Omg, Inglorious Basterds=dialogue that makes sweet love to my ears. Everything about this flick was uniformly excellant. That opening scene with Christoph Waltz(who deserves an oscar nod for this) was chilling(I loved his pipe by the way lol). Yes, the Jew Hunter was awesome and he's one of the better cinematic villains of the year. Pitt was great throughout. My favorite scene with him was when he went undercover near the end as an italian but didn't try to disguise that southern accent lol. My audience was roaring. My "Go Go" of the movie was basterd Hugo Stigletz who's so awesome that his name appears in big bubble letters when he first appears and Samuel L. Jackson tells you his story lol. brilliance. Finally count me in as one of the people who love Shoshanna and her whole storyline. I've read some people online not dig it but I think it's beautiful. Even that weird David Bowie song that came out of nowhere where she was getting dressed fits for me. on my Tarentino list: 1. Kill Bill vol. 1 2. Reservoir Dogs 3. Inglourious Basterds 4. Jackie Brown 5. Death Proof 6. Pulp Fiction 7. Kill Bill vol. 2 Pulp Fiction i'm just not in love with. It's still awesome but I don't repeat view it was much as I do the 5 flicks above it and Kill Bill 2 is great but I was kind of letdown after how much I loved Vol. 1.

District 9EXCELLANT. Saw this today as a double feature with Basterds and man was it great. It was easily the most original film I've seen in the past couple of years and the story and the effects were amazing. I would like a Christopher action figure It's hard to compare it to anything else though. I just described it to my brother a minute ago as a cross between E.T. and The Fly but even that doesn't really explain it. I think Inglorious Basterds is the best film of the year(that I've seen so far) and this is a close second(although I was a bit more entertained by SIt really was something else. I was in love when Verkis(or whatever that guy's name was) went to Christopher's house and asked him to sign and I-7 and Christopher was like,"what? You can't evict me, you have to give me 24 hours notice". I was like, what movie am I watching? Who evicts aliens and has them sign paperwork in movies? This is incredible! And that last half hour with that battle suit? mmmmmmm, so good. Jennifer's Body tar TrekI saw Jennifer's Body today. It was....okay. Something of a clusterf**k in that it would have these really brilliant shots and ideas and follow it up with idiocy. For every good idea, there were two bad ideas. Another problem I had with it is "normal" megan fox isn't any different than "evil" Megan Fox except for during ONE scene(and it ends up being the best scene in the movie for me. Incredibly dark scene.) You guys ever see a movie that you think COULD'VE been good and you yourself could probably fix with a quick rewrite? That's what jennifer's body was for me. , G.I. Joe, aI think it's sad that this movie bombed so hard. It's not "good" but I think it's got decent ideas and deserved to make a little more money. Also Adam Brody finally made me forget he was on the O.C. Brody isn't a horrible actor but I feel like he plays "Seth" in EVERYTHING...until now. That alone makes it worth watching.nd Watchmen but this flick still rocked hard).

Just saw G.I. Joe. Admittedly, I think it started off kind of weak. The opening scene flashback felt like a deleted scene from VAn Helsing and the next scene(and first battle scene) was a bit cheesy for my taste but after that...PURE BLISS AND NON STOP FIGHT SCENES! It was nice to watch action scenes where the camera wasn't shaken and you can see what was going on. The film was very violent and full of explosions to the nth power. For fans of the material, it's surprisingly faithful to the comics and cartoons. Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow in particular are EXACTLY like they are supposed to be(their flashbacks were probably the best. Watching little kids beat the unholy hell out of each other is shockingly entertaining). Cobra Commander may not look like he does normally but he sure does ACT like he's supposed to. Very pleased with him. My favorite scene(of many in the film) is the attack on the g.i. joe headquarters. Baroness and Scarlett beat each other senseless, Stormshadow and Snakeeyes do as well(Stormshadow even throws on a jetpack at one point!), LOTS AND LOTS of ninja stars, guns, explosions. Seriously this movie was awesome. It started off really goofy and I was ready to write it off and be dissapointed but once it got going, it was incredibly entertaining. It is Stephen Sommers best film by far and I hope it does really well. I love the final scene. My audience was about 80 percent male and probably more mixed than usual race wise. As an adult, I thought this was immensely entertaining but I think if I was like 9 or hell even 15, I probably would've declared this the best movie ever lol. It's that much goofy fun.oh, and to everyone who *****ed about the accelarator suit stuff, I thought it really worked onscreen. It looks bad in slow motion in the commercials but it was INCREDIBLE on the big screen without the slo mo. Cars getting blown up, lazer guns and such. Zartan's whistling made me chuckle. I really, really liked it. Yes, it's not as faithful as it could be but...it was so much fun, I found myself not caring.

