Six Degrees of Separation Weekly Challenge

Transformers bombshell Megan Fox...

...to The Hurt Locker's bomb-dismantling Jeremy Renner.

Recognition will be noted for conciseness and creativity.

Trivia of the week:

Top movie at the box office was...


UP!

The Dailies

Heads Up! Pixar's newest installment opens tomorrow to critical acclaim and a few marketing glitches. (Don’t they have medication for this?)

Looking to start summer early? Sign up to watch an advanced showing of Fox Searchlight’s 500 Days of Summer.

Somebody, get Rob Pattinson fans a defibrillator! New moon (aka Twilight 2) pictures are up.

...Speaking of vampires, Hollywood's rebooting the Buffy franchise with a new movie. Can it work without creator Joss Wheadon?

Dreamworks announces its 2009-2012 movie line up. Its future apparently involves dragons, (more) pandas, and Shrek Forever After (and after, and after, and after). Most exciting may be the Tina Fey/Robert Downey/Ben Stiller team up in Oobermind.

From Slumdog to…Samurai? Images of Dev Patel in M. Night Shyamalan’s latest, The Last Airbender, are up.

Night at the Museum drew holiday weekend crowds while Terminator rusted. Was casting Christian Bale really such a good idea?

Meanwhile, Star Trek zoomed past Angels & Demons for the #3 spot, raking in $29.4 million along the way.

Midweek 6 Degrees Challenge

Julia Roberts to Meg Ryan

Multiple Choice

Sunday, funday.

Match the quote below with one of these block-busting stars:

“I don’t quite think I have the weight of the world on my shoulders. There are more important things happening in the world right now apart from playing make-believe and getting paid for it.”

a) Christian Bale
b) Ben Stiller
c) Chris Pine
d) Tom Hanks


Email reelweek@gmail.com for answer.

Six Degrees of Separation Weekly Challenge

Link today's top star to one of yesteryears:

Christian Bale to Cary Grant. Six moves or less. No imdb. Can it be done?

Terminator Salvation 2009 Review

Terminator Salvation (2009)

By now, most people are familiar with Christian Bale’s f-bomb blitzkrieg on the set of Terminator Salvation. His outburst was terrifying, but frankly, I would be angry too if I had devoted several months of my life to this movie.


Terminator Salvation is a wreck. Like the machines fought by John Connor (Christian Bale) and his scrappy band of resistance fighters, this movie manages to be both lifeless and relentless. Director McG pumps out action sequences at the Uzi-fire pace, filling the pauses between explosions with inane questions (is John Connor a false prophet or the key to salvation?) and Bale’s growls.

As Connor, Bale emotes his hardest, but his fine effort can’t jumpstart the lemon of a script. Even a birthday-suit cameo from the Governator fails to satisfy. It comes off as a cheap diversion, one more clunker for the scrap heap of arbitrary set pieces that make up this movie. The mindlessness wouldn’t matter so much if Terminator Salvation was actually entertaining, but the film commits the twin sins of not making any sense and taking itself with extreme seriousness.

Scriptwriters John D. Bracanto and Michael Feris (also responsible for Catwoman) give just enough justification for the explosions. Machines have taken over the earth, turning all cities into Ground Zero, driving the human “resistance” underground, and in one case, onto a submarine. Aside from Connor, the movie expects us to empathize with Marcus (Sam Worthington), a death row inmate who donates his body to science. Marcus gets his lethal injection; he wakes up half-robot, half-human.

This plot twist is mostly explored on the surface level (e.g. Marcus looking down at his mechanical torso and yelling “NOOO!”), but the premise raises interesting questions about the central role machines play in our lives. Can we live without technology? Do ever-present gadgets redefine what it means to be human? Have our iPhones become a fifth limb?

As far as redefinition, the on-screen gadgets haven’t changed much in the 25 years since the first Terminator. There’s shoptalk about microchips and processors, but the machines don’t have much digital capability. Most are still industrial-revolution-grade, soldered from good-old-fashioned steel. Since many of the machines that populate our lives no longer rust or tick, the film’s villainous gear-crunchers seem quaint and almost antique. The Terminators are analog enemies in a digital age.

