Sci-Fi Double Feature Worth Believing

This week I saw both X-Men Origins: Wolverine and Star Trek and I must say, Science Fiction never seemed so appealing… To begin, this installment of the X-Men film-experiments might just redeem the disaster the previous three movies of my favorite childhood cartoon had become. Wolverine is by no means in my top five mutants but I get that he has the biggest appeal as some sort of patriotic rebel, a loner with a cause, steel bones with a soft heart, whatever you want to call it. His past is certainly dynamic, eventful, and dramatic enough to make a prequel too. The story probably surprised me more than anything: After we get past the 10-min, hard-to-believe, intro where we learn that Logan and his brother, Victor Creed (Liev Schreiber) have fought side-by-side, in the Civil War, the World Wars, and Nam (really? I never thought of Wolverine as the devoutly patriotic type and I’m not sure if this was necessary) we proceed to present-day where Wolverine is part of a covert government assassin squad, alongside other morally-corrupt mutants. His conscience gets the better of him and he abandons the evil side for a calm life with his beautiful Canadian fiance. The rest of the film chronicles his search for revenge, redemption, and answers… At times, I thought it moved a little fast. We would see flashes of his journey in an attempt to get us logically to the next spot but I don’t think director Gavin Hood developed those smaller moments enough. I whole heartedly appreciate the inclusion of lesser-known mutants, and their individual personalities are a pleasant departure from the over stereotyped X-Men in the previous films, I only wish they were developed further. For example, we waited three movies to finally see Gambit and he is in the film for 15 min. and only uses his power once or twice… (Cyclops, my favorite character, was blind for most of the movie, but I guess we’ll develop him later.)

Other than that, I thought the story was “believable” and entertaining. Hood incorporated the right balance of special effects and personal character story. Unfortunately, the only unrealistic looking effect was Wolverine’s claws. For some reason the designers chose this to be the thing they spent the least amount of time on. Everything else looked great but those darn claws looked fake… The fight scenes are well worth the price of admission (even if die-hard comic book junkies might find issue with some of the story points). Overall, I found the film was way better than I thought it was going to be, and I’m excited to see the series move away from the cheesiness that it had become.

I watched the first season of Alias and never really got into Lost but I instantly became a fan of JJ Abrams after seeing his first venture into directing film, the latest installment of the classic Sci-Fi story, Star Trek. I should preface my thoughts by saying that I am by no means a Trekky, I’ve never seen a Star Trek movie before, but I did watch Star Trek: The Next Generation every night before bed in middle school. I had enough Trek knowledge to know that this movie looked younger, hipper, and more exciting than clips I had seen from the earlier films.

That being said, I was hooked from the very beginning! Origin stories can be a little heavy handed and either too boring or too quick. This was a great balance of character development and plot advancement. We meet James T. Kirk (Chris Pine) being recruited by Star Fleet and follow his journey across the galaxy fighting aliens, disrespecting authority, establishing those iconic relationships, and trying to save the day. One of the most fascinating features of this film is that I believe it would work for people with many different Trekky backgrounds. You don’t have to know much about the series to follow the plot, but, if you do, the one-liners and allusions are hilarious (and handled seriously, something not to be devalued). I don’t like to use the term “adrenaline thrill ride” too much because I think it’s thrown around a lot (or do we not remember the marketing for Valkyrie?) but I did not once lose interest or become distracted; I was reacting to every emotional up and down, laughed when appropriate, and empathized with the characters (a credit to Abrams’ delicate handling of the very popular subject matter and the possibly complicated plot (time travel is always difficult to follow in films..)).

The relationships created were believable and not a means to an end. I really appreciate the fact that all the characters were not introduced at the same time but we followed Kirk’s journey, and therefore understood how each one of the soon-to-be crew members of the Enterprise relates to him. Of particular interest is Karl Urban’s interpretation of Dr. McCoy: each of the supporting characters certainly did their homework in regards to the old school personas they brought back to life, and they found the essence of the humor, life, and personality of each one. Urban’s use of “Good God” and “I’m a doctor, not a_______ (insert profession)” were spot on and great to see created. John Cho and Simon Pegg also did wonders with Sulu and Scotty respectively. The entire cast was believable and interesting to watch as younger versions of the iconic crew. Eric Bana as the sole bad guy might have been the only blemish: his role (and acting?) seemed a little to big and too much at times and flirted with being over-the-top.

