You are currently browsing the category archive for the 'Star Trek' category.
I’d say over the course of a year I see most films that come highly recommended. Not all of them fit into the discussions we have on this site. I try to talk about the ones I love in lists or separate posts but not every one lives up to expectations. Instead of giving these films a pass via my silence I have decided to pillory them here. That’ll show ‘em.
Star Trek and Whip It
(95 Rotten Tomatoes, 83 Metacritic; 82 RT, 67 MC)
I feel like I covered most of my objections here and here, but is there a plot point or line of dialog in Star Trek that isn’t a cliche? Or a scene or shot in Whip It?
Sunshine Cleaning
(72 RT, 61 MC)
A textbook case of a movie trying too hard. This film has enough themes and subplots for three Sundance films. And unfortunately too few go anywhere and few I cared about. The one where Emily Blunt befriends Mary Lynn Rajskub is just confounding. Alan Arkin’s character is almost a carbon copy of his work in Little Miss Sunshine. I didn’t care for Emily Blunt. One aspect I found quite interesting was the family’s burgeoning relationship with a one-armed cleaning supply shop owner, played by Clifton Collins Jr. He’s a real revelation in a film that doesn’t do enough with him.
Goodbye Solo
(94 RT, 89 MC)
I expected this movie to be right up my alley. I usually find myself drawn to small, slow, slice-of-life character-driven dramas like this. See my outspoken (at least amongst the Grouches) support for 2008’s The Visitor and Frozen River. And I know Ramin Bahrani is a Next Great American Director. But holy shit this was boring. I kept waiting for something interesting to happen or to get fully involved in a character or their world, but no.
Sugar
(93 RT, 82 MC)
On the one hand, it’s a film about baseball. On the other, it comes from the team behind the Grouches-reviled Half Nelson. Could any film tear Jared apart more? Actually I do hope he sees it because I’d be curious about his take on it and what he thinks of the film’s baseball scenes. Sugar follows a Dominican baseball player as he arrives in America to play minor league ball. More than baseball it’s about the modern immigrant story. I was totally on board for about a third of the movie before it began to lose me. I became less interested in Sugar and his travails. The whole thing just never coalesces into anything particularly interesting.
Fantastic Mr. Fox
(92 RT, 83 MC)
Wes Anderson has made no more than 2/3 of a good movie since his brilliant Rushmore / Royal Tenenbaums run. (That good 2/3 was the front end of Darjeeling Limited.) I loved this book as a kid and the stop-motion animation intrigued me, but it just gets bogged down in Anderson’s increasingly tiresome style. He’s so betrothed to his special Wes Anderson trademarked quirks that he forgets to make a movie that’s actually good. Every touch that seems like it should be clever (Mr. Fox’s mid-life crisis, a badger lawyer/side-kick) are just ill-conceived. I think of Jason Schwartzman’s bored, monotone voice acting as Mr. Fox’s son and I’m reminded all over again why this film was a collasal disappointment.
I realize it is a couple weeks late, but here’s my top five through October. Well, I guess through the second week of November.
1. Zombieland
2. Up
3. District 9
4. (500) Days of Summer
5. Star Trek
Not much movement, I know, but I expect that to change in the near future (it isn’t from lack of trying, I’ve seen at least a dozen films since the last list). I don’t believe I’ve said anything about Zombieland before. It is darn near a perfect movie. Taut, consistently funny, surprising, and well-cast. One of those films where I understand if someone doesn’t like it much, I just probably can’t be very good friends with that person. Jesse Eisenberg is who people want Michael Cera to be. Woody Harrelson was just about born to play his role (and I’m hoping he gets a nomination for The Messenger because I’ll consider it half a vote for this). Abigail Breslin, well, maybe I better let Brian chime in. And I’m madly in love with Emma Stone. If I’m not writing a ridiculous post advocating that this script should get a nomination, it will have been an insanely good year.
While I have the floor, just wanted to point out something. The latest Gurus O’ Gold list went up a few days ago. Their predictions are always interesting and one of the bets resources out there. But I was struck by how few films the experts think have a shot to get a Best Picture nomination. For ten spots, they seem to agree that only eleven have any real shot. I realize that no one really knows how the change to ten affects anything, and that it is still relatively early in the game. But this is stunning to me. I thought part of the point of the change was accepting that a wider swathe of movies can be good than the Academy generally deems. But this wouldn’t be progress at all.
