Movie Review: Terminator Salvation
Well, the summer movie season has officially been saved. I recently saw the new Terminator Salvation film and am reasonably assured that there will be at least one good thing about this summer’s movies. Terminator Salvation takes place many years after Judgment Day (the events we saw in Terminator 3). John Connor (Christian Bale) has become a member of the human resistance, though he doesn’t run it, and things haven’t been going so well. The machines control most of the world, patrolling the highways and cities. What’s worse, the machines have started taking human prisoners and nobody knows why. When the resistance uncovers a signal that could effectively shut off the machines for good, Connor volunteers to help test it out before a massive worldwide offensive is launched. But there’s a problem: a strange man appears, claiming that Kyle Reese, Connor’s father and one of the major keys to the survival of the resistance, has been captured by the machines. Even more problematic is the fact that this strange man is actually a machine…Terminator Salvation lives up to the hype. Not only is it a decent Terminator movie in general, but it certainly succeeds in portraying the post-judgment T-universe, giving us an astonishing sense of the desperation and terror that the machines have instilled into the human remnants of the Earth. The thing that has always stood out for me about this series is that despite it being full of explosions and other visually stimulating things (such as robots, car chases, and general action) it is a surprisingly thoughtful series. Setting aside all the confusing time travel stuff, which you simply have to accept at face value to even enjoy this series, the T-universe asks us constantly to question our own humanity and to imagine what it would mean for a machine to become human–that last part is no more apparent than in Salvation. I am always pleased when a science fiction movie tries to do more than just be about explosions and action, and Salvation certainly raises some interesting questions about humanity. Salvation, of course, is full of action, and it is visually stimulating, with excellent CG throughout. The cast is actually well-chosen, in my opinion, with only a minor concern with how Yelchin is going to fit into the shoes of Kyle Reese as the character grows older–will they replace him? The action, of course, is intense, as is expected of this franchise. Additionally, if you’re looking for a pretty consistent and interesting story set in an SF universe, then this is certainly for you. There are some minor issues with the story in that some characters don’t quite get enough screen time to fully legitimize their actions, but beyond that, Salvation is solid. You have to give the creators credit for being conscious of the source material, because everything about this piece to the Terminator puzzle reminds us not only of the original Terminator movie, but part two and three as well, using the enormous quantity of previous story and visuals to create a fully realized post-judgment world. While certain parts of the movie are cheesy callbacks (such as Connor saying “I’ll be back”), you can’t blame the writers/creators for trying to keep some of the intensity and charm of the original series flowing through Salvation. Even though Salvation is significantly darker than the original movies, it still maintains hope, always reminding us that we should never give up, even in the face of an immensely superior enemy. I suspect that the Terminator movies want us to acknowledge that human is better than machine, but if Battlestar Galactica has taught us anything, it’s that there is more to such things than we’re usually aware of, and Salvation touches upon this in a big way. Salvation isn’t without flaws, though. The editing on this is fairly poor. This isn’t to say that the movie suffers drastically from the quality of the editing, just that there are moments where you wondered why the editor decided to use a particular effect between scenes; anything that detracts from the viewer’s connection with the film should be removed, which was the case with some of the scene transitions. Additionally, I wanted a bit more from this installment. While I suspect that the next movie will give us a clearer picture of the implications of humanoid terminators (particular those that think they are human), it would have been better placed here. But this is nitpicking more than anything else. Overall, I found Terminator Salvation to be not only enjoyable, but a worthy addition to a classic science fiction series. I loved how we got to see more of the machine world, particularly the various mechanized monstrosities they have created to destroy mankind. With plenty of action and top notch visuals, this movie really is one of the best to be released thus far for the year. Go see it in theatres while you still can! Direction: 2.5/5Cast: 3.75/5Writing: 3.75/5Visuals: 5/5Adaptation: N/AOverall: 3.75/5Value: $8.50
Movie Review: Wolverine (X-Men Origins)
