Shawna's Summer Movie Review - The Dark Knight Rises

**Warning, nothing serious is discussed, there are a few spoilers within**

This may come out as a bit harsh, but here are my impressions on the film.

The first half seriously drags with a convoluted and largely hard-to-follow plotline. Too much time is wasted setting up the scenario that in the 8 years since the last film Bruce Wayne has not been seen and is a recluse (limping badly on a cane) who hides out in the a section of the mansion, completely out of touch with what is going on in the world and with his own company.

Bain (our villain) is brought into the story, yet the director fails to give the audience a clue as to who and what he is, so unless you have access the comics (or to a geek who has read the comics) you will be hopelessly lost. We do learn more about Bain's character, but it leaks out in hopelessly slow dribs and drabs.

In order to appease the comic book fans (who know the Dark Knight's destiny with Bain) we are introduced to a further convolution in which Batman is taken out of action, literally, for a chunk of the film. This side plot which takes Batman out of Gotham is long, overly drawn out, confusing and serves only to divulge one piece of information that surely could have been handed out in a much neater fashion.

Instead we are subjected to a series of bad edits that are supposed to convey the passing of three months. Batman perseveres and somehow manages to sneak into a Gotham that is completely on lock-down. We are not privy to how he did it, but he then commands police detective Blake to save as many people as he possibly can by getting them out of the city.... you'd think he'd start by mentioning whatever secret method he used to get himself back in.

There is a tiny subplot involving a shelter for abandoned boys, but its mostly to add a sense of "oh no, those poor children!" into the story, otherwise they don't add a darn thing except to give weight to Detective Blake's back story and to provide yet another way for him to show off he's truly a guy who has his heart in the right place.

Looking back it seems that more time was spent discussing a certain pearl necklace (which wasn't a crucial plot point, but was interwoven throughout the story) than there was on cluing the audience in on just what was happening.

Anne Hathaway as Selina Kyle/Catwoman is good at action, and its obvious that she's worked out, pouring herself into an unforgiving skin-tight spandex suit, and still managing to be lythe and cat-like, but there is no chemistry between her character and Bale's brooding Batman.... a Batman that seems to have taken on a single note this time. I know that Bale wants out of the franchise, but its almost as if he got himself fit and in prime condition for this final installment only to phone in his performance once the cameras started rolling.

Marion Cotillard is her usual sleepy self, and fades into the background in nearly every scene she's in, but Morgan Freeman is as delightful as always. Ras' Al Gul (in a cameo played by Liam Neeson) also does nothing for the story (unless its just to remind the audience of who his character was), but at least he looks as fabulous as always!

The real breakaway star of this film is Joseph Gordon-Levitt as a young hot-headed street cop named Blake who is quickly promoted to Detective by Commisioner Gordon (the ever-wonderful Gary Oldman). I had a suspicion about Detective Blake that turned out to be true (hooray!) but the character could have easily been lost amidst all of the turmoil that takes place in this film. Joseph provides us with a rich, and entirely believable character who could easily carry a film of his own. His convictions will have you believing in "The Bat" while the world falls apart.

Look for Cillian Murphy reprising his role of Dr Jonathan Crane (aka Scarecrow) from the first film. While its a nice treat, there really is no point for it, and only serves to bulk up an already massively bloated storyline. While its nice to see Torchwood's Burn Gorman in a major motion picture (and he's an evil delight whenever he's on the screen) his role is sadly lacking in any depth whatsoever and is seriously wasted.

Don't get me started on all of the pointless additional characters tossed in to make the story ever more complicated.... Selina's blond pickpocket sidekick, the congressman, and a chunk of the Pittsburgh Steelers team (including their old coach) who play (wait for it) a pro football team that has absolutely nothing to do with the story but to take part in a rather bad chunk of CGI.

So is there anything good about this film?

Surprisingly yes.

The final half of the film picks up immensly from the plodding, plot-riddled beginning, and that is where the roller coaster begins..... this is where we are finally shown the Batman we have come to appreciate in Christopher Nolan's previous installments. Sadly, the plot twist villain reveal isn't much of a shocker, but was fairly obvious from the start.... but its still quite the chase through Gotham to bring this baddie down. Batman is lost (or is he?) and as the city mourns another steps forth to take up the baton (that is, if another director steps forward to take up the gauntlet as this was Bale and Nolan's last installment for the Batman franchise).

