At The Movies: Star Trek Beyond

It’s been a pretty lackluster summer at the movies so far, and I didn’t have much hope of the U.S.S. Enterprise coming to the rescue. I’m not a big Trekkie. My favorite movie is the one with the whales.

And yet, surprisingly, “Star Trek Beyond” delivers a solid, satisfying, summer flick. It’s amazing to look at, thrilling to experience and delivers almost non-stop action while still making time for the character moments that are so essential to this long-running franchise.

It’s Year Three of the five-year mission and the natives are restless. It seems exploring the vastness of space  can wear one down after a few years. Captain Kirk (Chris Pine) is considering a promotion and a desk job while Spock (Zachary Quinto) is thinking about moving to New Vulcan to help repopulate the species. They haven’t told each other what they’re doing.

A well-deserved rest stop at Starbase Yorktown is cut short when an escape pod arrives from out of a nearby nebula. In the pod is Kalara (Lydia Wilson), who claims her damaged ship lies just beyond the nebula. The Enterprise is sent on the rescue mission, carefully navigating through the asteroid-field, err, nebula.

Once on the other side, they are attacked by Krall (Idris Elba), the villain of the piece, and his army of small ships. They devour the Enterprise like locusts and the famed starship goes crashing into a nearby planet as all the crew escape in life pods.

You know what that means: Everyone gets separated into small groups — Kirk and Chekov (Anton Yelchin), Spock and McCoy (Karl Urban), Uhura (Zoe Saldana) and Sulu (John Cho) — and now have to find a way to come together and get back to Yorktown before Krall destroys it.

Their only ally on this strange, new world is Jaylah (Sofia Boutella), a scavenger who comes to the aid of Scotty (Simon Pegg) when he first crash lands. Jaylah turns out to be a very helpful partner, having everything they could need for an escape — including an old, derelict Federation starship.

There are plotholes a plenty and you really shouldn’t think too hard about anything going on here, but what “Star Trek Beyond” lacks in logic it makes up for in exciting action, imaginative imagery and fun, familiar characters. Krall doesn’t bring much of interest to the Star Trek universe but Jaylah is a welcome addition.

Director Justin Lin captures the right balance of action, humor, spectacle and drama. Now into their third movie, the rebooted cast has settled nicely into their roles.

I don’t normally advocate spending the extra dough on 3D or IMAX but this is a film that really benefits from being seen on as big a screen as possible. The designs for Yorktown are particularly impressive.

 

 

 

At The Movies: Ghostbusters

When I first heard there was talk of making a new “Ghostbusters” movie I thought it unlikely. After all, Harold Ramis is dead, Dan Aykroyd can hardly fit in one of those jumpsuits anymore, and Bill Murray is probably busy playing golf.

Then I heard it was going to be a reboot, figured “why bother?” and moved on.

Then I heard it was going to feature an all-female cast of Ghostbusters. I thought, “Oh. I guess that’s different. Still, why bother?” and moved on.

And then it became a thing. Some people were blasting it for the casting decisions. Other people started blasting the people who were upset over the casting decisions. Suddenly if you didn’t like the movie you hated women and if you supported it you were one of those social justice warriors.

The last article I read before seeing the movie claimed that if this film doesn’t make big bucks at the box office it will be the end for women fronting big budget action-comedy movies forever.

Man, that’s a lot of pressure. I mean, if I give this movie a bad review it could crush its chances at the box office and the future for all blockbuster-women-action-comedies. I don’t need that kind of stress. I wish I had gone to see “The Infiltrator” instead.

So, “Ghostbusters” 2.0.

Melissa McCarthy and Kristin Wiig star as Abby Yates and Erin Gilbert, two besties who grew up believing in ghosts and once out of school write a book about the paranormal. The years go by and Abby continues to pursue her beliefs while Erin becomes a more serious scientist.

The two are reunited when Abby puts their old book back on the market at the same time Erin is trying to get tenure at her college. Erin goes to persuade Abby to take the book off the Internet and finds Abby knee-deep in ghostbusting equipment with her new partner,  Jillian Holtzmann (Kate McKinnon).

Just as they are getting reacquainted, a man (Ed Begley, Jr.) shows up and asks them to investigate a historical building in town that he believes is haunted. The trio go to check it out and encounter a spirit. Erin gets slimed, becomes a true-believer again, and loses her shot at tenure. Abby and Jillian also get kicked out of their much-lower-prestige college so the ladies decide to start up their own business.

And since Ghostbusters come in 4-packs, the ladies are joined by Patty Tolan (Leslie Jones), who joins the team for no apparent reason other than she ran into a ghost while checking out a subway tunnel for her previous job. To round things out, and because we’re still gender-bending, Chris Hemsworth joins the crew as their daffy but sexy receptionist Kevin.

