–NEW FEATURE DEBUTS TOMORROW–

Hunter Duesing, who does an excellent job covering the latest in DVD and Blu-ray releases, has seen the future and its name is STREAMING. And so he will now do double duty with a weekly column that covers the latest in streaming news: what’s new, what’s available, and whatever else crosses his mind.

Look for the debut first thing tomorrow morning.

All together now: Thanks Hunter!

–”BREAKING BAD” FINAL RUN WILL RUN OVER TWO SEASONS–

Though there was a lot of drama over whether or not one of the finest explorations of how a good man can sell his soul ever produced in any medium would move to another network, what’s likely to happen is pretty much what was expected. If you remember “The Sopranos” did the same thing, breaking the final season into two parts. This works for the network in two ways. First, even though the production company and network will save money producing fewer episodes than two seasons normally demand, it keeps the buzz alive around the show and the network for an extra year. But most importantly it creates two separate DVD sets out of those fewer episodes — a part one and part two, which obviously increases profits.

I don’t care. Rape me … whatever. The more episodes the better. And when the full series is released on DVD I’ll be first in line. The brilliance of “Breaking Bad” takes my breath away.

–J.J. ABRAMS DEFENDS “LOST” FINALE–

Purely by coincidence in relation to today’s open thread, in a new interview, “Lost” creator J.J. Abrams asks those who hated the finale of the show if they can do better.

Like I said in the comments of today’s post, probably because I watched the show over the course of a couple of months as opposed to 5+ years, the flaws people mention just weren’t as glaring to me. Other than a few clunker episodes which I attribute to the writer’s strike, I found the show compelling and unbelievably addicting from beginning to end. As far as the finale, it was so moving I get choked up just thinking about it.

On an act of faith, I bought the entire series on DVD sight unseen. It’s one of the best purchases I ever made and I can’t wait to revisit every single moment again this winter.

“Lost” is now streaming on Netflix.  Those of you who were disappointed or lost interest, might want to consider giving the story of Oceanic 815 a second chance using a medium where every episode is right there at your fingertips. A two-month striptease is much easier to deal with than a six-year striptease.

–TONY BENNETT GOING STRONG AT 85–

Saw Bennett five years ago at the Hollywood Bowl, a memorable evening that proved the iconic crooner hadn’t lost a step. Five years later, the 15-time Grammy winner still has goals and a new album on the horizon.

As Sinatra used to say: “May you live to be hundred and the last voice you hear be mine.”

Bennett, a Sinatra fan, might just make it.

–HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY (WAY) BETTER HALF–

Though she loathes sharing a birthday with our failed president,  I just want to wish the love of my life and best friend a happy, uhm, 39th. May she live to be a hundred and the last voice she hear be mine (with some background music courtesy of George Strait).

—–

——

LAST NIGHT’S SCREENING

The One (2001): After the double-shot disappointment of Nic Cage’s disgusting “Drive Angry” and the appallingly stupid “Green Hornet,” I needed a sure thing to unwind to after running Big Hollywood by day and painting ceilings by night. And who better to deliver that sure thing than The Mighty Jet Li and a superb supporting cast made up of Delroy Lindo, Jason Statham, the ridiculously sexy Carla Gugino, and a swell cameo by my fellow Wisconsonian Mark Borchardt.

Three things I dig about director/co-writer James Wong’s unpretentious, mindlessly entertaining, sci-fi actioner:

1. The concept makes the wire-fu believable. Instead of unrealistic gravity-defying moves taking you out of the story, here they work because they make perfect sense.

2. I freakin’ love kung-fu, especially at the hands of someone with real skills like Li. And I love kung-fu for the same reason I love classic musicals: the choreography. Today’s musicals are all editing and quick cuts. Whereas Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire used to place the camera and dance in front of it so you could see them move, present-day musicals are afraid to do that. And so today the best choreography coming out of Hollywood is in fight scenes designed and performed by real-deal artists like Li.

3. People die. On at least three occasions, people you don’t expect to die — die. For real.

At 87-minutes, this thing is paced just like a B-movie should be paced. Best of all, what could’ve been a difficult and complicated concept to execute and explain is handled with brilliant simplicity. The world is introduced, the story fires off like a rocket, and asses get kicked.

You can ask for nothing more than that.

Yes, I’m a simpleton.

——

——-

TODAY’S QUICK HITS

CATCH OUR OWN AWR HAWKINS TOMORROW ON AMERICA’S MORNING NEWS AT 6:15 EST.

