Patrick Stewart

DVD Review: ‘The Best of Star Trek’ Continues Hit Movie Experience

BrianTT — Mon, 11 May 2009 19:15:46 -0600

CHICAGO – So you saw J.J. Abrams’ “Star Trek” this weekend and you’re getting a little tired of arguing about it its greatness or joining in on the growing backlash to the rave reviews and just want to bask in the glow of Gene Roddenberry’s universe. Get started with “The Best of Star Trek: The Original Series” and “The Best of Star Trek: The Next Generation,” available tomorrow, May 12th, 2009 on DVD.

DVD Rating: 4.0/5.0

Of course, this diehard Trekker would suggest that you check out the “Star Trek: The Original Series” Season One Blu-Ray release that was sadly unavailable for review or the remastered original series DVD sets that are among the best in TV history, but those are for people who already know that they love “Star Trek”.

The Best of Star Trek: The Original Series will be released on DVD on May 12th, 2009.
Photo credit: Paramount

Consider these four-episode releases “sampler sets” for the two most popular “Star Trek” series, the two that spawned ten films and, by extension, the new blockbuster starring Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, Simon Pegg, John Cho, Anton Yelchin, Karl Urban, Bruce Greenwood and Eric Bana.

The Best of Star Trek: The Original Series will be released on DVD on May 12th, 2009.
Photo credit: Paramount

As anyone who’s seen it knows, the new film contains a multitude of references to the original series, many of which can be immediately paid off by watching the 201 minutes of “Kirk and Spock’s Greatest Adventures”. In other words, the old show will make your new favorite movie better.

The four episodes included on “The Best of Star Trek: The Original Series” are:

“The City on The Edge of Forever”

Kirk, Spock, and Dr. McCoy enter the “Guardian of Forever” archway and are transported to the 1930s, where Kirk falls in love with a doomed peace activist (Joan Collins). If Kirk saves her, he could alter history, doom the Enterprise and trap himself and his crewmates in the past forever.

“The Trouble With Tribbles”

Fights and furballs! The Enterprise finds itself docked at the same space station as the Klingons and tensions soon escalate into a full-scale barroom brawl. Meanwhile, Lt. Uhura buys a small furry pet called a “Tribble’ and brings it back to the Enterprise, where the creatures rapidly reproduce and threaten to overpopulate the entire Enterprise.

“Balance of Terror”

For the first time, the Enterprise crew battle their enemies the Romulans, who have a cloaking device that renders their ship temporarily invisible. Complicating matters, the Romulans closely resemble Vulcans, causing crew members to distrust Mr. Spock. Kirk must fight two battles - one to save his ship and the other to keep his crew united against the enemy outside the Enterprise.

“Amok Time”

A glimpse into Vulcan culture and the series’ most memorable battle. Mr. Spock must mate or die. To save his friend, Kirk orders the Enterprise to the planet Vulcan. However, in a cruel twist of fate, Spock’s bride chooses Kirk as her champion, pitting the Captain against Spock in a fight to the death.

The Best of Star Trek: The Next Generation will be released on DVD on May 12th, 2009.
Photo credit: Paramount

Want more “Trek” but you still don’t have the cash flow to dive into the season sets? You could do a lot worse than the four episodes included on “The Best of Star Trek: The Next Generation”:

“The Best of Both Worlds (Part I)”

After a spectacular battle and chase, the Borg cube overtakes the Enterprise and the Borg abduct Captain Picard, taking over his mind and body. A rescue mission to save Picard ensues and the crew of the Enterprise is forced to make a dreadful decision; the opportunity to destroy the Borg and rid the universe of absolute tyranny will also mean annihilating their Captain.

“The Best of Both Worlds (Part II)”

With Riker as Captain, the Enterprise temporarily outwits the Borg, allowing for the rescue of Picard. Back on the Enterprise, the crew is desperately trying to figure out how to stop the Borg from reaching Earth. A still-assimilated Picard utters a single clue: “sleep.” But will it be enough to save the Enterprise…and the planet?

“Yesterday’s Enterprise”

A rift in the space-time continuum brings the Enterprise-C 22 years into the future, where it encounters a transformed Enterprise-D, now at war with the Klingon Empire. As one of only two episodes to feature two versions of the Enterprise, the past and present collide with potentially catastrophic and mind-bending consequences.

“The Measure of a Man”

When the Enterprise docks at a new Starbase, noted robotics specialist Cmdr. Bruce Maddox convinces Starfleet to allow him to disassemble the android Data. Told that Data is merely Starfleet property, Picard calls for a hearing to determine Data’s rights as a sentient being. With Riker as a prosecutor and Picard as Data’s defender, the outcome is literally life or death for Data.

