Saturday, June 22, 2013

Blockbustin' 2013

Holy crap, it's been nearly a year since I posted here. Awesome. Nice work there, Hoss. Well, I got the bug to write a bit here because over this fine and rainy Memorial Day weekend I saw both "Fast Six" and "Star Trek Into Darkness" and they were both pretty damn awesome. I also saw "Oblivion" a few weeks ago, which I really enjoyed despite of it's utter lack of original ideas.

I've written at length here about how much I tend to enjoy big, dumb Summer blockbuster movies. Last Summer was pretty wild with both "The Avengers" and "The Dark Knight Rises" making buckets of money. This summer is looking a bit more balanced in that not every single big flick is a super hero movie. There's heist movies and lots of sci-fi to go along with all the origin stories and all the intergalactic villains taking turns threatening Earth.

Before I get into some "reviews," a few thoughts after going to matinee showings at a mall theater 2 days in a row:
  • I had no idea so many people aka parents and their screaming offspring go to movies on Sunday afternoon
  • If I have to sit through the preview for "R.I.P.D" again I will literally hunt down Jeff Bridges and punch him in the face
  • Same goes for "Machete Kills" and Robert Rodriguez. Really makes me question myself for ever having liked any of his films in the first place 
  • I hate literally every single thing about the trailer for "World War Z"
  • I'm pretty game for "White House Down" despite it looking terrible. Roland Emmerich rarely steers me wrong, plus my man-crush on Channing Tatum trumps all
  • I saw the "Elysium" trailer for the first time and I got pretty, pretty stoked. I was kinda lukewarm on "District 9" but this looks very promising
  • Kinda stoked for "Man of Steel." And I don't even like Superman. Like at all. All I know is hearing Kevin Costner say, "You ARE my son" to young Clark Kent is just instant tears. Wow
  • That said, I still think "Pacific Rim" is gonna be the best movie of the summer
Okay, onto some reviewin'.

"Star Trek Into Darkness" (2013) dir. J.J. Abrams

I am not a dedicated Trek fan, although I've always enjoyed the Star Trek movies and have been known to dabble in "Star Trek: The Next Generation." It's an incredibly dense and interesting sci-fi franchise more centered on science and exploration as opposed to wars and explosions. So it was really funny when "Lost" wonderboy Abrams came along and more or less turned his version of a Star Trek movie into "Star Wars: A New Hope." It was a quality take on the whole Prodigal Son story line, lots of very emotional stakes at play, and lots of explosions and destruction. "Star Trek Into Darkness" is more of same, but with an even more pronounced connection to everyone's favorite old Star Trek movie, "Star Trek II: Wraith of Khan."

INCOMING SPOILERS, SHIELDS FULL STRENGTH

Seriously, skip this stuff because I went into the movie mostly spoiler free and I'm really glad I did.

I really love how much effort they went to in trying to conceal that this movie was more or less a sideways remake/re-imaginining of Wraith of Khan. I mean in hindsight it was pretty obvious that Cumberbatch was Khan but when he finally said his name, I couldn't help but be like "OHHHHH SHIIIIIT."

I mean, everything happens super fast in this movie so it's kind of hard to appreciate just how enjoyable everything is. The action is amazing. The scene where Kahn takes out a whole gang of Klingons was jaw-dropping. There's a lot of raw emotion on display with some pretty heavy death scenes that give the movie a bit more weight and seriousness, but there's also a good bit of humor and snappy dialogue to keep things moving. It's just a big, well-oiled machine is what I'm trying to say here.

And amidst all the big blockbuster hoopla, there are some interesting themes at play if you dig deep a little bit. The relationship between Spock and Kirk was always one of cold, rational logic versus heated emotions and a desire to break rules when needed. That relationship has been at the core of both of Abrams Star Trek movies and in this one, Spock and Kirk get to trade places in a few ways in comparison to Wraith of Khan.

I will say that my opinion of this movie would be through the roof had Kirk actually stayed dead and hadn't been revived by Khan's super blood. I really wish more action flicks would embrace the fact that it's okay to kill off a big character and have them stay dead. That's life, you know? People die and they don't come back. It gives the story real emotion and weight, and I feel like Star Trek is the kind of franchise that can handle that. Whatever, though, I'll blame Lindlehof for that part. Fuck that guy.

Fast & Furious 6 (2013) dir. Justin Lin

Of all the movie franchises out there, who the hell would have thought back in 2000 that "The Fast and The Furious," a movie obsentisively about rival street racing gangs who also steal stuff, would spawn another 5 movies over the course of the next 10+ years. Well, here we are and now there's 6 of them and the last 2 have been especially fun and awesome.

Fast 6 just gets right back to the ridiculous heist crew action from the latter half of Fast 5, with Dom and company facing off against a bizarro version of his own crew and having to deal with some sort of super hard drive security of the free world device oh who fucking cares. The Rock returns in all his glory, and so does Michelle Rodriguez as Vin's old formerly deceased girlfriend, now actually alive and with convenient amnesia. Anyways, enough boring plot stuff. Stuff explodes, cars (and humans) go flying through the air, Ludacris makes fun of Tyrese, and the world continues to spin. Overall, highly enjoyable popcorn and/or beer crushing fun. I absolutely love these movies.

So yeah, summer time fun time movies. I feel like I've already seen the two best ones of the summer but we shall see.