EW’S MOVIE SCENES THAT MAKE YOU CRY DOES NOT INCLUDE “FIELD OF DREAMS.”

“TRANSFORMERS 3″ JOINS BILLION DOLLAR CLUB.

“POTTER” JOINS “TRANSFORMERS”

SHOCKER: “RISE OF THE APES” RECEIVES OVERWHELMINGLY POSITIVE REVIEWS

NO FOURTH ‘GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO” BOOK

THE BEAUTIFUL AND TALENTED MARG HELGENBERGER LEAVING ‘CSI’ IN JANUARY

FINALLY!      

FIVE LESSONS LEARNED FROM THIS SUMMER’S BOX OFFICE

TRYING TO CARE. FAILING.

THERE WAS A BLOOM TO BEGIN WITH?

TRYING TO CARE. FAILING.

—– 

——

CLASSIC PICK FOR FRIDAY AUGUST 5, 2011

TCM:

Tomorrow is John Garfield day at TCM, which means that what we have here is one of the best 24 hours of movie-watching possible. Garfield is one of my all-time favorite actors and one of the blessings of TCM has been the ability to see almost all of his work, from classics such as “Postman Always Rings Twice”  and “Humoresque” to lesser known but still worthy titles like “We Were Strangers,” “He Ran All the Way,” and one of my personal favorite movies, period, “They Made Me a Criminal.”

Set the DVR to record at 6am EST and let it do all the work straight through for another 24 hours. Trust me, you will not regret a minute of it.  

Garfield was all man, a street guy with the smarts, nerve and fists to back up his famously straightforward take-no-crap attitude. Only a “dame” could bring Garfield down, but brother what a fall.

–Send tips/suggestions/requests to jnolte@breitbart.com

—–

Yeah, it kind of did that, I suppose.  Except I was too busy wondering why the central premise somehow had to be that American military personnel are sadistic, bloodthirsty, cold-blooded murderers.  Then I remembered that this is Hollywood.

Now, to talk about Super 8, I will have to reveal what some might call “spoilers.”  Except, they aren’t really “spoilers” because to be that the plot points I reveal would have to be unexpected and surprising.  Sadly, Super 8 adopts the same tiresome clichés that have been wrecking Hollywood films for the last 40 years.  The only surprise was the total lack of any surprise.

What do we have? Crazy, evil military officer as the baddie?  Check!  Kid with daddy issues?  Check!  Climax where the hero rescues the girl from monster’s lair?  Check!  Monster that is the real victim even though he’s freaking killing US military people and eating civilians left and right?  Check?

Let me throw something out there.  The premise here is the space monster crash lands on Earth, then the Air Force gets him and won’t let him leave, and the monster gets mad, then escapes, and it’s all the fault of the mean colonel who was keeping him that the monster is devouring people.  Maybe I’m biased after two deployments, but a character kills an American soldier onscreen and my sympathy meter drops into the red – Avatar, I am looking at you too.  Maybe the cinematic deaths of some American military folk might be no biggie in Tinseltown, but some of us take it personally.  Perhaps I’ll drop J.J. Abrams a line and invite him to the next memorial I have to attend.

Am I overreacting?  Maybe.  I can see the misdirection of the counterargument – “Crazy Conservative Says ‘Super 8’ Promotes Killing Soldiers!”  What you won’t see is a good explanation of why our own troops almost always end up as the bad guys.  Perhaps the Hollywoodoids don’t see anything wrong with making US military people the villain so often.  After all, most of them have nothing but contempt for soldiers despite their poses to the contrary, and US military people won’t send a suicide bomber into your Beverly Hills offices – unlike certain real villains who liberals won’t dare name.

Hollywood can make the movies it wants – the First Amendment is one of the things I made a miniscule contribution to protecting.  But I can refuse to waste my money on a movie that depicts American servicemembers as psychos who literally murder American citizens in cold blood.  And so can you.

Look at the far superior Close Encounters.  The American military is an obstacle to the hero, not a malignant enemy.  There, the military (and other agencies) are trying to make contact with the aliens; the military is benignly keeping folks away from Devil’s Tower.  But in Super 8, they murder them – and that’s not an off-hand, one-time event but a key plot point.  The American military have somehow become Hollywood’s go-to bad guys (though there are welcome exceptions like Battle: Los Angeles and even Speilberg’s own Saving Private Ryan), but we don’t have to sit back in our seats like zombies and take it.

