The one with the mini movie review – Star Trek

After much waiting and anticipation from the world, the next movie to get the reboot treatment has arrived. Star Trek opens in Cork cinemas today. And yes, this is the same Star Trek that made William Shatner a household name and probably got him the TJ Hooker gig at the same time!

Star Trek as many of you know dates back to the 1800’s or something and has some of the most hardcore fans the world has ever seen. So, I would speculate that the director, J.J. Abram's (Yes he of Lost and Cloverfield fame) grew some very large testicles before he took on. the monumental task of bringing Star Trek, once again, back to the big screen.

The story starts before Jimmy Kirk was born and immediately you know this is a very, very different Star Trek universe from what you may have been used to. James Tiberius Kirk (Chris Pine) is born and the story progresses from there, with his induction into Star Fleet and his eventual clamber onto the captains chair. The story is basic enough and I don't want to go into much detail as not to give anything away, but the world needs saving!

There are some fantastic moments in this movie including an uncanny Mr.Spock and a fantastic performance from Simon Pegg as Scotty . But Chris Pine is the show stealer. While some of the Shatner mannerisms are still intact, he brings a whole new lease of life to the character who I never liked in the first place. The new Captain Kirk is one cool dude and a tough son of a bitch to boot. Nero, the bad guy doesn't have a whole lot of screen time and Eric Bana doesn't do much to melt your mind, he’s adequate at best.

The special effects are stunning (excluding the teleporting scenes which just look weird) and the first glimpse you get of the USS Enterprise is a very special moment. It has never looked better and the battles and scale of the movie are absolutely huge. There is great pace here and the picture thunders along at a frantic pace or warp speed if you like. You are never left hanging around wondering what will happen next.

As a devout Star Wars fan I am very surprised I enjoyed this so much. That said, I wonder how the hard core trekkers or trekkies (or whatever your called this month) will feel about it. Abrams version has far more grit, action and intensity than any of the other movies combined and this may lead to some of the hardcore fans hating it! That said, it still is great to see the evolution of Kirk and Scott and the second most famous ship in the galaxy, the USS Enterprise.

So the reboot is complete and like most reboots, the following movie should be better again. Finally, Star Trek is a hugely enjoyable movie for all, no doubt some of the real fans may be disappointed, but J.J. Abrams really has brought the Star Trek franchise into the true, next generation!

9/10

The one with U2 out of tune

Fake methinks

The one with the Real Life Mario Bros

Itsaaaa Meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The one with some fire alarm action!

Dont worry about the fire, grab yer drums and geetar and lets tear it up

The onion hits Star Trek out of the park

Trekkies Bash New Star Trek Film As 'Fun, Watchable'

The one with the real Wolverine

Well, it had to happen didnt it! FFS

The one after a bank holiday!

Bank Holidays are great (cue flashback to the Fast show)
I get a night off and as I'm watching the holiday count for the year, it doesn't detract from my annual leave. The only problem with Bank Holidays is as follows!

As soon as you wake up on the Monday morning, its over! Be it 7am or 2pm, the bank holiday is over! Well it is in my mind anyway. Sunday, is the real bank holiday, not the Monday! There should be a bank holiday every month! I’m sure it would put us all in a better mood…possibly.

My Monday was spent doing the following….

Read about Harry Knowles buying a Pacman potholder in Urban Outfitters. Subsequently went on Ebay and bought one as well. Awesomeness
Assisted the in-laws to be with an electronic issue
Debated buying an iMac for video work, knocked that on the head after looking at prices and reading articles about which is better
Wandering around Mahon Point after 5pm completely and utterly aimlessly.
Bought the paperback version of Jonathon Ross’s book.
Went into Tesco, and turned around 2ft into the store stating I couldn't be bothered, much to the delight of the wife to be
Bought €5 of pick n mix
Came home, suffered from internet withdrawal and read over 50 pages of Wossy’s book in a titanic toilet reading session
Struggled with pins and needles
Half fell down the stairs due to pins and needles
Went to shop, filled the fridge
Convinced wife to be that tonight should kick off the film history night
Ironically, Close Encounters of the third kind was on Sky+ Anytime in HD
Lit fire, dimmed lights, hit play on Close Encounters, ate dinner
Ate too much shit food after dinner, in turn demolishing any good work that was achieved on the health kick in the last few weeks
Kept pointing out epic shots that are engraved on popular culture when it came to Encounters
Wife to be didn't seem overly blown away with Encounters
Went to bed when it was over
Decided to go to bed as well
Wife to be reading, me reading
Me kept reading to constant turn off the light I have work in the morning
Eventually turned off the light, reached for iPod to go surfing and remembered it was charging
Went to sleep

