Happy Thursday! It's summertime again, which is always great. Driving home at night with the windows down, seeing all my favorite trees in bloom, thrifting for the rapidly-approaching AX.
So STAR TREK. I hope you've all seen it. Actually, I know some of you haven't, but I'll take you to see it real soon.
Honestly, I'm conflicted about it, but not greatly so. Okay, it's kinda like this: remember how I said that THE DARK KNIGHT ended up being a kind of movie that if it didn't have Batman in it, I wouldnta seen it? Meaning, TDK was a dark action crime thriller that happened to feature the Batman. And I like Batman. STAR TREK is a light sci-fi comedy action blockbuster that is sorta set in a Star Trek world, and I like Star Trek.
It's not a bad movie. It really isn't. It's not as solid as I would prefer in any movie, but they get away with thinish plot and character depth--well, for a lot of reasons. First off, if you're just going to see a fun start-of-summer movie, chances are you're neither looking for nor expecting a really honed and introspective "film." It's a "popcorn movie," and there's nothing wrong with taking that approach. And on the other side, they're appealing somewhat to the Star Trek fans, who already know these people and world, so they passed on detailed character backgrounds.
Actually, I would say the biggest problem is the line they attempted to strike between bowing to the current fans and reaching out to everyone else. I personally enjoyed most of the throw-back lines and allusions, which certainly would go over the heads of the layman viewer. I know, however, that there are a few out there who complain about this movie "stealing" from the other movies and the show. On the other hand, the Federation they portrayed wasn't quite the one I'm familiar with...no problem to someone who's being introduced for the first time, but kind of unsettling for the seasoned viewer.
Actually, I lied. The single biggest thing that took me out of the movie was the odd slapstick nature of the comedy. I read that they took care to bring back the comedy of the original show (which I don't quite remember existing? sure it had it's comedic moments, but wasn't that just the 60s being ridiculous?), and evidently the manner in which they brought it back falls somewhere between confusing and campy. I mean, you've got someone with allergically enlarged hands, snow monsters tumbling down hills, and people being sucked through death tubes a la Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Hilarious, certainly. Tonally consistent? You decide.
All that being said, yes, I enjoyed the movie and look forward to seeing it again in the near future. Was it a great movie? Nah. Is it much more commercially successful than any other Trek movie? Absolutely. Are they going to make a sequel? Looks like, and I can't wait to buy my tickets for it.
Last note: my hands-down favorite thing of the movie is the casting. This was not unforeseen. Zachary Quinto, John Cho, Simon Pegg, these are people I'd watch in anything. Chris Pine and Karl Urban I don't obsess over, but I've been consistently impressed with their work. That Zoe Saldana I don't know at all, but I have no complaints. And little Anton Yelchin? His Chekov was literally my favorite part of the movie.
Okay, what else happened this week?! We've been to Burger King no less than three times, gathering the toys. We now have in our arsenal a Spock, Uhura, Bones, Sulu, and two Enterprises. Carolyn and I also have a collectors Spock glass apiece and she also obtained a Kirk. We're going to make-a the movie with our toys, once we have a fully formed bridge crew.
We also saw S. DARKO and FANBOYS, which came out this week on DVD. Do not bother with the former. It's like the FMA movie, or the Dead Like Me movie (and, to a much lesser extent, Serenity). You were better off imagining what happened after, instead of having all your hopes crushed with horrible writing. FANBOYS wasn't horrible, but wasn't a shining star, either. Oh well, Kristen Bell is cute in anything.
Mother's Day was pretty chill. We did some gardening and barbecuing. Those secretive flowers I planted have still yet to bloom. I transplanted this giant white plant out of the barrel it was consuming and into the backyard, where it's probably dying. Oh well. I should take an updated picture of my cactuar family. You'd be impressed.
Monday was opposite day. I went to Carolyn's house where I sat quietly and drew, while she was busy writing. It's finals week for some! I drew a dog which really did come to me in my dreams, as he is also a magician, and his name is Showtime. You can see him on Facebook.
Today we embarked on our continuing mission to seek out new thrift stores and new good bargains; to boldly thrift where no one has thrifted before. We made it all the way to Newbury Park! But we did find the best things there: I got a perfect shirt to edit into the top tank for the BSG outfit (which will sadly have to wait until next year's Comic-Con), a Shannara book, a video on old-time Batman, and a mug from Canada. I also bought the Mach 5 companion to my Mach 6 at the 99 cent store.
Then we watched an episode of DUE SOUTH (this season is slow going =[ ), played some wacky rounds of Halo, and watched a bunch of those Jeopardy sketches from SNL. Then I went home! Caught the last half of the OFFICE--wow. That was a beautiful bit of acting by the Krasinski at the the end, and Carell was doing fantastically throughout. 30 ROCK was highly entertaining, too.
HIMYM has one more next week, and I haven't gotten around to last night's LOST yet. I will remedy that soon. And when all the seasons are up, I'll rent the second season of UGLY BETTY, which I've been missing sorely.
That reminds me that I watched the entirety of SO noTORIous (8 episodes) and that was not really worth my time. The things I do to stoke my Quinto cravings.
Alright, yo. Time to find out what happened on the Island.
-Steph
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