Disgusting slander of our folks in uniform aside, Super 8 has some other significant problems.  First, it’s slow.  Way too slow.  There’s a lot of talking and most of it is about feelings.  I don’t go to summer movies to be babbled at about people’s ungovernable emotions.  I go to escape people babbling at me about their stupid feelings.

Second, the movie makes no sense.  Zero.  Things happen not because they would happen but because they have to happen to facilitate the plot.  Here’s an example:  A key point is the heroine’s father missed a shift at work at the steel mill, which the hero’s mother took and where she was killed in an accident.  The heroine’s father comes to the wake and the hero’s father – a deputy – arrests him.  Huh?  Punch him maybe, but arrest him?  Well, it makes a good visual I guess, but it makes no sense.  The rest of the movie is similar – totally bizarre things just kind of occur and everyone just nods and moves on.  “All the dogs have left town, stuff’s exploding and a bunch of people are missing – yep, sounds like a good time to share our feelings!”

And the alien has all these powers – he scares all the dogs out of town, makes lights go on and off, and can dig enormous caverns without generating any huge piles of dirt.  I’m guessing he can also probably make the Earth cool, the oceans recede and keep unemployment under 8% by spending a trillion bucks.  Regardless, none of these magical abilities make sense.  Oh, he is the size of a Mac truck but he’s harder to spot than “Where’s Waldo” when he cruises around town – no one ever sees him as he steals entire auto engines, microwave ovens and whole junkyards.  I like how the hero constantly hears it loudly banging around town, the noise echoing across the burg, but no one else seems to notice.  And then, for some reason, the city water tower turns into a space ship.  Whatever.  I should have pounded a couple of my usual pre-movie Dos Equis – it may have made more sense.

Oh, and the alien eats the regular, hard-working citizens of Lillian, Ohio, which no one seems to think is a big problem.  See, the alien says he was oppressed, so whatever he does is excusable.  In this way, Super 8 is the ultimate liberal morality tale.  The alien says he was oppressed, the message goes, so you decent folk can just pick up the tab.  How dare you object to being used as cattle – didn’t you hear?  The alien said he was oppressed.  Shut up and take whatever happens to you.  Substitute getting munched by a space spider with being forced to pay ever higher taxes to support subsidies to the Democrats’ favored deadbeat constituencies and Super 8 becomes – quite unwittingly – a Tea Party manifesto.  To liberals, the devastation inflicted on normal people for the benefit of their chosen special interests is just well-deserved collateral damage.

Let me sound off on one other thing – I’m throwing my beer at the screen if I see one more scene where a character sneaks into the villian’s lair to rescue his girlfriend and, instead of getting the hell out, they stand there and hug and start babbling about  – yeah, you guessed it – their damn feelings.  Maybe your emotional breaktrhough can wait until you’re away from the intergalactic tarantula.  Oh, and the intergalactic tarantula looks kind of doofy; we could be reaching the limits of what CGI can do.  It also looks way too much like the Cloverfield creature, though, considering it is J.J. Abrams, that may not be unintentional.

All I wanted was to recapture some of the magic of those exciting, technically breathtaking movies I grew up with.  It sure looked like them – the cinematography was right out of the Spielbergian playbook.  The plucky youngsters were engaging too, though none are memorable except for Elle Fanning as the teen heroine.  She’s going to be a HUGE star, mark my words.

In the end, I could have gotten past the flaws and enjoyed Super 8 except for the relentless trashing of the men and women who, frankly, made it possible with their blood and sacrifice.  After 40 years of this nonsense, I’m bored and I’m disgusted with it.  I still haven’t seen Avatar because of how it slimes my fellow vets, and had we known what Super 8 would do (which the trailer carefully obscures) the Hot Wife and I wouldn’t have dropped $38.50 on it. 

You can make all the military-trashing films you want to, Hollywood – you’re welcome for the freedom to do so, by the way – but in the future you can count me and my money out.  And I bet I’m not the only one.

—–

The collaboration, “Super 8,” covers familiar territory for the two heavy hitters. It’s a combination of two stories that were, until recently, simply figments of Abrams’ imagination. The first story idea was to make a film about kids making Super 8 films, and the other involved a train carrying cargo from Area 51. The two collide in “Super 8,” a tribute to Spielberg’s earlier work and a chance for both to get back to where they once belonged. 

Set in 1979, “Super 8,” features a group of early teenage kids from small-town Ohio using their summer to make a horror film. While filming at a train station, a military train passing by derails in an explosive mess. They leave as troops arrive to secure the scene. About then, car engines and power line begin to disappear. The kids, unable to put the train’s derailment out of their minds, start to investigate. 

