Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Batch o’ Hatch: To Kill a Mockingbird, Star Trek Into Darkness, and V/H/S 2

To Kill a Mockingbird

Fathom Events screened To Kill a Mockingbird a few weeks back and, heeding some advice from @20SomeAwesome and @jess_fts, I made a special trip to check it out. I’d never seen it before and catching it on the big screen seemed like a great way to rectify that. I wasn’t disappointed.

Wikipedia

It wasn’t quite what I expected - I thought it would be more straight-up courtroom drama and it had a lot more Scout and Jem than I was expecting (I haven’t read the book) - but the performances and the film as a whole were great.

Anyone love To Kill a Mockingbird? Did anyone else catch the 50th Anniversary Re-release?

Star Trek Into Darkness

Thanks to C.H.U.D., I learned the official synopsis of Star Trek Into Darkness, the highly anticipated (by me, at least) follow-up to 2009’s Star Trek.

In Summer 2013, pioneering director J.J. Abrams will deliver an explosive action thriller that takes “Star Trek Into Darkness.”

When the crew of the Enterprise is called back home, they find an unstoppable force of terror from within their own organization has detonated the fleet and everything it stands for, leaving our world in a state of crisis.

With a personal score to settle, Captain Kirk leads a manhunt to a war-zone world to capture a one man weapon of mass destruction.

As our heroes are propelled into an epic chess game of life and death, love will be challenged, friendships will be torn apart, and sacrifices must be made for the only family Kirk has left: his crew.

I’m a little worried that it took four years to get a follow-up to Star Trek. I think two years between films is a nice gap, and with Zachary Quinto recently alluding to the fact that he might not be up for more adventures as Spock after this upcoming film (I guess he’s counting on playing different characters in American Horror Story for the foreseeable future), another four years might be too long of a wait.

Do you like the sound of Star Trek Into Darkness? Do you hope Quinto sticks around for more films?

V/H/S 2

Wait, V/H/S is getting a sequel already?

Both Film School Rejects and Total Film have reported that filmmakers including Gareth Evans, Jason Eisener, and found footage Grand Poobah Eduardo Sanchez have signed on for S-VHS (The hell? Will each sequel’s title advance to a higher medium? We’ll be on Blu Ray in a few years at this rate). Thankfully, no mention of Ti West’s involvement.

Anyone excited for S-VHS? 

Tweets

There was a ton of hullabaloo about this Twinkie business on Twitter, including a tweet from Lucy/@bmovielass. Nice seeing Zombieland references worked in.



I caught The Relic for the first time recently. I surveyed the Twittercosm about the film and got some good responses. My take? It was a decent monster movie.





This tweet from Ruth at "....let's be splendid about this..." doesn’t really need any further context.



The $64,000 Question

Thanks for reading! And now, it's question time:

21 comments:

  1. Glad you enjoyed it. Makes me want to re-read the book and see the movie again!

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    1. Mike - I'm definitely interested in reading the book now. Can't believe I haven't read it already. Thanks for the recommendation!

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  2. I certainly wouldn't say To Kill A Mockingbird is one of my favorite films, but Atticus Finch is one of my favorite characters ever. I loved the book (one of those school required books that were actually enjoyable) and the movie is very good. I'm glad you liked it!

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    1. Jess - Yes, Atticus was the man. Even before I saw the film I knew that he was one of cinema's greatest characters.

      Would you say you like the book better than the film?

      Thanks for commenting!

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    2. Hmm, probably the book just because it's so rich but it's tough to say because the movie is a perfect adaptation.

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    3. Thinking about reading it. Wondered if your opinion of the film had anything to do with how it was adapted. Thanks!

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  3. I can't really remember it anymore, but the only time I saw To Kill a Mockingbird was in school. I know I enjoyed it, but I can't recall much.

    Star Trek...sigh. I have mixed feelings about it. I don't really like the first one. It's flashy and looks great, but it has a LOT of problems. The synopses of the sequel sounds a little bland, but admittedly it's kind of vague.

    Nice, I'm glad you enjoyed The Relic. Not the best, but not too bad, either.

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    1. George - Were you a Star Trek fan before the reboot? You're right about the problems. The writers strike really fucked the script. That being said, I'm a huge fan of the reboot and can't wait for the sequel.

      Relic was solid. It's one of those movies where I kind of thought I had seen it but never really had.

      Thanks for commenting!

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    2. I have a captain's shirt in my closet. Yes, really.

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    3. That is fantastic.

      I think with the cumbersome time travel stuff and main character intros/reboots over (hopefully), that frees the writers and filmmakers up to focus on better stuff and do their own thing.

      Plus, no writers strike to hamper anything. So hopefully we get a top-notch story and script. We'll see.

      Live long and prosper.

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  4. Haaaahahaha - thanks for including my tweet! Haven't seen the last one yet, but my Mum is a completist, so she'll probably get the DVD. Then I will turn it into a drinking game to get through it.

    STAR TREK STAR TREK STAR TREK STAR TREK

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    1. Ruth - No problem! Loved your response. I'm kind of surprised I haven't seen any of the movies. I have no desire to see them, but I'm surprised I haven't accidentally watched one on TV. Let me know how the drinking game goes!

      I'm glad you're looking forward to Star Trek as much as me!

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  5. ...STAR TREK STAR TREK STAR TREK STAR TREK

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  6. I'm happy with S-VHS coming out soon. I enjoyed V/H/S personally. Anyway, a quick sequel is better than remakes coming out a scant few years after the original is released (with an exeption or two to that rule).

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    1. Boonsweet - I neglected to mention that I actually really enjoyed V/H/S. The segments could have been a little more consistent in terms of quality - the only segment I really thought was GREAT was "Amateur Night". What was yours?

      But I am looking forward to the sequel and the new directors.

      Thanks for reading/commenting!!!

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  7. Glad you got to see one of the Peckster's best! Mockingbird is a film that proudly sits in my collection as one of my favorites. Don't know how excited I am yet about Star Trek. I wish they'd have gone with "The Rise of Khan" and put like Javier Bardem in the role. dream on!

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    1. Markus - I'm glad too - I wouldn't mind owning it myself.

      Get excited about Trek! Benedict Cumberbatch should be a great villain (even if he's playing the rumored character). Originally I was against Khan but now I'm neutral. Bardem would be awesome though (imagine the hairstyle). After No Country and Skyfall he is THE villain.

      Thanks for reading!

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  8. The adaptation of To Kill A Mocking Bird is good, though I still prefer Harper Lee's beloved novel, incredible she only published that one book...

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    1. Chris - If nothing else, watching the movie has made me want to check out the book. That is incredible about only publishing one book. Wikipedia says she worked on a few follow up projects but never finished them. Hmmm...

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harper_Lee#After_To_Kill_a_Mockingbird

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  9. @Robert: Harper Lee probably didn't think she could top To Kill A Mocking Bird. It's a pity, because I would have loved to read something else by her.

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