TREK THIS!

Now that school has ended (until August), I've been meaning to catch up on a few things... first, let's chat about how great Star Trek turned out to be. OK, so I've already talked about it (here). And as you'll recall, I posted some behind-the-scene photos from the movie on my site here.

But I never showed the finished product, after much CGI work:
That's the library from the school I'm attending (left), moved to San Francisco thanks to a little industrial magic (the generic kind, not the trademarked George Lucas, "My Scripts Suck, But Check Out These FX" kind). Oh, and they modified the shape of the building a tad.

If you get the chance, check this flick out. I like it so much I saw it twice (and even paid for it the second time).

FROM THE MOUTHS OF BABES

Every year the Los Angeles Times puts on a panel of local teens who watch and rate summer movie trailers, called The Summer Movie Posse. The Posse's past predictions have been frighteningly accurate, predicting the summer's big box office winners and losers.

I read this article every year, as I find it both entertaining and informative. But one of the panelist's comments about the new Transformers movie really made me giggle, so I had to share it.

After watching the trailer for Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, one panelist said "He (Michael Bay) keeps making the same movie over and over, as if he hopes someday he'll get it right." Amen to that!

And for the record, they rated the new Michael Bay movie second to last, just above Sam Rami's Drag Me To Hell.

OK, I GIVE IN

I just got back from Star Trek, and I have to say... it was pretty good. There were some plot snags I wasn't too fond of. And (as usual) JJ Abrhams stunk up what was an otherwise great film. (Enough with the shaky, hand-held style filming, and short, stuttery, jump cuts... we get it, you're edgy, or whatever.)

I would give this film a rating of 8.5 out of 10.

ALRIGHT, MEOW

I love this clip, from a truly under appreciated film, Super Troopers.

WOW

This was an amazing moment. I won't waste time talking about how I thought Milk was robbed last night by that stupid "Dog" movie. What I will say is that Lance is an amazing writer, and he deserved that Oscar.

LIFE AFTER "DEATH"

It turns out they've gone ahead and made a movie about the further adventures from one of my favorite TV shows, Dead Like Me. The further adventures of Grim Reapers of Seattle returns tomorrow.

YOU GOTTA GIVE 'EM HOPE

I'd like to throw my two cents into the universe regarding this year's Oscar Best Picture: Milk, should and will win, if there's any justice in the universe. (Although the film makes it obvious that justice isn't a constant.)

I cannot imagine Slumdog Millionaire as anywhere near the same level of scope, width and depth as a film like Milk.

And I'm not just saying this because I went to school with the movie's writer and one of its stars.

Best Pictures should be in the way of and even Ben Hur, Schindler's List, West Side Story, Amadeus, The Last Emperor and even Forrest Gump. Can we really look back at 2008 at say Slumdog is the absolute best cinema had to offer?

REALLY, AMERICA?

Paul Blart? No, really... Paul Blart? Do you people even know what a blart is? Think shart (half sh!t, half fart, or a sh!tty fart), but replace the first part with blood.

And even if this movie wasn't named after a bloody breaking of the wind, it just looked like a lame movie. And of course, it was the #1 film for the weekend.

Oh well.

THE SPIRIT

I saw W this weekend (actually, a decent movie, check it out), and we were bombarded with previews that didn't really fit the type of movie we were watching.

One such preview was for the new graphic-novel turned movie, The Spirit. Its from the director of 300 and Sin City, and has the same, great dark comic look to it. You can find plenty of versions of the trailer in a simple Google video search... which I highly recommend, 'cause it has some great man candy in its main star.

Gabriel Macht, the star of the film is shirtless for much of the preview. Oh, and there are some kick-@ss action sequences you get to see. But the tasty abs and pecs make it worth sitting through the whole preview. You can check out Gabriel's IMDB page here.

Here are a couple of extra pictures of Gabriel, just for fun:

OUCH!

The projected weekend box office tally is in, and all I can say is, OUCH! The top 12 films pulled in a paltry $51 million dollars this weekend. In The Los Angeles Times, several movie distributors put their best spin on the disaster of a weekend, saying things like, "We'll [still] turn a profit on this one." The film that distributor was talking about? Nicholas Cage's Bangkok Dangerous, which lead the weekend box office to new record low. Bangkok pulled in a pathetic $7.8 million dollars, placing at number on on the charts, but leading off the worst box office returns in five years.

Why don't they just put out more films that people want to see?

