Two weeks.
Two HUGE genre movies!
One meh, grade C, mildly entertaining waste of a perfect character.
One awesome, grade A, wildly entertaing celebration of great characters!
Guess which is which ;)
First off, the claw poppin mutant origin story.
Or,
X-Men Origins: Wolverine.
Or, we're Fox, we have no fucking idea how to make good comic book movies...
Remember X-Men 1 and 2, yeah, we fucked that up with this awesomely bad bastardizing of the Dark Phoenix saga, with a lame ass nod to Days of Future Past for good measure.
Fantastic Four, greatest comic magazine ever?
Here, fight a galactic cloud in an orange rubber suit!
Need I say more?
Wolverine sucked.
Sword popping, concusive blasting, Deadpool raping bad.
But, if you want my full review from last week, go
HERENOT RECOMMENDED
Then there's
Star Trek.
So yeah, it's good.
It's really good.
Mostly, it's JJ's focus on the cast, and the characters that make it work.
I had every confidence in the cast they assembled, and they mostly pull it off, without missing a beat.
Sure, there's only one Shatner, but as has been said, Pine does his own thing, while still being visually similar, and every bit as charming as the original.
Quinto just looks so good as Spock, but he also does nicely in the Vulcan shoes.
Urban, well, he does well, and I'm not sure if it's me, as Bones was always my fave, but I had the hardest time buying his performance. His seemed the most copy cat.
Everyone else brings their own thing to the roles.
The story?
Well, its very good too.
SPOILERS
I especially enjoyed the beginning, the opening chapter with the birth of Kirk. We really hit the ground running, both in terms of action, and emotionally. Actually, I think that turn of events, culminating in ol' James T's birth, is hard to top.
Then of course, the young Kirk stuff was gold.
Beastie Boys in a Star Trek movie?!?
But it was great!
The bar scene, the academy stuff.
Pine really shines in the role.
I also thought the original Spock's role worked very well, handing off to the next gen premise, and also building a cool alternate reality universe.
SPOILERS OFFThe effects are great.
And yes, more cool, and more action oriented, like Star Wars.
More truly alien aliens.
All the things as a kid, watching the movies, post Star Wars, you wished they'd push.
I mean, the TV show had simpler effects and aliens for a reason... it never felt right to stay so subdued on the big screen budget.
Oh yes, there's plenty to love.
My only qualms would be that the climax could've used more punch, and so could the sound.
I know I harp on sound a lot, but it often seems so lacking.
Here, it's pretty good, but they tossed out most the trademark stuff, and went different directions... which I get, but still think would've been better served keeping.
When stuff's that iconic, it's probably for a reason, and I don't think because it was cheesy...
SPOILER
We only get the theme at the end... which would've worked better had we not just seen that with the Battlestar finale...
SPOILER OFFSo yeah.
It's sexy, fun, thrilling, cool, and just like in the movie, there's more warp factors yet to come!!
Can't wait for the next voyage!
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
There are just too many movies coming out this month... I know there are a lot all summer, but it sure seems the studios are squeezing way too many into May and early June.
Now, I was really jazzed about this one, with fond yet vague early childhood memories of dino's, Sleestak's, a raft, and lots of jungle action... with extra cheese. But the movie version also happens to feature Will Ferrell and Danny McBride, so BONUS!
Turns out, while pretty uneven and definitely for kids, there was some serious sci-fi at play, and plenty of tripped out imagination! So, I can't wait to see the movie, regardless...
The creatures, characters, cast, and effects, even if a bad movie, will be worth the price of admission. Here's hoping the movie is actually good, or fun, too!
