Movie Night

Well, I had a movie night last night. After i got home from the big family Christmas get-together I put on two of the movies I received: Terminator: Salvation and Star Trek. Here are my thoughts on these films:

Terminator: Salvation

Not the best movie I have ever seen and not the worst by far. Some die-hard Terminator fans would have you believe the movie was worse than having a root canal performed by an elephant. It actually does a pretty good job taking the Terminator franchise out of the "let's run from disguised robots" theme and putting it squarely into the future war scenes we all liked in the original films. I've heard a lot of complaints that this movie doesn't match the look of the future war scenes in the older films, and these complaints are correct-- but this movie is set in the earlier days of the war with the machines and the machines haven't stepped up their game yet. There were some pretty good performances in the movie, and it seemed everyone took their roles seriously. One stand-out performance surprised me; Anton Yelchin in the role of a very young Kyle Reese really made me smile quite a few times in the film. His voice and mannerisms matched Michael Biehn's pretty darn well. I had heard some bad rumors about the ending of the movie, but I'm pleased to say that the rumors were false-- the ending kinda shocked me, but eventually unfolded in a satisfying (although predictable) manner. I'm glad I own it. Now... when Warner Brothers decides to quit being buttholes and release the extended cut on DVD instead of keeping it a Blu Ray exclusive, I'll be extra impressed with the film.

Star Trek

I wanted to hate this movie. Everything about it rubs me the wrong way. I hate remakes. I hate cocky characters. I hate directors who have little respect for a property they are handling-- but once the movie started I was glued to the screen. It is a spectacle... but it's more than that; it's a really darn good movie. It's a little too convenient at times; certain characters happen to meet up at improbable times way too often in the movie. However, I just looked past that because the movie has the same kind of heart that the original series had. They managed to create a Kirk and Spock that you could actually enjoy (even if you do want to beat the snot out of Spock throughout most of the film). The special effects were top-notch, but they really weren't overdone. The fan-references were pretty nicely done-- not the smack-you-over-the-head-with-it type of references in the Star Wars prequels. This was done pretty subtly, and I imagine people will be finding hidden fan-stuff in this film for some time to come. I'm glad this film came along... it made me eat my own words, but I got to enjoy a really, really good movie in the process.

20 Steps to Improve Star Trek

I have yet to see the Star Trek movie that came out earlier this year. I guess I will when it hits DVD. I was going through some old text files tonight and ran across this conversation I had with Doug on AIM. I figured I'd share it:

Doug: I've got some ideas that'll change the star trek universe forever...

Me: oh?

Me: lemme guess.... better stories?

Doug: #1 How about don't put anything explosive in control panels

Me: ha ha ha ha ha

Doug: #2 Seatbelts

Me: ha ha ha ha

Doug: already, right there we've cut 3/4th of the deaths on the show

Me: #3: NO MORE RED SHIRTS

Doug: #4 If you going to war, wear armor. I know you're really proud of your pajamas and all, but this is the friggin future. You can carry more tech than a pin on you shirt and a fancy calculator

Doug: I mean it's good enough for the klingons right?

Me: #5 it's ok every once in a while for the aliens to not look like people

Doug: but not ok for the budget

Doug: they have to spend like 20 dollars for a make up guy for another hour

Doug: I mean thats crazy

Me: yup

Me: oh look.... i'm clearly an alien... i have a bump on my nose

Doug: #6 You have transporters...theres no need to go runnin the endless halls of your ship when someone isn't suppose to be there

Me: NO CRAP

Doug: #7 Again future, ever hear of automated defenses...I mean they have solid Holograms that can create and shoot guns and lasers, how about use those sometime

Me: #8 it's not necessary to sleep with everyone you meet if you are a captain

Doug: actually, I think that's in the contract

Me: maybe so

Doug: #9 enough with the time travel, we stopped friggin caring when kirk went to fetch whales

Me: #10 whales taste GREAT

Doug: we don't want to watch people in modern times, otherwise we'd be watching WB

Me: ugh

Me: no crap

Me: and NO ONE watches that

Doug: heheh

Doug: nope

Me: #11 MORE GORN

Doug: always

Me: and this time, for god's sake put him under a sun lamp so he can at least move a bit faster

Doug: #12 The Holodek...WILL BREAK

Doug: Historical figures will always turn evil and try to kill you

Me: excuse me... were you suggesting we should break Will Crusher?

Me: because that's a good suggestion

Me: or maybe you were suggesting that in the holodeck Will becomes mutated like the Hulk and breaks things saying "WILL BREAK!"

Me: either way... we're good with that

Doug: #13 You know, evasive manuevers should mean a little more than sitting in place and firing

Doug: #14 Its space, not all the ships you meet will be right side up, also space is in three dimensions, you can go around things

Me: #15 more borg, less ferangi

Doug: #16 We have guided missiles now, so why can't their torpedos do anything other than go in a straight line?

Me: #17 next time you find people frozen in an ancient ship.... LEAVE THEM FROZEN

Doug: #18 Stop naming every planet the same name as the people...humans, from humanlon, from the human home world

Me: ha ha ha

Me: yep

Me: #19 more half-nekkid green chicks

Doug: #20 Would someone for once go outside the ship and give it a new paint job when "repairs are underway?" since when can you fix everything about you car by messing with the radio control panel?

Doug: ok, thats it for me, all that from just having seen one episode.....

I think everyone will agree that Doug and I clearly should have been top choices for the creative team to make a better Trek movie. CLEARLY.

Freddy's back...

Just saw these pics online... thought I'd share:



That's the first official pic from the remake/sequel/whatever Nightmare on Elm Street movie coming out next year.

Freddy's being played by Jackie Earle Haley, a guy who looks suitably creepy for the part:



He's the guy who played Rorschach in The Watchmen. Yeah... that movie sucked and Rorschach sucked even more, but Haley's a pretty darn good actor who can carry creepy quite well.

Here's the poster for the movie:



Looks slick. It's nice to see the look is pretty much dead-on so far. Remakes usually make me gag, but the Friday the 13th remake was enjoyable enough, and hopefully this one will be as well.

Time will tell!