Star Trek and J.J. Abrams do it again with Into Darkness

     I was a huge fan of the Star Trek reboot back in 2009.  Granted, I was already a Star Trek fan and had seen all of the films when they aired in theaters as well as most of the TV series, but still the reboot was fantastic and I didn't think it could get any better.  So almost 4 years later, the second installment of J.J. Abrams reboot appeared in theaters a few weeks ago and I loved it!  I have now seen it twice and I think my favorite thing about it is it's energy.  It is a non-stop roller coaster of a ride but there is still comedy infused through it all as well as tender moments of friendship and loss.  SPOILER ALERT coming in the next paragraph so don't read any further if you haven't seen the film yet.....
     My favorite character since childhood has been Captain Kirk, and Chris Pine plays the cocky young captain so well that at times I really feel like I am watching a very young William Shatner, but with a little more energy.  His mission this time, to save Earth and his crew from John Harrison (SPOILER ALERT... He is actually Khan!) is actually a sort of retelling of Star Trek II : The Wrath of Khan but in a totally different and creative way.  Some people didn't like the subterfuge since J.J. Abrams was quoted as saying that this movie was not about Khan, but I think he was trying to keep some of the mystery there for the audience.  Benedict Cumberbatch, who plays Khan, is definitely very different than Ricardo Montalban who played Khan in the original series, but I for one LOVE the change (and the lack of fake chest muscles).  He is a spectacular Khan and he is so sly that you keep changing your mind on whether he is good or bad.  By then end of the film, when Kirk sacrifices his life to save his ship and crew from the damage Khan has done, you realize his innate evil.  You also realized that just like Kirk, you were suckered in to Khan's lies.  In the original Wrath of Khan, Spock was the one to sacrifice himself to get the Enterprise back online and out of danger.  I really liked the switch here where Spock has to become the hero and go after Khan to avenge his friend's death.  By Kirk putting his life on the line, he is doing his penance for believing Khan and putting his crew and ship in danger. He has become like his dad who saved 800 lives even though he knew he was going to die.
     My only complaint about the film is that I wanted to see more of Scotty, Sulu and especially Bones. I love the cast of this reboot and I just wanted more of these characters along with Kirk and Spock.  Maybe in the next film....

Praise for Person of Interest

It took me a while to get into the show Person of Interest but I am now a huge fan.  I knew I had to give the show a try since it is another J.J. Abrams production and I usually love his creations.  Undercovers from last season was a big disappointment though so when it took me a while to get into this one I was afraid it was because it would be another bomb.  It turns out it just needed a few episodes to get the characters established.  Jim Caviezel is perfect in the role of John Reese, ex-CIA operative who is presumed dead.  He is lethal to those who deserve it and protective of the innocent.  Finch, played by Lost's Michael Emerson, took me a while to get used to.  As I was a huge Lost fan, it was difficult at first not to see him as Ben every time his face appeared onscreen.  Now, however, he is transforming into the character of Finch before my eyes.  Making Detective Carter a more essential part of the team has added a nice element to the story and the flashbacks of Reese with his former girlfriend make him more human and vulnerable to the viewer.  The only thing I don't like is that the show is not available on iTunes, such a bummer.

J.J. Abrams does it again with Super 8

     Super 8 was AWESOME!  The combination of Steven Spielberg and J.J. Abrams was brilliant as their unique styles blend in a beautiful harmony of adventure, childhood wonder, and suspense.  It feels like a combination of ET, Jurassic Park, Lost,  and The Goonies all rolled into one.  The kids were the best part of the film as their child like wonder was intoxicating.  Spoilers ahead... Yes, it is a monster/alien movie and like the movie Signs, this movie excels at showing very little of the alien and allowing the audience to imagine it themselves.  This technique makes the movie more of a thriller than a horror film which I greatly appreciated since I refuse to watch horror films.  The only disappointing part of the film was the ending.  It was too similar to the ending of ET.  After the alien has created havoc in the town he is finally allowed to go home, which was all he ever really wanted ("ET phone home" anyone??).  He completes his spaceship and flies off into the night sky with our main character, Joe and his dad looking on. Because of this, the end felt cheesy and was a huge let down from the excitement and wonder of the rest of the film.  Luckily, the short film that the kids make as a part of the end credits helps you leave the film in a good and upbeat mood but Spielberg and Abrams really needed to rethink their ending, it's been done already!

Fringe Season 3 Finale!!!

     For those of you who have not tried Fringe, you need to give it a chance.  I watched the very first episode because it was a free iTunes download and because it was a new J.J. Abrams show.  Unfortunately, it didn't grab me like his previous shows, Alias and Lost so I stopped watching.  But after some encouragement from some fellow sci-fi fans at work, I bought the first season on DVD and tried it again.  After about 6 episodes I was hooked.  The show is a cross between The X-Files and Alias.  There is a mythology that flows through it as well as the creepy sci-fi aspects that Mulder and Scully made famous in the 90's.  If I haven't intrigued you enough already then maybe sci-fi isn't for you, if I have peaked your interest then stop reading now and start watching Fringe from the beginning.  I'm about to reveal spoilers that you don't want to know if you plan on watching the show.  You have been warned....
     In usual Fringe fashion, the season finale ended on a cliffhanger and everything we had come to believe as true was turned on its end.  As Peter tried to stop the doomsday machine from ripping our world apart he is transported to 15 years in the future where he is married to Olivia (squee!!!) but their world is doomed and so they don't want to start a family.  As Peter attempts to find a solution, he and Walter realize that he must go back in time and stop the machine from destroying the alternate reality as well as his own.    In the process he brings the two worlds together and then disappears!!!  The Observer then comments to other observers in attendance outside the facility that Peter served his purpose and since he never really existed they will not miss him!  HUH???  Peter is my favorite character on Fringe, he can't be gone!  He's the cute one, besides being Charlie in the Mighty Ducks films, and he is the love of Olivia and now has a baby in the alternate universe so how can he not exist.  AHHHH! Now I have to wait all summer to find out what the deal is.  I don't think the producers would get rid of their only leading man but other shows in recent years have started to kill off main characters in an attempt to be new and fresh, unpredictable.  Oh, I love liking a show so much that I can't wait until the new season in the fall.  September, you can't get here soon enough!

