@aluraacker345 i am looking forward to Captain Marvel
Avatar (movie): Your thoughts…
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I am quite fine with hearing anything that isn’t glowing praise of JJ Trek. I personally thought it was horrible enough that JJ is officially on ‘probation’ as a creator.
Did he have to steal one of the worst bits from one of the worst Star Wars movies? shudder
Saved this from a talkback on Ain’t it Cool News. Format is as found so sorry if its tough to read.
Is this Trek worth taking?
by beneath_the_cowl May 11th, 2009 04:49:07 PMI saw it Friday night. it is a solid, well executed script. you could almost hear the screenwriters thinking as plot points clicked into place. definitely better directed than Mission Impossible III (JJ Abrams’ last big screen adventure). Lots of action, explosions, fast paced thrills and homages to the original series. BUT BUT BUT, I have to say at the end of it all, I felt like I had just been served a porcelain hamburger.
It looked like the real thing and was artfully crafted in many ways to be better than a hamburger, with all its flaws, could ever hope to be. But at the end of the day I couldn’t eat it – it had no power to sustain me. When EVERYONE is raving about a movie, my gut tells me it’s feeding into the cultural mandates and norms of our day, which usually means something is lacking. And in this case, what was lacking was Star Trek’s gooey moral center.
These characters, although they have much to lose in the story, are never faced with any of the moral or ethical dilemmas that made the original series (or even some of the spin offs) what it was. In this film, without giving anything away, Kirk is basically rewarded for being a rebel. Flout authority at every turn and at the end you’ll be in command of your very own starship. Even the Kobiyashi Maru sequence is treated as a joke. And though Spock’s comments underscore the need for fear and respect in the face of certain death, we never see that lesson played out. The movie plays well on the “isn’t this cool that we’re reinventing Star Trek” level. And many times it REEKS of Star Wars, Episode IV, with Kirk as Luke longing for adventure. But a day later there’s a sadness in my heart that our culture is swept up in a story so morally and ethically vacuous.
Sure it’ll make a ton of money and spawn sequels. But even there, we’ll see this new machine breakdown. This cast won’t have the staying power of the originals. They’ll get bored and want out of their contracts after 3 pictures, as is the case with this generation. And so what then, will Paramount reinvent the reinvention? Don’t get me wrong, it was wildly entertaining. And of the performances, Bones McCoy, Spock and Uhura stand out the most. Even Pike, as the last of a dying breed of noble Star Trek officers. Tyler Perry has a cameo, and it was nice that it was handled with dignity. Roger Ebert’s review pretty much nailed it. Overall I guess what I missed most in this film was a sense of Star Trek’s nobility.
I always liked Star Trek because, although it was humanistic, there was a sense, in this dream of a new frontier, that this could be humanity at its best. I walked away saying I would never want to be on a ship with those spoiled brats. And if they’re boldly going where no man has gone before…let 'em go. Send me a postcard occassionally, but I’m not sure if I want to take the ride. Also, this movie suffers from what every other TV show that’s given the big screen treatment suffers from, namely, you can’t treat a film like this as an ensemble piece, it has to be one man’s story. And this film tries to be both Kirk and Spock’s story. It gives us an efficient plot to accomplish that, but in the end we barely scratch the surface of either man.
I actually think I’d be much more excited about this if this were a reboot of the TV series rather than the film franchise. Yeah, I’d tune in to watch these guys on TV, maybe because I feel like there’d be time to really unpack some sweet character moments, and perhaps also because I feel like the actors themselves would have more of a long term commitment/investment in the property. But as a film franchise I feel like we will never really get to know these characters ever again.
And, like I said earlier, I think the movie biz fosters a high turnover rate. I just can’t see this cast suiting up 20 years from now like the original Trekkers for a new slate of films. As exciting as it was, I think we’ve seen the best from Star Trek already. Because of the moral and ethical shifts in our culture, I don’t think the clarity and self-examination this pantheon of characters needs is even in our vocabulary anymore.
