Star Trek (2009) - Abrams' imperfect but awesome reboot

♥♥♥

+ Best Science Fiction Movie of the Year

Allowing sneak peaks out to the infinity of space, the over-sized, excited letters of J.J. Abrams' Star Trek seem fitting on this simple, great poster

Star Fleet Captain James Kirk's father dies to save his pregnant wife. Kirk grows up to become a rebel who carries his feelings on his sleeve. Now he has to unify his talents with half-human/half-Vulcan rational brain Mr. Spock to save the universe from a madman with red matter and direction towards Earth.

Star Trek is written by Alex Kurtzman (The Island (2005)) and Roberto Orci (Hawaii Five-O (2010-19)) and directed by great New-Yorker filmmaker J.J. Abrams (Mission: Impossible III (2006)). It is a prequel reboot of the Star Trek film franchise, its 11th film, based on the original Star Trek TV-series (1966-69).
I was not a Star Trek fan when this came out, (I later have watched most of the original series and come to love its equal parts idealistic, ambitious sci-fi and campy 1960s silliness), and I found Zachary Quinto's (Margin Call (2011)) Spock to be involuntarily comedic throughout. I also fail to see any reason why Zoe Saldana's (The Skeptic (2009)) Uhura should fall for him as she does.
The scenes of Kirk and Spock as boys in the beginning of the film don't work: Kirk is a brat, who wrecks a beautiful car; and Spock is a king of nerds.
But when the Enterprise (Star Trek's central spaceship) finally gets into space, the film captures me.
Eric Bana (The Other Boleyn Girl (2008)) is unrecognizable as the nefarious Nero, and Abrams and cinematographer David Mindel's (Enemy of the State (1998)) use of lens flares get the best of them. But Chris Pine (Just My Luck (2006)) is surprisingly good as adult Kirk; the effects are terrific, and Michael Giacchino's (This Is Where I Leave You (2014)) score is especially grand and great. Simon Pegg (Diary of the Dead (2007)) is a joy to have here as Scotty, and although his Russian accent is somewhat jarring to me, Anton Yelchin (Charlie Bartlett (2007)) as the starship's Russian cadre Chekov is also neat to have in the ensemble. Pivotally, the fascinating endlessness of space is communicated in the worthwhile Star Trek.

Related posts:


J.J. Abrams: 2015 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2015 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2015 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]  
2015 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess
Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015) - Abrams scores big time, makes beautiful space opera blockbuster
Star Trek Into Darkness (2013) or, Star Trek It Before You Wreck It
Super 8 (2011) - Abrams' nostalgic family crowdpleaser

2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]
2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III] 
Cloverfield (2008) or, It Tore Her Head Off! (co-producer)   
Star Trek franchise: Star Trek Beyond (2016) - Lin's adventurous, foundation-honoring entry

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 150 mil. $
Box office: 385.6 mil. $
= Box office success (returned 2.57 times its cost)
[Star Trek premiered 6 April (Austin, Texas) and runs 127 minutes. Paramount chief Gail Berman convinced CBS to allow them to make a new Star Trek film in 2005. Shooting took place in Vermont, Utah, Alaska and in California, including Los Angeles, from November 2007 - March 2008. A 2008 Christmas release was pushed out to summer 2009 as the dailies impressed Paramount execs. The film opened #1 to a 75.2 mil. $ first weekend in North America, the biggest Star Trek movie launch - also adjusted for inflation - ever. It spent another 4 weeks in the top 5 (#2-#3-#5-#5) and grossed 257.7 mil. $ (66.8 % of the total gross), becoming the year's 7th highest-grossing film in North America. The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 35.3 mil. $ (9.2 %) and Germany with 12.7 mil. $ (3.3 %). The film was nominated for 4 Oscars, winning for Best Makeup. It lost Sound Mixing and Sound Editing to The Hurt Locker and Best Visual Effects to Avatar. It became the first Star Trek movie to win an Oscar. It was also nominated for 2 BAFTAs, a Grammy, won a National Board of Review award and several other honors. Roger Ebert gave it a 2½/4 star review, equal in rating to this one. The rebooted franchise continued with Star Trek Into Darkness (2013, also by Abrams) and Star Trek Beyond (2016). A fourth film in the new saga was projected but shelved after disappointing B.O. performance of Beyond; Quentin Tarantino has written an R-rated Star Trek script that he wishes to film, but its fruition is highly doubtful. Abrams returned with a video game, a TV movie and a TV-series pilot before his next theatrical feature Super 8 (2011). Pine returned in Carriers (2009); Quinto in 5 short, video game and TV-series credits before his return to big screens in Margin Call (2011). Star Trek is certified fresh at 94 % with a 8.13/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Star Trek?

