tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1867678243594042401.post6294521323699513872..comments2024-01-18T02:11:31.995-05:00Comments on GLENN GREENBERG'S GRUMBLINGS: EARLY REVIEW: STAR TREK INTO DARKNESSGlenn Greenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13080935309485100122noreply@blogger.comBlogger17125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1867678243594042401.post-34688916301991333092017-08-02T09:14:37.181-04:002017-08-02T09:14:37.181-04:00terror pictures is a bad thing for the present and...terror pictures is a bad thing for the present and future of Humankind. That terror movies are not "fines", are destruction of good life, destruction of all that significate future in peace and justicetonyonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08253501266473243514noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1867678243594042401.post-47367398981799096122014-11-23T16:49:17.279-05:002014-11-23T16:49:17.279-05:00BTW, REALLY have enjoyed reading all your and Madd...BTW, REALLY have enjoyed reading all your and Maddie's takes on the various films and TV shows... great stuff. I've been doing much the same with my nine year old. <br /><br />Given the dearth of decent programming on TV nowdays, we've been watching "The Six Million Dollar Man", "Bionic Woman", and "CHiPs" for the past couple years... After watching "The A-Team" DVD's borrowed from her uncle (which I was a big fan of back in the day, but found rather hokey and dated watching them now, but Keira found VERY entertaining-- she especially liked Mr. T as BA Baracus...) we've grown to enjoy 70's and 80's TV shows on DVD FAR more than anything currently broadcast on satellite or cable... <br /><br />Keep up the good work and I'm looking forward to more reviews from you and Maddie! <br /><br />Later! OL JR :) luke strawwalkernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1867678243594042401.post-78192472022248605052014-11-23T16:41:22.208-05:002014-11-23T16:41:22.208-05:00"ST:ID" kinda sealed the feelings I had ..."ST:ID" kinda sealed the feelings I had about "JJTrek" from the first one... It's a "comic book" style of Trek, in no way does it capture the humanity and greatness of the original, or even TNG and the subsequent series that followed them, let alone the films. <br /><br />From the opening sequence of the first "JJTrek" film, I got the distinct impression I was sitting through another comic-book type film-- even the "over grandiose superhero" music reinforced that impression. The visuals, while stunning, were done in a "dumbed down" way that really didn't appeal to me as a long-time Trekker... Main engineering looked more like a brewery than a starship. I read somewhere someone described the bridge set as looking like "an Apple store" and that's pretty much spot on. The story was similarly cavalier about crapping all over the original (destroying Vulcan-- REALLY??) and doing it in a nonsensical way (you have to hang your beam-drill from a chain thousands of miles long-- it can drill through thousands of miles of rock to a planet core but can't peirce a few dozen miles of atmosphere from a couple hundred miles up? The aforementioned "throwaway sets" of the engineering section and bridge... along with the atmospheric processor of the ship being some giant space Cuisinart fed water through a hamster maze of clear pipes through which Scotty is being flushed-- talk about 'cheap laughs' that were TOTALLY stupid!) Maybe that sort of thing is cool with the typical "mall rats" that 95% of Hollywood fare is aimed at luring into the theatre nowdays, but for the rest of us... not so much. "Into Darkness" was an even worse treatment of the subject. It was a poor rip-off of "The Wrath of Khan", pure and simple. You couldn't be more right about the atrocious miscasting of "Khan". While I'm sure the guy is a fine actor, his characterization of Khan wouldn't hold up as one of Khan's nameless henchmen... It was just awful. The mischaracterization of the main characters you mentioned is spot-on too. <br /><br />Although torn, I tried, REALLY TRIED, to like "JJTrek", to give it a chance. The first movie made up for some of the more aggregious gaffes (like the ripoff of "Thelma and Louise" with Kirk in his uncles car falling off an enormous cliff-- IN IOWA??!? o~O Anyway, the casting and their performances of the characters made up for the silly interpretation of the Trek universe. Unfortunately there was NOTHING like this to redeem "Into Darkness". <br /><br />The best *I* can say about these new Trek films is, they're a fun two-hour romp... but they CANNOT hold a candle to "classic Trek" (in whatever incarnation) because the things that made Trek REALLY appealing and memorable are notoriously missing. They're a "comic book movie" type of Trek... which to be clear, there's nothing wrong with a comic book movie per se, but if I wanted to see a superhero movie like "Captain America" or "X-Men", I'd go see that instead-- I don't want to see "Trek" done in that style... to me it just cheapens the whole thing to a forgettable Saturday afternoon movie... <br /><br />Later! OL JR :) luke strawwalkernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1867678243594042401.post-56867456210285909602013-07-22T11:47:21.620-04:002013-07-22T11:47:21.620-04:00Thank God I've not seen this movie and definit...Thank God I've not seen this movie and definitely have no plans to.