Star Trek (2009)

This movie was enjoyable, but that's about it. I was at the edge of my seat for pretty much the whole time because of the action, and I left it feeling satisfied, but didn't leave me wanting more. Maybe it's because I'm not a Star Trek fan, but I didn't feel "excited" to see what will happen in the next movie.
Don't get me wrong, there were aspects of the film that I found awesome. The casting was well done. I loved Simon Pegg as Scotty, Leonard Nimoy making a cameo as his character, and thought it was hilarious Tyler Perry has a bit part for 2 scenes, in what seemed like a blink-and-miss role. Random casting of Winona Ryder as Spock's mom was creepy, but the kitsch quality of it made it funny.
The soundtrack was also amazing. I think the audio probably kept my attention more than the CGI/visuals (even though they were good too).
I saw it with my dad, who's a huge Star Trek fan, and he was weirded out that Spock and Kirk don't get along for most of the film, and that Spock is the captain for a good part of it. I guess these were ploys to try to appeal to a younger generation. I have to admit too that the love story between Spock and the chick (who has a weird name) strange, since his character originally isn't supposed to have feelings.
I recommend this movie if you want some decent action, with a meh story. I guess I wasn't as impressed as I thought I would be because Star Trek follows a lot of the familiar forms and conventions of films in this genre, and it doesn't try to break the mold at all.

The sky is falling...in a theatre near you!

Today I went to see the new Star Trek movie, and saw that most of the trailers shown for upcoming movies were about the destruction of Earth, in some form or another. I find these movies always eerie. The trailers in question were for Transformers 2, Terminator Salvation, and G.I. Joe. Maybe these trailers were shown because they are similar in conventions as Star Trek, but seeing all three in a row really got me thinking about how audiences are drawn to movies about our demise as a species. I admit that I always think hmmm...will we die this time, or be saved like every other time.
Other movies from the past few years, just to name a few: I Am Legend, Cloverfield, The Happening, and The Day the earth Stood Still all follow this theme as well. It's funny that all these movies (and likely all movies to come with this same premise) always end with earth surviving, humans changing their ways in order to save the earth. Some movies even portray how after the earth is spoiled, people come back and change their ways (WALL-E).
These movies are rarely cinematic genius, but they always make me question how I live on the earth. Sometimes I think these movies are out there to convince us that we're not all that bad, to calm us down, that as long as we repent we can save ourselves (ha, that sounds kind of catholic to me, actually).