A couple o' movie mini-reviews

[ceti alpha]

I also liked the movie.

*Minor Spoilers below*

The Kobyashi Maru test scene was awesome. I loved the wink and nod to Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan with Kirk eating the apple during the test. In TWOK Kirk was eating an apple in the Genesis cave when he was explaining to Savik how he beat/cheated the Kobyashi Maru test.

I loved Bruce Greenwood as Pike. Just super cool and funny. I also loved his Star Trek: The Motion Picture admiral uniform at the end of the movie. The entire cast did a superb job actually.

Regarding the Star Wars feel, I just never got that. Sure there were more weird aliens hanging around, but other Star Trek movies had that - namely Star Trek III. I guess the movie wasn't an allegory for contemporary social/political issues like many other Treks, but this was an origin story. Now that the crew is united there will ample opportunity to go there in sequels. But it's not like Star Trek has always been purely allegorical.

[guyjin]

I also liked the new trek movie, a lot. it was fun. But I have 2 issues with it. (spoilers)

1) the continuity reset. they're doing them every 5 years in comics now, and they're getting ever closer together.
The first time they did it (crisis on infinite earths) it made sense, because there was a whole bunch of silly shit from a ways back that had to be deat with. However, it created its own problem; it makes authors more likely to make screwy story decisions, since there's less risk; it can be fixed in the next reset. and oh, have they been making some screwy stories lately.
I really don't want that to happen to Trek.

2) Iowa looks NOTHING like the movie says. Unless we really get beat with the global warming stick.

[ceti alpha]

I also liked the new trek movie, a lot. it was fun. But I have 2 issues with it. (spoilers)

1) the continuity reset. they're doing them every 5 years in comics now, and they're getting ever closer together.
The first time they did it (crisis on infinite earths) it made sense, because there was a whole bunch of silly shit from a ways back that had to be deat with. However, it created its own problem; it makes authors more likely to make screwy story decisions, since there's less risk; it can be fixed in the next reset. and oh, have they been making some screwy stories lately.
I really don't want that to happen to Trek.

2) Iowa looks NOTHING like the movie says. Unless we really get beat with the global warming stick.

Well, fortunately it's not a total reset/reboot. Instead it's just an alternate reality like the Mirror Universe. There's no way they could have gotten away with a complete reboot of Star Trek, but this way they don't have to pay attention to 40 years of Star Trek canon.

What's funny is that the Enterprise TV series is the only series that remains canon in this Star Trek universe. They even reference it in the movie.

[guyjin]

What's funny is that the Enterprise TV series is the only series that remains canon in this Star Trek universe. They even reference it in the movie.

Really?

Ew.

[Lord Thag]

I agree, this movie was just great. They got rid of all the prentension, and all of that damned annoying techno-babble about quantum phase whatchits and tachyon streams, and the got the show back to it's roots. They remembered that it was the characters that made the original show good, not all the space flair and effects shots.

What really impressed me was how well they captured the chemistry between Kirk, Spock, and McCoy. All three actors did a great job. Quinto was damned near indistinguishable from Nimoy (at that age), Karl Urban did a dead perfect McCoy ("....green blooded hobgoblin"  ), and Kirk ... I'll dare to come out and say that I like the new Kirk better than the original.

I also liked the fact that they let Scotty and Checkov stay a bit over-the-top, like the old show. Both were excellent, and Simon Pegg was just hilarious. Plus, in terms of music and special effects, I love the visula update, and the new music.

I used to watch the old show as a kid, but I am not in any way shape or form a trekkie, but after this movie, I think I might become a fan. They returned the show to it's roots and realized that it's a character-driven adventure story.

Best surprise hit of the year.

[ceti alpha]

What's funny is that the Enterprise TV series is the only series that remains canon in this Star Trek universe. They even reference it in the movie.

Really?

Ew.

Well, barely a reference. But, it is a little disturbing that Enterprise is canon in both universes.  hehe

I agree, this movie was just great. They got rid of all the prentension, and all of that damned annoying techno-babble about quantum phase whatchits and tachyon streams, and the got the show back to it's roots. They remembered that it was the characters that made the original show good, not all the space flair and effects shots.

What really impressed me was how well they captured the chemistry between Kirk, Spock, and McCoy. All three actors did a great job. Quinto was damned near indistinguishable from Nimoy (at that age), Karl Urban did a dead perfect McCoy ("....green blooded hobgoblin"  ), and Kirk ... I'll dare to come out and say that I like the new Kirk better than the original.

I used to watch the old show as a kid, but I am not in any way shape or form a trekkie, but after this movie, I think I might become a fan. They returned the show to it's roots and realized that it's a character-driven adventure story.

The technobabble had gotten way out of control, about the time when TNG appeared on the scene, actually. Gene Roddenberry, during the run of TOS, made it clear that he did not want Star Trek to be about the technology. He wanted the show to be about people who happen to be in outer space. Actually, the first couple of seasons of TNG, while GR was still alive, didn't have much technobabble. 