There is no need to stay through the end credits, as Nolan gives us all the answers before the credits roll..... but stick around until they do if you want to know Batman's fate and who has been handed the torch.

All in all I'd give this 3 out of 5 stars.... all thanks to the wonderful second half. I highly recommend re-watching the first two films before going, as there are a lot of references (and vague flashbacks) back to previous characters, though, out of respect for Heath Ledger, the Joker was not even referred to in this film as the director thought it would be crass to pull old footage of Ledger just for the movie's sake).

The movie runs a ponderously long 165 minutes, and I have to say, if you have any problems with your hearing, wait for the video release where you can watch this with closed captioning as the sound is pathetic. Bain, played by Tom Hardy, is hard to understand at most times because of his mask. In fact, dialogue between characters is drowned by the music and special effect sounds more often than not.

Shawna's Summer Movie Review - The Avengers

Okay, first of all, if you liked any of the following movies: Iron Man 1 or 2, Thor or Captain America.... go see this film. If you are a Joss Whedon fan.... go see this film. If you like action and superheroes.... well, you get the drift.

This movie is amazing. For a gal who has never read any of the comics it was still surprisingly easy to follow along and understand what was happening. And while the plot is a bit sparse (Loki, still ticked off at Thor and how he's no longer King of Asgard decides to take over Earth to rule here) the humor and verbal sparring found in Joss Whedon's works certainly makes up for it, as well as a lot of action to keep you entertained for the movie's long length (2 hours and 22 minutes). A funny moment between Thor and Hulk had me in stitches, but don't worry, you'll know it when you see it.

We jump right into the heart of things at the start of the film with the arrival of Loki and the introduction of each Avenger in turn. Look for some nice cameos by our heroes' ancillary characters, Pepper Potts from Iron Man, Stellan Skarsgard's Selvig from Thor plays an important part, and Agent Phil Coulson is finally given a large role (hooray!) rather than the mostly cameos we've seen up until now.

If nothing else gals, the movie is full of eye candy... and every one of them is pretty much packing more abs and pecs than seems physically possible. And guys, there is plenty of Scarlet Johansson in tight leather to keep your eyes on the screen. I honestly did not expect to like her as Black Widow, since I didn't care for her in Iron Man 2, but she is a surprisingly likable character here.  Mark Ruffalo's take on mild-mannered Bruce Banner is understated, but really good (listen for an uncredited cameo of Lou Ferrigno as the voice of the hulk).  The only superhero that is fairly new to us is Hawkeye, played by Jeremy Renner, who had a brief cameo in Thor, working for S.H.I.E.L.D. and wielding his amazing trademark bow and arrows... fleshed out now as a real character, you can see how he does fit in with our more "super" heroes.

I don't want to give things away, but the movie is about how these individual characters go from outright animosity towards one another to pull together as a cohesive and working team. Stay through the end credits... at the start there is an segment that introduces us to the next Avenger bad guy (who I didn't recognize but Richard says is Thanos, who in the comic book world is a seriously nasty piece of work). I was personally hoping that we'd get Red Skull (from Captain America) as I would love to see more Hugo Weaving, and he obviously wasn't killed at the end of that film (the tesseract just translated him somewhere else) but I guess he just isn't tough enough for the writers to consider.

Stick around through the rest of the credits though,  as there is a moment where we get to see the unknown side of the superhero world... what do weary superheroes do after saving the day? Well, now you'll know.

The best part of the film is, of course, our bad guy, Loki, played wonderfully by Tom Hiddleston. He steals every scene of the film that he is in, and while I admit I have a bit of a crush on the guy (sorry Richard, guess I have a thing for demigod supervillans!) he really does the character justice... not many guys can pull off a character with horns that big attached to their costume! You believe that he really could take on all of our heroes all on his own. Too many films lose it with a wimpy bad guy, so its nice to see one that can stand on his own two feet.

Can we say hello handsome? 

The only recommendation I have is see it in standard 2D... we went to a late showing last night in 3D and we both left with a headache. There is just too much going on in the end action sequence and the 3D gets a bit muddled. I promised Richard we will go see it again and this time in just the standard format.

