Star Trek (2009)

I remember first hearing about the re imagining of Star Trek a few years ago. My first thought was a big fat "Oh Brother", why on earth are they attempting to do that. After all, not only will the movie be facing the fickle public, who seem to be getting slightly tired of the wave of remakes, but also the dreaded trekkie. The insane fan base who hold the gauntlet of the Star Trek mythos like no other.

Now, I am not a trekkie. I am a fan of Star Trek, having grown up watching the show in syndication like everyone else did. Never watched The New Generation, or Enterprise, or Deep Space Nine yada yada. I also feel the Holy Gail of Star Trek movies is the Wrath of Khan. For years i felt there is no way Khan could be topped in the world of Star Trek. I held that belief all the way up until today.

JJ Abrams Star Trek is truly a masterpiece of science fiction story telling. The movie grabs you right from the beginning and never lets you go. Its fast, sharp, witty and beautiful. The cinematography is fantastic, the special effects are spot on and the actors, well i will get into that in a minute. This isn't a movie to appease the die hard Trek fans, this is just a lot of fun for any movie fan. It should be this years Dark Knight, unless there is something really mind blowing coming out.

Myself like a lot of people felt the most difficult part of retooling this franchise would be to make the audience not make a comparison with the cast of the original and the new cast. This is what surprises me the most about the movie. The cast is perfect. Instead of replacements, they are more like an extension of the original cast Chris Pine's portrayal of James T Kirk is amazing simply because of the shoes he had to fill. He does not make you miss William Shatner one bit, nor do you forget about him. Pine makes it his own, all the while paying tribute to Shatner. That is to be said for the rest of the cast as well. Zachary Quinto (Spock), Karl Urban (McCoy), Zoe Saldana (Uhura), Simon Pegg (Scotty), John Cho (Sulu), Anton Yelcin (Chekov) are all perfectly cast. I was curious on how they worked Leonard Nimoy in, and was very happy with the results. He has a larger part than I expected, and has one of the biggest knot in the throat moments when he utters the famous, "I am and shall always be, your friend" line.

Its not 100% perfect. The plot takes a bit to get ahold of and there is a "love interest" that took me by surprise (and no not the green woman.) The Romulan bad guy Nero is played well by Eric Bana. My only problem was, except for the opening, there wasn't a lot of moments with him to really get your blood boiling with hate. You hate him, but i really wanted to hate him. These are just small things compared to the over all experience of the movie.

Its the best Star Trek movie of all time. I say that with great reverence to Wrath of Khan (which is still incredible.) This is finally a re imagining done right. My hats off to Mr. Abrams for giving a new generation a Star Trek to be proud of. I cant wait for the next installment.

I am Magically Disgusted

@ColleenBurns @jabberjim i woke up happy and then remembered why i cried myself to sleep last night #orlandomagic #fail

As perfectly tweeted by my fellow Magic friend Colleen this morning, the Magic made every fan cry last night. In an act usually reserved for college football season, i threw my Magic hat across the room in disgust. It truly was one of the most frustrating sports viewing expieriences in recent memory.

The Magic basically shut down with 5 minutes to go in a game they had well in hand. Why? I have to blame coaching. Simple as that. It literally seemed like the coaching staff just told the guys to wing it in the closing minutes. Don't worry about the fact they are facing the defending NBA champions who, despite missing Kevin Garnett, are still an expierienced, potent team.

The coaching staff also seems to forget they have an all-star center, who should be touching the ball. Even Dwight himself is scratching his head at the lack of touches he gets in the clutch. As Howard states in that article, a player needs the ball to get into an offensive rythmn. Case in point, Ray Allen, cold for most of the series, yet Doc Rivers still gets him the ball. Ray came through at a crucial point in the game, hitting a big 3. You HAVE to give your superstar time to shine. Yes they defended Howard well. Yes Howard missed some shots and is a liability on the foul line. But he has to have the ball. He is a good enough player to make something happen. Inexcusable you have the cornerstone of your franchise on the floor and he is relegated to a spectator. If Dwight Howard is to reach the levels of Lebron and Kobe, he needs the ball enough times during the game to work on his defender, to find a weakness and exploit it.

I will be watching game 6. But I will be nervous. Even if the Magic build a 30 point lead in the 3rd period, i will still not feel confident. They must learn to shut the door. This must happen with your superstars. The Magic had a legitimate shot at winning this series 4-1. Establishing themselves as a contender. The only thing they seem to have accomplished in this post season is establishing a reputation as a team who do not know how to close out games. That is a bad position to be in. They have the players, they have the superstar. Game 6 will show what kind of metal this team is made of.

I love the Magic... but man they piss me off.

Late night contact

You came in a surprise, almost ghost like. With kind words out of nowhere. My heart stood no chance despite the wall i was trying to build.

It seemed so mutual. Time together, shared laughter and song. Music filled my world like never before. I fell quickly. My wall was gone.

The months went fast, like a minute. The fear began to build. Like trying to stop the water, its impossible.

Last words were not spoken. You were gone like a surprise, almost ghost like. With words of distance. Heart was broken.

Now there are still kind words out of nowhere. Reminding me of the music. Not sure of the meaning. Trying to build my wall.

