|
Movie Week: 5/7/09 to 5/14/09 By: Gavin Mooney Sorry I’ve been on a bit of a hiatus but have not been to the movies recently and wasn’t in the mood to write or finish my other article ideas. I find writing about the movies I see in the theatres the only ones fun to write about. Hopefully I can break this trend and be back regularly but who knows. Its an epic week this week because of the HUGE season finale of Lost which does now occupy my thoughts on these last days running up to it. I might even break down and have a special Lost movie week edition coming up... who knows? What I can say is I have three movies to talk about which I guarantee at least one you’ll want to see.
X-Men Origins: Wolverine - The fourth X-Men movie to be up on the big screen and it wasn’t too shabby. It blows that piece of crap X-Men 3 out the fucking water that’s for sure seeing as how that movie was so awful I actually tried to get my money back. And not to mention it screwed up my whole DVD collection because now I’ll have this gap where the movie should go but never will because I refuse to give that movie anymore money for fear they might try to make another one. PLEASE DON’T!!!!!! Wolverine was alright given the direction that these franchise movies go after 2 or 3 movies. Hugh Jackman was awesome yet again as the one of Marvels most familiar and most popular characters. The computer graphics were a little overdone this time because for the first time in 4 movies Wolverine’s claws looked more digital than they ever have before. It hasn’t look this bad since X-Men one in the bar fight scene. The story was alright, with the writers taking liberties where they wanted as they always do. One nice and long overdue addition to the X-Men movie universe was Gambit. I’ve been waiting 4 movies for one of my favorite X-Men characters and he’s finally arrived.... only to be FUCKEDUP!! Three complaints: one, not French or Creole enough, take your pick, I don’t care, he wasn’t it; two they of course took liberties with his power making it kinda cool and kinda different but not entirely the same power; three, Gambit can’t run on walls! All in all the movie was enjoyable and watchable. I would definitely check this movie out while it is in theatres because the big screen gives it an epic-ness that will definitely be lost when it comes out on DVD and the movie just won’t be as good. If you’re an action nut, comic nut, or you just liked the first two X-Men movies check this one out, you’ll enjoy it.
State of Play - What can I say... Ben Affleck! On the serious side this was actually pretty good. Russel Crow was very good in this movie as well as Afleck and Rachel Adams. The story itself was very deep and complex. This movie is not for everyone but if you like heavy, well thought out, layered movies you should definitely check this one out. Russel Crow plays a reporter for D.C. newspaper who happens to be a friend of a Senator, played by Afleck, who is the middle of a huge political scandal. Through Crow’s connections and fine reporting skills he attempts to unravel the “real story” while still be loyal to the press and his friend at the same time. Pretty heavy right there but it gets better! The movie delves into issues like the privatization of homeland security; the ramifications of hiring mercenaries to fight American wars; the influence of the internet over the print media, and how print is going out of style; the effect those two things have on the merit, validity and accuracy of the news we do receive; and how the drive to report anything rather than something in order to make a buck is destroying the quality of news we receive in the modern era. HEAVY! But the movie was good. I personally really enjoyed it. Whether you see it in the theatres or not really will not take away from the enjoyment of the movie. It’s been out for a couple weeks now, so if you got a lull in your movie schedule and aren’t sure what to fill it with this movie would be good. Plus... Ben Afleck dude.