<br /><br />You know, Glenn, comments like "Abrams made ST mainstream and the nerds cannot accept that the general public is in their clubhouse. Boo hoo. Abrams took a dull franchise and revived it into a fun money making machine. Get used to it children" remind me of the character of Luke in the Percy Jackson movie. That is, a bunch of spoiled kids who want everything to belong to them. I hate it when the "Me generation" gets a hold of something from my childhood and makes it "trendy."Anthony N. Emmelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14017952532295866111noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1867678243594042401.post-52399252715306289832013-06-19T10:04:24.168-04:002013-06-19T10:04:24.168-04:00"I'm slightly confused by the review. On ..."I'm slightly confused by the review. On the one hand you lambaste it for being derivative, but on the other you're complaining about the characters being different from the originals."<br /><br />Give me a break, Anonymous. I never expected or wanted the characters to be different from the originals. And I'd say the majority of the audience--whether they're longtime Star Trek fans or not--feel the same way. But I think most of the audience expects and wants to see innovation and originality when it comes to plot and story, not recycled materials from much-beloved, better-made TV episodes and movies. And that's as much of a response as you're going to get out of me on this. Don't try so hard to look for "inconsistencies" in my opinions. <br /><br /><br />"I went into this movie totally ready to hate it"<br /><br />Why'd you even bother to see it, then? Who goes to a movie that they fully expect to hate? I for one have got better things to spend my money on.<br /><br /><br /><br />"The Kirk-Spock-McCoy trinity was thrown under the bus in the first film so you can't say you liked that movie and then complain about this now."<br /><br />Just watch me.<br /><br /><br />"I hate JJ, Roberto, Alex and Damon."<br /><br />What did they do, kill your dog? You can dislike their work. You can choose not to support their work (which you don't seem willing to do, seeing as how you went to see a movie that you were "totally ready to hate"). But to HATE them? Because they created movies that you didn't like? Pretty harsh, don't you think? <br /><br />"Wrath of Kahn was a far from perfect film."<br /><br />Never said it was. But 31 years later, it's still revered as among the very best that Star Trek ever had to offer. Will people be seeing the same about INTO DARKNESS 31 years from now? Glenn Greenberghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13080935309485100122noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1867678243594042401.post-57399640005744984632013-06-11T21:29:21.853-04:002013-06-11T21:29:21.853-04:00I'm slightly confused by the review. On the on...I'm slightly confused by the review. On the one hand you lambaste it for being derivative, but on the other you're complaining about the characters being different from the originals. <br /><br />First of let me say that as a long time Star Trek fan, I was VERY unhappy when I heard that Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci and Damon Lindelof were given the reins of this movie. The first two "wrote" Transformers 2 and Prometheus was absolutely atrocious. These three guys couldn't write a logical, plot-hole-free story if their lives depended on it. Don't get me started on JJ, he's more of an accountant than a fan of sci-fi. He can see what people think is cool about something and strip it of everything else and package it in a way that appeals to the masses, while simultaneously killing anything good or original about it, i.e. its soul.<br /><br />I went into this movie totally ready to hate it, and I even did at first with the opening scene and the violation of the Prime Directive. Regardless of the indigenous population seeing the ship, they should never have been saved in the first place. Nobody really raised properly that point and this pissed me off from the get go, but by and large I liked this movie way more than the first JJ Trek movie. <br /><br />Ok, so now you know my feelings on those currently handling the franchise and I'm no fan of the 1st one and I am actually very reluctant to defend those assholes but:<br /><br />I think the Carol Marcus thing was just a nod to the old movies nothing more and I'm fine with that. I wasn't fine with the gratuitous shot of her in her undies. That was irritating. <br /><br />Kirk IS different but this Kirk's encounter with Khan is waaaay sooner in his career(before the original 5 year mission) than when Shatner's Kirk encounters him. Also Kirk's dad died prematurely in this universe so it kind of makes sense that Pine's Kirk would be different in many ways. Kirk himself told Spock in the Origial series that he was kind of boring at SF Academy.<br /><br />Same applies to this Spock vs Original Spock, seeing your home-world destroyed and failing to save your mother will change you. Him being more emotional could easily be explained by the fact that since his mother's loss he's embracing his human half more...or something..<br /><br />The Kirk-Spock-McCoy trinity was thrown under the bus in the first film so you can't say you liked that movie and then complain about this now. RedLetterMedia.com nailed it when they said (referring to ST 1) that you can't have three main guys anymore, you need a woman. So Uhura gets bumped up at the expense of Bones. The relationship between her and Spock is shite, true, but it prevents a Kirk-Uhura 'will-they won't-they?'scenario which would suck more.