Every episode on both discs is presented in 4:3 full frame and with an English 5.1 audio track.

By BRIAN TALLERICO
Content Director
HollywoodChicago.com
brian@hollywoodchicago.com

Not All Treks Are Created Equal: Ranking the ‘Star Trek’ Films

BrianTT — Fri, 08 May 2009 09:44:51 -0600

CHICAGO – With the eleventh (and best) “Star Trek” movie landing in theaters today, we thought we’d take a look back at the ten-pack that came before, the films that defined the Trek universe (along with the TV incarnations, of course).

The “Star Trek” filmography is wildly varying in quality, stretching the spectrum from beloved sci-fi classic to total disaster. Which one was the worst? Which was the pre-J.J. Abrams best? Let us guide the way where so many have gone before.

10. “Star Trek V: The Final Frontier”

Easily the worst of the Trek films, original series, or Next Generation cast, it’s honestly surprising that the franchise could survive a film this bad. If “The Next Generation” TV series hadn’t injected life back into the solar system of characters that Gene Roddenberry created and the universe was simply film-based at this point, the series probably would have stopped after five films. After the most successful Trek film, the widely-appealing “The Voyage Home,” Trek producers decided to not only get existential and make a movie about Captain Kirk looking for God in outer space but also to let William Shatner direct. Fifth films in a franchise rarely work but few are as disastrous as “The Final Frontier”.

9. “Star Trek: Nemesis”

While “The Final Frontier” nearly put a nail in the coffin of the “Star Trek” franchise, “Nemesis” actually closed it shut and poured six feet of dirt on it. The most frustrating thing about the final Next Generation film was how much it made true all of the non-Trekker complaints about the mythology. Overly talky, ploddingly paced, and just plain nonsensical, “Nemesis” is, and I’m sorry to use such a hot-button word Trek fans, the “dorkiest” movie that emerged from Roddenberry’s universe. It was remarkable how clearly “Nemesis” slammed the door on what had been a robust franchise for years. There was no doubt that there would never be another TNG film after “Nemesis”. There were a few decent ideas - bringing back the Romulans and playing with Data’s personality like “First Contact” did - but the film made less than any other Trek outing, even the ’80s ones. J.J. Abrams’ version will make more in its opening night than this disaster.

8. “Star Trek: Insurrection”

The Next Generation films showed such promise but we could tell something was wrong by the time the ploddingly-paced “Insurrection” showed up. Whoever thought it was a good idea to follow an action film like “First Contact” with a dull, leaden script like the one for “Insurrection” deserves a lot of the blame for the demise of the TNG incarnation of the franchise. Sure, “Nemesis” may have been the final nail in the coffin but “Insurrection” pounded in more than a few on its way in and out of theaters. Of the three truly bad Trek films, it’s only barely the best. Having said that, there’s at least something to like about all of the top seven.

7. “Star Trek: The Motion Picture”

The director’s cut of “TMP” may be considered superior to the original, but the film is still deeply flawed in whatever incarnation. Originally planned as a TV pilot and rushed into production, the script for the first “Star Trek” film is a cobbled together mess. And it just looks bad. The confidence that the Trek crew would display in films II-IV, the best streak in the Trek franchise, simply isn’t on display in this one. You can feel the nerves and the uncertainty in every element. And it’s just so shockingly predictable and stunningly dated. You may have loved it when you were a kid, but I dare you to sit through it now. It’s almost impossible to do so without getting drowsy. How forgotten is the original “Star Trek”? Paramount is releasing a Blu-Ray box set under the banner “The Motion Picture Trilogy” next week. I naturally assumed it was the first three films. Nope. They skipped one and just included II-IV. You should too.

6. “Star Trek: Generations”

If you think about what “Generations” tried to do - passing the torch from one franchise to the next - a true home run of a film was damn near impossible. It was the kind of project that simply could not make everyone happy. Diehard fans of the original series didn’t give in easily to the idea of handing the reins over to Picard, Data, and the rest of the TNG gang. And the TNG diehards saw the film as more of an obligation, something to get out of the way before their favorite cast could take center stage. With that in mind, “Generations” works better than it should. It’s an entertaining sci-fi film, more memorable for its position as the bridge between the film incarnations than anything else, but not a bad movie on its own merits either.

