cellio | another movie night

Last night Gail, her parents, and Dani and I went to see Star Trek: Nemesis. It was a fun movie. It had liberal doses of plot issues and bad science, but you know to expect that. They still managed to tell an interesting story, if you just suspend disbelief. Short takes (and I'm mostly going to ignore the aforementioned plot issues and bad science):

There were some fun bits in the first wedding. Thank you for sparing us the second one on-screen. I wasn't ready for a naked Ryker -- or Picard, for that matter.
That looks like a very effective weapon, if you can distract people during the 7-minute power-up sequence. (I think the smaller instance we saw was not nearly that long, though. The best uses of this weapon are not in planet-killing but rather in government chambers and the like.)
"Nature versus nurture" is so 20th-century...
How the heck is Janeway an admiral while Picard is not?!
I am very happy with the fact that we did not get a huge honking reset button with Data's name on it. For once, actual change. Yes, of course they could put things back the way they were with suitable applications of technobabble, but I hope they won't.

Several of the previews were noteworthy, but mostly not in the positive direction. Final Destination 2 implies that there was a Final Destination (1); I didn't see it and have no desire to see either. It doesn't look like we'll get a Minority Report-like examination; it looks like the point is to do blood and gore. Pass. (And the garbage-disposal scene squicks me, plain and simple.) Bruce Almighty (that might not be the correct given name) looks inane, though it did get me wondering what I would do if I were granted such powers for a week. Daredevil looks bad; I have nothing more specific to say. Bulletproof Monk looks like it could be a fun action flick sans plot, but I probably won't pay to see it. I've forgotten the name of the animated children's film with huge merchandising that turns me off so much. And let me just say that I'm glad that Austin Powers movie has been released now, because that means I don't have to see really inane trailers, at least until next time.

The big winner, though, is The Core. I am looking forward to seeing this. I'm sure the science will be, um, "novel", but it looks like they're doing a good-enough job with the story that I don't care. A US weapons program goes wrong; the end of the world is imminent. But wait; we just might be able to stop it, if we just drill into the center of the earth and... do something. I loved some of the humorous bits that showed up in the trailer, and it appears that there will be copious explosions and the like, so the movie will probably appeal to a broad audience.

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Final Destination came out in 2000. I don't do horror flicks, but as I understand, it's pretty much the same plot. I won't see Bruce Almighty either. For some reason, the only movies he's tolerable in, he's decked out head to foot in green. (Grinch, Riddler, The Mask) There's a psychiatry paper in there somewhere :) I intend to see Daredevil. According to the character list (not actor list, CHARACTER list), I think they're going to do a movie of the comic run where Bullseye (villian) nearly/does kill Elektra (hero's love interest) and Daredevil (hero) hunts him down while Kingpin (gangster) trys to get Bullseye for his mob. It was a hellova story in the comics, I have to see what they do it in on the big screen. There's also a Vin Disel movie coming out that I intend to see. Just saw LOTR last night, Nemesis is on my schedule for this weekend. Still on the list is Treasure Planet and Die Another Day. And one of these days I have to rent Minority Report.

Maybe Picard is another Kirk, everytime he gets reviewed for the admiral rank he does something to get busted. :D

I liked Nemesis overall -- I thought it was rather choppy and uneven, but it was at least ambitious, which is a rare thing to see nowadays. And it changes the Next Gen crew more than the entire previous 15 years have done.

How the heck is Janeway an admiral while Picard is not?!

Actually, this one was pretty well-established, IIRC -- Picard just plain doesn't want the job. In his heart, he's the quintessential Captain: he wants to be out there exploring, dealing with cool first-contact situations and occasionally saving the galaxy. As today, Admirals in Starfleet are mostly about paper-pushing and tea parties -- Janeway's had enough excitement (and horror) for three lifetimes, but Picard just isn't that burnt-out yet. Besides, being Captain of the flagship means that he gets all the prestige without most of the bother...

Bruce Almighty: It looks like a typical Jim Carrey movie -- probably either screamingly funny or painfully awful. (Possibly both.) I'll wait for the reviews.

Daredevil: I dunno. Before X-Men and Spider-Man I would have agreed with you, but Marvel's on a serious roll. They've hit a sweet spot, understanding that the right formula is to keep the essence of what makes the comic interesting, but allow the movie a lot of latitude to be a good movie (which usually requires changes from the comic). Again, I'm going to wait for the reviews, but at this point I'm guardedly optimistic: I don't think it'll have the depth of the real Elektra saga (which it is clearly based upon), but it might be reasonably good.

