For my at-home vacation, my husband and I were originally going to see both Wolverine and Star Trek. We decided to only see one movie, and Star Trek won without much debate. I like Hugh Jackman and all, but the idea of so much violence didn't appeal to me. And wherever there's Wolverine, there's violence. We'll probably get the DVD. After a trial rental.
So anyway, we caught the 9:45 AM showing of Star Trek this morning (Friday--this post will take me a few days to write).
Star Trek was my first exposure to science fiction. Sometime during the Nixon Administration, they started showing the reruns on TV and I didn't want to miss anything, including the opening. And so, that's when I started watching the news, because Star Trek was on just after the 6 o'clock news. Along with the drama of Watergate, I got to watch such classics as For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky (which was my all-time favorite), along with The Trouble with Tribbles, The Doomsday Machine, and too many others to list.
I really can't go into a plot synopsis because . . . well, even if I told you why, it would give away the premise behind the movie. Instead, I'll give a general two thumbs up (two of my own thumbs, that is) and stress that the story is entirely fresh. Expect nothing that is familiar except the characters.
I'll also go over each character and give you my impressions. That's a lot more fun, anyway.
James T. Kirk
Chris Pine played a very solid Kirk without attempting to emulate William Shatner's portrayal too closely. The producers appeared to be very careful not to make Jim a pretty boy. He's rough-and tumble, just as Kirk ought to be, and very likable. And he doesn't get the girl! He spends most of the movie either bloody, scarred-up or both. Check him out in this image with Spock. He looks like this--or much worse--throughout the movie.
Spock
Zachary Quinto did an extremely faithful portrayal of Spock. In fact, he did a better job playing Spock than did Leonard Nimoy, but I think he was trying to be true to the Spock from the TV series rather than the softer Spock from the movies. And look at what a pretty face he has! Altogether a stunningly faithful portrayal. It must have benefited Quinto to have Nimoy on hand.
Dr. Leonard McCoy
Karl Urban's portrayal of Bones was my hands-down favorite. When he yelled, "I'm a doctor, Jim, not a ___!" the entire theater applauded. Not only is he simply adorable as an actor (the above picture doesn't do him justice), he was absolutely true to DeForest Kelly's style. It was almost a homage. And I loved that he called Jim "kid". It kind of reminded me of Harrison Ford as Han Solo.
Montgomery Scott
Simon Pegg was pretty adorable as Scotty, too. He showed up at about the time I was beginning to think they scratched Mr. Scott's part from the script. The accent was perfect and the producers did not make him the Highland Hunk that I feared. And his pet is great!
Uhura
I wasn't thrilled with Zoe Saldana's portrayal of Uhura. She's beautiful and all, and a capable actress, but she just didn't seem to have Uhura down at all. Her Uhrua was rather fiery and passionate, and I recall Uhura as being calm, serene and almost mystical. Part of the problem was the way her part was written, I'm sure. And what was with the romance between her and . . . well, I'd better not say.
Pavel Chekov
Anton Yelchin played a very fun Pavel Chekov. As in Star Trek IV, they played with Chekov's accent ( who could forget "nuclear wessel") and he was comic relief as well. He didn't have a huge part, but it was fun and faithful, and he got to save the day in at least one way, and he was so cute I just wanted to pinch his cheek.
Hikaru Sulu
John Cho played a solid and dependable Sulu. He got to kick some butt at one point with a nifty collapsable sword. And he saves Kirk's life with said sword. Like Chekov, he didn't get a lot of screen time, but he did a great job with the voice.
What about the rest? Some Star Trek tropes make it into the movie, such as The Guy in Red Who Always Dies, the weird spaceships, and the time travel. It was fun and reasonably intelligent, and most certainly leaves the option open for future episodes. It inspired a Star Trek Oldie weekend, and we even got my daughter hooked. We will certainly buy the DVD. This is a must-see for Star Trek fans, especially fans like myself who didn't really get into any of the other series. And as per a recent spoof on The Onion, it is also something that people will actually want to watch, whether you are a lifelong fan or not.
