Tag Archive: movies

Revisiting Ray Harryhausen’s 1958 classic, The 7th Voyage of Sinbad

May 18, 2016 12 Comments

Ray Harryhausen was a mainstay of my childhood. His movies were regular features on the Saturday matinees — on television, not in theaters; I’m not THAT old! — and they sucked me in every time. How could they not? No sane young boy would be anything but engrossed by giant creatures slugging it out with heroes in sandals, and Harryhausen’s creatures were AWESOME. So not too long ago, I decided to revisit a handful of his movies, among them The 7th Voyage of Sinbad. As a kid I had no real affection for the Arabian myths, so Ray Harryhausen’s Sinbad films never quite connected with me despite my huge love for his work and Harryhausen liberally mixing in monsters and myths from others cultures. I…
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What I learned from watching all the Star Trek movies in a row

April 29, 2016 26 Comments

I was a pretty unlikely candidate to marathon all the Star Trek movies. As noted when I started this Trek-a-Thon, I’m a casual Trek fan at best. Star Wars is my star jam. Trek is that other thing I sort of respect and kind of know because you can’t run in geek circles without knowing at least some Trek, but despite having seen many original series episodes, most of The Next Generation on TV, and all the movies through Generations, I’ve never been able to call myself a Trek fan. Hell, I’ve playfully mocked it over the years because that’s what you do. All in good fun, but yeah. Poke poke. So I was the last person who should have been revisiting these movies. Yet…
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Star Trek: Nemesis is proof that fan recommendations aren’t worth much, because it’s way better than they say

April 29, 2016 12 Comments

Word of mouth and fan reaction can be a funny thing. Fans know their material more intimately than anyone, Trek fans especially, so when word on the street sets your expectations about a franchise, chances are pretty good they’ll be met. That has been evident throughout this marathon, when this Trek neophyte’s views have fallen almost exactly in line with Trek fandom’s. The one major exception has been with the very first Trek movie. And now the last. Because despite the middling reviews and lukewarm word of mouth, I think Star Trek: Nemesis was pretty outstanding and a fitting end to the Next Generation saga. Admittedly, it starts off rather questionably. Hints of The Undiscovered Country, with the Romulans now in the mood for peace…
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Star Trek: Insurrection is a glorified TV episode and does not belong on the big screen. Fact

April 28, 2016 43 Comments

The danger of relying on your television creative team to craft a major motion picture is that your major motion picture may come across as more suited for the small screen rather than the big. Such is the case with Star Trek: Insurrection, which feels not so much like another Star Trek movie as it does like a two-part episode with a slight (very slight) increase in the special effects budget. Which is to say, it’s a disappointment that often borders on being a bore. The fact that it opens in some throwback village and then immediately descends into Data Has Gone Stark Raving Mad insanity as a way to create intrigue is an early red flag that this movie is going to go astray….
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Star Trek: First Contact isn’t a classic, but it’s worthy of the big screen

April 27, 2016 42 Comments

The Next Generation crew’s first jump onto the big screen was a capable yet flawed disappointment, but that’s no reflection on the strength of the cast. They may not be icons like the original crew, but with seven successful seasons under their belt they’ve more than earned their place in the Trek canon. It’s welcome to discover, then, that First Contact does them justice where Generations did not. Here we have a movie that mixes together parts of The Wrath of Khan (a relentless returning enemy and some reliance on TV Trek lore) and The Voyage Home (time travel to an earlier Earth and the cheeky humor that results), and blends them together in a new story that manages to mine Trek lore in a…
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