Movie Review: Star Trek

Go see this movie. That's all for this review.

No. I'm kidding. There's more to this, but I had to condense a lot. I'm not a professional reviewer in any sense of the word, and I wanted to share this movie with others without spoiling it for those who haven't seen it yet. So I won't be telling you about _______. Nor will I give out the secret of _______. I think I'm getting the hang of this. ;)

The movie begins with a bang. Never let anyone say that J.J. Abrams doesn't know how to kick off a story. You get an epic space battle, side by side with a scene that yanks the heartstrings, backed by the requisite stirring score. There are a couple of slow bits after, with character introductions and whatnot. Pretty soon, though, the story kicks into gear and runs straight to the end. There are a couple of nifty fight scenes, some more space combat, and even some romantic stuff.

I never expected to hear the music of the Beastie Boys in a Star Trek movie.

Zoe Saldana as Uhura is HOT!!! The little relationship she has with _____ is nice, too.

All of the characterizations are spot-on. The new actors manage to capture the essence of their characters without directly channeling the original cast members.

There are some great lines. One of my favorites is Karl Urban's (McCoy) from the trailer: "Space is disease and danger wrapped in darkness and silence!" I've heard complaints that Urban doesn't have more to do in the movie, but I enjoyed his performance. Hell, you learn from him where the nickname "Bones" comes from.

I could go on about this all day, but I'll stop here. Like I said at the beginning: Go see this movie. You won't be disappointed.

Lots of Stuff to Come

It's only been two days since my last post, but it feels like it's been forever. Perhaps that's because of all that's happened in those last couple of days.

Thursday, I went to see Star Trek, so there will be review. I finished reading Charles de Lint's latest, The Mystery of Grace, and that means another review. Friday night, I went to the Eye of the Beholder art show at the Hershee Bar. Today, I spent all morning and most of the afternoon helping De move.

Somewhere in the middle, I completed the campaign in Halo 3.

Lots to talk about, and I will, but I have to work tonight, and if I don't catch a little nap in the middle here, I'll be no good to anyone.

Laters.

Not Yet!

No, I still haven't seen the new Star Trek movie yet. I'm going to, sometime this week, I swear. It's not like I would willingly deprive myself of another geek-out session with theangrychihuahua, or anyone else as wants to go at it. After I get my check this week, I'll go see it. Unless Nate gets his check first. I'll willingly skip a couple hours of sleep for this one.

Everyone says Chris Pine is hot, but I don't think I'll ever be able to get the picture of him as "Darwin Tremor" from Smokin' Aces out of my head. If you haven't seen Smokin' Aces, it's a hot mess of a movie. Jeremy Piven plays Buddy "Aces" Israel, a Vegas show magician with ties to the Mob. Aces is reportedly the target of a mob hit. Ryan Reynolds and Ray Liotta are FBI agents. Ben Affleck and Peter Berg are bail bondsmen. Alicia Keys and Taraji P. Henson are a pair of very hot assassins. Chris Pine and two actors I don't know are the Tremor Brothers, a trio of brain-dead white supremacist hitmen (Say that three times fast) . Then there's a rogues gallery of other assassins, cops, agents, Mafiosi, etc, ad nauseam.

I thought Smokin' Aces was a decent movie until the end, when it just sort of falls apart. The movie goes along in a certain way, rushing towards a conclusion, when a background character comes to the fore and sort-of retells the story of the movie, only the focus has changed. It's the worst example of deus ex machina I've ever seen.

I've always wanted to bitch about that movie.