War for the Planet of the Apes (2017) - Reeves and Co. astonish with truly spectacular film that finishes the Ape circle

♥♥♥♥♥♥

+ Best Sci-Fi Movie of the Year

Without giving much away, this poster for Matt Reeves' War for the Planet of the Apes indicates the seriousness that marks the film

War for the Planet of the Apes is the 9th movie in the Apes franchise, following the 5 in the original series (1968-73), Tim Burton's unsuccessful reboot of the original film, Planet of the Apes (2001) and the two previous entries in the new 'trilogy', (which may not be a trilogy because more chapters could manifest depending on the performance of War), Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011) and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. It is written by Mark Bomback (Live Free or Die Hard (2007)) and New-Yorker master co-writer/director Matt Reeves (Cloverfield (2008)), who also directed the previous film, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes.

When ape leader Caesar's wife and oldest son are killed by an evil human colonel and his forces, he leaves his group on a quest for revenge that takes huge tolls and teaches him more about himself and the colonel.

It seems just plain unlikely that War is as good as it is. Following the somewhat disappointing Rise of the Planet of the Apes, I missed Dawn and have yet to watch it. War for the Planet of the Apes is the only Apes sequel or reboot to reach the height of the very first film, which broke new grounds for science fiction in terms of scope and technical elements (effects, costumes, makeup and prosthetics) and showed its possibilities with a thought-provoking - and much copied - story of humans, exploration and apes with deeper, underlying, very timely themes of racism, segregation, democracy, science, religion and man-created (nuclear) doom.
In War for the Planet of the Apes, we meet a perverted, militarized, fascism-resembling army gathered around a colonel who has sacrificed his own humanity in a quest to save the human species. - The type of wrong decision that makes a leader dangerous. Elements of the story are as universal as they are thematically timeless: War and destruction; fight for survival against the stranger, the other kind or race and its progeny vs. peaceful co-existence and a respect for earth and the universe and the sufferings and losses of others.
The powerful narrative is told in a cinematography (by Michael Seresin (Foxes (1980))) with a delicious kind of texture and depth to it, combined with a sound universe and with a great, grand score (by Michael Giacchino (Star Trek Into Darkness (2013))) that seem to have a direct line to the original classic film. War doesn't have a single showy camera tracking or an unnecessary cut; it is fixed, most of the time, on the faces of the apes and humans involved in the scene, and its relaxed pace feels assured in the strength of these faces, lines spoken and the underlying narrative. There is something a bit old-fashioned about this, but in the best way possible: It takes its time to tell its compelling story in its own pace, and again and again scenes astonish and show real depth that would have been lost with any other, faster, flashier, more 'current' approach.
Of course a primary part of the spectacle that this huge film also contains lies in these very faces, especially in the faces of the apes, which in War actually seem to have more humanity and relatable emotion to them than the faces of the humans, who are for the most part unwise brutes. It is impossible to overstate the brilliance of the visual effects accomplishments in War for the Planet of the Apes, especially in creating the faces of the ape characters, which are modeled using acting performances from a talented cast. It is inevitably impossible to ascertain for an outsider, just how much of the greatly affecting performance onscreen is thanks to the actor involved and how much to the team of visual effects wizards who crafted the ape, but Andy Serkis (Wild Bill (2011)), who has made it into his personal specialty to give life to later animated characters in this way, (he was Gollum, King Kong and Captain Haddock, among others), is certainly deeply felt in his truly great lead performance as Caesar, a portrayal that is as dramatic as they come, simply, and deserves great recognition. The other ape performances that go over and beyond what I have ever seen before and truly touch audiences include Steve Zahn (A Perfect Getaway (2009)) as Bad Ape, Judy Greer (Californication (2007-12)) as Cornelia and especially Karin Konoval (The Quality of Life (2008), TV movie) as Maurice. War also has a terrific child performance from Amiah Miller (Lights Out (2016)) as Nova and Woody Harrelson (Play It to the Bone (1999)) a magnetic lump of muscle and mean determination as the Colonel, a character with clear linkage to Marlon Brando's Colonel Kurtz character in Apocalypse Now (1979).
For those familiar with the original film, War ties neat strings that lead up to the universe that meets Charlton Heston's astronaut Taylor in the first film, which must be some 20-25 years after the events of this film.
War for the Planet of the Apes is a rare science-fiction film that is both compelling, breathtaking, deeply moving and meaningful. Furthermore, you are guaranteed to regret it, if you miss seeing this in a cinema, so make sure that you don't!

