Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan

Seeing Abrams Star Trek made me remember how much I loved going to see the original Star Trek movies with my parents, and it made me all nostalgic. As such, I went out and bought the Kirk & Spock 3 pack of DVD’s that was just released and then sat down and watched The Wrath of Kahn.

Wrath of Kahn picks up after the first Star Trek movie that is downright near-unwatchable. Kirk is now an admiral and Spock is the captain of the Enterprise. While his success should be a good thing, Kirk is facing a birthday and begun to feel like he is a relic of Starfleet instead of the active participant he used to be and despite the efforts of Bones, Spock and his friends he cannot snap out of it. Kirk goes aboard the Enterprise to inspect the new crew and instead they decide to take the ship out for a test run. While on their training voyage they receive a troubling transmission from Dr. Carol Marcus, furious that Kirk is taking her Genesis experiment away from her – Kirk has made no such order so the Enterprise rushes to get to the scientists. Once there they discover that Kahn, a genetically engineered man, has returned from the exile Kirk imposed on him to seek his revenge.

This is by and far one of the best Star Trek movies ever made. Up until the new Star Trek I would argue that it was the best, now I am still deciding which is better.

This is Starfleet as a military organization and Enterprise as a peacekeeper and Kirk as the badass we all remember him to be. Kirk and Spock drive this movie with Spock trying to make Kirk feel relevant again until Kahn takes over that job by seeking Kirk out for his revenge. The relationship between Kirk and

What makes Wrath of Kahn truly amazing is the ending. Without giving too many things away Kirk and Spock each have life altering moments. Kirk is known for taking no-win scenarios and turning them into winnable situations; however, at the end of the film there is a no-win scenario that Kirk cannot find a way out of…until Spock makes a decision that saves the Enterprise.

Those that want to pick on William Shatner for his acting capabilities can stuff it. While Star Trek may not hold the same prestige as playing Hamlet, if you’ve seen the end of Wrath of Kahn you cannot deny that Shatner has some acting chops and he knows how to use them.

Director: Nicholas Meyer
Writers: Jack B. Sowards
James Kirk: William Shatner
Spock: Leonard Nimoy
McCoy: DeForest Kelley
Scotty: James Doohan
Checkov: Walter Koenig
Sulu: George Takei
Uhura: Nichelle Nichols
Lt. Saavik: Kristie Alley
Khan: Ricardo Montalban

Kirk: I suppose you're about to remind me that logic alone dictates your actions?
Spock: I would not remind you of that which you know so well.

Bottle Shock

In 1976 California vineyards weren’t taken too seriously much to the chagrin of winemakers like Jim and Bo Barrett at Chateau Montelena in the Napa Valley. In Paris, wine store owner Steven Spurrier’s business is failing due to the snobbery of French wine elite and the British-born Spurrier decides to convince the French wine academy to hold a blind tasting between French and California wines in order to bolster his business and improve his reputation. However, once Spurrier arrives in California to select the wines for competition he not only has to deal with the distrust of the local vineyards but somehow process the fact that these California wines are much better than he expected them to be.

Honestly, I knew nothing about Bottle Shock going in besides it made it into Sundance a year or two ago, and starred Chris Pine. I netflixed it because I was interested in seeing Chris Pine outside of Star Trek and Princess Diaries 2. I loved this movie. I have wanted to watch it a second time ever since I resealed the Netflix envelope.

Perhaps what surprised me is that the film is funny. I would not be surprised if it turns out that 90% of Bottle Shock is fiction but it’s so well written and about a unique enough event that I don’t care. Bottle Shock is a well made dramedy that mixes a lot of storylines together to complete one meaningful, thought out film that had a lot less attention than it deserved. The cast in the film is superb, made of mostly unknowns at the time and added some credibility with the talents of Bill Pullman, Alan Rickman & a bit part by Dennis Farina.

It was a bit startling to watch Chris Pine, now known as the rebellious but clean cut Capt. Kirk as a long haired, lazy, hippie. Pine and Pullman play the main roles as father and son and manage to have a very good chemistry together and are a good representation of father and son. Bottle Shock is a period piece even if it isn’t set too many centuries back, and director Randall Miller managed to encapsulate the generational disparities very well using Jim (Pullman) and Bo (Pine) to show this most profoundly and in a very relatable way.

I have to compliment Miller on Bottle Shock. Call me a bad Californian, a bad American, or just too young but I never knew about the Judgment in Paris before this film; I don’t think I would have cared if I had read about it in a text book or on the back of a wine bottle. However, Bottle Shock is a dang entertaining and well made film that has me desiring to find a bottle of the Cheateau Montelena chardonnay, learn more about wine, and visit the Napa Valley. I think that’s probably an earmark of a good film.

Director: Randall Miller
Writers: Jody Savin, Randall Miller & Ross Schwartz
Bo Barrett: Chris Pine
Steven Spurrier: Alan Rickman
Jim Barrett: Bill Pullman
Sam: Rachel Taylor
Gustavo Brambila: Freddy Rodriguez
Maurice: Dennis Farina
Joe: Eliza Dushku

Jim Barrett: Why don't I like you?
Steven Spurrier: Because you think I'm an arsehole. And I'm not, really. I'm just British and, well... you're not.

The Brothers Bloom

The Brothers Bloom
Originally uploaded by AsceticMonk

Brother’s Bloom and Stephen lived a rag tag life of floating from foster home to foster home never finding their role in the world until they discover the art of the con. Stephen and Bloom rise to the top of the con echelon with Stephen as the master architect and Bloom as his main player; the con is their work of art with actors, themes and over-reaching ideas. Their schemes are things of beauty. Soon, Bloom grows tired of having no life but the ones Stephen writes for him, but before he can quit Stephen talks him into one final con, to take bored heiress on the adventure of a life time and relieve her of part of her fortune. What Bloom doesn’t count on is that Penelope could be the one thing he’s always wanted in his life.

