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New JJ Abrams interview

People simply won't buy tickets for a sci-fi space movie driven by ideas.

Prometheus was a box office success this year.
Hmmm... ST09, $150Million budget, $297Million Domestic gross. Prometheus $130Million budget, $126Million Domestic Gross (Yes, Prometheus did higher International, but, there is a much smaller cut for the Studios of International then Domestic). There weren't many reviews here nor other sites I visit (of other flavors of SciFi/Fantsy) that were raving about how good Prometheus was. Rotten Tomatoes has Prometheus at 74/72, and ST09 at 95/91.

I'm not sure how else to rate success, but, ST09 beats Prometheus in all these categories
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If people are too thick to enjoy a proper Star Trek movie then don't cater to them by giving them something else and slapping the Star Trek name on it. It's just alienated the fans.
I'd prefer you bought me dinner first before speaking so intimately about my manhood ;)
 
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I don't think so. Both are crappy movies but Nemesis didn't have Nero in it, didn't wave lens flare in my face all the time and at least attempted to tell a story.

But...but...you loved Abrams's first Trek movie!

Loved it, the core 3 were perfectly recast.
I was really not expecting the film to do this well, brilliant. Trek is back and bigger than ever!

:eek:

Tell us, at what point after 2009 did you first notice the lens flare problem?

If you really perceived Star Trek as being that bad a movie, you'd probably have noticed it at the time you actually saw it. Your opinion, clearly, has evolved - so there's no excuse at all for you to criticize and dismiss the movie and people who like it, because you certainly remember being a fan of it yourself at one point.

Was someone here talking about "self-loathing," or something?

This is one of them paradox thingies, right?
 
This is what we call "an oldie but a goodie" - one of the most traditional lies told about film. It gets points for its antiquity if nothing else. Just because you didn't like a film's plot doesn't mean that the film had no plot; generally speaking, not liking something does not mean it fails to exist.

There was a plot, just not a very good one. I like JJ Abrams, but often times he tries to cover up a very weak story/script with a visually stunning look. His idol Steven Spielberg did this with Jurassic Park, and I think often times it's Abram's fallback.

This is how I think ST09 differs from any of the Next Gen movies, it's execution vs. story. I think the Next Gen movies had solid premises and had really good stories they wanted to tell. All of them, Generations to Nemesis had a really amazing story in there. Other than First Contact, where they fell short was execution. I respect the story they were trying to tell, but everything from the script to the acting to the editing were very poor. Had Nemesis or any of the Next Gen movies been executed by JJ Abrams or Matthew Vaughn or another really solid director, I think we would have had some really powerful movies that would have appealed to a broader audience.

Then you have ST09. It was executed masterfully. It's stunningly beautiful, the score is top notch, the acting is on point (especially Karl Urban), etc. Where it falls flat is the story they're trying to tell. It's not surprising. It's the same writers that made Prometheus and the transformers movies fall flat. Even the most emotionally gripping parts of the movie were flat (Spock's mother dying, Kirk gaining control of the Enterprise, etc.). The Kelvin sequence was amazing and powerful, but the movie never again reached that kind of emotion. It is what it is, it's a popcorn movie. I enjoyed the movie from that perspective and I'm happy with the success and relevance Trek is once again having. There have been so many wonderful, emotional, thought provoking stories in ST that have been told and that is the aspect I was disappointed with ST09.
 
Yes. I claimed that Prometheus was a better film than Trek 09 just to get a reaction. I didn't come here for people to civilly debate my points...

Okay, but what about that recasting in Abrams's first Star Trek movie? I'd have to agree with you when you said it was perfect. I'd also agree with you that the movie was "brilliant" and made Trek "bigger than ever." :cool:
 
Yes. I claimed that Prometheus was a better film than Trek 09 just to get a reaction. I didn't come here for people to civilly debate my points, I came here to be stalked, followed to other threads and insulted for pages on end until we're so far off topic we may as well be discussing the 1980s erotic thriller Body Double.

:(

So as pointless as this has all been, I say we reconvene when the next bit of movie news comes out.

See you then!

:techman:
 
What impressed me when I saw the movie on opening night were the strong emotional responses from the audience - particularly the opening sequence as Kirk's parents are talking over the comm. People were really getting into it, clearly moved - that's not something I used to seeing at a Star Trek movie.
 
Are people really baffled and shocked by someone changing their opinion years later? There's plenty of things I like now that I didn't ten years ago (and things I liked then that I don't like now) and I suspect it'll be the same five years later. Repeat viewings can show a turd turn out to be golden and gold turn out to be a turd. I don't know why it's the funniest thing in the world that a guy no longer likes a movie he liked years ago.
 
Are people really baffled and shocked by someone changing their opinion years later?...

Not at all. I'm sure it happens a lot. But people usually state upfront that they've changed their opinions. I was meh about The Matrix when first saw as thought it derivative and over-hyped but it is now a guilty pleasure. I also think ST'09 is weak in several areas but not in casting, energy, acting or emotion.
 
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Are people really baffled and shocked by someone changing their opinion years later?

Of course not.

Are people bemused by someone changing their opinion 180 degrees and then going about suggesting that the thing they praised lavishly is largely without merit and directed at the lowest common denominator type of audience? Are people somewhat annoyed by the repetition of tired old jabs at obvious things like "lens flares" when the poster clearly did not have any noticeable negative response to the technique back when they were declaring the thing "brilliant?"

Yeah, pretty much. :cool:

When the same individual denounces the movie as nothing better than rubbish - adding to that foolishness like abusing the director's name (another very tired, old and worthless joke) - it really undercuts whatever claim to nuanced taste or considered judgment the poster makes...in fact, it looks very much like the expression of a simple intention to provoke on any grounds or no grounds at all.

