I want to see it again

(one of my favorite scenes with Bones. Karl Urban nails it.).

Yes, it was that good. Now, I don't know if I'd go as far to say that non Trekkies will flock to see this film (like the way Peter Jackson made it "cool" to be a LOTR fan or Sam Raimi with his Spiderman trilogy) but I think if there is ever going to be a Trek film to hook mainstream audiences in, this is it. When I was in line I was pleasantly surprised to see a diverse group of people anxiously waiting and during the movie, there was plenty of applause during key character introductions, key scenes as well as the ending. It was great "opening day" experience.

On the film itself - the writing was snappy, the chemistry among the new Enterprise crew was great, and the visual effects were very impressive (especially on the Imax screen!). Generally, the character performances were very good but I got huge laughs from Bones (Karl Urban), Chekov (Anton Yelchin) and Scottie (Simon Pegg). I felt these guys really captured the essence of the original characters and thankfully without the SNL parody.

Some misses - At times I felt the pace was a bit frenetic. After the emotionally charged, EPIC prologue, the ending was not quite on the same caliber. Sulu (John Cho) was kind of treated as an afterthought. Nero (Eric Bana) didn't make much of an impression on me. I don't think it was Eric Bana's fault. I think the script made him too one-dimensional. He simply didn't have the cool lines like Khan had in Star Trek II or the Shakespeare quotes that General Chang had in Star Trek VI. My nerd nitpick - I had mixed feelings on the appearance of the Enterprise, specifically the Nacelles. I won't spoil it by going into detail however. And lastly, some of the memorable quotes Trekkies all know and love felt shoehorned at times.

So does this film replace Khan as the all time best Star Trek film? My own view is probably not. But I'd say it is hands down better than ANY of the TNG films (yes, even First Contact) and maybe 2nd to the "Genesis" films and Undiscovered Country. JJ Abrams has definitely brought the Trek universe back to life. Day one purchase on Blu Ray for sure.


Update: I recently read that the movie was shot on 35mm film and did not use IMAX or digital HD cameras. For the IMAX presentation, apparently upconversion or "IMAX DMR"was used. I think that would explain the softer picture I experienced at my local IMAX theater compared to when I saw The Dark Knight which had used an IMAX camera for specific shots. These days I much prefer digital DLP over film theaters for the sharpness, detail and overall image pop. I never thought I'd ever say that film projectors are just too soft for me now. I might go to the local Krikorian theater which has a Christie 2K DLP projector for a 2nd viewing.

Bachelor life..sort of

Since the Mrs has been out of town, I've had no motivation to cook for myself. I've been eating pizza for the past two days and oddly enough I am not tired of it yet. Good thing the NBA playoffs are on to help me burn off the calories. Maybe I'll try El Pollo Loco on Wed, have Nick's Burger on Thurs, and order Thai food on Friday. Of course it could all change depending on my mood that day but man, I just don't feel like cooking anything!

I picked up the X-men Blu Rays for at Best Buy and each movie comes with a movie cash ticket. I plan to see Wolverine anyway when Viks comes back so it brings the effective price of each Blu Ray to ~$8 each. I think $9.99 is my new target price for catalog Blu Rays. The picture quality on the X-men movies are great! But what impressed me even more is the DTS HD MA tracks. Having watched the SD versions two weekends ago (I was trying to convince myself the Blu Ray upgrade was unnecessary), I can honestly say the upgrade in sound quality is substantial and has made the purchase all the more sweeter. Ok, so this is going to sound NERDY but at the end of X2, I kind of wonder if the film's ending was inspired by Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. If you're a fan of both you'll know what I mean. The ending of Khan is one of my all time favorite movie endings.

I have a whole list of "to do's" for the house before we move. I've applied touch up paint to the walls and have changed few energy saving bulbs (so expensive). Our backyard gate needs some work. But since the house is still relatively new, I guess there isn't that much work to do. But you'd be surprised by just how much time is required to complete little things here and there. Packing is a pain but I've been slowly putting non essential things in boxes to get ready for the move. Apparently when you move long distances, the rate is by weight and not hours. So I've been using our bathroom weight scale and documenting the weight of each box to kind of help guess what our bill is going to be like.