Movie Review - Breaking Dawn Pt 1

The short version..... if you are a fan of the books you will like the movie. If you aren't.... don't bother, unless you are in the mood for a bit of a laugh.

There are plenty of reviews for this film out there, but I thought I would throw my impressions out there anyway.

First off.... what the crap.... WE NEEDED MORE JASPER!

Okay, whew..... got THAT off my chest.....

Those of us who slogged through the "romance of the century" already know how completely corny and unlikely the majority of this book is.... from the stilted dialogue to the are-you-kidding twists and turns the plotline expects you to swallow. That said, there are plenty of so-called Twihards out there that just eat this stuff up with a spoon and will suspend reality for the course of two hours and come out swooning.

I did not swoon.....

The movie kicks right off with Jacob running out his front door, ripping his shirt off (to the squeals of audience goers) and turning to his normal "I'm-avoiding-complication-and-running-away" wolf state. He then takes off for a bit of the film.

We then zip over to last-minute wedding arrangements and then TA-DA the wedding to beat all weddings.... except that somehow Bella's wedding seems a little.... lacking. There are stupid jokes, a cameo of author Stephanie Meyer, and then this wedding dress that has been under wraps since forever is finally revealed to look like a shapeless potato sack with a see-through (and very tacky) back. Editing is very poorly done as we wind up watching a close-up of Bella's hairclip walk down the aisle and then we slowly slide down the too-much-skin-showing-for-a-wedding dress.... I was sitting in the audience with a serious "what the crap" look on my face for this one.... oh, and some wisecracks about how Edward and Bella are finally going to "get some" that were not necessary (the book has a lot more of these comments in the "second half", so I am sure those will manage to find their way into the final film... oh joy!)

Flash ahead to the honeymoon (more bad edits.... Bella apparently didn't sleep on the airplane judging by the fact that a flight from Seattle to Rio doesn't muss up her hair or wrinkle her dress, and yet she's wide awake and ready to go dancing?) We zip to the honeymoon spot, more bad dialogue before we get to watch our lovers walk into the surf for some cheesy "gaze at the moon" moments (again, bit of skin showing here, but its interesting to note how in some shots they appear to be chest deep in water and then suddenly seem to be waist deep without moving! Hmm, maybe they are working around showing too much skin?)

We are stuck with yet more bad edits (the sad story of this film) as Bella and Edward finally consummate their relationship.... with a fade out to keep everything at a safe PG-13 (originally this had an R rating). You pretty much saw it all already in the movie trailer, so that should give you a clue as to what you are in for. When that scene was over I was relieved to be able to let the teen with me uncover her eyes to enjoy the rest of the movie.... only to come to the next morning where Bella daydreams about the night before and hey, we're back in the sex scene! Oh brother....

After that everyone pretty much keeps their clothes on.

Bella discovers that after one night of sex that Edward, super vampire, has impregnated her.... though the scene had me chuckling as she stares at her belly in horror, checking herself out from the side with lines like "that's impossible" and clutching her FREAKING FLAT TUMMY! If that girl's stomach is supposed to be distended its by a millimeter at most....

...long story shorter.... they fly home, being typical Bella she defies everyone's counsel and decides to be noble and sacrifice her life for that of her unborn child (though she actually comes off as whiny... no big shocker there). Plenty more cheesy dialogue, bad bad bad use of CGI with the wolfpack scenes (not that the wolves look bad, but its glaringly distracting from the rest of the film's lack of CGI that it stands out like a sore thumb).

Bella magically (against all odds) ends up surviving (I won't spoil how for those who haven't read the book) but its so far-fetched in the book that the movie made this scene seem fairly laughable. The movie ends with the birth of the child (its a girl) and the discovery that Bella isn't dead but will now (in the next film) be starting her life as a vampire.... forever whiny.... man, I don't envy Edward being stuck with that! I am amazed though that vampire venom can take an emaciated skeleton and magically plump out boobs and put some meat back on those bones... all without draining someone first! Its like watching some Extreme Makeover show.... vampire edition.

The movie, as I said, is poorly edited.... you have several false endings that catch you off guard. You're thinking "okay, here is where they are cutting the movie off until next year's finale" only to find there is still another five to ten minutes to go. There is also a small scene with the Volturi as you get into the credits, so if you've made it that far you may as well stick around through the first of the credits for the scene.

