Short Review: Odd that they would name a movie after the production's target audience.



This is a calorie-ridden, cellulose gum stuffed, FD&C Yellow 5 soaked Twinkie of a movie - but not in a good way.

Action movies are action movies - they are big, loud, stupid and violent. This movie has all of those characteristics. It also has all of the now, sadly traditional action film events - the slow-motion group walk where everyone wears sunglasses and looks oh so, cool. The heroic slow-motion entry with two automatic weapons in each hand ready for a fight, the slow-motion fight sequence than suddenly speeds up to normal pace...


Now that I think about it, this film could have halved its running time if they removed the slow motion sequences.

The movie is about a group of snappy dialog prone spies/soliders/assassins/psychopaths/fashion dolls who get burned by a boss during a job in Bolivia. The crew is targeted for death during a search and destroy mission. The assassination fails and the crew disbands. They regroup when a Zoe Saldana shows up. Zoe knows who tried to kill the killers and the killers set out to kill the man who tried to kill them.

A quick side note, have you noticed that in nearly every movie Zoe Saldana has been in she is covered in a glistening oil so she looks sweaty and always romps with the white guy?

So, the team heads out and hunts down the big bad guy Max (Jason Patric). Since there is no way to make Jason Patric ominous, apparently the plan was to make his character unbelievably obnoxious. Max is perhaps the most unlikeable bad guy, not because he's violent, evil and cruel - but because he spouts pea-brained dialog and is hyper sensitive. At one point he murders a woman who is holding an umbrella over his head, because she slipped. I've pointed this out in other reviews - if you are writing a bad guy, it serves no purpose showing him being so trigger happy with his minions that he will kill one over literally nothing. The minions, out of survival, will kill the bad guy the first chance they have. The dismissive murder of an underling to show a villain's psychosis also reveals their lack of leadership skills. It breaks natural logic and heightens the stupidity of a movie. Stop doing it.

Ok, so there is a team of killers who almost get killed. They identify the guy who wanted them dead and head out kill him. I assume you can write the next sentence in this sequence. This is paint by the numbers, see it a thousand times film making - and since you've already seen this a thousand times, there is no reason to make it one thousand one. Skip this.


Related Reviews:
Zoe Saldana movies
Avatar (2009)
Star Trek (2009)


Other Critic's Reviews:
Daily Mirror
365 Cinema



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Labels: Chris Evans, Columbus Short, film, Holt McCallany, Idris Elba, Jason Patric, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, movie review, Peter Berg, Zoe Saldana

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Labels: film, Hayden Christensen, Idris Elba, Matt Dillon, Michael Ealy, movie trailer, Paul Walker, Zoe Saldana

Labels: film, James Cameron, movie review, Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver, Zoe Saldana

Short Review: A long movie without one humorous scene. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t laugh-out-loud funny.



Avatar is a half a billion dollar toilet seat of a movie. Because Home Depot toilet seat movies like Dances with Wolves or Pocahontas aren’t good enough. No expense is ever too great to remind us of a central dogma of our age: that our culture is bad, bad, bad and “indigenous cultures” are oh so very good. Throw in a couple of corollary doctrines relating to new age spirituality and Gaia worship, and you have the perfect leftist didactic fairy tale disguised as a sci-fi adventure.

But a strange thing occurs to one as the expensive toilet seat comes crashing down on one’s head. How disconcerting it is, how un-humanizing it is to turn indigenous peoples into aliens. Cameron’s intention is to make we humans into the aliens, but because of the film’s central metaphor, that’s not how things work. Usually metaphor is employed to get someone to see something from a different angle. The central metaphor of this movie is that hominid Na'vi of the moon Pandora are just like the aboriginal inhabitants of North and South America and Australia. Except that their blue skin and tails are about the only thing different. Their rituals, weapons, religion, even war cries, are pretty much the same. So why did we have to go to Pandora to listen to this Rousseau-ian sermon? Beats me. The metaphor eventually becomes so thin and the parallels so heavy-handed that you may find yourself, as I did, laughing.

