Star Trek Beyond

August 07, 2016 by adolph vega in 3D, 3D Movies

Star Trek Beyond

Review Written By: Adolph Vega

3D

Star Trek Beyond was not filmed in 3D but was post converted to be in 3D, and you can tell by looking at it. Mostly the 3D helps to distinguish different characters appearing to be closer or further from the viewer. Only one scene was somewhat interesting in 3D and that involves shattered glass floating around in an action scene. Honestly nothing that I saw was visually interesting or compelling in 3D, and the 3D was just present for the sake of being present. The 3D visuals of this movie are not worthwhile and I cannot recommend it.

Final Verdict: Terrible 3D

Movie

Star Trek Beyond is the third movie in this rebooted movie franchise that is inspired by the original 1960's Television show. The Star Trek franchise is now celebrating its 50th anniversary with this movie. The recent Star Trek movies have reestablished the original series in a rebooted time line, which is called the kelvin timeline. This kelvin timeline is inspired by the time traveling events of the 2009 Star Trek film. This movie like the previous two movies takes place in an alternative universe and things are different yet similar to what has been seen in the original show and other movies.

I have been a fan of Star Trek franchise for decades and started my interest with the "Next Generation" television show. I always found the original series to be quaint and difficult to get into. Reviewing a franchise that I am familiar with and have strong positive feelings for can be difficult but I will try my best to make a fair and unbiased criticism of this film. As a reviewer I feel it's important to discuss any potential biases beforehand.

This movie takes place a few years after the previous movie as the crew of the Enterprise has been in deep space for a few years. A series of unfortunate events causes the crew of the Enterprise to be stranded onto an uncharted planet. The movie feels new and different but still has the familiar beats of a typical Star Trek story. The movie is written in a lighter tone and the focus is more on the characters and how they interact with one another. The dialogue between the characters is expertly written and perfectly delivered. The main cast of characters has a fantastic chemistry with one another. The movie's main villain is named Krall who has a vendetta against the Federation. Krall is given an interesting back-story and has a clear motivation. Sadly Krall’s acting is over the top and becomes a negative distraction within the movie . Another new character is that of an alien called Jaylah. Jaylah is a very cunning, likable character that helps the crew of the Enterprise. This character's backstory is both interesting and important to the story. The movie has many captivating action scenes that are fun to watch and have fabulous special effects. Star Trek Beyond is a light movie and has many funny moments and is very entertaining. The movie is not a comedy but has many scenes and conversations that are humorous and work well within the context of the movie and really feels like the original television show. This movie even has a intellectual side and gives the viewer a subtle moral at the end.

The movie does have problems with the story and asks the viewer to have many leaps of faith. I know Scottie is one of the best engineers within the Federation but he isn't a god that can just fix anything because Captain Kirk orders him to. I also find it very odd that the events of the second movie "Into Darkness " are completely ignored and not referenced at all within this movie. It's strange that the previous TV show "Enterprise" has more references within this movie than the actual predecessor to this movie. The main climax of the movie was brilliantly executed, but it was very silly. I rolled my eyes, smiled and laughed at the same time during the resolution of the story.

Overall the movie is very entertaining with a great cast and many enjoyable action sequences. The bad acting of Krall, and the issues with the plot keep this movie from achieving perfection. I really enjoyed this movie and how well written it was and how much pure fun it was to watch and I can easily recommend it to both fans of Star Trek and to anyone who is new to the franchise. If you are new to this franchise I would suggest watching the 2009 Star Trek before watching this movie. Star Trek Beyond feels like a proper celebration of the franchise and a fun summer movie rolled into one .

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Star Trek Beyond Official Website

Ghostbusters (2016)

July 19, 2016 by adolph vega in 3D, ghostbusters

Ghostbusters (2016)

3D section review written By : James Tate
Movie Review written By: Adolph Vega

3D

The 3D in Ghostbusters was very basic but at the same time annoying. The majority of the 3D effects resembled that of old films, and was gimmicky. Many times it seemed like Nickelodeon slime was shooting out at you. Besides scenes during the last act of the film, the 3D just wasn't special. Yes it was silly and gimmicky, but it wasn't bad either.

Final Verdict: Good 3D

Movie

When it comes to rebooting / remaking a popular movie franchise from the past, it can be very difficult to catch the magic of the original movie(s) and yet still be enjoyable on its own merit. Sadly, I have to say this movie does not succeed in bringing back the Ghostbusters franchise. The reason for this failure of a movie isn't because of the female casting, the gender of the main characters is irrelevant, and a bad movie is a bad movie, regardless of the gender of the cast. If this movie was exactly the same but with the genders swapped I would give it the same critiques and same final scores.