OH, LAME, MAN... TOTALLY LAME

The Los Angeles Times reports that ABC/Disney TV will replace the current team of At The Movies (you know, Ebert & Ropert's old show) with a new team, and a new format. One half of this team will be E! "Movie Critic" Ben Lyons. I put movie critic in quotes because Lyons is so much a critic, as much as he is a cheerleader for every big studio project the majors crap out.

And what's worse, I've heard him say things in interviews (and reviews) such as, "Wow, man," and ,"that's totally cool," only furthering my low impression of his journalist. He, like many other "journalists" on E! use the work, "like" excessively in both conversation and official reports.

I'm sad. Sad for At The Movies, sad for audiences, sad for movies. Disney ruins everything.

QUIEN ES MAS MACHO?

My younger sister and I have a bit of a debate going... I say Luke Ford (seen here, in The Mummy: Tomb of Dragon Emperor) is kinda-sorta cute (not usually into twinkish kinda boys, I prefer men, but the only other mancandy in this movie is Brendan Frasier). My younger sister says Ford isn't cute.

Any other thoughts?

FOUR QUICK MOVIE REVIEWS

I've seen a number of movies in the past few weeks, but no one single film stood out enough to warrant a blog post, so here are four quickie movie reviews.

Be Kind, Rewind - A movie with a ton of heart. They went all-out with the "homemade" visuals for the films. This movie would have been way better without Jack Black. Most films today can be summed up via an old Hollywood standard: it's like Alien meets The Blair Witch Project; that is to say most film concepts are boiled down into simple, familiar and easy to digest "concepts," as opposed to trying to create something interesting and new. This film operates way outside the normal Hollywood zone(s), feeling more like an independent film with a hefty budget.


In Bruges - The DVD box said it was a, "comic, action-packed romp with non-stop chases and an explosive ending." There was ONE chase scene, with shooting, and it came 1 hour and 37 minutes in to the film. The rest of the film was a broken-down, sad, sorry excuse of a mess, with Colin Farrell crying and moping in a dull Belgium city. Don't waste your time on this one. And if I ever meet the moron who put together the packaging for this DVD, I'll show them what an action-packed romp is... by introducing them to the business side of a 2x4.



Alvin & The Chipmunks - Yes, really. It wasn't all that bad. I wish they'd made the voices (and some of the music) a little more like the older Chipmunks projects: there was very little distinction between the three 'munks, and the supposedly slammin' versions of the songs sounded more like Kidz Bop than an actual children's musical. The actors playing opposite the CGI chipmunks held their own, considering that most of the dialog and song choices were way too grown-up for a kids film. (Did any little kids get the, "bom chicka wah-wah," let's get it on jokes?) Overall, there are worse ways to spend a couple of hours.

Cloverfield - OK, I finally fell for the hype and threw this one in the Netflix cue. I really only have a couple of thoughts about this sh!t sammy:

1) Many films, from Jaws to The Blair Witch Project, kept audiences on the edge of their seats with fright, without really ever showing the actual source of terror. If you're going for that kind of vibe, don't show us the monster, and definitely avoid close-up shots and panoramic, sweeping shots of the damn thing... if that's the vibe you're after, go for it, don't half-@ss it.
2) Most, if not all, consumer video cameras nowadays have some sort of horizon stabilization mechanism, so there's no need for the excessively shaky manner in which the story is presented. And, if the time line of the story is to be believed, the battery on said camera lasted almost 8 full hours.
3) Normally, even in a disaster film, I have trouble buying that so much crap could happen to just one little group of people... but with Cloverfield, the characters made so many horrible choices, I actually believed the bad luck and misfortune they encountered.

RECENTLY VIEWED

I had the chance to see a couple of movies this weekend - one made-for-TV movie, and one regular release. I watched A&E's The Andromeda Strain and The Golden Compass. I had completely opposite reactions to these films. I loved The Golden Compass, and, at the end of Andromeda, wondered why I'd wasted my time.

I had wanted to see both films, despite mixed reviews, and poor audience turn-outs. The Andromeda Strain was about 2 hours too long, and I could have done without the whole Eric McCormack, reporter sub-plot. The visual FX were OK, and the script wasn't too bad (for a disaster film), but what really drove the piece was the cast. Stand-out performances came from Scrubs' Christa Miller (IMDB here) and the always amazing Viola Davis (IMDB here). Benjamin Bratt and Rick Schroder turned in decent performances (Schroder played a gay Major in the Army), and the rest of the cast managed not to embarrass itself... which isn't really the nicest thing one can say about the cast of a film, but it is true.

