startrekrcks
Fleet Captain
5 times are you enjoying the movie more.
New observations after home viewing...
- Thread starter Chrisisall
- Start date
A
Amaris
Guest
Yes. I notice new details every time I see the movie. 
J.
J.
Just watched the blu-ray copy. I saw it twice in theatres. Some thoughts:
-The shaky-cam stuff isn't as bad as it was in the theatres (it was never horrible, but kinda distracting to me). I prefer the old-school way of filming, I guess.
-Pine, Quinto, and Urban were spot-on in their roles. These guys channeled the originals so well, I felt like I was actually watching younger versions of the TOS cast (the originals are still the best, though)
-The plot holes did not seem as gaping to me as they did in theatres, although the klingon attack/prison break scenes needed to stay in the film. Hurts the film pretty badly, with lots of stuff not making any sense at all (Uhura's line about the klingon ships being destroyed and what the heck Nero and crew were doing for 25 years)
-The deleted scene with Kirk as a kid showed that the boy he waved to was his brother...so why did he yell "Jimmy" instead of "Sam"?
-I wish we had gotten more shots of the Enterprise. A few lingering shots so we really could have had a good look at her. She was a beauty...
Anyway, I still love the movie and am already wanting to watch it again.
Oh, and my Dad, an old-time die-hard Trek fan who usually hates modern action flicks LOVED the movie.
-The shaky-cam stuff isn't as bad as it was in the theatres (it was never horrible, but kinda distracting to me). I prefer the old-school way of filming, I guess.
-Pine, Quinto, and Urban were spot-on in their roles. These guys channeled the originals so well, I felt like I was actually watching younger versions of the TOS cast (the originals are still the best, though)
-The plot holes did not seem as gaping to me as they did in theatres, although the klingon attack/prison break scenes needed to stay in the film. Hurts the film pretty badly, with lots of stuff not making any sense at all (Uhura's line about the klingon ships being destroyed and what the heck Nero and crew were doing for 25 years)
-The deleted scene with Kirk as a kid showed that the boy he waved to was his brother...so why did he yell "Jimmy" instead of "Sam"?
-I wish we had gotten more shots of the Enterprise. A few lingering shots so we really could have had a good look at her. She was a beauty...
Anyway, I still love the movie and am already wanting to watch it again.
Oh, and my Dad, an old-time die-hard Trek fan who usually hates modern action flicks LOVED the movie.
That WAS unfortunate.
Backtracking a bit, I want to toss in my love, too, for the plastic-strip curtain. I've worked around them a lot too. I just thought they were awesome to see in this movie. 
Backtracking a bit, I want to toss in my love, too, for the plastic-strip curtain. I've worked around them a lot too. I just thought they were awesome to see in this movie.
I have worked around them, too, and I hate them.
They always mess up my hair...
True.
The mirrors they used for the sky-diving scene for example comes to mind right now.
A
Amaris
Guest
Exactly! I watched that extra last night, and I was just dumbfounded when they started revealing how J.J. went about things with camera effects, because for me, and I've seen the movie five times, it all comes together so well.
J.J.'s an old school filmmaker, and I love it!
J.
^
Yeah, I was really impressed with some of the practical effects that I assumed were CGI or done in some other ultra modern way. I was especially amazed with the use of children or dwarfs in some scenes to make the small scale sets look larger. That same trick was used in The 1979 Trek movie to make the engineering set look larger.
and yes, the guys shining flashlights into the camera from offscreen was hilarious.
I also found it interesting listening to the commentary, how much all those guys took inspiration from Spielberg. They said that they wanted the fight on the drilling platform to be like the fight in Raiders on the Airplane, and I think they mentioned E.T. once, although I forget in what context. Certainly Spielberg has used lensflares before.
Yeah, I was really impressed with some of the practical effects that I assumed were CGI or done in some other ultra modern way. I was especially amazed with the use of children or dwarfs in some scenes to make the small scale sets look larger. That same trick was used in The 1979 Trek movie to make the engineering set look larger.
and yes, the guys shining flashlights into the camera from offscreen was hilarious.