Related posts:

The Apes franchise: Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011) or, Ape 3.1: Mad Apes!
Battle for the Planet of the Apes (1973) or, The Final Ape!  
Conquest of the Planet of the Apes (1972) or, The Ape Uprising   
Escape from the Planet of the Apes (1971) - The enjoyable if farfetched second Apes sequel
Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970) - Decent follow-up to the SF milestone  
Matt Reeves: Top 10: Best franchise movies

2017 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2017 in films - according to Film Excess
Cloverfield (2008) or, It Tore Her Head Off!

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 150 mil. $
Box office: 186.4 mil. $ and counting
= Too early to say
[War for the Planet of the Apes premiered 11 July (UK and Ireland) and runs 140 minutes. Bomback and Reeves were given a longer period to write the script for War than they had been given for Dawn, and they saw and were inspired by countless classic movies, including all the Apes films, Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back, Ben-Hur, The Ten Commandments, Bridge on the River Kwai, The Great Escape, The Outlaw Josey Wales, Apocalypse Now and others. Shooting took place in British Columbia, Canada, including Vancouver, from October 2015 - March 2016. The film opened #1 to a 56.2 mil. $ first weekend in North America, significantly lower than Dawn's 72.6 mil. $ debut, and took a sharp 62.9 % drop in its second week, dropping to #4. The film has yet to open in several major markets, including Germany, France, Japan and South Korea, but it has not gotten a Chinese release, a major problem for such an expensive film, which is suffering an underwhelming performance in North America. Reeves and Bomback are already booked to write and direct The Batman, starring Ben Affleck, Jeremy Irons, J.K. Simmons and Joe Manganiello, which should shoot in spring 2018. War for the Planet of the Apes is certified fresh at 94 % with an 8.1/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of War for the Planet of the Apes?

Inside Out (2015) - The must-see movie masterpiece of the year

♥♥♥♥♥♥

+ Best Movie of the Year
+ Best American Movie of the Year
+ Best Family Movie of the Year

The five core emotion characters on the poster for Pete Doctor and Ronaldo Del Carmen's Inside Out

Inside Out is the big Pixar event of the year and a film that's gonna go down as one of the greatest animation films of all time, I predict. It is a must-see, a masterpiece and maybe the year's best film.

Riley Andersen is an 11 year-old girl, whose life in Minnesota has been mostly happy up until now, as her parents have decided to move the family to San Francisco. Inside Out looks at how the girl's emotions react to the dramatic changes in her life.

The ingenious and very careful design of the representations of people's inner lives that are a major part of this film have been described as so thought-provoking and poignant that the film doesn't really need its story, meaning the story of moving in Riley's external world. I couldn't disagree more, as I think the external story makes the inner life more actively insightful, - and vice versa, - whereas an exclusive focusing on the inner life could have been more stillborn in contrast. The very relatable story of Riley's problems in adapting to a new environment and leaving her familiar one behind propels Inside Out forward. SPOILER The resolution inside the girl is ultimately more reliant on ploys of adventure and fantasy, but it also conveys a strong and true message about the importance of sadness and letting a variety of emotions be expressed, which touched everyone I saw the movie with on a deep level; (I was sure because of the noticeably loud sobs and sniffling.)
Inside Out is not only extremely funny and touching; its animation and character designs are overpoweringly strong and beautiful; Michael Giacchino (Star Trek Into Darkness (2013)) has made a great score, and the sound universe is fabulous. 
Inside Out is almost too good. - How will anyone ever be able to make anything to equal this, I pondered after finally coming out on the other side of the film's magic. Inside Out is human and profound. Smaller kids won't grasp it all, but I still think it is recommendable to people of all ages and outlooks. It is the kind of rare film that I genuinely believe betters the world.

