Thank you J.J. Abrams for not only meeting my expectations with Star Trek, but also surpassing them.  You are now the saving grace behind the franchise and you gave it a much-needed dose of adrenaline.  Through all the years that I’ve liked Star Trek, I’ve never experienced a mass communities excitement over a new film set in that universe.  Usually people would mock it and often associate its fan base with being “nerds” or “dorks.”  Especially in the past seven years, Star Trek was at a low point.  The last film, Star Trek: Nemesis (2002) was the lowest grossing film of the franchise and its last remaining TV Show, “Star Trek: Enterprise” was canceled in 2005. There was little interest by the public and it appeared Star Trek would just be a celebrated franchise of the past.  Thanks to director Abrams, I can now (for the first time) talk about Star Trek with anyone and not feel embarrassed about it.

I loved this movie. Loved it.  I’m perhaps saying this because I’m a huge fan, but anyone will enjoy this.  This Trek takes a different approach, by making the characters more human than before.  Abrams (not a “trekkie,” but actually a Star Wars fan) had the right idea by taking the characters of Kirk, Spock etc. and focusing on their younger lives, before they joined Starfleet.  We are already familiar with these characters and we get a chance to see them when they were young, reckless, inexperienced and only on the verge of greatness.  Of course, how can younger audiences be familiar with these characters when they weren’t exposed to the shows? Easy, Abrams plays it loyal to the original show, but starts from the beginning of everything so we become familiar with the characters at the start of their lives. We all start from the beginning.

When a Starship named the U.S.S Kelvin is investigating a strange black hole, it’s mysteriously attacked by a huge ship coming from the hole.  When the Kelvin asks the mystery ship about the unprovoked attack, they respond by asking the captain, Richard Robau (Faran Tahir), to come aboard.  Robau meets Nero (Eric Bana), a Romulan miner bent on revenge. Robau is unfamiliar with Nero’s questioning and is killed as the Romulan ship continues its attack on the U.S.S. Kelvin. The acting captain, George Kirk, takes control of the Kelvin and orders the evacuation of the ship, including his pregnant wife.  When his son is born during the evacuation, he names him James Tiberius Kirk.  Kirk Sr. collides with the Romulan ship on a suicide mission to give the rest of the crew time to get away.  It’s revealed that the Romulans were accidentally sucked into the black hole while their home world, Romulas, was destroyed by a supernova. The Romulans, who were from the 24^th century, realize they’re 154 years in the past and can’t get back. Before the time warp, Nero was seeking revenge on Ambassador Spock (Leonard Nimoy) after he failed to save Romulas.

"Westsiiide...I mean, live long and prosper."

Twenty years after the Kelvin attack, an older Kirk (Chris Pine) is convinced by Captain Christopher Pike (Bruce Greenwood) to join Starfleet. Spock (Zachary Quinto) also joins Starfleet because he doesn’t feel fully accepted by the Vulcan culture, since he’s half human. While at Starfleet, Kirk meets and befriends Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy (Karl Urban) and Nyota Uhura (Zoe Saldana).  After beating the impossible Kobayashi Maru test (a Starship bridge simulation test), Kirk is accussed of cheating (which he did) by Spock (who programmed it) and must stand before the Academy to await his punishment.  This is one of the few times where Abrams actually references an older Star Trek movie, which talked about Kirk cheating the Kobayashi Maru in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. During the hearing, Starfleet receives a distress call from Vulcan (Spock’s home world) that they’re under attack from an unknown ship.  Kirk is suspended indefinitely and the rest of the cadets are rushed into action aboard the brand new U.S.S. Enterprise (which hasn’t even had a maiden voyage). Kirk, wanting to get into the action, becomes a fake patient of McCoy’s and he manages to sneak aboard the Enterprise.  While on board, Captain Pike discovers Kirk and promotes him to first officer, since he had a terrific tactical record at the Academy. Spock is also promoted to captain in case something ever happens to Pike.  Kirk recognizes the similarities between the attack of the Kelvin and Vulcan and warns the crew that the Romulans are behind it.  The Enterprise must travel to Vulcan to stop the attack during which Kirk and Spock are uneasy with each other.

