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| Joe Vitus |
 Posted: Mon May 18, 2009 12:36 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 14498
Location: Houston
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Am I...gulp...agreeing with Roger Ebert?
Quote: Star Trek” as a concept has voyaged far beyond science fiction and into the safe waters of space opera, but that doesn’t amaze me. The Gene Roddenberry years, when stories might play with questions of science, ideals or philosophy, have been replaced by stories reduced to loud and colorful action. Like so many franchises, it’s more concerned with repeating a successful formula than going boldly where no “Star Trek” has gone before.
http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090506/REVIEWS/905069997 |
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| Joe Vitus |
| Posted: Mon May 18, 2009 12:43 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 14498
Location: Houston
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The Onion A.V. Club makes good points, too.
Quote: But it is, undeniably, a reconsideration of what constitutes Star Trek, one that deemphasizes heady concepts and plainly stated humanist virtues in favor of breathless action punctuated by bursts of emotion. It might not even be immediately be recognizable to veteran fans as Star Trek. But they’ll have to actively tune out Abrams’ eagerness to entertain not to enjoy the ride.
http://www.avclub.com/articles/star-trek,27714/?utm_source=search_results |
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| Syd |
| Posted: Mon May 18, 2009 9:20 am |
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Site Admin
Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 12894
Location: Norman, Oklahoma
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lissa wrote: I stayed at the Paris Hilton before it was a celebrity. And it is infinitely hotter than the celebrity.
No air conditioning? |
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| Syd |
| Posted: Mon May 18, 2009 6:21 pm |
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I finally saw Star Trek this afternoon and greatly enjoyed it (although I'm totally in agreement with Joe about Leonard Nimoy). A bit too action oriented in places (I found the battle near the end confusing because I was having trouble telling my Romulans apart). The script handled young Spock very well, managing to make him both cool and full of seething (if usually submerged) emotions. After the first few seconds when I was flashing on Sylar, Zachary Quinto won me over.
I'm glad Rod singled out Zoë Saldana (Uhura) for attention. I thought she was excellent and sexy and her compassion for Spock was moving. Nice performance.
Chris Pike's Kirk reminded me in some ways of Anakin Skywalker, except the character was handled much better. The war of wills between Kirk and Spock was a very strong plot element.
SPOILERS: One thing bothered me after the movie. Nero has Spock, the black hole maker, and it's over a hundred years before the Romulan disaster. Why doesn't occur to anyone to try to destroy the supernova a century before it happens and save billions of lives? Especially Spock, since that was his mission to begin with? |
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I had a love and my love was true but I lost my love to the yabba dabba doo, --The Flintstone Lament |
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| lshap |
| Posted: Mon May 18, 2009 9:39 pm |
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Joined: 12 May 2004
Posts: 4246
Location: Montreal
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X-Men: Origins was a lot more fun than expected.
With this film and Defiance, Liev Schrieber has found himself a comfy character nook as the 'Angry Brother'. |
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| Befade |
| Posted: Mon May 18, 2009 10:37 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 3784
Location: AZ
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| He did okay as the boring husband in Man on the Moon..... |
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| Syd |
| Posted: Mon May 18, 2009 11:36 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 12894
Location: Norman, Oklahoma
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| Among the previews before Star Trek were Transformers 2, The Year One (which I'm actually planning to see), Night at the Museum 2 and GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra. Can I sue for brain damage? The last in particular looks really, really really stupid, even considering it's done by the same director/writer who did the first two Brendan Fraser Mummy movies. |
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I had a love and my love was true but I lost my love to the yabba dabba doo, --The Flintstone Lament |
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| lshap |
| Posted: Tue May 19, 2009 8:30 am |
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Site Admin
Joined: 12 May 2004
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Location: Montreal
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Befade wrote: He did okay as the boring husband in Man on the Moon.....
Great film. Shot in a Summer camp just north of here.
Yeah, I remember him from that film, and how not only his persona but his physicality appeared so different, as if, in Defiance and X-Men, he somehow morphed into this bulkier, taller, scarier version of himself.
Now that's acting. |
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| lshap |
| Posted: Tue May 19, 2009 8:32 am |
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Syd wrote: Among the previews before Star Trek were Transformers 2, The Year One (which I'm actually planning to see), Night at the Museum 2 and GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra. Can I sue for brain damage? The last in particular looks really, really really stupid, even considering it's done by the same director/writer who did the first two Brendan Fraser Mummy movies.
I saw Star Trek again (a rarity for me) in the Imax theater yesterday and saw the same previews, minus G.I Joe. A waste of both brain cells and technology.
But I am going to Terminator this weekend. Game on... |
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| lshap |
| Posted: Tue May 19, 2009 8:48 am |
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Joined: 12 May 2004
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Location: Montreal
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Follow up thoughts about Trek:
Ironic that most of us who call ourselves fans had the same criticism - no overarching philosophy. That's what I felt was missing, and that's what all the referenced reviews in this forum seem to be saying as well. Great characters, great vibe, great premise, lousy reason to bring 'em all together.
The non-fans, for the most part, dug the action and were pleasantly surprised the film wasn't one long geek fest.
Sitting through it a second time made me appreciate the characters even more, and made me wince at the notion that the whole call-to-action centered around one guy's really bad mood.