Liked it but didn't love it. I rewatched the whole series recently to get myself hyped up for it and they don't hold up as well upon multiple viewings.... Harry Poter and the Half Blood Prince review by Kushmeer Farakhan Another year and yet another new film adaptation of the Harry Potter books. Half Blood Prince, the sixth in the series is a fairly good film but in many ways it's also a bit of an inflated gob of setup and exposition as well as(somehow or another) a romantic comedy. During my previous review of the last film, Order of the Phoenix(insert review from this link HERE http://www.moviemansguide.com/reviews/movie/read.php?id=harrypotter5_xmenfan , I went on and on about how great a movie it was. Just rewatched all 5 of the previous ones in preparation of the new one and my opinion has changed slightly. First one is still just decent, second one still sucks but now the third one(while still the best of the first 3) isn't as entertaining for me, and I've switched the third one for the fourth one in terms of which one is my favorite. I now think Goblet of Fire is best because it's a perfect blend of the lightness of the first three and the darkness of the latter installments. The fifth film I raved so much about before is still good but the ending just feels worse and worse every time I see it. I still feel that final battle's result is a copout and overall ridiculous and it dragged down the entire thing further for me. Coming into the new one, I only hoped that however it ended it wouldn't be on a downturn from what I'd seen. Luckily it does not. In Half Blood Prince, Harry(Daniel Radcliffe) is determined to find out why Draco Malfoy(a finally worth a damn, Tom Felton) has gone from Hogwarts bully to a possible assassin and deatheater. During this(finally) compelling mystery other developments include new teacher Professor Slughorn(Jim Broadbent) being brought aboard by Dumbledoore(Michael Gambon) to get new intel on Voldemort(Ralph Fienes), the burgeoning relationships between Harry and Ginny(Bonnie Wright) and Hermione(Emma Watson) and Ron(Rupert Grint), and a very powerful spellbook that Harry finds that had previously belonged to someone known only as the Half Blood Prince. A lot of plot development and yet the film moves like a snail. I mean it, this movie is SLOW and long(i probably could stand to trim 30 minutes at least from it and miss very little). It didn't bother me as much this go round because it's brand new but I know the run time is gonna hurt me on repeat viewings. Another problem I saw from the start is that this one is completely dependent on you knowing and remembering the previous five films as there isn't much reintroducing or anything of that nature that is common place in a lot of other sequels(I brought my family this time. They had only seen Chamber of Secrets and bit of Goblet of Fire. My brother took a nap and they were both a bit lost at times). So if you've got a Potter virgin, watch the last couple first at least. Yates as a director has grown some since the last film as there are a lot more interesting shots and camera angles to be seen. Actingwise, the lead kids are good as they always are and we see some real growth from Felton's Malfoy. I've always liked the character to an extent but as it felt as if he were never going to be anything other than a bully, by the fourth one, I'd given up on him and then...this. MUCH better. Alan Rickman's Snape(who is typically noted by many as being used far too little) gets a lot more time to reasonate in this one and he's always a highlight for me. As I said earlier, when it's not talking about Voldemort's disciples, Half Blood Prince is all about the romance between the kids and it comes to a head here as we see feelings realized for all the little couples. I've seen others say they spend too much time on it but I think it was needed. I'd rather it get resolved here than see it pad out Deathly Hallows. My