Star Trek will certainly rank at No. 2 on my “From First to Worst” list of the Star Trek films.  It is also the first Star Trek movie to features the Romulans as the principal antagonists, despite them being the longest running de facto alien villains of the TV series.  I was really impressed with Eric Bana as Nero. You feel for him, but also hate him at the same time.  Chris Pine is a good Kirk and didn’t do any William Shatner impressions. I can’t say he’s better than Shatner, but we’ll see over time, as he develops the character in future reprisals.  He portrays Kirk on a new level and it’s good to see the character young again, not an overweight captain who wears a “Go Climb a Rock” t-shirt (Star Trek V: The Final Frontier).  Karl Urban is eye-popping as McCoy.  Not only did he quote famous lines like “God damn it Jim,” but he also has the same speech delivery and body mannerisms as the original McCoy, DeForest Kelly. Urban did mimic Kelly, yes, but did it so well that it works in his favor.  He was very funny and definitely one of the brightest parts of the movie.  The best performance, however, goes to Zachary Quinto as Spock.  He looks like a younger Leonard Nimoy reincarnated, but plays it better than Nimoy ever has. Quinto’s Spock is a lot darker and edgier, which easily makes him the most interesting character.  Nimoy returns as an older Spock (Spock Prime) and I got chills when I saw the legendary character return to the big screen.  Nimoy plays Spock as cool and intellectual as ever and I was glad Abrams made him a major character and didn’t reduce him to a stupid cameo. Simon Pegg as Scotty and Anton Yelchin as Chekov also provide the movie with some humor. I did, however, think Zoe Saldana’s portrayal of Uhura is weak, as it’s forced and actually made her come across as a bitch.

The effects are good (provided by Industrial Light and Magic), but the true visuals were the actors.  They made us fall in love with the characters all over again and even improved on some of them, mainly Kirk and Spock. Abrams focuses on the most important element of Star Trek, the characters, and it paid off.  Yes, it’s an action-oriented Star Trek and it has mind-blowing special effects, but it’s the characters that ultimately draw us in.  Once again, thank you J.J. Abrams for making a once proud franchise, proud again.

My older brother got me obsessed with shoes a few months ago. I was noted a bunch of cool looking Nike Dunks I wanted including the Baby Bears and the Closing Ceremonies. Of course they were long sold out and had a difficult time even finding them on eBay. The thing about these shoes and buying them on eBay is they can be faked. Mostly, the fake shoes will still hold up and look like the real thing, is just won’t be authentic. I just need the look, though, which is why I just bought an $800 pair of Closing Ceremonies for $40. Nice!

Well, disturbing as that might be to some (I’m obviously okay with it), there’s a fake trend going on in the movie business. Fake IMAX screens. This has come to our attention via actor/comedian Aziz Ansari’s blog. He was one of the amusing parts of Observe and Report and also has a small role in Funny People. He apparently went to see Star Trek over the weekend at an AMC Theater in Burbank and set out to see and pay for the IMAX screening of the film. He paid an additional $5 for the experience and proceeded to take his seat in the theater. To his horror, the screen was not the 70-foot behmoth IMAX has come to be associated with, but one only slightly larger than a traditional screen. Naturally, he watched the movie, but then asked for the additonal $5 he paid for the IMAX experience they failed to deliver. He didn’t get it and that pisses ME off.

I have a few friends that want to come down from Sacramento to L.A. (that’s an 8-hour drive) late next month for the main purpose of seeing Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen in IMAX. I almost certainly would have taken them to one of these fake screenings. We all would’ve been angry. Luckily, I received the forewarning and can hopefully seek out a legitimate alternative. Thanks for the forewarning, Aziz. Everybody else, be aware. IMAX screens at Regal and AMC chains could be fake. Don’t be duped. Here’s the difference:

With the upcoming Star Trek film creating such a huge buzz, I decided to look back and rank the 10 movies that came before it.  Some have been considered well-made films and other have been flat-out awful. The original TV show may have started one of the biggest cult followings ever, but the movies made it a commercial success.  I hope Abrams vision of Star Trek is successful because it certainly needs a shot of adrenaline. I hope to rank his high on my new list, but for now, here’s the current ten.

1. Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986)

Often referred to as “the one with the whales,” this one involves the Enterprise crew going back in time (in a captured Klingon ship) to 1986 to retrieve two Humpback whales in which they would communicate with an ancient alien space probe threatening earth in the 23^rd century. Yes, the plot on paper sounds ridiculous, but this is the best of the series and appeals to any non-Trek fan. Directed by Leonard Nimoy (Spock), this one is easy to relate to because it takes place in (then) contemporary times, is very character driven, has no bombastic villain with an evil plot or over-the-top special effects. This one also dishes out a lot of humor and it certainly will not disappoint.  I recommend it simply as just a very good movie, Star Trek or not.

2. Star Trek: First Contact (1996)

The best from the Next Generation cast, First Contact is more action-oriented than previous Trek films and it features by far the coolest antagonists, The Borg. When the Borg’s (half-machine/half-human cyborgs) attempt to assimilate and destroy Earth fails, they proceed in time to 2063 to stop “first contact” between human and aliens and conquer Earth in the past.  Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) and Co. follow the Borg in time to stop their plan. Directed by Jonathan Frakes (first officer Riker), First Contact also involves the element of time-travel. It too has a lot of humor and has a memorable performance by James Cromwell as Zefram Cochrane, the inventor of warp speed. He also utters perhaps the greatest line in Trek history while talking to the Enterprise crew, “So, you’re all… astronauts, on…some kind of star trek.”

3. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982)

Considered the best of the films (except on this list), Star Trek II has Kahn (Ricardo Montablan) seeking revenge on Kirk (William Shatner) after he left him on a once hospitable, but now baron planet. When Pavol Chekov (Walter Koeing) and Capt. Terrell (Paul Winfield) are looking for a supposed dead planet to start the Genesis project, a technology used to create a new life, they accidentally stumble upon Kahn and his followers. Kahn captures the two and then hijacks their ship, the U.S.S. Reliant. Kahn uses the ship to hunt down Kirk to find the location of Genesis, which he will use as a weapon of mass destruction. Kirk, who’s training new recruits on the Enterprise, must stop Kahn from executing his plans. Director and co-writer Nicholas Meyer single-handedly saved Star Trek after the disaster of the first film. He breathed new life into the franchise and came out with a fast-paced, nicely-written movie about revenge, life and death.

4. Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991)

Nicholas Meyer once again saves Star Trek after the god-awful Star Trek V. This was also the last movie to feature the original cast and they ended on a high note. After years of fighting, the Federation and the Klingons decide to negotiate for peace. Kirk and crew, on their last mission aboard the Enterprise, are sent to escort the Klingon Chancellor, Gorkon (David Warner) to Earth. When the Enterprise fires upon Gorkon’s ship and sends a crew to kill Gorkon, the event almost launches the Federation and Klingons into a full-scale war.  Kirk says the Enterprise didn’t fire upon the ship and wasn’t aware of the boarding party sent to kill Gorkon. After Kirk and Leonard McCoy (DeForest Kelley) beam aboard the ship to save the chancellor’s life fails, they are accused of murder by General Chang (Christopher Plummer) and sentenced to death in a Klingon mining colony.  Meanwhile, Spock leads an investigation to prove Kirk and McCoy are innocent. A very underrated Star Trek movie, Undiscovered Country echoed the parallels to the fall of communism and the end of the Cold War. Star Trek VI never has a dull moment.

5. Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984)

After Spock’s death in Part II, his body is sent to the newly created Genesis planet. With McCoy now inheriting Spock’s “essence,” Spock’s father Sarek (Mark Lenard) persuades Kirk and his crew to go back to Genesis to retrieve his body. Meanwhile, the Klingons, led by Commander Kruge (Christopher Lloyd), have gained knowledge of the Genesis project and want to use it as a super weapon. Kirk, given the order to not return to Genesis, steals the Enterprise and is forced to deal with the Klingons in a deadly encounter. Directed by Leonard Nimoy, Search for Spock is a good sequel to Wrath of Khan, but doesn’t have the same impact that film had.  It does have a few minor plot holes, like Spock being “regenerated” by the planet. It’s an enjoyable watch, but obviously not on par with Star Trek II or IV.