This summer isn’t shaping up to be a particularly good one for movies, at least not for me. While I didn’t despise Wolverine like I did Star Trek, I also didn’t think it was that great of a movie. Okay? Sure, but far from what was necessary to do justice to the origin story of the Wolverine character–arguably the favorite of the X-men next to, perhaps, Professor X. X-Men Origins: Wolverine is, to put it bluntly, a mostly pointless story of how Wolverine became, well, Wolverine. It follows him as a young boy with a troubled and conflicted past to a young man waging a personal war alongside companion/brother Victor Creed (a.k.a. Sabertooth). When Creed’s insatiable drive for violence lands both of them in a military prison, and subsequently in front of a firing squad that fails to kill them for obvious reasons, they are approached by a fellow we’ve met before (William Stryker) who convinces them to join his special team with “special” privileges (which essentially means they can do whatever they want). Logan, however, decides he’s done with that life and skips town, resolving to start a new life without death and murder surrounding him. But apparently you can’t just leave the team and expect never to hear from them again, and when Logan’s past comes back to haunt him and destroy his life, we find out what happens when the wolverine let out of its cage… Wolverine isn’t a bad movie, per se, but it’s not a particularly good one either. I would say it’s more along the lines of an okay movie, one which entertains only enough to keep you from leaving the theatre, but not a film that makes you ooh and ahh–although there were some points where I verbally indicated that an event on the screen must have hurt. Wolverine’s flaws are partly due to the fact that it is a prequel and partly due to some rather mediocre computer graphics. The problem with prequels, and especially with the Wolverine story, is that we already know what’s going to happen. We know that Logan meets up with the X-men at some point in the future and that all his lost memories–or at least most of them–are eventually unlocked–you find out which ones he never finds out in this movie. So, it seems somewhat pointless to have a story that tells us how he became Wolverine when we kind of already know. That isn’t to say that his origins aren’t important, just that this suffers from many of the problems that plagued the Star Wars prequels as stories. And it’s more so with Wolverine because we were given an enormous amount of detail in the X-men movies. The plot for Wolverine is pretty easy to follow, though it does get a tad convoluted towards the end. I don’t think this is necessarily a problem, though I think the writers could have dug deeper into the ethical issues within the story–but it’s an action movie, so I guess I shouldn’t expect deeper storylines. I do think the ending itself is somewhat questionable; we needed, in my opinion, more to go on to understand and accept what happens. Probably one of the most glaring issues with Wolverine, however, isn’t the story, but the computer graphics. There were far too many moments in which questionable computer graphics were used, often at times when one could easily have put the actors on strings and achieved a far better result. There are times when Wolverine’s claws look almost like someone had fabricated them for a video game rather than for a film, which would have been fine if we were playing a video game rather than sitting calmly in a theater. I’m not sure where the folks behind this film moved away from the relatively competent CG work of the X-men movies, but the departure here is a monumental failure. When the audience becomes painfully aware that they are looking at computer graphics and not something that is either real or pretty darn close, you start losing credibility, particularly because the more we’re exposed to such things, the more we start to lean away from that leap of faith moment that allowed us to buy the premise of the story itself. So, why the filmmakers half-assed the computer graphics in this film is beyond me. Ten years ago, this would have been top notch, but now it looks like a bunch of amateur filmmakers were trying to make an awesome fanfilm. To me, there is no logical reason for any major Hollywood production to have such weak visuals; the technology is readily available and affordable. But beyond this, the film is a mixed bag. The cast are good in some respects, and questionable in others. Liev Streiber was surprisingly effective as Sabertooth; he was menacing, wicked, and kind of scary. I had been concerned that he wouldn’t pull it off, but I think he was, perhaps, the best choice for the character. Other good choices: Kevin Durand as Fred Dukes/The Blob, Dominic Monaghan as Bradley, and Will i Am as John Wraith. Taylor Kitsch as Gambit left a little to be desired; yes, I think he managed to capture the character fairly effectively, but his accent was off and needed some fine tuning, some enhancing to give it enough of that Cajun flavor. Where the cast gets questionable, however, are in its selections for Stryker and Deadpool. As much as I like Ryan Reynolds, I am also a bit sick of him. He essentially plays himself in everything he’s in, and it was impossible for me to separate his rendition of Deadpool from his character in Blade 3. The fellow who played Stryker never came off as evil as the fellow who played him in the X-men movies and was largely forgettable. Most of the other actors, unfortunately, can be forgotten in this film, and that’s really a sad thing when you realize that some of them are actually
Movie Review: Star Trek (A more optimistic view of Abrams’ future and his film)
I would love to insert a witty (A.K.A cringe-inducing) quote from previous Star Trek installments here to start this review off but unfortunately, if this movie is any indicator at least, I have no prior knowledge on any star trek canon beyond the simple “Beam me up Scotty” and Spock’s death grip. Even though I had no knowledge on the matter I still wasted no chance to ridicule anyone who showed a particular liking towards the series or anything having to do with the series. I unfairly mocked Trekkies and upheld Star Wars’ superiority; an upheld opinion I still see as true. Today I am glad to report that all my previous judgments have been turned over and I send an apology to any Star Trek fan I may have mocked in the fan because I believe, unlike my good friend Shaun, that this movie was amazing and beyond anything I could have expected. The film starts off immediately with U.S.S Kelvin (I apologize in advance for any misspelled ships or creatures since I have no idea as to anything about them prior to hearing about them in this movie) being attacked by