News for today's 2018

The World's End: What a way to go!

10:10 AM Tukiyooo 0

<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><b><i>The World's End</i> </b></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><b>(2013) • <a href="http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/focus_features/theworldsend/" style="color: #27a9c5; text-decoration: none;">View trailer</a></b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><b> </b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><b>Four stars. Rating: R, for violence, pervasive profanity and sexual candor</b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><b>By <a href="http://www.blogger.com/profile/12885694730612878577" style="color: #27a9c5; text-decoration: none;">Derrick Bang</a></b></span></b></span></span></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>            <br /><div class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is, without question, the funniest pub crawl ever brought to the big screen.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhA6cmTEzQAqTtQtdWjdcyfiY_YGTyBSsl_sr6sv-v4dJVjh9QK6dbYBHnzYIl2xxf0pzhXFpQVTQTSp7fIaHSTZaRTLy1J2fjFj9vWkxDhgXmsDidAo-BXemI8dfxQ8_Fo204uYuS8t6A/s1600/Worlds+End+blog.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhA6cmTEzQAqTtQtdWjdcyfiY_YGTyBSsl_sr6sv-v4dJVjh9QK6dbYBHnzYIl2xxf0pzhXFpQVTQTSp7fIaHSTZaRTLy1J2fjFj9vWkxDhgXmsDidAo-BXemI8dfxQ8_Fo204uYuS8t6A/s400/Worlds+End+blog.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Another pub, and still only the same single flavor of beer. By now, our heroes — from<br />left, Andy (Nick Frost), Peter (Eddie Marsan), Gary (Simon Pegg), Steven (Paddy<br />Considine) and Oliver (Martin Freeman) — are startng to wonder if something <i>other</i><br />than franchise blandness might be to blame...</span></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It’s also a cheeky delight that gets much of its fizz from the slow, tantalizing unveiling of What’s Really Going On: a reveal that deserves to remain a surprise for every viewer, much in the manner of 1998’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Truman Show</i>. That’s unlikely — which is a true shame — in an era when media outlets scramble over each other in an effort to unleash mega-spoilers.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Because <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The World’s End</i> is best viewed the way my companions and I did last night: with an advance preview audience that hadn’t the faintest idea what would come next.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So if this review remains elliptical and vague in spots, blame my desire <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">not</i> to spoil any of the fun.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Life hasn’t been kind to Gary King (Simon Pegg). Twenty years ago, his compulsory secondary education at an end, he was on top of his world: young, free-spirited and popular with the lads and lasses. By way of celebrating their impending release from school, Gary and his four mates vowed to drink their way through the 12 pubs dotting the “golden mile” of their bucolic UK community of Newton Haven.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">They didn’t quite make it, but that’s immaterial; the camaraderie was key.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This introductory flashback unfolds, like a series of video snapshots, to Pegg’s sassy off-camera narration. But his enthusiasm fades as we’re brought to the present day, to discover that Gary is sharing this saga during a group therapy session.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Time has moved on; Gary hasn’t. He’s still a self-absorbed layabout: a poster child for arrested adolescents who failed to launch. A 40-year-old man (to quote this film’s equally droll press notes) “trapped at the cigarette end of his teens.” And it eats at him.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">His former best buds, long estranged, have done better. More or less. Andy (Nick Frost) is a corporate attorney; Oliver (Martin Freeman) is a buttoned-down real-estate agent who shifts seven-figure properties. Steven (Paddy Considine) founded a successful start-up, sold out when the time was right, and now enjoys the companionship of a personal trainer half his age.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Peter (Eddie Marsan), the meekest member of the one-time gang, got stuck with the family business — selling cars — and seems little more than an afterthought to his wife and two children.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">No surprise, then, that Gary first broaches his “inspired” plan with Peter: to re-visit that tempestuous night two decades back, but this time to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">succeed</i>... starting with The First Post and concluding with The World’s End. (Just in passing, all 12 of these Newton Haven ale houses are named for actual English pubs.)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><a name='more'></a><br /><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Through enthusiasm, persuasion, guile and outright deception, Gary gathers everybody in the old gang: even Andy, his one-time best friend, who still has serious issues due to some long-ago betrayal. (Details to follow.)