Star Trek - I have a lot to say. First thing is first. Sunday morning when I awoke one of the first thoughts that ran through my head was, “I want to see ‘Star Trek’ again.” It was at least that good. If I had to ever set a scale to judge movies it would be as follows: Never gonna give it the time of day, Piece of crap, Watch it on HBO, Rent it, See it, Buy it, Will Pay money to see it again. Now you may think for that last one, “Isn’t that buy it?” but no it isn’t and I’ll tell you why. If it comes out on DVD and is say $11, that would be the price of a movie ticket but I can watch it as many times as I want whenever I want. But if I spend that $11 at the movie theatre, ONE TIME ONLY. I will have to say, all my complaints aside it is worth more than one go on the big screen. Plus a movie this epic can only be properly enjoyed on the big screen. It will lose so much when it comes out on DVD. The Space fight scenes were awesome! The action was great, the dialogue was really good, the cast was AMAZING!, and did I say the space fights were AWESOME! Zachary Quinto, Sylar on Heroes, was great as Spock depicting the inner dichotomy of the character wonderfully. Simon Pegg was hilarious as Scotty. John Cho, Harold, rocked as Sulu. Anton Yelchin, “Charlie Bartlet” or the dead kid from “Alpha Dog,” was spectacular as a young Checkov. Mark my words that kid is going places. He has taken his spot next to Emile Hersh in my book as an actor to watch in anything he is in. Movie might be crap but he’ll be good. Eric Bana, the dude from “Munich” and Hector in “Troy,” kicked ass in this move. Karl Urban, dude from “Pathfinder” and “Doom,” depicted bones very well and spot on. Everyone was in this thing even Winona Ryder. This movie was pretty epic and a commendable attempt by J.J Abrams to tackle this epic story franchise adored by millions. If you got $11 you need to spend it on this. Sci-fi fan or not you’ll gonna enjoy this movie.
If you have not watched “Star Trek” the article ends here for you. Unfortunately I too require a forum to geek out on for this movie I now I have one. Spend $11 and go see it. Enjoy the movie. For Everyone Else Enjoy... ...And now a little WHAT THE FUCK! (spoilers, please highlight to read) What the fuck Abrams?! Where do you get off just changing everything around?! Blowing up Vulcan? That’s pretty heartless dude. But seriously, I am a HUGE!!!! fan of Lost and was looking very forward to your take on Star Trek, but on some things you took it just a little too far (But the space battles were AWESOME!!!!!!!). The whole movie wasn’t bad and some of the things you did, I have to say, were pretty clever and ingenious. I have much to say. One thing, Zachary Quinto showed a little too much emotion for Spock. Hooking up with Uhura, c’mon? Warp speed, clever take on it. Shit just popping up when you come out of it and you can’t really see or do anything at warp, which kinda clarified it a bit for me but there are other examples to the contrary embedded within the series’. I like how you ripped off the entire Star Trek franchise by putting every memorable piece of classic Star Trek dialogue in the movie. At one point I was like, “...shit every huge quote is in this. How on Earth is he gonna get Kirk to scream KHAAAAAAAN!!!” Very well done homage to the original franchise which you are now trying to reshape and possibly breathe new life into. I have to admit that I am secretly a big Star Trek fan. I’ve boldly went where I could with the original, I was addicted to the Next Generation, 5 years after it was off the air I went into Deep Space, and again 5 years after it’s cancellation I took the Voyage home, and maybe 5 years from now I’ll even see how it all started. I’m not the biggest fan and my viewer ship can be described as casual at best but I have devoted much time to this franchise and have an adequate love its familiar settings. So not only do I say “What the Fuck?!” but I tip my hat to you for finding really the only way to reenergize a franchise that has pretty much given us every story we care to hear from it. The alternate time line dimension story line....LAME! Now true over the years Star Trek has on more than hundreds of occasions laid the groundwork for these story lines but your movie lacks one thing, returning things back the way they should be element. Clever and foolish. Your movie leaves us in this universe with these events now being the groundwork for our entire Star Trek universe. What the fuck? You can’t just go changing things. I am sure, and have heard but not read, fanboys everywhere are up in arms about this. And this could very well make or break the future of the Star Trek we all know and love, which is why I must ultimately tip my hat. You have laid the groundwork for the 2.0 version of Star Trek. Much like a comic book franchise will use the same characters, villains, and even on occasion story lines Star Trek too can now be reborn with a rehash of the old ideas, characters and stories as well as new and fresh ones. All the elements we love can be saved and reissued in new and shiny fancy boxes. It is either an inevitability or an impossibility, but one thing is for sure our new alternate Star Trek universe is the only way this franchise can go on making money and telling stories. And for the fanboys crying and bitching out there about how this movie is a travesty, isn’t that what you really want? And so to you I say as well, WHAT THE FUCK?!
|
