Amateur Movie Review: Star Trek

Viewed 05/08/09. Premiered 05/08/09. Most hardcore fans of the original series are griping about the changes the writers made to reinvigorate the franchise featuring their favorite starship captain! I guess I’m not that big a fan since I embraced the change with open arms. To the hard core fans: get over it! The change is a lesser evil compared to the alternative of having your franchise die off completely; besides the change is meant to bring over new fans while giving the loyalists what they want: new adventures with Captain Kirk. If it escaped most of you die hard trekkers, Romulan Captain Nero came from the future with complete utter disregard for the changes he would cause in the time line. One fan was trying to rationalize Nero’s lament about waiting 25 years for exact his revenge. Anyone who’s a Trekker or a fan of the Sci-Fi genre knows that time travel alters the traveler’s perception of time; as the older Spock explained “what seemed like years for Nero, only felt like minutes for me.” And as the younger Spock stated, “Nero’s presence has altered our destinies.” A cue from the writers to let the audience and the fans know that this will now be an alternate time line for the Federation (which was evident in the opening sequence as another fan complained that Kirk was born in Iowa not in space [and in the middle of a battle which again is symbolic of Kirk’s destiny in this new timeline]). A good amount of action, a tweaking of the design of Federation starships (I still have yet to warm up to the more fluid design of this "new" Enterprise) gives new life to an old and stale franchise. I’m looking forward to the next installment! This flick I give four stars.

Amateur Movie Review: X-men Origins: Wolverine

Viewed 05/01/09. Premiered 05/01/09. As a casual fan of the X-men comic books, I wasn’t too enamored with the movies that came out – especially the third installment “X-men: The Last Stand.” No, the three movies weren’t bad, but they didn’t necessarily blow my socks off either. No, my main displeasure from the third movie revolved around one of my favorite bad guy mutants - the Juggernaut. His live movie debut was an utter disappointment. X-men Origins: Wolverine however is a spinoff of sorts, focusing on the most popular of the X-men: Wolverine. As usual, the writers of the movie caused a lot of inconsistencies in continuity – as far as comic continuity is concerned. This annoyed me a bit since I am a casual fan of the comics. A friend stated that the movie was based on the comic “Wolverine: Origins” if I remember correctly. In entertainment value, the movie delivered the goods in terms of action and to the uninitiated, told the story of Logan’s origins. Unfortunately, there were no “Holy shit! That was awesome!” scenes or moments. Gave it three stars.

Amateur Movie Review: Crank 2: High Voltage

Viewed 04/17/09. Premiered 04/17/09. From time to time, I take my mom to watch a movie or two. Now the kind of movies she likes to watch are the kind where the lead character/good guy/hero beats the living snot out of the bad guys – especially his minions – through the copious, liberal use of martial arts. Going way back in the 80s, my mom became a fan of the various cheesy kung fu movies that came out since the mid-70s along with Van Damme and Steven Segal movies. In the late 90s it was the various Jackie Chan reissues and the newer, American made Jet Li flicks. Today her favorite ass-kicker do jour is Jason Statham of the cult “Transporter” franchise. Previously seen as a supporting character in various movies such as “The Italian Job,” “The One,” as well as a slew of other films, Statham has managed to keep himself from being known for the one character he’s widely known by so far: that of Transporter Frank Martin. By playing and personifying the character of Chev Chelios, he hopes to be remembered for roles other than Frank Martin long after he’s past his prime. The Movie on the other hand is a ludicrous, leave-your-logic-at-the-door circus freak show that was fun to watch albeit made you shake your head at the impossibility of the plot. Many of the characters from the first Crank movie are back and picks up where the last movie left off; taking the lunacy of the plot up a notch. Great popcorn movie for those who enjoy slightly over-the-top juvenile humor; but for the rest of the movie going public, better wait for it to come out as DVD rental. Movie earned two stars.