problem with it though is that after two films of drama we're back to lighthearted slapstick at times. I had fun with it overall but it feels like a step back to an extent. There are numerous Voldemort/tom Riddle flashbacks which are interesting but only the last one really meant anything. As far as action goes, there's little of it compared to the other installments as the film chooses instead to coast on it's comedy and more dramatic elements. But oh what dramatic elements. I loved the revelation of the Half Blood Prince stuff. I know there wasn't a ton of time spent on it but there was enough for me. Also, for once, the ending really rocked. Still, the entire film feels like one long setup for a rocking finale and that hurts it as it's own piece. It spends so much time setting up Deahtly Hallows that I feel Half Blood Prince isn't allowed to be it's own thing as much. If this review seems kind of schizophrenic, it's because I felt the film was too. It's a long, action lite, mysterious romantic comedy and it require you be a fan of at LEAST the last films to understand it correctly. It's demanding of it's viewers in ways most summer films are not and I'm okay with that. How okay you with it, I think may be up to individual viewers. I can easily recommend it to fans and to those who just like the other movies but I'd caution anyone else to think long and hard about what they're in for otherwise. I need to watch it again to figure out where it falls next to the other films but rest assured, i will watch it again. 4/5 stars

from the day that Michael Jackson died conincidentally enough...I Just saw it and I feel a little shell shocked. I've never seen and heard so much noise and fx and felt so...numb before. I'll give it this. Everything up until...how do I make this non-spoilery?...the "big guy" is snuffed and the Decepticons have "victory", I was mostly entertained, much more so then the first film anyway. I liked the forrest fight. The opening scene where the Autobots and the Nest members take out a couple of Decepticons was pretty cool. I also liked the stuff with Ravage, Soundwave(what little of him there was. I wish he would've come to earth though), and even the "female" undercover Decepticon. Then it all comes to a screeching halt and mediocrity and boredom set in. Sam's parents get way too much screentime as do Sam's new roomate, the little Italian Decepticon who humps Megan Fox's leg, and worst of all those two new minstrels...um, I mean Autobots Mudflap and Skids. Oh. My. God. They're like Jar Jar times 10 or something. Are they racially offensive as has been talked about on numerous other sites? Eh, a bit but they only say a couple of really offputting things(like the "we don't dos much reading" line) with the rest of their dialogue sounding like goofy wigga talk. Was the money that good, Tom Kenny? Devastator sucks. He's not even worth talking about. The Fallen was all talk and no bite. The overusage of the military is too much in the finale. It worked better in the first film. Josh Duhamel and Tyrese Gibson are there for their checks. Pluses: Starscream and Megatron's antagonism is present which is nice but there's not enough of it. Soundwave as I said before is used well. Mos of the Autobots,when they DO appear, (They have too little screentime. If the Deceptcions got shafted in the first film, the Autobots do in this one) are pretty cool. Optimus is great throughout(though i found some of his...bloodthirstiness during battle scenes to be too much and out of character). I think people who love the first one will love this but for me, it was like someone attempted to write a superior film to it's predecessor and just said "f**k it" halfway through and just scribbled out random junk. And even though I like this better than the first, the first one was clearly more thoughtout in terms of plot. A real mixed bag. I still liked it better than Wolverine and Terminator though.