Right now might be my favorite part of the year, in terms of movie-watching. We’ve seen the summer blockbusters, the interesting films I didn’t see in theaters (e.g. Sin Nombre, Sugar, Sunshine Cleaning) are rolling out on DVD, and we’re pretty much at the exact point right before Oscar contenders become legit Oscar contenders. Nobody knows anything, because most of the big films haven’t really been seen at all, but everyone wants to know something. To wit, the first edition of the Gurus O’ Gold is out, and if you haven’t seen it, check them out. And you all laughed when I said Star Trek was in the conversation. The important festivals, Telluride, TIFF, and Venice are just getting underway. Even as short as a week from now, we’ll have a better idea about the Oscars. But now, now is when absolutely anything is possible and we can still be full of hope that this will be a great Oscar year.
1. Up
If Up were to get a Best Picture nom, I’d be thrilled as all heck. And while it should have been WALL-E, it would unfairly diminish this film to call it a make up nom. Of course, I guess I should allow for the possibility I’ll seen ten films I like more than this. Man, that would be something.
2. District 9
One of the two new additions to the list since my last post. Maybe this is nostalgia talking, but I think that recent scifi/action films have tended to forget what makes their genre so great. In my mind, it isn’t the special effects, necessarily. It is the stories that couldn’t be told any way other than explosions, mindless violence, and a few broken laws of physics. Anyway, District 9 bursts out of the scifi/action genre to become a truly great film.
3. (500) Days of Summer
The other new add. It may have been the movie I was most looking forward to this summer, so there’s something to be said for it being able to stand up to my hype. It wasn’t everything I hoped it would be, but it was certainly close. There are some neat tricks in there, which manage not distract from the film, and the story is a generally compelling subversion of a romcom.
4. I Love You, Man
Sure, Rush jokes will pretty much always be funny in a movie. But someday, someone will build a film around TOTO jokes. And then I’ll have to stop watching movies.
5. Star Trek
John is still wrong.
And a special honorable mention to The Hurt Locker, which was in my Top Five for at least a little bit. Actually, I think there was a week when Away We Go made it as well.
Well, we are right around halfway through the calendar year, so here’s my top five so far. Hopefully the other Grouches follow.
1. Up
A fantastic movie, though I didn’t think it was as good as WALL-E. Which isn’t really a knock, seeing as how I would have said the same thing about every other film from last year.
2. I Love You, Man
This film is funny, sure, but it also manages to generally keep up a compelling story. It has been a long time since Jason Segel wasn’t in a movie in my top five.
3. Star Trek
As usual, John is wrong. We’ll see if I can come up with some sort of rebuttal.
4. The Hangover
I know the point isn’t original, but goodness gracious did this movie rake in the dough. It is gonna finish with $200 million domestic, and be safely in the top 100 domestic grosses all time. The film was often funny and occasionally hilarious, but I had a few quibbles with it, specifically that it significantly tailed off at the end, and they had no idea what to do with Heather Graham’s character.
5. The Brothers Bloom
Has a fantastic beginning (and no, not just due to the two cameos), but the last third has serious issues. Which is unfortunate, because I really wanted to love the film. Con movies are really hard to pull off, and Rian Johnson puts forward a jolly good effort. Bang Bang steals the show, in my humble opinion. There’s also a line in the film that’s in the early running for my favorite movie quote of the year.
After two years of participating in this blog I can’t help but think about the Oscars even when in the midst of the summer blockbuster season. It’s a curse.
We’ve seen plenty of nominations from summer movies in recent years: Borat, Pirates of the Caribbean, Poseidon, and Transformers for example. The Bourne Ultimatum even managed to take home three (undeserved) trophies. These are usually in technical categories, but there’s no other way Norbit would be an Oscar nominee. So there will be a spark of Oscar thought in the back of my mind as I take in 2009’s summer slate of action flicks and sequels.
So apparently I’m one of only like five people in the world who didn’t like Star Trek. While moderately fun, it felt like one cliched vignette after another with a poor overall vision. Here’s the scene where our heroes, along with us, meet an important character at precisely the right moment. And here’s the scene where Kirk has to convince Spock to relinquish control in a conveniently-timed battle of wits. In a lot of ways it felt like a pilot to a TV show where everything and everyone are introduced without a lot of depth. I imagine the sequels will be better and less superficial.
But Star Trek is a big film with a hugely positive critical reception (95% on Rotten Tomatoes) that made a ton of money (pushing $250 mill). Combined with its action sequences and special effects, this really could have a Bourne-type impact on the Oscars.
Naturally I’m going to start whining now. The visual effects are fine if not spectacular. But lord did I hate the sound effects. Sound should be one of those things the casual filmgoer doesn’t notice while watching but I definitely noticed it in Star Trek. Specifically the punch sound effects that seemed like they belonged in a cartoon or an old Batman episode. I didn’t mind the lens flares but those horrible smack sounds during punches drove me nuts.
So this is one guy who won’t be happy if Star Trek ends up on the Sound Editing nomination list. And thus ends an important Sound Editing post 8 months before the next Oscars.
Recent Comments