Jason KingStar Trek ($16.50)
May 6th 2009 20:24
Category: No Category
Star Trek ($16.50)
JASON'S THOUGHTS
Dave and I had the pleasure of attending one of my most anticipated films of the last five years last night. As a Trek fan from way back (but NOT a Trekkie) I have been walking around in a state of bliss since first hearing JJ Abrams would be taking the helm of this re-imagining.
And boy oh boy was I not disappointed - from the get go this film absorbs you in every way shape and form. I would go so far as saying that to me not only is it the best Star Trek film ever made, it is the best sci fi ever made. Add to that the fact that in one night this film equals my favourite film of all time, heaven forbid - Titanic has an equal. I thought of the possibility of me even awaridng the very first $17- rating for the film.
The night started with the entire red carpet fanfare with all the bells and whistles plus every A, B and C grade actor appearing from the woodwork - yes it even had Kerry Anne Kennerley doing her 30mins media whoring of the red carpet. I think we have made the C grade now as the guy who does Friday Night Games on Big Brother sat a few rows in front of us, with our usual supsects for these events and interviews sitting all around us - Orble's Cibby was sitting in our same area. Yay us
We got to wait while 1600 people took their seats and after half an hour we got the speeches. JJ Abrams came on and introduced all the cast in attendance and they kept it short with a few jokes about half of them wearing the same ties. Then the lights dimmed, the simultaneous Barco Digital Projectors fired up at the same time as the booming Dolby Digital Sound system that had only been installed days before.
The opening sequence had tears in my eyes in the first 5minutes and this wasn't being caused by the lady sitting next to me who had to spray perfume every 5minutes that she received in her Who sponsored bag of goodies from the VIP area. Nothing could effect the brilliance of this film. The opening is like bait, it introduces the film, shows Kirk being born amongst one of the most heroic acts in Star Fleet history and then hooks you in for one hell of a Warp 9 ride.
The film then jumps to Kirk and Spock both as teenagers in their different worlds and then jumps again to them both as Star Fleet Academy cadets. From their the rest is history of an alternate kind where the entire crew comes together and saves the planet. I could talk about this film forever but I don't want to write any spoilers and think every single reader should do themselves the favor of seeing this film. To me this film has the same effect as watching Star Wars Ep IV for the first time or seeing Raiders of The Lost Ark for the first time as a kid. It offers the audience the reason we see films for - to be entertained. And it does it with a melding of talents that range from the most beautiful score, a cast that while not big dollar earning megastars but are actors with pure tapped talent directed by the incredible JJ Abrams who has brought us Lost, Alias, Mission Impossible 3 and Cloverfield (as producer). It also has a story that can please the most die hard Trekkies but will also more than satisfy a virgin Trek viewer and might actually make them get into the Trek of old. Sprinkle on top of all this the most spectacular visuals in any film ever made.
The cast is made of Kirk played by the uber uber hot and cocky (in typical Kirk style) Chris Pine who portrays a younger Kirk with genius, there is Spock played by Zachary Quinto who is best known as Sylar (the super evil guy) from Heroes. He is a brilliantly cast Spock and holds up against his original Leonard Nimoy who also returns for another stint in the pointy ears. Simon Pegg is Scotty, Eric Bana is the baddy... Nero, Karl Urban (Lord of The Rings and now a great New Zealander that I am surprised Australia hasn't claimed yet) is awesome and hillarious as Bones McCoy, John Cho (Harold and Kumar) is fabulous as the now more physical Hikaru Sulu and even Winona Ryder makes an appearance as Spock's mum. What is great about this story and cast is that the combo of the two humanises the characters probably more than they have ever been before.
The visuals are bright, punchy and maintained a balance between trying to minorly emulate the orginal Enterprise but bringing the ship and the crew into a more future looking world. The film has two of the most amazing writers in the business Alex Kurtzman & Roberto Orci who have the two Transformers films and Mission Impossible 3 under their belt. They have created a film with the passion of true Trekkies who want to please the entire audience. They not only offer you the complete story to entertain everyone but have strategically placed every single cool thing from the original crew that made the audience cheer every 15mins. Every famous line from the original crew gets a mention with incidents taking place from Kirk's past that will make the truest Trekkies glow with emotion.