I also found it interesting listening to the commentary, how much all those guys took inspiration from Spielberg. They said that they wanted the fight on the drilling platform to be like the fight in Raiders on the Airplane, and I think they mentioned E.T. once, although I forget in what context. Certainly Spielberg has used lensflares before.
A
Amaris
Guest
The commentary is the only thing I have left to listen to. I want to, but I want to watch the movie too and hear what's going on with dialogue, and you can't do both.
J.
J.
startrekrcks
Fleet Captain
did you like how the cast played younger versions of the TOS characters.
"Hilarious" in that it gratuitously elevated "lens flares" from "arty and interesting" to "fucking insane."
It'd be one thing if the flares came naturaly from the lights already there but when you've got a guy shining a light right into the camera you've gone too far.
A
Amaris
Guest
Remember, most of the set was digital in terms of effects, which meant that a natural "lens flare" just didn't exist for the shot. To make it more realistic, as if filming with a traditional camera on a real location, the lens flares were added. I think it added to the realism of the film.
J.
I could see myself doing this if I had the time. The movie doesn't have any boring parts, to me.
I noticed the camera doesn't actually shake - or at least blur too much, because the Blu-ray shows him treating the magazine like a drum - during fight scenes, though it does move around a lot: Abrams' style is a middle ground between Spielberg's clean cutting on Indiana Jones and his ferocious Saving Private Ryan war photography.
I realized what room was the torpedo bay.
And most noticeably, Kirk acknowledges the ship that killed his father as a Romulan one, but cleverly since the scene was set on the Federation-Klingon border and not the Neutral Zone, it explains why things have been peaceful with the Romulans since the Federation knew they technically weren't violating that treaty.
I realized what room was the torpedo bay.
And most noticeably, Kirk acknowledges the ship that killed his father as a Romulan one, but cleverly since the scene was set on the Federation-Klingon border and not the Neutral Zone, it explains why things have been peaceful with the Romulans since the Federation knew they technically weren't violating that treaty.
Me too, maybe I'll just listen to it while I do homework some time. Then watch it later that night.The commentary is the only thing I have left to listen to. I want to, but I want to watch the movie too and hear what's going on with dialogue, and you can't do both.
Urban's performance really bugs me; to me, he's not playing McCoy, he's playing De Kelley playing McCoy, overexaggerating some of De's quirks, while also trying to get his eyebrows into De's arches. It just doesn't work for me at all.
I just picked up the DVD last night and threw it in, and, yes, the lens flares are 10 times worse than on the big screen - they vastly reduce the movie's re-watchability for me. This is especially annoying after watching the special feature and seeing how gleefully J.J. abused the concept. It's okay when they happen naturally, but to shoot high-powered lights into the lens to force them? That's just idiotic, and I hope it doesn't establish a 'look' for the next film.
I'm thoroughly aghast at how bad the Orion make-up was, as well - jeesh, it looked like a bad high-school play attempt at the Wicked Witch of the West - an Orion shouldn't look like a Caucasian with green pancake slathered unevenly all over her! Especially after seeing how well they did the body makeup for the Andorians (hell, and the Orions!) in ENT (OMG, Ptrope said something positive about ENT
), this just looked amateurish.I also have to agree that the smaller screen seems to emphasize the outrageousness of using the brewery - it just doesn't fit for Engineering, and it really doesn't fit in the comm cluster, or wherever it was that Kirk tracked Uhura down.
I just couldn't help it - watching the DVD was tedious, to the point where I fast-forwarded through several parts just to get to something that might be interesting. The whole snow/prison planet/Hoth segment was a waste of my time - I don't care about all their excuses about the timeline 'forcing' the characters together because they were somehow 'destined' to be together - it's all just so hamfisted about it that I wanted to throw popcorn at the screen and blow them raspberries.
Too much about the movie emphasizes how they thought more about making it 'cool' than actually making a solid story with thoughtful and interesting characters. In the end, the only thing that still stands up, for me, after home viewing is Captain Pike; if they'd just made the movie about him and a non-TOS crew, I think I could've enjoyed it. And, more importantly, believed it.