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">From the get-go, this film is propelled by its rat-a-tat dialogue: a barrage of verbal sparring, witty repartee and one-line zingers. Conversation hasn’t been this rich since the breathless pacing of Hollywood’s classic screwball comedies — okay, Aaron Sorkin gets close — and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">goodness</i>, but those days, and this style of wit, have been missed.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Director Edgar Wright and Pegg collaborated on the tart-tongued script, which must be three times the length of what’s needed for an average 109-minute movie, due to sheer verbiage. It’s all razor-sharp, frequently hilarious — random quips prompting enough laughter to drown out the next two or three equally funny comments — and directed with snap throughout.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Indeed, one can get exhausted while trying to follow the non-sequiturs, as our five not-quite-friends-anymore gets increasingly squiffed and argue about everything from pronouns to long-simmering grudges. One of the latter erupts into full view with the arrival of Oliver’s sister, Sam (Rosamund Pike), who once had a meaningless shag with Gary, while being secretly adored by Steven.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Everybody displays superb comic timing, their verbal sniping enhanced further by Wright’s deft direction and Paul Machliss’ slick editing. You can’t help wanting to applaud.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Speaking of which, our audience <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">did</i> spontaneously applaud one key scene, taking place in the loo at The Cross Hands. That doesn’t happen very often, and rest assured; it was well-deserved.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But things aren’t all kicks and grins. Wright and Pegg score some early social commentary with a mordant running gag, as our gang discovers — despite sporting wonderful names such as The Two-Headed Dog, The Trusty Servant and The Famous Cock — that all their beloved pubs of memory have been homogenized, and now share the same plastic ambiance, the same franchise menu, and (horrors!) the same single flavor of beer.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I wish I could remember the caustic line that defines this tragic loss of British tradition, because it’s a corker ... and a reminder that Wright and Pegg have more on their minds than mere verbal slapstick.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Despite the increasing haze of too much ale, though, Gary and his mates begin to wonder if there’s more to Newton Haven’s bland monotony than meets the eye. Longtime genre fans will appreciate this oddly quiet community’s resemblance to Little Storping in the Swuff, the equally sleepy — and creepy — township setting of a classic 1960s episode from Brit-TV’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Avengers</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Gary, stubbornly determined to chase the blues away, even as things get progressively weirder, is the first to discover ... ah, but no: That would be telling.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">The World’s End</span></i><span style="font-weight: normal;"> comes from the same manic team — director Wright, writers Pegg and Wright, and stars Pegg and Frost — that brought us 2004’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Shaun of the Dead</i>and 2007’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Hot Fuzz</i>. The similarities actually go much deeper; the boys also brought along their sizable repertory company, and you’ll recognize many familiar faces. Freeman and Julia Deakin (here as a B&B landlady) have appeared in all three films, as has the marvelous Bill Nighy (although it’ll take you awhile to spot him here).<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Former James Bonds also have a habit of popping up. Timothy Dalton played a pivotal role in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Hot Fuzz</i>, and Pierce Brosnan appears here as one of younger Gary’s disapproving teachers.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I also should mention, for the uninitiated, that <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The World’s End</i> is the third entry in what has come to be known as the “Three Flavours Cornetto Trilogy,” due to each film’s cheeky placement of a different flavor of Cornetto ice cream. Strawberry was the option of choice for <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Shaun of the Dead</i>, signifying that horror comedy’s gorier elements; <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Hot Fuzz</i> name-checked the original blue Cornetto, as befit its send-up of police dramas.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Don’t blink, and you’ll spot this new film’s reference to green mint chocolate chip. Draw your own conclusions about which genre is being spoofed.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I’m not sure “acting” <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">per se</i> can be discussed or debated in a project of this nature; Pegg, Frost and their colleagues play archetypes more than credible characters, their interplay more akin to the zany, tongue-twisting efforts of Abbott and Costello or the Marx Brothers. And yet personalities do emerge, particularly as panic sets in.