Pathfinder

Rating: R

Movie Release Date: April 13, 2007

DVD Release Date: July 31, 2007

Plot 411: Viking by birth, native American by choice.

Review It: This movie reminded me of all those Conan The Barbarian-type movies of the 1980s. It stars Karl Urban (of Lord Of The Rings fame) as Ghost, a Viking child left behind in the new land when his people invade. He's saved and raised by the natives, but he is never really accepted because of his looks. When the Vikings return years later, he must decide with which side he will stand. On the positive side, this movie had quite a bit of action in the He-Man sorta way. It must've been a difficult shoot due to the weather conditions and being surrounded by nature. Other than that, I can't really give this any more praise, because somehow even the action sequences were somehow lacking. There was no substance to the movie, and as an audience member I didn't really care for Ghost's plight. The cinematography was pretty bland as well, with everything cast in grays and muted blues. The cameras were jarring at times and the low lights made it difficult to follow some scenes. Also in this film is Moon Bloodgood.

Watch It: If you're into the sword swinging and head rolling thing, but even this got boring after a while.

Skip It: Because I gotta tell you, everything about it was just pretty bad.

Star Trek

Rating: PG-13

Movie Release Date: May 8, 2009

DVD Release Date: November 17, 2009

Plot 411: A prequel to the Star Trek mythology that portrays the lives of young Kirk and Spock.

Review: Romulans attack the USS Kelvin on the day of James T. Kirk's birth, killing his father. Kirk (Chris Pine) grows up as a wild child and is recruited into the Starfleet as a young man. Simultaneously, Spock (Zachary Quinto) is struggling with his half human/half Vulcan persona and unsure which characteristics suit him best. When an emergency calls Starfleet students into action, the flight crew gains support from Uhuru's (Zoe Saldana) linguistic aptitude, Sulu's (John Cho) piloting abilities and McCoy's medical training (Karl Urban). The bad guy in this film is Nero, played by Eric Bana. He attempts to hurt Spock in retribution for the hurt that Spock has caused him. Again, despite not being big on the sci fi genre I think this movie was pretty good. There was humor and action, a small love triangle and definite emotional beats. Even though I didn't really know a lot about the backstory of these characters, I was still able to follow along and not get too confused. I'm sure there were dozens of homage's to the TV series and other films that the fanboys caught that I didn't. The fact that the movie is accessible to both types of audience definitely helps its success. Quinto's performance as Spock is awesome. He completely pulls it off. The emotion he keeps in check due to his Vulcan side really comes through in the performance. Even better is Bana's portrayal of Nero. He is almost unrecognizable in this role. It's a real credit to his acting ability that the audience doesn't know who the hell he is. Another plus about this film is that Leonard Nimoy makes an appearance. This movie also stars Simon Pegg, Anton Yelchin and Winona Ryder.

Watch It: Of course if you're a Star Trek fan or if you just like action in general.

Skip It: If you're a physicist since you know you'll only get irritated at the inaccuracies of the film. And yes, they did incorporate sound in outer space . . . again.