Claire's blog

VIDEO: MOVIES: REVIEW: Star Trek 12: Into Darkness (2013)

Claire: 4/5 stars, 8/10.
Carolyn: 4/5 stars, 7.6/10.
Radha: 3/5 stars, 6/10.
Jsun: 3/5 stars. “I wasn’t fond of the ending, but it was an okay popcorn flick. GI Joe was much more entertaining.”
Native ratings: 4.1/5 stars Netflix, 7.9/10 IMDB.

We watched this in 3-D with a Radha, TwoBeans, and Evan.  A few more people who were supposed to show up didn’t.

Anyway, I feel like it’s pointless to talk about a movie as popular as this. I didn’t really love it, and maybe that was just my mood, but it was a damn good production. It could be considered a bit predictable at times.  The levity that keeps it light-hearted helps keep the viewer from taking it too seriously. I think that might be what ultimately bothered me. Still really liked it, though!
Directed by J.J. Abrams (Star Trek 11, Super 8, Mission Impossible 3, 2 eps of Lost, 1 ep of The Office).

Written by Roberto Orci (Transformers movies, Mission Impossible 3, 15 eps of Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, 1 ep of Xena: Warrior Princess), Alex Kurtzman (Transformers movies, Mission Impossible 3, 16 eps of Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, 1 ep of Xena: Warrior Princess), & Damon Lindelof (Prometheus, Wolverine Vs. Hulk, 117 eps of Lost, 1 ep of Avatar The Last Airbender).

Chris Pine (Rise Of The Guardians, 1 ep of Six Feet Under) as Kirk.
Zachary Quinto (Sylar from Heroes, What’s Your Number?, 23 eps of 24, 1 ep of Six Feet Under) as Spock.
Zoe Saldana (Avatar, Death At A Funeral, Pirates Of The Caribbean 1) as Uhura.
Karl Urban (Judge Dredd in Dredd, Red, The Bourne Supremacy, The Chronicles Of Riddick, Lord Of The Rings 2-3, 12 eps of Xena: Warrior Princess, 2 eps of Hercules: The Legendary Journeys) as Bones.
Simon Pegg as Scotty.
John Cho (Harold from the Harold & Kumar movies, Sulu in the new Star Trek movies, American Pie movies, Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist, Total Recall remake, Smiley Face, Identity Theft, 4 eps of American Dad, Total Recall) as Sulu.
Leonard Nimoy as Spock Prime.
Benedict Cumberbatch (The Hobbit movies, 1 ep of The Simpsons) as Khan.
Anton Yelchin (Clumsy Smurf in The Smurfs movies, Terminator Salvation, Odd Thomas in Odd Thomas, 1 ep of Curb Your Enthusiasm, 1 ep of The Life & Times Of Tim) as Chekov.
Bruce Greenwood (Batman in Young Justice, And Now A Word From Our Sponsor, Batman in Batman: Under The Red Hood, President in National Treasure: Book Of Secrets, I Robot) as Pike.
Peter Weller (Batman in Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Naked Lunch, Buckaroo Banzai in The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across The 8th Dimension, 11 eps of 24, 8 eps of Dexter) as Marcus.
Alice Eve (Men In Black 3, She’s Out Of My League) as Carol.
Noel Clarke (Saving Santa, 15 eps of Doctor Who) as Thomas Harewood.
Nazneen Contractor (24 eps of 24) as Rima Harewood.
Amanda Foreman (Hannity in Star Trek 11, Inland Empire, Sliver, 1 ep of Six Feet Under) as Ensign Brackett.
Deep Roy (Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen, Corpse Bride, Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Big Fish, Dr. Who, The NeverEnding Story, The Dark Crystal, The Pink Panther Strikes Again, 3 eps of Eastbound & Down) as Keenser.
Chris Hemsworth (Thor in The Avengers and Thor movies, Snow White And The Huntsman, The Cabin In The Woods ) as George Kirk.
Scott Lawrence (The Social Network, Avatar, Cloverfield, Star Trek 11, 2 eps of 24, Darth Vader in a bunch of Star Wars video games) as U.S.S. Vengeance Officer.
Kevin Michael Richardson as additional voices.
Bill Hader as additional voices.

LINK URL: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1408101/combined

VIDEO: MOVIES: REVIEW: Don Jon (2013)

Claire: 3/5 stars, 6/10.
Carolyn: 3/5 stars, 7/10.
Native ratings: 3.5/5 stars Netflix, /10 IMDB.