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Marsan is appropriate woeful as poor, pitiful, put-upon Peter, while the dashing Considine makes Steven the one guy most willing to embrace Gary’s damn-the-consequences eagerness. Freeman’s Oliver is stiffly, starchly formal; Frost’s teddy bear-esque Andy, stubbornly on the wagon at first, erupts with hidden fury as the situation spirals out of control. Pike, in turn, makes Sam a gal worth remembering.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Their impressive talents notwithstanding, the film belongs to Pegg, whose Gary is a force of nature: a self-absorbed loser, to be sure, but a truly hilarious one. His bemused expressions, exasperated double-takes and mangled efforts at human speech are beyond priceless. It’s a true shame that actors never get awards for this sort of performance, because it’s one for the record books.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Equally funny, as well, is Gary’s single-minded determination — no matter what else happens — to down a brew at every one of his beloved 12 pubs. That gag also picks up steam, as this film roars into its flat-out-exciting third act.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Let me mention, as well, that Wright gets impressive production results for this film’s modest $20 million budget: far, far more than bloated failures such as this summer’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://derrickbang.blogspot.com/2013/07/the-lone-ranger-mild-mild-west.html">The Lone Ranger</a></i> delivered for close to 10 times that amount. Hollywood could take lessons from our thrifty British cousins.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I truly hate to think that Wright, Pegg, Frost & Co. are done with their Cornetto efforts. Each collaboration has been fresh and completely different from what came before, and plenty of genres remain to be lampooned. More to the point, Cornetto has several as-yet unreferenced flavors.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Douglas Adams turned his <i>Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy</i>“trilogy” into a five-book series, and probably would have written more, had he not died too young. Surely these cheeky British lads can do the same.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>

The World's End (2013) • View trailer Four stars. Rating: R, for violence, pervasive profanity and sexual candor By Derrick Bang ...

Star Trek Into Darkness: Still voyaging boldly

1:00 AM Tukiyooo 0

<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><b><i>Star Trek Into Darkness</i> </b></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><b>(2013) • <a href="http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/paramount/startrekintodarkness/" style="color: #27a9c5; text-decoration: none;">View trailer</a></b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><b> </b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><b>Four stars. Rating: PG-13, for intense sci-fi action and violence</b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><b>By <a href="http://www.blogger.com/profile/12885694730612878577" style="color: #27a9c5; text-decoration: none;">Derrick Bang</a> • </b></span>Originally published in <i><a href="http://www.davisenterprise.com/" style="color: #27a9c5; text-decoration: none;">The Davis Enterprise</a></i>, 5.17.13</b></span></span></span></span></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>            <br /><div class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Director J.J. Abrams’ audacious 2009 re-boot of <i><a href="http://derrickbang.blogspot.com/2009/05/star-trek-exciting-new-voyages.html">Star Trek</a></i> was clever and wildly entertaining, a delight for both hard-core fans and newcomers. (Do the latter actually exist?)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This follow-up is just as successful ... and perhaps even more fun. While also being deadly serious.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG-hqla3IgFdJh3s3z0TwXfbiynOQm_TY-q-Fef6XSzlRpMy3HEivritMslmW1ANmALEaR6zAad3Lk2bqevEMJOB_nX38ampvFEzcJDuLXW5QDqDUIwfT0QpQouqfefcLuW5fxFLww63o/s1600/Star+Trek+Darkness+blog.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG-hqla3IgFdJh3s3z0TwXfbiynOQm_TY-q-Fef6XSzlRpMy3HEivritMslmW1ANmALEaR6zAad3Lk2bqevEMJOB_nX38ampvFEzcJDuLXW5QDqDUIwfT0QpQouqfefcLuW5fxFLww63o/s400/Star+Trek+Darkness+blog.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Trapped on a hostile planet at the fringes of the Klingon empire, Kirk (Chris Pine, left),<br />Uhura (Zoe Saldana) and Spock (Zachary Quinto) try to figure out whether a cloaked<br />and impressively powerful assassin is helping them ... or merely eliminating distractions<br />in order to kill them himself.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Which is an impressive balancing act.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Considerable credit goes to returning scripters Robert Orci and Alex Kurtzman, this time joined by Damon Lindelof, who understand that it’s all right to mess with Gene Roddenberry’s original template — here and there — if such adjustments are made respectfully. And if they make sense, both dramatically and in the greater context of established <i>Trek</i> lore.