July Movies: Star Trek, Jason Bourne, BFG, and Tarzan

[shrader]

 

There are doing that a lot in Marvel comics - they have alternate Thor (Jane Foster), Hulk (Asian kid), Spiderman (black kid), Hawkeye (white girl), Iron Man (black girl), Giantman (young Hispanic man), Captain America (multiple), etc. It appears that Ronney Rule applies to Superheros.

I wish they'd just make new characters instead of recasting old ones.

[Juror#8]

I've been waiting for greengrass and Damon to return to Bourne for nearly 10 years. That's an opening nighter for me.

[Deranged Rhino]

I've been waiting for greengrass and Damon to return to Bourne for nearly 10 years. That's an opening nighter for me.

 

It'll be the first installment of the series not penned by Tony Gilroy though -- which makes me slightly apprehensive. Though, like you, this is still an opening nighter for me as well. The one trailer I saw made mention that Bourne volunteered because of a lie... watch them make it some sort of 9/11 conspiracy thing that drew Bourne in.

[Mark Vader]

 

It'll be the first installment of the series not penned by Tony Gilroy though -- which makes me slightly apprehensive. Though, like you, this is still an opening nighter for me as well. The one trailer I saw made mention that Bourne volunteered because of a lie... watch them make it some sort of 9/11 conspiracy thing that drew Bourne in.

Ugh, you might be right on that.

[CommonCents]

Trying to take my nephew to see the Secret Life Of Pets but by 4pm. It was sold out until the last show of the night! Has anyone seen it? The Rotten Tomatoes reviews look mediocre.

[Buffalo Barbarian]

Trying to take my nephew to see the Secret Life Of Pets but by 4pm. It was sold out until the last show of the night! Has anyone seen it? The Rotten Tomatoes reviews look mediocre.

 

the poodle listening to System of a Down is the best part in the commercials

[Mark Vader]

Trying to take my nephew to see the Secret Life Of Pets but by 4pm. It was sold out until the last show of the night! Has anyone seen it? The Rotten Tomatoes reviews look mediocre.

I haven't seen it, and I probably won't. Illumination just has Despicable Me & The Minions going for them. This movie just doesn't seem all that interesting.

[CommonCents]

I haven't seen it, and I probably won't. Illumination just has Despicable Me & The Minions going for them. This movie just doesn't seem all that interesting.

You nailed it. I saw it this afternoon and the best part was the Minions short video which aired during the previews. I thought the idea for the movie would lead to great things from Illumination but it was mainly a raucous attempt at comedy. Kevin Hart does the voice for one of the characters and to me it seemed like the film makers fell in love with his style and let him carry the movie. Not a flop by any means but certainly not what I thought it could be. IMO don't wait in long lines for this one, guess we should have seen Dory.

 

Looks like Illumination has another big release coming out around Xmas time, it looks good. It's titled Sing and looks like it could be catchy with all the popular songs.

[Just Jack]

Trying to take my nephew to see the Secret Life Of Pets but by 4pm. It was sold out until the last show of the night! Has anyone seen it? The Rotten Tomatoes reviews look mediocre.

I thought it was decent, but not necessarily a must see for adults. The nephew will like it though. Our theater was almost sold out, and it was a 9:30am (yes, Sunday morning) showing.

[Mark Vader]

Saw "Star Trek Beyond" last night. This is by far the most light-hearted of the reboot series.

 

Plot wise it isn't very deep, but it is fun and entertaining.

 

The one thing I did not like was the continuous use of twisting camera shots.

 

I hope that we continue to get more of these movies with this cast.

 

Kudos to Simon Pegg, who co-wrote the screenplay.

 

RIP Anton Yelchin

Edited July 23, 2016 by Mark Vader

[unbillievable]

Saw "Star Trek Beyond" last night. This is by far the most light-hearted of the reboot series.

 

Plot wise it isn't very deep, but it is fun and entertaining.

 

The one thing I did not like was the continuous use of twisting camera shots.