While the plot is a tedious checklist of the civilized-savage-meets-enlightened-primitive genre, the visuals help to redeem the effort, at least as purely aesthetic diversion. The word is beautiful and richly realized. The creatures are wonderful, with a subtle, unspoken evolutionary backstory*. The huge CGI budget can’t make this thing successful, however.

One final, disconnected note: this movie fails utterly as science fiction. The central science fictiony element (the telepathic link between human minds and Na'vi bodies) is never explained or explored. It functions only as a convenient plot device.



* A thoroughly inconsistent one, however. The animals we see close up have a six-legged body plan and four eyes. The Na'vi, however are humanoid. Where are their evolutionary cousins?

Labels: Avatar, film, guest review, James Cameron, movie review, Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver, Zoe Saldana

Short Review: I want to put this as plainly as I can. This film is so uniquely awful that it should be legal for me to enslave and neuter any movie critic who gives it a positive review. They should be forced to do my yard work and clip my toenails.

But then again, I can be an extremist about such things.



This is the worst movie I have ever seen.

Consider that statement. I have seen thousands of movies over the course of my lifetime. This is worse than any other film I can name.

Troll 2, Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo, Leonard: Part 6, Speed 2: Cruise Control, Battleship Earth, Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever, Glen or Glenda, Exorcist II: The Heretic,

Kazaam, even Kazaam. It is worse than an embarrassment starring Shaquille O'Neal as a genie who comes out of a magic boom box. Look at this:



This is better than Avatar.

How? Easy, no one within a thousand miles of Shaq in his hammer pants thought for one minute they were making a great work of cinema.

Everyone involved with Avatar has made it clear that this is supposed to be a game changer like Star Wars or The Matrix. This is meant to be one of the seminal moments in cinematic history. When future generations refer back to this time we're to believe that Avatar will be one of the cultural milestones.

I do think this film will go down in cinematic history. Hands down, it is the most self-loathing, insufferably pretentious works of human invention ever to be put before a paying public.

The film takes place on a planet call Pandora. PANDORA - get it? Astronomers, upon finding a planet that can sustain life, felt compelled to give it an ironic name warning of impending doom. Humans, after destroying the Earth's environment (this is mentioned a few times during the film), have shown up on Pandora to claim a mineral called Unobtanium. UNOBTANIUM - get it? Geologists, upon finding a valuable mineral, felt compelled to give it an ironic name warning of impending futility. The humans want the mineral so they can make money. One problem, on top the indigenous humanoid species known as the Na'vi live where the minerals are found. So, of course, the humans plot a pogrom against the planet's peaceful people.

Jake (Sam Worthington - no you don't know who he is), a paraplegic marine, arrives at the planet as a mercenary for the Resources Development Administration, the evil corporation who wants to displace the primitive Na'vi.

Jake is given an avatar, a body that looks like a Na'vi (meaning he looks like a big, blue kitty). He gets closed in a tanning booth and can control the body with his mind, or something like that, its not well explained. As one would expect, he meets up with the Na'vi, falls in love with the pretty one. Then the whole thing turns into Dances with Wolves in Space.

(Spoiler warning for the rest of this paragraph) Jake eventually becomes one of the Na'vi and after the humans attack a Na'vi's sacred site, he leads the attack on the marines. Yes, for half of the movie Jake leads an attack on his own species. Thus, everyone who would ever watch the film is his enemy. Jake and the Na'vi are victorious and send the humans back to their "dead world". Uh, doesn't that mean he sends his fellow humans to their extinction?

The story is a patchwork of other movies and various strains of the noble savage motif. Cameron provides the world with a shockingly unfiltered look at the modern, white liberal mindset. The primitive culture is idealized to the point of being laughable. Everyone is happily equal. The genders are on equal footing. Everyone is in tune with nature. Heck, they literally are wired into their world. The Na'vi have wires at the end of their ponytails that they actually link into dino-birds and trees so they can "talk" to them.

No, I'm not kidding.

Yes, this is a serious movie.

Back to the hippie stuff. The primitive culture is so perfect, so wonderful that every time they are on screen they are celebrated with sweeping World Music. Honestly, during every moment with the Na'vi, Cameron unloads the demo tapes for The Lion King. Now, when the humans are around, he plays the discount version of Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries. Apparently, he couldn't get the rights to play the theme music for Darth Vader.

