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Reviews
Star Trek (2009)
I like it and hate it
I have never been so confused about a movie before. Not the plot, but my feelings for it. First of all, I have been a fan of Star Trek since 1973, when I first saw the reruns. I read the books, build the models, etc. I enjoyed the show because of the stories, characters and technology. This movie, I enjoyed because of the characters. A new version of Kirk, a sort of new version of Spock, and McCoy are awesome. And for the most part, the rest of the cast were good too. Scotty needs some work, as does Chekov's accent. Sulu is good, and Uhura is hot but I will not say anything else about her for spoiler reasons(and the fact that I really hate what they did). But they were always rather minor characters in TOS anyway. The story makes sense most of the time, and sets up a new version of the Trek Universe which should be fun to explore. And the New Big E looks great, from the outside. But, the STYLE of the movie bothers me. From horrible set design(the ship looks like a refinery) to annoying lens flair, shaking cameras, and bad science. The interior views of the Enterprise just don't make sense, they would never fit into the ship and leave room for such things as crew quarters or science labs. The original and its sequels took great pains to make thing believable. This movie flushes those ideas down a very large water pipe. And why the lens flairs and shaky cameras? Sure they show a style, but the style sucks!! There are times when the entire frame is white! Are the CGI images so bad that you have to shake the camera to hide that fact? I am sure I will see this movie at least one more time. If for no other reason that to decide if I really like it, or I just enjoy it as a movie, and not Star Trek.
Supernova (2005)
Um, yes, they got paid to do this?
I actually stopped watching this movie about an hour in. I think I will wait for the Mystery Science Theater version. I don't know what I can say about this movie that is positive. It was nice to see Emma Samms, still looking hot. I did like the blond bartenders outlook, doesn't matter what happens next, only what you are doing now. And I do remember some of my college astronomy, enough to know our sun wouldn't supernova. I could have at least over looked that if the whole thing had been presented better. I don't understand why the subplot about the murderer either, total waste of time. Maybe a re-edit might help, but I doubt it.
Oh well, at least I didn't buy it!
Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008)
Star Wars of a different look
For the most part, I enjoyed this movie. It has a very different look to the animation, which it seams, turns a lot of people off. The humans are very stylistic in their design, but the ships, aliens and even the clones look more like their "live action movie" counterparts.
The story kept me interested for most of the run-time, and the humor was actually funny, not childish "fart/penis joke" type humor seen in many movies these days.
George Lucas's movies have always pushed the edge of technology, since the first Star Wars introduced motion control to special effects, to CGI and this computer animation. It was a treat to see this on the big screen, and my thanks go out to Mr. Lucas for putting it there. Too bad I won't see the series, no CN in my area.
As for those who seam to hate this endeavor and everything Mr. Lucas has done since the original series, I feel sorry for you, because you missed a very good movie. Sorry if these new Star Wars stray too far from "your" vision of what they should be. If you want to see the same movies as the originals, pop in your DVDs. I for one, love new ideas, and enjoy them for the entertainment that they are, because that is what they are, entertainment, not the holy book of the force!
Marooned (1969)
An accurate depiction of a space rescue
I have only seen this movie on video and love it. It has great visuals of Cape Canaveral and the Titan launch area there. NASA obviously gave their full support to the film. The cast is big name and the acting is great. Especially in the tense Apollo spacecraft and the trapped crew. Peck is great as the head of Manned Spaceflight Keith. And Hackman, Crenna, and Franciscus are outstanding as the astronauts. David Janssen also delivers a fine performance as Dougherty. The special effects seam lame by todays standards. The design and mission of Ironman One was very similar to the early Skylab mission designs. A great spaceflight movie from the golden age of spaceflight.
Rocket's Red Glare (2000)
If they had only cut the last 30 minutes....
This started out as a good movie, a boy and his class, with the help of his Grandfather are restoring a Redstone Rocket and its capsule in honor of his father, a dead Astronaut. Of course, there was never a MR-10 flight planned on a Redstone, the canceled Mercury 10 was an Atlas flight with Shepard. But there are a few surplus parts around to make the assembly of the rocket as a museum piece believable. But the rescue of a badly damaged Shuttle with a little black box by a 16 year old boy in an old Mercury capsule loses credibility real fast.
They should have left it on the farm and taught people about the Mercury program, something that is often forgot after Apollo. This was too much like Spacecamp. But without the cute robot. Make that annoying robot.