Star Trek

Star Trek (2009) could convert anyone into a Trekkie. Are you up for the challenge?

James Kirk (Chris Pine) joins Starfleet to try to live up to his father, who sacrificed himself to save the people on his ship (including James and his mother). James Kirk is irresponsible and cocky, however intelligent--finding his way to trouble by hacking the space stimulation training. Spock (Zachary Quinto), the tattleteller, is a half-Vulcan-half human (which is kind of like being a mudblood). His logical Vulcan side is constantly at war with his emotional human side, but he decides to shut his emotions down to be a calculating and cool Commander. James Kirk manages to get on the Enterprise despite his violation and encounters the same Romulan ship that killed his father. Kirk's laidback and impulsive personalty clashes with Spock's, but they eventually team up to save whatever planet that needs saving...

 Run away! Run away! →→→

Although I haven't watched the original Star Trek [yet], I felt like the movie was too short to express the vastness of their universe. J.J. Abrams wanted to include so many awesome StarTimeWarpAlienKickAndLazerAndNotToMentionTheFoldingKatanaScenes that he forgot about the storyline. I guess Star Trek didn't really need a great plot because of all of the special effects...it just would have made Star Trek more cohesive (instead of sending Captain Kirk to all these weird places just so he can have some cool action scenes). 

Don't worry...these redshirts are safe.

Setting the plot aside, I really enjoyed Star Trek. The vision was there and this new world that J.J. Abrams created consumed me.Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto were great (although Zachary was a little too Sylar-creepy to me--maybe it's the ears). The Enterprise crew was perfectly cast and provided a little comic relief that lightened the mood.

Perhaps more background information on the different crew members will be revealed in the next movie (especially because of that cliffhanger ending)!

Cliffhanger! Hanging from a cliff!

Noticeable side effects: Headache, Nausia, Heartburn, Indigestion, Upset Stomach, Diarrhea. Yay! Pepto Bismo!

I had no idea why I had a headache until I watched the behind-the-scenes footage...deliberate lens flares with handheld flashlights and spastic camera shaking? You've got to be kidding me. I could have gotten a seizure.

Live Long and Prosper!

Zombieland

A funny spin on the usual I-Am-Legend-apocalypse-type movies.

Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg) is one of the few (6 to be exact) alive humans in a zombie-ridden Earth. He's heading to Coumbus, because his parents are there. Columbus joins Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson), a killing monster on a quest to find a Twinkie. They stop at a grocery store to search for Twinkies, but they find zombies and the two sisters Wichita (Emma Stone) and Little Rock (Abigail Breslin). The sisters steal their weapons and vehicles, but join the two boys when the sisters try to con them again. They decide to go to Pacific Playland because it supposedly is the only zombie-free area. And who doesn't want to ride roller coasters? It's thrilling.

Sno-balls?!? Where's the cream filling?

There's some seriously hilarious moments in Zombieland. Bill Murray?? What the heck? Bill Murray as a zombie?? What the heck? Watch any five minutes of it and I assure you'll be hit with laughs. Although specific scenes were funny, the movie as a whole was a bit lacking. I think it's because it was intended to be a TV series (which would have been awesome and better suited); the pacing and storyline was a little messy. Besides that, the acting was great (except Jesse Eisenberg was pretty much just being himself). The characters were the most unusual group to gang up and the results were very entertaining. It's also refreshing to get a different kind of apocalypse movie. The end of the world doesn't always have to be gloom and doom. 

Who you gonna call?

Knowing

What a weird movie...

50 years ago at William Dawes Elementary School, Lucindia Embry suggested to make a time capsule with letters to kids of the future. Lucindia fills her paper with numbers and is stopped before she finishes, which ends up in the hands of Caleb (in the present). Caleb starts to hear strange whisperings, but ignores it because he thinks it's just feedback from his hearing aid. Caleb's (Chandler Canterburry) alchoholic, widow, melancholy, etc etc father, John Koestler (Nicholas Cage), finds it and deciphers it. He finds out that the numbers are the date, death tolls, and coordinates of major disasters over the past fifty years. So...what happens when the numbers end? They stalk Lucinda's daughter Diana Wayland (Rose Byrne) and her daughter, who also hears whispers, to find out the rest of the numbers, but the future looks grim anyways. Will the whispering "people" save them?

Good alcoholic-widow-daddy

I wish the movie had a better direction. The trailers got me hyped up to see this mystery-thriller, but I ended up disappointed. However, with the brilliant acting from Nicholas Cage, he saved it and Knowing became the best movie in the world...

Brilliant acting--so many different emotions

Just kidding. Nicholas Cage had one face throughout the whole movie. Maybe he is just confused all the time. Maybe his eyebrows are permanently fixed upon his head like that. Whatever it is, his acting made Knowing a little stale and boring. I have got to say that end-of-the-world movies are becoming more and more unoriginal these days. Aliens? Exploding sun? Religion? Weirdo possessed girl? Check, check, check, and check. It was like the writers wanted to squish everything that makes a movie "cool" to make the ultimate movie, but like David and Goliath, less is more. The second half of this movie was surprising and unpredictable, mostly because it's completely outrageous complete with plot holes and raised eyebrows (from me and Nicholas Cage). 

Aaak! The eyebrows are contagious!