All-in-all.... good for laughs, but this movie isn't really something that you can take seriously.... at least "Eclipse" had enough of a storyline to keep you watching. I will, however, give it a B for a decent adaptation of what was already a fairly laughable book. Will I buy it when it comes out on video? Not sure.... probably, in order to have the "complete collection" and I will certainly give the finale a shot.... but I don't expect to be getting it out much for all-day Twilight movie marathons or anything.

And if anyone from Summit Entertainment happens to read this.... I meant it... MORE JASPER!

Movie Review: Voyage of the Dawn Treader

Sadly, I think this will probably be the last of the Narnia franchise, which is a shame because this film was beautifully done. While VotDT boasts a much brighter color pallet than "Prince Caspian", the storyline is a bit convoluted and dark for the younger kids to follow.

We open with Lucy and Edmund in England (Peter and Susan are conveniently in America with the parents). Our heroes are stuck staying with their "useless" cousin, Eustace (played to annoying perfection by Will Poulter) and feeling rather put upon. Lucy is struggling on the edge of becoming a woman, and with her feeling overshadowed by how lovely Susan is (a theme that pops up several times in the film)...and Edmund is still feeling like second fiddle to Peter. . . and Eustace is a spoiled brat who believes that he is far superior to everyone and everything around him.

A painting of a ship sailing at sea comes to life, pulling the children into it and they quickly find themselves struggling in a vast ocean with the ship bearing down on them. Being fished out of the sea, the children find that they are on the Dawn Treader, a Narnian ship, and they are reunited with their old friend, Caspian, who is now King of Narnia. They are in the middle of a quest to find locate seven Narnian Lords who had set sail to the far off Lone Islands and are now missing.

Through the course of the film we are re-introduced to Caspian (nicely played by a now-older and wiser Ben Barnes, who also, thankfully, lost a lot of his thick accent) and Reepicheep (who, while voiced admirably by Simon Pegg of Shaun of the Dead and the new Star Trek, left me more than once missing the adorable quality originally brought to the character by Eddie Izzard). There is a blink-and-you'll-miss-it cameo by CS Lewis' stepson, Douglas Gresham, who plays the first of the Lone Island slave traders) and Tilda Swinson repeats her performance again as the White Witch. Even though she really wasn't a part of Prince Caspian or VotDT, I am enjoying how they still manage to sneak her in....if they do manage to keep filming the books up to "Magician's Nephew" she will be amazing as the Empress Jadis.

A lot more has been added to the story to try and give us a movie that flows, but most of the new scenes fits well with the storyline. I am not so sure about the "mist" but it fits by the end. The special effects are pretty amazing, considering budgets kept getting slashed. The Dawn Treader itself is lavishly rendered and I spent a lot of the sailing time all but drooling over how wonderful a job was done bringing it to life. Seriously, if I could find a model of the DT I would be thrilled.

As I said, the tone of this film is a bit convoluted, but I think it is really worth sticking to the end with. Having seen it tonight in standard 2D, I plan to see it again, however this time in 3D, just to see the ship in better detail....that, and I am sure the climatic battle at the end would be even more thrilling in 3D.

When all is said and done, VotDT is not as tight story-wise as The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, but we jump into the action a heck of a lot faster. There are a few new characters (Gail was completely unnecessary), however the special effects are the best used yet (the effect of the flood waters pouring out of the painting at the beginning and then receding back into the painting at the end is very well done, Lucy entering the Magician's mansion (and the spells cast there) are gorgeous, and the battle with the *** ******* is flat out freaky). Speaking of which, let me know after you've seen the film if you don't get a Ghostbusters "stay-puft marshmallow man" vibe for a moment at the end of the film (don't worry, you'll know what part of the movie I am talking about when you get there).

So, all-in-all I say this is definitely one to see, but you may want to keep your little ones at home.

Shawna's Movie Review: Retraction

No, this is not for a movie called "Retraction", but rather I am going to retract an earlier movie review I posted this year.

The movie? Clash of the Titans.

Yeah, you read right...if you are interested, here is my original review.

That being said.....

Okay, I bought this one on bluray when it came out and then ended up waiting awhile before finally giving it that "second try".

