Sharkey's Interweb Journal Thingy

Star Trek. (A slightly gushing review.)

Went to see the new Star Trek movie.

Verdict: Wow.

[some possible light spoilerage - consider yourself warned.]

The cast is spot on (particularly Chris Pine, who somehow manages to de-Shatnercheeserise Kirk without de-Kirking him), the look of the film is fantastic (Apple-store-meets-industrial, daaahling) and the story is basically a very cunning way of jettisoning everything that went before (while still remaining "canon") so they can do a prequel and place the characters in real jeopardy. You know, rather than the "well Obi and Anakin can't die cos they're both in A New Hope" scenario. They boldly choose to leave it borked too, resulting in a universe that contains the same characters but with utterly different motivations. This may upset some of the hardcore fans, but frankly... who cares? I loved that they deliberately flirt with or subvert a lot of Star Trek cliches in small ways. ("Hi Christopher!") And it's actually funny too, and not in the unintentional way the old ones were. There's lots of nods to old Star Trek for Trekkies, and references to other JJ Abrams shows (even Slusho!) but it never gets clogged up with them. Hell, even the plot holes are bigger and better and shinier than before, but it's so damned watchable that you really just don't care.

Bad stuff? Aforementioned plot-holes. Well, not holes as such, just everything is just a bit too damned... convenient. Other stuff, the score is a bit Elfman-era Batman (although the actual sound design is pure classic Trek in places). There's some utterly horrific product placement in the early parts (offset by good use of the Beastie Boys). And they use a distressingly Fringe-level of lens flare in every third shot which gets a bit tiresome/blinding/ohmygodmyeyestheybleedtheydiepleasemakeitstop.

Doesn't matter though. I still came out grinning from ear-to-ear. It's better than The Wrath Of Kahn. Which makes it the best Star Trek movie. Go and see. Go and see now.

Speaking of Fringe, very happy that this week's episode (another JJ show) has a guy who's convinced he's the son of Sarek (i.e. Spock) who wants to save the universe from time-travelling Romulans and/or Khan. And Walter's drinking a Slusho. And Leonard Nimoy (old Spock, for the uninitiated) is playing a recurring character.

Now that's what I call cross-platform marketing, pop kids.

Wot no squid?

Days without incident: 21 (which must be more than halfway, surely.)

EVEN THE GODDAM COMMIES HAVE PIZZA WHEN I CAN'T. AAAARGGGH.

While I'm here, here's the five second review of Watchmen: It adds absolutely nothing to experience of reading the graphic novel, but it takes nothing away either. I guess it's not like The Dark Knight though, where the Nolans combined all sorts of bits of Batman history and backstory, along with some amazing cinematography to make something new that was the best film it could be. This is almost too faithful to the source material so it doesn't get to take advantage of the extra facility that moving pictures should be able to give it. That said, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Definitely need to give it another go, I reckon.

Score: 3.5/5 radiative blue penises.

Get your ass to Mars.

Days without incident: 2

They're remaking Total Recall. A movie that is not only a treasured part of my childhood (and the Governator's second best movie) but also got me reading Philip K. Dick for the first time. The hit rate on PKD movie conversions is about one in two and already having done the bastardised Hollywood version of We Can Remember It For You Wholesale perhaps this one will be ultra-faithful to the source like A Scanner Darkly was. Although that might actually be less good in this case.

Argh. Conflicted.

So, in summary... this could be amazing. Or it could be horrific.

I just don't have the words.

Well, apart from maybe "Quaaaaaiiiiiiiid."

Fut.

The JJ Abrams version of the Enterprise. Little chubby round the nacelles perhaps? Bit squished?

Still, they've previewed some footage to the press and reviews have been largely positive.... maybe there's life in the old girl yet?