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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)

Yabu no naka no kuroneko, a review by Danae Cassandra

Yabu no naka no kuroneko  (Kuroneko)

Year of Release:  1968
Directed By:  Kaneto Shindo
Starring:  Kichiemon Nakamura, Nobuko Otowa, Kiwako Taichi, Kei Sato 
Rated:  Not Rated

Overview:
In this poetic and atmospheric horror fable, set in a village in war-torn feudal Japan, malevolent spirits are ripping out the throats of itinerant samurai. When a military hero is dispatched to confront the unseen force, he finds that he must struggle with personal demons as well. From Kaneto Shindo, director of the similarly terrifying Onibaba, Kuroneko (a.k.a. Black Cat) is a spectacularly eerie twilight tale, with a shocking feminist angle, evoked through ghostly special effects and exquisite cinematography.

My Thoughts:
What a magnificent film!  The cinematography is so perfect, so gorgeous, the unconventional use of lighting, the play of darkness and shadow in the film, the eerie fog that heralds entering the supernatural realm.  The look of the film and its atmosphere are so wonderfully done, the use of black and white so appropriate that I can't imagine what this would look like in color.  The actors are all great as well.  Poetic, tragic, symbolic, chilling, I would highly recommend this for any fan of classic or Japanese horror.  Avoid only if you can't watch a subtitled film (in which case, I feel sorry for you).  Any other horror film I watch this month has a high bar set by Kuroneko.

Bechdel Test:  Fail

Overall:  4.75/5

(From Danae's 2012 Horror on October 8th, 2012)

"Big Bang Theory" Marathon, a review by Tom

05. The Hamburger Postulate (2007-10-22)
Writer: Dave Goetsch, Steven Molaro, Jennifer Glickman
Director: Andrew D. Weyman
Cast: Johnny Galecki (Leonard Hofstadter), Jim Parsons (Sheldon Cooper), Kaley Cuoco (Penny), Simon Helberg (Howard Wolowitz), Kunal Nayyar (Rajesh Koothrappali), Sara Gilbert (Leslie Winkle)

Yeah, a bigger role for Sara
This one was a great episode. Sheldon is becoming my favorite character so far.



06. The Middle Earth Paradigm (2007-10-29)
Writer: David Litt, Robert Cohen, Dave Goetsch
Director: Mark Cendrowski
Cast: Johnny Galecki (Leonard Hofstadter), Jim Parsons (Sheldon Cooper), Kaley Cuoco (Penny), Simon Helberg (Howard Wolowitz), Kunal Nayyar (Rajesh Koothrappali), Brian Patrick Wade (Kurt), Rachel Cannon (Patty), Erin Allin O'Reilly (Cheryl), Kimberly Kevon Williams (Vicki), Cynthia Holloway (Roberta)

A good episode. Not as good as the previous one.

(From "Big Bang Theory" Marathon on September 26th, 2008)