Rock n Roll.com!

The one with the Movie Bit - Summer preview

Here's a selection of what I reckon are gonna be the big ones this summer!

Terminator Salvation - Please Jesus, let this be as awesome as it looks!


Transformers 2 : Revenge of the Fallen - As above


Public Enemies - All the ingredients look super


The Taking of Pelham 123 - Cant get Money Train out of my head, but this looks solid!


Inglorious Bastards - Tarantino doing a war movie remake! Do I need to say anymore?


Funny People - Great Cast, writer and director! What could go wrong?

The one with the summer movie preview

Its that time of the year again, and tonights Movie Bit will be previewing some of the biggest movies of this Summer!

From 10pm on Corks RedFM with yours truly and Cork Talks Back

The one with the mini movie review – X-Men Origins: Wolverine - REDUX

I guess X-Men Origins: Wolverine kicks off the Summer blockbuster season, but does it kick it off with a bang or just a damp fart?   The title of the movie give’s it all away. We get to see where Logan / Wolverine and his brother (Victor) comes from. We witness they’re childhood, the various war’s they’ve fought in throughout time and their subsequent “death” by firing squad. From there, enter William Stryker who signs the brother’s up for his little band of mercenaries, which are a bizarre bunch of mutants, complete with varying powers and skills. Mix in a little disagreement and Logan leaves the gang and goes to live in the mountains. From there the movie concentrates on the evolvement of Wolverine as a mutant.

He gets a little upset over a “death” and goes thundering off wowing revenge. On this journey we’re introduced to Gambit, how Wolverine got his metal claws and plenty of action set pieces which include jumping from a bike to a chopper and plenty of claw on nail battles. And of course a big finale with plenty of kicks, punches and claws going through flesh!

The cast are quite good as comic book movie’s go, with Liev Schrieber’s character, Victor, getting plenty of good one liners.He’s not only blessed with these, he looks superb as well, from his nails to his creepy black coat, and the overall look of who will later become Sabertooth is superb.

Jackman IS Wolverine. Tried as hard as I could, I couldn't imagine anyone else bringing the Marvel hero to life the way Hugh Jackman does. He brings a good intensity to a character who has plenty of deep things going through his mind and generally looks like he love’s playing the part of Wolverine. That said, the character of Wolverine has plenty of dimensions from hating his powers and so on and that is really not portrayed in the movie very well.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine is a very promising start to a new line of movies from the Marvel universe, where I believe Gambit is next up for the big screen treatment. While it would have been great to see a little bit more of the back-story, in particular the war’s the brothers fought in back to back, Wolverine thunders along quite nicely. I guess the fear is always there that there could be too much back story ala Superman Returns and not enough full on Wolverine action!

The grand finale is left down by a few dodgy special effect sequences and comes across a little rushed. There’s a few post credits parts, but to be honest there not worth hanging around for. Its hard not to feel charged up after watching this and want your own set of claws. I wonder how much the operation would be for a set of real Wolverine claws. I enjoyed X-Men Origins: Wolverine. I think it could have been the biggest movie of the blockbuster season if it notched up the violence and intensity to the true level of Wolverine the character. The videogame adaptation got it right, the movie not so much. It does kick off the summer blockbuster season with a bang. Not a bang that will blow out windows or anything, but it will give them a little rattle !

6.5/10

Thanks to the Gate Cinemas