SarahBear reviews the latest installment of the Star Trek series.

This past week you might of heard that a lil movie called Star Trek came out.

I’m pretty sure most if not all of the Metropolis crew has seen it by now, a few of us went to the vastly fun Stars and Stripes Drive-In to see it last Friday.

On rare occasion I will shell out $8 to see a movie in the theater (I used to do this more often when I lived closer to my parents, we’re movie people ya see) and this is a movie I’ll gladly shell out $16 bucks to see.

J.J. Abrams is well on his way to being the next epic name in ridiculous Sci Fi action movies. Don’t ask me who the first one is, you’ll get various responses, and the important thing is that we have a new leader.

Joss Whedon is starting to regain strength from the first few faulty steps that Dollhouse is and was, everyone has given up on Lucas, Spielberg can be too preachy for my tastes and is losing points with every movie (just look at the train wreck that was A.I. and the newest installment of Indy), and don’t get me started on the Michael Bay line of directors/producers.

When I saw Cloverfield I was happily surprised. It’s what I wanted out of a monster movie. Also a movie that should really only be watched on a 20 foot screen.

So when the previews for Star Trek started to come out I was hesitant but hopeful.

And yes, call me a nerd, but one of the first things I said when I saw the previews was, “What the hell? The Enterprise wasn’t built on Earth!?! It’s a space ship, not meant for the strain of being blasted out of the atmo,…” ect. ect. ect.

You wanna call me a nerd to my face, find me at Mutant Power Hour and buy me a beer.

But Abrams warned us, he told purists to stay away, this movie is not for you. And he’s right, when it comes to the crazed fan boys but wrong when it comes to those that are rational, to a degree.

Abrams changes everything.

Anything you know about Star Trek canon throw it out the window.

Which seems to be the best way to do these re-boots of the classics.

There are some things you have to stick with; Star Fleet Academy, the Federation basically being the navy in space, aliens are everywhere on Earth, ect.

But the way Abrams gets away with disregarding all original canon is that he sticks true to why we watched Star Trek in the first place; the characters.

Chris Pine is who we imagined a young James T. Kirk was, Zach Quinto embodies all the Spock was plus an even stronger tear between his human and Vulcan sides (Nimoy has very publicly praised his performance), Sulu is the badass we always knew he was, Uhura is no longer a telephone operator but a strong female character who is extremely important in the movie, Chekov was thrown many a V word, and Scotty is the headstrong engineer we know can get the ship out of any situation Kirk has thrown at her.

And Bones…my only complaint is that I needed to see more Bones. Karl Urban gets Bones’ interactions with Kirk down to a science and has perfected the side mouthed snarl of annoyance.

The movie is visually stunning. The space battles go along the lines of the new Battlestar Galatica, and are fun to watch.

My brother tried to tear down the movie with me, but failed. Sure it’s not perfect science fiction or fact, Star Trek never was. But from a story telling perspective everything in that movie fit.

My major complaint is the lens-flare Abrams loved to use so much, I think there’s a basis of a drinking game there…

I demand a sequel if not a whole trilogy.

As for the whole of Metropolis. I can securely say that they all enjoyed it. And you’ll probably hear us talking about it this week on the show.

The joy of the drive in is that you can get away with yelling things out like, “Dude, did you just see that?!?” “Oh my god the phaser changed when it went to kill from stun!” “Get ‘em Spock!”

I lost track of how many texts my phone got that simply read, “Dude STAR TREK” or “FUCK YEAH STAR TREK” from various people this weekend.

5/5 SarahBear Stars

Coraline is based off the same titled children’s book by Neil Gaiman (Sandman, Good Omens, American Gods). Neil Gaiman is a common name in comics because of his Sandman series, a surreal series about the Lord of Dreams, and has strong ties in gothic fiction.
The big talk about this movie is the use of 3D and stop motion animation.

Let’s tackle the 3d effects first.
When I was 5 I saw one of these 3D movies at Disney World. It was a Michael Jackson and Muppets movie. I never fully recovered.
We all remember beings kids and going to see a 3D movie or even the 3D comics that used to come out. Both of these medias required the use of those red and blue glasses. Today that’s not the case. They basically look like sunglasses now, and work 100x better. The projector has also changed and if you sit near it there’s a lot of ambient light that helps draw you into the movie.
However, this new way of 3D is very appealing. There are less of those “oh my god the shark is coming at me!!!” moments and more appropriate choices. The dragonflies zoom around, streamers float gracefully, and the jumping mice on bouncing balls are beyond adorable.
In fact many times I forgot I was watching a 3D movie, which is very much the point. I was able to sit back and watch the movie I wanted to enjoy.
The stop motion animation is also something that only adds to the movie, not subtracting from the experience. I had to keep reminding myself that this was stop motion and not computer animation. Henry Selick (director of Nightmare Before Christmas) is very much a master of his craft and presents a very visually stimulating movie.
Wombat Children will probably eat this movie up because of its whimsical nature and the talking cat. Adults will see this as strong life lessons on whom to trust and how deceptive life can be. However, the main flaw in this story is that the parents don’t change. They’re shown as parents who are much too busy for their young daughter and they never learn to appreciate her. Sure they love her and provide for her but there is never that moment of gratefulness at her existence. Even when they are saved from the “other mother” they don’t remember what has happened and go back to ignoring their daughter.
Maybe I’m just one of those people who see problem characters in a movie and expect them to at least learn something about life, but it seems the only one learning anything is Coraline and her sidekick Wybie.
Overall I recommend this movie to those babysitting small children (who they hate) and anyone who is remotely a fan of Neil Gaiman, you won’t walk away disappointed.
4 / 5    SarahBear Stars