Due to the meshing of two stories, there are definitely two sides to this film. One is Abrams’ attempt to recapture the childlike wonder audiences felt when watching E.T., putting themselves into the shoes of young Henry Thomas and Drew Barrymore. The other is his attempt to make “Super 8” as technically impressive and action-packed as “Transformers,” and as cutting edge as Spielberg’s early films were. It’s a fine line to walk. 

The script is a work of art for the first half, as Abrams, a master of imagery and suspense, cuts dialogue in favor of symbolism and physical communication, then peppers what dialogue’s left with delightful 70s slang and fills it with plenty of humor. Snatch scenes, where people disappear, are handled in a classic thriller/horror manner, with plenty of jump sequences. Eventually the film slows though, dragging a bit during melodramatic moments meant to help the film rise above other action-adventure sci-fi and give it a redemptive story of parent-child reconciliation. At its climax, the film’s technical work is meant to inspire and strike awe. It fails on both counts to recapture the newness and feeling of early Spielberg. The effects are stellar, but stellar effects are the rule today, not the exception. 

Abrams is clearly a talented director. His shots excellently set the mood, whether it’s a fun scene of friends bickering and filming, or an eerie one with a monster lurking in the shadows. Additionally, he and his crew use a lot of traveling shots for a hand-held Super 8 feel. 

The strongest part of this film is its young cast. Newcomer Joel Courtney does wonders with the young protagonist Joe, bringing a quietly passionate, determined kid to life. Joe mirrors his father, played by Kyle Chandler, the town’s top cop, a man who refuses to accept the official story that the train was hauling standard military equipment. Their characters both refuse to stop investigating when the going gets tough, and it brings them together in a touching – if a little hurried – way. Young actress Elle Fanning, the only significant female character in the film, holds her own among a hilarious group of guys comprising the supporting cast of Joe’s friends. Each member of this group is unique, and their easy, natural banter is reminiscent of “Sandlot.” 

It’s pretty easy to figure out that whatever was being hauled by the train is extraterrestrial, even if the movie doesn’t spell it out for a while. Aliens get a pretty bad wrap in most movies, so Abrams’ creation of an alien “character” versus a monster sets this film apart. Of course, that doesn’t mean you have to like the creature. It kills a number of soldiers ruthlessly, and kidnaps townspeople for later consumption, which doesn’t really endear the creature the way it’s supposed to. 

Ultimately it’s a summer flick, with some sweet explosions, a lot of laughs and a pretty good story. If Abrams was looking to make an instant classic, like the Spielberg films that inspired him, he missed the mark. Still, while “Super 8” is not that, it’s still a decent seven out of ten.

Not this time. And that is why, despite spectacular visual effects, a brooding and hyper-popular Christian Bale in the lead role, and marketing that pretty much stamped the title across my kids’ foreheads, Terminator Salvation is not nearly the success that the other three movies were.

John Connor and his mom (and his friends and pretty much everybody else with whom they ever come in contact) become instant targets for future-born Terminator robots. The setup is pretty straightforward. The time is present day.

I’m talking about the other pictures, not this one.

This picture is the dog that caught the car: finally we are carried into the future where the post-nuclear dystopian world is filled with killer robots on a constant hunt. This is what we have been (well, I have been) curious to see since the very first of these pictures. Turns out, though, that a bunch of anonymous killer robots aren’t much more interesting than a bunch of trees in the wind or a bunch of cars in traffic. You gotta have a personal story to make the movie take off—you gotta have a conflict so clear it bats you in the head, for instance, the marketing campaign for a big summer movie about killer robots from the future.

In this picture, John Connor is… umm… I think he’s trying to save a guy long enough for that guy to go back in history to impregnate Connor’s mother-to-be so she can give birth to him (Connor) so he (Connor again) can grow up to—save the life of his father so he can go back in time to impregnate Connor’s mother to give birth to him? Maybe? Wasn’t this supposed to be about a killer robot? Ah, well. I wish it was just John Connor and his mother-du-jour on the run from a Terminator, in a series of hair’s-breadth escapes that make mayhem and carnage of and around the lower-billed actors, each of who should enjoy a nifty/gross death scene that they can put on their reel.

This picture needed a bad guy, or a bad robot (which might make it a job for J.J. Abrams, haha) to chase the good guy around—and this good guy didn’t come off as particularly likable, by the way, or even particularly good.

