Star Trek

Star Trek
Starring Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Eric Bana, Karl Urban, Zoe Saldana, Anton Yelchin, Simon Pegg, Winona Ryder & Leonard Nimoy

From an outsider's perspecive, the renewal of the "Star Trek" establishment beams into gear with fun, excitement, thrills, and a excellently written script. Director J. J. Abrams installs some of his usual Felicitian/Lostian love triangles into the mix as well as proving that his ability to create a high-class summer hit is well beyond the living room tube.

Obviously, being a galaxy-questing story, "Star Trek" makes use of its weaponry and action; yet, unlike the "Star Wars" fleet of films (talking about the Episodes I through III), "Trek" becomes more than just cheap thrills and spills. The scene where Sulu (John Cho), Kirk (Chris Pine), and some other guy zoom down and parachute onto a platform of some drill that's breaching the atmosphere and earth of a planet is startlingly intense.

Although Zachary Quinto has been born to play Spock, Chris Pine as the roguish, angsty, and not to mention completely hilarious James T. Kirk steals the show. Pine's portrayal of a could've-been Luke/Anakin Skywalker doesn't mope and throw out cheeseball lines like Mark Hamill, and he doesn't whine like a little baby as Hayden Christensen so annoyingly did in Episodes II and III. Pine creates Holden Caulfield gone badass for himself - and it works.

With all this comparing and contrasting to "Star Wars," "Trek" can't live up to one thing: the dark side. Vader and all the other Darths make "Wars" a symbol of good and evil, God versus Satan, "Paradise Lost", "Romeo & Juliet". It's Shakespearean. "Trek's" badguy, played by Eric Bana, is a sideshow compared to the rest of the film, and in no respects comes close to the evil encompassing "Wars", but like I said, that's really the only part.

Oh, one more thing - I like Quinto better than Nimoy, and WTF Winona? Can't headline a movie anymore?

Grade: B+

Cloverfield

Cloverfield

Staring Michael Stahl-David, Jessica Lucas, Mike Vogel, Lizzy Caplan & Odette Yustman

The question everyone wonders going into "Cloverfield" is: what the hell is it? Some aren't even sure if they should call "it" and it. However, it is... an it. In J.J. Abram's "Godzilla" meets "The Blair Witch Projects" kind of thriller movie, he unleashes a masterful monster unto the people of Manhattan. The key with the movie isn't the monster or the destruction; it's the characters and their finding humor in such a not-so-funny time.

The film we watch is the film we get. It's a videotape in the possession of he government now and we are important enough to view it. It follows a few happily young guys and gals through their surprise party for Rob who is moving to Japan. We are given some character insights (i.e. Rob is still in love with Beth who is now dating some other guy, and Jason, our filmographer, has an awkward crush on one random party-goer, Marlena).

Then Act II hits the island. Something is causing much havoc and chaos. People are screaming, dying, running. The ground is shaking. The head of The Statue of Liberty rolls down the street. Stuff like that. Throughout the rest of the film, we follow these poor souls on their journey to escape, except Rob, being all debonair, wants to rescue Beth. So they aren't trying to escape anymore and we get to see all the action from a civilian's point of view. It's great.

The home video cinematography is a bit nauseating at first, but most the audience adjusted - except the couple in front of me who left ten minutes into the film - and it adds to the effect of the reality of such an unrealistic event.

There were a few scenes in which I doubted reality, however. The building Beth was stuck in was next to another skyscraper that was leaning on her building. Did we not all see what happened on September 11th? Not possibly in my book, though I'm not physic pro. Also, when the few characters still alive are about to escape via helicopter, the monster, just as he's being destroyed, or we presume, by stealth bombers, decides to swap the damn chopper with his gigantic arm. This sends the craft in a spin and it crashes in Central Park, which we know from the government information that that is where they found the tape. You think anyone died? Hell no! They all survive a 75-foot plummet to the ground! Bull.

Anyways, if you're looking for a good time, aren't too squeamish, and don't care if we never find out where the monster came from (I think the ocean), then have fun with "Cloverfield."