Star Trek 2009: Movie Review – Themes Galore

Star Trek Movie 2009
Star Trek Movie 2009

Star Trek (2009)

Primary Audience: Teens, Adults
Genre: Sci-Fi, Action
Length: 2 Hour 6 Minutes
Rated: PG-13

Starring: Chris Pine (James T. Kirk), Zachary Quinto (Spock), Leonard Nimoy (Spock Prime), Eric Bana, Bruce Greenwood, Karl Urban, Zoe Saldana, Simon Pegg, John Cho, Anton Yelchin, Ben Cross, Winona Ryder, Chris Hemsworth, Jennifer Morrison
Director: J.J. Abrams (Felicity, Alias, Lost, Mission Impossible III, Cloverfield)
Producer: Bad Robot, Paramount Pictures, Spyglass Entertainment

Is Star Trek Action Packed as the Trailer?

Have you seen the Star Trek trailer? The Star Trek trailer makes the movie seem like an edge-of-your-seat action packed movie. There are a lot of movies where the movie itself doesn’t do the trailer justice, however this is not one of them. Star Trek was a visual treat and an extremely well made movie. With the latest in CGI technology, space travel has never been so fun and visually pleasing. The trailer showed a lot of action and the movie made good on it’s promise.

Do I need to be a Trekkie to Enjoy the Movie?

Absolutely not, though I imagine this movie is going to create a lot of new fans and a huge boost in sales of older Star Trek DVDs. Though this movie is a prequel to the original star trek series, the movie has enough content and story in itself to be very enjoyable. I myself am not a trekkie. I’ve only seen clips of a few episodes and saw one star trek movie. Of course Star Trek fans of old would enjoy this movie all the more knowing the future histories of many of the characters such as Kirk, Spock, Dr. McCoy, Scottie, Uhura, Sulu and Chekov.

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Monsters vs Aliens: Movie Review for Parents & Children

Monsters vs Aliens Movie Logo
Monsters vs Aliens Movie Logo

Monsters vs Aliens (2009)

Primary Audience: Kids, Family, Teens, Adults
Genre: Animation, Sci-Fi, Family, Kids, Comedy
Length: 1 Hour 34 Minutes
Rated: PG

Starring: Reese Witherspoon, Seth Rogen, Will Arnett, Kiefer Sutherland, Stephen Colbert, Hugh Laurie, Rainn Wilson, Paul Rudd, Renee Zellweger
Director: Rob Letterman (Shark Tale), Conrad Vernon (Shrek 2)
Producer: DreamWorks Animation

Dreamworks vs Pixar

Finding Nemo. Toy Story. Cars. What do these films have in common? They were considered excellent, well made films great for the family and safe for children. Each were produced by Pixar who now holds both the benefit as well as the burden of increasingly high expectations. Every year, we expect a clean and great blockbuster to come out of Pixar Studios.

Then there is Dreamworks Animation, film studio of “Monsters vs Aliens”. Dreamwork films have always been a mixed bag. They’ve had great, safe animated films such as Shrek, Antz, Prince of Egypt and Kungfu Panda. But they’ve also had shockers such as Shrek 2, full of really inappropriate adult themed content which unfortunately went on to be their biggest grosser to date. Money talks and the success they’ve found catering to the adult audience will only further more such films. Unfortunately many people were caught off guard as many of these films are presented as family friendly movies.

How about Monsters vs Aliens? It continues Dreamwork’s long tradition of movies. Good fun movie but with occasional potty humor and inappropriate scenes.

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University of Maryland presents Pornography

The University, a place of Higher Education. A source for the development of the mind, a place to practice discipline, and a training ground to build the type of skills and networks needed for the best of futures.

The University of Maryland, College Park announced that the student union would show a porno movie as a way to… wait show what?!

Pirates II: Stagnetti’s Revenge will be shown at midnight Saturday in a campus theater usually home to tamer fare such as independent and foreign films. The distributor of the film, Digital Playground, offered it to the student union for free, so student activities fees are not being used to finance it. A student programming committee voted to screen the film, billed as a “XXX blockbuster.”

Thank goodness. Disaster averted. No student activities fees are being used for this. That would be wrong. Anything else that should be addressed though? Anything?

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Movie Review: Watchmen Morality Review

Watchmen Movie Review

 

Watchmen Movie Review
Watchmen Movie Review

 

 

Length: 2hr 43Min
Director: Zack Snyder
Producer: Warner Bros, Paramound Pictures, Legendary Pictures
Featuring: Jeffrey Dean Morgan (Comedian), Jackie Earle Haley (Rorschach) Malin Akerman (Silk Sceptre), Carla Gugino, Patrick Wilson (Nite Owl), Matthew Goode (Ozymandias), Billy Crudup (Dr. Manhattan)
Story: Based on a Novel. In an alternate world based around 1985, Richard Nixon is president and the Cold War continues. A crime fighter named “The Comedian”, is killed when thrown off a building. Other fellow crime fighters rise to find his killer. The main characters are Rorschach, Dr. Manhattan, Nite Owl, Silk Spectre II and Ozymandias.