5. “Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country”

How good is “The Undiscovered Country”? It made “The Final Frontier” forgivable. Honestly, I think “The Undiscovered Country” is a vastly underrated sci-fi film. Directed by Nicholas Meyer, who not coincidentally worked on two of the most beloved Trek films - “Wrath of Khan” and “The Voyage Home” - “The Undiscovered Country” was co-written by Leonard Nimoy and stands as the final film that will ever feature the original cast. According to some reports, the sixth Trek film was once conceived not unlike Abrams’ reboot, in that it would kick start the franchise with a young cast. That means we would never have had this fitting final epilogue for the original crew and that would have been a travesty. How good is “Undiscovered Country”? It started the whole concept of even-numbered Treks being better than the odd ones.

4. “Star Trek III: The Search for Spock”

Here’s where things get tricky. Honestly, 2-4 on this list may fluctuate in my mind depending on the day. But I do think the whole even-number concept did a disservice to one of the first Trek movies I fell in love with as a kid and the middle act of the story arc that connects “Khan” and “Voyage Home,” two of the more beloved sci-fi films ever made, Trek or otherwise. Part of the reason I’m more forgiving of “Spock” than other Trekkers is simple - I’m a huge fan of the title character. Yes, Nimoy’s direction is a little too studied, returning the franchise to the more dull pace of the original film, but I think “Spock” is consistent with the ideas of Roddenberry’s original vision, one in which the humanity of the Enterprise crew always took center stage.

3. “Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home”

The most financially successful Trek film (until the new one shatters all records) was the family-friendly “The Voyage Home,” a film that I rebelled against as a kid, thinking it wasn’t “cool” enough, but that I recognize is thoroughly enjoyable now. I still think “The Voyage Home” stands out as kind of an unusual sci-fi comedy, more of a fish-out-of-water movie than a Trek film. That’s never what the franchise was for me. But the reason I give in and place “Voyage Home” so high on the list is simple - it made the world of Trek what it is today. Think about it. What if the franchise had gone from “Search for Spock” to something like “The Final Frontier”? Even Abrams wouldn’t have the pull to get a reboot made. “The Voyage Home” is an essential part of the foundation of the entire franchise. Maybe the most essential.

2. “Star Trek: First Contact”

Borg! Easily the best Next Generation Trek film is also quite simply one of the best sci-fi movies of the ’90s. “First Contact” is an expertly paced action movie, a film that works for fans of TNG, fans of the original, and movie goers who hadn’t heard of either. Second only to “Voyage Home” in terms of box office, “First Contact” features a great villainous turn by Alice Krige as the Borg Queen and allows for all of the personalities of the TNG crew to take a turn in the spotlight, but none more than the beloved Data, who gets one of his most memorable story arcs, TV, or film.

1. “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan”

What do the top two “Star Trek” films of all time have in common? Memorable villains. The Borg Queen and the legendary Khan proved that while the crew on the bridge of the Enterprise must be a crucial part of any Trek film, they need a worthy adversary. And they got one in Khan, one of the most referenced and beloved sci-fi films ever made. “Wrath of Khan” would go on to influence science fiction for years to come and you can see its fingerprints all over Abrams’ vision. With a dark edge and breakneck pace, “Wrath of Khan” is still converting Trek virgins into diehard fans around the world.

(All posters courtesy of Paramount).

By BRIAN TALLERICO
Content Director
HollywoodChicago.com
brian@hollywoodchicago.com

Blu-Ray Review: HD ‘X-Men Trilogy’ Primes Fans For First Big Summer Movie

BrianTT — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 18:56:51 -0600

Blu-Ray Rating: 3.5/5.0

CHICAGO – With ‘X-Men Origins: Wolverine’ opening this Friday, fans can catch up on where Hugh Jackman’s legendary character earned a following big enough to warrant a summer tentpole release date in the Blu-Ray release of the “X-Men Trilogy” including the two films by Bryan Singer (“X-Men” and “X2: X-Men United”) and the three-quel by Brett Ratner (“X-Men: The Last Stand”). With nine discs, HD video/audio transfers, and dozens of special features, this is the Blu-Ray release of the season for the comic movie nut in your circle of friends and family.

Very few franchises have been robust enough to support four films in the new millennium. With “X-Men,” “X2: X-Men United,” “X-Men: The Last Stand,” and this week’s “X-Men Origins: Wolverine,” this has been easily one of the most successful franchises of the ’00s (only Harry Potter, “Saw,” and “Fast & Furious” have had as many theatrical releases.) The three films in this set have made over $1.1 billion worldwide.