X-men volume 3 and 4 dvd review tech specs: Dolby 2.0 Stereo French and Spanish Language tracks French and Spanish Subtitles Full Screen(1:33:1) Episodes(volume 3): Savage Land, Strange Heart part 1 Savage Land, Strange Heart part 2 Obsession Dark Phoenix part 1 DArk Phoenix part 2 Dark Phoenix part 3 Dark Phoenix part 4 Cold Comfort Orphan's End The Juggernaut Returns Nightcrawler Weapon X, Lies and Videotape One Man's Worth part 1 One Man's worth part 2 Courage Volume 4: Proteus part 1 Proteus part 2 Sanctuary part 1 Sanctuary part 2 Beyond Good and Evil part 1 Beyond Good and Evil part 2 Beyond Good and Evil part 3 Beyond Good and Evil part 4 Have yourself a Morlock little X-mas The Lotus and the Steel Love in Vain Secrets, Not long buried Xavier Remembers Family Ties The episodes: 4.25/5 As I've said in previous reviews, I frakkin' love the X-men. I love(most) of the films, I love the comic series, I love the various merchandise(t-shirts, toys, etc.) that's come out over the years. I love it all. But there is no part of the franchise that has quite lit my fire like the X-men animated series which ran on Fox from 1992-1997. Before X-men hit tv screens, I had no concept of season long story arcs or season finales or any kind of serialization in general. When the show came out, it galvanized both my imagination and my thirst to learn more about these characters. The first 2 seasons and roughly a quarter of the third were released earlier this year on X-men volumes 1 and 2. I didn't get to review those but I was fortunate enough to get the new installments Volumes 3 and 4 for my viewing pleasure and oh what pleasure there was. The first season I consider to be an animated masterpiece(with volume 1 getting a solid 4.5 stars had I reviewed it. I took a half point off for no specail features) and season 2 is almost as good(volume 2 would've gotten that 4.5 anyway) but while Volumes 3 and 4(also known as the rest of season 3 and all but a couple of episodes from season 4) are even more ambitious in story and scope than the first 2 seasons, they weren't quite as good. The major centerpieces of season 3 were the original phoenix saga and it's sequel, the dark phoenix saga. While the first is very enjoyable, 5 part romp, the second is not quite as good. The problem being that the writers got a bit too melodramatic at times and some of the scenes where Cyclops complains about Jean's escalating issues come off as whiny. And this happens throughout that story. Still, it's a worthwhile group of episodes. More enjoyable for me on Volume 3 were the one shots highlighting other characters. "Obsessions" sees the return of Archangel as he continues his quest for revenge on Apocalypse. "Courage" features the one time X-man(and season 2 villain) Morph return to the x-men only to find out he may've returned too soon. Iceman and Nightcrawler make their first appearances of the series in "Cold Comfort" and "Nightcrawler" respectively. Volume 3 is a great batch of episodes with the only yawner being the two part "Savage Land, Strange Heart" in which the x-men face Sauron and a giant stone god in the Savage Land. Doesn't sound dull but trust me it is. Volume 4 follows much the same pattern as volume 3 with roughly half of it's episodes being two part or multi part epics the standout being by far, "Beyond good and Evil" an 4 part epic that was(originally) intended to be the series finale of the show but ended up being just an "event" mid season due to Fox renewing the show for a 5th season at the last minute. "Beyond.." sees The X-men team up with Cable, Bishop, Archangel and others to stop Apocalypse's biggest world conquering scheme to date. So big in fact that he enlists every other major villain from the series to help him!(Magneto, Sinister, Sabretooth, Mystique, just about everybody). Other goodies include the 2 part "Sanctuary" which is a story loosley based on the 1991 x-men vol. 2's first few issues about Magneto having missles pointed at earth from his haven for mutants, the space station Asteroid M, "Love in VAin" in which Rogue deals with a former love and the x-men face Aliens, and the love it or hate it classic "Have yourself a Morlock Little Christmas" which is yes, folks, and X-men christmas special. It's quite silly but I enjoy it. The only criticism most fans will have with the episodes is that they're not all in order. Sure, the big multiparts are but some of the episodes meant to bridge the gap between storylines like "No mutant is an island"(which addresses the events immediately following the Phoenix Saga from volume 1) for example are not on the set. This is because the episodes have been released in order of air date and not always how they should be chronologically shown. As a result, the eventual volume 5 will contains that episodes that are better left watched BEFORE some of the volume 3 and 4 episodes. It's a minor thing for me but for some, this is a bigger deal. Overall great mix of episodes though. Audio/Video- 4/5 stars. Sounds great and looks great. There are a handful of noticable animation mistakes but that was typical in early 90's animation. Having dvd quality makes them more noticable though. Can't complain about the sound at all though. The infamous and catchy theme song sounds ultra basstastic coming out of my speakers. Special features- none(BOOOO-URNS!) overall: 4.25/5 stars. X-men Volume 3 and 4 are fantastic additions and must haves for any true X-men fan. Not quite the genius of the first 2 volumes but not far from it and quite a bit of enjoyment nonetheless. Report to moderator 98.156.90.217 YOOOOOOOO, JOEEEEEEEEEEE!!