Karl Urban was fantastic. He was the only actor who actually made no apologies for trying to imitate his predecessor (DeForest Kelly). As for Chris Pine making a better Kirk than Shatner...I can't quite bring myself to say that. hehe. Pine was fantastic though. He actually impressed me the most out of the whole cast. Though Bruce Greenwood as Pike was amazing as well.

[nat]

I loved the console lamps on the bridge with the long necks that were an obvious homage to the retarded intercom/lamps in the first few episodes of TOS.

[Lord Thag]

Yeah, from an acting standpoint, I was probably the most impressed with Karl Urban. To be honest, up to yesterday, I thought his acting ability stopped at scowling and looking conflicted.  My bad. He did a wonderful job. I'd damn near swear he was channeling the ghost of old DeForest kelly.

Good mention on Bruce Greenwood, he was very believeable and convincing. My only gripes were the totally unnecessary 'giant critter' & 'water pipe' scenes, and the fact that the romulan Nero needed a bit more fleshing out.

All in all though, JJ Abrams did a great job. This was a HELL of a lot better than Springfield 

[ceti alpha]

I loved the console lamps on the bridge with the long necks that were an obvious homage to the retarded intercom/lamps in the first few episodes of TOS.

hahaha. Totally.

And Scotty's pet companion is actually a midget version of one of those dune bug aliens from Nemesis. 

[guyjin]

Oh, I just remembered something else that bugged me about the movie.

Early on, there's a throwaway scene where checkov has difficulty getting the computer to understand his voice.
And yet, they can understand the bad guy's language, no problem. Is there a universal translator or isn't there?!

[ceti alpha]

Oh, I just remembered something else that bugged me about the movie.

Early on, there's a throwaway scene where checov has difficulty getting the computer to understand his voice.
And yet, they can understand the bad guy's language, no problem. Is there a universal translator or isn't there?!

haha. There definitely is at this point. They eventually had them on Enterprise as well, which was lame IMHO.

[nat]

Terminator 4 - I really had no idea what to expect going into this one, as I hadn't been following the production too closely as I do with some movies. I wasn't overly excited about it to be honest, seeing as there would be no Arnold or other actors from previous films in the series. Every part was recast for the 4th outing, but in the end, I wound up liking the movie all the same. I'm probably in the minority that loved the 3rd film, as a matter of fact, I love all the Terminator movies, with the first being far and away the best for me. The beauty of the first three is that they were all produced almost a decade apart from each other, and that made for some pretty unique feeling atmospheres for each film. The 4th is no different; feeling darker and grittier than any of the preceding episodes. The theme for this movie was bringing the franchise full-circle, with moments only referenced in previous outings realized fully. Lots of great action, and it was hard to find a failing here. If I had to cite any aspect as a negative, it'd be the heavy reliance on "homage" moments. While I enjoyed these well enough, if they'd laid 'em on any thicker I probably wouldn't have liked the film as much. All that said, I think even people who didn't like the 3rd film much will still like this one a lot. But only see it after you've seen Star Trek. Beyond these two movies, there isn't a whole lot exciting going on in the box office right now.

Oh, and to my delight there was an Arnold "cameo." Good stuff.

[Joe Redifer]

**Spoilers**

CGI Arnold shouldn't have been in there since it was about 9 years (I think) before that model of Terminator was created, but I guess they had to do it.  Also, I would have liked for this movie to be in color and directed by someone with a name other than phuggin' McG.

[Sinistron]

**Spoilers**

CGI Arnold shouldn't have been in there since it was about 9 years (I think) before that model of Terminator was created, but I guess they had to do it.  Also, I would have liked for this movie to be in color and directed by someone with a name other than phuggin' McG.

Joe- this is from wiki-

In the fourth film, an alternate origin of The Terminator is depicted, as Marcus Wright, a death row inmate turned cyborg, is revealed to be a prototype for the T-800 with his nervous system still functioning. This was based from the cybernetic enhancement project of Dr. Serena Kogan, a research scientist who was employed at Cyberdyne Systems Corporation under "Project Angel" before the company sold its assets to the United States Air Force. With a human/machine hybrid proven to be a success, Skynet is able to move on to build and activate the T-800s ten years earlier than John Connor had expected.

[ceti alpha]

*SPOILERS*

T-4 was definitely better than I expected, though my expectations were pretty low from all the bad reviews and word-of-mouth. That being said, it was still OK. I really could have done without Bale's Batman voice and constant screaming. In fact, this movie could have done without Christian Bale altogether and would have been better for it. It's no wonder Bale had his infamous meltdown during the filming of this movie. His performance was basically the same schtick minus the profane language, which would have raised the movie's rating to Restricted. Sam Worthington as the T-800 stole the show and I actually cared about this cyborg cowboy, while I really didn't care what happened to John Connor. To be honest, I was a little upset that Worthington's character gave his heart to Connor at the end of the movie. In any case, while it was just a bunch of consecutive action sequences, it still held its own and doesn't deserve the long list of bad reviews it has received.