6. Star Trek: Generations (1994)

The original cast passes the torch to the Next Generation and this was the last to feature William Shatner as Kirk.  The meeting between Picard and Kirk was certainly an enticing plot point, but Generations was somewhat of a disappointment. Kirk is supposedly killed on the maiden voyage of the Enterprise B by an energy beam called the Nexus. When scientist Dr. Tolian Soran (Malcolm McDowell) threatens the destruction of planets to get back to the Nexus, the Enterprise must him stop before millions of life-forms are killed. Despite the hype this movie displays between the two captains, the outcome is pretty weak. Also, Data is exceptionally annoying when he decides to get an emotion chip to have human feeling. His feelings, however, go haywire and he goes crazy. McDowell was very good as the villain, but the meeting between Picard and Kirk plays like an afterthought.

7. Star Trek: Nemesis (2002)

This is the last movie to feature the Next Generation cast and also the last Trek film altogether, until the Abrams one.  When a younger clone of Picard named Shinzon (Tom Hardy) overthrows the Romulan senate to become praetor, the Enterprise must go on a diplomatic mission to meet Shinzon. They later find out that Shinzon actually wants to use Picard’s DNA to keep himself alive and disrupt the human race with his unstoppable ship, the Scimitar. The only thing that kept this movie from being terrible was the action, which is the most Star Trek has ever seen.  The whole Picard clone thing and Data discovering an android brother were both weak. It also featured perhaps the ugliest alien villains, the Remans.

8. Star Trek:  The Motion Picture (1979)

This movie isn’t the best example of ushering in a popular TV show to the silver screen. Essentially a rip-off of 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Motion Picture follows the Enterprise crew intercepting a mysterious cloud named V’Ger. V’Ger is destroying everything in its path and is threatening Earth. Directed by the legendary Robert Wise, the movie seems to focus more on special effects (by Douglas Trumbull, 2001) and less on story. The movie was plagued with problems from the beginning and easily went over budget. It’s very boring and has by far the worst costumes of any sci-fi movie. This also marked the first appearance of the hideous Klingon make-up.

9. Star Trek: Insurrection (1998)

Insurrection feels like a two-part miniseries than an actual movie. When the Son’a (not that ugly, surprisingly) is forcing a group of people named the Bak’u off their unique planet, the Enterprise must stop the Son’a extraction at all cost, even committing a direct violation of their orders.  Because of the worthless script, this was by far the worst Next Generation movie. It featured the worst villain, Adhar Ru’afo (F. Murray Abraham) and the worst villainous plot. Ru’afo wants to remove a group of people from a planet so he can become young again. Wow, so exciting. Not good at all.

10. Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989)

This piece of crap is why people bash Star Trek and give it a bad name. Directed and co-written by William Shatner, this horrid excuse for a movie has the Enterprise being hijacked by Spock’s half-brother, Sybok (Laurence Luckinbill). Sybok, thinking he’s the next messiah, commands the Enterprise to the mysterious Sha Ka Ree (Vulcan version of Heaven) to find God (not kidding about this part). Meanwhile, the Klingons just decide out of the blue to go after Kirk because they don’t like him.  It also has embarrassing moments like Scotty (James Doohan) saying he knows the Enterprise like the back of his hand and then proceed to knock himself out or a middle-aged Uhura (Nichelle Nichols) doing an “exotic dance.” It has horrendous special effects and it could easily be one of the worst movies of the 80′s. It was also the proud winner of three Razzies, including worst actor (Shatner), worst director (Shatner) and worst picture. Completely avoid this.

Welcome to a wonderful new week in film. We have a bunch of first looks for you today. I feel it’s a good way to get it going.

[The Movie Blog] has the first shot of Russell Crowe in Robin Hood garb from the set of the new Ridley Scott film. Although I don’t particularly like the guy as a person, he’s a great actor. He looks pretty hard in this pic. It should be sweet.

For those hyped about the new Star Trek film, you might be interested in checking out the virtual press conference what was held earlier today. Director J. J. Abrams and others were on hand to answer questions. It’s a pretty interesting concept. It looks like they used the graphics engine from “The Sims.” You’ll see what I’m talking about. [Star Trek XI Blog]

[Film Gecko] has the first clip from the animated film 9. You might remember the trailer from a few months ago with the dope Coheed and Cambria soundtrack. This thing looks crazy.

