Anchor ads are not supported on this page.
Print Edition
Classifieds
Stories
Events
Contests
Music
Movies
Theater
Food
Life Events
Cannabis
May 1, 2024
April 24, 2024
April 17, 2024
April 10, 2024
April 2, 2024
March 27, 2024
March 20, 2024
March 13, 2024
March 6, 2024
February 28, 2024
February 21, 2024
February 14, 2024
Close
May 1, 2024
April 24, 2024
April 17, 2024
April 10, 2024
April 2, 2024
March 27, 2024
March 20, 2024
March 13, 2024
March 6, 2024
February 28, 2024
February 21, 2024
February 14, 2024
May 1, 2024
April 24, 2024
April 17, 2024
April 10, 2024
April 2, 2024
March 27, 2024
March 20, 2024
March 13, 2024
March 6, 2024
February 28, 2024
February 21, 2024
February 14, 2024
Close
Anchor ads are not supported on this page.
Dammit, Jim
It's not that I'm anti-Abrams (I liked the first two seasons of Alias, and the Abrams-produced Cloverfield) but Super 8 and most of the rest is really young-adult fiction, and it's in this way that I'll agree with you that the new Star Trek films continue in that vein. My guess is that Steven Spielberg is largely to blame (I'm thinking primarily of E.T. and Indiana Jones) for the juvenilization of cinema, and without him we might not have the likes of Quentin Tarantino and J. J. Abrams. I'm tired of all this boyish exuberance. For all the faults of the first Star Trek film, Robert Wise gave the project some gravitas. I say give the reins of the next Star Trek film to Walter Hill!— May 31, 2013 10:39 p.m.
Dammit, Jim
I take your point that because this film takes place pre-TOS we might logically excuse its lack of camaraderie among the cast, but I'm not expecting any sequels to improve upon the human element. It's snappy one-liners from here on out. The original Space Seed, with no CGI to distract it, told a more compelling story in under an hour with ample commercial breaks. As for Harris's flight into Klingon territory, what exactly was he going to be doing there all alone for eternity? There's only so much Xbox one can take, and even Osama wasn't alone in a cave at all. Surely you jest when you say that Abrams is about feelings. He's about technical wizardry. And lens flares.— May 30, 2013 8:58 p.m.
Dammit, Jim
Early in this film, Admiral Pike tells Kirk that the young captain isn't yet mature enough to command, and we might say the same to J. J. Abrams. He, like Spielberg, still has some growing up to do. In the meantime, let us mourn the loss of Gene Roddenberry's vision, and in particular the camaraderie he instilled among the characters of The Original Series. Instead, this Star Trek rushes the dialogue to get to the next whiz-bang wham-blam, and it's only after the din subsides that we start to wonder: Doesn't space provide a better hiding place than seawater? Why does no one question the logic of a man ensconcing himself on an abandoned, lifeless planet? (Getting good sushi must be hell.) Can sensitive engineering devices really be repaired by banging into them full force with one's heels? How can you have a fistfight atop a vehicle careening through town at a zillion miles an hour? Why is that "weapons expert" out of uniform, and what is she doing in this film in the first place? How cadaverous will Leonard Nimoy have to get before we're done with him? Director George Cosmatos rose up for Tombstone; let's hope that someday J. J. Abrams tackles a similarly worthwhile script.— May 29, 2013 1:04 p.m.
Olympus Has Fallen
Nothing more than a mirthless, suspenseless and utterly pointless <i>Die Hard</i> ripoff. See this only if you too can put all of your critical faculties on hold. Man, do I miss Duncan Shepherd. (And for the record, Gerard Butler is not a disgraced former secret service man. He's an actor.)— March 25, 2013 11:45 p.m.
Tattoo History, Flushed Bugs
Such a thing as a lampshade of skin apparently has existed, although whether it came from Buchenwald is uncertain. There's a book that describes the object: "The Lampshade: A Holocaust Detective Story from Buchenwald to New Orleans" which you can find at amazon.com. The book has been discussed on NPR; go to npr.org and search on the keyword "lampshade".— February 23, 2011 10:36 p.m.
Good Buy
Assuming your DVD player can also play Blu-ray discs, please follow up with your experience with those. In my opinion, Blu-ray discs are as much above DVDs as DVDs are above VHS tapes.— January 13, 2010 6:52 p.m.
Tool of the Trade
Perhaps it's time to stop talking about DVDs and to start talking instead about Blu-ray Discs. With Blu-ray, the visual gap between home theater and movie theater is closing fast. I personally don’t find that I'm missing much if I see a film only on a 52" HDTV Blu-ray screen accompanied by good quality sound, and the minor home theater degradations of size and quality are more than offset by the lack of degradations from talkers, paper crumplers, chair-kickers, and the like. DVD was always a compromise; Blu-ray not so much.— April 30, 2009 8:27 p.m.