 

I hope that we continue to get more of these movies with this cast.

 

Kudos to Simon Pegg, who co-wrote the screenplay.

 

RIP Anton Yelchin

 

I wonder if they're going to explain why Checkov won't be back.

I'm glad they re-thought Sulu being gay. It doesn't fit with his character. Spock/Uhura is weird enough.

[Deranged Rhino]

 

I wonder if they're going to explain why Checkov won't be back.

I'm glad they re-thought Sulu being gay. It doesn't fit with his character. Spock/Uhura is weird enough.

 

They didn't rethink Sulu's sexuality. He and his partner are in the film. They just cut their kiss due to the fact the movie was paid for by China and needed to pass their censors.

 

JJ said in an interview that they will not recast Checkov and have no idea how they will explain his absence, but I'd guess they would simply promote him elsewhere within the fleet and leave it at that. Anton will be missed, he was really an awesome person.

[Mark Vader]

 

They didn't rethink Sulu's sexuality. He and his partner are in the film. They just cut their kiss due to the fact the movie was paid for by China and needed to pass their censors.

 

JJ said in an interview that they will not recast Checkov and have no idea how they will explain his absence, but I'd guess they would simply promote him elsewhere within the fleet and leave it at that. Anton will be missed, he was really an awesome person.

I don't understand why they needed to make Sulu gay. It doesn't add anything to the story, it's just there.

 

When the scene happens, it just leaves you wondering what the point of it is.

 

I don't see why they can't recast Chekov, but if they don't, that's their prerogative. Maybe they'll keep Jaylah around.

 

Yes, Anton will be missed.

[Deranged Rhino]

I don't understand why they needed to make Sulu gay. It doesn't add anything to the story, it's just there.

 

When the scene happens, it just leaves you wondering what the point of it is.

 

Diversity is the number one buzzword in town. It impacts every project in multiple ways.

 

To me the point was in relation to Kirk's story. Kirk's whole arc is that he's lost his purpose, he's worried he's missing out on other things by drifting through a job which has become episodic. He doesn't see what Starfleet or his crew are gaining from this five year mission which seemingly has no purpose or end game in sight. Showing Sulu missing out on seeing his child grow up is one way to really visualize that narrative. We see Sulu's picture of his kid on the console at the start of Kirk's narration and then close that sequence by circling back to it when Sulu hugs his family when they reach Yorktown. It's certainly not the only way to make that point in relation to Kirk's arc, but it worked well for me.

 

The fact that he happens to have a husband waiting for him rather than a wife was a nice touch imo. It would have been cloying if they made a big deal about it, but they didn't. It was just matter of fact, which to me was well done.

 

I don't see why they can't recast Chekov, but if they don't, that's their prerogative. Maybe they'll keep Jaylah around.

 

Yes, Anton will be missed.

 

I assume it's JJ's choice and I'm sure the casts' as well. He's a really loyal guy and loved Anton.

 

I got to spend a good deal of time with Anton. A lot of people in this business disappoint you when you meet them in person. He never did. Just a really smart, funny, and nice person. And a hell of an actor.

 

They'll wait until the next reboot to recast. Which, based on Hollywood's timeline, is probably about 10 years out.

[unbillievable]

Are they going to explain how Sulu got a daughter before deciding to go back into the closet, or is his whole history just going to be ignored in the name of diversity?

 

At first, I didn't care about the change, until I heard George Takai's take on his character.

[Deranged Rhino]

Are they going to explain how Sulu got a daughter before deciding to go back into the closet, or is his whole history just going to be ignored in the name of diversity?

 

You do realize that Star Trek is a set in a futuristic advanced society that can build ships capable of WARP speed and teleport objects across space and time, correct? Considering we live in a world today where two gay men can find any number of ways to have a child together (biological children at that), I don't think it takes that great of an imagination to figure out the same would be possible in Trek's future world.

 

At first, I didn't care about the change, until I heard George Takai's take on his character.