This was more light-hearted than Gridlock’d, which we watched on the same night. Both movies are about recovering from various kinds of addition in situations that are occasionally comedic. In this movie’s case, it was porn, and not heroin.  In the middle of the movie, we both thought “I wonder how Spencer Rice[Spenny from Kenny Vs. Spenny]’s movie “Confessions Of A Porn Addict” would compare to this?” within 3 seconds of each other.  I guess we need to watch that one soon as well, to compare to this one.

This movie is also notable for being the writing/directing debut of now-superstar Joseph Gordon-Levitt.  And for having Scarlett Johansson finally look as good to me as everyone says she looks.  Actually, Scarlett Johansson never looked so good, and Julianne Moore never looked so bad (don’t get me wrong; she’s still fantastic, just notably older-looking in this movie).

But anyway, if you want to see Tommy from 3rd Rock From The Sun talking like someone from Jersey Shore and masturbating to porn constantly–this is your movie. Haha. No, it’s not really as bad as that makes it sound. It’s sort of a coming-to-age story about Gordon-Levitt finally getting in touch with what sex can really mean to a person. The movie is sex-positive, but the masturbatory judgment still seemed a bit sex-negative. The movie seemed to grow less unique as it progressed, which is a failing. The conclusion was still good, but by the end of the movie, it did not reach as unique of a destination as I had hoped for. I’m hoping for something better from Gordon-Levitt next time.
Starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Tommy from 3rd Rock From The Sun, Looper, Inception, The Dark Knight Rises, Mysterious Skin, 10 Things I Hate About You) as Jon.
Scarlett Johansson (Black Widow in The Avengers movies, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, Lost In Translation, 6 eps of Robot Chicken) as Barbara.
Julianne Moore (Silence Of The Lambs movies, The Big Lebowski, Boogie Nights, Crazy Stupid Love, Magnolia, The Fugitive) as Esther. “DON’T CALL ME LADY!”
Tony Danza as Jon Sr..
Glenne Headly (Dick Tracy, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels) as Angela, Jon’s mother.
Brie Larson (Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World, 1 ep of NTSF:SD:SUV) as Monica, Jon’s sister.
Rob Brown (The Dark Knight Rises, Live!) as Bobby, John’s friend.
Jeremy Luke as Danny, Jon’s other friend.
Italia Ricci (American Pie Presents Beta House) as Gina.
Lindsey Broad (12 eps of The Office) as Lauren.

LINK URL: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2229499/combined

VIDEO: MOVIES: REVIEW: Byzantium (2012)

Claire: 3/5 stars, 6.6/10.
Carolyn: 3.4/5 stars, 7/10.
Native ratings: 3.2/5 stars Netflix, 6.5/10 IMDB.

Claire’s thoughts: A “vampire movie”, but the vampirism was less overt than in most vampire movies.  I’m kinda disappointed, actually. Like, they didn’t really fully explore the idea of what would happen if people believed her. I felt like the movie built up a lot, without having a payoff worthy of the build-up.  While the flashback scenes did help demonstrate how the past shaped the present, for the most part it was a lot of screen time away from the “now” plot. I think they should have just done the past at the beginning of the movie and been more straightforward. The repeated-flashbacks gimmick just didn’t pay off for me, and really detracted from the whole movie.

Still interesting. And Saoirse Ronan is great, and getting greater. But ultimately this was a very calm and slow vampire movie. Not my favorite pace.

Carolyn’s thoughts:  This seemed like a generic vampire movie that didn’t have that much going for it, and it was somewhat predictable.  It became ever so slightly more interesting near the end when there was a bit more action, but then it petered out again and was just like “Yep.”

Directed by Neil Jordan (Interview With The Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles, The Crying Game).
Written by Moira Buffini.

Starring Saoirse Ronan (The Host, Hanna from Hanna, the voice of Arriety in The Secret World of Arrietty, Violet & Daisy) as Eleanor.
Gemma Arterton (Prince Of Persia: The Sands Of Time, St. Trinian’s, The Boat That Rocked, Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters) as Clara.
Caleb Landry Jones (Antiviral, Banshee in X-Men: First Class, boy on bike in No Country For Old Men, fraternity guy in The Social Network, 2 eps of Breaking Bad) as Frank.
Daniel Mays (Mr. Nobody) as Noel, the hotel owner.
Barry Cassin (The Count Of Monte Cristo) as Robert Fowlds.
Sam Riley as Darvell.
Warren Brown (The Dark Knight Rises, Dead Set) as Gareth.
Thure Lindhardt (Angels & Demons) as Werner.
Uri Gavriel (The Dark Knight Rises) as Savella.
Jonny Lee Miller (Dark Shadows, Aeon Flux, 8 eps of Dexter) as Ruthven.

LINK URL: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1531901/combined