"Forget everything." That's what the marketing has been telling you hasn't it? Or "This isn't your father's Star Trek." Well gang, I got news for you, J.J. Abrams has crafted a Star Trek for everyone. Never seen a Star Trek before? No problem, this movie puts it all together. Regular Trekkie? You're going to enjoy this too, at least if the big moosie sitting next to me was any indication (Please Note: It is NOT necessary to giggle like a girl really audibly at pitch perfect portrayals by actors or inside Trek jokes just to let the rest of us know how knowledgeable you are.)

The film hits the ground running, much like Abrams previous big screen endeavor Mission Impossible III, and takes you on a white knuckled adrenaline ride from start to finish. But there is so much more here, folks. Abrams is a guy whose movies I will now see without any hesitation. He can orchestrate one of the most awesome action set pieces while developing a character completely AND having a real sense of gravitas to each and every moment on film. Need an example? Check your tear ducts at approximately the 15 minute mark into Star Trek, the man is a screen economy mastermind.

But it would all be for not without the incredible script from writing team Robert Orci and Alex Kurtzman. The movie is smart, so smart that when you try and see where the movie is going, it takes a turn in the opposite direction and impresses you even more. There are so many moments within this film that the writers could have done the easy thing and wrapped the whole package up with a bow, but they fight that urge, and the newest Trek film is the better for it. Kurtzman and Orci have laid the groundwork for however many Star Treks J.J. Abrams wants to make with their reboot. And guess what? It all makes sense within the Trek universe.

But did they ruin your favorite character? I think the general consensus is a resounding: no...they did not. Chris Pine takes his moment in the spotlight and shines just as bright as he can as the cocksure, lady-killing James Tiberius Kirk. Zachary Quinto has a more layered performance as he tempers his internal feelings to remain true to his Vulcan roots as Spock. Bruce Greenwood and Eric Bana are the other real standouts as the captain of the Enterprise and head baddie Romulan, Nero. The rest of the supporting cast are all strong, but aren't given too terribly much to do beyond showing up and looking and sounding like their characters, with a particular tip of the hat to Karl Urban and his spot-on Bones.

So forget everything, or remember everything. This is certainly not your Dad's Star Trek, but it is however the best Star Trek I can remember seeing. J.J. Abrams has officially launched summer, because let's face it, Wolverine didn't really feel like it, did it?

--Greg MacLennan

In the year 2707, war rages between earth’s four giant corporations as they battle over the planet's dwindling resources. In an era marked by warfare and social regression, the earth is on the verge of ruin; destruction is everywhere; battles explode on every ravaged continent. Amidst heavy combat, an errant shell shatters an ancient buried seal releasing a horrific mutant army from its eternal prison deep within the earth. As the mutant scourge threatens human extinction, a single squad of soldiers descends into the earth to fulfill the age-old prophesy of the Mutant Chronicles and save mankind.

Whew...sounds somewhat intriguing doesn't it? Well, I'm willing to wager one might derive more enjoyment from reading the synopsis than actually watching the executed film because it is bad. Not enjoyable bad, just bad. The film struggles so hard to be so many different films and explore so many different things that it ends up just being a flat out waste of your time. The narrative makes little sense and defies logic, so don't think about it. Between the gunfire, sword fights, and underground crab men mutants I had a hard time keeping track of exactly what was going on, and when I knew what was going on, I had a pretty difficult time figuring out why, how, and why I should care.

You get an all star cast of bad asses with Thomas Jane growling out his awkward one liners as best as he can, but unfortunately not even he, Ron Perlman, Devon Aoki, and John Malkovich can save this sinking ship. The acting is at times laughable, and the effects work is just disconnecting. The film was shot much like Sky Captain, and I found it hard to believe these were more than just actors wandering around on a green screen, which makes it difficult to feel a sense of urgency or real stakes.

If Crank was like watching someone play a really fun video game, Mutant Chronicles is like watching someone play a really boring nonsensical RPG. Descend upon this one at your own risk. It hits limited release this weekend, but is always available on many of your XBOX 360s and Video On Demand Services already.