Abrams and his talented cast and crew understand the essence of Star Trek and after having watched this film I now know what they were trying to do with the original TV show. There is the right amount of humor, action, and aliens to please any Sci-Fi nut (and the guy/girl they forced into coming). I may have only seen 2 or 3 movies this year but it is the best one so far…

Steroids: Move On Dot Org

Is it me or do we need to finally stop talking about steroids? I get that when we talk about sports 24 hours a day on tv, radio, print, and the internet we need to find something to fill the headlines… And, I also get that our in-your-face society loves to see a person’s career and life ruined by allegations and press coverage, but I think it is finally time to stop talking about steroids in sports (especially baseball) and move on!

ALL PROFESSIONAL ATHLETES USED STEROIDS!! And by all, I mean around 60%… I would, with no real evidence, guess. Yes, I believe over half of all professional baseball players have at one time or are currently (while trying very hard not to get caught) using some form of performance enhancing substance. College athletes are pressured by coaches and agents to get bigger so they can be drafted, high school athletes are pressured by coaches (and parents?) to bulk up in order to win scholarships. I must say that I do not like the idea, nor do I condone it at all, but I certainly don’t think it is newsworthy anymore. I avoided using drugs to help myself when I was playing high school and college ball because I did not want to go down an illegal and unhealthy path; granted, I was never going to make it anywhere… but I knew it existed.

I would favor any and all strengthening of drug testing policies but it is laughable to beat two or three athletes to death while ignoring the bigger issue. Barry Bonds is the perfect example. I like Barry Bonds, and I was excited to see him go on that home run record chase. It is my understanding that he has never failed a drug test right? We don’t like his attitude off the field and can’t explain how one man’s body could change shape so drastically over the course of 5 or 6 years. I don’t care whether he used steroids or not, my point is he was outsmarting pitchers who used steroids, hitting through middle infielders and speedy outfielders using steroids, and stealing bases off catchers who used steroids. He was still the better athlete (even if we’re only looking at a juiced-up sample). Bonds broke Aaron’s record… none of the other 2 or 3 hundred professional steroid users did it… he is obviously better than them…

Again, I know it is not fair and not the way the sport is supposed to be played. I hope some day all the players are clean and I’m glad the commissioner continues to support expanded testing. We can’t simply put an asterisk on the stats of the players we don’t like, or the ones that are big stars. It quite literally has become the steroid era, if anything we have to put an asterisk on the era as a whole and when talking about stats from this time simply remember, “Oh yeah, that was when everyone was juiced… they were the best then… damn, glad we cleaned that up.” This cycle of secret names, scandals, wondering if the players are lying or not, tears, forgiveness, and tell-all books has to end.

And while talking about forgiveness: why is it that we so soon forget that players had broken the law, were bad team players, and put their health at risk once they apologize? It’s like saying “I’m sorry” is some sort of panacea and the public loves them again. Roger Clemens (I had a poster of him in as a Red Sock in my room as a kid), we all hate him, he cheats on his players, he cheats on his wife. He’s such an asshole. Andy Petite, close friend and teammate of Clemens, shed a few tears, said he was sorry, now we can’t wait for him to get back on his feet. Alex Rodriguez, what a chump, did drugs to live up to his $250 million dollar price tag, not a nice guy anyway, tried to explain himself, not good enough. Jason Giambi, teammate of Clemens and Rodriguez (maybe we just put an asterisk on the Yankees organization…) said he was sorry, grew a mustache, let’s give him an MVP award…. Are we really just looking for the apology?

Steroids are bad and I hope they are gone from athletics soon. But let’s not create these long lists of names, let’s throw out the  decade, or put an asterisk on the whole thing, and move on!