a Romulan ship led by the evil captain Nero (Eric Bana). Right off the top the visuals are stunning with Nero’s ship, which is this massive mining vessel that just reeks of evil, emerging from a lightning storm in space in front of a miniscule by comparison Kelvin. Nero summons the captain onto his ship and immediately kills him upon learning that he knows nothing about anyone named Spock, who Nero is searching for, and proceeds to attack the ship. The new captain George Kirk valiantly flies his ship into Nero’s giving his wife enough time to escape and give birth to their newly christened child Jim. Fast forward years later and we are introduced to the characters of Spock and Kirk as children and then adults ready to enlist in Starfleet which sets the movie in motion. There is much to rave about this movie and it has been hyped up since the beginning, but the first place that really succeeds, or the backbone of it all, is the story. It’s a complex tale revolving around the introduction of all the original crew members and also adding to the mix a time travel bit which sets up an alternate existence. Without getting too much into spoilers let me quickly remark that while some people (cough cough) have found parts of this time travel arc ridiculous beyond any means or reason, I myself found it extraordinary not only in the fact that it serves great purpose to the story itself, but that it also manages to set up this prequel perfectly by having the time travel create this set of characters as an parallel universe to the original characters and storylines. So in the show apparently Spock was never captain and Kirk’s father never died, well this new movie changes that and it allows for introductions of all of the characters once more and wonderfully builds those characters from the ground up which is I why I think someone like me, who had no previous knowledge, could enjoy it so much. So you have the story and you have the effects, and that’s better than most movies get these days (I’m looking at you Wolverine), but it’s not over yet. People still had to worry about the acting and how these new people were going to revive or ruin the characters that they had grown to love and after seeing this movie I have to say that I don’t think any one of those characters could have been replaced. (With the exception of maybe Uhuru.) The acting was just so good in this movie that you could probably sit down watching these characters talk to each other in a white room and you wouldn’t get bored of it. First you have Chris Pine as Kirk, who is really just a stupid college kid who gets into trouble a lot and has no real goals in life. I never really bought this guy as someone who could lead a starship or do anything (in other words, he was NOT Kirk.) Especially since he seemed to get his ass kicked in every scene that he fought in, but then at the very end you can see that he has grown as a person, and as he majestically takes his seat on the enterprise you know that he is now Kirk. Eric Bana isn’t amazing as Nero, but he does an ok job, and I bought him as a villain, although if we’re going to nitpick and I had to find something wrong with this movie I would have to say this; If you watch your planet get destroyed as Nero did and then get sent back in time (Way back in time) wouldn’t the first thing you try to do be… save your planet and not wait around looking for a man? That’s might just be me though. Of course while Kirk may be the lead character in this film, the big show stealer is his future partner in crime Spock played by Zachary Quinto from Heroes, and Quinto is, well, amazing. There was not a second that went by in this movie that I doubted him as Spock, and I didn’t even know who Spock was. I just knew that every line that he delivered was perfect and by the time he pulled the infamous Death Grip on Kirk I was jumping up and down my seat with the knowledge that if all else fails, at least there was one amazing performance that came with this. Apart from the major characters all of the side characters get their parts done well too. What I like particularly is that none of the crew members that we are introduced to are expendable. They are each shown to us and instead of disappearing into the background immediately to be used
Movie Review: Star Trek (Why It Sucks and Why Abrams Needs to Stop)
I’ve never been a huge Star Trek fan. I like Star Trek and have seen most of the movies and quite a bit of the television shows, but I’ve always been more into Star Wars because I grew up with it1. That said, what I have always liked about Star Trek is that it pushes the boundaries of the real while also trying not to be too, well, out there, with some exceptions, of course. I had high hopes for the new Star Trek. As soon as I knew it was going to be made, I couldn’t help but be excited. From the mysterious nature of its initial exposure to the public to its handful of flashy trailers, Star Trek had been shaping up to be something truly special. But then J. J. Abrams got his hands on the new Star Trek. I don’t know how this craptastic of a movie-maker managed to wrap his slimy little fingers around one of the greatest science fiction franchises in history (rivaled only by Star Wars), but he did and now we’re stuck with a movie that is, unfortunately, a crapfest. I know that Abrams has been behind it for a while–well before the trailers and the website–but I had been under the illusion that someone else was directing this film, that it was in capable of hands. And I even went into this movie setting aside all my hatreds for Abrams2, hoping that maybe he’d redeem himself by providing a well-rounded, damn good flick that captured much of the magic of the original series. But no. Not even close. (Spoilers ahead…)The new Star Trek begins with a bang. Some Romulan miner from the future named Nero is pissed off because his home planet has been/will be