There were people in the audience in their 60's cheering and this is the only film premiere I have ever attanded that received a full 1600 people standing ovation and 5minutes of non stop clapping and cheering. When it releases on the 7th of May I seriously recommend you run over anyone in your way on your way to the cinema. DO NOT MISS IT and I suggest watching it in DIGITAL or IMAX where available.
We also had the special privelege of interviewing JJ Abrams, Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, John Cho and Karl Urban today - these interviews will be coming out in the next week or two and lucky us - we had a film crew film two of the interviews. WOOT. Stay tuned!!!
Worth $16.50 and this film is perfection.
Morgan: My one sentence review - F'N Brilliant!!!!!
DAVE'S THOUGHTS:
J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek is a perfect film.
You could not take a second out to make it better.
Prior to seeing the film I had seen next to nothing from the franchise, never a movie, and only a handful of clips from the original series of which the film is based upon.
Saying that, I seemed to know a fair bit (from the amount of in-jokes I understood in the new film). Trek is a part of our culture, our lexicon, from the hundreds of references in film and television, from Jim Carrey in Ace Ventura parody Shatner, to Family Guy and so on, the point is I knew all the characters, and I knew so much that there were things in the film that I knew were from somewhere, only making the Trek connection in the theater.
I suppose it goes to show that Trek is inbuilt into our society. And you know of it no matter who you are.
Abrams film is so, so, so much more than just fan service though.
I knew so little about Trek until this film and I still think it is one of the best films I have ever seen. I cannot imagine what it must be like for a major Trek fan to see the film; I do have a good impression though; based on the amazing responses I have heard yesterday and today. It was the world premiere and it received a standing ovation of 6 minutes.
To imagine the experience of Star Trek is to imagine seeing Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey for the first time.
From the opening to the end you are transfixed, amazed, constantly blown away by the detail, and amazingly you are distinctly aware you are watching perfection (A masterpiece when the lights come up).
It is just glorious, it is true, brilliantly auteur realized films like this that we go to the cinema in the first place, and it is why they build them!
Abrams has created the most incredibly visual and dynamic world. Everything lives and breathes here, I literally cannot gush enough over this. The visuals in this film are some of the best I have ever seen, beautifully shot, dynamic, gorgeously framed with a painterly eye. Abrams just gets it, and the sets and cast and FX and whatnot that J.J places in front of the lens are just phenomenal also.
J.J Abrams has been referred to as a magician; and he truly has proven it.
How can one film be amazingly touching, have perfect pace, be jaw dropping, have romance, deal with complex themes and issues, be dense, scary; have amazing set pieces, astonishing visual effects, painterly expression, gorgeous cinematography, a great villain, I forgot, did I say jaw dropping visual effects?
Be touching, be reflective, to be broad, to be scientifically in depth and accurate, to being tension filled, to having living breathing extensive sets, great great, great performances, to have a rousing soundtrack, mystery and convulsion as well as an amazing sound design, visual design and also be extremely hilarious, and be a singular vision. The list just goes on and on and on.
And really that’s what that is: A list.
A list for what makes the perfect movie.
And it truly is a perfect and glorious achievement in cinema. There is no point in detailing its strong points because there are just no weak links. It is cinema perfectly used.
Please excuse the amount of hyperbole, I don’t really think hyperbole is a bad thing, I just truly feel this way about this film, it could be down to personal taste or my instinctual feelings whilst watching it, but I do not really remember the last time I actually thought that I had just watched a true masterpiece when the lights came up. And as a pretty severe critic sometimes, to actually get lost in a story and its characters and to momentarily forget I am watching a film is a great, great thing…perhaps one day when all is said and done the film will sit proudly on my shelf, but I just do not want that day to come. This is cinema…
Star Trek is why we go to cinemas in the first place.
