Star Trek In Flames – No Phoenix In SightWritten by Joshua Tyler
As a recovering Trekker, I miss good space science fiction in theater. I’d hoped Chronicles of Riddick might be some sort of revival of it at movies, but apparently I’m only one who doesn’t hate it. Before that, trailers for Star Trek: Nemesis hinted that it might be at last something different, but as it turns out Berman left most of Enterprise crew back at space dock. Seriously, did you see movie? It’s like they spent entire budget on CGI sets and didn’t have enough money to hire extras to look like they were running ship. I’m running out of places to turn.In fact, I’m kind of in a place where I believe it’s time for Star Trek to simply go away for awhile. I’d thought Paramount agreed last week when news leaked out that they were firmly committed to halting all future Star Trek projects for a couple of years. But that worm Berman couldn’t leave it alone, and has since squirmed his way into ears of Paramount execs and convinced them to give him another shot with pretty well sunk franchise. What form that chance will take is anyone’s guess, but with Berman at helm you can be sure it’ll suck. At best it’ll be just another horrible movie, at worst it’ll make somehow manage to make some money and keep Rick “The Federation Con Man” Berman in charge. Not that any of this is a revelation. It’s all been said a hundred times before.
| | Kung Fu Cowboy FreeWritten by Joshua Tyler
Filmmakers like Martin Scorsese and Spike Lee have spent their lives capturing world in and around New York City. Last year, Michael Mann won acclaim for accurately depicting L.A. in his hitman drama Collateral. What about everywhere else?There’s no one out there showing real Dallas. The place I call home is represented by grinning cowboy industrialists with huge belt buckles or spitting rednecks who sacrifice their children’s education for games of high school football. New York gets The 25th Hour, Dallas gets Serving Sara. What do we know about Baltimore, or Indianapolis? Does anyone care? The closest anyone’s gotten to capturing my town is Mike Judge with Office Space. Great movie, but a sad commentary on Hollywood’s bi-coastal bias. That’s real Dallas, and it isn’t run by Larry Hagman.
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