The production was deftly directed by Mikael Salomon, who kept the overall pace of the story moving. Too ofter, mini-series spend time doubling back on plot points, building in redundant scenes. But Andromeda managed to keep moving at a brisk, solid pace. The editing in the second installment could have been a little tighter, but what are you going to do?


The Golden Compass, on the other hand, was an absolute masterpiece. Too many fantasy and action flicks depend on CGI to carry the film (Phantom Menace, anyone?). But The Golden Compass actually has a solid, interesting story at its heart, so the CGI simply serves as a means to deliver the story. (George Lucas, take notes!) Nicole Kidman is delicious as the villan, and there's a menagerie of character actors to round out the rest of the cast.

It isn't very often that a film makes me want to read a book - usually it is the other way around. But after viewing the first installment of The Golden Compass, I must admit, I'd like to read the books by Phillip Pullman.

EXCLUSIVE SNEEK AT NEW "STAR TREK"

These photos were sent to me, from one of the shoots for JJ Abrams' new movie, Star Trek. It appears to be the set for Starfleet Academy, with tons of blue screen special effects (on campus at CSUN). I must admit, I'm not a fan of Abrams' work, but I'm more and more curious to see this film.

THE SECRET OF "CASTAWAY"

I have to admit, when I tried watching Castaway, I couldn't handle that much Tom Hanks in one sitting. In fact, I would say this film falls somewhere in the top 50 most boring films I've ever seen. So I never gave any thought as to what was in the package Tom Hanks was delivering... until now. I was reading a trivia book (no jokes, Marz) that mentioned how you find out what was in that FedEx box: on disc two, there is an Easter Egg, or bonus, unmarked material on a DVD. According to the bonus feature, inside the box Hanks is delivering, when stranded on a desert island is: a satellite phone!

2008 BEST PICTURE NOMINEES

I stole these from the PNSexplosion blog, Boomtacular. Thanks, guys!

WADDA JUNO?

So, I finally gave in to the hype, and saw Juno. I want to preface this mini-review with the following statement: it didn't suck. But it didn't rock, either. And it doesn't deserve the best picture buzz, either. Don't get me wrong: it was cute. A little too cute a times, and way too into itself. It had cutesy lingo, and seemed to love how clever it was, but in that way that is annoying: "Look at me, aren't I clever!"

No, not that much. Allison Janney turns in a first class performance (but what else would you expect). And Michael Cera is great, and Jasom Bateman delivers. But the performance that blew me away was Jennifer Garner. I'm not her biggest fan - she was cute in 13 Going On 30 - but I've never been really thought of her as an amazing actress... until now.

She delivers a raw, real, emotional performance... usually these kind of roles can be hard to watch. They're too much, overacted or under written, or both. But Garner delivers a heartfelt, realistic, all too human turn as the adoptive mother of smart ass Juno's bastard. I don't think it is a performance worthy of awards, but it was the first glimpse of true artistry I've seen from her.

Overall, I'd rate the movie 3 our of 5.

CINEMA DE MI PADRE

I had the rare opportunity to discuss pop culture, and movies, in particular, with my father the other day. I say, "rare," because he usually doesn't discuss such things.

Being a professor of Poli Sci (Ph.D.), he usually opines and waxes on topics of current events, politics and social justice. As much as I enjoy these other topics, very few things entertain me like watching my dad try to make sense of the utter crap that passes for culture these days.

When the topic rolled around to Jennifer Lopez's career as a movie star/producer, my dad had a little trouble recalling the name, and plots of the last few J.Lo cinematic disasters. (And who can blame him? She's the source of more movie garbage that any single other person.)

His two random grabs at movie titles for La Lopez? Hump It Like Beckham and Fast Times At Puerto Rico High.

The saddest part? I would actually pay to see those two movies, if they were real.

SNEAK PEEK

During the most recent Comic Book Convention, also called Comic-Con, hosted in San Diego, we got our first peek at the next Tim Burton - Johnny Depp movie. They are teaming up for a movie version of Sweeey Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street - the musical.

After Assassins, this is Stephen Sondheim's most misunderstood, darkest work. (His most disastrous, yet oft performed show is Merrily We Roll Along, which I've seen, own the soundtrack to, have performed excerpts from at a UCLA Showcase.) I'm beyond excited to see how these two do, teaming up for this show.

If you want to see an, uh, interesting version of a number from this show - one starring George Carlin and Ben Affleck - then you'll have to sit through all of Jersey Girl... which I don't recommend doing on a full stomach. Or an empty one.

Either way, the bar for Mr. Depp and Mr. Burton is set... and if you know how rabid (and difficult to please) Sondheim fans are, you know just how high that bar is.