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Posts Tagged ‘Chris Pine’

Just The Three Of Us

Posted in Movie Review, Movies, Reviews, tagged Ann Burden, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Chris Pine, John Loomis, Margot Robbie, Moderate To Strong Movie Recommendation, Z For Zachariah -- movie review on July 18, 2019| Leave a Comment »

Z For Zachariah (2015) — movie review
Today’s review is for the post-apocalyptic survival movie “Z For Zachariah” starring Margot Robbie as Ann Burden (the farm girl), Chiwetel Ejiofor as John Loomis (the scientist), and Chris Pine as Caleb (the country boy).

The basic setup is “something” happens to the world and it becomes a radioactive waste. It’s implied this is due to an exchange of nuclear weapons, but I don’t remember it being precisely stated. Anyway, the movie starts with the farm girl being all alone. It appears she has been alone for at least a full year, as she relates surviving a winter. A scientist enters the frame. He has managed to survive because he has a suit, drugs and a small, portable shelter. However, he falls ill from exposure to radioactive water. The girl nurses him back to health.

Despite her encouragement, he resists becoming intimate with her. He appears to have memories of happier times with an African-American female, but her status is unknown. Eventually, loneliness overcomes hesitancy and the two become intimate.

After some period of time, another man (Pine / the country boy) appears on the scene. There is no real explanation for his survival because he lacks the suit, drugs or shelter of the scientist, but whatever…

Slowly, the three begin trusting each other and working together. Ejiofor / the scientist continues to have bad feelings about intimacy with a white female and “gives” permission to the country boy to become intimate with Robbie / the farm girl. One night, the scientist gets drunk and passes out. The farm girl and the country boy engage in sex.

The following day, the “social” dynamic has changed and conflict seems inevitable. The two men continue working together. One day, the country boy places himself in a hazardous situation. The scientist saves the country boy, but at the very instant of safety, the two men lock eyes.

The scene shifts back to the farmhouse and the scientist is again alone with the farm girl. He tells her the country boy has decided to move on. The movie ends with no resolution of whether or not the country boy was killed and / or if two remaining survivors reestablish their relationship.

Final recommendation: moderate to strong. I like all three actors in most of the other roles I’ve seen them in – Pine less than Robbie or Ejiofor, and this film is no exception. The movie is interesting as a character study of the three “types”, but it didn’t really seem to have a direction which engaged me or made me want to root for any of the actors. As such, despite it being beautifully filmed and reasonably well acted, I was left with feeling piqued but not fully entertained. Hence, my recommendation is more “moderate” than “strong”.

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Click here (18 July) to see the posts of prior years. I started this blog in late 2009. Daily posting began in late January 2011. Not all of the days in the early years (2009-2010) will have posts.

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Beyond Trying

Posted in 2016 Book Review, Book Review, Movie Review, Movies, Reading, Reviews, tagged 2016 Book Review, Chris Pine, Highly Recommended Movie, Jack Reacher, Jack Reacher #2 - Die Trying - book review, Jack Reacher Book Series, Karl Urban, Lee Child, Simon Pegg, Star Trek: Beyond - movie review, Strong to High Book Recommendation, Tom Cruise, USS Enterprise, Zachary Quinto on October 15, 2016| Leave a Comment »

Today’s reviews are of a movie I watched earlier in the week and a book I finished today…

Movie Review: Star Trek: Beyond (2016)
This is the third movie in the Star Trek reboot series which stars Chris Pine (Kirk), Zachary Quinto (Spock), Karl Urban (Bones / McCoy) and Simon Pegg (Scotty). All the main characters are well played as all the actors seem to have settled into their on-going roles. Sadly, I never saw this movie in its original release. To be honest, I just never made time. As good as a 50-inch screen may be from three feet away, it’s still not the same as having to use your peripheral vision to absorb the spectacle of the big screen theater experience. But, then again, there is much to be said for a pause button, having your own kitchen / food / fridge, and a toilet ten steps away.

Is the movie original, any good, plot, action, does it make sense, etc.? No, not really. Yes, very enjoyable. The plot is okay. The action is reasonable, but I found the special effects to be only so-so. Does it make sense? Does it have to? It’s Star Trek! Okay. Yes! It makes sense (as long as you don’t try to think about it too hard). The “best” Star Trek has always been a commentary on its current times, with a sub-textual message that we can get through this if we work together (aka “the future is hopeful”). I would only say I’m getting tired of the Enterprise getting destroyed. This is like the fifth time in fifteen movies. Enough already! We’ve seen this Fx get worked to death, now. All in all, I’d say this was the best of the three reboots. Highly recommended, particularly if you are a Trekkie (like me).

Book Review: Jack Reacher Series #2: Die Trying (1998©)
This book is the second in the Jack Reacher series of “male / adventure / action” genre books which I enjoy reading. The series is authored by Lee Child. Although it is the second book in the series, it is actually the third book I’ve read. I got out of sequence because I read the book which corresponds to the Tom Cruise movie which came out several years ago (2012). I enjoyed the movie, so I read the book. I enjoyed the book (#8 in the series), so I decided to go back and read the series in order.

In this book, Jack is kidnapped (with a female FBI agent) in Chicago and taken to a posse comitatus (aka right-wing crazies) encampment in Montana where he must foil an attempt to secede from the United States. All in all, the book is pretty standard faire for this genre and for this series. Having said that, you will either enjoy it or you won’t. I did. Again, nothing earth-shattering here, just a good action / adventure story. Even though it’s over 500 pages, it’s a fast read. Strong to highly recommended book recommendation.

