Did I unjustly help ring the death knell of the ST:TNG movie franchise?

So, I need to admit... I passed on seeing ST: Nemesis in the theatres... and I'm not quite sure why. I don't think it was because there were a myriad of competing movies out at the same time... I don't think it was because I didn't have any interest in seeing another Trek movie... I think it was because of 3 reasons.

1. Minor reason. OK, I was a ST:TNG fan. I will admit. I loved each character. I enjoyed the original series with Kirk at al, but, lets face it... it was campy. I never got into Voyager, Deep Star 9 or whatever, and now, at 28, I'm just too busy to really invest time into watching an hour long drama every week on a regular basis (ala Enterprise). But I digress... yes, I always loved TNG. And, well... before the movie came out, there were rumors that they were going to kill off a main character. Well, I just didn't want to see that happen.

2. Major reason. The marketing for this movie was AWFUL. If I recall, the trailors focused more on the "dune buggy on a bleak sun-bleached desert planet" scene, eliciting memories of some of the more awful contributions to the Star Trek film legacy (namely Star Trek:5, and Star Trek: Insurrection). I'm sorry, but when I think "Star Trek Movie", I don't want a lot of planet-side action... I want epic starship battles. I want explosions, and hull breaches, and torpedos, and monumental clashes.

3. On top of it, there simply was ZERO buzz about this movie. Paramount spent, what, $2.73 on promoting this movie? If any Star Trek film killed the movie franchise, it wasn't "Nemesis", but the previous installment, "Insurrection". Movie sequels and franchizes need to feed of the buzz and hype off the one before it, and let's face it folks, "Insurrection" was an awful movie, and "Nemesis" paid the price for it.

So, why am I writing this?

I just rented "Nemesis", and, well... dare I say, it's one of the three best movies in the series!!!! (behind The Wrath of Khan, and First Contact).

I was totally engrossed in the story line! The dune buggy scene WAS actually hokey, but was only a minor little side-bar, the villain was menacing yet complex, and I even felt some sympathy for the character. The special F/X were really good, the directing was competent, the mood was dark (Star Trek with a David Fincheresque twist!), the visuals were stunning, the interplay of the characters with the emphasis of "family" was indeed touching, the ending sacrifice actually worked, and the ending space battle between the Enterprise and some of the Romulan/Reman ships were some of the best captured on film for the entire franchise... be in a movie or a television show. It was EVERYTHING I could possibly want in a Trek movie...

THIS IS A GREAT ADDITION TO THE STAR TREK FRANCHISE!

So, I am sorry I didn't go see this movie in the theatre. I'm sorry that this great movie did not do so well in the theatres, and I'm sorry that because of it, there may never be another Star Trek:TNG movie again. And for that, I'm rather sad.

So, if you are a Star Trek fan that stayed away like I did, or a sci-fi fan in general... buy the DVD. Support the franchise. Maybe we can now make up the poor box-office receipts and potentially secure another Next Generation film somewhere down the line.

The creepiest thing about this movie are the images of the asylum itself, however, the director fails to use the creepiness to it's full extent. Showing eerie rooms in wide angle, and blinding broad daylight hardly adds to the suspense. Take a few pages out of David Fincher's playbook, and get back to us.

This movie really is just weak. The acting is awful (Especially the young kid with the mullet), the direction is juvenile, the script is pretty bad, and the casting... well... it's no surprise that David Caruso is the "big named talent" for this piece of junk.

The worst part of this movie, is the extra footage, showing an interview with the writer-slash-director, who talks about "his creation" like he created the next "Citizen Kane". Talk about being pompous. This guy needs to get a clue. He is one inch away from directing "10-10-321" commericals (come to think of it, I can safely say, that at least would hold the audience attention more than this steaming pile of clap-trap!)

The big mystery previously left unanswered is this:

I gave it 2 stars, instead of 1, because I live close to Danvers, MA, where this film takes place. That's it folks. That's the reason. Locale.

First off, this movie isn't that bad. It's just that this movie simply tries too hard. It tries too hard to make us cry, to make us feel patriotic, and to make us long for the days of the innocence that supposedly existed in small towns across America during the 50's. It tries too hard to invoke the images of Jimmy Stewart in his prime... it makes one wonder if the scene in this movie where the studio execs are talking about bastardizing an existing movie script, by adding hackneed sentimentality in order to pull at the heart strings of the audience was something secretly taped when the producers initially pitched "The Majestic" to the studio brass.