Oh—and the final cheat is that after spending two hours hearing that this is the decisive battle against the evil Skynet, we learn in an end-of-movie voiceover that—surprise!—this is actually just one more battle in the apparently eternal march against Skynet. Can they never be defeated? Only by relatively bad box office, I guess. Maybe this time.

Despite early polling data showing a distinct lack of enthusiasm toward the Star Trek movie reboot by J. J. Abrams (Lost, Alias, Cloverfield, Fringe, Felicity), the film had an excellent opening weekend at the U.S. movie box office.

The film took in an estimated $72.5 million over the weekend. Even when adjusted for inflation, that’s far more than any of the previous Star Trek movies took in.

This has cultural significance beyond the fortunes of the Star Trek franchise and its studio. As I noted in writing about an Abrams interview last fall, Abrams said “he was drawn to the idealism behind the franchise. He hopes to make a more optimistic point of view as popular as the somewhat bleak vision of The Dark Knight was.”

The story noted that Abrams explicitly intended to move the American culture in a different direction:

AP reports Abrams as saying, “In a world where a movie as incredibly produced as ‘The Dark Knight‘ is raking in gazillions of dollars, ‘Star Trek’ stands in stark contrast. It was important to me that optimism be cool again.”

He has achieved the crucial first part of that goal, making a film that expresses that vision and getting audiences to fill theaters to see it.

—S. T. Karnick, editor of The American Culture

The most notable achievement here is the extraction of the franchise from fanboy fever swamps into mega-mainstream entertainment. The first three or four Star Trek movies were events with fanfare and media pomp, but after that they diminished into little more than baubled-up TV episodes for fans. You had to know not only the characters but also the Star Trek “universe” to really care about what was going on and why. But this picture works for anybody who even stumbles into it: Kirk is a tough guy, Spock is a smart guy, the rest are identifiably quirky in a Syd Field kind of way, and everybody who aspires to be above the title in their next movie is sexy.

The visual effects are impressive, and evoke those from the earlier pictures while still being gussied up with the latest computer-driven miracles. The costumes are closer to those of the original series than the movies—another nice touch. In fact, the whole thing is wonderfully clever in acknowledging the series and even the movies while still updating the characters and setting with the possibilities of 21st century movie-making.

If there’s a big failure here, it’s the screenplay. After the first hour, the story is almost impossible to follow–something about time travel and alternate universes (with utter disregard not only for basic physical laws like the conservation of energy but also vital pensées such as Are you now liable twice for your outstanding credit card balance? and Can you collect double social security?).

But this Star Trek still thrives, and for one reason:  It drops familiar characters and backdrops into the 21st Century Action Movie Machine. That means certain inherently attractive things are guaranteed: a furious pace, lots of explosions and close calls, eye-popping visual effects, a few futuristic characters created with computer animation, and a nostalgic cameo. Every year, the machine gains a new and faster-spinning gear. The old Star Trek movies look dated and, in a few years, this one will, too. But not today. The “rebooted” Star Trek is, as Elvis Costello put it, just “this year’s model.” It’s simple, ephemeral fun. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

A shiny new Enterprise is luring in a new generation of STAR TREK fans

J.J. Abrams is officially the Lazarus of movie directors as his all-new Star Trek has gone “Boldly Gone Where No Star Trek Movie has Gone Before.” With a cast of relative unknowns, the 42-year-old has resurrected a franchise that had been killed by insular “nerdyness” and timid imagination. The Gene Rodenberry creation didn’t so much bomb as it died slowly over a period of years. First, the 2002 movie Star Trek: Nemesis starring the Next Generation cast disappointed with a meager $43.3M domestic. Then, the final TV series Enterprise, which starred Scott Bakula, was not embraced by core fans or broader audiences and was canceled after four seasons, ending May 13, 2005.

Director J.J. Abrams will definitely "Live long and prosper"

Now riding a staggering 96% Fresh score on Rotten Tomatoes – that’s 96% of America’s movie critics issuing positive reviews – The Enterprise is riding high again thanks to the creator of TV hits Alias and Lost. Try getting 96% of any group to agree on anything. It’s no small feat. Compare Star Trek’s RT score against the ratings for the last 5 Best Picture winners.

