DVD Collectors Online

Star Trek (2009), a review by Tom

Title: Star Trek
Year: 2009
Director:
Rating: 12
Length: 127 Min.
Video: Widescreen 2.40
Audio: English: Dolby Digital TrueHD, English: Dolby Digital 5.1, English: Dolby Digital Surround, French: Dolby Digital 5.1, German: Dolby Digital 5.1, Italian: Dolby Digital 5.1, Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1, Audio Descriptive: Dolby Digital 5.1, Commentary: Dolby Digital Stereo
Subtitles: Commentary, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Italian, Norwegian, Spanish, Swedish

Stars:
Chris Pine
Zachary Quinto
Leonard Nimoy
Eric Bana
Winona Ryder

Plot:
"STAR TREK is a burst of pure filmmaking exhilaration and an irresistible invitation for fun." The cocky, renegade James Kirk (Chris Pine) and the equally youthful half-Vulcan, half-human Spock (Zachary Quinto) are among the young members of a fledging Starfleet crew, and about to launch the most advanced starship ever created: the U.S.S. Enterprise. During their incredible galactic voyage of exploration and discovery, they will encounter the evil Nero (Eric Bana) whose mission of vengeance threatens all of mankind. With both the blockbuster-hit film and all-new special features on this two-disc Digital Copy Special Edition, you will journey behind the scenes and immerse yourself in a thrilling, action-packed Star Trek universe, as you have never experienced before!

Awards:

Scream Awards	2009	Won	Best Cameo	Winona Ryder
Scream Awards	2009	Won	Best Director	J. J. Abrams
Scream Awards	2009	Nominated	Best Ensemble
Scream Awards	2009	Nominated	Best F/X
Scream Awards	2009	Won	Best Science Fiction Actor	Chris Pine
Scream Awards	2009	Nominated	Best Science Fiction Actor	Zachary Quinto
Scream Awards	2009	Nominated	Best Science Fiction Actress	Zoe Saldana
Scream Awards	2009	Won	Best Sci-Fi Movie
Scream Awards	2009	Nominated	Best Scream-Play	Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman
Scream Awards	2009	Nominated	Best Supporting Actor	Leonard Nimoy
Scream Awards	2009	Nominated	Best Supporting Actor	Simon Pegg
Scream Awards	2009	Nominated	Best Villian	Eric Bana
Scream Awards	2009	Nominated	Breakout Performance-Female	Zoe Saldana
Scream Awards	2009	Nominated	Breakout Performance-Male	Chris Pine
Scream Awards	2009	Won	Fight-to-the-Death Scene of the Year	"Kirk vs. Spock":
Scream Awards	2009	Nominated	The "Holy Sh%t!" Scene of the Year	"Space Dive onto Orbital Drill":
Scream Awards	2009	Won	The Ultimate Scream
Teen Choice Awards	2009	Nominated	Choice Movie - Action Adventure
Teen Choice Awards	2009	Nominated	Choice Movie Actress - Action/Adventure	Zoe Saldana
Teen Choice Awards	2009	Nominated	Choice Movie Fresh Face - Male	Chris Pine
Teen Choice Awards	2009	Nominated	Choice Movie Rumble	Kirk vs. Spock
Teen Choice Awards	2009	Nominated	Choice Movie Villain	Eric Bana
World Soundtrack Awards	2009	Nominated	Film Composer of the Year	Michael Giacchino

Extras:
Commentary
Deleted Scenes
Featurettes
Outtakes
Scene Access
Star Trek: Countdown (Comic)

When I first heard about the idea of making a Star Trek prequel movie years ago (the talk was about a Star Trek Academy movie), I was shocked that they even considered something like this. I wanted further TNG movies or DS9 movies. But after the failure of Nemesis and the new Enterprise series, I didn't want any further movies.
When then again came up the topic of a Star Trek reboot movies years later, I was all for it. Now was the right time for it.

Even though I was all for it, I was going into it was some trepidation. The trailer hadn't really convinced me yet. But I was positively surprised by the movie. They managed to make a reboot with the possibility to explore new directions, but they didn't ignore the past movies. Having Leonard Nimoy as the old Spock from the previous timeline's past in it to bridge the gap was the only move which probably could pull that off.

The new cast is perfect. The new Spock is a dead-on young Leonard Nimoy. The new Kirk has the spirit of Shatner's Kirk, but they thankfully chose to not imitade Shatner's delivery style. That would have come across as a Shatner parody instead of a new incarnation of Kirk. Simon Pegg as Scotty was alright as was the other supporting Enterprise crew. The new Bones is the one who surprised me the most. When I first saw him, I did not think that he was right for the role. He didn't look anything like DeForest Kelley. But his McCoy was dead-on.

But the movie also has its problems:
- I didn't like the "Star Wars" sequence on the Ice Planet, where Kirk is chased by a monster which in turn is caught by an even bigger monster. Also it is just too much of an coincidence, that Kirk is jettisoned to only a short walk away from where the old Spock is marooned.
- I didn't like it, that the kid Kirk is driving a vintage automobile. This scene is what bothered me most in the trailer. And the Nokia phone was the most grinchworthy moment in the entire movie.
- I didn't like it, that again the Romulans where the villains (like in Nemesis), but at least it was understandable, because we knew from TNG that the old Spock was involved with Romulans the past few years.
- Overuse of lens flare in the bridge scenes. Is the bridge supposed to be a light show, or what?

