Jay Lagare

Star Trek vs Star Wars. This has been a long running debate. But regardless of the arguments Star Trek has always been the more scientific and, I dare say, more intellectual series. In short, more mature. Star Wars has always been more kid-oriented. Every succeeding release sees more and more characters destined for the toy store. Still, a lot of people, including yours truly, watched it because of the action. Mindless action but, hey, it’s fun!

With the latest Star Trek movie, they reinvented and modernized Star Trek.  They added flash and bang demanded by the new generation of viewers. But the best thing is that they managed to do this without dumbing it down… too much. And guess what? It’s all good.

Star Trek is a restart. The movie takes us back to when the USS Enterprise and its intrepid crew were just starting off. Of course, to put continuity into things, there is a link to the previous Star Trek movies and TV shows, which in this case is not really previous but from the future.

And since this involves time travel, as you have guessed, everything got mucked up good. A peace-loving turned vengeful Romulan villain got warped into the past and in an instant almost aborts Kirk. But Star Trek won’t be the same without Kirk so he was allowed to escape impending doom.

Soon after, a geriatric Spock arrives, also from the future, and was instantly captured the the waiting Romulans who then use the technology in his ship to destroy, of all planets, Vulcan. Star Trek without Vulcan?!? I guess Star Trek is still Star Trek without it. But what about the younger Spock?

Thankfully, Spock is already by then at Star Fleet where he embarks with Kirk and the rest of the gang on the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Their first mission was to stop the Romulans and, as expected, they did. How they did, is a really good watch ;)

Rating: 4/5

Doubt is about Sister Aloysius, a ultra-strict ultra-conservative nun who is the headmistress of a school. She is on a crusade against Fr. Flynn, a progressive-minded priest who is teaching at the school. She is quite sure that the priest is engaged in illicit activities with an altar boy/student.

The movie does not attempt to form an opinion for the viewer. Instead, it relies on the main character’s portrayals: Sister Aloysius’ accusations against Fr. Flynn and her absolute lack of doubt, Fr. Flynn’s passionate justification of his actions some of which are actually observed by the viewer. These portrayals is what carries the movie and it is quite impressive.

However, considering the not-so-recent news  about the past actions of priests, most viewers would probably have an opinion similar to Sister Aloysius. Perhaps, without that influence, the movie would have been even more thought-provoking.

Rating: 4/5

Appaloosa is a western along the lines of those maverick hero-for-hire adventures pioneered by Akira Kurosawa (in his case it would be katana-for-hire) and westernized, in both senses of the word, by quite a few filmmakers. The movie follows the story of Virgil Cole (Ed Harris), a traveling lawman-for-hire (nothing new, yeah?) and his sidekick Everett Hitch (Viggo Mortensen) as they ventured into a troubled town, gets hired by the terrified populace, and tracked down the terrorist villain. But not without some twists and turns, of course.

Still, the storyline is not one to follow the roads less traveled but hey, that’s what timeless tales are made of. Remember those? The ones you want to hear over and over from your grandparents at bedtime? The movie is long, almost (but not quite) epic in feel. And that’s already the version horribly butchered by the MTRC and/or the cinemas. And yet, it was able to keep my attention with the right combination of humor, [cheesy] romance, and action, and storytelling.

Word is that there’s already a sequel in the coming. If it’s anything like this one, then they can count on me to be one of the first to watch it (especially if someone gives me a premier ticket).

Rating: 4/5

The Middle East or at least things that involve Middle Eastern terrorists is very much in vogue these days. Body of Lies is just one among that long list of movies (Syriana, The Kingdom, Rendition, and the recent Eagle Eye among others) and luckily, it’s among those on the top.

Roger Ferris (Leonardo Di Caprio of that yeech-boat-movie fame) is a CIA field agent who reports to Ed Hoffman (Russell Crowe), a Machiavellian spy master (is there any other kind?). They are tracking a notorious Middle Eastern terrorist of the Osama Bin Laden shade. Di Caprio is eager, talented, and resourceful but his best laid plans are often messed up by Crowe to dire consequences. And this is the focus of the movie, the human cost of the shadow war on terror.

Rating: 4/5