So we're clear:

Primitives = happy, natural, honorable and spiritual
Humans = destructive, greedy, violent and conniving.

There is not a moment in the film that isn't noticeably crafted. There is nothing organic. The dialog is self-aware and often corny "Why did you save me?" "Because you have a strong heart!"

No, I'm not kidding.

Yes, this is a serious movie.

Characters act completely against their history and/or better interest. My personal favorite is when a mercenary who is collecting a paycheck to kill aliens is ordered to kill said aliens yells "I didn't sign on for this!" and then leave the battlefield. This is done without any character development leading to the decision, it just happens because Cameron needs the character for later on.

You will hear many people say that you see the budget up on the screen. Yes, they put all $300 million up on the screen. Too bad they didn't put one dime into the script. The film is visually full. However, the imagery is too intentional. The environment of Pandora is full of flashing lights, day-glo plants and the grass glows when it is stepped on at night. It is like the whole place is paved with Michael Jackson's sidewalk.

The expansive scenery in all of its intricate glory is so forced that I never lost the feeling I was looking at created scenery. I can say the same about the animated figures. Cameron has managed to get beyond the dead-eyes issue with animated humanoids. There are emotions in the eyes of his characters but they still looked unreal. The visuals are entertaining, but in the end the movie looked like a real long video game trailer. I kept expecting the game menu to pop up.

What puts this film over the top in its road to crapville is that it is a self-loathing racist screed.

The Na'vi are all played by African-American or Native American actors (CHH Pounder, Zoe Saldana, Wes Studi, Laz Alonso). The Na'vi are blue, but their society is an idealized hybrid of African and Indian tribal cultures with some white, middle-class New Age mumbo-jumbo tossed in for flavor.

The humans are almost all white. There are a couple of minority actors who have lines, but almost all of them turn out to be on the side of the natives. Now, let it be known that I don't normally go counting races when I watch movies. I normally don't care one bit. But in this case it was so obvious, you can't avoid it.

The Na'vi are so transparently supposed to be minorities and the humans are blatantly supposed to be oppressive white Capitalists that it is unsettling. I haven't seen a more open case of white guilt casting since the last time I saw a Brinks Home Security ad. Don't believe me? Then listen to Cameron who tips his hand with his own self indulgent dialog. Jake comes clean of his intentions to try to save the Na'vi. Col. Quarich (Stephen Lang - no you don't know him, although you should) turns to Jake. Quarich squints his blazing blue eyes and snarls "You don't want to be a traitor to your race."* The guy in charge of military operations swaps out "race" for "species" when he's dealing with a society of alien humanoids who are a) blue, b) seven-eight feet tall, c) have carbon-binding bones d) look like big kitties. Cameron intentionally uses the word race because that is his point.

The casting and the dialog may not tag Cameron as a self-hating bigot. But this does. (Spoiler for the rest of this paragraph) At the end of the film, Jake (the white boy) only achieves wholeness and his full heroic stature after he leaves his white boy body and enters the body of a Na'vi. In other words, until he kills all the white people (by sending them back to their dead world, remember) and then leaving his own white body behind can he be complete.

No, I'm not kidding.

Yes, this is a serious movie.

Try switching the races around and see how comfortable you feel with this plot. Cameron was one step away from showing white people and then flashing images of rats on the screen. Why not just have everyone chant "kill whitey!"

If all of this isn't enough here are some other problems with this, a great leap forward in world cinema:

• A character leaves the battlefield against orders. The next time we see this character he/she isn't in the brig. He/She is smiling, casually walking around with a gun. No reason is given to how he/she managed to avoid being arrested or shot on the spot for cowardice.
• The film is loaded, LOADED with anachronism. The film takes place in 2154 but people still use terms like "bitch ass", "bitch", "come git sum!" and "he's got skills". One character smokes - INDOORS. Heck, I can show you outdoor parks you can't smoke in. It goes on from there.
• It is stuffed full of Mother Earth/Gaia nonsense.
  