I've never been much a of a sports fan, but that has been changing in recent years. One thing I've always enjoyed--despite my lackadaisical athletic ability--are sports movies. There's just something about them that gets me in the guts. Remember The Bad News Bears? Wonderful. Chariots of Fire? Unforgettable. More recently, we had A Knight's Tale, which despite it's historical nature and playful plot is, at its heart, a sports movie.
Facing the Giants has been out on DVD for a while, now. But I just saw it.
Grant is a discouraged high school football team coach who has just barely managed to hang onto his job after his sixth consecutive losing season. He and his wife live in an old fix-er-upper with a mysterious stench, the car dies on a regular basis and they can't seem to have children. Oh, and the infertility is Grant's fault. His players abandon him every year during their senior year, seeking out winning schools while in search of sports scholarships. So Grant only has 32 players. The player's parents and some of the school faculty are plotting to have him fired.
In the grand scheme of things, these aren't huge problems, except the infertility. All the major characters have their health and a place to live. However, the devil is always in the details, and it's the small things that tend to wear us down, isn't it? It's Grant's determination that wins our sympathy.
After prayer and discussions with the pastor/principal and his wife, Grant decides to take a new approach. During one unforgettable scene, he illustrates to the rest of the team how than can do so much better than they suspect. He picks the biggest, strongest guy on the team and gets the guy to promise to give his absolute best--everything he has. Then, the coach ties a blindfold around his eyes. On his hands and feet, he must crawl as far as he can go--with another guy clinging to his back. Grant then proceeds to urge him down the field, reminding him of his promise, telling him to give all he has, to do his best until he has nothing left to give.
The movie is worth watching for this scene alone. There are few times in my life when I gave a task everything I had. Basic Training was one of those times. The military--no matter what your branch of service--has a way of dragging your best out of you. Giving birth through a failed epidural was another. Imagine how much better we can all do in life if we ran around giving it our all-out best until we had nothing left. One girl on my high school cross-country team used to vomit after every race. She is one of those who gave it her all. She also was one of our top runners. I try to give my writing my best--whether on this blog or elsewhere--but writing isn't a performance sport, and it can be tweaked and improved right up until it's published, or until you hit "publish post" and the feed readers suck it out to the Internet at large.
This is a Christian movie, and it broke into the mainstream a few years ago. It has the message that if you give God everything you have, He will overflow your life with blessings. I'm not going to argue with the theology behind this message, but I did think the movie would have been stronger had there been one problem left unsolved by the end, perhaps leaving the characters feeling strong enough to face it. A father in a wheelchair is still in the wheelchair at the end, but that's about it
I know that the movie is trying to send a message, but I think it also sets up too many expectations, especially for non-believers. We will all always have problems to contend with, for as long as we are on this world.
Still, I loved this movie. It was funny and touching, and reduced me to tears at several points. I should have seen the ending coming, but I didn't. It just about sent me over the edge. It's some great storytelling.
A couple of weeks ago, on the very day of the release, my husband bought Enchanted for my daughter. Well, actually he bought it for me. But now my daughter has appropriated it.
Enchanted is about Giselle (Amy Adams of Junebug), a maiden from the animated magic kingdom of Andalasia, and her adventures in New York City. It starts with a super-sappy beginning similar to The Little Mermaid's statue scene, where Giselle has made a statue of her dream prince out of various odds and ends. All she lacks are lips. Therefore, she summons her animal friends with the power of her voice, and they all come help her solve the Lip Dilemma.
If it sounds sappy, you're right. It's sappy syrup poured on as thick as liquid concrete. And it's supposed to be that way.
All the while, she's singing about finding her true love. Cut to Prince Edward (James Marsden of the X-Men movies), who has just captured a giant troll. He hears her voice (a la Sleeping Beauty) and he goes off in search of her. So does the troll. At length, Giselle falls into Edward's arms and it's instantaneous love.
Or so they think.