Now that I am able to see it in 2D I really noticed a big difference right off the bat. Yes, Zeus still has the glare on his armour, but it isn't as bad as it originally appeared...in fact, it actually comes off as somewhat "Greecian Godly". The special effects are now clear and wonderfully done. The Pegasus looks amazingly real...which, with the 3D rendering originally looked completely off. The final scenes of Perseus fighting the Kraken will keep you on the end of your seat and as for Medusa, she'll leave you shuddering, and I absolutely love it every time Hades pops in and out of his scenes.

I can't say if it was because this was my second watching, or if I was able to pay closer attention now that the 3D rendering wasn't distracting me, but the storyline made more sense this time. I was able to follow along and just enjoy the ride. Yes, Gemma Arterton (Prince of Persia) still can't act her way out of a paper bag, but the rest of the cast makes up for her wooden acting.

Again, nod to Nicholas Hoult (About a Boy) who does an admirable job in a small role that would have otherwise gone unnoticed. Jason Flemyng still does a great job as Calibos, though I still wish he would have been given more to do, but then, with as many baddies as we have running around, we hardly have the time to give all of them a lot of screen time. Ralph Fiennes (Lord Voldemort in the Harry Potter films) as Hades steals every scene he's in, even when facing off against Zeus, played by the absolutely fabulous Liam Neeson. I even found myself loving Sam Worthington (Avatar/Terminator Salvation) as Perseus....

So what I am I telling you? If you haven't seen this, you really ought to give it a shot now that's available on video....if you failed to see this one due to my review, I apologize and owe you a batch of chocolate chip cookies.

Shawna's Autumn Movie Review - Resident Evil: Afterlife

First off...it is not necessary to see this one in 3D, but it really adds to the thrill ride if you do. Shots were planned specially to take advantage of the 3D technology, and several of them seriously pay off.

Okay, with that out of the way, lets get to the movie review!

I am a bit up in the air about this one. The scriptwriter/director Paul W.S. Anderson, is trying far too hard to please both fans of the films and of the games. The result is scenes and situations that are tossed in whether they make sense or not, simply because they are in one of the video games (apparently we draw heavily from the nasties found in RE:5) Its like the opening sequence is for film buffs, and then the rest is stuffed full of video game scenarios, loosely tied together with a running storyline.

Anyone who has seen the movie trailer has seen that the Executioner is in this film, but there is no explanation of who or what it is and its presence is only used to heighten a certain "how are they going to get out of this?" scene. Seriously, something more should have been done about this character; a good storyline keeps you emotionally sucked in and a part of what is going on around you, but the Executioner pulls you from that mindset and you find yourself, once again, just a member of the audience. You wonder why he waits to show up until after Alice (our heroine, played once again by Milla Jovovich) arrives, when other characters have been on-scene for weeks or months (the movie isn't entirely clear on that issue). Sorry to say it for fans of the big guy, but its true. That being said, he certainly is one big scary piece of work that you certainly don't want to run into on a dark alley, or anywhere else for that matter!

Once the opening sequence is past (and it opens with a bang), everything you understood from the previous films comes to an abrupt halt, and then there is about 15 minutes worth of blah blah blah before we get back into anything seriously relevant. Its a bit disjointed in how the segments fit together for this portion of the film; I know why its here, but it doesn't sit well with the flow of the rest of the film. Alice has to do this one thing in order to introduce another thing, but its really...well....boring. Actually, come to think of it, even the opener is a bit of a mess. I am not a fan of movies that start off, then flash the words "6 Months Later" at you, then starting back up only to throw another time jump at you five minutes later....its too jarring and makes for poor storytelling.

For being a movie about the walking undead, there really isn't any undead in the first half of the film....and then suddenly you are dumped into nothing BUT the undead....a little strange, but their sudden appearance makes for quite the "oh, crap!" moment. The opener is full of thrills and turns and the middle of the movie to the end will keep you hanging on to see just how in the world anyone is going to survive all that is thrown at them.