Had a doublefeature of both of these when I got off of work yesterday and they were both a blast. I started with UP. My brother and I saw that early afternoon. I thought it was excellant. Yes, Yes, I know some of us are tired about hearing how flawless Pixar is but well...they're good at what they do. I didn't dig Cars that much but it was still pretty good. Up is beautiful though. Up follows old man Carl Frederickson and his quest to get he and his wife's(who recently passed away)house at the top of a mountaintop in South America(which is something she had been talking about since they were children). Carl is accompanied by a little boy scout named Russell, an strange exotic bird named Kevin, and a talking dog named Doug. Well, the dog doesn't really talk but he and the "evil" villain dogs in the movie talk using some kind of brain reading collars. The one for the alpha dog is hilarious(Bagdasarian was that you? lol). The film's biggest drawback is also it's biggest strength. The first 15 minutes or so show you how Carl and his wife Ellie met as children and is followed with a lenghty montage detailing their life together and man is it something. I cried. A lot. And later in the film, I cried some more. For the tons of laughs(and there are tons) throughout the film, the sadness can be overwhelming at times and in some ways that hindered my enjoyment a tad. But like I said, it also enhanced it and for me, the best kind of films are the ones that make you feel for the character and after that montage, I was utterly in love with Mr. Frederickson and why he does what he does to honor his wife. The kid, Russell has a lot of funny dialogue and never gets annoying and all of the dogs are pretty funny too. I would say it's equally good as Wall E and one of Pixar's better efforts.For those curious, my Pixar rankings: 1. Toy Story 2. Toy Story 2 3. The Incredibles 4. Up 5. Wall E(though it and Up are more or less a tossup) 6. Ratatouille 7. Finding Nemo 8. Cars 9. Monsters Inc(the only one I didn't really like). I still have yet to watch a Bug's Life other than a handful of random scenes. If you're not interested in watching a cartoon about an old man, you might be more into Sam Raimi's newest, Drag me to Hell. Drag me to Hell follows a girl named Christine(Allison Lohman) who is a loan office at a bank. She's got a boyfriend(Justin Long who's slowly learned to not be annoying onscreen anymore. For his other non-annoying role, see Zack and Miri make a porno) but she has some insecurities about their relationship. His mom doesn't like her because she was raised on a farm. Christine is also occasionally troubled because she used to have a lot of issues with her weight. If all of this sounds kind of odd for an "horro" film it's because it kind of is. Most horror films nowadays don't give us any reason to care about our protagonist and it's refreshing to see one where we're given a lot of background and info about our main character to the point where we actually care if they live or die. Well, one day at the bank, an old gypsy lady named Ganush comes in seeking another loan on her house. She's had the house for decades but has been recently having trouble with the mortgage. Christine's boss leaves it up to her if she wants to approve the loan and Christine(seeking an assistant manager promotion and also seeking to impress her boyfriend's mom) decides to pass on giving the old lady a loan. And that's when the fun begins. Up until this point, the film has been played as a straight drama to the point where I even cared about the old lady(who you really feel for...for a bit). Then the craziness ensues. The old woman curses Christine and a demon is let loose on her for the rest of the film. I've seen things in this movie, i'd never seen in a horror or any film. I've now witnessed an evil talking goat, someone trying to gum somebody to death, someone trying to fight somebody with staples, and other oddities. Also, the worst nosebood I've ever seen("did it get in my mouth? WAs it..did it get in my mouth?" HI-LARIOUS!). It sounds silly but it was really kinda scary. Raimi has done the seemingly unthinkable as he has created one of the first good, non-R rated horror films of the past several years. The film IS gory, so much so that I don't really know how this got a Pg-13 so if just want to see gore, it's around. I think the reason for the pg-13 may've been that Raimi didn't throw out any F-bombs and there's no nudity as well as nothing TOO CRAZY(like guts poring out). But there is eyes squirting, projectile vomiting, anvil's falling on people, several scenes of people being possessed, an evil goat(yes, I keep mentioning but the evil goat is awesome. YOu have to see it to believe it. "I don't want your cat, you whore!". Ah, mr. goat, I worship at your feet, sir). By the way, if you're squeamish about animal sacrifice this might be a pass for you lol. Anyway, basically what I'm getting at is that Drag me to Hell is good because the characters are played straight with crazy situations occuring once the supernatural stuff starts happening and Christine has a lot of horrific things happen to her that really make you hardpressed to find fault in some of her more questionable decisions. And the ending? Oh, Sam, balls of steel you have! If you're any kind of real horror film fan, you HAVE to watch it. This isn't like T4 or Die Hard 4 or whatever where it's noticiably neutered. Because this is not part of some prestablished continuity/film franchise, whatever, this film merely...is. It exists and it takes no prisoner. There are no such things as movies that suck because of their ratings(not really). It's more like, bad filmmakers not knowing what to do with the rating they have. But when you have a good director and good writers(Sam cowrote with his brother Ivan), you get good stuff all around. I can't recommend these two movies enough. Both are just a grand old time.

