One of my Must-Watch summer movies of this year was Star Trek. Ever since I first heard about this “reboot” I’ve been curious to see what it would turn out to be. With J.J. Abrams and friends at the helm, I was bit dubious at first; I’m not a huge fan of Abrams, even though he’s behind some of my favourite shows. I always see him as a hyper-active kid with ADHD, jumping from one project to the other, without caring how to wrap up those projects neatly (see: Alias, Lost). With Star Trek, however, I realized that (unlike with his TV shows) that wouldn’t be too much of a problem: a Star Trek movie would be a self-contained entity and even if there were unanswered questions and cliffhangers, it could never be as “unsolvable” as Lost, right?

Star Trek is set before the original series, featuring the beginnings of Kirk, Spock, & co at the Star Fleet academy. We get to see how and why Kirk joins the academy, and how he ends up on the Enterprise. Likewise we get an interesting glimpse of Spock’s childhood and family.

Abrams delivers a great summer movie, that not only pleases fans and newcomers, but reboots the entire franchise, taking it into a fresh and exciting direction. Some might say the differences between a “remake” and a “reboot” are non-existent, but in this case I truly believe this movie is more than just a “remake”. This Star Trek manages to introduce us to the same characters we’ve seen before in a different new way, yet still stays true to the original portrayals, story lines and cannon. And, to be frank, it’s pretty amazing that they were able to pull that off.

Besides that this Star Trek is the first Trek that’s a “real” movie, delivering an actual cinematic experience. This Star Trek looks and feels like it’s worth seeing in the cinema; it’s visually stunning and it’s got that epic Star Wars-like movie feeling that all the previous Treks were missing. This isn’t just a B-movie-slightly-overbudget-extra-long-tv-episode; this is an actual Movie.

All the actors are great in their roles, some of them freakishly channeling their predecessors. Chris Pine as Kirk captures that same arrogance and charisma that Shatner had, without it going too over the top. He’s got that Han Solo/Indiana Jones vibe going on; on the one side you kind of want to slap him, on the other you can’t help but like him. Zachary Quinto was born to play Spock; he had the toughest shoes to fill (mainly cause those shoes were still half full), but he pulls it off flawlessly. His Spock is cool and logical, trying to keep his human emotions in check, but there are a couple of great moments where we get to see what’s brewing underneath. Karl Urban as Bones gets some difficult lines to deliver, which could have easily gone very cheesy, but he delivers them with pitch perfection. All the other characters have their shining moments, but I still wish we got to see more of them (especially Sulu and Chekov don’t get enough screen time). 

The plot has a couple too many coincidences for me to be completely satisfied by it (I won’t spoil anything here, but if you’ve seen it, just think about the ice planet scenes). It could all be explained away with “fate”, but that feels a bit too lazy for my tastes. For the rest, it felt very much like a first episode, introducing all the characters and setting up the unvierse. Overall though I did enjoy the story, and I can’t wait for the next ‘chapter’.

As I said before, the look and feel of Star Trek is beautiful. The costumes and set pieces are all reminiscent to the older designs, yet slightly slicker and more practical. I loved the CGI worlds of Earth and Vulcan; the architecture was just amazing. Before the screening I had seen a couple of reviews complaining about the amount of lens flares, but these didn’t really annoy me. 

Star Trek is (as I said at the start of this review) one of the MUST-SEE movies of this summer. I got to see it at the Imax, and if you get the chance to see it there, do it. The mega screen is completely worth the little extra you pay for a ticket. Also: whether you’re a die hard fan or someone who’s never seen Star Trek ever in your life, you’re sure to enjoy it (newcomers might not get all the little in-jokes, but those aren’t necessary to make sense of everything). Seeing this Star Trek has gotten me completely primed and in the mood for more. In other words: I can’t wait for a sequel!

Episode 110: “Don’t know why I feel this way”

Sometimes animations don’t have to be that extravagant to be beautiful:

[Watch the video on MissGeeky.com]

This video was created by graphic artist James Jarvis, and it represents the transcendent, meditative nature of running. I’m not completely sure, but I think it was produced by Nike (I got an email with “Nike is proud to present…”). What surprised me the most though is that I took this photo at the marathon last weekend:

That’s the same character, right?

Check it out on Onwards.tv.

I cherish the old action movies: Die Hard, Under Siege, even Speed. 12 Rounds seems to close though. It’s already been released in most countries, but here in the UK we still have to wait a little while longer (27 May).