Yes, the Alice clones are in the film.... though, I find it disturbing that since Alice's hair is no longer red, but dark brown that somehow the clones all decided to dye their hair to match. Oh, and every woman (well, the living ones anyway), no matter where you find her and in what nasty conditions she's been living in, somehow managed to pack along her makeup kit because everyone is flawlessly made up. Apparently one must look completely hot just in case they run into a guy. That is soooooooo not reality, but rather an attempt to make sure there is plenty of eye candy throughout the film to offset the super-uglies. Don't get me wrong boys and girls, for a film about rotting zombies and some seriously disturbing other creatures running about, there is certainly enough eye candy running around to keep you happily invested in seeing more...and even I let out an inner sigh or two at some of the hotties trotting around on screen.

Albert Wesker (played by Shawn Roberts) is seriously channeling his inner Agent Smith....except while Hugo Weaving played the part brilliantly, Roberts just sounds like a pompous jerk. I guess is what Wesker is supposed to be like, so to fans of the game it probably works. Myself, I kept waiting for Hugo to walk onscreen and kick Roberts' bad imitation in the butt (sadly, he doesn't, but what a showdown that would have made!)

Claire Redfield (Ali Larter of Heroes) is back and we are introduced to her brother Chris (played deliciously well by Wentworth Miller whom I loved in Law and Order: SVU), along with a new cast of characters. Stay tuned into the credits as there is a scene that reintroduces another past character, though it took me a moment to recognize Jill Valentine as she's now a blonde. It's a nice cameo that promises at least one more movie should RE:A do well in the theaters. Oh, and the word is out that if the next film is made, that Leon will make an appearance as a flashback character and (fingers crossed girls) the director wants Jenson Ackles (Supernatural) for the role.

As said above, Milla Jovovich reprises her role of Alice (and the clones) and, while she's looking a bit older, still shows that she has what it takes. Surprisingly, her clothes stay on for this film (for awhile I was wondering if she had a clause written into her contracts stating she gets to go nude onscreen) but its nice to see her still kick @$$ with her usual sense of flair, and with her clothes on this time.

The special effects. Mostly they are fabulous, and the 3D technology borrowed from James Cameron's studios is certainly top notch...creative use is made of peering down hallways and tunnels and of weaponry and, uh, body parts, flying past your head. Certain effects fall flat though....our undead Dobermans are back, but poorly done considering the original film (which came out in 2002) had them looking a lot more believable. The Executioner looks downright freaky and that axe...damn! The 3D gore is nasty enough that parts of the audience were groaning "ewwwwwwwww" several times over...myself included. Several Alice stunts are so over-the-top impossible that you really want to believe them....if only the CGI had been up to par (namely her kicking a plane of glass...lame!) while others have you cheering her on, even though you know how impossible it is that she'd really survive said stunt in "real life", super-genetic human or not.

All-in-all....quite the joyride. Rated R for strong violence and some language.

Shawna's Movie Review

Clash of the Titans


First of all I have to say DO NOT SEE THIS IN 3D

Trust me on this one.

That being said......

I am actually torn on this one. As laughable as it may sound I love the original Clash...partly due to the fact that this is a beloved favorite from my childhood. As a child it held everything that would further fuel my already fertile imagination: evil curses, flying horses, mythology (I went through a phase where I practically inhaled books on the Greek Gods...all because of this film). At the time the effects were amazing (remember gang, I was born at the end of the 60's). I sat there in wonder at how they made a golden owl fly, in disgust and horror over the battle with the giant scorpions and flat out amazement over how Medusa managed to slither about. At the time we didn't know the secrets of stop-motion animation like we do today.

The storyline was even plausible. Athena, offended by comments made by a vain queen in Athena's own temple, demands the death of the princess. Our hero Perseus, smitten by her looks, races to find the means to save her. Zeus, father to Perseus, helps him along here and there and the hero triumphs at the end. As cheesy as the film is, it took itself seriously.

And then you have the remake.

Remake is really the wrong word; even though the plot follows the same storyline to a point it really is its own tale. My flying gold owl is reduced to a 5 second joke in the storyline that the teens in the audience behind me didn't even understand. The new Clash takes a darker turn, yet throws strange humor in at the oddest moments. Our new hero is accidently discovered to be Zeus' son and takes on the job not to save Andromeda, but to bring down Hades (Zeus' brother) who had killed Perseus' adoptive mother and father. The new storyline is one of utter hatred and retribution.

