JJ, I apologize

I've made no secret of my personal antagonism towards JJ Abrams (I mean as antagonistic as you can be to a writer director whose work you consistently enjoy and yet continues to frustrate the living hell out of you!) but all is forgiven.

I just got back from Star Trek, and I've gotta say, this was a really really good movie. Like I said, I'm not a big fan of Star Trek, I don't dislike it, I just came to it far too late for it to really take hold, but even I had high expectations, after all as a pop culture historian and a person who encourages others to embrace the cheese, I appreciate what Trek has to offer.

I went to the movie with two of my good friends who are big big Star Trek fans, they aren't quite Trekkies, especially since one of them only counts the first series as being real. (I don't know.) One of them is Jen, a frequent commenter and I'm sure she'll give her opinion.

I don't want to ruin the plot, since as it reveals itself its very very good and surprise is half of that. So I'll stick to the stuff that I enjoy analyzing anyway, performances and characters.

We'll start with Chris Pine as James Kirk. Pine's performance sort of takes Kirk back, a character that has become a bit of a charicature. Pine resists pregnant pauses and long lingering looks and yet is still Kirk, its very very good.

Then Zoe Saldana as Uhura...Uhura's a character that I really like, even in my limited Star Trek knowledge. For a woman who's job is basically to talk to a computer and wear a miniskirt she's pretty badass. Saldana brings just the right about of edge to her and definitely rocks the mini.

Karl Urban is perfect as McCoy...I regret that there was no "He's dead Jim" but that's not Urban's fault, its just something to add to my list of reasons why I hate JJ Abrams.

Simon Pegg, John Cho and Anton Yelchin are great as Scottie, Sulu and Chekov respectively, especially Yelchin, who I just wanted to hug everytime he was on screen.

And save the best for last...Zachary Quinto, now I'm a Heroes fan, so obviously I love Quinto, but this just cemented my admiration for this guy's acting ability. He was Spock without simply imitating Leonard Nimoy, who was also awesome, but like biiig shock there. There is a particularly fun scene where he basically tells the Vulcan council to go ef themselves with four little words, "Live long and prosper." Oh right, and you want to see Spock get pissed, insult his Mommy, go ahead, I dare you.

Oh right, and at the bar where Captain Pike convinces Kirk to join up with Star Fleet, Uhura orders a Slusho...SAWEET!

Summer Movie Preview Part I: Sci-Fi Fantasy Edition

It's coming! It's almost movie season...yes, I refer to that blockbuster blitz period between memorial day and labor day as movie season...its like following a sport after all. Anyway, here's my summer movie preview...

Part I: Sci-Fi Fantasy Edition
Since the dawning of the new millenium we geeks have been brought out into the mainstream. God bless the comic book movie and the various publishing phenomenons that did it. As a result every summer the multiplexes are flooded with Sci-Fi/Fantasy offerings, and we eat it up.

X-Men: Origins: Wolverine

Now, let's prepare ourselves now, awesome Sci Fi/Action trilogy that peaked in its second part, and now a prequel, with two colons in it...let's remember what happened last time we got hyped up about this. It was called Star Wars: Episode I: The Phantom Menace. I happen to like that movie, but for some reason most people disagree with me, anyway, I really want to see Wolverine. If only because we finally get to see Gambit. Personally, I want to see how this whole Origins franchise pans out too. We know they're working on Magneto, but I'd really like to see Storm. But I can't wait to see Logan's story unwind. Apparently they take Wolverine back to his gritty roots. I'm not sure what that means, since as I remember it, Wolverine's roots involve yellow spandex, but I think it's an admirable goal.

Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince
Remember those publishing phenomenons I was talking about? This is one of them. I was among the less outraged when they bumped this movie's release from Christmas to summer, mostly because it then allowed for Twilight to be bumped from January to Christmas (Why they thought that they couldn't release them one after another I still don't know...but Hollywood execs are still baffled by the minds of teenage girls. Let me let you in on a little secret, you want to appeal to them, you give them cute boys, and lots of different ways for those cute boys to get together with average girls, so they can write fanfiction about it.) Anyway, the movie looks fantastic, and I really really can't wait to see the way it all is shown, especially *SPOILER ALERT*


Dumbledore's Murder.

*END SPOILERS*

Star Trek
I'm not a Trekkie, until I was in college I'd never even seen an episode of Star Trek. But quite a few of my friends are big fans and we have plans to see the movie, since we'll be at school. I've now seen maybe ten Star Trek episodes and I think I get the jist. Also, JJ Abrams directed it and he's admittedly not a Trekkie so that makes it much less intimidating, and I'm still hoping that maybe he'll give us a clue to what the numbers mean. And I really can't wait to see what Zachary Quinto does with Spock. I mean, will it just be Sylar with Spock ears? (Which I have been told by my Trekkie roommate would be a total travesty, me, I think it would be funny!) Oh, right and Simon Pegg is Scottie, and Harold from Harold and Kumar is Sulu...I still sort of wish it was Masi Oka...haha, get it? That would be worth the price of admission.

Transformers: Revenge of The Fallen
I'm not sure what the plot is. Not that it matters. The point is that they're robots in disguise, and I don't hate Michael Bay as much as most people in the blogosphere. I kind of like Michael Bay's movies. Pearl Harbor especially. So, yeah, it's going to be good. Or at least fun. Also Shia, I love Shia sooo much.

GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra
See: Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen Substitute: for Shia...Joseph Gordon Levitt.