--Greg MacLennan

Based on the book by journalist Steve Lopez, The Soloist recounts how Lopez (Robert Downey Jr.) came upon schizo musicophiliac Nathan Ayers Jr. (Jamie Foxx). Lopez was a down-on-his-luck writer who was desperate to find a story. The film takes place in 2005 when layoffs are running rampant through the journalism industry (sound familiar?), which means fewer reporters are getting less time to cover more stories. L.A. Times hot shot Lopez needs a good story, and one day stumbles upon a homeless man playing a two string violin who claims he went to Julliard. Bam, he's got himself a story, pending it all turns out to be true and not just the ramblings of some crazed homeless man.

The Soloist has some really good things going for it; it has a tremendous cast anchored by RDJ and Foxx, and an extremely talented up and coming director, Joe Wright (Atonement, Pride & Prejudice). But when watching the film, something seems off. You see the characters, you feel their pain, the actors are firing on all cylinders, but you feel somewhat distanced and unaffected. Is it the fault of the director? Possibly. But it could also be the fault of the writer.

Maybe Susannah Grant (Charlotte's Web, Erin Brokovich, In Her Shoes) wasn't the right choice for the film. Sure, she has written drama before, but I think maybe the balance of drama, social criticism, and general sappiness might have done better in another writer's hands. But it's not all on her shoulders; whatever happened here, Joe Wright is also to blame. His visual style is getting to be pretty noticeable and much appreciated, but at times the film feels heavy handed and manipulative...bordering on preachy. I also found the flashbacks to be somewhat awkward and clunky. It starts with Ayers' sister recounting a story to Lopez, which turns into a voice over narration of a cello instructor talking about Ayers's innate ability, but then we get periodic flash backs that just seem tacked on and not fully played out, i.e. Ayers's breakdown.

But that's the bad, and with RDJ you have to have at least some good don't you? Well, yes...yes, you do. RDJ turns out a solid and affecting performance, and, despite its obvious Oscar bait potential, Jamie Foxx takes a character Sean Penn would salivate to play and nails it. Foxx balances the crazy with the lucid, and delivers another nuanced performance to prove that his Ray Oscar was well earned.

Wright also manages to take the viewer inside the mind of a crazy person and see how insane the rest of the world can seem. From his sound design to this visual cues, Wright has added another thing to his resume of shit he can do well. One scene in particular I found to be truly impressive was when Lopez takes Ayers to a symphony rehearsal and the screen goes black with bursts of color for almost the entire duration of the song. That moment juxtaposed with the acting before and after can't help you leave feeling somewhat affected.

So, The Soloist isn't a great movie by any means, but it's certainly a decent one. It comments on society, the economy, family, relationships, and also a tale of friendship between two men from opposite walks of life. You could find worse to watch this weekend, and with strong performances from Downey Jr. and Foxx, it's well worth a sit down.

Review by: Greg MacLennan

Things seem to be going pretty well for Christine. She has a good job as a loan officer at a bank, a rock star psychology professor boyfriend, and an adorable baby kitty cat at her luxurious home. She's a good person and doesn't really even stand up for herself when the new guy at the bank is angling for her promotion. So why would anyone want to eff with her? Well, when an old gypsy woman comes into the bank begging for a third extension on her mortgage, Christine decides to show a little initiative and backbone at work by doing what's best for the bank and denying the extremely creepy and downright disgusting woman. This sets the old gypsy off and she decides to curse our dear Christine with a demon who will torment her for three days before it eventually drags her to hell!

Sam Raimi has been away from the horror game for quite some time, but rest assured, he is far from rusty. The man who brought us the Evil Dead films, Spiderman, and DarkMan has managed to infuse his horror skills into all his films regardless of genre. So when it came time to dust off the buckets of blood, he assumed his role as expert spookologist like an adult revisiting a bike. Raimi may have grown up, but his film tactics sure haven't; Drag Me to Hell is just as campy, silly, and disgusting as you'd expect from a much younger director. Raimi has just been around so much and done this so many times before that he does it to perfection. He manages to balance the gross out moments, the humor, and the scares expertly to create a brisk, fun 90 minutes in a film. It's nice to see all his cinematic tricks at work, because really, I can't think of another horror director that leaves a trademark on the screen quite like Raimi.

The acting is pretty solid across the board with the adorable Alison Lohman anchoring the cast as our protagonist Christine. She also gets some good support with Justin Long as her caring boyfriend and Dileep Rao as a psychic who does his darndest to help her placate the demon and escape her impending fate. Lorna Raver as the gypsy Mrs. Ganush and Oscar nominee Adriana Barraza as the medium who can embody demons walk the perfect tip toe line between ridiculous and terrifying.

