Category: Reviews: Movies

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Star Trek: Of Gods and Men

I must be more out of touch with the Star Trek community than I though. Somehow I managed to completely miss hearing anything at all about Star Trek: Of Gods and Men. I only found out about it earlier this evening when I was looking up Garret Wang in IMDB for editing a previous post.

Apparently ST:OGAM was made three years ago in 2007 as a 3 part web miniseries tribute for the 40th anniversary of Star Trek. It takes plot elements from at least 5 episodes (I stopped counting), actors from each series and spins it all into 3 episodes and just over 90 minutes of viewing. I’m pretty sure everybody who appeared in the show had some connection with at least one Star Trek series.

I really enjoyed watching it, and thought it was well done. This Trek fan approves, even though I’m probably the last one to find out about it.

Star Trek: Of Gods and Men

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9

Went to see 9 at the Terrace Hippodrome tonight.

It’s kind of a strange movie to describe. With Tim Burton as one of the producers, that’s probably to be expected. All CG animation and quite well done. It takes place in a post-apocalyptic world where nobody is left except these tiny little doll-machines and one big giant bad guy machine. Not quite sure how they work or what makes them go, but it’s not really all that important. The combination of tech and spirit in the story line made me think of Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within and a few other only vaguely remembered movies.

It’s not a long movie at just over an hour and is pretty easy to watch. I quite enjoyed it.

4 stars out of 5.

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G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra

Went out to see G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra at the Hippodrome tonight.

Like any movie based on a comic book, there’s lots of F/X eye candy, non-stop physics-defying action, plenty of boom and the requisite hot chicks in tight outfits.

It’s a movie based on a comic book and cartoon series, so any expectations of a plot should be kept along those lines. Some of the dialogue also tends towards cheesy over-the-topness as should be expected, especially from the bad guys. However, don’t let the source material make you think it’s a movie for kids. The action tends towards the extreme at points, lots of violence, and plenty of stabby parts. Definitely not a movie you’d want to bring little kids to. It’s really a movie for the big kids.

What did I think of it? For the type of movie it is, it was awesome. Where can I get one of those suits?

Did the Doctor make anybody else think of Keanu Reeves?

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Movie meetup: Julie and Julia

Had a good time with tonight’s movie meetup at the Terrace Theater to see Julie & Julia.

It’s a movie about two women, from two different times but looking for the same thing: something to do. Meryl Streep puts in an excellent performance as Julia Child, and at points you forget that it’s not Julia Child on the screen.

It’s a lot of fun seeing Julie and Julia go through much the same experiences as the movie switches back and forth between the two characters. Whether their lives really ran as parallel as it seemed in the movie or if it was just done that way for the movie, I don’t know.

Julie & Julia is a very enjoyable movie to watch, with lots of humour in it. Definitely worth seeing.

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Not your father’s Star Trek

Two words: Alternate Universe.

I’ve never really been a fan of people “rebooting” or “reimagining” well established franchises, especially when they try to justify it by saying they’re trying to reach a new audience. Aside from some wicked cool special effects, I wasn’t really expecting much from the new Star Trek movie. I figured as long as they didn’t totally screw up things and alter the Trek universe, then it would be at best a pretty decent movie.

Without spoiling things, I have to say I was pretty impressed with the way Star Trek turned out. The story deviates pretty far from canon in a few aspects, but given that it’s sci-fi, the writers have given viewers a way to accept the changes. Purists will probably still be mildly annoyed, but I think JJ Abrams has managed to give us a new Star Trek in a way that is still palatable to die-hard Trekkers.

The Terrace Hippodrome isn’t too different from the former IMAX. Decorations are pretty much the same. The new seats are nice, cushy and comfortable. The screen is smaller than an IMAX screen, but still pretty big. After seeing movies in IMAX format, and now in the jumbo Hippodrome size, it’s pretty hard to go back to the “small” regular sized movie theater screens. The sound system is pretty impressive and loud. Not quite as immersive as IMAX sound, but still pretty good.

I think I’ll make the Hippodrome my default theater from now on.