The Core: Okay, I totally disagree on this one -- this looks like the worst sort of disaster movie to me. It just screams Armageddon: big and loud, with lots of things blowing up while the preposterously plucky team executes a scientifically-improbable mission to save the world. Ick. Of course, our tastes don't necessarily agree (witness our very different reactions to The Two Towers), and I've occasionally been dead wrong in my initial assessment of a movie. But this one's going to have to get stellar notices to get me out of the house...

We also saw the preview for X-Men 2, which has potential -- they're ramping up the humans-vs-mutants plot sooner than I'd expected. I'm not expecting High Art, but if it's as good as the first, it'll be worth the money. And after all these years, Terminator 3. With any luck, they'll actually wrap up the story in this one -- Arnie's getting a little long in the tooth for this franchise. (At the least, this will hopefully be the last "robots go back to kill John Connor" movie; twice was okay, but it'll be a challenge for this one to be anything other than repetitive.)

Nothing brilliant, though. Pity -- I distinctly remember the thrill I got from the first trailer for Minority Report last year. Haven't gotten that again since...

I liked Nemesis overall -- I thought it was rather choppy and uneven, but it was at least ambitious, which is a rare thing to see nowadays. And it changes the Next Gen crew more than the entire previous 15 years have done.

This is a good point. And I do like the fact that we did see change without resets. I did enjoy the movie.

It looks like a typical Jim Carrey movie

Ah -- I was supposed to recognize the name, then. Oops. :-) What are some of his others?

The Core: You could be right, of course; won't know until I see it. (I didn't see Armageddon.) It looks like they are bringing humor to it and some amount of introspection (the "we caused this" angle), which puts it ahead of many just-plain-action-and-explosions movies. It's possible to do that well or badly, of course; I liked the bits they showed in the trailer, though of course trailers are designed that way.

Terminator 3 is finally happening? Thanks; I hadn't heard. It's been a long time...

It looks like a typical Jim Carrey movie

Ah -- I was supposed to recognize the name, then. Oops. :-) What are some of his others?

The Mask, The Grinch Who Stole Christmas, Dumb and Dumber, The Cable Guy, Ace Ventura Pet Detective, The Truman Show, The Majestic... He has quite a list. Some are good, some suck rocks. No one chews the scenery like Jim Carrey does.

It looks like a typical Jim Carrey movie
Ah -- I was supposed to recognize the name, then. Oops. :-) What are some of his others?

Well, most of the over-the-top comedies of the past ten years. Off the top of my head: Ace Ventura, Pet Detective I & II; How the Grinch Stole Christmas; Liar, Liar; Me, Myself & Irene; The Mask; The Truman Show; Dumb and Dumber; and Batman Forever. (And a lot of others that I'm not thinking of offhand.) Some very good movies, some very bad ones, but all of them big hits.

Carrey is very odd, and his comic style isn't to all tastes. IMO, he's done enough good stuff to demonstrate that he has talent, and enough bad stuff to demonstrate that he doesn't always have taste

And after all these years, Terminator 3. With any luck, they'll actually wrap up the story in this one -- Arnie's getting a little long in the tooth for this franchise.

As I understand it, the unofficial title for T3 was "Terminatrix" because they were using a lot of techniques from "The Matrix" and the T3 cyborg was going to be female. I was going to say that I didn't think Arnie was actually going to be acting in this one, but a quick on IMDb proved me wrong. But wasn't the good cyborg melted down in T2

As I understand it, the unofficial title for T3 was "Terminatrix" because they were using a lot of techniques from "The Matrix" and the T3 cyborg was going to be female.

The evil one, yes. Although, remember, Arnie wasn't playing the evil robot in T2, either.

I was going to say that I didn't think Arnie was actually going to be acting in this one, but a quick on IMDb proved me wrong.

Yes -- he actually gets a lot more screen time in the trailer (and, I would tend to assume, the movie itself) than the female evil bot does.

But wasn't the good cyborg melted down in T2?

Yes -- but so what? He was crushed at the end of T1. One gets the impression that the Resistance just keeps stealing more copies of the basic T800 model.

another movie night

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