It's impossible to take that sort of thing seriously...and it's also funny as hell. :lol:
 
Repeat viewings can show a turd turn out to be golden and gold turn out to be a turd.

Isn't it strange that this never happens with actual gold and turds?

Yes, it's strange that when speaking in analogy, that "gold" (aka something good) and "turd" (aka something bad) can change from one to another given that they're based on opinions on art and opinions can change, but in reality, the actual material of feces cannot transmutate into metal.

:wtf:
 
Yes, it's strange that when speaking in analogy, that "gold" (aka something good) and "turd" (aka something bad) can change from one to another given that they're based on opinions on art and opinions can change, but in reality, the actual material of feces cannot transmutate into metal.

:wtf:

There could be metal in somebody's feces though.

OH, I DON'T KNOW!
 
Repeat viewings can show a turd turn out to be golden and gold turn out to be a turd.

Isn't it strange that this never happens with actual gold and turds?

Yes, it's strange that when speaking in analogy, that "gold" (aka something good) and "turd" (aka something bad) can change from one to another given that they're based on opinions on art and opinions can change, but in reality, the actual material of feces cannot transmutate into metal.

:wtf:

It's this kind of over-analyzing that's the reason Trek fans can't have nice things...
 
I think you may have misread my post a bit. I was thrilled by how true Abrams stayed to the characters and setting of TOS while also giving it a new feel.

It was great seeing young actors for a change. I appreciated that they were working hard to try to capture aesthetic touches and the fun of the original show. I had certain misgivings too, but there is already too much hate in this thread.

What has concerns me is really the justification. In principle, your initial justification would warrant anything so long as Trek lived on. Your secondary justification (i.e., your justification of your justification) is practical (but they didn't do that - they haven't done just anything).

Let me put it to you this way. I once had an ethics teacher who related a conversation she'd had with a devout capitalist that went along these lines. She expressed the concern that capitalism is only concerned with making money, and so might do anything in the course of chasing a buck. Her capitalist friend, however, argued that the market will always correct any inefficiencies. She asked, but what if it doesn't always do this? That, according to her friend, it had not yet happened, was no guarantee that it would not see abuse in the future.

While I doubt that you are really trying to say "Anything goes!" this is, nonetheless, the implication of your argument, and more importantly (since I have no beef with you personally) arguments like yours.

Again, if we all love Trek so much that there is something worth saving, then we cannot forget that new stewards should recognize this and honor, as much as they can, the tradition they're helming. And this means there is room, in principle, for some criticism. That's all.
 
I think you may have misread my post a bit. I was thrilled by how true Abrams stayed to the characters and setting of TOS while also giving it a new feel.

It was great seeing young actors for a change. I appreciated that they were working hard to try to capture aesthetic touches and the fun of the original show. I had certain misgivings too, but there is already too much hate in this thread.

What has concerns me is really the justification. In principle, your initial justification would warrant anything so long as Trek lived on. Your secondary justification (i.e., your justification of your justification) is practical (but they didn't do that - they haven't done just anything).

Let me put it to you this way. I once had an ethics teacher who related a conversation she'd had with a devout capitalist that went along these lines. She expressed the concern that capitalism is only concerned with making money, and so might do anything in the course of chasing a buck. Her capitalist friend, however, argued that the market will always correct any inefficiencies. She asked, but what if it doesn't always do this? That, according to her friend, it had not yet happened, was no guarantee that it would not see abuse in the future.

While I doubt that you are really trying to say "Anything goes!" this is, nonetheless, the implication of your argument, and more importantly (since I have no beef with you personally) arguments like yours.

Again, if we all love Trek so much that there is something worth saving, then we cannot forget that new stewards should recognize this and honor, as much as they can, the tradition they're helming. And this means there is room, in principle, for some criticism. That's all.

Understood. And if there wasn't room for criticism, these boards wouldn't exist. :)

Trust me, "anything goes" in terms of what Trek could or would be is hardly how I feel, anyway. Scotty as a woman? No, not for me. Yet another set of characters in another setting in another time put under the label, "Star Trek"? Meh. I gave "Enterprise" a chance, if you know what I mean.

As opposed to some reintroductions or reinterpretations of older entertainment (look at all the remakes out there), I actually think Abrams took a rather conservative approach to rebooting "Star Trek". Flawed at times? Yes. But generally satisfying to me.
 
Trust me, "anything goes" in terms of what Trek could or would be is hardly how I feel, anyway. Scotty as a woman? No, not for me. Yet another set of characters in another setting in another time put under the label, "Star Trek"? Meh. I gave "Enterprise" a chance, if you know what I mean.

What if Trek XI had been the same except set on the USS Whatever, featuring Chris Pine as Jake Rock, Sylar as T'Pok and Karl Urban as Doctor Walker?
 
Trust me, "anything goes" in terms of what Trek could or would be is hardly how I feel, anyway. Scotty as a woman? No, not for me. Yet another set of characters in another setting in another time put under the label, "Star Trek"? Meh. I gave "Enterprise" a chance, if you know what I mean.

What if Trek XI had been the same except set on the USS Whatever, featuring Chris Pine as Jake Rock, Sylar as T'Pok and Karl Urban as Doctor Walker?

But why, when Kirk, Spock, McCoy, and the others are marketable names? That was part of the beauty of it. TOS was probably the only part of the franchise that hadn't played itself out. Only 79 episodes of Kirk in his prime v. seven seasons and over 170 episodes each of Picard, Janeway, and Sisko; and even 98 episodes of Archer.

They could find over 170 different things for Picard to do, but ran out at 79 for Kirk?
 
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