What I love most about Rian Johnson’s movies is that they surprise me. From the opening frames right until the end credit scroll beings I don’t know what is going to happen or how Johnson is going to take me there. This alone would gain Johnson credibility in my book simply because of the amount of movies I see, but the fact that his movies are astoundingly complex and beautiful on all levels makes me wish The Brother’s Bloom was a movie that could get remembered come Oscar nomination.

Most of the critics out there have universally declared that Rachel Weisz steals the film. I do not disagree with this. She is funny, charming and all together irrepressible. However, I have to say that Rinko Kikuchi who barely speaks a word in the film as pyro expert Bang Bang steals a bit of the film herself.

I won’t say much to spoil Johnson’s latest tale here, but what I can say is that The Brother’s Bloom is not a movie that should be missed. It should be praised, re-watched and added to DVD collections everywhere. If it can garner an award or two that would be even better.

Penelope: Rachel Weisz
Bloom: Adrien Brody
Stephen: Mark Ruffalo
Bang Bang: Rinko Kikuchi
The Curator: Robbie Coltrane

The Hangover

hangover_ver11
Originally uploaded by ranggayang

Three friends and a soon-to-be brother-in-law head to Vegas for the bachelor’s party of a lifetime. The only problem is when Phil, Stu & Alan wake up in their thrashed hotel suite they can’t remember what happened the previous night – or where Doug is. The men proceed to try and follow the clues in their hotel room back to their origins in an effort to find Doug before his fiancée panics and the wedding is off.

If I try to describe The Hangover to you it won’t be funny, but trust me, the film is beyond funny. It’s gross, inappropriate, slapstick, verbally witty, and unexpected and beyond all else an incredibly fresh comedy populated with incredibly charismatic and talented cast. Even the baby was funny.

The Hangover had what it take to make a truly funny comedy – good writing. The film chose to set up it’s jokes without immediately playing them out, something that was shown in the beginning wouldn’t get played into a joke until another act in the film, or they’d be referenced at several other points in the film so that the joke kept getting funnier. There is at least one line in the film that had me laughing so hard that it took me a few minutes to recover.

This is a film that suffers from great comedic timing, and will undoubtedly end up continuing to make great amounts of money at the box office and prove that movies rated above PG-13 can still work in a modern day market.

Director: Todd Phillips
Writers: Jon Lucas & Scott Moore
Phil: Bradley Cooper
Stu: Ed Helms
Alan: Zach Galifianakis
Doug: Justin Bartha
Jade: Heather Graham

Alan Garner: Who's baby is that?
Phil Wenneck: We'll deal with the baby later.
Stu Price: We're not gonna leave a baby in the room. There's a tiger in the bathroom!

Up

up
Originally uploaded by cybermelli

Carl Fredrickson grew up fascinated with adventure but was too afraid to actually do anything, until he met the girl that would become his wife in Ellie. He and Ellie planned to have glorious adventures and travels together but of course life intefeared right up through Ellie’s death. Carl’s whole world was Ellie and without her he never expanded and learned to deal with the outside world. When the city rules that Carl needs to move into a retirement home he rigs his house to become a flying vessel with hundreds of balloons and tries to follow the flight path his idol Charles Muntz to Paradise Falls – where he and Ellie always wanted to go. However, Carl accidently picks up hitchhiker Russell whom Carl sent on a snipe-hunt. Together Carl and Russell make their way to Paradise Falls and discover that Muntz is still there.

Up is a beautiful movie. It’s full of symbols, well-rounded characters you can connect with, imagination, stunning visuals and more than anything else it is a film that knows what it wants to tell you and how it wants to tell it. There is no wasted space in a pixar film. From start to finish every shot, line and beat is plotted, purposeful and concise in a way that no one else can do simply because it is what their production process dictates. This perfection has led to making Up one of the most beautiful movies I’ve seen this year.

Perhaps what I love best about Up is that it is a movie about fatherhood. Carl Freidrickson is an old man that never got a chance to be a father. He and Ellie tried but couldn’t become parents; once Ellie was gone this left Carl alone in the world until Russell accidently came into his life. Russell is the child that Carl never had. Though Carl is annoyed and aggravated by Russell he slowly comes to develop affection for the boy; this happens in large part because Russell needs a father. As Russell talks incessantly to Carl he begins to reveal that his parents are divorced, and he rarely sees or talks to his father – this has lead Russell to Carl’s doorstep, literally. Russell joined the Wildreness Scouts because it’s something fathers are supposed to do with their sons. When that doesn’t work to get his father’s attention he earns every badge in existence, because the fathers are supposed to come to the ceremony to pin them on, and when that doesn’t work he goes after the final badge which will lead him to his promotion and Carl – the helping the elderly badge. As their adventures wind to a close Carl realizes that Russell needs him as much as he needs Russell and the actualization of this is beautiful.

I am not a crier at movies. However, Up had me very close to crying. I dare you to not be emotionally affected by the montage of Carl’s life with Ellie, or the ending sequence between Russell and Carl. Also, Dug the dog cannot be missed.

Directors & Writers: Pete Doctor & Bob Peterson
Carl Fredricksen: Ed Asner
Charles Muntz: Christopher Plummer
Russell: Jordan Nagai
Dug: Bob Peterson
Beta: Delroy Lindo

Carl Fredricksen: This is crazy. I finally meet my childhood hero and he's trying to kill us. What a joke.
Dug: Hey, I know a joke! A squirrel walks up to a tree and says, "I forgot to gather acorns for the winter and now I am dead." Ha ha! It's funny because the squirrel gets dead.