• We are never told why Unobtanium is so critical. The only reason given is financial. What if it cured cancer? What if it was used to revive the dying Earth? This is an important fact to leave out because it gives a fuller context to Jake intentionally killing off his own species.
• The pretty Na'vi Jakes falls for and has sex with (yes, he has sex with a big, blue kitty) knows he is an avatar and really an alien. It is illogical she would allow herself to be taken in by what amounts to a big blue sock puppet sent by the enemy.
• All of the Na'vi and their animal friends are glowing bright colors. Which makes them all easy targets in the brown and green jungle world they live in. Yet, no trained marine can seem to hit them.
• Speaking of marines, (spoiler warning) we are asked to believe that after years of engaging with the Na'vi the marines are finally done in by a full frontal assault by the primitive warriors using spears and arrows. This is like asking us to believe the modern American military would be taken down by the Sioux.
  
• Every time Jake returns to the human world his avatar body (made of flesh and bone) drops like a discarded rag doll. This is shown a few times. When this happens the Na'vi are accepting of it. Sure one says he's a demon but other than that they're cool. This is a culture that hasn't invented the wheel yet, let alone any complex tools (which is why they still fight with spears and not catapults). They could not conceive of why he would keep dropping over. They never bury or burn his apparently dead body?
  
• Jake's avatar is left laying prone in a jungle for an extended period of time. No animals or insects devour the warm flesh of his dormant body laying on the jungle floor

I can go on for about another six posts.

I know you will feel compelled to see this in the theater and I don't blame you. It is a tempting flick to see. I will say that if you insist on seeing it you should do so on the big screen. I will also say that if you can find the will to resist its pull, of any movie I have ever seen, this is the one you want to miss.



Related Reviews:
Other movies that stink
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009)
Drag Me To Hell (2009)


Other Critic's Reviews:
Roger Ebert (get mowing, tubby)
Big Hollywood (Nolte avoids clipping my little piggies)



* - I'm paraphrasing, I don't have the exact words, but this is dang close. The important point is the replacement of "race" for "species".

Labels: film, James Cameron, movie review, Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver, Zoe Saldana

Screenwriter: James Cameron (Rambo: First Blood Part II)
Director: James Cameron (The Terminator)
Actors: Zoe Saldana (Star Trek), Sam Worthington (Terminator Salvation), Sigourney Weaver (Alien), Michelle Rodriguez (Girl Fight), Stephen Lang (Gods and Generals), Giovanni Ribisi (Saving Private Ryan) and CHH Pounder (Orphan)

Labels: CHH Pounder, film, Giovanni Ribisi, James Cameron, Michelle Rodriguez, movie trailer, Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang, Zoe Saldana

Short Review: Anything that can possibility offend Trekkies and get them hyperventilating through their retainers is okay by me.


A production like this isn't new. Yet another Corporation continuing to recycle pop cultural baubles of previous generations, repackage it, and then sell it to quite possibly the dumbest generation to draw breath. This may be the case with this film. It may be a soulless McMovie rehash, but its a well made soulless McMovie rehash.

What is surprising is that it manages to achieve the balance of acknowledging its source material while still striking out on its own and finding its own voice. By the end of the film it is clear a new, individual franchise has been born. This is remarkable given that Star Trek is one of the most identifiable, dearly loved series in history. Producers have been trying to reboot the series for decades. After the surprise cult following in reruns, they began to pump out the popular films - oh but they were seriously awful . Honestly, they travel to San Francisco in the 1980's to save whales and we're expected believe Sulu doesn't go AWOL and stay behind?

As the actors aged, and the egos inflated and the internal conflicts boiled, the natural inclination to replicate the series took its course. Since the late 1980's there has been a continual string of syndicated television series attempting reignite the original series. The first outing, Star Trek: The Next Generation was good but not great. The remainder were stumbling affairs that never quite got over their derivative existences.

When JJ Abrams took over the franchise he smartly choose to break away from the failing model of retooling the Star Trek universe with new characters and instead chose the bigger risk of recasting the original characters. This isn't a small task.