My heart stands no chance.

The NBA Suspention rule...............................sux

Gearing up for Magic/Celtics game 3

Its going to be an interesting game. If the Magic play with the same intensity shown in the first half of game 1, the Celtics will find themselves in trouble. However, the Magic are without their interim starting point guard Rafer Alston for slapping Eddie House in the back of the head after a House 3 pointer. Yeah, Eddie was doing some jawing and may have gotten an elbow in, but that doesn't excuse Alston's behavior. The slap was actually kind of funny, my sister used to slap me like that when i was 8 for acting like an ass. Upon reviewing the play, Stu Jackson suspended Alston for 1 game. Of course he didn't see House's giving Alston an elbow when he ran by.



Switch channels to the hotly contested Lakers/Rockets.

Now call me crazy, but Kobe blatantly, yes blatantly, gave Ron Artest an elbow to the throat. Video replay clearly shows the elbow, and Artest, rightfully so, gets irate. What happens to Kobe? Nothing, nada, ziltch, ZEROOOO. Why? Simply because its Kobe. Now Artest is certainly not the most beloved player in the NBA, but a shot to the throat like that can do some serious damage if connected right... a lot more than a little slap to the back of the head.

I'm sorry, but Kobe deserved to be suspended for his actions. If Jackson can honestly say that elbow was not intentional, well, he is burying his head in the sand.

Kobe is a great player, but he should be treated like anyone else in the league when it comes to flagrant actions like that.

The NBA.... Where Amazing Hypocrisy Happens

Martyrs (2008)

I cant quite figure out how I feel about this movie. It's classified as a Horror, and there are Horror elements, but it certainly is not a Horror movie in the classic sense.

It centers around Lucie and Anna. Lucie escapes from a captivity in which she endures unspeakable levels of torture and isolation. After being placed in a home for troubled youth, she meets Anna, and the two form a strong bond. Lucie is a tormented soul and grows up seeing horrific visions and haunted by an unknown spectre. It then veers into a revenge movie, in which Lucie seeks to exact revenge on a family she is convinced are responsible for he captivity and torture. This is the point of the movie it shifts gears, and focus's on Anna, who finds herself the victim of the same captivity endured by Lucie. It moves with brutal efficiency, yet can be repetitive.

There is no doubt this movie is brutal. Many reviews have called it "torture porn." I honestly would not go as far to call it that. The 2nd half has many cringe inducing moments, and as the plot unfolds you begin to find the reasoning behind the brutal torture that is inflicted. But there are no rape scenes, and the torture is not sexual in nature.

It is a movie that sticks with you. Some people may not be able to handle the subject matter, but for those who can, will find it a powerful but flawed movie. The only problem I have with it, is it just doesn't know what kind of movie it wants to be. You think you are watching one kind of movie, and then it quickly switches gears, not once, but twice. That being said, i recommend it. Turn the lights off and get ready to be freaked out a little.

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End of the Line (2007)

I saw the boys over at Aint it Cool News do a write up on this movie. It got me pumped to see it. Boy was i disappointed.

It centers around a small group of strangers who band together after the subway they are traveling home in shuts down, and they are then faced with a group of religious nuts armed with daggers in the shape of a cross running around killing people screaming about saving their souls. There is ZERO believability in that the slow moving fanatics really are not that intimidating.. some kids, an old woman, a few nerds... they are not scary at all.

The movie starts out promising, but just falls apart. You keep expecting the hero's to be doing battle with the so called demons or something sinister rather than a cool aid drinking cult.

There are some ok scenes, its just not a very scary or interesting film... I updated my iPhone apps in the middle of it.

New age Sports interactive tweet fighting

Sports viewing checklist several years ago:

1. Beer
2. Chips
3. Lucky Jersey/Hat
4. remote

Sports viewing checklist today:

1. Beer
2. Chips
3. Lucky Jersey/Hat
4. Remote
5. iPhone
6. Laptop
7. Tweetdeck open
8. Live Chat/Blog active
9. take notes for tomorrows personal blog post
10. More Beer

Now mind you, all that is for 1 game. Game 5 of the Orlando Magic/Sixers. I was multi-tasking like no ones business. Posting on the live chat, tweeting, looking at my NBA app on my iphone, snacking, having a few beers, etc....

Watching sports has really become an interactive orgasm of fun. No longer do you have to go to a bar to get into a testosterone filled rant with someone.. you can have that right on twitter. As we all know, behind the anonymity of the Internet, people can be enormous assholes. Combined with google, that same enormous asshole can instantly look up some stat from 34 years ago to gain credence to his soft argument. Confronting a drunken fan of the enemy team is bad enough out in public, but when armed with technology and instant facts, well it can cause quite a ruckus.

Now personally, I have had my best fights surrounding College Football and my beloved Florida Gators. The new season is slowly approaching, and I find myself looking forward to the battles that I am sure will come on twitter.

I will be ready. Armed with my laptop and tweetdeck, I will be ready to lay down the smack on the poor souls who so foolishly feel their pathetic team can possibly come close to the splendor of the Florida Gators... Bring it on.... bitches.