STAR TREK has better reviews than Oscars darling SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE

ROTTEN TOMATOES SCORES FOR THE LAST 5 OSCAR WINNERS
2004 – Million Dollar Baby – 91% Fresh
2005 – Crash – 75% Fresh
2006 – The Departed – 92% Fresh
2007 – No Country For Old Men – 94% Fresh
2008 – Slumdog Millionaire – 94% Fresh

The original STAR TREK cast (above) with the next generation of franchise stars

With the ringing endorsement of tough-to-please critics, Star Trek hit warp speed at the box office last night with lightly-promoted preview screenings starting at 7pm. The impeccably-reviewed feature film seized an estimated $7M or so in Thursday night ticket sales. The idea may have been to get some of the hardcore Trekkies and Trekkers out of the way, clearing multiplexes for mainstream movie audiences today, and they have showed up in massive numbers.

William Shatner (left) with Captain Kirk 2.0 Chris Pine

With Chris Pine (Bottle Shock) in the legendary role of Captain Kirk and Zachary Quinto (NBC’s Heroes) wearing the pointy ears made famous by Leonard Nimoy, Star Trek has soared to a history-making $26M on its official opening day according to multiple studio execs, double the previous-best opening day for any movie in the franchise. That means in the first 29 hours of general release, the re-imagined sci-fi blockbuster has delivered an estimated $33M.

STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT had the previous-best opening day in franchise history

ALL-TIME TOP 5 OPENING DAYS FOR STAR TREK MOVIES
1. Star Trek (2009) – $26M [$33M in its first 29 hours]
2. Star Trek: First Contact (1996) – $13M
3. Star Trek: Generations (1994) – $9.7M
4. Star Trek: Insurrection (1998) – $9.5M
5. Star Trek: Nemesis (2002) – $7.7M

How will the weekend play out? The Thursday night preview screenings will probably make Star Trek a bit less front-loaded. In fact, I’m guessing that, based on word-of-mouth and its family-friendly PG-13 rating, my sources believe that the movie could get a 5% boost on Saturday to a possible $27.3M, followed by an aggressive Mother’s Day drop of 40% on Sunday. That would mean a 4-day gross of almost $77M or so.

The great news for Paramount and Abrams and Pine and Quinto and the rest of the cast is that Star Trek will almost certainly have the best legs of any of this summer’s major tent-pole movies. Rank-and-file moviegoers are likely to discover Star Trek for the first time in coming weeks or, now that Trek is cool again, it may rekindle interest with core fans who rejected the most recent incarnations.

STAR TREK could have "legs" like BATMAN BEGINS

It will not be a surprise to see Star Trek sail past $200M. After all, 2005’s Batman Begins performed that way. The Christopher Nolan Batman reboot opened on a Wednesday with $15M and had banked $72.9M in 5 days. Based on that movie’s Friday-thru-Sunday of $48.7M, the first Batman movie in 8 years reached its $205M domestic total at a 4.2 multiple (4.2 X $48.7 got Nolan’s original to $205M). Anticipating a 4.2 multiple for Star Trek is probably overreaching, but a 3.4-3.5 multiple is possible. That would propel Abrams and company to well past $200M.

Competing studio execs  tell me that X-Men Origins: Wolverine (Fox) took a big tumble as expected. The Hugh Jackman X-Men spin-off only mustered $9.15M or so on its second Friday, but it will still likely top $27.95M for the weekend, down about 67%. Meanwhile, Ghosts of Girlfriends Past (Warner Bros) coaxed about $3M to start the frame, and it will likely be helped by Mother’s Day, grabbing a possible $10M, down a mere 35% from last weekend.

Beyonce continues to sell tickets in OBSESSED

Obsessed, the low budget sizzler from Sony Screen Gems, continues to outperform its low expectations with $2M on Friday, which pushes the Beyonce catfight flick past $50M. The thriller should finish the 3-day with about $6.25M and a spectacular $55.89M by Monday.

The urban-geared comedy Next Day Air (Summit) got off to a disappointing start with just $1.25M (likely #5 for the day), and it will drift down the top ten to #6 for the weekend with a meager $4.1M or so from its thousand or so playdates.

The Zac Efron comedy 17 Again (Warner Bros) will likely spend another weekend in the top five with about $1.15M on Friday and about $4.5M for 3 days. That will give the Efron vehicle a new domestic cume of about $54.26M.