Also there are some moments, which bother me a little, but they do count as character flaws and not movie flaws: Like why did they give the charge to the redshirt guy and do not have one themselves? They didn't know who will survive the fall, so they should have planned to have backups. And am I understanding it correctly, that because of the stupidity of the redshirt, Vulcan was doomed?

A few references to past movies, that I remember now while writing the review:
- Kobayashi Maru: We learn in Star Trek 2 that Kirk is the only one ever beating the test scenario. Shatner was also eating an apple telling about it, like Chris Pine did while taking the test.
- The Vulcan school: The computers on which the kids take the tests are similar to the computer Spock did tests on in Star Trek 4
- The "friends" speech by Spock. First spoken in Star Trek 2.
- Spock also chose to not complete the Kolinahr in Star Trek 1.
- Spocks parents where first seen in the TOS episode "Journey to Babel", but were also part of Star Trek 4. His father was also in 6.
- I also got a kick out of Leonard Nimoy declaring "I am Spock" in the movie. Which is the title of his autobiography.
- Old Spock giving Scotty the formula which Scotty would have invented later himself is reminiscent of a scene in Star Trek 4.
- Nero is using the same creatures to extract information from Pike as Khan did in Star Trek 2. Would have been fun though, if we would have gotten an updated "ear-invasion" scene, instead of putting it in the mouth.
- Sulus experiance in hand-to-hand combat is of course a reference to a scene in a TOS episode, where we see Sulu fencing.

Rating:

(From DCO third annual November Alphabet Marathon - discussion/review/banter thread on November 22nd, 2009)

Rocky III, a review by addicted2dvd

Rocky III (1982/United States) Wikipedia |IMDb |Trailer | MGM Home Entertainment Director: Sylvester Stallone Writing: Sylvester Stallone (Writer) Length: 99 min. Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85:1, Pan & Scan 1.33:1 Audio: English: Dolby Digital: 5.1, French: Dolby Digital: Mono, Spanish: Dolby Digital: Mono Subtitles: French, Spanish

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Stars:
Sylvester Stallone as Rocky Balboa
Talia Shire as Adrian
Burt Young as Paulie
Carl Weathers as Apollo Creed
Burgess Meredith as Mickey
Tony Burton as Duke

Plot:
Rocky battles his most powerful adversary yet - the ferocious Clubber Lang (Mr. T.) - in this hard-hitting actioner that comes out swinging with adventure, humor and emotionally charged human drama. For what may be the most exciting and fast-paced film in the series, Sylvester Stallone writes, directs and stars with explosive passion and intensity.

As Rocky Balboa (Stallone) fights his way into the hearts of millions, life couldn't be better. He scores ten consecutive wins, lands lucrative endorsement contracts, and becomes famous throughout the world. But when Clubber Lang K.O.s Rocky in a humiliating defeat, it becomes apparent that the "Italian Stallion" has lost his edge. Considering hanging up his gloves, Rocky receives encouragement from an unlikely ally: his old nemesis, Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers). With Creed's help, Rocky strives to regain the "eye of the tiger" before confronting Lang in a grueling rematch for the world heavyweight championship.

Extras:

• Scene Access
• Feature Trailers
• Closed Captioned

My brother and I just finished watching this one. We really been on a roll on these films. This is the shortest of all the Rocky films. It is also one that isn't quite as serious... as dramatic as the previous two. While this isn't a bad thing I do prefer the previous two movies over it. I am not saying this is a bad movie... it isn't. Not at all. I still enjoyed it a lot. The biggest downer of this one for me is what they did with the character Mickey. Sure they needed to do it to tell the story the wanted to tell... but I still hated seeing it happen. Mickey was a great character played by one of my favorite actors.... Burgess Meredith. Once again... a movie I definitely recommend.



(From What Movies I Been Watching on February 11th, 2013)

The X-Files Marathon, a review by addicted2dvd

1. Pilot
Original Air Date: September 10, 1993
After a number of Oregon high school teens begin to die mysteriously, Scully and Mulder are called to investigate the matter.

Guest Stars:
Charles Cioffi as Chief Blevins
Cliff DeYoung as Dr. Jay Nemman
Sarah Koskoff as Theresa Nemman
Leon Russom as Detective Miles
Zachary Ansley as Billy Miles

My Thoughts:
This is a well done introduction to the characters. The chemistry between the main characters is there right from the start. The storyline of this episode... while good... there are better. As I said before... never cared much for the Alien stuff. And this is really the start of the series long arc. But of course at this point the arc is interesting.

When I popped this episode in this morning I couldn't get over how young the cast looked. It is hard for me to believe that these episodes are already a good 17 years old. Which I think... for me at least is a good reason to figure on watching the second movie at the end of the marathon. It won't be as much of a visual disruption from the episodes to the movies back to the episodes again.

My Rating:

(From The X-Files Marathon on March 28th, 2010)