Edit: break up the quote for easier reading. :)
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@Dylan:
Well some real desperate people wanted to see it because of how blue women are not whereing all of there clothing! :lol: :lol:
Also watch how Transformers 3 will do without Megan Fox.
Transformers 3 will do fine without Megan Fox. It will be a loud dumb CGI fest aimed at then 15 year old boys. Eye candy with questionable acting ability like Ms. Fox is not really hard to replace. And given the low bar for ‘story’ and ‘script’ in that franchise they can milk giant robots beating each other up quite well without the present principals for some time to come.
I had fun with the first and thought the battle scenes and robot stuff were very well done in 2 but I won’t be in line in any way shape or form for parts to come. I like me some big dumb loud action movies but Transformers 2 was a bit too dumb.
Split the 200 million that will no doubt be spent on T3 four ways and give us shot at getting four District 9’s.
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I am quite fine with hearing anything that isn’t glowing praise of JJ Trek. I personally thought it was horrible enough that JJ is officially on ‘probation’ as a creator.
Did he have to steal one of the worst bits from one of the worst Star Wars movies? shudder
That article was pretty good. I agree with nearly everything on there. The movie lacked in many areas. It was more like going to see a Star Wars movie than Star Trek.
Stealing “one of the worst bits from one of the worst Star Wars movies” … ? What did you mean. What the guy referenced about Kirk being like Luke in Ep. IV? Or something else?
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I was speaking of the part stolen from Phantom Menace where Kirk is ejected to Hoth… errrr… Delta Vega (which we will soon learn has somehow found its way into orbit around Vulcan or the same star as Vulcan) because apparently a ship the size of Iowa that they had to empty the academy to staff doesn’t have a brig or some empty crew quarters. :roll: Once crash landed Kirk, with another act of rebellion, ignores the instructions to stay put. Kirk soon finds he is being chased by a monster which gets eaten by a bigger monster which gets eaten by a bigger monster.
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@Dylan:
Well some real desperate people wanted to see it because of how blue women are not whereing all of there clothing! :lol: :lol:
Also watch how Transformers 3 will do without Megan Fox.
Transformers 3 will do fine without Megan Fox. It will be a loud dumb CGI fest aimed at then 15 year old boys. Eye candy with questionable acting ability like Ms. Fox is not really hard to replace. And given the low bar for ‘story’ and ‘script’ in that franchise they can milk giant robots beating each other up quite well without the present principals for some time to come.
I had fun with the first and thought the battle scenes and robot stuff were very well done in 2 but I won’t be in line in any way shape or form for parts to come. I like me some big dumb loud action movies but Transformers 2 was a bit too dumb.
Split the 200 million that will no doubt be spent on T3 four ways and give us shot at getting four District 9’s.
I was referring to grossing
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I think Jurassic Park, for it’s time, was a greater achievement than Avatar. Jurassic Park is one of my top five theater movies of all time.
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ET was a big hit in 82, it did better then Star Wars.
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@Dylan:
ET was a big hit in 82, it did better then Star Wars.
I loved Jurassic Park… I still think it is a great work. Definitely a better film than Avatar.
I never got into ET. Actually I really don’t like it. It used to scare me as a kid. It has been so long since I watched it that I’d have to see it again to tell whether ET lives up to its hype… or status, rather.
I just saw The Matrix for the first time last week… I thought it was a good film, but not an excellent one like so many people seem to think. I am sure if I had seen it in 1998 when it came out I wouldv’e thought it was the coolest thing ever… but I didn’t. I really go for the sci-fi/action/intellectual thriller type stuff, but I just found Matrix to be lacking.
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I hated Matrix the first time I saw it. My first viewing was a tremendously frustrating experience. I wanted to bloody well throttle Neo.
spoiler alert
As he flys off at the end I got up from my seat with a loud, “About effing time.” I still get a bit antsy with it but I enjoy all the action sequences.
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@Dylan:
@Dylan:
Well some real desperate people wanted to see it because of how blue women are not whereing all of there clothing! :lol: :lol:
Also watch how Transformers 3 will do without Megan Fox.
