New Movies: May. 13-20, 2013
This Week: TV | Film | Video | Hardcovers | Paperbacks |
Out in cinemas this week: Kirk and company are hurled into a new adventure with some classic undertows, while the indies play old-fashioned B-movie sci-fi monsters both straight and for laughs.
Now that the origin story—always the most anticipated and fan-indulgent of a superhero yarn (and make no mistake, Captain Kirk is the sci-fi version of a superhero)—is out of the way, J.J. Abrams, his veteran writing team and his primed and seasoned cast ought to be free to dig deeper into the Star Trek universe they've taken over, exploring the ramifications of their audacious retooling of premise, character, and backstory. But with a mandate to deliver an action film that's intelligent and serious and fun and exciting in the manner of, to pick a random example, Star Trek II, Abrams just manages to deliver, but hopes for the new Star trek to really spread its wings and chart provocatively new territory of its own will have to wait for part 3.
The story: After the crew of the Enterprise find an unstoppable force of terror from within their own organization, Captain Kirk leads a manhunt to a war-zone world to capture a one man weapon of mass destruction.
Starring: Benedict Cumberbatch, Chris Pine, Alice Eve, Zoe Saldana, Zachary Quinto, Karl Urban, Simon Pegg, Anton Yelchin, John Cho, Leonard Nimoy, Bruce Greenwood, Peter Weller.
Directed by: J.J. Abrams.
Written by: Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman and Damon Lindelof.
With a tagline like "They Sing! They Dance! They're Juvenile Delinquents from Outer Space!", you can tell this festival darling isn't exactly designed to be taken seriously. Sure, pardies of 1950s sci-fi B-movies, even as musicals, aren't anything new, so it's worthwhile to notice the ones that try harder and push further.
The story: Jonathan Xavier and his devoted misfit gang have been exiled to Earth from the far reaches of outer space. Johnny's former girlfriend Bliss has left him and stolen his Resurrection Suit, a cosmic, mind-bending uniform that gives the owner power over others.
Starring: Will Keenan, Creed Bratton, De Anna Joy Brooks, Reggie Bannister, Les Williams, Jed Rowen, Kate Maberly, Paul Williams (yes, that Paul Williams), Kevin McCarthy.
Directed by: Paul Bunnell (The Visitant).
Written by: Steve Bingen, Paul Bunnell, Mark D. Murphy, and George Wagner.
This sounds like it should be a camp spoof as well, but this indie production from one-man-band Adam Steigert, who did everything but star in the film, is a more or less serious look at a bucolic upstate New York community touched by that classic, underrated menace, livid-green alien ooze.
The story: When a teenager comes in contact with a toxic meteor, a peaceful village is threatened with an alien invasion from a growing horde of mutated humans.
Starring: Jason John Beebe, Robert Bozek, Sarah Manzella, Deborah Manzella, Richard Satterwhite, Kathy Murphy.
Directed by: Adam R. Steigert (Gore).
Written by: Janeen Avery, Terry Kimmel, Mark Mendola, Michael Sciabarrasi, Adam R. Steigert.
Out in cinemas this week: Kirk and company are hurled into a new adventure with some classic undertows, while the indies play old-fashioned B-movie sci-fi monsters both straight and for laughs.
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Star Trek Into Darkness (2013)
Now that the origin story—always the most anticipated and fan-indulgent of a superhero yarn (and make no mistake, Captain Kirk is the sci-fi version of a superhero)—is out of the way, J.J. Abrams, his veteran writing team and his primed and seasoned cast ought to be free to dig deeper into the Star Trek universe they've taken over, exploring the ramifications of their audacious retooling of premise, character, and backstory. But with a mandate to deliver an action film that's intelligent and serious and fun and exciting in the manner of, to pick a random example, Star Trek II, Abrams just manages to deliver, but hopes for the new Star trek to really spread its wings and chart provocatively new territory of its own will have to wait for part 3.
The story: After the crew of the Enterprise find an unstoppable force of terror from within their own organization, Captain Kirk leads a manhunt to a war-zone world to capture a one man weapon of mass destruction.
Starring: Benedict Cumberbatch, Chris Pine, Alice Eve, Zoe Saldana, Zachary Quinto, Karl Urban, Simon Pegg, Anton Yelchin, John Cho, Leonard Nimoy, Bruce Greenwood, Peter Weller.
Directed by: J.J. Abrams.
Written by: Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman and Damon Lindelof.
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The Ghastly Love of Johnny X (2012)
With a tagline like "They Sing! They Dance! They're Juvenile Delinquents from Outer Space!", you can tell this festival darling isn't exactly designed to be taken seriously. Sure, pardies of 1950s sci-fi B-movies, even as musicals, aren't anything new, so it's worthwhile to notice the ones that try harder and push further.
The story: Jonathan Xavier and his devoted misfit gang have been exiled to Earth from the far reaches of outer space. Johnny's former girlfriend Bliss has left him and stolen his Resurrection Suit, a cosmic, mind-bending uniform that gives the owner power over others.
Starring: Will Keenan, Creed Bratton, De Anna Joy Brooks, Reggie Bannister, Les Williams, Jed Rowen, Kate Maberly, Paul Williams (yes, that Paul Williams), Kevin McCarthy.
Directed by: Paul Bunnell (The Visitant).
Written by: Steve Bingen, Paul Bunnell, Mark D. Murphy, and George Wagner.
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Ombis: Alien Invasion (2013)
This sounds like it should be a camp spoof as well, but this indie production from one-man-band Adam Steigert, who did everything but star in the film, is a more or less serious look at a bucolic upstate New York community touched by that classic, underrated menace, livid-green alien ooze.
The story: When a teenager comes in contact with a toxic meteor, a peaceful village is threatened with an alien invasion from a growing horde of mutated humans.
Starring: Jason John Beebe, Robert Bozek, Sarah Manzella, Deborah Manzella, Richard Satterwhite, Kathy Murphy.
Directed by: Adam R. Steigert (Gore).
Written by: Janeen Avery, Terry Kimmel, Mark Mendola, Michael Sciabarrasi, Adam R. Steigert.
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