Jason and I discussed giving this a higher rating than the maximum fare for cinema tickets. You know what, this film is truly worth your 2 hours and 14 minutes. It is truly worth the 200 million it cost to make it and much more. It’s worth whatever the theater you go to see it at charges…
I don’t think my job here is to tell you what Star Trek is worth.
I think it’s to tell you what you owe to IT.
You owe it to yourself to see Star Trek.
And perhaps in the film Spock is talking directly to us about the franchise and the power of narrative film story telling:
“Live long and prosper”.
Thank you J.J Abrams. WORTH: $16.50
Total Value of worth: A Perfect $16.50
JASON'S THOUGHTS
Dave and I had the pleasure of attending one of my most anticipated films of the last five years last night. As a Trek fan from way back (but NOT a Trekkie) I have been walking around in a state of bliss since first hearing JJ Abrams would be taking the helm of this re-imagining.
And boy oh boy was I not disappointed - from the get go this film absorbs you in every way shape and form. I would go so far as saying that to me not only is it the best Star Trek film ever made, it is the best sci fi ever made. Add to that the fact that in one night this film equals my favourite film of all time, heaven forbid - Titanic has an equal. I thought of the possibility of me even awaridng the very first $17- rating for the film.
The night started with the entire red carpet fanfare with all the bells and whistles plus every A, B and C grade actor appearing from the woodwork - yes it even had Kerry Anne Kennerley doing her 30mins media whoring of the red carpet. I think we have made the C grade now as the guy who does Friday Night Games on Big Brother sat a few rows in front of us, with our usual supsects for these events and interviews sitting all around us - Orble's Cibby was sitting in our same area. Yay us
We got to wait while 1600 people took their seats and after half an hour we got the speeches. JJ Abrams came on and introduced all the cast in attendance and they kept it short with a few jokes about half of them wearing the same ties. Then the lights dimmed, the simultaneous Barco Digital Projectors fired up at the same time as the booming Dolby Digital Sound system that had only been installed days before.
The opening sequence had tears in my eyes in the first 5minutes and this wasn't being caused by the lady sitting next to me who had to spray perfume every 5minutes that she received in her Who sponsored bag of goodies from the VIP area. Nothing could effect the brilliance of this film. The opening is like bait, it introduces the film, shows Kirk being born amongst one of the most heroic acts in Star Fleet history and then hooks you in for one hell of a Warp 9 ride.
The film then jumps to Kirk and Spock both as teenagers in their different worlds and then jumps again to them both as Star Fleet Academy cadets. From their the rest is history of an alternate kind where the entire crew comes together and saves the planet. I could talk about this film forever but I don't want to write any spoilers and think every single reader should do themselves the favor of seeing this film. To me this film has the same effect as watching Star Wars Ep IV for the first time or seeing Raiders of The Lost Ark for the first time as a kid. It offers the audience the reason we see films for - to be entertained. And it does it with a melding of talents that range from the most beautiful score, a cast that while not big dollar earning megastars but are actors with pure tapped talent directed by the incredible JJ Abrams who has brought us Lost, Alias, Mission Impossible 3 and Cloverfield (as producer). It also has a story that can please the most die hard Trekkies but will also more than satisfy a virgin Trek viewer and might actually make them get into the Trek of old. Sprinkle on top of all this the most spectacular visuals in any film ever made.
The cast is made of Kirk played by the uber uber hot and cocky (in typical Kirk style) Chris Pine who portrays a younger Kirk with genius, there is Spock played by Zachary Quinto who is best known as Sylar (the super evil guy) from Heroes. He is a brilliantly cast Spock and holds up against his original Leonard Nimoy who also returns for another stint in the pointy ears. Simon Pegg is Scotty, Eric Bana is the baddy... Nero, Karl Urban (Lord of The Rings and now a great New Zealander that I am surprised Australia hasn't claimed yet) is awesome and hillarious as Bones McCoy, John Cho (Harold and Kumar) is fabulous as the now more physical Hikaru Sulu and even Winona Ryder makes an appearance as Spock's mum. What is great about this story and cast is that the combo of the two humanises the characters probably more than they have ever been before.
