Star Trek: Into Darkness - Movie Review

I am not a real 'Trek-y'.  I watched some of the original Star Trek series when I was younger, but it wasn't compulsory viewing.  

I wouldn't stay up late to watch the reruns and I had no interest in the sequels such as Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Nemesis etc.  

I did enjoy the first 'modern' movie remake of  'Star Trek' starring Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto and the hunky but evil Eric Bana.  (I enjoyed that movie so much that it became one of my favs on DVD; I pull it out every couple of months for a viewing.)  

I was super hopeful that the latest addition to the Star Trek stable 'Into Darkness'  would be of the same calibre.  

Poster from Wikipedia

It was; although this offering is more violent and blood thirsty and, for true Trek-ys, the lack of development of some of the characters will be unsatisfying. 

It had a love story (Uhura and Spock .... ahhhhhh) (their lovers tiff is a wonderful bit of scripting, and a bit of a tear jerker too).  I loved that we got to know the human side of Spock in greater detail. 

Kirk was still a lad-about-town with the women, willing to brawl with anyone - but this movie saw his 'coming of age' as a starship Captain.  (Bad boy makes good). 

There was a not so subtle reference to Chariots of the Gods through a primitive tribe on an island with a volcano ready to erupt.  

Karl Urban's 'Bones' delighted with his colloquial 'euphemisms' for everything (and Kirks comment about 'why can't you just say what you mean'?). 

Simon Peggs 'Scotty'  stole the show for me with just about every line -  just wonderful.  

I would have liked to see more of Anton Yelchins 'Chekov' - a wonderful character from the first installment, and John Cho's 'Sulu', who only had a minor role in this movie.  


The low was the introduction of a new character; Dr. Carol Marcus played by Alice Eve. It felt like her character was added to help  smooth out rough spots in the script; her role was otherwise superfluous. Especially unbelievable was her reaction to a family members betrayal (the characters, not the actresses).


Apart from Spock, and to a point Kirk and Scotty, the other characters were fairly one dimensional in a movie that starred action and violence.  My attraction to the first movie was the development of the characters personalities and motivations for becoming star fleet-ers.

The friend I went with is not a Trek-y at all, having never seen the original (or any) series.  She had had trouble following the story in the first movie.   

However, she giggled her way through Into Darkness, rode the roller coaster of special effects and enjoyed this movie immensely.

I would recommend 'Into Darkness' to both Trek-ys and non Trek-ys, for an awesome visual sensation (I viewed 'Into Darkness' in 2D, as I get a bit motion sick with the 3D.  2D had plenty of effects; I am not sure how much 3D would have added to the experience).

I hope that the third installment (fingers crossed ... I am ready for more) has more empathy with characterisation and deals more with the 'exploration of the Universe', as Kirk pledges in his concluding Captains oath.  

Classic Quotes The Hop!

Watched the movie 'Hop' the other day with young friend (about an animated Easter Bunny (voiced by Russell Brand) who wants to be famous playing the drums!).  

All the 'bunny's' in the movie are animated, but the human actors and the backgrounds are real with the animations superimposed over the top.  

Anyway, to get to the chase, it is a pretty ordinary movie apart from one truly classic quote.

The Easter Bunny has just auditioned on the drums for David Hasslehoff (yes ... that one!) in 'The Hoff knows Talent'!

The Hoff tells him he is 'IN'.  The Bunny gets excited and starts talking with the Hoff.  
Then; the Bunny's manager (played by James Marsden) asks The Hoff;  'Don't you find it strange that there is a talking rabbit who plays the drums?'

The Hoff; with a deadpan face replies 'No.... my best friend is a talking car!'.

Boom boom.

Maybe you had to be there .............  :)

It will all be alright .......

I watched 'The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel' last night, on DVD.

A very gentle movie ... where nothing happened, but life went on.

It would not be to everyone's taste, but I don't think it is exclusively an 'old persons' movie either.  Some of the story line was a little forced, the characters generally too much a 'type' rather than complex and some of it was very predictable; but the vibe of India (Jaipur I think it was in); the colours, textures and light were wonderful.

The one thing that I remember from the DVD is a line the young Indian 'entrepreneur' Sonny used; which became a bit of a mantra for the film ...

'It will all be alright in the end; and if it is not all right, it is not the end.'

  

I am going through major upheavals in my life at the moment (sigh, I am almost beginning to crave routine).  The unknown is always in my face, with decisions to make and the thrill of the unknown, not bad, just different.

I should make this my mantra too! That way, when everything is ok, I will know!

THE SAPPHIRES MOVIE REVIEW

 I went to the movies last night (cheap Tuesdays) to see a new Australian movie ‘The Sapphires’.  It is the story of a group of Aboriginal sisters/cousins who form a soul group and go to sing in the war zone of Vietnam during the 1960s.  It looked like fun and had good reviews, but I did have a few preconceptions ... that were proved wrong.

It is not a girly movie.  The male I went with pointed out ‘girly movies don’t have war scenes in them’.  (I did bring up GI Jane, but that was a girl’s movie for boys because of the grrrrrowl factor of Demi Moore.)

The sound track is brilliant and all the singers (Debra Mailman included) are fabulous.  Even the lead male Chris O’Dowd* can sing (in the same way that Colin Firth can sing in Mama Mia). 

It is not a musical, so people are not bursting into song to emphasise parts of the story; they are singing as a singing group in the story.

It is not a ‘force-Aboriginal-issues-down-your-throat’ type of movie.  They could have been Aussie-Italians, or Australian-born Chinese; they just happened to be Aboriginal.  

It is not a perfect movie.  The script is a bit clunky in parts, much of the acting is very Australian (unpolished is a way I could describe it), some bits of the movie are overworked and others are just plain melodramatic. 

What does work?  

The glorious honest-ness of the indigenous actors:  They shine in their integrity.  They make you feel warm and welcome for the brief time you watch them on the screen.

The fact that it is based on a real life story:  Fascinating snippets at the end of the flick of the real group and where they are today. 

The gentle lessons presented to us ‘Gubbas’ (white people) of what being Aboriginal may have been like in the 60’s.  Nothing forced or soap-boxy; just shown in a matter-of-fact way, as reminiscences, or as life in its own gentle way. 

At the end of the movie, you feel glad you have seen it, you feel foot-tapping happy, you want to buy the sound track, (you keep thinking ‘Why didn’t Jess Mauboy win Australian Idol?’) and you are in love with Debra Mailman with her glorious realness.

It is not glossy or perfectly produced.  It is a bit raw and real and great.  I won’t give it stars; that would demean the movie.    Just go to see it if you want to have a good time.

*Just as an aside, if you haven’t seen the movie 'Bridesmaids', Chris O’Dowd is the stand out in that movie – the movie wasn’t my cup of tea, but he was great.