EXCLUSIVE STEVE MASON EARLY FRIDAY ESTIMATES
1. NEW – Star Trek (Paramount) – $26M, $6,755 PTA, $33M
2. X-Men Origins: Wolverine (Fox) – $9.15M, $2,231 PTA, $111.77M cume
3. Ghosts of Girlfriends Past (Warner Bros) – $3.05M, $961 PTA, $22.84M
4. Obsessed (Sony) – $2M, $769 PTA, $51.64M cume
5. NEW – Next Day Air (Summit) – $1.25M, $1,098 PTA, $1.25M  cume
6. 17 Again (Warner Bros) – $1.15M, $396 PTA, $50.91M cume
7. The Soloist (Dreamworks/Paramount) – $1M, $478 PTA, $20.89M cume
8. Monsters vs. Aliens (Dreamworks/Paramount) – $847,000, $388 PTA, $184.36M cume
9. Earth (Disney) – $697,000, $389 PTA, $24.29M cume
10. Hannah Montana: The Movie (Disney) – $690,000, $300 PTA, $72.35M cume

EXCLUSIVE STEVE MASON EARLY 3-DAY ESTIMATES
1. NEW – Star Trek (Paramount) – $69.68M, $18,103 PTA, $76.68M
2. X-Men Origins: Wolverine (Fox) – $27.95M, $6,814 PTA, $130.57M cume
3. Ghosts of Girlfriends Past (Warner Bros) – $10.06M, $3,170 PTA, $29.86M
4. Obsessed (Sony) – $6.25M, $2,402 PTA, $55.89M cume
5. 17 Again (Warner Bros) – $4.5M, $1,550 PTA, $54.26M cume
6. NEW – Next Day Air (Summit) – $4.1M, $3,603 PTA, $4.1M  cume
7. The Soloist (Dreamworks/Paramount) – $3.6M, $1,722 PTA, $23.49M cume
8. Monsters vs. Aliens (Dreamworks/Paramount) – $3.55M, $1,625 PTA, $187.06M cume
9. Hannah Montana: The Movie (Disney) – $2.62M, $1,140 PTA, $74.29M cume
10. Earth (Disney) – $2.44M, $1,361 PTA, $26.03M cume

Steve Mason is on Facebook and now also on Twitter@LAMase.

“Trek” opens with what turns out to be its best scene and one of the best in the franchise; the circumstances around the birth of James Tiberius Kirk. Our hero is well-served here with an imaginative and exciting mythology that shows the filmmakers understand the unique importance of the character. This sequence is also effective in setting up our villain, the Romulan Nero (an almost unrecognizable Eric Bana), who’s leaping about in time hell-bent on the worst kind of revenge against the Federation for something yet to happen.

The narrative then efficiently moves to Iowa and one of the worst scenes, an unimaginative sequence that has wild child Kirk looking for thrills in a stolen Corvette. Set to a blistering heavy metal score that screams “demographic bait,” young Kirk, who can barely see over the steering wheel, expertly outruns police and drives off a cliff leaving you to wonder why the writers resorted to a show-don’t-tell used so many times before to inform us we have a reckless, adrenaline junkie on our hands.

The contrast between young Kirk and Spock couldn’t be stronger.  Whereas Kirk grows into an aimless young man with little interest beyond beer and girls, on the planet Vulcan, Spock is a serious, studious and ambitious individual who knows what he wants and where he intends to go. Or does he?

Though they’ve yet to meet, Kirk and Spock do share an unresolved conflict, a pull towards a destiny neither is quite sure they want. Spock’s half human and never allowed to forget it. The prejudice he faces builds both resentment and the bitter knowledge that he’ll never really belong on Vulcan. Starfleet not only offers him a place, but in a fine character moment, the satisfaction of thumbing his nose at those who have marginalized him.

The uniformity of an organization like Starfleet, however, doesn’t fit well with Kirk’s rebellious streak and reactionary distrust of authority, but the legacy of his father hangs over the young man, as does the unspoken acknowledgement of his own potential for greatness. A chance run-in with Christopher Pike (Bruce Greenwood) turns into a “Top Gun-ish” motorcycle moment and so we’re off and running.

Here the narrative hits a strong stride, smartly and quickly bringing our crew together, offering fans fast but welcome character touchstones and establishing the familiar relationship dynamics. But the heavy plot demands of putting Kirk in the captain’s chair for his first saving of the universe slowly overwhelm what was working so well and it isn’t long before an engrossing story breeds indifference as the narrative goes through unspectacular motions.