(Disclaimer: I have not watched this movie, this is just a collection of reviews from several websites quotes of reviewers.)

Watchmen came out March 6, 2009 in over 3,500 theaters. Another exciting comic book adaptation? State of the art CGI and faithful to original comic! Sounds exciting? Before you jump in with the family, here is the quick morality summary.

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Movie Review: Seven Pounds starring Will Smith

Seven Pounds Movie Review

Seven Pounds - Will Smith
Seven Pounds - Will Smith

Starring: Will Smith, Woody Harrison, Rosario Dawson
Director: Gabriele Muccino (Pursuit of Happiness)
Length: 2hr 3Min
Released: December 19, 2008
Rated: PG-13

“If you are like most you will have one of two reactions, either leaving with your face covered with tears, or shaking your head.”

Seven Pounds stars Will Smith as IRS agent Ben Thomas. It’s a movie that is mysterious throughout keeping the viewer slightly out of the loop wondering what is going on. It is an emotional journey intended to slowly reveal the plot through subtle hints. Seven Pounds is a very slow paced film, only bearable because of Will Smith’s acting prowess. It is pretty clear that Ben, played by Will Smith, is more than he seems as he actively seeks to carefully analyze then help each person he meets.

The story unfolds as Ben makes visits to various people with different needs. Flashing his IRS badge he asks them both financial related questions as well as personal ones. He seems to be searching for something. As he is helping one of these strangers, the guy asks Ben “Why Me?” and Ben says “Because you’re a good person, even when you think no one is looking.” So he seems to be searching for “good people” to help. Why? It is very clear that Ben has a lot of emotional baggage as Seven Pounds is glittered with flashbacks which at first seem to be in the present. He is held captive by some sort of guilt or sad memory.

Overall the movie was well made, but as the quote above says (taken by a comment by user reviewer), you are either going to leave the theater crying or shaking your head. I happen to be the latter, despite the fact I am known to be very “emotional” when it comes to emphasizing with characters. Mainly because very early on in the movie it became crystal clear what the ending was going to be. It came too fast and too early. But then again I am the analyzer type that figures out plots pretty quickly to begin with. But what made me shake my head was not the plot, but the controversy that is the ending… it is definitely worth discussing from many different levels, especially from a moral standpoint.

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Movie Review: Twilight, Love Conquers All?

Twilight Movie 2008
Twilight Movie 2008

Movie: Twilight
Featuring: Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner, Billy Burke
Director: Catherine Hardwicke

“When you can live forever, what do you live for”

How about the opposite? When you know your life is finite, is anything worth living for?

The movie Twilight is another film aimed at a young audience. In it’s opening weekend it made $70.6 million making it the fourth highest opening film this year. According to exit polls, 55% of the audience were under 25 years old and 75% of the audience was female.

Twilight is a movie adaptation of a very popular book series mostly read by young female teenagers. It is a love story about a male vampire and a normal girl.

On the surface this is a love story between a vampire and a high school girl that seems to carry a pro-abstinence message and so many parents are focusing on this portion claiming that it’s a great story with a good message. However there are many other themes that are often going unnoticed.

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Movie Review: High School Musical 3 – The Message

High School Musical 3 has been gaining a lot of attention especially with the youth. The series has been known to be clean, fun and safe to take the family. As a full disclosure, I have never seen a single ones of these movies. However as someone spends a great deal of time mentoring youth, I wanted to take the time to at least read about it. Though it’s rated G, you really don’t know these days. I’ve walked into movies that are pg-13 with very questionable content. Also what I find even more dangerous are the underlying messages of what is right and wrong, what is the norm, a way of thinking… these subtle things have much more of a lasting impact in the way we view our lives and the world.

What you will find in this post has nothing to do with how good the story is or how well the movie was made, just excerpts talking about the messages conveyed in the film. Note these are excerpts from articles or comments I’ve read so it doesn’t mean I necessarily agree with it! I tried not to leave in spoilers, but no promises.

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Children See, Children Do. Media & Parents

Below is a video depicting the influence of parents and adults on their children. It is always amazing how much children are fully aware of what goes on around them and pick up on subtle cues and actions.

Though this video does not necessarily talk about media’s impact on children or our culture, it does highlight (though the form of media) that rather than simply blaming media for everything that has gone wrong, we as a whole need to take personal ownership over how our actions and behavior impact those around us especially the children.

Watch the video and read on below!

