Kirk’s Movie Blogspot 13th Mar

Oops, Friday the 13th again! Two months running, that must be a rare occurance. Having already written of my dislike of the horror genre (that was the Friday the 13th link) I think this time I’ll write about a genre that I like, and that would be sci-fi. Yes, I am a self confessed sci-fi geek! I guess I’m a bit of a stereotype in that I’m a scientist, I like video games and I love sci-fi. I do go against the stereotype in that I’m a strapping 6 footer who used to spend 3 hours a day in a gym lifting weights and doing cardio and generally look a bit like Grant Mitchell from East Enders. The weight training is very much in my past though. A wife and daughter (also bucking the geek tag) mean that the only time I have for sport is the badminton I play in the Manchester and Stockport leagues (no it’s not a nancy sport!).

What’s any of this got to do with sci-fi? Guess i wandered off there a bit trying to establish my geek credentials whilst playing them down slightly! One franchise I’ve always loved would be the Terminator franchise. i think I was about 14 when I saw Terminator for the first time (it had an 18 rating, but my Dad knew the video store owner so I could pretty much rent anything I wanted). It was a complete revelation, there may be early sci-fi films that touch on time travel, but I hadn’t seen them, to me it was a completely new concept. A few years later and we were treated to the sequel. Special effects had moved on considerably and again, the T1000 was a revelation. A lot of people would rather ignore the 3rd film, they tend to stick their fingers in their ears, chanting la la la la la it never happened, it never happened over and over. Personally, while I can see that it wasn’t the revelatory experience that the first two were, it’s ending made it worthwhile for me. Ever since I saw the first film, the film I really wanted to see was the one set in the future where the humans battle the machines. I wanted an entire film of Reese’s flashbacks, now that would be way cool!

And so now we come to Terminator Salvation (check out the latest, amazing, trailer at http://www.apple.com/trailers/wb/terminatorsalvation/). It’s not looking quite as futuristic as Reese’s flashbacks, but it’s definitely getting there! It’s down for a May 22nd release (don’t know if that’s in the states or UK though) so hopefully not much of a wait. I know McG is directing it, which doesn’t immediately bode well, but I’m an eternal optomist and am hoping that the possibilities the franchise brings will raise his game to new heights.

It looks like being a big year for big franchises with the release of the new Star Trek film (check out trailer 3 here: http://www.apple.com/trailers/paramount/startrek/). I generally don’t like all this jumping around in the timeline of films. The idea of a prequel does not sit well with me (even with the sacred Star Wars!). From the trailer it does look interesting though, but that brings me to another point, trailers. I’ve lost count of the number of trailers that I’ve seen and thought ‘that looks awesome/hilarious’ only to be severly let down by the end result. It’s a great marketing ploy I have to admit. It generates buzz, shows off the best bits of the film and I’ve no doubt that a good trailer will increase the box office take of a film to some degree. It’s probably my own fault, I really shouldnt have bookmarked the apple trailers site, and I shouldn’t go there as regularly as I do. The problem is that a trailer always makes action films more exciting than they really are by cutting from one exciting sequence straight into another, making it seem like it’s one big thrill ride. Same thing with comedies. By cutting from one funny sequence to another it makes it appear as if it’s one long laugh-fest all throughout the film. Problem is that when you see the film in it’s entirity you learn that you pretty much saw all the funny bits in the trailer!

Sceptic as I am about trailers, I’m still suckered by them and will be booking my Terminator ticket asap! I’ll definitely go see the Star Trek as well, but might wait for reviews on that one though.