It is easy to dismiss Star Trek given William Shatner's goofiness and the social abominations known as Trekkies, but this is one of the main myths of our civilization. Messing with Kirk and Spock is no different than recasting Darth Vadar, Luke Skywalker and Han Solo and trying to make them your own. Thousands of people flock to stupid conventions over this crap. They made up a ridiculous fake Klingon language for Pete's sake. In our pop culture based society, Star Trek is a sacred cow. Abrams took a huge gamble, he could have had a humiliating disaster on his hands. When the original trailer hit, I thought he had taken the simple road. I wasn't the only one.


The film, thankfully, isn't the hollow teen dreamy junk pile that the trailer made it look like.

Abrams delivers a carefully executed origin story for the series that, thanks to a overly convenient time travel plot, explains away the old series and makes way for the new. While fun and light, the film is also technically marvelous. The story is impressively tight and direct. Abrams and company had the challenge of reintroducing us to characters many of us knew inside and out. These characters are a part of our lives even if we've never seen a single episode of the show. Their catch phrases alone litter our culture possibly more than any other series in history.

Given the large cast, these introductions threatened to slow the story down every time someone new appeared on screen. Screenwriters Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman do a masterful job of weaving these introductions seamlessly into the story. On top of these introductions, they also managed to rewrite the characters in a way that enhances our memory of them. This is particularly true of Spock.

Leonard Nimoy's Spock is a cultural landmark. In this production, we are shown the young Spock, first as a promising professor and then as an officer on the Enterprise. Zachary Quinto, who appears to have been born to play the role, tackles the task of portraying this iconic figure. Quinto has to balance between marking the role as his own while also paying homage to Nimoy's classic portrayal. The script's conceits allow to present Spock as we know him while still giving him amble room to infuse his own details. His Spock is written not a mimicry of the earlier version of Spock but instead as a new angle on the old character.

The duality between the old and new is the approached used for the whole franchise. This is not an attempt to replace the old version, simply a new generation putting their own mark on things. This franchise isn't going to be the cultural standard that the original version has become. It's not that good, nor important. It is entertaining however and will provide some relaxing cinematic eye candy.

The downside of the film are a few poor choices that seriously break the narrative flow. If you've seen the trailer you have already have witnessed the amazingly stupid young Kirk stealing an antique car and driving it over a cliff. In this sequence, he is being chased down a dirt road by a cop. Young Kirk then turns on the radio and LISTENS TO THE BEASTIE BOYS. What? No one listens to them now, except musically illiterate morons, and we're expected to believe this is something a kid would turn to a few hundred years in the future? The entire sequence should have been cut. It is as poorly conceived as the jazz sequence in Spider-Man 3.

There are other choices that cut into the story as well, like having Scotty being transported into the water pipes, having Kirk illogically being sent down to an Arctic locale on a planet, and other items that act as sidesteps to the main thrust of the story. All of these diversions steal time away from the main story which does need some help.

The main villain Nero, a revenge obsessed Romulan, is pushed to the back burner for most of the film and only appears when its convenient to establish character for Kirk, Pike or Spock. Nero is the least developed character in the entire film and is given the least amount of attention. His whole reason for revenge is not given enough depth to have any real meaning so his actions are without context and therefore meaningless. This deficiency would kill most other stories, this production survives because it gets the audience so wrapped up in the interpersonal drama on the Enterprise that this exterior force is more of an annoying procedure rather than life threatening conflict.

This is a solid movie that succeeds well beyond expectation. This is easily the most fun I've had seeing a McMovie since Iron Man last year. This is fluff but it is very good, very entertaining fluff.




Related Reviews:
Star Trek movies
Star Trek: The Wrath of Kahn (1982)
Star Trek: First Contact (1996)


Other Critic's Reviews:
Happy Catholic
Need Coffee

Labels: Chris Pine, Eric Bana, film, JJ Abrams, Karl Urban, Leonard Nimoy, movie review, Star Trek, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana

Short Review: Anything that can possibility offend Trekkies and get them hyperventilating through their retainers is okay by me.


Sure its a soulless McMovie rehash, but its a well made soulless McMovie rehash.