TV Season 2010 Pulse Check

Back in September I wrote two blogs on my favorite new Dramas and Comedies of the 2010 season. It is now time for a pulse check - how are they doing so far, are they still beating or on life support?

Beating Strong - Raising Hope
This show still makes me laugh. When the scripts are good so are the episodes. There have been a few blah ones, but overall I am really enjoying this blue collar family and their hilarious predicaments. Jimmy is the underdog you want to root for. He isn't the smartest guy in the world but he puts his new daughter first. His parents aren't the best but they sure try hard and Maw Maw is priceless.

Having Heart Trouble - The Event and Outsourced
Unfortunately The Event is becoming a bore. It is falling into the same pattern of Flashforward where it starts out intriguing and then can't keep the excitement going. I still have a few episodes on the DVR and I'm not dying to watch them.
Outsourced has lost it's hilarity. The first few episodes were great, hilarious, but now the writing has faltered and they are no longer as funny as they were in the beginning. In fact, I have not finished watching the last two episodes. I turned them off mid show and deleted them. Meh.

On Life Support - Undercovers
I can't believe I am saying this but I have lost the desire to watch this show. It has nothing to do with the cast, they are great, it is the writing
(JJ Abrams is obviously busy doing other things and it shows, bummer). There is no urgency in their missions. There is nothing at stake. In Alias, the fate of the entire world was always at stake as well as Sydney's life. There was so much intrigue, twists and turns that if you missed an episode you had to find out what happened, asap. It was a huge water cooler show. The critics and network executives at NBC agree with me about Undercovers as the show was just cancelled for good this week. The ratings were low and with no huge stars to keep it afloat the network decided to take it out of it's misery.

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Fall TV Season 2010 - Drama

The new TV season started this week and so far I liked the potential of The Event and Undercovers.  The Event has similarities to last years Flashforward in terms of plot (something/one trying to take over the world/government ) as well as its multiple characters/timelines to follow.  The main character, played by Jason Ritter (who looks more and more like his late father every year) was excellent in the role.  He drew me in immediately.  My only fear is that the show will fail to take cues from Lost and attempt to drag the story out instead of having set times for conclusions.  Viewers want things wrapped up, they don't want to be dragged on a wild goose chase for multiple episodes without some payoff.  Flashforward did not learn this lesson and was canceled, another great concept that went down in flames.  Undercovers, created by Alias director/producer JJ Abrams also caught my eye.  While JJ Abrams name alone made me watch the first episode, I will continue to watch because of the great casting of the main characters.  Two unknown actors fill the main roles of the husband and wife spying team of Steven and Samantha Bloom (Boris Kodjoe and Gugu Mbatha-Raw) and they are excellent, especially Boris (yummy).  Their boss is played by Gerald McRaney.  A TV staple for over 20 years, Gerald perfectly fits the role.  While the show is similar to the film Mr. and Mrs. Smith, I'm already attached to this cast more than I ever was to Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie.  Hopefully the plots will continue to live up to the history of JJ Abrams other projects (Lost, Alias, Fringe) so that I will have a new favorite show to add to my collection.  Another show that premiered this week titled The Chase also had enjoyable moments and a great cast.  However, it doesn't appear like it will be a show where you have to watch every episode to keep up, so I may just watch occasionally.  One of the supporting actors is a favorite of mine from Prison Break (Amaury Nolasco played Sucre) and another Prison Break alum, Robert Knepper (T-Bag) will be guest starring in an upcoming episode.  Despite all of the hype and critical acclaim, I hated Lonestar another new drama that premiered this week.  I found it slow and boring in places.  The main actor didn't carry the role the way I felt a leading man should and the concept of a man keeping two women in the dark about his duplicitous nature just rubbed me the wrong way.  I hated the fact that he was stringing these two women along and yet I was supposed to accept and like this aspect of his character.

Fringe

So lately I have gotten into the TV show Fringe. After finishing my thesis, I started catching up on all of the shows I had missed while studying, writing and working for the past two years. I am a hugh JJ Abrams fan, so I was curious when Fringe first premiered 2 years ago. I even made time to watch the first episode, but I wasn't hooked. With Alias and Lost, all it took was one episode and I wanted to watch more. I couldn't wait for the next week to see what happened. With Fringe I could care less. At the end of the first season however, a lot of friends at work started talking about how great Fringe was. I was once again intrigued but because of school and my thesis I couldn't commit to another show. Then two months ago they had a special on Fringe Season 1 at Best Buy - $9.99 for the whole season. I couldn't pass it up for that price so I bought it and started watching. I had to really stick with it for the first 5 episodes (I had been told that the show really improved after the first few episodes), but then I was hooked. The X-Files overtones of the show make it more creepy that JJ's previous endeavors but a lot of his signature moves are there. The strong female lead, the good looking male lead/sidekick, action, interesting characters, mythology and intrique. While Walter, the genius/mentally unstable character steals the show, his son, Peter (played by Joshua Jackson - Mighty Ducks and Dawson's Creek Fame) is equally interesting and has now become the main reason I watch the show. I feel for these characters and I'm now invested in their outcome.