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Click here (15 October) to see the posts of prior years. I started this blog in late 2009. Daily posting began in late January 2011. Not all of the days in the early years (2009-2010) will have posts.

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The Run Continues

Posted in Movies, tagged Anton Yelchin, Benedict Cumberbatch, Chris Pine, Give this movie a miss, John Cho, Karl Urban, Leonardo DiCaprio, Movies, Must See Movie, Simon Pegg, Star Trek Into Darkness - movie review, The Great Gatsby - movie review, Toby Maguire, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana on May 19, 2013| 2 Comments »

Well, the last thirty days have seen a good run of new movies for me: “Oblivion“, “Iron Man 3“, “The Great Gatsby” (last weekend) and yesterday, “Star Trek Into Darkness“.

The Great Gatsby – movie review
“The Great Gatsby” movie is based on the “classic” novel by the same name and written by F. Scott Fitzgerald. I saw the movie promo’s starting several months ago, and as I’d read the book several decades ago, I decided to do something I almost never do – read the book and then go see the movie. On the rare occasions when I do both read the book and then see a movie based on a book, I tend to see the movie (and enjoy it), and then go read the book. In all honesty, this is normally because it takes a couple of years for the movie to follow the book and I would pick up the book in paperback after the movie just cause it’s cheaper to buy it used then.

But I digress… This book is from the 1920’s and the movie has been done multiple times since its initial publication. I guess the most famous is the 1970s version starring Robert Redford (which I have never seen). Anyway, my daughter is an English major and she has a copy of the novel, so I read it in advance of seeing the movie.The movie follows the book very closely. The characters are not the way I imagined them from the reading, but the major scenes are pretty spot on to the book. As I didn’t “like” the book, I ended up finding the book only slightly better. The costumes and feel of the movie seem pretty accurate and the acting was okay, but a couple of things bugged me. Visually, the shirts and coats of many of the men didn’t seem to fit. Almost all were too tight, and many were too short (particularly in the sleeves). Now, normally this wouldn’t bother me much – if it all – but one scene has Gatsby raining down clothes on the female lead bragging about how he has them sent from his personal clothier in London. So, why don’t the shirts, vest or jackets fit?

The second thing which bothered me was the music score. It was too modern. It had a ’20s “jazzy” feel, but it wasn’t, and a couple numbers even seemed to be almost rap.

So, is this the “definitive” Gatsby? Even not having seen any of the other versions, I’d be inclined to say no. I enjoyed DiCaprio in the title role, but everyone else was kind of blah. Well, Maguire was okay, but not better than so-so. None of the other characters were the way I imagined them from the book and certainly none of them played the role better than my imagination – again, even though the book was followed fairly closely. Final recommendation: unless you are a MASSIVE DiCaprio or Gatsby fan, wait for TV release.

Star Trek Into Darkness – movie review
First off, full disclosure… I watched all of Star Trek (the Original Series – aka ST:TOS) in first release back in the ’60s. I have seen every episode at least five times (and most, many, many, many times more). I even have the Enterprise and the Galileo Seven Christmas ornaments, for cryin’ out loud. So, maybe this reviewer is slightly biased. Having said this, what did I think? This is a terrific movie!! Get out your DVD of the first re-boot to get prepped and then RUN down to your local cinema to see this on a big screen. Do NOT wait for this to come out on DVD unless you have a huge video set up at home.

Is this episode a “soap opera” in space? Yes (so what). Are there “enough” nods to the original series and earlier movies? Yes! Is there action? YES! Are the special effects up to snuff? YES! (Well, mostly. Some of the CGI is pretty fuzzy / noticeable). Is the acting good to great? For the most part, yes! These guys are really starting to own the roles, particularly the “minor” regulars Uhura (Zoe Saldana), Sulu (John Cho) and Chekov (Anton Yelchin). It goes without saying that Kirk (Chris Pine), Spock (Zachary Quinto) and Bones/McCoy (Karl Urban) are well played. Once again, Scotty (Simon Pegg) dominates most of scenes he’s in. And ethnic issues aside, Benedict Cumberbatch makes for a good Khan. For me, the two touchstones of ST:TOS were humor and friendship. Both are abundant in this movie. I honestly believe that if you are in any way a fan of the original series, you will enjoy (if not love) this movie!!

Now, before all the absolutists start in on me, here are a couple of the “WTF” moments:

The transporter has a limited range (even in “The Next Generation” (TNG)), you can’t beam from one solar system to another. So, Khan can’t beam from Earth to the Klingon home world. Khan defeats the combined crews of three Klingon Birds of Prey (30 to 40 guys), but he can’t wup on one Vulcan (okay, so Khan was popped by 6-8 phaser stun blasts, but still), come on… And finally, even at warp speed, travel from Earth to the Klingon home world is not instantaneous. And, yes, there are other things, but REALLY, the movie is terrific!

Anything else? Yeah. Two “reality” points. First, enough with the retread story lines. The purpose of the reboot was to provide freedom for new stories, not just to re-hash the old stories with new actors. How about Star Trek 3 gives us a new story? Now, that I’d love to see! Second, Pine isn’t younger than Kirk anymore. If you’re not careful, you’re going to age Pine right out of the role for future movies. I don’t see how you can do five years worth of exploration while shooting a movie once every three / four years…

Time will tell…

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Click here (19 May) to see the posts of prior years. I started this blog in late 2009. Daily posting began in late January 2011. Not all of the days in the early years (2009-2010) will have posts.