The best word to describe this film is "fun". No matter your opinion on if it wise to allow corporations to continue recycle pop cultural baubles of previous generations, repackage it, and then sell it to quite possibly the dumbest generation to draw breath, this is still fun. This is a huge chunk of cinematic chocolate cake.

What is surprising is that it manages to achieve the balance of acknowledging its source material while still striking out on its own and finding its own voice. By the end of the film it is clear a new, individual franchise has been born. This is remarkable given that Star Trek is one of the most identifiable, dearly loved series in history. Producers have been trying to reboot the series for decades. After the surprise cult following in reruns, they began to pump out the popular films - oh but they were seriously awful . Honestly, they travel to San Francisco in the 1980's to save whales and we're expected believe Sulu doesn't go AWOL and stay behind? As the actors aged, and the egos inflated and the internal conflicts boiled, the natural inclination to replicate the series took its course. Since the late 1980's there has been a continual string of syndicated television series attempting reignite the original series. The first outing, Star Trek: The Next Generation was good but not great. The remainder were stumbling affairs that never quite got over their derivative existences. When JJ Abrams took over the franchise he smartly choose to break away from the failing model of retooling the Star Trek universe with new characters and instead chose the bigger risk of recasting the original characters. This isn't a small task. It is easy to dismiss Star Trek given William Shatner's goofiness and the social abominations known as Trekkies, but it is one of the main myths of our civilization. Messing with Kirk and Spock is no different than recasting Darth Vadar, Luke Skywalker and Han Solo and trying to make them your own. Thousands of people flock to stupid conventions over this crap. They made up a ridiculous fake Klingon language for Pete's sake. In our pop culture based society, Star Trek is a sacred cow of sorts. Abrams took a huge gamble, he could have had a humiliating disaster on his hands. When the original trailer hit, I thought he had taken the simple road. I wasn't the only one.


The film, thankfully, isn't the hollow teen dreamy junk pile that the trailer made it look like.

Abrams delivers a carefully executed origin story for the series that, thanks to a overly convenient time travel plot, explains away the old series and makes way for the new. While fun and light, the film is also technically marvelous. The story is impressively tight and direct. Abrams and company had the challenge of reintroducing us to characters many of us knew inside and out. These characters are a part of our lives even if we've never seen a single episode of the show. Their catch phrases alone litter our culture possibly more than any other series in history. Given the large cast, these introductions threatened to slow the story down every time someone new appeared on screen. Screenwriters Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman do a masterful job of weaving these introductions seamlessly into the story. On top of these introductions, they also managed to rewrite the characters in a way that enhances our memory of them. This is particularly true of Spock. Leonard Nimoy's Spock is a cultural landmark. In this production, we are shown the young Spock, first as a promising professor and then as an officer on the Enterprise. Zachary Quinto, who appears to have been born to play the role, tackles the task of portraying this iconic figure. Quinto has to balance between marking the role as his own while also paying homage to Nimoy's classic portrayal. The script's conceits allow to present Spock as we know him while still giving him amble room to infuse his own details. His Spock is written not a mimicry of the earlier version of Spock but instead as a new angle on the old character. This duality between the old and new is the approached used for the whole franchise. I never got the feeling they were attempting to replace the old version but were just putting their own mark on things. This franchise isn't going to be the cultural standard that the original version has become. It's not that good, nor important. It is entertaining however and will provide some relaxing cinematic eye candy.

The downside of the film are a few poor choices that seriously break the narrative flow. If you've seen the trailer you have already have witnessed the amazingly stupid young Kirk stealing an antique car and driving it over a cliff. In this sequence, he is being chased down a dirt road by a cop. Young Kirk then turns on the radio and LISTENS TO THE BEASTIE BOYS. What? No one listens to them now, except musically illiterate morons, and we're expected to believe this is something a kid would turn to a few hundred years in the future? The entire sequence should have been cut. It is as poorly conceived as the jazz sequence in Spider-Man 3. There are other choices that cut into the story as well, like having Scotty being transported into the water pipes, having Kirk illogically being sent down to an Arctic locale on a planet, and other items that act as sidesteps to the main thrust of the story. All of these diversions steal time away from the main story which does need some help. The main villain Nero, a revenge obsessed Romulan, is pushed to the back burner for most of the film and only appears when its convenient to establish character for Kirk, Pike or Spock. Nero is the least developed character in the entire film and is given the least amount of attention. His whole reason for revenge is not given enough depth to have any real meaning so his actions are without context and therefore meaningless. This deficiency would kill most other stories, this production survives because it gets the audience so wrapped up in the interpersonal drama on the Enterprise that this exterior force is more of an annoying procedure rather than life threatening conflict.