Channing Tatum is blowing up this year with roles in Fighting, Public Enemies and G.I. Joe, but he apparently regrets not being able to play Gambit in X-Men Origins: Wolverine. You may not have formed an opinion yet, unless you watched the bootleg version of that film, but do you regret him not being in it? I’m sure I’m happy with the current state. [Filmonic]

One of our most anticipated films of the year, Peter Jackson’s The Lovely Bones has its first two pics online thanks to [Ace Showbiz]. Ever want to see what heaven looks like outside of the 1998 Robin Williams film, What Dreams May Come? There are some words from Jackson about the project, as well.

Angels & Demons comes out in just a few weeks and Sony/Columbia has announced a third film in the series is on its way. Dan Brown, writer of two Robert Langdon-starring novels “The Da Vinci Code” and “Angels & Demons,” just finished the third book in the series, titled “The Lost Symbol.” It will focus on the secret society of the Freemasons. The book is due to be released September 15, 2009. The movie, much later. I’m down. [Fused Film]

Just as we began, we end today’s news with another first film image. This time it’s the Peter Jackson-produced Neill Blomkamp-directed District 9, which has been soaring below the radar, but will be released toward the end of this sumer. [SciFi Cool]

Yesterday, we posted our preview for J.J. Abrams’ upcoming Star Trek and the web has plenty of early reviews on this thing. Apparently it’s all positive. [Aintitcool] has a bunch of them compiled. I’m sure our very own Joe Amaral will have his take soon after the film’s release.

We also had some set pics of Jonah Hex yesterday, and today, [Cinematical] has some pics of Iron Man 2 for your viewing pleasure.

Larry Charles, director of Borat, Religulous and Bruno has his next project lined up, titled Winter’s Discontent. Charles used to write for “Seinfeld” and directed some “Curb Your Enthusiasm” episodes, so I’d imagine this next film will be appointment viewing. [Collider]

As mentioned in our April Fools post, Stanley Kubrick had plans for a Napoleon film. Although the great master has been gone for 10 years now, Napoleon on film is still a possibility. Al Pacino is in line to play the title character. I wonder if he yells. [JoBlo]

Sir Michael Caine could continue his streak of starring in Christopher Nolan films by perhaps garnering a role alongside Leonardo DiCaprio, Marion Cotillard and Cillian Murphy in The Dark Knight helmer’s upcoming Inception. [MTV Movies Blog]

Director Gore Verbinski decides he wouldn’t like to continue directing Pirates of the Caribbean films and will instead set his sights for the video game adaptation, BioShock. [Coming Soon] My old roommate swore by this game. I hope Verbinski can make it into an interesting film.

Finally, in another piece of video game adaptation news, Sony is developing a film based on “Shadow of the Colossus.” [/film] After reading about the latest video game-to-film news, what’s the next video game you’d like to see Hollywoodized? I assume you wouldn’t want Uwe Boll directing it.

I’m so excited for Star Trek. I’m a self-admitted fan and have attended “Star Trek” conventions in the past. I’m only a causal “Trekkie,” however. I’m not someone who dresses like a Star Fleet officer or gets married in Klingon make-up. I’m sure the others from The Film Nest ranks will not show the same love for Star Trek as I do, but hopefully they will boldly go where no non-Star Trek fan has gone before by seeing this movie. I was a huge fan of the Star Trek “Original Series” (William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, etc.) and Star Trek: The Next Generation (Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, etc.).

"I'm so hard, I leave my coldsores untreated."

Gene Roddenbarry originally created “Star Trek” as a sci-fi TV show in 1966. It only lasted three seasons and it was then cancelled. The show, thanks to reruns, gained a huge cult following and it ended up spawning an animated series, four additional TV series and ten movies. Star Trek will be the eleventh feature of the series and it will be one of the rare times I will favor a “reboot.” I’m glad J.J Abrams decided go back to what originally made “Star Trek” famous, with Captain James Tiberius Kirk, Spock. McCoy, Scotty, etc. I hope (I’m sure Abrams and the studio are thinking the same thing) it will reintroduce Star Trek to a whole new audience.