This movie defines mediocrity. As much as people dumped on Wolverine and as bad as that ended up being, at least there Jackman was giving it all he had and there was a genuine effort that felt more like Fox was messing things up behind the scenes than anything. Bale is full of *****, when he said he made sure this was a good script. He smelled paycheck and couldn't back away. And he clearly doesn't care that much about the film either as his performance is all over the place(at times he even uses his Batman voice which is woefully out of place here). The only GOOD performance is Anton Yelchin as Kyle Reese who(during his first scene in the film) seems to even be impersonating Michael Biehn a bit, and although this homage doesn't continue, Yelchin still brings his A game. Also fairing not too badly was Moon Bloodgood. She was saddled with a farfetched and just plain lame semi-love story subplot but she really sells it the best she can. Kudos to her. Bryce Dallas Howard and Common don't do much but either look angry or say perfunctory plot moving dialogue, nothing more. Why was Michael Ironside there? Totally wasted and a walking cliche of a character at that. Sam Worthington as Marcus is probably the biggest dissapointment for me performance wise(especially since all these various filmmakers had him being the next big thing). First of all, his big "secret" isn't one if you've seen any trailer, tv spot or hell, even walked down the toy ailse at K-mart. For that his big storyline is kinda boring. However, even if I hadn't known his secret, it's still be boring because Worthington is a boring actor who barely emotes and spits out crappy tough guy dialogue while trying to decide if he's gonna talk with American or his natural Aussie accent(he never really picks one instead floating in and out of both. McG should've done something about that and the fact that he didn't is lazy directing.) The action scenes(save for the final one) are all just big, loud, and pretty but they carry no real suspense or drama or any emotional weight of any kind. Very few people actually visibly die in this film and the terminators barely even terminate anything. Instead they horde people around like cattle for...some reason(which is never explained). As I said, the final action scene is kinda neat. Schwarzennegger(or his image rather) shows up and fights John Connor and Marcus for a bit. It's a pretty cool fight but it's really only cool because Arnold is the only Terminator in the movie that doesn't die easily. I mean, it's really kind of ridiculous. Three Terminator movies where they're hard as f*** to kill and in this one, one or two rifle shots and they're done? CRAP. McG has learned NOTHING new(and that's coming from someone who dug the Charlie's Angels movies he did) and he was the wrong person to direct this movie. I didn't hate the movie, I really didn't. But it's just so damn mediocre and it has no right to be. Wolverine was micromanged to hell by Fox execs and the valient efforts of those involved weren't enough to fix it. Here McG and the writers seem to have been given free reign and and great expensive effects to work with and yet...it doesn't work. I wanted to like it but it's just a big, dumb, loud action movie that makes the first two look even greater than they already are and even makes T3 look better in comparison.