While the film is far from a masterpiece or cinematic perfection, it is a totally fun trip. The version I saw was a work in progress, but it seemed to require very little tinkering, as I felt it was a rock solid outing. I was pretty skeptical of the film after viewing the trailer, but rest assured the film is worth the trip. When release date for this bad boy rolls around, be prepared to be dragged to hell.

--Greg MacLennan

The energy crisis is over. The future has brought many things including permanent Moon colonization and harvesting of an H3 (helium 3) compound that can be utilized to create enough energy to provide Earth with over 70% of her needs. How do we harvest it? Well, an engineer is hired who works a three year contract in total isolation, essentially babysitting the lunar base and harvesting equipment with the aid of the bases faithful computer companion, GERTY.

Now I know how this one could look, but trust me when I say that Duncan Jones (David Bowie's son!) has crafted an intelligent and mind bending first feature. He plays with modern and vintage sci-fi conventions and delivers an amazing modern sci-fi masterpiece.  It's not only that it plays with 70s and 80s conventions, it's that the film's pacing and storytelling and technique all feel as though the film is from another time. It's like it could have almost been a lost classic from the 70s finally getting released--the only difference being this film pays homage to those movies and plays with your expectations. Jones has also utilized some very retro film techniques, like miniatures and lens flaring, while minimizing his reliance on computer visual effects, and the film is the better for it. So many directors feel it necessary to have fancy explosions and ships in their films that they forget to focus on the story and characters. Because without a solid character, no one can buy into your story.

Which brings us to Sam Rockwell, the one man show, the anchor to this whole wonderful experience. Sam Rockwell has been tap dancing around super stardom for quite some time and I feel the guy is tremendously underrated. Rockwell really gets his moment to shine with this film, playing the full spectrum of emotion, while having you glued to your seat at every turn. He had me as enraptured as that charming Will Smith character did with I Am Legend, capturing moments of frustration and isolation and selling them to you so well that you feel them while watching .
This is the type of film experience that will be infinitely more rewarding the less you know about it, hence why the review dances around without getting into any real details. It's an independent sci-fi film, but Jones really has made $10 bucks look like a million. The film is expertly directed and wonderfully acted, and anyone would be hard pressed to not enjoy it.

--Greg MacLennan

Taking place in ancient Thailand,  the treacherous power hungry Lord Rajasena thirsts for more. With his ever expanding borders, few dare to oppose him, and those who do don't live to tell the tale. The film starts with the murder of Lord Sihadecho and his soldiers, those who were still loyal to their country and not their new rules. The only survivor is Ting, Sihadecho's only son. Ting barely escapes Rajasena's attack and finds himself taken in and raised by a gang of bandits. These bandits teach Ting the various disciplines of martial arts and weapons. As Ting grows up, he learns to fuse all these lessons into one hybrid form of bad-assery and sets out on a quest for vengeance. 

Sounds pretty awesome right? Well frankly I'm surprised I managed to muster a coherent synopsis of this Ong Bak prequel, because this film is a muddled mess. Tony Jaa, heir apparent to the Bruce Lee throne for martial arts kick-assetry, marks his writing and directing debut with one of the most incomprehensible films I have ever seen. The dialogue is ridiculous, but forgivable, the action is awesome, but a step down from the previous film, and the editing is downright horrendous. I was convinced for the majority of the film that the projectionist had somehow mixed up the reels, but no, this film really is that confusing. It jumps around in time without any regard for story consistency, plot progression or any other cinematic convention. It's almost as if the film was edited by escalation of fight scene, because that's the only real sense I could make out of it. 

But surely the action makes up for it right? Well, yes and no. It was somewhere around the time Tony Jaa was leaping from elephant to elephant that I missed modern day Jaa and his car leaping, head elbowing self. The action is cool, and his mastery and execution of old school weaponry was impressive and inventive by any other action film standards, but it would have been nice to see a flying knee or two. 

So while the film basically amounts to an overlong train wreck, I'd be hard pressed to say I went home disappointed. Because regardless of the way it gets to you, that little Thai man can fight, and it will always be worth your while. I just wish the film had been more of a traditional sequel, instead of a bloated unrelated, nonsensical prequel. But hey, on the bright side the film ends with a teaser for the currently in production Ong Bak 3.

--Greg MacLennan