The Last Stand

From an intriguing (?) or humorous... simple and brief opening scene, to the introduction of our central protagonist and star to another attempt at humor to the beginning of a scene that will (but only after the 10 minute point) establish this as possibly a crime thriller, we get an opening as well put together as this sentence.  I'm writing this while watching the movie.  I'm at the half hour mark right about now.  I like a movie to have multiple textures, to transform before my eyes, but being multiple things at once is usually difficult, or at least comes off as indecisive.  Indecision is ineffective.  But, being an action comedy, high octane action, or suspenseful crime thriller isn't what this movie is about, it's just the hats it's trying to wear at the start.

What this movie, and the most important two scenes by the ten minute point is about is Arnold coming back.  It reminds me of this stage of Clint Eastwood's career, if they can be remotely compared.  Clint had a head of gray hair in The Dead Pool and was still in his 50's.  He was four years younger than Arnold his here when he did Unforgiven, but Arnold was 38th Governor of California for eight years when he was in that age range.  But, the gun in the poster, and the third scene in our first ten minutes seems intentional to draw the parallel to Eastwood.  That's not a bad goal, and so far this seems like the type of movie that Eastwood might have done in the late eighties, like a weird amalgam of Eastwood's film The Rookie and A Perfect World.

Well, the action is getting pretty good, so I'm going to go.  Either way, I needed a movie tonight, and it's good to have Arnold back!

World War Z

The first 8:33 of World War... Wait, we're supposed to cover the first 10:00, wtf... wait so the counter starts right at the... So, the Ten minute point is when the Blu-Ray player says 10:00? But, World War Z had almost 90 seconds of Studio logos and production companies... Oh.  Sorry World War Z, the rules are the rules, but you're a zombie movie so following convention and rules is expected.  Heck, Zombieland owned that zombie movies have rules, and made it a thing, and two of their cast members are in Now You See Me, which is REALLY GOOD!!!... Oh World War Z... go on...  you've got a nice mix of well designed title sequence mixed with media footage montage establishing a bit of what's possibly going on, and we're 3:24 in...  but we're with (this was in the trailer, and doesn't spoil anything) the most idyllic family morning ever.  Jeeze, look at those granite countertops!  Everyone's hair is perfect in the sun... this looks like
By the 6 minute mark you might have an inferiority complex.  This isn't Richard Dreyfuss' very real family from Close Encounters, this is a catalogue come to life.  I know it's just supposed to reinforce the shock of having their perfect world shaken up by a zombie apocalypse, but... I think it alienates the audience.  Even though it's Brad Pitt, in this movie he's not supposed to be Brad Pitt (not the real Brad Pitt, the Brad Pitt mentioned in the Shania Twain song, the idealized him) , he supposed to be someone more, mortal, normal, fallible.  That'd make doing exceptional things less expected, and increase the drama more than Zombies ruin Folgers lovers morning!

Well then we do get some action... and the type of nuisance behavior kids who are plot devices rather than characters always do.  By the ten minute point, we're in a zombie movie of some type, but the last seven minutes have been a mess, and I even get why that's what they were going for.  That the confusion hitting you, your family, would upset your idyllic life.  I get the thesis.  If it looked less like a coffee commercial, if I knew where they were intending to go in their vehicle, and if the filmmakers had a step by step progression for the chaos that starts in mind... it could have been more effective.

On the plus side, it's brisk and the protagonist is likable... but, because he's Brad Pitt!  Without him, I'd have to judge the character on his shitty driving skills and ill behaved children which I would blame on them being sheltered by their parents who won't even explain what "martial law" is.  "It's like house rules, but for everybody"  Bullshit, tell you kid the military has taken control of... someplace.  Really a news broadcast without a ticker in the chyron?  Bullshit!  A budget of $190 million and we can't have some news graphics?  It does get better, but the first ten minutes are riddled with missed opportunities.

Now You See Me

By the ten minute point, Now You See Me has managed to not feel like ten minutes at all.  It's done the exceedingly rare feat of feeling longer than it is, but in a good way.  In a quadrilogy of vignettes we meet... You know, I HATE reviews that sum up or even say anything that's going on in the movie.  If I want to know, I'll watch the movie.  The review, should express the quality of the presentation not just a regurgitation of the particulars.  So, to explain without giving anything away, imagine if The Avengers deftly introduced Hawkeye, Black Widow, Iron Man and Captain America in just the first 10 minutes, AND got the plot underway... almost.  The opening goes to the 13 minute mark... so not as precisely compact as Star Trek Into Darkness.  (Oh, note to self, should evaluate The Avengers here... I love that movie!)  There's less to say with the successes than the ones that botch their opening opportunity.  This movie's opening succeeds wonderfully.

Star Trek Into Darkness

Just hitting Blu-Ray this week, Star Trek Into Darkness is perfect title to launch the concept of this blog off of.  A healthy amount of the of the trailer that came out for the first ten minutes of the movie, even the above poster were for this segment.  While the segment is referenced heavily throughout the film, it's handled with much the same tact as the prior Star Trek movie, making it even more encapsulated.  It's a mini movie, more concise and complete than even a James Bond opening.  And it's almost exactly ten minutes.  Yes, my first post is for a movie that by the ten minute point...  just got to the title.

This segment has been the root of some consternation it seems among fans...  and there have been (possibly) thousands of words of commentary on just the Enterprise being under water.  It makes no real world scientific sense... Nope, but if movies HAD to make everything comply with our current depth of knowledge of the universe, there would be no sc-fi genre.  It's not pulling a Dark Knight Rises with real world tech and being laughably ignorant.  No it says the Enterprise is underwater.

Which brings us to the complaint that it makes no sense 'in universe' that it defies the logic of Star Trek... Yeah, So does Voyager and Deep Space Nine. 

This emblem is also on the
side of the TOS Enterprise's
secondary hull, near the dish.

Star Trek the Next Generation is a bit different in logic and solutions, methods and execution that even TOS, so We're not in the United Earth Space Probe Agency anymore, with the emblem at the right, we're in a different... timeline, universe, canon, who gives a fuck?  Trek wasn't born out of a master plan.  It's not Tolkien or Herbert.  It changed and grew along the way, a pot luck of sci-fi with multiple authors, not a prophetic vision singularly handed down by Gene Roddenberry.

Wait... where were we...  Oh, Planet... Volcano...  Star Trek into Darkness!  I fear if I were to give a defense of point by point complaints fans have of this, it'd be longer than a dictionary.  This blog isn't to snarkily piss on movies from the cheap seats, it examining a question;

Do the first ten minutes of a movie make or break it?

By the Ten Minute Point; Into Darkness both makes the movie for the people who are going to love it, the characters are back and this is going to be a fun and energy filled movie.  And it's utterly destroyed the movie for those who... want to hate it.  It's pissing on old Star Trek while wearing it's clothes, throwing science out the window and really the one valid problem I have with it is it, and the rest of the movie's sacrifice of logic and reason for plot convenience.  Sure, They should have stayed in orbit, beamed the ignorantly named device down into the volcano and called it a day... but there's no scene, no tension, no fun and thusly no point.

I loved this movie coming out of the theater, and by the time we were done talking about it, I hated the thing.  Now... It's currently my second favorite movie of the year so far.  And the opening is one of the best parts!