Today I am reviewing Star Trek: Nemesis, the final installment of the Next Generation films, directed by Stuart Baird. Returning to the decks of the Enterprise we have Patrick Stewart (X-Men 2), Jonathan Frakes, Brent Spiner (The Master of Disguise), LeVar Burton (Ali), Michael Dorn (The Santa Clause 2), Gates McFadden, and Marina Sirtis (Through the Fire). It also stars Tom Hardy (The Reckoning), Ron Perlman (Blade II), and Dina Meyer (The Movie Hero). In this film, the Enterprise find themselves being sent to the planet of Romulus at the behest of their new praetor, who promises peace. Captain Picard (Stewart) is stunned to discover that Praetor Shinzon (Hardy) is his clone! It isn't long before the crew discover that Shinzon's motives are less than admirable. A battle ensues, the Enterprise yet again the only thing standing between the praetor's warbird and the distruction of Earth.

I was a little disappointed in this film, especially after the high caliber of previous Generation films like First Contact. Yet another "brother" of Data (Spiner) is discovered, a plot point that had been beat to death in the series, while the story lacked that moral dilemma that members of the Federation always face. And why does every Star Trek movie insist opening with a terribly cheesy 'family reunion' scene? The lighthearted parts were not very, while the action sequences seemed to lack that something I have come to expect from this series. One scene in particular was downright laughable with a high speed "chase" in a dune buggy. Yes, a dune buggy. I didn't know that they even had wheeled vehicles anymore... There didn't seem to be anything new, I think that was perhaps the biggest problem with the film They were ripping off ideas from previous Star Trek films and episodes, and I found myself thinking "Boy, that's been done." All performances were well done, which shouldn't be a surprise since I imagine all the actors know these characters inside and out. Stewart brought a new element to Picard, showing something of a mean streak. I throughly enjoyed Hardy's performance as the wronged half-human Shinzon, although I can't imagine why he would sound British having grown up as a Romulan. Huh... In all, it was an entertaining film, so long as you don't think too much about the history of the series, but not something to see if you are a big fan; you'd be disappointed.


From left to right: Hardy, Frakes, Dorn and Stewart

As a film: Rating: 3 (out of 5)
As a Star Trek film: Rating: 1.5 (out of 5)

posted by Lisa at 10:11 a.m. |

 
Coming soon: the new Star Trek film!

posted by Lisa at 6:28 p.m. |

 
The movie of the day is Abraxas: Guardian of the Universe, written and directed by Damian Lee This film stars former wrestling star Jesse The Body Ventura, Sven-Ole Thorsen (The Sum of All Fears), Marjorie Bransfield (Taking Care of Business), and Francis Mitchell in his only film role. This film is about an alien policeman named Abraxas (Ventura) who travels to earth to stop a renegade officer by the name of Secundus (Thorsen). Before Abraxas apprehends him, he manages to impregnate a young woman named Sonia (Bransfield) with a potentially destructive child. Five years pass, and young Tommy (Mitchell) finds himself dealing with ridicule and the concern of his mother because he has never spoken. Secundus escapes from the planet where he has been imprisoned, and returns to Earth to claim his son. Can Abraxas stop him before his rival gets to Tommy?

Scott, if you reading this, I am going to inflict bodily harm on you for giving this movie to Anthony! Lee proves the reason why movie producers should never attempt to write or direct films. The story is kind of bizarre and attempts to rip off a few plot ideas from such films as Carrie. Luckily there is a narration, although the narrator changes frequently. The only reason to see this film is to see Ventura while he was still in his prime, not to admire his acting ability. Thorsen acts and sounds like he's trying to be Arnold in Terminator while one understands why this was Bransfield's only large role. Mitchell didn't speak for the entire film, and the only direction he seemed to have recieved was "Look like a deer caught in the headlights." He made a wise decision to forgo acting and become a stunt man. I think I commented a number of times on how awful it was while laughing incredulously.