After the evil granny from Snow White--who is actually the evil queen Narissa (Susan Sarandon)--pushes Giselle down a well, Giselle clambers out of a manhole in New York City. And the adventure begins when she meets divorce lawyer Robert (Patrick Dempsey) and his young daughter, Morgan (Rachael Covey).
The highlights of the film are the over-the-top songs. Disney spoofs itself throughout the entire film. Since I have a young daughter, I'm quite familiar with all the Disney movies. Readily identifiable were spoofs on Snow White (the Happy Working Song), Cinderella (the bubble scene), and Beauty and the Beast (Giselle running through a grassy field). And those are just the spoofs from the musical numbers. However, these scenes are like Easter eggs. I think you could enjoy the movie just fine without an encyclopedic knowledge of Disney flicks.
For me, Marsden stole the show from Dempsey. I watched him during the X-Men movies, where he played Scott Summers, a tightly-controlled character. In Enchanted, he flung off all restraint. Who knew he could sing? He leaps, he prances, he slays a bus. The best scene is where Nathaniel (Timothy Spall, who played Peter Pettigrew in the Harry Potter movies), a gardner back in Andalasia and a not-so-typical evil henchman, ask Prince Edward if he likes himself. Edward merely smiles and says, "What's not to like?" And he's right. Edward is somewhat dense and full of himself, but thoroughly likable.
Dempsey plays an understated character next to all these animations-come-to-life. His best scene is when Edward asks him if he has any last words while brandishing a sword at his throat. Robert says, "You have GOT to be kidding." Edward is perplexed and says, "Strange words." Well, maybe that wasn't his best scene, but I don't want to give it all away.
My daughter has watched this movie over and over, and my husband sat down and watched it with her yesterday. Even he liked it, and horror movies like 28 Days are usually more to his taste. It has a lot of humor that grown-ups can enjoy, and the syrupy sappy parts are so ridiculous that they will make you burst out laughing.
Go out and rent it, or buy it like we did. It's great fun.
I've never reviewed a movie here before, and I probably will only do so occasionally. (For example, I'm counting the days for Enchanted to come out, and I'll probably inflict that upon you once I've seen it.) I was given an opportunity to review a publicist-provided DVD of Highlander, the Source, so I decided to give it a try.
Since I had not seen any Highlander films beyond the first one, I did a little research and found out the differences between Highlander the films and Highlander the TV series. This movie is definitely for viewers of Highlander, the TV series. In the interest of complete disclosure, I feel compelled to say that I've never seen an episode of the Highlander TV series. (In fact, I hardly watch TV at all.)
I bushed up on the TV series history at Wikipedia and sat down to give it a watch. A bit of background was definitely necessary, and I found myself explaining things to my husband as the movie went on. Here's the blurb:
Immortals, they have secretly dwelt among us for thousands of years but their origins have been shrouded in mystery. The answers, Prophets say, are to be found in The Source. The last band of eternal warriors, lead by Duncan MacLeod, the Highlander, have set out on a treacherous quest to find the origin of their immortality. But to learn the truth, they must first defeat The Guardian of the Source, a powerful killer who will destroy all who seek its secrets.
My husband didn't enjoy this movie at all, and I only found it slightly more enjoyable than he. The movie was grittier than I like, and the tendency to play loud rock music and use eerie lighting every time the Guardian came onscreen was annoying. And why was something called a "guardian" actually a destroyer? The blurb promises answers to longstanding mysteries of immortality, but I didn't hear any answers that I understood. The footage of the planets lining up deserves a complaint; we never see the planets from earth as huge disks in the sky. (It would really mess with our ocean tides if we did! )
However, I found the quest for mortality interesting, along with how the immortals lost their immortality the closer they drew near the Source. The ending had a gentle touch and probably put an end to any hope of any more sequels.
The DVD is supposed to have the usual features, but I could not get the closed captions or subtitles to work. This could have been operator error, or I may not have had a fully functional DVD. The special features include several features such as a behind-the-scenes documentary, storyboard-to-scene comparisons and a tribute to Bill Panzer, one of the producers, plus more.