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Thus, Spock’s home planet Vulcan was destroyed in the 2009 film, signaling that the future of these fresh-faced “Young Trek” characters wouldn’t necessarily unfold according to the Holy Writ as laid down by Roddenberry and the various show-runners who augmented the mythos during the subsequent TV shows and films.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On the other hand, blue-eyed Chris Pine’s James T. Kirk remains an unapologetic babe-hound. Some things <i>can't</i> change.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Star Trek Into Darkness</i> opens on the run — literally — as Kirk and Dr. McCoy (Karl Urban) flee from the enraged inhabitants of Nibiru, a Class M planet (i.e. one that’s Earth-like). Kirk has “liberated” a sacred object as a diversion, while Spock (Zachary Quinto), Uhura (Zoe Saldana) and Sulu (John Cho) take a shuttle into a massive volcano, hoping to prevent a cataclysmic eruption that could wipe out the entire civilization.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Despite their efforts to accomplish this clandestinely, Kirk and his crew clearly are violating Starfleet’s sacred Prime Directive, which prohibits any “interference” with a developing culture. (Needless to say, William Shatner’s Kirk violated that directive almost every week, back in the day.)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Regardless of this mission’s outcome — and things definitely don’t go quite as Kirk planned — the brash young Enterprise captain gets a serious dressing-down from mentor Christopher Pike (Bruce Greenwood), once back at Starfleet Command’s San Francisco headquarters. The unhappy result: a demotion and loss of his ship, with Spock assigned elsewhere and the rest of the Enterprise crew left to wonder who they’ll salute next.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><a name='more'></a><br /><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The punishment is apt, because — as Pike angrily tells Kirk — everything has come too easily to the young officer. And it’s true: Kirk wound up commanding the Enterprise far too quickly in 2009’s <i>Star Trek</i>, and that success merely encouraged his already reckless tendencies. Although strongly bonded to Spock by friendship, Kirk rarely seeks advice from his more pragmatic and (dare I say it?) logical science officer.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He’s not yet the best Kirk he could be, and it’s only a matter of time before his luck runs out. And Pike knows this.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Meanwhile...<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A distraught Starfleet officer — Noel Clarke, as Harewood — and his wife watch, helplessly, as their hospitalized daughter sinks deeper into the unspecified malady that is poised to claim her life. “I can save her,” promises a mysterious visitor, and a devil’s bargain is sealed. The girl’s vital signs bounce back; Harewood, in return, betrays his Starfleet oath in the worst possible way.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The act itself is shocking enough: that it should be orchestrated by a Starfleet officer feels even worse. But, then, <i>Star Trek</i> lore is laden with examples of corrupt officers who’ve gone off the rails for reasons ranging from power lust to outright insanity. Not so unusual, then, that this one succumbs to a father’s desperate love for his daughter.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Family ties, in fact, are the driving force behind this rapidly unfolding storyline. Orci, Kurtzman and Lindelof quite ingeniously explore the bonds of various deeply personal relationships, and the lengths to which people — good and bad — will go, to preserve them.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Kirk very soon encounters the same mysterious individual, identified as John Harrison (Benedict Cumberbatch, best known as the BBC’s re-booted Sherlock Holmes), who seems hell-bent on a one-man mission of revenge against Starfleet. Harrison is an unexpectedly powerful adversary, as strong, fast and nimble as he is cunning and smart. He doesn’t seem to care if people see his face, because he knows that nobody can stop him.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And, it would seem, he’s right.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Events eventually lead to deep space and the planet Kronos, perched at the outer fringes of the rapidly expanding Klingon empire. (Recall that we’re a long ways from the Klingon/Federation truce that put Worf on Jean-Luc Picard’s Enterprise.) For reasons that remain vague, Harrison has gone to ground on this planet; Starfleet’s Admiral Marcus (Peter Weller), uncharacteristically vengeful for one holding his rank, orders this terrorist tracked down. And killed.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The latter part of that command deeply troubles both Spock and McCoy, uncomfortable over the lack of due process that has transformed them from explorers into executioners.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Any real-world parallels to the way Western countries — particularly the United States — have been pursuing and treating captured Islamic terrorists are, of course, absolutely intentional. And this, too, is classic <i>Trek</i>; Roddenberry, like Rod Serling before him, tackled all manner of hot-potato political topics under the thin guise of science-fiction and fantasy.