 

Takai changed his position and is now in full support of it after hearing SP's reason for the inclusion:

 

Pegg expressed sympathy with Takei’s sentiment that mainstream gay heroes were belatedly coming to the big screen, but rejected the idea that this meant a new character needed creating.

“He’s right, it is unfortunate, it’s unfortunate that the screen version of the most inclusive, tolerant universe in science fiction hasn’t featured an LGBT character until now. We could have introduced a new gay character, but he or she would have been primarily defined by their sexuality, seen as the ‘gay character’, rather than simply for who they are, and isn’t that tokenism?”

Pegg continued: “Justin Lin, Doug Jung and I loved the idea of it being someone we already knew because the audience have a pre-existing opinion of that character as a human being, unaffected by any prejudice. Their sexual orientation is just one of many personal aspects, not the defining characteristic. Also, the audience would infer that there has been an LGBT presence in the Trek Universe from the beginning (at least in the Kelvin timeline), that a gay hero isn’t something new or strange. It’s also important to note that at no point do we suggest that our Sulu was ever closeted, why would he need to be? It’s just hasn’t come up before.”

 

 

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/jul/08/simon-pegg-defends-gay-sulu-after-george-takei-criticism

[Mark Vader]

 

Diversity is the number one buzzword in town. It impacts every project in multiple ways.

 

To me the point was in relation to Kirk's story. Kirk's whole arc is that he's lost his purpose, he's worried he's missing out on other things by drifting through a job which has become episodic. He doesn't see what Starfleet or his crew are gaining from this five year mission which seemingly has no purpose or end game in sight. Showing Sulu missing out on seeing his child grow up is one way to really visualize that narrative. We see Sulu's picture of his kid on the console at the start of Kirk's narration and then close that sequence by circling back to it when Sulu hugs his family when they reach Yorktown. It's certainly not the only way to make that point in relation to Kirk's arc, but it worked well for me.

 

The fact that he happens to have a husband waiting for him rather than a wife was a nice touch imo. It would have been cloying if they made a big deal about it, but they didn't. It was just matter of fact, which to me was well done.

 

 

I assume it's JJ's choice and I'm sure the casts' as well. He's a really loyal guy and loved Anton.

 

I got to spend a good deal of time with Anton. A lot of people in this business disappoint you when you meet them in person. He never did. Just a really smart, funny, and nice person. And a hell of an actor.

 

They'll wait until the next reboot to recast. Which, based on Hollywood's timeline, is probably about 10 years out.

Maybe that's what it is with how they did what they did with Sulu. It was just a long shot of that scene, and it felt like the people behind the camera were saying to us..."Are you watching this? Sulu is gay! Got it! Sulu is gay!" The scene could have been shorter.

 

Now if they had made Sulu's family actual characters and had speaking lines, it would have come off better.

 

Oh well, I still enjoyed the movie. But those constant twisting camera shots. Geesh!

 

Nice story you posted on Anton. He definitely had a future ahead of him.

[shrader]

I wonder what Walter Koenig is up to. Have him reprise the role.

 

I haven't seen it yet, but I'm wonder about two things that might qualify as spoilers:

1. Is Checkov used much in the movie?

2. Any mention of old Spock?

[Deranged Rhino]

I wonder what Walter Koenig is up to. Have him reprise the role.

 

I haven't seen it yet, but I'm wonder about two things that might qualify as spoilers:

1. Is Checkov used much in the movie?

2. Any mention of old Spock?

 

Yes (at least as much as the rest of the ensemble) and yes.

[Saxum]

 

“He’s right, it is unfortunate, it’s unfortunate that the screen version of the most inclusive, tolerant universe in science fiction hasn’t featured an LGBT character until now. We could have introduced a new gay character, but he or she would have been primarily defined by their sexuality, seen as the ‘gay character’, rather than simply for who they are, and isn’t that tokenism?”

 

Changing character to make it gay is ultimate tokenism.