As remakes go, “Ghostbusters” is perfectly decent. The new cast is likable enough, there are some decent jokes, the special effects are OK (but surprisingly ghost effects haven’t changed much in 32 years), the story moves at a good clip, and it was nice to see most of the original cast show up for cameos.

On the down side the story was pretty thin and there was an odd moment where they tried to shift gears from comedy to superhero action movie. It didn’t work for me.

I still see no need to remake “Ghostbusters,” but if it had to be done at least it didn’t suck.

When Your Friends Say It Better

We have a rule here at the Report. It’s been the rule since Day 1.

“No political crap.”

We don’t debate the hot-button topic of the day here. We don’t jump on the bandwagon of whatever people are arguing about to get more hits. In large part this is because I sit on the other side of the fence from most of my friends and family on many of these issues and frankly, I don’t want to get into it with them. Life is too short. They’re not going to change me and God knows I’m not going to change them, so why bother?

The other reason goes back to one of my favorite scenes in one of my favorite movies, “Broadcast News,” in which the clueless TV anchorman wraps up a special report by telling the audience, “I think we’re going to be OK.”

At which point, crusty old newsguy looks up at the TV and says, “Who cares what you think?”

Now, “Who cares what you think?” is an admittedly strange motto for a guy who writes a blog full of movie and theater reviews, but I never said I wasn’t a hypocrite.

Anyway, it’s been a rough week all around and my Facebook feed has been full of commentary from my friends and family trying to sort it out.  A lot of it is the same old, same old, and most of it contains the thoughts of others with a handy link.

But sometimes someone says something meaningful, thoughtful, and maybe even profound. And that’s where I want to leave us this Sunday evening. Not with my pointless ramblings, but with the more measured thinking of some of my family and friends.

**********************************************************************

Our neighbors are those who need us. Who is your neighbor? Alton Sterling is your neighbor. Philando Castile is your neighbor. Brent Thompson, Michael Krol, Patrick Zamarripa, Lorne Ahrens, and Michael Smith are your neighbors. The victims of the Orlando nightclub shooting, and every other shooting in our country are your neighbors. All the families of these victims are you neighbor. Donald Trump is your neighbor. Hillary Clinton is your neighbor. The angry young woman in a ‪#‎blacklivesmatter‬ shirt is your neighbor. The officer & soldier putting their life on the line is your neighbor. The agnostic who’s angry at the church is your neighbor. The refugee fleeing Muslim extremists is your neighbor. That Muslim extremist is your neighbor.

If there’s anyone you think could never be your neighbor, because you ‘know what they’re like,’ Jesus says you are wrong. You don’t know that they’d never help you, so stop using that as justification not to help them.

— Chris Perrey

***********************************************************************

Just a half thought that’s running through my head right now. I understand when people ask “why can’t we all just get along?” or “where is the love” – and I understand that this is a very very huge ideal. I also think this is naive. I think the first step to answering these questions is asking instead “where is the source of the hurt?” We cannot ask an oppressor and an oppressed to sit in one room together and “figure it out”. People have been hurting for centuries and we can’t be shocked now that all of a sudden, the love is gone. The love has been gone, and in its place is years and years of struggle. The story began before we arrived and will continue on throughout. The hurt and disbelief people feel today is the same kind that many people in different parts of the country, and the world, feel every day. Don’t let the news cycle dictate what and when you decide to feel passionate about something, and let it fade into oblivion the moment that next week’s headlines start rolling.

The thing I value the most is awareness, understanding, and education, so I really do urge people to read as much as they can, about our past, present, and potential. And keep holding onto the ideal of a world where people get along and where love conquers, but understand that this won’t happen in our naivety and our shock of its absence. Context matters.

— Kiran Kaur

 

Today, I am going to have a glass of lemonade

I’m feeling small in a world with such big problems

I’m feeling overwhelmed in the face of such anger and hatred

I’m feeling worried for my black friends because Shon’s life matters. Little Sadie’s life matters

I’m feeling powerless, helpless and hopeless

Perhaps most frightening of all, I’m starting to feel numb. Accepting that this is our new normal is the worst and most dangerous feeling of all

But I see that a group of neighborhood children is having a lemonade stand today, and in sharing a glass perhaps we can share a little hope, see a little promise and speak a little kindness

Small steps lead to big things. So today, in a world where we’ve been handed so many epic lemons, I’m having lemonade. And I’ll have a pitcher ready in my refrigerator and cold glass waiting for you.

— Ann Hein