Rating: 1 (out of 5)

posted by Lisa at 10:01 a.m. |

 
Sigh... I should change the name of this site to All the Crappy Movies I've Sat Through.

Todays film is 8 Legged Freaks, which was co-written and directed by Ellory Elkayem. Featuring David Arquette (Stealing Sinatra), Kari Wuhrer (Malevolent), Scott Terra (Daredevil), and Scarlett Johansson (Ghost World), this film is about a sleepy rural mining town that is turned upside down by a freak accident. A barrel of toxic waste falls from the back of a truck into a pond that supplies the water to a spider farm. By eating insects infected by the chemicals, the spiders begin to grow until they are larger than people. Mike Parker (Terra) is the first to discover that the spiders have mutated, but nobody believes him; he's just a kid. Chris McCormack (Arquette), who has come home to take over the mines after his father's death, comes across a spider's leg, which makes him believe Mike. It becomes a desperate battle between himself, and the Sheriff Sam Parker (Wuhrer) against the spiders that would devour them.

Okay, so it wasn't totally horrible, but only because I am horrified by spiders in general. I really hate that clicking sound that movies tend to use to indicate spiders walking. Grosses me out. There were a few times where I jumped out of my seat when a giant spider pops out but other than that, I was a little unimpressed with it. Arquette is supposed to be the star of the film, but he doesn't get anymore screen time than Wuhrer does. He may, in fact, get less. His performance was typical, albeit a little more sensitive and a little less goofy. Wuhrer did a very good job, although she was poorly cast. (I highly reccommend a film called Out of Sync, aka: Lip Service to see her in a better role.) She was supposed to be the mother of two children, one of which who didn't look much younger than her, and a tough town sheriff. She wasn't suited to portray either. Terra did a very good job as the brainy boy who knew all about spiders. I think he may be one of those child stars we see more of, whereas I wish we'd see less of Johansson. I don't know why people keep casting this young woman! She always sounds like she's a little depressed, regardless of her character, scene or even film. If you've seen her once, you've seen her a hundred times, as she always portrays every character in the same way. The script was pretty cliched, with very few surprises, but entertaining nonetheless. I wouldn't rush out and see it again, but I did laugh a few times.


Arquette and Wuhrer

Rating: 2.5 (out of 5)

posted by Lisa at 11:50 a.m. |

 
Ah yes... The movie today is Wes Craven Presents:They, directed by Robert Harmon. This film stars Laura Regan (Unbreakable), Marc Blucas (We Were Soldiers), Ethan Embry (Sweet Home Alabama), Dagmara Dominczyk (The Count of Monte Cristo), and Jon Abrahams (Meet the Parents). Julia Lund (Regan) is a psychology student, driven, about to defend her thesis, and in love with her boyfriend, Paul (Blucas). She receives a call late one night to meet her childhood friend Billy (Abrahams), who tells her that they have come back for them, and that everything that they were afraid of as children is real. That night, Julia experiences a night terror, something she hasn't had since she was a child. She meets two friends of Billy's, Terry (Dominczyk) and Sam (Embry), who also suffered night terrors as children. As the days progress, they realized that perhaps the things that go bump in the night are not just a product of their imaginations.

I can't beleive that Wes Craven put his name on this movie. It was an hour and forty minutes of nothing. The scenes were all the same, for all intents and purposes, and there was scarcely anything that could be refered to as a script. I know that all horror movies have the stupid setups in order for the horror to happen, but this wasn't even partially believable. How do four separate people, in a big city, end up in dark places all alone? Even public areas were deserted. When you can hear others in the audience saying to the screen "Just hurry up and die so I can go home!", you know that its a bad movie. I am going to chalk up the terrible performances by the cast to a non-existant script and terrible direction. I have seen all the actors in films before, with the exception of Regan, and know that they were really just guilty of making a poor employment choice in this case. They were all working with what they had, which wasn't much.

Rating: 0.5 (out of 5)



posted by Lisa at 10:03 a.m. |