stan Winston dies of cancer at 62

Stan Winston, the man synonymous with amazing special effects has left the building at age 62.

Over his long and illustrious career, Stan brought us some of the most memorable visuals to grace the silver screen, from Aliens, to the Terminator, to the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park.

My thoughts go out to his family and friends. As an avid movie buff, I can only say “Thank you Stan, your influence will be felt for generations. Your contributions never forgotten.“

CNN News report : click here

Stan Winston Studio

Movie quickie : “Don’t Mess with the Zohan”.

With me, Adam Sandler’s hitting about 50/50. Great movies like “The Waterboy”, “The Wedding Singer”, and “Little Nicky” get totally eclipsed by steaming piles like “The Longest Yard” and the marginally better “Chuck and Larry”.

In regards to “Zohan”, I’ll write a real review later. “Movie Quickies” — as always — are just my first impressions between getting home from the theater and getting to bed.  Let me just sum up in that it gets off to a REALLY rough start and should REALLY consider ditching the first five minutes, but after that I can only sum it up as “the most I’ve laughed at a completely stupid movie in a long, long time….“

Don’t expect anything but a silly movie, but go see it when you get the chance. I’d almost say “go, even at full price”, but holy crap, have you SEEN what the movies are charging for admission these days? I pay less to get my lawn mowed.

Movie quickie : “What happens in Vegas…”

Ok. So it’s 2pm in Myrtle Beach, 700 miles from the house, and my flight’s not until 8pm. I’ve done all the touristy things (which seems to be all Myrtle Beach has to offer) in the last 5 hours, so what’s left to do?

Go see a movie of course!…

Next to the airport, there’s a shopping mall (strange place for it) replete with the omnipresent movie theater. I’ve seen Indy, seen Iron Man (twice), so out of sheer boredom, I see the one movie starting at the right time that seems watchable. “What happens in Vegas” starring Ashton Kutcher and Cameron Diaz..

It’s not as though this movie was supposed to be unique, or even surprising in any way for a storyline, but I have to say that as far as wasting 2.5 hours goes, it really wasn’t bad. Some decent chemistry there, though nothing worthy of an Oscar or anything.

Worth a matinee certainly. I’d give it a 3 out of 5 on the scales of movie justice.