Star Trek will follow the early lives of James Kirk (Chris Pine, Smokin Aces) and Spock (Zachary Quinto, “Heroes”) before they joined Starfleet Academy. When a rebel Romulan (pretty much looks like a Vulcan, pointy ears) named Nero (Eric Bana, Munich) comes from the future to destroy the United Federation of Planets, the young crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise is sent to intercept him. Following Nero from the future is an older incarnation of Spock (Leonard Nimoy, to bring the reboot credibility) to help assist the inexperienced team. Star Trek will feature how Kirk assumes command of the Enterprise as captain. The movie also explains Kirk’s father’s (Chris Hemsworth) role in Starfleet, something the Star Trek series hasn’t really touched upon.

It's freaks like this that probably turned people off to the "Star Trek" universe in the first place.

Star Trek is directed and produced by J.J Abrams, who also directed Mission: Impossible III and produced Cloverfield. Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, who both collaborated on such movies as Transformers and Mission: Impossible III, wrote the screenplay. I feel relieved these two have given this movie justice by bringing back the old costumes and staying faithful to the “Star Trek” story.  The rest of the cast comprises of Scotty (Simon Pegg, Shaun of the Dead), Leonard “Bones” McCoy (Karl Urban, Lord of the Rings), Uhura, (Zoe Saldana, Vantage Point), Pavel Chekov (Anton Yelchin, Alpha Dog) and Hikaru Sulu (John Cho, Harold and Kumar).

I’m stoked about this movie after seeing the excellent trailer. I’m sure thousands of Trekkies will flock to see this, but I think that someone not familiar with Star Trek whatsoever will enjoy it as well.  This could possibly be the best Star Trek movie to date.\

Star Trek opens May 8^th.

The Film Nest’s “Film News Daily” gives you a host of items today brought by our roving of the web.  Enjoy.

Sacha Baron Cohen’s upcoming Bruno is slapped with the dreaded NC-17 rating.  Which is fine by me but sucks for him I guess. [/film]

[Cinematical] says that Paul Giamatti rips a new asshole of the Japanese remake of his hit Sideways.  Comedy to read what he says.

I was happy to read that David Cronenberg is planning on a sequel to his underseen Eastern Promises.  [MTV] has the exclusive details.

[Film  Junk] says that Richard Linklater is “kinda, sorta” working on a sequel to Dazed & Confused.  To paraphrase, “I get older, but they all stay the same age.”

Rhys Ifans joins Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows as Xeno Lovegood.  People love it or hate it. [Film School Rejects]

The sex appeal got upped for Louis Letterier’s Clash of the Titans by adding Gemma Arterton to the mix. [First Showing]

[Latino Review] confirms that Matt Damon and Ben Affleck are joining forces for a film again!  The script already exists.  They also give some info on The Time Traveler’s Wife, a film we have already seen (and reviewed) but had to take the review down due to contractual obligations.

Warner Brothers throws cinephiles a bone by offering up rare movies exclusively to you that haven’t dropped on DVD.  This is an interesting concept. [Twitch]

Sequels and Next Gen are part of [MTV's] Star Trek news exclusive to them.  The running time is exactly 2 hours and a few more details exist.

Let us know what the biggest stories are to you and comment on them with us here.  Appreciate it.

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Star Trek, Up, Land of the Lost, The Year One, Fast & Furious, G.I. Joe, Race to Witch Mountain, Angels & Demons, Monsters vs Aliens. All of their Super Bowl TV spots are here in this megalist. We’ve combined all the individual Super Bowl spot posts into this one, with full text included.

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

There’s been a lot of hype about the Transformers sequel over the past few weeks. We were given the teaser poster, we put the movie up as one of our Top 20 Anticipated of the year, we’ve learned there wouldn’t be any Dinobots and now we have the first official footage from the film. Below is the Super Bowl spot for Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. It’s short. Only 30 seconds, but for anybody planning to check out the re-boot of Friday the 13th in a couple of weeks, you can expect to see a longer teaser attached to that. Behold the TV spot:

I LOVE that huge robot bursting through the freeway and emerging right at the end. That’s just beautiful. I’m also very happy to see a quick glimpse of a robot transforming into a car. It’s a magnificent sight.