The visuals are bright, punchy and maintained a balance between trying to minorly emulate the orginal Enterprise but bringing the ship and the crew into a more future looking world. The film has two of the most amazing writers in the business Alex Kurtzman & Roberto Orci who have the two Transformers films and Mission Impossible 3 under their belt. They have created a film with the passion of true Trekkies who want to please the entire audience. They not only offer you the complete story to entertain everyone but have strategically placed every single cool thing from the original crew that made the audience cheer every 15mins. Every famous line from the original crew gets a mention with incidents taking place from Kirk's past that will make the truest Trekkies glow with emotion.
There were people in the audience in their 60's cheering and this is the only film premiere I have ever attanded that received a full 1600 people standing ovation and 5minutes of non stop clapping and cheering. When it releases on the 7th of May I seriously recommend you run over anyone in your way on your way to the cinema. DO NOT MISS IT and I suggest watching it in DIGITAL or IMAX where available.
We also had the special privelege of interviewing JJ Abrams, Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, John Cho and Karl Urban today - these interviews will be coming out in the next week or two and lucky us - we had a film crew film two of the interviews. WOOT. Stay tuned!!!
Worth $16.50 and this film is perfection.
Morgan: My one sentence review - F'N Brilliant!!!!!
DAVE'S THOUGHTS:
J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek is a perfect film.
You could not take a second out to make it better.
Prior to seeing the film I had seen next to nothing from the franchise, never a movie, and only a handful of clips from the original series of which the film is based upon.
Saying that, I seemed to know a fair bit (from the amount of in-jokes I understood in the new film). Trek is a part of our culture, our lexicon, from the hundreds of references in film and television, from Jim Carrey in Ace Ventura parody Shatner, to Family Guy and so on, the point is I knew all the characters, and I knew so much that there were things in the film that I knew were from somewhere, only making the Trek connection in the theater.
I suppose it goes to show that Trek is inbuilt into our society. And you know of it no matter who you are.
Abrams film is so, so, so much more than just fan service though.
I knew so little about Trek until this film and I still think it is one of the best films I have ever seen. I cannot imagine what it must be like for a major Trek fan to see the film; I do have a good impression though; based on the amazing responses I have heard yesterday and today. It was the world premiere and it received a standing ovation of 6 minutes.
To imagine the experience of Star Trek is to imagine seeing Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey for the first time.
From the opening to the end you are transfixed, amazed, constantly blown away by the detail, and amazingly you are distinctly aware you are watching perfection (A masterpiece when the lights come up).
It is just glorious, it is true, brilliantly auteur realized films like this that we go to the cinema in the first place, and it is why they build them!
Abrams has created the most incredibly visual and dynamic world. Everything lives and breathes here, I literally cannot gush enough over this. The visuals in this film are some of the best I have ever seen, beautifully shot, dynamic, gorgeously framed with a painterly eye. Abrams just gets it, and the sets and cast and FX and whatnot that J.J places in front of the lens are just phenomenal also.
J.J Abrams has been referred to as a magician; and he truly has proven it.
How can one film be amazingly touching, have perfect pace, be jaw dropping, have romance, deal with complex themes and issues, be dense, scary; have amazing set pieces, astonishing visual effects, painterly expression, gorgeous cinematography, a great villain, I forgot, did I say jaw dropping visual effects?
Be touching, be reflective, to be broad, to be scientifically in depth and accurate, to being tension filled, to having living breathing extensive sets, great great, great performances, to have a rousing soundtrack, mystery and convulsion as well as an amazing sound design, visual design and also be extremely hilarious, and be a singular vision. The list just goes on and on and on.
And really that’s what that is: A list.
A list for what makes the perfect movie.
And it truly is a perfect and glorious achievement in cinema. There is no point in detailing its strong points because there are just no weak links. It is cinema perfectly used.