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Although this new film owes its energetic juice to the adroit script and Abrams’ slick pacing, the cast deserves considerable credit for the way in which they inhabit these younger versions of beloved characters. The Kirk/Spock dynamic is particularly droll, with Pine and Quinto exchanging rat-a-tat dialogue that demonstrates exasperation on both sides, as each tries to bridge the awkward emotional divide that separates humans from Vulcans.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Pine’s Kirk is cocky, impulsive and impatient, forever frustrated by Spock’s apparent inability to recognize — let alone practice — human traits such as loyalty. Quinto’s always bluntly truthful Spock, in return, is eternally puzzled by the ill-advised hunches and “gut feelings” that prompt human behavior.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This becomes even more of an issue for Spock, when it comes to his relationship with Uhura, who also is reaching the end of her tether, when it comes to her pointy-eared lover’s maddening refusal to show his feelings. If he actually possesses any. Saldana is deliciously flinty, her Uhura capable of a depth of cold fury that surprises even Kirk.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At the same time, this Uhura is by no means limited to opening hailing frequencies, in her Starfleet capacity. For one thing, she speaks Klingon like a native. Which, as you might expect, comes in handy.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Cho’s Sulu gets his first stint in the captain’s chair, rising to the occasion quite splendidly; Urban’s McCoy is ever the humanist, insisting that Kirk step back and count to 10. The good doctor also is adept at growling irritated quips, and of course he remains a technophobe who dislikes “scattering his atoms across the universe” when traveling by transporter beam.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Simon Pegg once again is a hoot ’n’ a holler as Scotty, who, yes, gets to complain about his poor Enterprise engines; we, in turn, get to see far more of Scotty’s massive engineering section than ever before. Thanks to the special-effects wizards, we finally have a better sense of this starship’s impressive <i>size</i>. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Deep Roy returns as Keenser, Scotty’s mute, diminutive but absolutely devoted companion.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Anton Yelchin is under-utilized as Chekov, and Yelchin needlessly hammers this character’s Russian accent: not this ensign’s finest hour. Alice Eve is similarly under-developed as Carol, a science officer who gets herself assigned to the Enterprise for secret reasons of her own, apparently having to do with the 72 experimental “photon torpedoes” that the ship has been assigned to carry ... much to Scotty’s displeasure.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Cumberbatch makes an awesome villain; we absolutely believe his character’s arrogance, ruthlessness and utter disregard for collateral casualties. Cumberbatch looks scary even when Harrison is motionless: his dark eyes blazing malevolence, his grim expression a precursor to fresh atrocities being hatched in his coldly analytical mind.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Longtime <i>Trek</i> fans will pick up on the several hints to Harrison’s actual identity, although that plot twist undoubtedly will be headline news by Monday. More’s the pity.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Editors Maryann Brandon and Mary Jo Markey keep the pace lively, often intercutting between divergent plotlines; Abrams shrewdly manipulates tension by lacing grim events with lighter moments, as when Spock and Uhura have a lovers’ spat en route to Kronos. Cinematographer Daniel Mindel brings impressive scope to every scene, from Starfleet’s expansive San Francisco headquarters, to the labyrinthine guts of the Enterprise’s warp-core engines.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And, rest assured, you’ll want to experience the marvelous special-effects work — the planets, the Enterprise, the space battles — on a giant IMAX screen.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But don’t bother shelling out for 3-D glasses on a regular screen. This is post-production 3-D — in other words, fake — and it brings nothing to the experience.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Michael Giacchino delivers another rousing orchestral score, laden with character themes and action motifs. And, just as the iconic “James Bond Theme” was held back until the very end of Daniel Craig’s debut 007 adventure, in <i>Casino Royale</i>, Giacchino saves Alexander Courage’s familiar <i>Star Trek</i> fanfare until a similarly climactic moment. Wednesday evening’s packed-to-the-gills preview audience erupted with well-deserved applause as the first notes trilled from the screen.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Along with the equally iconic signature phrase that we’ve not heard for awhile.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Star Trek Into Darkness</i> is a grand ride that certainly does <i>not</i> suffer from the “sophomore curse” that infects so many sequels. We can only hope that Abrams, his writers and this tightly bonded ensemble cast return for another round.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Make it so</i>.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>