Maybe we have become so cozy with computers that the possibility of digital rebellion is just too scary. Even Connor, luddite poster boy, sports a Blackberry-like device (supplied by Rio).

Nice to know that PDAs and in-movie marketing survive the coming apocalypse.

The Bottom Line: Save your money and your time. The machines want you to see this movie. We can’t let them win.

Star Trek 2009 Review

Star Trek (2009)

For the non-Trekkie, the first time Star Trek works—really works—is about twenty minutes into the picture, in a scene in which a young Spock stands before the Vulcan Science Academy after having been offended by a futuristic version of a “Your Mom” insult. Spock, played with alternating stony-faced reserve and comical understatement by Zachary Quinto, responds with an acharacteristically cutting “live long and prosper.” This “fuck-you” reimagining of the classic line, combined with the up-tempo pop song that thrusts you into the next scene, lets you know that this is definitely not your father’s Star Trek.


From that point on, the film hurls forward at typical action-movie pace, stopping only briefly to throw in the obligatory Trek references and a surprising number of allusions to Star Wars (farm boy dreams of adventure on boring home world, ice planet monster attacks, Ewok-style, comical aliens ensue). The film’s director, the talented J.J. Abrams (of Lost and Alias) admits that these references are intentional, but what is more impressive than the allusions themselves is the buoyant and comical tone—much in the spirit of Star Wars: A New Hope—Abrams brings to the picture.

This lighter tone works. As evidenced by the success of last year’s Iron Man, the future of the entertaining, mass-market action film isn’t in plot or even in racy special effects (though Star Trek certainly isn’t lacking in this area), it is in actors who fit comfortably into their characters, and who can deliver wry one-liners and playful banter with ease. In this department, Star Trek excels, and its stars—from the perfectly-cast Chris Pine as a pre-captain Kirk, to the hilarious Simon Pegg as the infamous “Scotty”—make the picture.

Mr. Pine, in an effective break from the tween-targeted romantic comedies that pepper his past, brings both a Shanter-esque charisma and a nuanced performance to the picture. His characterization of the young, gun-slinging Kirk is happily complimented by a crew of supporting characters reimagined by a group of largely unknown young actors (though their performances in this picture ensure they won’t remain unknown for long). At the heart of the ensemble are Mr. Pine and Mr. Quinto, whose on-screen bromantic chemistry works, whether they’re verbally sparing, pummeling each other, or (eventually) showing hints of the life-long friendship Trek-fans love them for.

Star Trek is not a “great” movie—nor does it have any pretensions of being one. What it does promise, with loud and unabashed enthusiasm, is a fun, fast-paced, enjoyable two-hours. “Buckle up,” says the young Kirk in a scene near the end of the film. Yes indeed.

The Bottom Line: Boldly go to Fandango and buy tickets now!

Six Degrees of Separation Weekly Challenge

Challenge: Chris Pine to Sean Connery

(We’ve done it in three moves, can you do better?)

Recognition will be given for Most Creative and Fewest Moves.

p.s.: using imdb is cheating

Multiple Choice

Sunday, funday. Match review to the film for these upcoming releases:

1) “I’ve seen better.”
2) “As of May, Best Picture of the Year.”
3) “Just bring your kleenex.”

a) Up
b) Public Enemies
c) Termintor Salvation

(Answers can be found in links or by emailing reelweek@gmail.com)

The Dailies

Angels in Excelsis! Dan Brown tops the box office to the tune of $48 million.

New Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus photos hit the web just in time for the Cannes premiere.

Martin Scorsese is directing a Frank Sinatra biopic. Who’s Frankie? Join in the casting debates or make an educated guess.

Chuck Bass is Heathcliff. What’s next? The cast of 90210 as the Magnificent Ambersons?

Are you hungry for pizza? Do you care about Terminator? See this deal.

Star Trek fans are disappointed that people like the movie.

In other Star Trek news, President Obama is Spock. See the evidence for yourself.

Welcome to Reel Week

Welcome to Reel Week, your source for new and classic movie reviews, news, and movie-inspired polls and quizzes.

Hailing from New York City, we’re your hosts, Ana and Katie. And we’re really awesome at writing bios, so we'll just leave it at that.