Inside Out also has the benefit of a top-notch voice cast of which I'll single out Amy Poehler (They Came Together (2014)) as Joy, Phyllis Smith (The Office (2005-13)) as Sadness, and in particular Richard Kind (A Serious Man (2009)) as Bing Bong, a kind of fantasy imaginary creature who, with the talent and expertise of the Pixar character animators and Kind's outstanding voicing, grabs audiences hearts in very little time. Truly amazing.
Screenwriters Meg LaFauve (Captain Marvel (2018)), Josh Cooley (Up (2009), voice actor) and writer-directors Pete Doctor (Up) and Ronaldo Del Carmen (Freakazoid! (1995-96)) have layered the story with all kinds of meanings and evocative, innovative concepts. It marks Del Carmen's first feature directorial work and Doctor's best to date. The film had a long and difficult development, which can be read about here.
The short film before Inside Out is James Ford Murphy's Lava (2014), a gorgeously animated, musical love story of volcanoes in the Pacific Ocean. In itself a moving work of art.

Related posts:

2015 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]
2015 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III] 
2015 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2015 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

Watch a great trailer for the film here

Cost: 175 mil. $
Box office: 702.5 mil. $ (and counting)
= Big hit
[Inside Out was a majorly anticipated film; its unique story grabbed people's attention and imagination everywhere. It opened to a stunning 90.4 mil. $ first weekend in North America, #2 behind Jurassic World (with 106.6 mil. $), but still Pixar's second biggest opening of all time (behind Toy Story 3 (2010)) and the biggest opening ever for an original movie, animated or otherwise, (original meaning not a sequel, spin-off, remake or an adaptation), in this capacity even beating Avatar (2009)! Inside Out went on to gross 344.5 mil. $ (49 % of the total gross) in North America. And there seems to be no possibility at all that it won't win the Best Animation Oscar (at least!) at the next Oscars, (in my mind.)]

What do you think of Inside Out?

Super 8 (2011) - Abrams' nostalgic family crowdpleaser

♥♥♥♥

The topsy-turvy poster for J. J. Abrams' Super 8

QUICK REVIEW:

A group of prepubescent kids are filming their Super 8 zombie movie in their hometown, as a freight train crashes and mysterious events follow.

Super 8 is an excellent film from great writer-director J. J. Abrams (Star Trek Into Darkness (2013)). - Particularly for big kids and teens.
The kids in the cast are sweet and act fine, in particular the lead Joel Courtney (Tom Sawyer & Huckleberry Finn (2014)) and Elle Fanning (Somewhere (2010)), and Kyle Chandler (Argo (2012)) is also good as the Deputy Sheriff, whose face can fold in grief so impressively.
Super 8 starts really well and amusingly with the micro-film production, (which was Abrams' one idea for it, the other being the alien monster movie). SPOILER We aren't allowed to see the alien monster, until we suddenly are, and then the experience is a little flat.
Super 8 is a good film, obviously keen on striking chords set by earlier Steven Spielberg (E. T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)) movies, which it does, without revolutionizing or transcending its sources of inspiration though. Spielberg was also one of Super 8's three producers.

Related reviews:

J. J. Abrams: Star Trek Into Darkness (2013) or, Star Trek It Before You Wreck It
Cloverfield (2008) or, It Tore Her Head Off! (producer)

Watch the trailer for the movie here

Cost: 50 mil. $
Box office: 260.1 mil. $
= Huge hit
[Super 8 opened #1 in North America with a 35.4 mil. $ first weekend, grossing 127 mil. $ (49 % of the total gross) there after a successful viral marketing campaign, similar to the one that made Cloverfield (2008) a huge hit. Super 8 drew good reviews and big crowds in many countries.]

What do you think of Super 8?