This is a solid movie that succeeds well beyond expectation. This is easily the most fun I've had seeing a McMovie since Iron Man last year. This is fluff but it is very good, very entertaining fluff.




Related Reviews:
Star Trek movies
Star Trek: The Wrath of Kahn (1982)
Star Trek: First Contact (1996)



Other Critic's Reviews:
Happy Catholic
Need Coffee

Labels: Chris Pine, Eric Bana, film, JJ Abrams, Karl Urban, Leonard Nimoy, movie review, Star Trek, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana

Screenwriter: Tennyson Bardwell
Director: Tennyson Bardwell
Actors: Tim Daly (Basic), Tom Arnold (True Lies), Zoe Saldana (Star Trek) and Edward Herrman (Reds)

Labels: film, movie trailer, Tim Daly, Tom Arnold, Zoe Saldana

Screenwriters: Roberto Orci (Mission Impossible III) and Alex Kurtzman (Transformers)
Director: JJ Abrams (Mission Impossible III)
Actors: Chris Pine (Smokin' Aces), Zachary Quinto, Eric Bana (Troy), Simon Pegg (Hot Fuzz), Zoe Saldana (Vantage Point), John Cho (Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay) and Karl Urban (Doom)

Labels: Chris Pine, Eric Bana, film, JJ Abrams, John Cho, Karl Urban, movie trailer, Simon Pegg, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana

Screenwriters: Roberto Orci (Mission Impossible III) and Alex Kurtzman (Transformers)
Director: JJ Abrams (Mission Impossible III)
Actors: Chris Pine (Smokin' Aces), Zachary Quinto, Eric Bana (Troy), Simon Pegg (Hot Fuzz), Zoe Saldana (Vantage Point), John Cho (Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay) and Karl Urban (Doom)

Labels: Chris Pine, Eric Bana, film, JJ Abrams, John Cho, Karl Urban, movie trailer, Simon Pegg, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana

Short Review: Not as crappy as it first appears.


This is utter fluff and is of no consequence and I enjoyed it. I’m a tad confused as I look at the words “I enjoyed it” hanging out below the title of this film but it is true. I give credit for the success of this film to Bernie Mac. Mac's comedic persona works perfectly with this content and Kutcher does well playing opposite him. Both men have keen comedic talents and they are perfectly cast in their roles. The two have a good chemistry and the script plays the roles against each other wonderfully.

Director Kevin Rodney Sullivan, regaining his footing after making the horrible Barbershop II, shows his ability for comedy. This could have easily have been a racist screed mocking whites and not raising blacks above accepted Hollywood stereotypes, but Sullivan and crew serves up a refreshingly evenhanded movie. In an amazing twist, Sullivan offers a movie (a comedy no less) about race that actually speaks frankly about it without falling into the usual traps. We are all humans and this film recognizes this fact. Many whites who see the trailer or DVD box will probably pass it by assuming its just another “ain't white people stupid” movie (Bringing Down the House for example). This film avoids such pandering.

This is a faded retelling of the classic Guess Who Coming To Dinner, with this version changing the races of the young couple. While this film is not a classic, it is well done. I don’t expect anyone will watch this movie and be moved, but it does make one laugh and does so with wit, not crudity, which is saying something these days.


Related Reviews:
Another Ashton Kutcher movie
The Butterfly Effect (2004)


Other Critic's Reviews:
The Movie Boy
3 Black Chicks...Review Flicks

Labels: Ashton Kutcher, Bernie Mac, film, movie review, Zoe Saldana