Notes from the Nerdscape

Amazingly, we actually managed to see a couple of geekish-type movies the weekend they hit theaters in the past couple weeks. The Wolverine: Origins movie was awesome! The new Star Trek reboot was Freakin' Awesome! I was stunned by how well the material was handled, despite some "science issues" in both movies. Suspension of disbelief comes fairly easy for me (it's a movie, get over it!), but there are times when something happens that is illogical enough to be jarring. Fortunately, these problems were kept to a minimum and the quality of everything else was enough for me to be forgiving. Especially since the average movie-goer probably wouldn't have noticed them at all. For instance, in the Wolverine movie, Deadpool had sword blades extend from his wrists. These blades were long enough that, had they been one solid piece stored in his arms, he would not have been able to bend his elbows at all. A Star Trek example was the fact that they beamed Kirk and Capt. Pike off the enemy ship while the shields were (seemingly) still up. It is a well-known fact that this is not possible according to Star Trek physics. But, as I said, these are minor nit-picks. The well-written characters, snappy dialogue, amazing FX and other goodness more than makes up for them. We will be buying these movies on DVD when they come out, for sure. Also, it looks like both will be spawning sequels. Let us hope that the quality remains at a consistent level or perhaps even improves in subsequent productions.

Oh, one final note. It continues to irk me that while the super hero and science fiction genres both continue to shine on the big screen, we have yet to see a significant number of fantasy movies that reach the same pinnacle of quality. There is a plethora of amazing fantasy literature out there just ripe for the picking, if the studio execs would just get their collective heads out of their butts long enough to realize it. The few series that have managed to get the blockbuster treatment have been wildly successful (Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter and the Narnia series), but where is my big budget Dragonlance movie?! Or maybe a series based in the Forgotten Realms? I am encouraged by HBO's attempt to deliver a Game of Thrones series, but we are talking the tip of the iceberg here. Come on Hollywood, get over the "fantasy is for kiddie movies and b-movies" bullcrap and give us what we want, dammit!