Movie Reviews

I've seen WAY too many movies lately! It's getting a bit ridiculous, but I like movies and some good ones have been coming out. I can't wait to see Land of the Lost, looks HILARIOUS!

Anyway, here are the reviews for today - Star Trek 2009 and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Let's start with Star Trek.



To start and to be totally fair, some of the guys at the office hyped this movie SO hard, I don't know if any movie could have lived up to it. But, I did like it. I've heard people say it's this year's Ironman, and for my take, it's nowhere near as good. It was cool - and I know I'm waffling back and forth here, and here's why: The movie does a killer job as an homage to the original TV series. All the characters get really good background build-ups and that was pretty cool. I'm not sure if you would like this movie as much if you didn't know some of the things about the TV show. I did know a lot of what was being referenced, so it was cool in that respect. The story gets a touch crazy because JJ Abrams of "LOST" fame is the director and the time-travel thing plays a huge part in this and it gets almost as ridiculous as LOST trying to figure out who's from where and how he got there, etc. etc. etc. And that drove me crazy! But the action was excellent, the story was OK, and the acting was pretty good. I really liked the Scotty character, really funny. And Uhura is in love with the LAST person I would have expected in this movie, and that was kind of funny.

SO, overall I'll give the movie a 3.5. I wish I'd waited for Red Box, but it was a good movie. If you're a HUGE Trekkie, you'll love it 100%. If not, your opinions will vary.
--------------------------------------------


The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is the story of a boy/man (Brad Pitt) who ages backwards. He's born looking like an old man and as he ages chronologically he gets younger physically. It's definitely a different film from any I've watched recently and despit the length, it was actually pretty good. I even managed to stay awake watching it late at night. Julia Ormond is also in this movie, so I immediately had flashbacks to "Legend of the Fall" and how boring it was. :-D I didn't think this movie was as boring. There is the predictable relationship with Cate Blanchett's character - Daisy (this part actually reminded me of Forrest Gump - But Brad Pitt has Tom Hanks beat for the ladies' interest all day I'm sure) but they both give a pretty good performance. I was curious that no one ever took a scientific interest in Benjamin. I would have expected doctors and scientists to want to check him out and learn about his condition, but it never happened. The movie is set in New Orleans and they have plenty of freaks there, so maybe no one really noticed :-D

Anyway, I'll give this movie a 3 out of 5. I'm glad I saw it on Red Box, but I didn't hate it. It actually had a few parts I really liked and there are some good messages in it. So if you like dramas with little to no action and some good acting, this is a good choice for you.