Abrams not only reboots the franchise but almost completely frees himself from what came before in the opening scene when Nero emerges from the future and in both big and small ways alters everyone’s destiny. Using the classic “Trek” questions of time travel and destiny to throw off a burdensome mythology built up over 70-plus television episodes, 7 feature films and a library of books, is clever and very well executed. Not only do you buy it, but because who the characters are and how they interact doesn’t change, the rest feels unimportant. One major misstep, though, is a very odd and out of place love affair between two crewmembers. There’s no universe alternate enough to make these moments work. This relationship is wildly out of character, especially the lack of discretion.

As Kirk, Chris Pine has big shoes to fill and only rises to the level of promising in his debut. He’s got the swagger but lacks the simmering passion that so defined Shatner’s immortal creation.  Zoe Saldana’s Uhura brings the smarts, but why replace the voluptuous Nichelle Nichols with just another skinny supermodel? But if that’s the worst physical replacement, in the personality department Simon Pegg’s Scotty misses by a country mile reducing the competent and dutiful Starship Engineer into a mouthy, exasperated Disney cartoon sidekick.

Johnny Cho as Sulu and Anton Yelchin as Chekov both have their moments to shine but Zachary Quinto’s Spock and Karl Urban’s Dr. McCoy are as perfect a fit as any fan could hope for.  

Ultimately, what brings the film down is the emotional disconnect between Nero and our protagonists. There’s no personal engagement between them. Nero’s driven by hatred for Spock but he might as well be angry at a houseplant. When “this time it’s personal” is a one-way street the impression given is that like an angry spouse smashing increasingly valuable things, a rise out of Spock would be enough to satisfy Nero and make him go away.

Sure, the stakes are high enough with billions of lives in the balance, but they always are. With little doubt our heroes will survive, something bigger has to be added to the action stew above and beyond get-to-the-thing-before-the-thing-explodes, but there isn’t. Pike’s unfortunate circumstance in all this could have been exploited to great effect, but we never come to care about his character much and are allowed to forget his predicament.

For the most the part, the action scenes are a mess of jittery camera work, quick cuts, and pointless close ups. Some of the space sequences are spectacular but again and again I wanted to yell at the filmmakers to get out of the stylized-way so I could see what the hell was going on. This gets progressively worse as the film rolls on until you just sit there numbed by the frenzy.

In the plus column is a refreshing lack of moralizing and politics and a new cast with some life in them. This bodes well for the already greenlit sequel, but make no mistake, there’s still that lingering “Bugsy Malone” feel of it all to overcome.

“Star Trek” qualifies as a promising start. Not a disappointment, but not exactly memorable.

William Shatner (left) with Captain Kirk 2.0 Chris Pine

Keep in mind that Paramount never changed its Star Trek marketing to promote the 7pm Thursday start, so the opening night audience was likely heavy on Trekkers or Trekkies (not sure which term is “politically correct” anymore). So this was a “soft” opening and what amounts to a night of word-of-mouth screenings. Keep in mind that Transformers premiered during the summer when kids are more available while Star Trek has made its premiere during the school year.

The reviews are through-the-roof at 96% Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, and, as a topic, Star Trek is trending at #1 on Twitter. The reviews in the Twitterverse are just as positive.

just got back from seeing Star Trek. I am not typically a fan of sci-fi, but I really liked this movie.

Star Trek was surprisingly good, and even Star Trek newbies like myself could enjoy it.

I saw the new Star Trek last night with my son, who just turned 7. It was great; we both loved it. Next gen of Trekies/SciFi buffs is born.

I’m still pumped up from having seen Star Trek. Looking forward to seeing it tomorrow and Sunday [diff. grps].

still thinkin’ of how f*****’ awesome Star Trek was. now wanting a phaser to set from “stun” to “kill”

Go see star trek immediately. Incredible!

The new Star Trek movie was great when I went in with low expectations. It is what Nemesis was trying to accomplish and succeeded much …

for those of you who were curious. Star Trek rocked my FACE OFF. It was Shamazing! <3 Spok…*droooool*

Star Trek is fresh, funny, exciting and – biggest surprise of all – emotionally engaging.

Now the question is, “How high will The Enterprise fly on its opening day?” Seems like $20M is a lock, but it could be bigger. If the movie does $20M today, the 4-day should be $63M-$65M. $22M or better should send this spectacularly-reviewed blockbuster past $70M. If the day is $25M or better, the number for the opening 4 days could start with an 8.

I’ll be online with my Exclusive Early Friday & 3-Day Estimates as early as humanly possible tonight (Friday).

Steve Mason is on Facebook and now also on Twitter@LAMase.

Have at it.

Discuss. Debate. Write your own review…