<br /><br />This movie was flawed, certainly, in lots of ways, but nowhere near as bad as the first one, which was nonsensical and waaay flashier with zero substance. This one had actual character development and good action scenes. It also had some not-so-subtle allusions to issues we're currently facing. Which is at the core of all Trek. <br /><br />I hate JJ, Roberto, Alex and Damon. They are precisely what's wrong with the current fad of "embracing" geek/nerd-culture but this movie was so much better than anything any of them have ever done previously. <br /><br />And for the record, Wrath of Kahn was a far from perfect film. There, I said it. Lock phasers...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1867678243594042401.post-38241294853621923352013-05-22T12:36:51.532-04:002013-05-22T12:36:51.532-04:00Glen--Nice write-up. I agree with most of your mai...Glen--Nice write-up. I agree with most of your main points, but I can't find myself getting too worked up over this misfire of a Trek film. On a non-Trek level, it actually entertained me. Take a look at my DeFlip Side review and compare notes if you'd like. Warning: it's full of SPOILERS. http://deflipside.com/?p=5855Christopher DeFilippishttp://deflipside.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1867678243594042401.post-8612515719763347552013-05-19T14:36:30.106-04:002013-05-19T14:36:30.106-04:00Let's not equate Glenn Greenberg with Greg Kir...Let's not equate Glenn Greenberg with Greg Kirkman, please.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1867678243594042401.post-31487588804817647072013-05-18T19:07:51.266-04:002013-05-18T19:07:51.266-04:00Star Trek purists cannot just sit bak and enjoy a ...Star Trek purists cannot just sit bak and enjoy a fun movie. Nerds like Greg Kirkman have to sneer at anything new because they are no longer self styled experts on the franchise.<br /><br />Abrams made ST mainstream and the nerds cannot accept that the general public is in their clubhouse. Boo hoo. <br /><br />Abrams took a dull franchise and revived it into a fun money making machine. Get used to it childrenAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1867678243594042401.post-31431955205124205172013-05-17T14:35:37.373-04:002013-05-17T14:35:37.373-04:00Finally a reviewer who echoed my feelings about ho...Finally a reviewer who echoed my feelings about how much JJ has cheapened the characters of Star Trek -- particularly Captain Kirk. I so relate to just about everything you said above. I'm hoping JJ really IS done with Trek but I actually wish he'd never started...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1867678243594042401.post-59478506520499658252013-05-16T20:21:05.393-04:002013-05-16T20:21:05.393-04:00Good review. I totally agree. Thanks for letting u...Good review. I totally agree. Thanks for letting us know your opinion.<br /><br />Francisco Espinosa.Blackpacohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14775650790189724494noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1867678243594042401.post-50275773073828923182013-05-15T08:26:51.794-04:002013-05-15T08:26:51.794-04:00You have been and always shall be...my friend!
-T...You have been and always shall be...my friend!<br /><br />-TTAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1867678243594042401.post-53184492170936992882013-05-14T22:48:43.869-04:002013-05-14T22:48:43.869-04:00I hadn't been feeling this one for a while and...I hadn't been feeling this one for a while and since you and I are pretty much of like minds when it comes to all things Trek, I'm just glad I got to read your review so I'm prepared for the suckitude to come. I kind of wish I hadn't already purchased my ticket and had instead opted to stay home and finish re-reading THUNDERBALL.Bunche (pop culture ronin)https://www.blogger.com/profile/11831085937894725459noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1867678243594042401.post-59061505516017873782013-05-14T22:06:18.362-04:002013-05-14T22:06:18.362-04:00Dang!
I was hoping this would be a film, but wh...Dang! <br /><br /> I was hoping this would be a film, but when watching the trailer, and of course our conversations, this version Star Trek is really Star Wars.<br /><br />Also, like you mentioned weeks ago, the film(s) are too much about the antagonist and revenge. There is nothing about exploration and the "trek" within the title.<br /><br />Good review , Glenn<br /><br />E.R.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1867678243594042401.post-22182716491650075412013-05-14T21:46:40.092-04:002013-05-14T21:46:40.092-04:00Im still gonna see it. Im sure Ill be disappointed...Im still gonna see it. Im sure Ill be disappointed, but I gotta see it!<br />nick gnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1867678243594042401.post-1423491261788152802013-05-14T21:06:58.275-04:002013-05-14T21:06:58.275-04:00Given that line, Marc, I believe this is the appro...Given that line, Marc, I believe this is the appropriate response (imagine me saying it in DeForest Kelley's voice):<br /><br />Marc, I'm your disciple, and I'm your friend. Watch WRATH OF KHAN again. Watch it again instead of seeing this new movie... instead of throwing away your hard-earned money...Glenn Greenberghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13080935309485100122noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1867678243594042401.post-7148822245089864952013-05-14T20:34:51.967-04:002013-05-14T20:34:51.967-04:00Don't mince words, Glenn, what did you REALLY ...Don't mince words, Glenn, what did you REALLY think?J.M. DeMatteishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04293848326241642685noreply@blogger.com