Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!: Star Trek (2009)

9/30/2019

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?

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Donald Sutherland has passed away

Born in Canada, Sutherland battled polio as a child. His first credit was in Suspense (1963, TV-series) and his first film was The Castle of the Living Dead (1964). Later credits in his remarkable career include The Saint (1965-66), The Dirty Dozen (1967), M*A*S*H (1970), Kelly's Heroes (1970), Klute (1971), Don't Look Now (1973), 1900 (1976), Casanova (1976), The Eagle Has Landed (1976), Ordinary People (1980), A Dry White Season (1989), JFK (1991), Outbreak (1995), Fallen (1998), Virus (1999), Fierce People (2005), Pride & Prejudice (2005), Lord of War (2005), The Hunger Games (2012), The Undoing (2020, miniseries) and many more. He passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Roger Corman has passed away

Born in Detroit, Michigan, Corman had a sprawling, intellectually hungry life as a youth and young man before arriving with his first film in 1955, Five Guns West. He would follow that with titles such as Apache Woman, It Conquered the World, Attack of the Crab Monsters, Teenage Cave Man, A Bucket of Blood, House of Usher, The Little Shop of Horrors, The Pit and the Pendulum, The Intruder, The Raven, The Terror, The Masque of Red Death, The Tomb of Ligeia, The Wild Angels, The Trip, Bloody Mama and many more. As a producer he was behind almost 500 films. Arguably among the most important filmmakers of the 20th century, Corman passed away at age 98. R.I.P.

William Friedkin has died

Born in Chicago, Friedkin accrued TV credits prior to his advance to the big screen as the director of Good TImes (1967), The Birthday Party (1968), The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968) and The Boys in the Band (1970) before his major breakthrough, The French Connection (1971), for which he won his only Oscar. He followed it up with the even bigger smash, The Exorcist (1973), arguably the best horror film of all time, for which he was Oscar-nominated. Later credits include Sorcerer (1977), Cruising (1980), To Live and Die in L.A. (1985), Rampage (1987), Rules of Engagement (2000), Killer Joe (2011) and The Devil and Father Amorth (2017, documentary). Friedkin passed away at age 87. R.I.P.

Louise Fletcher has passed away

Born in Alabama to deaf parents, Fletcher got her first credits in late-1950s TV-series.She took a 10 year-long sabbatical to devote her time to motherhood after the release of A Gathering of Eagles, but then came back and soon saw her career's most important part, as Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), for which she won her sole Oscar. Later credits include Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), The Lucky Star (1980), Brainstorm (1983), Two Moon Junction (1988), Cruel Intentions (1999), A Perfect Man (2013) and many more. Fletcher passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Jean-Luc Godard has passed away

Born in Paris, France, Godard lived much of his life in Switzerland. He wrote for French film criticism magazine Cahiers du Cinema and became foundational for the New French Wave that inspired new waves in scores of other countries across the world with his Breathless (1960). Later credits include A Woman Is A Woman (1961), Vivre Sa Vie (1962), Le Petit Soldat (1962), Contempt (1963), Alphaville (1965), Pierrot le Fou (1965), 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her (1967), Weekend (1967), Every Man for Himself (1980), King Lear (1987), Century of Cinema (1995, documentary), Goodbye to Language (2014) and many more. Godard died of assisted suicide at age 91. R.I.P.

Wolfgang Petersen has died

James Caan has died

Caan was born the son of Jewish immigrants from Germany in New York. He got his start on TV in the early 1960s. His credits include El Dorado (1966), The Rain People (1969), Brian's Song (1971, TV movie), The Godfather (1972), - for which he earned his only Oscar nomination, - Slither (1973), The Gambler (1974), Funny Lady (1975), Rollerball (1975), Silent Movie (1976), Hide in Plain Sight (1980), - the only film he also directed, - Thief (1981), Misery (1990), Honeymoon in Vegas (1992), Bottle Rocket (1996), Eraser (1996), Dogville (2003), Elf (2003), Las Vegas (2003-07), Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009) and many more. Caan passed away at age 82. R.I.P.

Jean-Louis Trintignant has died

Born in Vaucluse, France, Trintignant's theatrical debut as an actor was in If All the Guys in the World... (1955). Later credits include ...And God Created Woman (1956), The Seven Deadly Sins (1961), Inferno (1964), A Man and A Woman (1966), My Love, My Love (1967), A Man to Kill (1967), The Great Silence (1968), Z (1969), The Assassination (1972), Three Colors: Red (1994), Amour (2012), Happy End (2017) and many more. He also wrote and directed two films in the 1970s. Trintignant passed away at age 91. R.I.P.

Ray Liotta has died

Adopted from an orphenage at a young age, Liotta got hooked on acting in high school. He had various TV credits in the late 1970s and early 80s, with his film debut in The Lonely Lady (1983). Later credits include Something Wild (1986), Field of Dreams (1989), Goodfellas (1990), Cop Land (1997), Hannibal (2001), Blow (2001), Narc (2002), John Q (2002), Identity (2003), Observe and Report (2009), Youth in Revolt (2009), The Details (2011), Killing THem Softly (2012), The Place Beyond the Pines (2012), Shades of Blue (2016-18), The Simpsons (2018, TV-series), Marriage Story (2019), The Many Saints of Newark (2021), Black Bird (2022, TV-series) and many more. Liotta passed away at age 67 in his sleep while on production in the Dominican Republic. R.I.P.

Philip Baker Hall has died

Born in Ohio, Hall didn't start acting until he was 30. His long list of credits include Zabriskie Point (1970), Miami Vice (1987, TV-series), Midnight Run (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Cheers (1993, TV-series), Hard Eight (1996), The Rock (1996), Air Force One (1997), Boogie Nights (1997), Seinfeld (1991-98), Rush Hour (1998), The Insider (1999), Magnolia (1999), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), Bruce Almighty (2003), Dogville (2003), The Zodiac (2005), Zodiac (2007), Curb Your Enthusiasm (2004-09), Mr. Popper's Penguins (2011), Modern Family (2011-12) and many more. Hall passed away at age 90. R.I.P.

Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!

Eagerly anticipating this week ... (17-24)

9/30/2019

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

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Eagerly anticipating this week ... (16-24)

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