I love the beginning, the prologue with Kirk's Dad. Powerful and touching. The evolution of Kirk and Spock and the coalescing of the familiar characters worked for me. Young? Yeah. But these are the cream of the overachievers, having already gone through three years of Star Fleet, and it's not that much of a stretch that they'd be the ones assigned to the Fleet's flagship, Enterprise.
I'd love to see more of McCoy, more of Scott and, as I said in my review, more idea of what this armed forces in space is doing there. |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Tue May 19, 2009 12:10 pm |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9008
Location: Shanghai
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Steven Soderbergh's The Girlfriend Experience looks at and in the life of a call girl, as portrayed by real life 21-year-old porn star Sasha Grey.
The pirates of China kindly churned this Dvd out only 4 months prior to the actual release. I don't care much for this sort of techno-hip, scattered narrative jumping back and forth between ... what? ... conversations mostly. After a while I get tired of people half in the frame, only seeing one character from behind in conversation numerous times before his identity (not that interesting) is revealed, attention-seeking handheld and digital video work, etc. I especially disliked the home video style of the plane ride to Vegas scenes, which were partially-bleached out from the sun coming in through the window, seemed like the camera man was drinking along with the characters, and full of inane male bonding dialogue which I had to strain to catch. (and the pirates drop the ball on new releases by providing English subs translated back from the Chinese ... example, "Name of film: girl called in").
It was odd and mildly distracting how the dialogue switched from banal, seemingly improvised chatter to unnatural, overly scripted banter. I also wearied of the characters who were all money obsessed and banal -- which I'm sure was the point, but grew tiresome. I was really worried early on when it threatened to go into early Bret Easton Ellis mode, as we get excerpts from Sasha Grey's diary in which she details the designer brands she wore on various escort jobs. Fortunately, that gave way. It seemed odd how lame most of the "johns" were, many not even managing or bothering to have sex with her. They were portrayed as successful losers who were too money worshiping and/or obsessed with the concept of having a hot chick to actually get around to banging the girl they are paying for. The point was made over and over that talking to a hooker was a form of therapy for these unsatisfied males.
Soderbergh makes two good choices in his depiction of this sexually charged world. SS eschews sex scenes, which tend to be too commonplace and boring in so many films from the past decade. And I also liked how we see Sasha Grey naked very early on in the film -- get to admire her trim lithe figure -- and rarely (never?) see her birthday suit again. It's a clever way of showing us that she has the goods, so not needing to keep presenting them. Also the audience doesn't get much action, just like her clients, while she remains a shielded, semi-clothed enigma throughout most (all?) of the film.
A tension runs through the film between revealing and covering up, exposing/shielding, public/private. There was also an odd tension between the semi-documentary style unfolding of the life of a call girl, with the distinctly arty background lighting, so that many scenes had red lights(!) or violet behind the conversational partners.
An hour in, two minor dramatic moments occur, leading Soderbergh to changes his palette to cold earth tones to capture the chill which enters her life, reflecting her disappointment. (though perhaps it didn't need to be underscored with her saying on the phone that she felt cold). I believe this was the only time in which Sasha Grey wears (hopeful) white, or at least off-white, in the film, as opposed to her standard designer black.
The use of music caught my eye and ear in a few instances. For much of the film, the MTV style music annoyed me. But at least twice, Soderbergh puts music into a scene and only after a minute or so reveals the source (street musicians, in both instances). I liked this play with diegetic/non-diegetic music, as the performances gave a resonance and power to the music. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Tue May 19, 2009 12:30 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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lshap wrote: Befade wrote: He did okay as the boring husband in Man on the Moon.....
Great film. Shot in a Summer camp just north of here.
I was having a devil of a time figuring out whether you meant the Andy Kaufman story or Reese Witherspoon's movie debut. Couldn't remember Schreiber appearing in either of them.
Finally I realized you meant neither. You're referring to A Walk on the Moon, I think. Correct me if I'm wrong. |
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| lshap |
| Posted: Tue May 19, 2009 3:35 pm |
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Site Admin
Joined: 12 May 2004
Posts: 4246
Location: Montreal
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| Billy - You're right. I keyed in on Schrieber and missed the typo on the film title. |
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| Ghulam |
| Posted: Wed May 20, 2009 12:53 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 4742
Location: Upstate NY
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Ramin Bahrani's Goodbye Solo, a critically acclaimed film, is set in North Carolina and is the account of an encounter between a Senegalese taxi driver, a gregarious and ambitious man always willing to help others, and an aging, shut-in and morose caucasian man. The unfolding of this odd relationship is fascinating. Baharani's previous movie Chop Shop was set in Queens and was about unskilled immigrants trying to survive in the big city. It had a lot more characters and several complex interactions. "Goodbye Solo" is more focused and has basically two strong characters and their up and down relationship. Both movies are gems.
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| Ghulam |
| Posted: Fri May 22, 2009 1:54 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 4742
Location: Upstate NY
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Sugar is the story of a base ball pitcher in The Dominican Republic struggling to make it to the major leagues in America. It is written and directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck who gave us Half Nelson. It is not a formulaic sports movie, and is more interested in people, especially the Latino community barely making it in New York City. A very satisfying movie.
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