Calibos (the original "bad guy") is now found to be a man betrayed by the Gods and deformed by Zeus rather than punished for his own mis-deeds. Jason Flemyng is scarcely recognizable in his burned state. The giant scorpions are bigger, badder and more deadly than before....and Pegasus is now the one black horse in a band of white (which is not explained...maybe the gray and brown Pegasi are hiding off camera? Oh, and as that question implies, Pegasus isn't the horse's name, but the name of his breed).

The special effects are pretty darn good...heck, every time Hades (Ralph Fiennes looking rather disheveled from living in the Underworld for so long) pops into view he is accompanied by a twirling black smoke that swirls into deliciously dark wings before dissipating. Medusa looks a lot better than her previous incarnation, and Charon's ferry to the land of the dead will make you shudder. For some reason Zeus wanders around in silver armor with a strong light shining on it, which I doesn't look as badass as it was intended to.

The story is where you start to get confused. Perseus is driven by revenge to kill Hades' Kraken and then use that defeat to send Hades back to the Underworld for killing his adoptive family. We jump around too much in the story though...side-stories seem to start and then are dropped, our hero's companions are only partially fleshed (nice nod though to Nicholas Hoult who has certainly grown up into a bit of a hottie since his "About A Boy" debut as the geeky Marcus). There is a new female love interest in the form of Gemma Arterton (from James Bond's "Quantum of Solace") who is cursed with not aging and has watched Perseus from afar ever since he was a child, and the inclusion of the D'Jinn (strange wizards/desert nomad that ride the great scorpions and are made of burnt wood and glowing blue eyes) had me wondering what was up with that. The other Gods on Mount Olympus stand around and say nothing, not even Athena who is still insulted in her temple, but it is Hades that comes forth to dish out retribution. Only one other God even voices his concerns against Zeus, but in the original everyone seemed to have something to say. The action also moved too fast at times for the eye to really follow, leaving me wondering what had just happened a few times too many.

All-in-all....I really would like to give this movie another shot. I think if I just tried to enjoy it for what it has to bring, I would like it more. I kept waiting for more of the original storyline to come into play. There was also that terrible 3D distraction with my first viewing...I found myself staring more at how everyone's head and body was horribly elongated rather than following the storyline. If you have ever looked through a ViewMaster then you will have a good idea of what I am talking about. Even the director has commented on how bad the 3D effects are and how he was overridden by the studio based on how much money Avatar was raking in with the 3D sensation.

Best bet? Wait for the dollar theater or rent it from Redbox.

Shawna's Summer Movie Review- Star Trek

Okay, first of all let me get the negatives out of the way....we were in the second freaking row. Yeah, second row...the section where you have to tilt your head back and instead of moving your eyes to follow the action you have to move your whole head and you just know you aren't seeing it all.

Think of it as the IMAX experience without the IMAX price.

The only problem with that is extreme close-ups appear out of focus and I also found myself getting carsick with all of the action shots.

But who cares about that because this movie was AMAZING!

Honestly, the only bad things I really have to say is I thought Winona Ryder as Spock's mom was poor casting. It was pretty obvious that the aging make-up they put on her was fake and Ryder played the same flat, boring, no personality character that she has always played. Luckily she's barely in the film so it wasn't too bad of a distraction. Also disappointing is Eric Bana as our bad guy....but then I have yet to see Bana in a film where I liked him (sorry, but its true). He never really manages to make me believe in the characters he's portraying...but then Romulans are pretty much emotionally dead on the surface anyway so in this case it suffices.

For those who aren't familiar with Star Trek its no big deal because this is the story from the beginning....literally. We see Kirk's birth and Spock as a little pipsqueak being bullied on Vulcan for being half-human. I loved the nice cameo of Jennifer Morrison as Kirk's mom (for fans of "House M.D." she is Dr Allison Cameron).
Majel Barrett (Nurse Chapel in the original series, Lwaxana Troi in "Next Generation", Ms. Gene Roddenberry in real life and the voice of the computer in every ST series and film) recorded her voice once again for the computer on this series before she passed away which was an especially sweet touch.



