Craig's MovieBlog

Star Trek Review in Variety – Yes, Please

Done and done.  Sign me up:

“Blasting onto the screen at warp speed and remaining there for two hours, the new and improved Star Trek will transport fans to sci-fi nirvana. Faithful enough to the spirit and key particulars of Gene Roddenberry’s original conception to keep its torchbearers happy but, more crucially, exciting on its own terms in a way that makes familiarity with the franchise irrelevant, J.J. Abrams’ smart and breathless space adventure feels like a summer blockbuster that just couldn’t stay in the box another month. Paramount won’t need any economic stimulus package with all the money it’ll rake in with this one globally, and a follow-up won’t arrive soon enough.”

UPDATE: The Hollywood Reporter agrees. 

“Bottom Line: J.J. Abrams gives the Starship Enterprise all it's got, and it's more than enough.”

New Star Trek Trailer

What was I saying about not being inspired by anything at the movies these days?

Yes please.

Enjoy the new Star Trek trailer.

And from now on, please let JJ Abrams reboot all film franchises.  Except maybe Batman – Chris Nolan can keep that.  But take Superman away from Bryan Singer, and pry Indiana Jones away from Spielberg and Lucas. 

Thanks.

UPDATE:

I know this is ridiculously nerdy, but after watching this for the 40th time, I noticed something very subtle that gives just a slight hint to what the trailer was about.  Check out the license plate:

Yes, I am a nerd loser.

New Cloverfield Trailer

Okay... they got me.  I'm officially intrigued by the new trailer for Cloverfield.  It's as if J.J. Abrams said, "Let's make Independence Day, but we're gonna film it like The Blair Witch Project."

They even copied my favorite shot from the end of Blair Witch, when the cameraman falls over dead:

Prepare to get very, very carsick...  ;)

Dork Test

I really, really want the shirt that J.J. Abrams wore to Comic-Con today.  I am such a dork.

Smokin' Aces Trailer

Most people on this series of tubes we like to call the Internet are all abuzz about how completely frenetic and insane visually this trailer is.  They're right.

However, while they are right, I'm more excited about the fact that Joe Carnahan is finally, finally directing another movie after Narc, my favorite film that no one saw way back in 2002.  He was one of the many directors attached to Mission: Impossible 3 (along with David Fincher) before Cruise kicked him to the side of the road found J.J. Abrams, but it looks like he really sunk his teeth into this one.  I can't even imagine what he would have done to Ethan Hunt and the M:I-3 franchise, but one can dream.

Oh, and see if you can even figure out which character is played by Jeremy Piven (before his title card appears).

J.J. Abrams to Direct New Star Trek Film

It looks like it will be a "Young Star Trek" sort of show.

My only question is, how will he find a role for Keri Russell?  Is she Young Uhura or something?

Tom Cruise Gets Good Press Coverage (For a Change)

Over at Hollywood Elsewhere, Jeff Wells gives a big thumbs up to Mission: Impossible 3, but what I really liked was his comment about "check your brain at the door" movies.  It doesn't have to mean that it's a bad film - it's just a genre.  You can have good and bad "brainless" movies, and this looks to be one of the good ones.

When I hear a film is a "check-your-brain-at-the-door" thing, I know I'm going to hate it. This is not that. It exemplifies what a good geek-level action film should be. Abrams, the director-writer, keeps playing to slightly higher intelligence levels than these films are usually geared to.

By the way, did anyone watch Alias last night to see the new preview for M:I-3?  The ad kicked off with a screen that read, "From the Creator of Alias and Lost," and then went into the preview.

Now, I'm certainly not doubting the intelligence of this move... I mean, it was during Alias, so they had the right captive audience.  However, I have to wonder - has a major summer tentpole blockbuster movie ever pimped its director with his television resume?  I guess they could have said, "From the Writer of Regarding Henry and Gone Fishin'," but it might not have had the same amount of ooomph.  ;)

Early Insider Mission Impossible 3 Review

Take this with a grain of salt or two, especially since Kevin Smith loved the last piece of garbage Star Wars movie, but he says that MI3 is much better than the last sequel, and as good if not better than the first.

To me, however, the more interesting point that Jeff Wells makes, is the rationale for Paramount not showing the film to the press, even though the film might be quite good.  Just like the demise of early screenings for critics, the studios are quickly learning that they are so big that they may just not need the press.  They can do their own marketing and PR, and do their own vertical integration across magazines, television, etc.  If they can just get to that huge opening weekend on their own, then they can make their money on international and home rental.  And if on the rare chance that they have a good film, audience word of mouth will spread.

Filmmakers tend to be a bit more affectionate and supportive of other filmmakers than, say, critics or the public, but that aside, Kevin Smith has seen Mission: Impossible: 3 and passes along the following: "I saw it last month in [director-writer J.J. Abrams'] editing room, and it's really great: far, far superior to the second one, and as good (if not better) than the first. Philip Seymour Hoffman plays the most believable bad guy since Anthony Hopkins in Silence -- he's just plain frightening. [The film has] great tent-pole scenes and Tom Cruise is in top form. There's no fat on it at all. All those years working on Alias made for fine training for JJ, as this thing is very well plotted and paced. It'll do extremely well. I know I'll see it again in theaters." Why is Paramount publicity not showing it then? What is the strategy in keeping word-of-mouth spreaders away from it until three days before it opens? I think it's part of the New Hollywood World Order...the truly big tent-polers are their own engine, about themselves & their own self-perpetuating inevitability, and writers and reporters are but lint on the lapels of the big-studio distribs in this context...at best incidental to the process. And the p.r. people are looking to make a statement to that effect.