destroyed by a supernova. He blames Spock and the Federation for letting his people be eradicated and decides to go back in time to exact his revenge. Back home, after Nero destroys a federation ship and Kirk’s baby form escapes, grown up Kirk gets prompted on a dare to join Starfleet and be all he can be and other such ridiculousness. Nero attacks Vulcan, and hi jinks ensue. That’s the basic gist of the story, and certainly the first half of the movie is worthy of the Star Trek title. But that’s when everything falls apart. What was already a time-laden plot line becomes convoluted with absurdities that expose a gaping hole of amateur writing and directing. It was easy enough to accept one time traveling character, because Nero is essentially the central conflict of the story, but when you decide to have two time traveling characters, one of which literally has no business being there at all other than to provide a pointless, meaningless sidetrack for Kirk to follow, you’re flirting with the edges of continuity. In fact, the second time traveling character has no purpose being in this movie other than to provide the writers/directors an easy out, a way of getting past the difficult hole they dug themselves into by making Spock and Kirk practically sworn enemies, to shove in a character who probably should have been there earlier, and a way of inserting Leonard Nemoy into the movie so he can go off on a big flashback where he tells us everything. And I do mean this literally that after the halfway mark the plot of Star Trek becomes less about furthering the story and more about finding ways to dig oneself out of a hole with cheap tricks and illogical idiocies that make one wonder whether there was any point at all to the whole thing. The absurdities, however, do not end there. The directing/editing for the film is absolutely wretched, with entire subplots being inserted in hamfisted glory into the narrative, with no clear reason for them to be there. Uhura, thus, is the most pointless character in the film, which is sad considering she is also the only significant female character in it. We’re supposed to accept at face value that Spock and Uhura are an item, but we never understand where it comes from or whether it existed before Kirk met Uhura. In fact, we don’t know anything about this relationship, yet it’s shoved into our view as something that should be taken seriously as part of the rivalry between Spock and Kirk. Uhura thus becomes nothing more than another item for Abrams to dangle over us to fulfil some other plot line as if to whore out Uhura to the whims of continuity. In addition to the ridiculousness of the plot, the cast is a mixed bag for a movie that’s supposed to be reviving the greatness of Star Trek. While Scotty, McCoy, and Spock are perfectly cast, the remaining classic Star Trek characters are mediocre at best. Uhura is utterly pointless; the fellow who plays Chekov manages to turn the character into a comedic farce a la Epic/Scary/etc. Movie; Sulu lacks some of the original charm of the character; and Kirk, worst of all, is not even Kirk at all, but an absurdly arrogant delinquent who fails to fit into the shoes once worn by Shatner. I understand trying to upgrade the characters, but this is clearly the wrong direction. Kirk never hits his stride in this new incarnation; in fact, there is almost no growth for Kirk, except that he befriends Spock in the end, but only because Abrams inexpertly inserted future Spock to make it happen. What a great way to try to develop a character by essentially cheating and telling us that there’s no reason for Star Trek to remain true to its form, because one can simply fabricate a time traveling elf at will to manipulate other characters into doing the will of the directorial gods. Other issues I had with the film are primarily nitpicks. I appreciated the re-imagined Enterprise and the upgrading of the look of the Federation, but I had issues with other designs in the film. The
Show Review: Dollhouse (Final Comments)
I’ve officially tuned out on Dollhouse. I was initially incredibly excited about the show. I thought the concept was brilliant and that it had a lot of potential. Then the first episode came out. It was good, I thought, and at least established the characters, but nothing special. Then episode two failed to add anything new to the series, and shortly after than we were left with episodes three and four, which provided some interesting side plots, but stuck us with the mostly uninteresting Echo. And that’s when I tuned out. Granted, I am terribly picky about my TV shows. The problem with Dollhouse is that it fails to do what great shows like BSG have done: tell a good story. Dollhouse essentially doesn’t have a story. True, the subplots were building up to make it seem like there was a lot of interesting things ahead, but instead of focusing on those stories, Dollhouse focused on Echo, who, after one episode, is essentially the most uninteresting and useless character. If she’s become more interesting after episode four, wonderful, but I’m not going to waste any more time watching, because Dollhouse had the chance to get me interested and wasted it on four episodes where nothing happens. I simply don’t care about Echo. I really don’t. Her character is utterly pointless and not enough time is afforded to characters who deserve more. Someone said (possibly Whedon or a producer) that you should stick with the show until episode seven to give it a good chance, but quite honestly if you can’t keep me entertained past episode two, what point is there for me? I’m making an investment of my time (an hour each episode) and blowing seven hours on a show that I don’t find all that great to begin with seems relatively pointless to me. So, I suppose the question is: what do you all think of the show? Are any of you still watching? Do you think it should be canceled?