Please excuse the amount of hyperbole, I don’t really think hyperbole is a bad thing, I just truly feel this way about this film, it could be down to personal taste or my instinctual feelings whilst watching it, but I do not really remember the last time I actually thought that I had just watched a true masterpiece when the lights came up. And as a pretty severe critic sometimes, to actually get lost in a story and its characters and to momentarily forget I am watching a film is a great, great thing…perhaps one day when all is said and done the film will sit proudly on my shelf, but I just do not want that day to come. This is cinema…
Star Trek is why we go to cinemas in the first place.
Jason and I discussed giving this a higher rating than the maximum fare for cinema tickets. You know what, this film is truly worth your 2 hours and 14 minutes. It is truly worth the 200 million it cost to make it and much more. It’s worth whatever the theater you go to see it at charges…
I don’t think my job here is to tell you what Star Trek is worth.
I think it’s to tell you what you owe to IT.
You owe it to yourself to see Star Trek.
And perhaps in the film Spock is talking directly to us about the franchise and the power of narrative film story telling:
“Live long and prosper”.
Thank you J.J Abrams. WORTH: $16.50
Total Value of worth: A Perfect $16.50
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Comment by Morgan Bell
Science News
Deep Pencil
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Movie Train
wow, you are hitting the big time!
i look forward to reading these interviews!
Comment by Jason King
Sydney Table
Salty Popcorn
Total Randomness
Comment by Wilson Pon
Health 2 Know
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boxing sound
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By the way, I expected that the interview with the Star Trek 2009's actors and actresses would be another marvelous interviews, or even better than before...
Comment by Morgan Bell
Science News
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Comment by Lilla
From The Home Front
Enviro Warrior
Dream Herald
Esoteric Bookshop
As a trek fan from way back mysefl ~ having grown up with Kirk ~ like family, you can imagine my intrepidation at going to see this one, especially when (as you say) it has been done to death over the years. . . then enter Cibb and you with these glowing reviews and i am suddenly bold enough to go where I wasn*t prepared to go before. . . to the big screen to see this one first hand, along with my own next generation of trek fans (my girls).
As I said to Cib, I will be dissapointed though if Kirk doesn*t loose at least a part of his shirt in one fight scene . . although I am also aware that I may be too old to fully appreciate it in one so young nowadays, *chuckle* i am still not too old to appreciate a *wild boy* and that, Kirk was/is and always will be. . .
I*m suddenly looking forward to something I was dreading, how bizarre!
Thanks for the words . .
Lilla ..
Comment by Jason King
Sydney Table
Salty Popcorn
Total Randomness
Wilson - I know - it's exciting and glad to have you as not only a member of Salty Popcorn but also as one of our most regular commentors. It means a lot to know people appreciate it! The first of the reviews are up as of this afternoon - it can be found HERE
Morgan - you won't be disappointed!
Lilla - I love your use of Trek terms in your comment and I am confident that when you boldly go you will be transported back in time to something so fitting as to be considered Trek GOLD! I look forward to hearing your thoughts on this one. This is a family film with lots of action that all generations will love (it is rated M). The lady in her late 50's next to me cheered louder than me at all the cool things and I would have hugged her if she wasn't slowly asphixiating me with a hideous gaseous anomoly also known as stinky perfume.
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
Curious to know what other movies you guys rate as "perfect" ...
On a separate note, is it my computer or have you radically changed the way your blog page looks? I was overwhelmed by the largeness of the type, and felt the page looked cluttered. I preferred your original look. But hey, each to their own.
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
Comment by Matt Shea
20/20 Filmsight
Comment by Jason King
Sydney Table
Salty Popcorn
Total Randomness
As for the films I find perfect - look back through my reviews if you want. The one's with a score of $16.50 would fit that description and my post JK's Top 100 has a lot up the top of the list.
Matt - thanks heaps for the comment - what would you have shaved off? I keep thinking back and can't find anything. One thing I would have done to make it even better would be to have Nero more sinister.
Thanks heaps guys - have a great weekend!
Comment by Matt Shea
20/20 Filmsight
Comment by Euphemus