Fun Facts: Star Trek (2009)

Star Trek PosterYesterday I attended my third cinema screening of J. J. Abrams’ Star Trek. I just can’t help loving that movie. Everything about it is entertaining. Anyway, I’m now starting a new feature for this blog, called “Fun Facts”. And we begin with this great movie. These facts are taken from IMDB.

  • J.J. Abrams’ only two choices for Nero were Russell Crowe and Eric Bana.
  • Simon Pegg filmed his role in 5 weeks.
  • The “Trek” movie with the longest hiatus to date since the last motion picture (7 years).
  • Of the now 11 films, this is the most expensive “Star Trek” film by far, at an estimated $150,000,000. Star Trek: The Motion Picture(1979) had a budget of $46,000,000 and Star Trek: Nemesis (2002) had a budget of $60,000,000.
  • Prior to this film, the most expensive “Star Trek” film ever made was Star Trek: First Contact (1996) with a worldwide gross of $146,000,000. This film exceeded that gross by its second weekend of US release alone.
  • To prepare for his role as Captain James Kirk, Chris Pine watched classic episodes and read encyclopedias about the Star Trek universe. However, his research was rudimentary, as he wanted his performance to be original and not an imitation of William Shatner. He based his performance on Tom Cruise’s Maverick and Harrison Ford’s Han Solo and Indiana Jones, heroes who Pine felt possessed the archetypal hero qualities Kirk has (humour, arrogance, decisiveness).
  • Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto, who play the odd couple Kirk and Spock, were previously acquainted with each other as they work out at the same gym.
  • Winona Ryder who plays Spock’s mother is only 6 years older than Zachary Quinto who plays Spock, and is 24 years younger than the actor who plays her husband.
  • Kirk, the “black sheep” of the Enterprise crew, wears only his black undershirt up until he is formally given command; everyone else wears a colored overshirt reflecting their area of responsibility.
  • The Romulan Narada is five miles wide and 15 miles long.
  • The Kobayashi Maru simulator is the same set as the Kelvin bridge.
  • The first Star Trek film to receive an Oscar nomination for Best Visual Effects since Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979).
  • First Star Trek film ever to win an Oscar.

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At ease, dear John.

Dear John PosterWell, it’s been a while since the last tear-jerker, so today we’ll take a look at Dear John. Dear reader, do you like romtantic dramas? If you do, please read on. Special Forces Army Sergeant John Tyree (Channing Tatum) is on leave when he meets Savannah (Amanda Seyfried). Immediately he falls head over heels in love with her. During his two-week break he gets to know Savannah much better and when he has to leave for his next tour, they promise each other to write until John gets back one year later. But when he re-enlists after the 9/11 attacks, their love for each other is put to the test.

This is a very emotional movie. It asks the question of whether long-distance relationships can be made to work. It explores the ups and downs and how distance can affect how people feel about each other. Tatum and Seyfried both performed well. I identified most with Tatum’s character, though. John Tyree is not the usual type of character Tatum has been known for lately. And I liked this break from the mould. John Tyree is initially a bit of a question mark, but throughout the movie you learn more and more about him. The conclusion was slightly different than I expected, but it forced me to look at the situation in another light.

And I guess that’s all I ask of a movie – to make me think about something differently.

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How Star Trek (2009) should have ended

Here’s another brilliant video by the guys at How It Should Have Ended. I couldn’t imagine a better ending to the movie! ;-)

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Percy Jackson & The Lightning Thief

Percy Jackson & The Lightning Thief PosterOriginally I hadn’t planned on watching this movie, but Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief turned out to be the entertainment I needed on a night when I didn’t feel like thinking much.

Percy Jackson is an ordinary teenager. He lives with his mom and her horrible boyfriend. He goes to school every day. But something is about to change. When Zeus’s lightning bolt is stolen, Zeus suspects Poseidon’s son of this deed, and demands the return of the bolt – otherwise a war of the gods would ensue. And you’ve guessed it – Percy is Poseidon’s son. Except he doesn’t know it. And he didn’t steal the lightning bolt. And so begins his quest to find the real thief and return the lightning bolt.

This movie is good, mindless fun if you don’t want to be intellectually stimulated. If you just feel like switching off for 2 hours, to get away from every-day life, and you don’t mind Harry-Potter-type movies, this could do the job for you. Even though I haven’t seen all the Harry Potter movies (only saw the first two), I like this movie more.

There’s really not much more to this movie. It was fun watching it, but it’s nothing to write home about.

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Parody: a MAD look at Avatar

A MAD look at Avatar

MAD Magazine have released a look at a parody comic strip about Avatar they are running in their next magazine. It’s titled “A MAD look at Avatar”. Enjoy!

(Click on the images below to see the large version.)

A MAD look at Avatar

A MAD look at Avatar

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The Denzel Washington Venn Diagram

The Denzel Washington Venn Diagram

This picture is courtesy of ziesgotyouhigh.

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All About Steve

All About Steve PosterI don’t know why Sandra Bullock has received so much criticism for her acting in All About Steve. And at the same time she was nominated for an Oscar in the Best Actress category for her work in The Blind Side. I will admit that I’m a Bullock fan, but nonetheless I can’t see any reason why her acting in All About Steve could be considered less than par.

Mary Horowitz (played by Bullock) is an introvert crossword puzzle constructor who falls in love with Steve (Bradley Cooper), a cameraman for a local news network. Fearing being single for the rest of her life, she follows Steve as he travels across the country, chasing news stories with his crew. At first Steve thinks that Mary is crazy, and starts panicking every time she’s near. But when both of them are faced with disaster, they each learn something valuable about the other.

While watching the movie, I was dreading the ending that was most probable, but was then surprised when it turned out differently. It felt very refreshing seeing a more realistic conclusion to the story (which I won’t reveal). Maybe this movie isn’t for everyone, but I definitely enjoyed it.

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Valentine’s Day: She loves me, she loves me not

Valentine's Day PosterThe cast in Valentine’s Day is phenomenal. Included are Jessica Alba, Jessica Biel, Bradley Cooper, Jamie Fox, Jennifer Garner, Topher Grace, Anne Hathaway, Ashton Kutcher, Queen Latifah, Taylor Lautner, George Lopez, Shirley MacLaine, Emma Roberts, Julia Roberts, and Taylor Swift. I don’t know how they got so many well-known actors and actresses to sign up for this, but it did pay off. It was the first thing that made me curious about this movie. And then, after seeing the trailer, I knew I was going to watch it.

Valentine’s Day takes the proven “multiple storylines” formula, makes us identify with at least one of the stories, and then interweaves all the lines in very intriguing ways. At its heart this is a movie about love. Not necessarily just about the “butterflies in my stomach” kind of love, but about most of the aspects of relationships that you go through at some point or another (good and bad). I’m not going to go into the story at all, since there are so many parts to cover – it would take too long, and reveal too much.

What I liked about this movie is that it portrayed relationships more realistic than most other movies would. With some of the characters there’s a happy end, for others there’s not. And in a few instances some very good relationship values, that other movies shy away from, come through. This movie provides quite a lot of laughs too, so it’s quite a good entertainment package. Do yourself a favour on Valentine’s Day, and go watch Valentine’s Day.

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