The movie's main plot revolves around four characters that work together in New York to stop paranormal activity revolving around ghosts. Many of the plot points from the original movie are recreated and redone in slightly different ways. One of the most annoying aspects of the plot is how many dangling story elements are left unexplained or under developed. I won't spoil any of those plot points, but many things are introduced or happen and are not given a proper conclusion. It's very annoying when a scene concludes with so many questions remain unanswered.

The movie has a pathetic villain named Rowan North, who is angry at the world and wants to destroy it via ghosts and paranormal activity. This character is one-dimensional and has zero charisma or presence on screen. I found his acting to be awful and his motivations to be lacking a coherent backstory. I also think his lines of dialogue were poorly written. This character also had access to advanced technology that was never explained, and he was possibly the worst aspect of this terrible movie.

The Ghostbusters cast does not have any chemistry on screen. To put it simply, I didn’t like any of these characters within this movie. The main cast includes four female Ghostbusters and a male receptionist. Let me quickly detail each character and what I thought of them.

One Ghostbuster, Patty Tolan, is possibly the worst black woman stereotype that I have seen on screen since Mammy from "Gone with the Wind". This character is the typical urban black woman with attitude archetype, which feels dated, and out of place in this story.

Another Ghostbuster is Jillian Holtzmann, whom I found just annoying and completely unlikable. She reminds me of a female version of the Beavis character from the MTV cartoon "Beavis & Butthead". Jillian was only interested in destruction and weapons and talks in a strange accent for the entirety of the movie. I grew to hate this character and found her presence on screen to be so annoying that I looked forward to her silence after she finished her lines.

Erin Gilbert is another Ghostbuster who I found tedious to watch on screen. She is always nervous or anxious and is totally awkward through out the movie. Many of her actions simply don't make sense within the context of her character.

Finally, the last Ghostbuster is Abby Yates, who is portrayed in a straight fashion. She is your every woman and she does many physical gags. For some strange reason they made her obsessed with Chinese food. Her performance was adequate, outside of that random personality quirk.

One more supporting character is that of Kevin, the receptionist. He is played by Chris Hemsworth and was only hired because of his good looks. Kevin's character is supposed to be that of a fool and I found this portrayal to be tedious to watch. He is a 'typical' dumb blond character, and I wonder if this role was specifically written to be a role reversal to poke fun at sexism. If everything was reversed, and a woman was portrayed to be a dumb blond that was only hired because of her appearance, I bet people would be upset. I simply found this foolish character to be poorly written, badly acted and a chore to watch on screen. I don't mind characters that are rendered as fools, but they need to have redeemable features and Kevin was grating to watch in every screen.

The movie has multiple problems, and most of the comedy falls totally flat or is cringe worthy. Comedy is one of the hardest genres to master on film. People don't realize how difficult it can be to have comedy that works for everyone. Certain people enjoy different styles of comedy, and making something universally funny is nearly impossible. Some people enjoy slapstick physical humor, some people enjoy dry British humor and other people don't understand satire. The comedic delivery is also very dependent on specific comedians, and how it is written. Comedy is more subjective than any other genre of movie and totally up to the viewer. So reviewing comedies is incredibly difficult, because what I may find funny, others may not and vice versa. Unfortunately for me, this movie was cringe enduring and not funny. I can imagine other people might find more of the jokes humorous, but that wasn’t the case for me so your mileage may vary. I did laugh a few times, but those were very few and far between moments within the movie.

Ultimately, I found this movie painful to watch because of the bad writing, bad characters and bad story. Many comedic elements were totally juvenile in nature and were not well done. I really disliked everyone within this movie outside of Abby Yates, with whom I found to be mediocre at best. The movie has a major problem with the conclusion, which is too long and totally based on luck. It's just too convenient that one thing happens at the right time, right place and works perfectly for that scenario. Seriously, this is definition Deus Ex Machina, and is evidence of terrible storytelling. Usually I wouldn't comment on a movie's ending, but I found this so bad that I felt compelled to comment on it. I cannot comment any further without giving away major story spoilers, but suffice it to say I hated the ending of this movie and made a bad movie something truly awful.

Before the movie released, I defended it. I have enjoyed the director's previous comedies, so I was willing to give this film the benefit of the doubt. Unfortunately, my goodwill was betrayed, because this movie is worse than I expected it to be. I was hopeful, and I thought maybe the trailers were bad, but the 2016 Ghostbusters movie is possibly one of the worst movies released in 2016. I walked into the movie theater with an open mind and tried to enjoy it for what it was, but was simply unable to, and I walked out hating this movie – feeling upset that I wasted my time on it. I'm sorry, but this movie doesn't scare up laughs or fun, and is a pathetic reboot that shouldn't ever have been made.