Transformers 3 will do fine without Megan Fox. It will be a loud dumb CGI fest aimed at then 15 year old boys. Eye candy with questionable acting ability like Ms. Fox is not really hard to replace. And given the low bar for ‘story’ and ‘script’ in that franchise they can milk giant robots beating each other up quite well without the present principals for some time to come.
I had fun with the first and thought the battle scenes and robot stuff were very well done in 2 but I won’t be in line in any way shape or form for parts to come. I like me some big dumb loud action movies but Transformers 2 was a bit too dumb.
Split the 200 million that will no doubt be spent on T3 four ways and give us shot at getting four District 9’s.
I was referring to grossing
So was I. :-)
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I hated Matrix the first time I saw it. My first viewing was a tremendously frustrating experience. I wanted to bloody well throttle Neo.
I wouldn’t say I effing hated it… not nearly. But I found that it left much to be desired. Plus, the ending was beyond cheesy/cliche for a movie of this purported caliber, so that kinda sealed the deal for my thumbs horizontal take on it. I have no complaints about the scenes when the characters are outside the Matrix; I thought those were great. Especially when Neo is released from it and you see what happens to him. That was kinda spooky.
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@Dylan:
I never got into ET. Actually I really don’t like it. It used to scare me as a kid.
Stephen King’s IT scared me as a child.
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@Dylan:
ET was a big hit in 82, it did better then Star Wars.
I loved Jurassic Park… I still think it is a great work. Definitely a better film than Avatar.
I never got into ET. Actually I really don’t like it. It used to scare me as a kid. It has been so long since I watched it that I’d have to see it again to tell whether ET lives up to its hype… or status, rather.
I just saw The Matrix for the first time last week… I thought it was a good film, but not an excellent one like so many people seem to think. I am sure if I had seen it in 1998 when it came out I wouldv’e thought it was the coolest thing ever… but I didn’t. I really go for the sci-fi/action/intellectual thriller type stuff, but I just found Matrix to be lacking.
Jaws in 75?
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It was the most pathetic story and the lack of plot was replaced with special effects to make up for everything else that sucked.
3-D is the total downfall of movies and now has replaced a proper story with junk that fly’s in your face.
It’s a gimmick to sell toys and taco bell marketing tie ins to promote diabetes in children.
This goes for the comic book movies and that "Arnold Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief " riff raff, or Narnia lion thing whatever.
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didn’t like it. felt like i was watching Thundercats. very distracting
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@Imperious:
It was the most pathetic story and the lack of plot was replaced with special effects to make up for everything else that sucked.
3-D is the total downfall of movies and now has replaced a proper story with junk that fly’s in your face.
It’s a gimmick to sell toys and taco bell marketing tie ins to promote diabetes in children.
Haha… I like this analysis. :-D
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@Dylan:
Jaws in 75?
What about Jaws? Are we just comparing other films to Avatar now? I guess that is fine.
Yeah I think Jaws was/is a very good film. Interesting concept. Better than Avatar. It was way better as a kid, because it is a lot scarier… but I think it is a pretty good film.
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@Imperious:
3-D is the total downfall of movies and now has replaced a proper story with junk that fly’s in your face.
I think proper story in movies was replaced a long time ago. It is just that the current replacement du jour is 3D. Movie studios don’t tell stories anymore. They sell a product.
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@Imperious:
3-D is the total downfall of movies and now has replaced a proper story with junk that fly’s in your face.
I think proper story in movies was replaced a long time ago. It is just that the current replacement du jour is 3D. Movie studios don’t tell stories anymore. They sell a product.
Rarely is the product of quality… in my opinion.
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Many movies have been made that don’t resort to Taco Bell toy Gimmicks.
“The Pianist” comes to mind…
“There will be blood” is another.
It does figure that the same people who like Ironman also liked Avatar. They both like this level of “quality”
They should love the movie called “Piranha in 3D” too.
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