Terminator Salvation

"Terminator 2" is one of those defining films, that really has changed our expectations of what an action film should be. Of course there is action, beautiful stunning action. There are also characters that you come to care about, otherwise the action is empty, and leaves you feeling unsatisfied. The story is easy to follow and moves along at a good pace, filled with memorable dialogue and a convincing enough explination for all the action we're seeing. "Terminator Salvation" is not quite "Terminator 2", but the filmmakers had the right idea. Perhaps McG, the director was on course to destroy the franchise until there was an internet fanboy uprising. Hopefully we'll never have to know for sure. Regardless, the final product contained at least the spirit of what makes the Terminator series great. That is of course man's struggle with machine, his dependence, fear and ultimately victory over his creation. McG successfully introduces us to a new question; what if the machine and the man become inseperable? I liked this aspect of the film, and when the thrill of special effects wears off, the ideas the film delves into will stick with me. The effect were great though. Especially the human interaction with the terminators. Blowing stuff up doesn't impress me much, but having a robot pulling off Christian Bale's boot and crawling after him with only one thought on his computer chip mind, now that was some good stuff. I also liked the early scene in the helicopter which seemed to be one continuous shot in which a whole lot of stuff went down. There were some things that I didn't like. Not all the action fit the movie. Sometimes the action was so excessive and unnecessary that it jolted me out of the illusion of the film and made me remember that I was watching another action movie. Even the most over the top scenes need to progress the plot. "T2" did this amazingly, "T4" not so much. The other thing I thought was kind of strange was that I found that Christian Bale's character, John Connor, wan't all that intriguing. I understand that the film wasn't just about him, but he seemed almost to be a side character. I felt this way a little during "The Dark Knight" as well. Of course that film is about so much more than Batman. It was about friends and foes who contributed to define Batman. In "Terminator Salvation" sure there's the terminator who's struggling with living as a machine trapped in a human's body, but that thread is followed too much, leaving Connor as almost a sidekick. Perhaps I'm being a little harsh, maybe my dissapointment is that we finally get a wothy actor as Connor, and it seems to be a little wasted. Overall though I really enjoyed the film, and I especially like that I got to watch it with four of my brothers. Seeing a movie with my brothers makes any movie better.

Star Trek, Angels and Demons

What's best about Star Trek is how it presents ideas. Perhaps it's that hundreds of years from now men will be struggling with the same exact problems that makes the series ring true. Of course Star Trek as a television show had us relying more on our imagination due to budget constraints, whereas this new film seems to be limitless. This could have been a stumbling point, but I felt as though J.J. Abrams was able to keep all the human element alive while at the same time blowing me away with spectacular visuals, seemless effects and top notch action. Now I don't claim to be a huge Star Trek fan, so this next statement won't hold as much weight as it would if I were a Trekkie, but this film "Star Trek" was a great introduction to the Star Trek characters and universe. If you haven't ever watched Star Trek before, I think this film could be a fun way to discover Star Trek for the first time. Then once you've gotten past the dated costumes, effects, haircuts of the original series, you would find a rich, imaginitive, thoughtful and entertaining show with plenty of cultural influence. An added benefit is that there seems to alway be something to talk about after watching some good Star Trek.

"Angels and Demons" was kind of my way of giving Ron Howard and Tom Hanks another chance. Perhaps it was because I had recently read the book, or maybe because it was not so good, but I did not enjoy thier take on "The Da Vinci Code". The book was written pretty much as a screenplay, kind of like a movie made out of words. It wasn't a good book, but it kept my attention and had some fun parts. Of course it also crossed a pretty serious line, which if it had been any other line may not have bothered me, but well this isn't a review of that film or book, so what am I doing? Anyways, "Angels and Demons" had some baggage, but I was hoping for the best. I was peasantly surprised with the outcome overall. It was a decent film, with good acting, in a great location with plenty of atmosphere. The location made the movie. Howard did a good job of establishing that Vatican City has a rich history with plenty of skeletons in its closet. The statues, the paintings, the carpet, all contributed to create a fitting setting for what basically came down to a scavenger hunt. The weakness of the film were the technical aspects. I guess if you're going to come up with clues and riddles, they might as well be interesting instead of just having a statue pointing his/her finger to the next piece of the puzzle. Indiana Jones got to see that 'X" marks the spot. From now on it shouldn't be that easy. I did think that overall Howard handled the religious aspect of the movie rather carefully if not neutrally. The Cardinal actually seemed to be one of the strongest and most reasonable characters without quavering in his faith. Of course if I were writing for Focus on the Family I could easily find the twenty-three things that are offensive to my beliefs, but then I believe that they shouldn't play commercials at the theater, so I was offended before the film even began.

Knowing, Fast and Furious, Wolverine and Pulp Fiction

I have an Algebra final to take this coming week, but other than that I'm done with school for a while. I haven't seen as many movies, or obviously written about them for quite some time. Hopefully this will change very shortly. Let's do some catch-up and make a clarification...

"Knowing" felt like Mormon propaganda pretty much from start to finish. I don't know if it was, but it sure felt like it. If this is true, I must say that their special effects are way better than Christian special effects. What's up with that?

"Fast and Furious" was entertaining, not "The Fast and the Furious" entertaining mind you, but entertaining just the same. Jess and I got to see this movie together and what can I say, it had Vin Diesel doing the stuff we like to see him do best. So if you liked the first one, then you'll probably enjoy this one. If you thought the first one was over-the-top, poorly written, corny, shallow, mindless pop entertainment, well, you're right but it's better than a kick in the head.

"Wolverine" was a mistake. Why would the make a film about the origin of the best X-Men character first? Let's just say I'm not planning on seeing the Cyclops movie when it comes out. As far as the movie itself, I enjoyed it for what it was. It didn't have the depth of the first X-Men film, and it wasn't as interesting (mostly because so many characters were missing). Yet, as a back story I thought it was put together quite well. I liked Wolverine's relationship with his brother, and I liked the impressions that people made on him along the way. Of course there were quite a few cliche moments, and some of the supporting characters (Gambit) were just plain bad. Hopefully "Wolverine" represents the weakest of the Summer blockbusters.

And now on to the final film I wanted to talk a little about. As many of you know "Pulp Fiction" is one of my favorite films, and I use it as a measure by which I judge many other films I see. Of course this presents somewhat of a dilemma when I attempt to explain the merits of "Pulp Fiction". I realize that "Pulp Fiction" is a bad movie for many reasons. There isn't a moral character anywhere to be seen. The language is enough to peel paint off the port side of a
three-thousand ton crane barge. Violence is shrugged off as just an everyday occurrence. And other things happen on and offscreen that are better left unsaid. I think I'm doing a pretty good job of convincing myself and hopefully you just how bad this film is. So, no matter how many rated R films I've said were good, and have proclaimed to be great films, please just disregard all of that until further notice...