You can indulge your nostalgia for the first film here and go back even further and pick up the 1986 animated film. All will help bide time until June 26th.

Star Trek

I’ve never seen an episode of “Star Trek” in my life. I’ve actually worked hard to avoid it. It’s always been around me in its several incarnations on TV, but I’ve managed to make myself sparse during those times. It’s the Klingons that I can’t look at. Like Worf. I could hardly stand to look at that guy through a commercial. Look at that thing. The stuff nightmares are made of. For the same reason, I’ve never seen any Planet of the Apes films. The faces are too difficult to look at for me.

There aren’t any Worf-like creatures in any of the Star Trek spots so far and I’m thankful for it. Here’s your chance to check out the Star Trek Super Bowl spot, below:

Is anybody excited for this who’s NOT a “Star Trek” fan already? I can kind of see the appeal. I think the involvement of J.J. Abrams was a good decision. It might help crossover into non-”Star Trek” fandom. What did you think of the TV spot? Did it really entice? Are you more into it, less into it or just the same?

Up

Certainly one of my most anticipated movies of the year, Pixar’s Up, has its Super Bowl TV spot online. It’s very similar to the teaser trailer that’s already out. There’s a short tag joke at the end, which is knew. A whetting of the appetite for sure. Of course not much needs to be revealed to get people on board for a Pixar film. They just need to know it exists. Check out the spot, below.

We’ve already previewed the film here. And as the TV spot suggest, you can see an exclusive clip from ‘Up’ at Disney.com. Unfortunately I can’t embed it for you, so here’s a direct link to that clip. I won’t spoil anything about it for you.

Meanwhile, I’ve been catching up on my “Empire” magazine reading lately and there’s a couple new pics from Up I hadn’t seen before. Here they are for you:

What did you think of the TV spot? Did you check out the clip? I look forward to any comment from a devout Pixar fan, like myself.

Land of the Lost

Here we are with another Super Bowl spot before the game has been played. This one is for the filmic adaptation of the TV series “Land of the Lost.” Land of the Lost stars Will Ferrell and Danny McBride (second billing!) and they go back in time and face dinosaurs, amongst other creatures. I guess after not having Dinobots in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, we’ll still be able to get our dino fix this summer.

I don’t know. Never seeing the show, I don’t have any connection to the material. It could be good. I think this spot will do well in terms of selling the movie to viewers tomorrow, and that’s its main goal. I’m happy Will Ferrell isn’t in some crazy sports comedy and it looks pretty epic. Brad Silberling directs his first big movie since the unfortunate Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events. That one is obviously off the “franchise” train.

What do you think of this spot? Do you want to see the movie?

The Year One

This one is more of a scene from the film than just a TV spot. Kind of hard to believe you’ll see this one in it’s entirely during tomorrow’s game. That’d be $12 million! Whatever gets people excited about the film and makes them buy tickets, I guess.

The Year One is directed by Harold Ramis (Groundhog Day) from a script he wrote with “The Office” scribes, Gene Stupnitsky & Less Eisenberg. Michael Cera and Jack Black star as Oh and Zed, respectively, two caveman trying to survive before civilization. In the clip/TV spot below, you’ll also meet Kane and Abel, played by Paul Rudd and David Cross.

It looks pretty decent to me. I’d love it to be good and funny. I recall the buzz being not particularly strong from some test screening reviews I’ve read. I wish I was able to tell you myself if it was worthy or not.

UPDATE: It turns out that was just a clip. Here’s the actual Super Bowl spot.

This scene reminded me of a clip from the 1981 film, Caveman, starring Ringo Starr, that I’ve seen numerous types playing “Scene It” on the 360. Sadly, I couldn’t find the exact one. Here’s a clip of music being invented.

Fast & Furious

I wonder if the Super Bowl will be holding any more surprises tomorrow. We now bring you the Super Bowl spot for the third sequel (that’s number four) to The Fast and the Furious, the creatively titled Fast & Furious! This is the first Super Bowl spot we’ve posted for a film that’s already had a trailer released, so only slightly new footage. Of course, this is going out to the few people that watch the Super Bowl, too. Behold!