X-Men Trilogy was released on Blu-Ray on April 21st, 2009.
Photo credit: Fox

Knowing the rabid fan base of the franchise, Twentieth Century Fox has released a very complete set. Want special features? There are hours of them. Digital copies? There’s one for each film. And each film is presented in HD for the first time (the first and third film are presented in 2.40:1 with the middle film in 2.35:1). All three films are accompanied by 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio English tracks and 5.1 Dolby Digital tracks in Spanish, French, and Portuguese.

Sadly, Fox continues to underwhelm in the technical departments. “X-Men” looks older than it should with the picture often coming across much flatter than an average Blu-Ray. The picture simply doesn’t pop like it should, something I’ve noted far-too-often with recent Fox releases (although, to be fair, not all of them). Ultimately, “X-Men Trilogy” should look amazing and it looks (and sounds) merely average.

What is amazing is the collection of special features for all three films. They’re as informative and exhaustive as a fan could possibly ask for. There’s clearly no more material left on the cutting room floor and until the cast and crew gets together in decades for an anniversary edition, there are no more interviews or behind-the-scenes details to provide.

X-Men Trilogy was released on Blu-Ray on April 21st, 2009.
Photo credit: Fox

The first disc of special features on “X-Men” - Commentary by Bryan Singer and Brian Peck, Behind-the-Scenes Footage, Deleted/Extended Scenes with Optional Commentary by Bryan Singer and Brian Peck, Fox Special: “The Mutant Watch,” Bryan Singer Interview, Animatics, Art Gallery, Three TV Spots, Music Promo, BD-Live: Wolverine Exclusive, and HD Marvel Universe Trailers.

The second disc of special features on “X-Men” - Disc Intro by Bryan Singer, The Uncanny Suspects, X-Factor: The Look of the X-Men, Image Gallery, Production Documentary Scrapbook, The Special Effects of the X-Men, Reflection of the X-Men, Marketing the X-Men, TV Spots, and Internet Interstitials.

The first disc of special features on “X2: X-Men United” - Commentary by Bryan Singer and Tom Sigel, Commentary by Lauren Shuler Donner, Ralph Winter, Michael Dougherty, Dan Harris and David Hayter, Generation X: Comic Book History, BD-Live: Wolverine Exclusive, and HD Marvel Universe Trailers.

The second disc of special features on “X2: X-Men United” - History of the X-Men, Pre-Production, Production, Post-Production, Deleted Scenes, Galleries, Locations and Sets, On-Camera Graphics, The Unseen X2, and Three HD Trailers.

The first disc of special features on “X-Men: The Last Stand” - Director and Writer Commentary by Brett Ratner, Zack Penn and Simon Kinberg, Producer Commentary by Avi Arad, Lauren Shuler Donner and Ralph Winter, HD Deleted Scenes (Optional Director and Writer Commentary by Brett Ratner, Zack Penn and Simon Kinberg), HD Easter Eggs, BD-Live: Wolverine Exclusive, and HD Marvel Universe Trailers.

The second disc of special features fon “X-Men: The Last Stand” - Brett Ratner’s Production Diary, X-Men: Evolution of a Trilogy, X-Men Up Close - Interactive gallery with stills and video, Generation X: Comic Book History, Fox Movie Channel Presents: Life After Film School, Fox Movie Channel Presents: Casting Session, X3: The Excitement Continues in HD, Anatomy of a Scene: Golden Gate Bridge in HD, HD Vignettes, HD Blogs, Previz Animatics, Galleries, Easter Egg, and Three HD Trailers.

‘X-Men Trilogy’ is released by Twentieth Century Fox and stars Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Anna Paquin, Halle Berry, James Marsden, Alan Cumming, Famke Janssen, Rebecca Romijn, Bruce Davison, Brian Cox, Kelsey Grammer, and Vinnie Jones. “X-Men” was written by David Hayter and directed by Bryan Singer. “X2: X-Men United” was written by Zak Penn and Hayter & Singer and directed by Singer. “X-Men: The Last Stand” was written by Simon Kinberg & Penn and directed by Brett Ratner. “X-Men Trilogy” was released on April 21st, 2009. All three films are rated PG-13.

By BRIAN TALLERICO
Content Director
HollywoodChicago.com
brian@hollywoodchicago.com

‘TMNT’ Director Kevin Munroe Envisions R-Rated CGI

HollywoodChicago.com — Wed, 18 Apr 2007 15:56:04 -0600

CHICAGO – “CGI is getting hampered by being defined as a ‘kiddie’ medium,” said “TMNT” writer/director Kevin Munroe in an interview with Adam Fendelman.

Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello and Raphael in “TMNT,” which opened on March 23.
Photo courtesy of Imagi and Warner Bros.
Rather than solely because their kids lugged them to the movies, he envisions adults also flocking to engage the high-tech, highly immersive medium for themselves.

“In this small step with the [Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles], you start to show that there’s a broader audience for it than just kids – when it’s done right,” Munroe said. “I’d love to be in the position where eventually we’d have an R-rated CGI horror or fantasy film.”

In the meantime, the experience for Munroe was an evolutionary process that he views as a glimpse into the next generation of film. He landed the Warner Bros. project from Turtles creator Peter Laird through aggressive tenacity.

“While working on a separate project with Imagi, I heard they were getting the rights to the Turtles,” Munroe said.

He continued: “I just kept on bugging them. I would send them e-mails in the middle of the night to keep pestering them. After I had a meeting with Peter, he signed my Turtles comic issue No. 1 from 1985: ‘Dear Kevin: Make a good movie or else…’”

Giving justice today to a brand that achieved cult status with its comic books required going overseas.

Art director Simon Murton (left), writer/director Kevin Munroe (middle) and environment and color design artist Steve Jung analyze storyboards for “TMNT”.
Photo courtesy of Imagi and Warner Bros.
In the process of removing the actors from the actual spotlight and merely using their voices, Munroe had to staff a gargantuan team of animation artists to artificially bring characters alive in a manner that’s reminiscent of real life.

The film’s makers decided to create and then bridge their own digital divide. While some computer artwork was done in California, the majority was done in an entirely different time zone, on an entirely different continent with people of an entirely different culture.

Munroe found his wealth of talent in Hong Kong. Until the artists learned to understand “Kevinspeak,” though, he recalls early confusion in response to his direction.

American words such as “cool,” for example, were misinterpreted there to mean the temperature rather than his stamp of approval. As such, the Hong Kong artists were given a crash course in Americanisms.

“For one of the warehouse scenes, I wanted to have wooden palettes in the background,” Munroe said, who speaks in a lot of slang. “Instead, they kept sending me pictures of people with their mouths open.”

Sarah Michelle Gellar provides the voice for April O’Neil in “TMNT”.
Photo courtesy of Warner Bros.
Beyond the language barrier, traversing the long road that has added $71.3 million in the film’s worldwide piggy bank required massive technology demands.

The last time the sewer-dwelling bipeds captured audiences in 1990, its makers couldn’t have remotely conceived of today’s advances. The 2007 incarnation faced an entirely brave new world.

Munroe used a fat T-3 pipe, which flies data at speeds up to 44 Mbps, to communicate back and forth between his two hubs.

Rendering is done one frame at a time, and for “TMNT,” Munroe was sent 24 two-megabyte files for every second of film. A fight scene in a garden, which comprised just one of the film’s 91 minutes, took one year to complete.

Even an enormously high-tech film with a production budget of $34 million feels the sting of modern-day failure.

Splinter and Leonardo in “TMNT”.
Photo courtesy of Imagi and Warner Bros.
“Just as we were getting into the crunch of the movie, there was an earthquake in Taiwan right after Christmas,” Munroe said. “We had hundreds of thousands if not millions of images coming over, and when the earthquake happened, our T-3 got cut out. We actually had people flying in from Hong Kong with hard drives on their laps. They were delivering the film by hand.”

The computer-modeled magic for the film, which came alive through researchers developing musculature and details such as skin translucency, doesn’t necessitate the enterprise-level equipment you might expect. Munroe added: “At the core of it, we just had a bunch of regular PCs.”

The project worked in a Linux environment using software such as Maya and RenderMan.

“We designed full-on muscle systems for the Turtles because they’re essentially wearing nothing but a sash and a half-shell,” Munroe said in the film’s production notes. “We also gave them unique characteristics. For example, on Raphael, he actually has veins that pop out whenever he flexes and Michelangelo has freckles.”

For help with all the minutiae, Munroe enlisted veteran art director and concept illustrator Simon Murton whose work ranges from “I, Robot” to “The Matrix Revolutions”.

Patrick Stewart provides the voice for Winters in “TMNT”.
Photo by Peter Winterstellar and courtesy of Warner Bros.
Voice work went to Patrick Stewart, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Kevin Smith, Laurence Fishburne, Ziyi Zhang and Chris Evans. Mako was announced as the voice of Splinter the day before he died. By then, he had finished the majority of his acting.

A “pseudopod” in 1989’s “The Abyss” marked CGI’s foray into the industry.

By ADAM FENDELMAN
Editor-in-Chief
HollywoodChicago.com
adam@hollywoodchicago.com