Scribe & Green on the BIG screen

There are far too many people out there writing “reviews of movie-films & articles about them with absolutely no clue what the hell they’re talking about." Here are 2 more of them! (Well, one of us knows what the h___ we're talking about, but we'll leave it up to you to decide who that is...) Ultimately, can two people as opposite as Scribe and Green agree on anything?? That's where the fun begins. Won't you join us? (Every now and then we'll add a guest review, just for kicks.)

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Star Trek

SCRIBE'S SPOCK'S A PIMP IN AN ALTERNATE REALITY REVIEW:

Ok, so I probably gave away the plot in the title of my review but so what? This is one of those films which, if you're any kind of Star Trek fan, you want to know the plot of before you plant your no doubt well-sculpted rump in the theater seat.

In a nustshell, JJ Abrams and his "Fringe" writers found a way to re-imagine Star Trek without affecting the originals' accepted history. For those who don't know the origins of Kirk and Spock, much of this won't come as a surprise but those who do the first few minutes will be shocking.

When a Starfleet vessel encounters a mysterious and incredibly advanced ship emerging from an apparent black hole, its commander demanding to speak with "Ambassador Spock" whom no one on the Starfleet ship had heard of, it's already obvious something is amiss. Basically, events in the future (Star Trek's future, not ours) have caused the creation of an alternate reality wherein our beloved characters are slightly altered due to the events of that fateful meeting.

Bear this in mind: This crew is the original crew in name only. Aside from a new cast of actors, the changes made to their timeline create a new starting point for most of them. This provides Abrams and company ample opportunity to do something new without pissing on previous Trek series and films.

The acting is top notch, the direction is as well. Only tight-asses incapable of accepting difference won't like it. I have already seen it twice and am planning to go back.


***** out of *****

GREEN'S "WHY WON'T YOU TELL ME YOUR FIRST NAME?" REVIEW:

I've never been a die-hard, fanatical Trekkie, as some people are. I can certainly appreciate the Star Trek genre and the impact the iconic show (even with the cheesy special effects) and spin offs have had on American culture in the last 40+ years. However, I must admit that when I learned of JJ Abrams plans to make a new Star Trek movie, I was a little more than a tad skeptical. I wondered if the movie would be any good or that a story could be found worth the telling in the Star Trek milieu, figuring with the television shows and all of the other movies in the series that we'd just about seen it all.

Now I'll bet you didn't realize that JJ Abrams was the producer of one of my favorite television shows "Alias" and also of "Lost" and that the script for Star Trek was written by Robert Orci and Alex Kurtzman, who each wrote ten episodes of Alias.

This edition of Star Trek is a prequel to the original television series and original cast movies (which Scribe and I reviewed in this space last year - see the sidebar to check out those reviews) and tells the story of the origins of James Tiberius Kirk (Chris Pine), Mr. Spock (Zachary Quinto) and reveals how Kirk meets Uhura (Zoe Saldana), Checkov (Anton Yelchin), Sulu (John Cho), Bones McCoy (Karl Urban), and Mr. Scott (Simon Pegg) as they work their way through the ranks of Starfleet and how they all come to be serving together on the USS Enterprise.

More than this about the plot I'm not going to say because I don't want to spoil it for you. I did have one major plot question regarding Spock's mother and the planet Vulcan which I hope will be addressed in the sequel prequel.

The story is excellently written, moves at a great pace and is full of action and super special effects. It's obvious that Abrams, Orci and Kurtzman hold the Roddenberry's ample legacy in the highest regard. That's a good thing. I'm definitely going to buy this DVD when it comes out in a few months, with all of the special features and the making of documentary stuff that I like. However, this is a movie that must be - needs to be - experienced on the big screen of a movie theater.

As my brother said to me a few days ago - this may be the best of all the Star Trek films. That's a big leap to make... and I just might have to agree with him. In any case this film holds its own with those that have come before.


***** out of *****

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6 Comments:

At 02 June, 2009 20:24 , Blogger Tim said...

For the same characters in name only they sure did a great job of making Karl Urban look and sound like like DeForest Kelley might have in his younger days.

I think it's interesting that a young Uhura had the hots for Spock.







piglunt

 
At 02 June, 2009 20:27 , Blogger c nadeau said...

And I find it funny that i had the hots for a young Uhura!

 
At 02 June, 2009 22:08 , Blogger Blanche said...

I can't wait to see it now. Thanks guys! I've heard nothing but good things about this film.

 
At 04 June, 2009 19:56 , Blogger American Guy said...

piglunt yourself!

and what happened to "More than this about the plot I'm not going to say because I don't want to spoil it for you." You go and give up a plot point less than 90 minutes later?

Twas a fun afternoon at the cinema, but the best of the trek movies? Never! Not while while we have Khan!

Definitly worth seeing on big screen though. I saw it at IMAX and you could almost fall into the wrinkles on old spock's face.

I really enjoyed it and my only real gripe was that i kept expecting (young) spock to raise two fingers and slice open someone's head to steal their powers.

 
At 04 June, 2009 23:24 , Blogger Tim said...

well it wasn't a major plot point.

Besides, no one reads this column anyway.

Wait! Who are you again??

 
At 06 June, 2009 20:48 , Blogger scribe said...

Khan is up there but I still consider Undiscovered Country to be the best.

 

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