Start Trek into darkness: movie review

Before going to see the Great Gatsby I wen to watch Star Trek into darkness and here is what I think about it. It's great and you should go watch it.

I am not a trekkie by far but this J.J. Abrams flavoured versions are really well made. There is no previous knowledge of Star Trek required as the trilogy is depicting a parallel reality to the one we've seen in the TV show. The actors casted for the main characters are brilliant as they do not try to over play a part that has already been made memorable by more experienced and versed actors than them, so I congratulate the casting team for picking Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto for the roles of Kirk and Spok respectively.

Star Trek into darkness is entertaining, well scripted and with really good special effects: a must for anyone who likes to see movies because it's fun. In this second episode of the trilogy the friendship between Spok and Kirk strengthens without any cheesy scene; also the balance of strengths and skills of those main characters start to create an explosive mix, that is ideal to trigger strong emotions, express quick wit and delight with spectacular scenes.

I particularly loved how the trailer sets you off a trail that is very different from the story you're going to see in the movie. So, if you haven't done so watch the first Star Trek by J.J. Abrams and then dive into the darkness. No parachutes needed: there is Kirk to save the day.

The Great Gatsby: movie review

Let's start from the last movie I have watched: The Great Gatsby.

I was lured in the theater with the promise of a fashionable and luxurious movie, with incredible casting, story and also costumes and choreography. I was disappointed to see a depressing vision of a great novel, with some Baz Luhrman sparkles sprinkled here and there.

The Great Gatsby was nothing as thrilling as Moulin Rouge. With a ginormous marketing budget The Great Gatsby was cleverly advertised as a shiny, twisted and thumping adaptation of the acclaimed novel by Francis Scott Fitzgerald. As much as I think this movie is anyway worth seeing, for the good performances of the actors and for the great locations, costumes etc, it was nowhere close to exciting.

Since the start the movie was permeated by a feeling of despair: those who didn't read the book were feeling that this movie would end ba9dly. Also Lana Del Ray's song Young and Beautiful didn't help setting a very positive mood (mind you, I find the song beautiful. The problem is the book doesn't deliver this sensation until the very end; almost for all its length Gatsby is depicted as a poor, pitiable being whether the book wraps the character in a cloud of religious admiration for a character of great positive energy. The script on which The Great Gatsby is based doesn't develop the character of Gatsby enough thus not causing any emotional reaction to a deeper audience. Sorry Baz, this was a fail. Not epic though, not epic.

Oblivion: movie review

Sometimes you just wish you could get back 2 hours and 4 minutes of your life.

Wait? Oblivion was "only" 124 minutes long?

Time is relative indeed then as it felt to me like it lasted 3 hours!

I spent €4.50 only on top of my CineWorld card to watch Oblivion in IMAX and I am glad I did so, because if I had watched it on a regular screen it would have been even more unbearable.

The makers of Oblivion created a shameless purpuree of sci-fi movies that has no shade of originality nor beauty of execution. Watching Oblivion is like watching a mosaic of, Matrix, the Island, Armageddon, Wall-e (yes, I found some similarities there as well) and who knows what else. As a friend of mine put it " the only bearable part was the cute russian girl", and since I am not really interested in that, you can guess the 2 hours and 4 minutes ride wasn't worth it.

In fact, although I am a Tom Cruise fan, or at least I was at the time of Cocktail and Far & Away I couldn't help to notice the desperate attempts to move the audience with random introduction of kids in the picture or with very obvious turns of plot.

I suggest you not to watch this movie, unless you are someone who gets some sort of pleasure from wasting time watching bad movies, because this is one of them.
Too negative review?

 The score was great, it's a pity though that I will have to associate it with those images...