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David McK (3587 KP) rated Star Trek: Discovery - Season 4 in TV
Oct 8, 2023 (Updated Oct 8, 2023)
Michael Burnham, saviour of the universe (again)
Season 4 of Star Trek: Discovery, now only available to watch internationally on Paramount+ after they pulled it at the last minute from Netflix.
As a result, it took me roughly 1.5 years after release before I even got a chance to watch it.
Not that, having now done so, I seemed to miss all that much: this time around, the key season-long threat is a mysterious DMA ("Dark Matter Anomoly") that has appeared in the galaxy, causing untold death and destruction, and which requires Burnham and co to travel beyond the confines of their galaxy to deal with (cue a lot of crying and emoting and speechifying and very little actually 'doing'),
I had though, by the last couple of episodes, it would turn into a modern-day Voyager, but nope.
Strange New Worlds is the better modern day Trek show.
As a result, it took me roughly 1.5 years after release before I even got a chance to watch it.
Not that, having now done so, I seemed to miss all that much: this time around, the key season-long threat is a mysterious DMA ("Dark Matter Anomoly") that has appeared in the galaxy, causing untold death and destruction, and which requires Burnham and co to travel beyond the confines of their galaxy to deal with (cue a lot of crying and emoting and speechifying and very little actually 'doing'),
I had though, by the last couple of episodes, it would turn into a modern-day Voyager, but nope.
Strange New Worlds is the better modern day Trek show.
Andy K (10823 KP) created a post
Jan 1, 2019
Bob Mann (459 KP) rated Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982) in Movies
Sep 28, 2021
Wowee! From the ridiculous to the sublime. This is how to make a Star Trek movie! If you were trying to bring back the action and fun of the original TV series, then what better than to bring back one of the original villains in a sequel to that story? And being able to cast the original actor (Ricardo Montalban) is just perfect.
Nicholas Meyer also clearly had the same frustrations about that first movie. The film barely pauses for breath. Interestingly, it clearly reuses footage from the original movie in travelling to the Enterprise in space dock, but cuts that 6 minute special-effects-porn-fest to about 20 seconds! It’s a striking comparison!
The movie “introduces” Kirstie (“Cheers”) Alley as Vulcan officer Saavik (although she was in a student-made feature the year before). She makes quite an impression. Also new to the series is Merritt Buttrick, playing Kirk’s son David. Sadly, like Khambatta from the last film, his Trek-voyage was to be short lived. Although he appeared in Star Trek III, he died of Aids just three years later.
The movie is also notable for launching the late James Horner onto the world stage as a leading film composer. Horner cleverly associates the “ship” in starship with a roistering seafaring motif that would be equally at home in a Hornblower movie as it is here. I remember leaving the cinema when this was released and heading STRAIGHT into HMV to buy the vinyl soundtrack!
There are very few things I can find to critique in this movie. It all holds up pretty well, even after nearly 40 years (MAN, I FEEL OLD NOW!) The only scene that perhaps grates with modern sensitivities is in the (supposedly comic) “lady driver” reactions from Kirk.
Nicholas Meyer also clearly had the same frustrations about that first movie. The film barely pauses for breath. Interestingly, it clearly reuses footage from the original movie in travelling to the Enterprise in space dock, but cuts that 6 minute special-effects-porn-fest to about 20 seconds! It’s a striking comparison!
The movie “introduces” Kirstie (“Cheers”) Alley as Vulcan officer Saavik (although she was in a student-made feature the year before). She makes quite an impression. Also new to the series is Merritt Buttrick, playing Kirk’s son David. Sadly, like Khambatta from the last film, his Trek-voyage was to be short lived. Although he appeared in Star Trek III, he died of Aids just three years later.
The movie is also notable for launching the late James Horner onto the world stage as a leading film composer. Horner cleverly associates the “ship” in starship with a roistering seafaring motif that would be equally at home in a Hornblower movie as it is here. I remember leaving the cinema when this was released and heading STRAIGHT into HMV to buy the vinyl soundtrack!
There are very few things I can find to critique in this movie. It all holds up pretty well, even after nearly 40 years (MAN, I FEEL OLD NOW!) The only scene that perhaps grates with modern sensitivities is in the (supposedly comic) “lady driver” reactions from Kirk.
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David McK (3587 KP) rated K-PAX (2001) in Movies
Apr 29, 2022
Hmmm ... bit of an odd one, this.
Drama film? Yep. Science Fiction? Possibly (probably).
But don't be thinking 'Star Wars', 'Star Trek' or even '2001: A Space Odyssey' - if anything, the closest correlation I can come up with is 'One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest'
Which might seem a bit odd, but consider: the bulk of this is set in an around a psychiatric hospital, where Kevin Spacey's main character Prot resides after claiming he is from the planet K-Pax, and after being arrested almost immediately after arriving in a train station at the start of the movie.
Jeff Bridges psychiatrist - who, initially, doesn't believe him (well, let's face it: would you?) then sets about uncovering the truth of Prot, digging into his (Prot's) past and uncovering some disturbing revelations.
So, yeah, a bit of an odd one, that largely relies on the charisma of it's two main lead actors.
Drama film? Yep. Science Fiction? Possibly (probably).
But don't be thinking 'Star Wars', 'Star Trek' or even '2001: A Space Odyssey' - if anything, the closest correlation I can come up with is 'One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest'
Which might seem a bit odd, but consider: the bulk of this is set in an around a psychiatric hospital, where Kevin Spacey's main character Prot resides after claiming he is from the planet K-Pax, and after being arrested almost immediately after arriving in a train station at the start of the movie.
Jeff Bridges psychiatrist - who, initially, doesn't believe him (well, let's face it: would you?) then sets about uncovering the truth of Prot, digging into his (Prot's) past and uncovering some disturbing revelations.
So, yeah, a bit of an odd one, that largely relies on the charisma of it's two main lead actors.
Scott McGuinness (6 KP) rated Star Trek IV - The Voyage Home (1986) in Movies
May 5, 2019
Star Trek (1 more)
Time Travel
Returning home the Enterprise crew find Earth under attack from a probe transmitting a strange signal. Discovering what the signal is, the crew now on board a Klingon Bird of Prey, after the Enterprise was destroyed in the last movie, must travel back in time in order to save Earth. Back in 1980's America, they must acquire some Humpbacked whales and repower the ship, to return back, to their own time. The movie has some comical elements as well as some educational, it's a fun story that is not only entertaining, but also opens your eyes to some very real subjects of the modern world.
Blazing Minds (92 KP) rated Rent-A-Pal (2020) in Movies
Oct 29, 2021 (Updated Nov 3, 2021)
Rent-A-Pal certainly has that 90s vibe to it as lonely bachelor named David (Brian Landis Folkins) is looking for an escape from the day-to-day drudgery of caring for his ageing mother (Kathleen Brady). His only escape is the chance to find a partner through a video dating service but he discovers a strange VHS tape called Rent-A-Pal.
Hosted by the charming and charismatic Andy (Wil Wheaton – Star Trek: The Next Generation, The Big Bang Theory, Stand By Me), the tape offers him what he yearns for, some much-needed friendship. But finding a Pal comes at a cost.
Hosted by the charming and charismatic Andy (Wil Wheaton – Star Trek: The Next Generation, The Big Bang Theory, Stand By Me), the tape offers him what he yearns for, some much-needed friendship. But finding a Pal comes at a cost.
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