Very few films I've seen in my young 26 years of life have left me speechless and struggling with words. I've seen quite a few great ones. I loved The Dark Knight which redefined the superhero film for today's audiences. Lord of the Rings proved that nerd fantasy can be oscar bait. Heck, you've even seen me wax poetic on this site about smaller films that are long forgotten by many(like The House of Sand and Fog, for example). But Star Trek, J.J. Abrams big budget relaunch(and prequel) has performed a cinematic miracle. It has taken an dying(beloved though it may be to it's cult of Trekkies and casual sci-fi fans) franchise and turned it into a super ginormous, effects-laden action comediy extravaganza that will please fans and general audience members alike. Star Trek's main focus is on reintroducing the classic characters from the original 1966 tv series in new and more modernized ways. The film begins with the childhoods of Kirk(Chris Pine in a star making role) and Spock(Zachary Quinto who takes his acting range to a whole other level here) and then dovetails into the two joining starfleet academy. It then introduces the other infamous characters like McCoy(Karl Urban doing the best Deforrest Kelly...EVER), Chekov(Anton Yelchin, who i regreted underesitmating), Uhura(the sexy Zoe Saldana who I've been a fan of since the first Pirates film in 2003), Sulu(Harold and Kumar's John Cho who gets arguably the most kickass fight scene in the film), and Scotty(cult horror funnyman Simon Pegg who gets some of the biggest laughs in the film). After the group finishes starfleet, an emergency happens on Spock's home planet of Vulcan involving an renegade Romulan named Nero. Nero HATES Spock and is intent on destroying him now..and FOREVER. The film is basically Batman Begins only Star Trek as we learn how each charcter came to be and hear all of them utter damn near every famous line we've ever heard them say on the show before. J.J. Abrams(who has impressed me by direcing all of the best episodes of Alias and an couple of Lost episodes during it's first season) does an outstanding job of directing. He makes it looks like he's already directed ten or more fx heavy features and it's crazy that this is really his first one of this nature. The script by Robert Orci and Alex Kurtzman with a hand or two from Damon Lindelof is mack tight and never slows down to catch it's breath. The audience is hit with either one hilarious comedy beat or one mindblowing action sequence after the next and sometimes a combination of both as one liners and lazer blasts are firing at 1000 miles an hour at warp speed! Let's talk about the actors for a minute. I had my doubts about all of them but they all deliver. I've never seen Chris Pine before but now I can't wait to see him again. He never apes Shatner and yet feels EXACTLY like Kirk. He's great and I think he would make a great Flash or Green Lantern as well. Zachary Quinto I had some doubts about since i'm so used to seeing him only as Sylar on Heroes but he's actually MUCH better at this then he is on that show. He's not quite as good as Leonard Nimoy(but then again who could be, right?) but he crafts his own version of Spock that while not the same is a palpable and great character in it's own right. Urban(who I thought was a tepid actor...until now) is amazing as Bones and I think he'll be many fans' favorite character in the flick. He nails McCoy's mannerisms, speech patterns and infamous lines with no effort. Cho, Yelchin and Pegg as Sulu, Chekov, and Scotty respectively have the least to do but all get some great scenes and or lines to make it worth it. As a way of expanding Uhura's role a bit, Zoe Saldana is asked to be Spock's girlfriend for this version of the classic saga and while weird at first, it works and Saldana plays the part with grace and an very good amount of warmth. Rounding out the cast is Eric Bana as Nero the Romulan villain and Leonard Nimoy as Spock(from the future). Honestly, the movie could've been done without Nimoy's Spock but they've managed to make it work and not be contrived. Nimoy is moving as usual and gives the film an continuity with the older series that makes any Trekker with trepedition easily more forgiving. Nero doesn't have a whole lot of depth or dimension to him but ERic Bana does a great job with what little he has. At least his motivations are admirable and he's not just a mustache twirler. The fx work and sets look amazing. There is obviously cgi that had to be used but you never feel like you're looking at a big mess of cgi splattered everywhere. Everything looks practical and real without looking cheap. Does Star Trek have any problems? Not much, just minor quibbles. It's an hilarious film but I'm not quite sure how hilarious a sci-fi adventure film is supposed to be. I mean, at times it was borderline action comedy and the writers and J.J. probably should've dialed things back a tad a couple of times. Also, as I mentioned before, Nimoy's Spock didn't HAVE to be in this for it to work. I liked his presence but the story could've gone on pretty similarly with Spock written out and with an slight rewrite about Nero. But I digress. Now is a time of nothing but celebration. J.J. Abrams and his team of cast and crewman have saved Star Trek. Not only have they saved it, they've breathed new life into it, reigniting the passion of older fans and gaining what are sure to be tons of new ones at the same time. Live long and prosper my friends and go see Star Trek. I can't say enough good things about it. 4.75/5 stars.