The movie opens with a bang (literally) and pretty much doesn't let you go. We are offered a storyline that is confusing at first, but then slowly unfolds to bring you up to speed along with our heroes. An old cast member returns...nicely I thought though the build-up to their introduction on-screen was a bit over-the-top....but then again, this is Star Trek....everything is a bit over-the-top with this series. A plot mix I was secretly betting myself on actually happened as two characters hook up in an interesting twist....but I won't spoil the surprise with who they are. The effects are amazing and the movie moves along at a pretty nice pace and there is a surprising amount of fun moments even with the universe crashing around them. The audience and I were all screaming and clapping by the end (most of us anyway). And yes, those of us who came in street clothes rather than dressing up as Klingon's or Starfleet personnel were cheering too.



Okay...casting.

The new cast is pretty dang good....Simon Pegg ("Shawn of the Dead", "Hot Fuzz") as Scotty is a scream, though he doesn't appear until nearly halfway through the film. Trust me, he's definately worth the wait. Newcomer Anton Yelchin (yes he's really Russian) as Chekov is endearing and funny...and the extra thick accent he adopts as an homage to Walter Koenig was hysterical. Sulu (John Cho from the Harold and Kumar films) has a few entertaining moments and Zachary Quinto (Sylar from "Heroes") makes for a great Spock. I worried I wouldn't get past seeing him as Sylar but he's definately not a one-dimensional actor. He managed to show Spock as wanting to be Vulcan and yet still showed us his "weaker" human side.

Zoe Saldana ("Drumline", "POTC") as Uhura really brought the character to life, showing that girls can pretty much kick ass as well as the boys. Surprising cast of Chris Pine as Kirk. For a guy who's biggest roles to date were pretty much in "Princess Diaries 2" and "Just My Luck" you'd think he'd be consigned to the pretty boy/made for tweens stuff, no matter how charmingly good he was in those films. While he wasn't channeling some "inner Shatner" (frankly no one does over the top better than Bill Shatner) he managed to get you to like the character even though he starts out as a bit of a bum with a chip on his shoulder. You find yourself rooting for Pine and wanting him to succeed. I read he's being offered the lead as The Green Lantern in an upcoming film and, judging by this performance, he'll be very good at it.

And last (but certainly not least) my favorite in the Star Trek pantheon. DeForest Kelley as Dr Leonard "Bones" McCoy was dry and witty....endearing and yet still able to give out crap one liners "Damn it Jim I'm a doctor, not a bricklayer!" with conviction. Karl Urban ("Lord of the Rings", "Bourne Supremacy") plays the character to perfection. Not much backstory here but we learn how he got "Bones" as his nickname (I always thought it was because he was a doctor but nope...something else entirely different). Karl Urban has a great sense of comedic timing while still keeping in character. But then anyone who has seen him spend a few episodes of "Xena: Warrior Princess" dressed up as the minor god Cupid already knew that. Urban has you cheering and/or laughing pretty much everytime he comes up on screen. Thanks to Urban I can continue to love "Bones" just as he is...and he has certainly left me wishing and hoping for more Star Trek films to come.

For the non-Trekkies reading this...you should still go see it. Its filled with humor, action and some pretty fantastic special effects. If you are a bit of a fan you will not be disappointed in the new take on an old universe. For die-hard fans who know every character's geneology and who still playact on cardboard sets in their basement...you probably won't like the changes and tweaks director JJ Abrams ("Lost", "Mission: Impossible 3") has brought to the table. Yes, things have been changed in spots to fit the story, but its explained at the end how they are able to "cheat" like this. It works so get over it.

Personally, I fit somewhere inbetween. I love the original series the best but have enjoyed the "Next Generation" and "Voyager" incarnations as well (I never did get around to watching "Deep Space 9" or "Enterprise"). I have never attended a Star Trek convention or even considered whipping up a yeoman's costume (I don't have the legs to pull off the miniskirt anyway!) I just enjoy the universe Roddenberry created and I love a good sci-fi when its presented to me.

I think Gene would have liked this one.

Summer Movie Review

Well the movie review is starting early this year....in fact my first review will be online tomorrow.

Yup, tomorrow.

I just found out that Star Trek is opening tonight instead of tomorrow (they decided to do a soft opening!) so this girl promptly Fandangoed herself a ticket. None of this "midnight sneak preview" crap....I am going to the first showing at 7 pm.

I can't wait!!!!!