Vin Diesel used to be my boy when he was coming up. For those that know his first major film role was Saving Private Ryan, an even more in-depth education will lead you to knowing Spielberg had that role written into the film specifically for Diesel after seeing Vinny’s short film Multi-Facial, at Sundance. I bought the DVD and have always enjoyed the 20-minute short. It definitely displays Diesel’s acting chops and saddens me to know he’s been pigeon-holed into this crappy action stuff. Hopefully one day, he’ll break out like I know he’s capable of.

The complete short is below, but if you find it in your heart to buy the DVD, check it out here: Short 5 – Diversity.

G.I. Joe

I was never allowed to play with G.I. Joe’s as a kid, so I never got into them. I have no idea what any character’s name is. I know “Cobra” has something to do with that universe. So, my excitement for this film is less than zero. It wasn’t really increased by this TV spot. If you want to see what G.I. Joe has in store for you tomorrow during the Super Bowl, just check it out below.

Did you like it? Are you excited for this?

I don’t hold director, Stephen Sommers, in high regard. Remember Van Helsing? It is nice that it’s trying to find a spot in August though, which over the past 10 years or so (ever since The Sixth Sense) has extended the blockbuster season. I’m all for better movies spread around. I hope this is good for anybody that has an interest. Be sure to let me know.

About a year ago, a friend and I were recalling this old G.I. Joe commercial. For the heck of it, here it is below.

I hate nose bleeds.

Thanks to Superhero Hype for the heads-up.

Race to Witch Mountain

The first film-related TV spot set to air during the Super Bowl was made available today via MTV Movies Blog. The spot is for the Dwayne Johnson-starring Disney film, The Race to Witch Mountain.

The film is a remake of the 1975 film, Escape to Witch Mountain. Johnson plays, Jack Bruno, a modern-day Travis Bickle (only in that he drives a taxi), who is sought by a paranormal expert, Dr. Alex Friendman (Carla Gugino), to help protect two extraterrestrials from a dastardly organization who only want to use them for evil. Sounds dastardly.

With 30-seconds of airtime costing $3 million this year, this ad is costing Disney $6 million. Do you think it’s worth it? We’ll find out March 13th, I guess.

For comparison’s sake, here’s the first trailer.

As promised earlier here, we’ll bring you all the movie-related Super Bowl ads as they’re released on the net. There could be more coming before the game itself, and we’ll keep you updated.

Angels & Demons

As mentioned in my preview of the film, I’m actually looking forward to Angels & Demons, even though I wasn’t the biggest fan of The Da Vinci Code film. I just have some wishful thinking, hoping Ron Howard and Co. will have learned from their mistakes. I did think the book was pretty cool and would like it to be done justice on the big screen. Tom Hanks is my boy.

The following clip doesn’t really show off a hell of a lot. It’s 30 seconds long and essentially just shows a few flashes. We’ll apparently have to wait for the theatrical trailer to even get a remote sense of what to expect. I would imagine we’ll get that pretty soon, as the film’s slated for release May 15th.

What did you guys think of this spot? Was they’re really much of anything to help you get hyped? Are you looking forward to this at all?

Monsters vs. Aliens

I certainly never bothered to make my way to a Sobe booth to pick up 3-D glasses, so I can’t tell you about the dazzling things I witnessed in the additional dimension. For those of you that saw the ad, here’s your chance to relive it, and for those that missed it, here’s you chance to see it.

I think this has a chance to be good, actually. I’m not much for any other studios computer animated films, but Pixar’s, and this certainly has a vague resemblance to Monsters, Inc. (as these studios are apt to do), but I do like the eye/tongue/elbow/butt scanner joke.

For those that saw the TV spot in 3-D did it really enhance your enjoyment at all? For anybody not as ready and willing to outright reject the animated product of non-Pixar, what’s your level of interest in the movie?

For some extreme trivia, former “The Simpsons” writer and longtime friend of Wes Anderson (he played the wrestling ref in Rushmore), Wally Wolodarsky had a hand in writing the script.