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Bias of American Media – Influence of Media Money

As almost everyone would agree, media has a huge influence on our thought patterns and the way we perceive the world. With the presidential candidates starting to gain more press, the bias found in different networks and media groups starts to become more visible. The bias of the media is always influencing us daily, it just happens to be more noticed this time of year especially networks like CNN or ABC (left) versus networks like FOX (right). The way we make decisions about who we vote for to how we live our lives to what is right and wrong is built upon what we see and hear.

Back in September 2007, Gallup surveyed the American voters and found that 45% said the media is too liberal while 18% said the media is too conservative. I fall into the 45% category so there is my personal bias! The sad thing is most of it goes unnoticed because we get so used to it that our standards of what is liberal and conservative shifts over time.

One way of determining the bias of media is to look at the people who make up those companies and publishes the material and their contributions to the political parties. The following are total 2008 PAC contribution figures and where the majority of that contribution went. I’ve noted the more well known companies. [Facts provided by opensecrets.org].

Media Industries
Books, Magazines & Paper – $12 Million [78% to Democrats]
Motion Picture Industry – $8.9 Million [89% to Democrats]
Cable & Satellite TV – $6.3 Million [63% to Democrats]
Music Recording Industry – $3 Million [79% to Democrats]
Television Production / Distribution – $2.3 Million [86% to Democrats]

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Reacting to Religion Based Movies

No one would argue that movies and TV shows have tremendous impact on our culture and our worldview. Where do you get your concept of courage? How about what an ideal friendship should be like? An ideal spouse? What is acceptable when it comes to violence or any moral decisions? What is culturally normal and not normal when it comes to how we treat different circumstances, especially circumstances we’ve never experienced but may experience in the future? Would you know how guns work, or how two lovers engage in love? Where did you (or your parents who told you) get the idea of “if you put your mind to it, you can accomplish anything”? (Which I would argue goes against the grain of reality, though really nice to cling onto).

It has always been interesting to see how nonchalant viewers are to all the culture defining messages found in film. Either they don’t see it, or they don’t care. However when it comes to a faith themed movie, there seem to always be strong reaction. It is treated differently. Below are some excerpt from Breakpoint which describes this situation. Though the article itself is directed more towards Christian I found it to be an interesting read. 

When the Christian film Facing the Giants came out in 2006, far more interesting than the movie itself were the reactions to it. Mainstream critics were almost universally dismissive—it “feels like an overly earnest church sketch of the type many evangelical congregations use as a teaching tool on Sunday between the worship music and pastor’s message,”

And yet some enthusiastic viewers unwittingly gave the impression that they had enjoyed the film because it was their duty to do so. That impression was perhaps best summed up by Ted Slater of Boundless, who wrote, “Let’s not knock a movie that encourages faith in God.”

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Media’s Impact on Sexual Freedom

Has anyone noticed that all media articles regarding teen sex, condoms and abstinence always emphasize and focus on the spread of STDs and nothing else? Editorials and commentaries used to make the case of abstinence as a moral stance or a wholesome alternative to the sexually active world we live in. It also focused on the emotional risk involved with premarital sex. Now our culture has bent so far into the realm of sexual promiscuity that the only way people could even suggest abstinence is by fear of STDs. If you are going to raise the sexual freedom flag, why is abstinence ridiculed while ones who “score” or get “laid” considered cool or great?

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Themes of Wall-E

All about the Themes

Wall-E was definitely a Pixar quality film. I learned never to doubt Pixar no matter how peculiar or odd the trailers may be. I once questioned how good a movie could be about a talking fish. I was immediately blown away by Finding Nemo. In the same way, when I saw the trailer for some animated super hero movie I thought, could they really pull this off? It was incredible (that’s right i said it). So when a movie about talking cars came out I said, forget it I trust Pixar, it’ll be great. It was. When Wall-E’s trailer first came out about some small robot that barely talks.. I was game. As expected of Pixar, the story was well written, the CG animation was truly amazing especially in the way they humanize these robots, but what made this film special was its themes. No I am not talking about the romantic aspect of it (in fact I thought it was a bit too much) – but the themes of loneliness, relationships, comfort and materialism. Without giving away any of the story, the movie really highlights where our society is headed. Perhaps the extremity of what we see in the movie will never quite come true, but it does highlight the comfort driven mentality that all of us has. In fact in a span of 700 years (which the movie depicts), who knows, perhaps its very possible.Comfort is what drives us to do much of what we do. We study hard and try to beat everyone else in school so we could graduate with top honors. Why? So we could work hard and get a great job so we could live in comfort. It is common in our society to leave family or friends behind to go to a new school or a job. Parents may be sad, and friends upset but ultimately it is almost a given that leaving relationships like this is the right thing to do because hey, you have to earn a great living right? Perhaps it is due to technology and the ease of travel and communication, but honestly does it have to be this way? Is it really wrong for us to forgo a going to a good college or pursuing a great job because we value our relationships just that much more?

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