Here’s the description from Apple.com:

When New Orleans Police Detective Danny Fisher (John Cena) stops a brilliant thief from getting away with a multi-million-dollar heist, the thief’s girlfriend is accidentally killed. After escaping from prison, the criminal mastermind enacts his revenge, taunting the cop with a series of near-impossible puzzles and tasks …12 rounds…that Fisher must somehow complete to save the life of his fiancée.

And here’s the trailer:

[Watch the video on MissGeeky.com]

12 Rounds – Release Date: 27 May UK

I love my new apartment, but there are some ‘interesting’ walls with which I can’t do that much. A photo frame like this would fit perfect though!

The frame is available on Photojojo.com for $119 (or $99 if you blog or tweet about it).

Last Friday I was invited to a press event at Sci-Fi London for Dead Space Extraction, the Wii prequel to the popular PS3 and Xbox 360 game Dead Space. I still haven’t played Dead Space, mainly because I still haven’t got a PS3 or an Xbox 360 (I know, I know, I should get one), but it’s been high on my To-Get list once I’ve got one of those consoles. Needless to say (even though I hadn’t played it’s predecessor) I was curious to see what Dead Space Extraction had to offer.

At the press event, I got to meet Steve Papoutsis, the executive producer of the games, and Antony Johnston, the writer of the games and the prequel comics. They both held short presentations about their views on Dead Space Extraction, after which we got to see a live demo.

Dead Space Extraction is a prequel to the original game, taking place months before the events of Dead Space, during the infection of the colony. Your main protagonists are a group of 4 characters attempting to escape the colony: 2 security guards (McNeill and Warner, I tried to decipher my handwriting, so I think that’s what I wrote), a company executive (Eckhart) and an engineer (Lexine). It’s a stand alone game, perfectly playable if you haven’t played the previous one (or read the comic or seen the anime), but if you have, there are questions answered left hanging in the original and new secrets expanding the universe of Dead Space.

Unlike the original game, Dead Space Extraction isn’t a third person shooter, but something more like a rail shooter (as Steve Papoutsis put it “a guided first person experience”). Now this might seem a bit off-putting for some, but combined with the Wii controls it results in a great type of gameplay. Plus there are a couple of elements that differentiate it from a normal rail shooter, like some control over the camera for the player, the inclusion of puzzles and being able to choose different branching paths. Besides that, the game is designed to use the Wii controllers in a natural way to use objects. 

One cool example during the demo was the glowworm, a stick you have to shake to generate light, which meant of course you had to shake the Wii controller for it to go on. In one scenario, everything goes dark, while you’re being attacked by the Necromorphs. You have to decide if you want to shoot randomly in the dark, or take the time to shake your glowworm and generate more light. Another cool feature of this game was the option of drop-in co-operative play. With a single action, a friend can jump into your game and play with you together. No hassle!

I really liked the look of Dead Space Extraction and am now considering getting a Wii to be able to play this game. From what I saw from the demo the gameplay looks great. Plus it seems to have an interesting and intricate backstory. Now if only I could try out the original (and get a PS3)…

Dead Space Extraction – Release Date: Fall 2009

Interesting links for April 27th through May 5th:

• Flickr: Norby’s Photostream – Now that's an innovative way of using Flickr. Brilliant!
• Interview with the Mainstream Film Industry – Funny blog post with movie quotes from the Top 100 Movies.
• Black and White Fractals That Capture Creativity – Wow, stunning collection of fractal art!
• Gameboy Timeline – Great overview of the evolution of the Gameboy and other related products. I still own 5 of these!

May the 4th Be With You! I know, I know, it’s cheesy, but surprisingly today’s actually the first time I’ve heard this joke.

I wouldn’t have posted anything about it, but I came across these posters from Disney for the Disney Star Wars Weekend. Apparently May the 4th isn’t the only “Star Wars Day“, another one is also on May 25th, in honor of the release date of the first movie. During that week Disney has a special Star Wars event at their Hollywood Studios theme park, with special shows, presentations and appearances of Star Wars actors. 

Now for this weekend Disney has got a couple of posters to promote the event. I found this one the cutest (and funniest):

Check out the other three posters at /Film.

The last time I saw a movie in 3D was 4 years ago at some cheesy theme park attraction, where you got visually assaulted by biting snakes and roller-coasters. I’ve been meaning to see a “proper” 3D movie for some time now, but some of the produced stuff still looks pretty gimmicky (like Journey To The Centre Of The Earth). Coraline, however, was something I was really looking forward to and it was only on the day of the screening itself that I realized it was in 3D. Cool!