Quick Movie Reviews (2009): Volume Four
And here are some more quick reviews from GeorgeMichael. Okay, so only the first four are from him, but still. He’s apparently seen a lot of movies this year. As have I! Anywho, enjoy: Bride WarsPros: Both Anne Hathaway and Kate Hudson are great actors who do their very best with the mediocre script that they’ve been handed. Their performances are the highlight of this otherwise disposable movie in which two best friends get their weddings planned on the same day in the same place and fight with everything they can to ensure that their own wedding wins out. Let theoretical hilarity ensue.Cons: It’s not funny and it’s not romantic. Anything that you could possibly want in a rom/com is completely absent here. You have a two hour long catfight for sure but it’s all loosely wound by a poorly written script and horrible execution.Rating: 1.5/5 I Love You, ManPros: Paul Rudd and Jason Segel give amazing performances as Peter and Sidney in the most recent bro-mance for all to enjoy. The premise surrounds Peter getting engaged and realizingthat he doesn’t have a best man so as a result he begins his search for male bonding. The script is amazing and the movie works flawlessly. Paul Rudd is great as the awkward “only had girl friends” guy who gets nervous around Sidney when he tries to be cool. Jason Segel is equally impressive as the yin to Paul’s yang as the outgoing party dude.Cons: Like many Apatow-like movies (he has nothing to do with this particular film) the movie runs a tad too long but other than that it is an amazing movie that is easily worth double the price of the admission ticket.Rating: 4.5/5 Last Chance HarveyPros: Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson give great performances in this substantial feel good film. Harvey (Dent… he he…) is a commercial jingle composer who travels to England for his daughter’s wedding and everything goes wrong. First he finds out that he has been left at a hotel all alone because his entire family are staying at a house that his ex wife rented out. Then his daughter tells him that she wants her step father to walk her down the aisle. To place a cherry on top of it all he gets fired. While sulking at a bar he comes across a delightful woman in misery named Kate. The feel goodiness begins.Cons: The movie moves a little slow at times and can drag in certain places. It plays the plot safe for the most part and in any other instance would be a pretty general feel good movie. What elevate Last Chance Harvey above the rest are the superb performances of Hoffman and Thompson.Rating: 4/5 Slumdog MillionairePros: A perfect love story set in the slums of India that tells the tale of Jumal Malik as he searches his whole life looking for the girl that he lost as a child, Latika. The movie is perfectly cast, directed, written, and shot. To add to all of that the movie has amazing music to go along for the ride. A movie that opens with the main character being tortured turns into one of the happiest and greatest movies in recent years. Who knew?Cons: A perfect love story. There are no cons. All Oscars were deserved.Rating: 5/5 Sex DrivePros: A couple hilarious moments, but really this is sort of a typical teen comedy/romance. Not much else to say, unfortunately.Cons: The best moments were the ones we already saw in the previews. The Amish scenes were mediocre at best and the plot was pretty much an idiotic “I’m a teenage virgin male and I need to get laid” rehash. Basically it’s unoriginal and overdone. We need more interesting teenage comedies…Rating: 1/5 And there you go!