This movie is, in many ways, a throwback to those old black and white movies that your parents, or grandparents liked. The thing is, this film, although competent, isn't stirring.

Carey gives a subdued, golly-gee-goshed-darned performance, but... it's just lacking. Now, I'm not saying that I wanted his character in this movie to begin talking out of his butt, while growing a pompador, but... this role did not allow Carey to inject any humor into the performance, whatsoever.

Although it is nice to see Hollywood put out movies that don't involve explosions, silicone breasts, and massive CGI sequences, there are times, such as in this film, that you simply don't need to re-invent the wheel. Skip this movie, and go to the source. "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington", and "It's a Wondeful Life". Both did it better. Both were even edgier, if you could believe that, and both did it decades ago.

OK. 1st of all, this movie LOOKS amazing. Beautiful cinematography... it has such a crisp, clear look to it... most of the images are truly vibrant, and almost have a life of their own. Now, I didn't hold much hope for this movie, I will admit... but I must confess, that I enjoyed 90% of "Vanilla Sky". I even found Penelope Cruz to be tolerable... and we all know how difficult THAT feat is! I will say that there was something interesting, enjoyable and almost voyeuristic about watching a week in the life of Tom Cruise's character.

Now for the ending... it seemed rushed... like everyone involved was sitting around saying.. "Urmm.. ok.. we wrote ourselves into a corner here, now, how do we go about capping off this flick?". A big dartboard was put up, and some office assistant threw at it... landing on the final ending. Which, turns out to be a tremendous cop out. This movie is analagous to catching an interception during the superbowl, running it down field, only to fumble it on the 1 yard line.

This is 60 minutes that will leave a lump in your throat. It will make you sick to your stomach, feel patriotic, and humbled all at the same time.

In a nutshell, various actors read real letters written during war time. These letters span many years, from many different conflicts... from the Civil War, WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam, up to the Gulf War... these are letters written from GI's to parents, brothers, wives, and girlfriends back home. More often than not, there is a grim footnote attached to some of the readings about how this or that particular GI died a day or two after writing the letter just read. Shocking. Touching.

The only drawback is that some of the actors (such as Bill Paxton, Eric Stoltz, and Kevin Spacey) are used repeatedly for multiple readings. It would have been nice if each letter received individual treatment. Other than that, this is a class act production.

OK. I will admit that upon a second viewing on DVD I liked this movie much more than I did in the theatre. So, this movie has big named stars like Clooney, Pitt, and Roberts attached to it. You can tell that everyone involved was having just a grand old fun time being a part of this movie. Heck, in many scenes, it seems Clooney is fighting back a big smirky grin with every ounce of energy. This isn't such a bad thing.. and in many scenes this actually works... it's refreshing seeing big-named talent having fun up on the screen... So, what is the problem? Basically the problem is that with this cast, in this post "Pulp Fiction" day and age, I was simply expecting a little bit hipper.. a little bit funnier, a little bit edgier,a little bit smarter... it's not that I hate this movie, I'm just rather disappointed with the whole affair. Perhaps I was expecting to leave the theatre with the same "Holy cow, that ending was amazing" vibe that I felt leaving the aforementioned "Pulp Fiction", "Memento", or "The Usual Suspects". Hmm.. perhaps not even that.. perhaps I was just expecting the ending to be a bit more "intelligent" than it ended up being.

You leave the theatre exhausted having just been bombarded by 2 hours of non-stop violence and action. This movie just doesn't let up... most movies have some side-plots... this one really doesn't. It's about one battle. That's it. No lovey-dovey "Pearl Harbor"ish sidebar. Now, this is not such a bad thing... my only major gripe was that there was so little character development that, and I hate to say this, you just don't CARE about these guys dying... and since everyone has the same uniform and haircut, most of the time you just don't know who it was that just got killed, adding to your growing ambivalence. Still, an interesting movie... probably one of the best war movies every portrayed on screen purely based on the confusion and gruesomeness of what war truly is.