Coraline is about Coraline Jones (Dakota Fanning), an adventurous girl who moves with her parents to a new village and into a weird, creaky old house, called the Pink Palace. Both her parents (Teri Hatcher and John Hodgman) don’t have time for her and Coraline keeps herself busy by visiting the Pink Palace’s other inhabitants. Downstairs is taken by an eccentric duo of bickering old performers, Miss Spink and Miss Forcible (Jennifer Saunders and Dawn French),while upstairs is the amazing Bobinsky (Ian McShane), a Russian circus star with performing mice. But then Coraline finds a door to a parallel world, where everything is strangely idealized with doppelgangers of everbody she knows.

I’ll start things off with the 3D. So far all 3D movies (and photos) I’ve seen have all used the standard one-red-glass-one-blue-glass type of glasses (from which I always got pretty dizzy). This movie however was in RealD; you get a different type of glasses (polarized, light beige for both sides) and the projection feels way better. There were some shots in the movie that just looked amazing! And unlike what I saw from Journey to the Centre of the Earth, the 3D effects in Coraline weren’t for the sake of 3D (as in: the writers didn’t go: “ooh, let’s add a dinosaur, cause that would look so coool in 3D!”). 

Coraline is directed by Henry Selick, who previously directed The Nightmare Before Christmas and James and the Giant Peach. The style looks pretty similar to those two, yet still having very much an ambience uniquely it’s own. While it looks animated, everything is stop-motion, but shot in 3D. There are quite some beautiful scenes, but my favourite’s got to be the trapeze scene; it just seems like a dream sequence (which it kind of is).

The strength of the movie mainly comes from it’s great ensemble of characters. Coraline is an interesting and likable character, and you understand the reasons behind everything she does. Her normal parents are boring and have no time for her and you can see why she’s so charmed by the attention of the Other parents. The Other parents are creepy from the start, with their button eyes and eerie perfectness. Mr Bobinsky, Miss Spink and Miss Forcible are all weird characters in the real world and their Other world versions are even stranger.

Story wise I wasn’t too impressed. I know it’s meant as a kids film, but I wish there was a bit more depth and explanation to the story. I loved the whole set-up; the weird characters, the other world and it’s inhabitants, but I would have loved to see a more satisfying wrap-up.

Coraline is a beautiful movie and definitely one you’ve got to see in the cinema in 3D. The characters are all intriguing and different than anything you’ve seen before. Tip: stay seated until after the credits, there’s a little tidbit (really tiny) after it. 

Coraline – Release Date: 8 May UK

I really liked the first two Ice Age movies (yes, even the second one, it had some great moments in it), and Scrat remains one of my favourite 3d animated characters. I wasn’t too sure about a third movie to be honest, but seeing these two trailers I don’t think I have anything to worry about.

The first trailer features mainly Scrat and introduces a new female Scrat-like character:

The second trailer is more of a real trailer:

[Watch the trailer on MissGeeky.com]

Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs – Release Date: 1 July (everywhere)

One of the coolest stands at the Gadget Show two weeks ago was The Gadget Hall of Fame, set-up by the Centre for Computing History.  It was full of gadgets and gizmos, showcasing products from the past 34 years.

The Center for Computing History was established to create a permanent public exhibition telling the story of the information age. The museum is based in Haverhill on the borders of Cambridgeshire, Essex and Suffolk, but is currently only viewable by appointment. I definitely think I should organize a GeekMeet during the summer to visit, cause it looks like they have a great collection of old computer hardware.

The stand at the Gadget Show was clearly a favourite among most of the visitors. The exhibit was arranged in such a way that there were different sections for each decade, with retro gadgets against the wall and (per decade) two featured game consoles (everybody of course wanted a go on those). The 1970’s section had the Binotone PONG game and the classic Atari 2600 console, the 1980’s had the Sinclair Spectrum and the Commodore 64, and the 1990’s had the Atari Jaguar and the Sony PlayStation. 

I was amazed how many of the gadgets featured there I still own: the NES (with the DuckHunt gun), the Donkey Kong Game & Watch, the Atari Lynx, the Atari Jaguar, the original GameBoy, the GameBoy Colour and the Sony PlayStation (not even mentioning the more newer consoles, like the Nintendo DS and the PS2, of which I’ve “owned” three different ones). It was great seeing some of them in action again, and makes me want to dig up some of my old consoles and play with them again.

There was also a video made of the event, and I’m actually in it! I’m seen playing the Jaguar (very concious that I was being filmed) at around the 3 minute mark:

[Watch the video on MissGeeky.com]

Btw, the Centre of Computing History is always interested in expanding their collection, including calculators, cables and books. Just check out their donations page. Anybody got anything obscure that deserves to go down in history?