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!

Kick-Ass

Dave Lizewski (Aaron Johnson) is a nobody in his school. He's the geek that hangs out at the comic book store. He's the weirdo that decided to become a superhero, Kick-Ass, overnight. Unfortunately, he doesn't have superpowers and he ends up in a hospital, stabbed and hit by a car. He gets fixed with metal-reinforced bones and a damaged nervous system that makes him almost invincible...and his ego a bit inflated. Kick-Ass meets Hit Girl (Chloë Grace Moretz) when she kills Frank D'Amico's gangsters when they were getting ready to beat up Kick-Ass. Hit Girl's father, Big Daddy (Nicolas Cage), wants to bring Frank D'Amico (Mark Strong) down because he framed Big Daddy as a drug dealer (back in the day when he was a cop). D'Amico thinks that Kick-Ass killed his men and goes after him. Kick-Ass meets Red Mist (Christopher Mintz-Plasse), another amateur superhero, and they team up. Little does he know, Red Mist is D'Amico's son and has ulterior motives to their friendship. 

Kick-Ass Team

What's that about child profanity and violence? Oh that's right...it's awesome. It's a fictional movie and rated R, so little kids wouldn't be running around swinging butterfly knives in the playground (unless their parents are idiots and let them watch Kick-Ass). Kick-Ass was very entertaining with a great soundtrack to match. The comedy kept the more grim scenes in balance, and it got me laughing a few times. The  choreography was fresh and super cool. Honestly, Hit Girl's action scenes blew me away. Chloë was perfect as Hit Girl--a sweet girl and brilliant killer. Aaron Johnson was a lovable dork in Kick-Ass. The storyline gave enough time and thought into Dave's character development, and Aaron was able to bring comedy and seriousness together without shocking the audience with a bipolar movie. I was surprised to see Christopher Mintz-Plasse play a non-dorky role (not that there's something wrong with McLovin). Soo...movie producers: Chris is versatile! Good thing Nicholas Cage had a mask on for most of the movie; his contemplative-eyebrow-face wasn't there to distract. The ending bothered me; Kick-Ass felt like it ended too early. Maybe a little tweak here and there would have made a perfect movie (to me, at least). 

The hovercraft was disappointing. 

How to Train Your Dragon

Ok, Dreamworks is no Pixar, but this was a pretty cute movie. The storyline is a little cliché: Hiccup is expected to slay dragons to save his village from the sheep-stealing, house-burning pests. Oh, and did I mention his father is a dragon slayer beast! and the chief of the village. Hiccup's physique isn't quite right for swinging hammers around, so he relies on his engineering to capture dragons instead. Hiccup captures and befriends a Night Fury dragon and names it Toothless. He realizes that dragons aren't the vicious monsters that everyone thinks they are and uses all of the knowledge he learns about dragons to tame them during Dragon training. Actually, the dragons act very much like giant pet cats. Hiccup tells his father and saves the village, blah blah blah. Dragons and Vikings become best friends, but the ending isn't as happily-ever-after as Barbie and Kent. They really went for it, took a risk (I don't want to spoil it), and it paid off.

Love the voice acting (McLovin!), but America Ferrera's voice didn't quite fit Astrid's tough heroine character. Hiccup and Toothless stole the show with their chemistry (which seemed stronger than Astrid and Hiccups). I don't mean to be hating on Astrid, but her sudden change of heart towards dragons and Hiccup seemed unreal. How to Train Your Dragon wasn't as funny as the Shrek movies, but it got me chuckling a couple of times. It was filled with lots of video-game-type action and beautiful flying scenes that reminded me of Avatar--huge complement right there. It's a great family movie, but kids would probably complain about the ending (good luck trying to explain why happy sunshine endings just don't work sometimes).

Let the Movies Begin! Tokyo Sonata

This movie is all about secrets. No, not this kind of Secret... Tokyo Sonata shows one ordinary family that is a family by blood, but they are strangers to each other. This family spirals down out of control when the father, Ryûhei Sasaki (Teruyuki Kagawa), is fired from his office job. He decides to keep his unemployment a secret, but his wife, Megumi Sasaki (Kyôko Koizumi), eventually finds out. The secrets that Megumi keeps are well kept, but they hurt her as the pressure builds. Ryûhei's secret spreads misery to himself and his family as he detaches himself from the people around him. In order to keep his authority in the Japanese family, he objects to the accomplishments of his sons: Kenji (Inowaki Kai) wants to enroll in piano lessons and Takashi (Yû Koyanagi) wants to join the military. Each of the family members go through different adventures that make them stronger.

Tokyo Sonata was empowering. Although there isn't much action (for the first half, at least), every moment is intense. The depression and feelings of hopelessness take jabs at you when you connect with each character. The movie takes takes the time to thoroughly introduce the audience to every character and to get a good idea of what they're thinking. I thought the piano teacher wasn't developed that well, but she's just a minor character. The story is beautiful and surprisingly realistic in terms of unemployment and depression. The second half of the movie has a turn in the plot--a little strange, but it's um...interesting? strange. The open-ending was a little abrupt, but you gotta love that piano solo.