another movie night

[cellio]

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.

Comments

[cellio]

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...

[tashabear.livejournal.com]

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.

[jducoeur]

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