One of the biggest movie events of the year is finally here. Star Trek Into Darkness is the sequel to the well received Star Trek 2009. The first film pleased both longtime fans of the series and newcomers alike. It doesn’t mean much to say that there were a lot of people looking forward to this next installment (present company included). Star Trek Into Darkness is once again directed by J.J. Abrams, written by his Lost compatriots Damon Lindelof, Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman, and stars the same ensemble cast as the first with several new additions, the most noted being Benedict Cumberbatch as the villain. After the insane amount of hype this movie has generated, one would think that this movie would fall flat in certain areas because of the high expectations that were set. I’m here to tell you that this movie delivers. Read more
Tag Archive for Anton Yelchin
Star Trek Into Darkness
Fright Night (D.A. Review)
“I may not be drunk enough for this” – Peter Vincent
Fright Night, a remake of the 80’s horror film of the same name, aspires to be a blend of Rear Window and Dracula. But the best parts of this movie are used sparingly, giving us far less Rear Window, and more tween drama.
Fright Night
Tom Holland’s original Fright Night from 1985 is a movie that I’ve always loved and, as confirmed by a recent DVD viewing, still very much do. It manages to be both fun (and more than a little campy) at the same time it presents itself as a credible, even frightening horror film. It has, even to this day, some of the best vampire (and vampire-death) effects I’ve seen in movies (achieved, not for nothing, using “simple” makeup, costumes, prosthetics, puppets, and lots of stage blood – take that, billion-dollar CGI houses!). Of course, I had the knee-jerk negative reaction to news of a remake, but the casting announcements (David Tennant! Colin Farrell! Toni Collette!) were very interesting and not only gave me hope that it could be good, but as the release date neared actually got me quite excited to see it. And after last weekend’s viewing, I can finally and wholeheartedly confirm that it wasn’t completely awful.
Terminator Salvation
The first thing I thought when I went to see this movie is “Oh, no! Its directed by McG (Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle) and the trailer was way too good for this film to live up to (remember Spider-Man 3?).” But wow, was I way off! This film fully encompasses all the greatness of the Terminator franchise (i.e. cool futuristic machinery, post apocalyptic earth, fulfillment of destiny, man vs. machine, awesome action, and a relatable character-driven story, etc.), mixed in with a little redemption story and it delivered without any filler. It is every bit as good as the trailer promised and that is saying a lot! Although the film is a sequel/prequel (yeah it’s both… kind of) it stands alone pretty well and if you’ve never seen any of the other Terminator films you can get by just fine without the prior knowledge. Of course some awesome innuendos, allusions and well placed lines will be lost on you, but you should be able to get on just fine.
