I’m a fan of the original Star Trek, not a Trekkie, but a fan of the series and Roddenberry’s vision. The scripts for some of the episodes came from some of the now classic Sci-Fi authors of the time. So, I tried to watch this film without too much bias. It is a pretty good action/Sci-Fi movie. The effects are impressive. The space vehicles fun to watch and plenty of explosions. The story of James Tiberius Kirk and the U.S.S. Enterprise is a bit like putting together Star Wars with Master and Commander. You can hardly go wrong with such a combination. All the regular characters are introduced throughout the movie and it’s difficult not to make judgement on them. Uhura is hot and more involved than was culturally possible in the 1960’s. Doctor McCoy is a caricature of the original and seemed a little forced. Chekov and Sulu play their secondary roles well, but Simon Peg is the best as Scotty. You feel the spirit of James Doohan coming out. Spock is of course the main co-star and is the most developed character we see, besides Kirk. Fans will love all the requisite catch phrases and references from other Star Trek movies and there is a good looking green girl too. Eric Bana plays a great bad Romulan that keeps the story moving. No Klingons in this one. I’m sure we’ll see them in another Star Trek movie in a few years. The Star Trek franchise has been reborn. The director, J.J. Abrams, has given himself a blank slate now and can boldly go…where no man has gone before.
Archive for May, 2009
This story of the origin of Wolverine, the greatest X-Man without a doubt, was a good start to the cinema blockbuster season. There is a good story, lots of interesting characters and plenty of special effects magic. Naturally, there are rogue military assets doing bad things and love interests that just don’t work out. Mutants, mutants everywhere! They just need the proper guidance. Hugh Jackman might want to do other roles, but after Australia and the Oscars, Wolverine is what he does best. The college girls in the theatre were oohing and ahhing over his frequent half naked escapades. The comic book archives will have many origins of the X-Men, and this story may not jibe precisely with the drawn history, but it is a good action film on all levels. Strong script, very good performances, and exciting effects and CG. Hopefully, this is just the beginning of a good Spring/Summer movie roll-out. X-Men has set the bar fairly high.
Disney knows how to film nature and has a long tradition of animal stories. Earth shows slices of life in the wild kingdom around the world in all seasons. The visuals are stunning and had to take immense resources to acquire. The aerial shots are spectacular and the underwater photography pretty amazing. Earth wants to tell a story and stories need drama. Nature has plenty of drama in the life of any animal and its regular environment. The struggle to survive is universal and lends itself to typical movie themes. Wolves are antagonists and prey upon the slow and weak. Lions look tough, but are no match for elephants for the most part. The Geat White shark is a killing machine, yet no blood is shown as a seal is taken. Disney seemingly sterilizes nature to minimize the symbiotic relationship between prey and predator. Only the poor endangered Polar Bear stands out as a true victim in this film. Of course, Man is the biggest predator and the cause of Global Warming. Disney promulgates the myth of disappearing arctic ice and the poor daddy Polar Bear is the only main character who lies down and dies because he had to swim too far looking for food, or that’s what our narrator, the authoritative voice of James Earl Jones, wants us to believe. The narration is really not needed in this film. Nature speaks for itself. Earth is a sight to see, it just needs a mute button.
