Movies round up

Seen the following movies since my last post:

Night at the Museum (2006)
Didn't see this one when it first came out but decided to check the DVD out from the library because I've been finding the current ads for the soon-to-be-released sequel, Night at the Museum: Battle at the Smithsonian, interesting so I decided to go back and give the original a try. While it had some weak moments, overall, I enjoyed it. A nice, family movie which most members of the family should be able to enjoy, to one extent or another. The best parts, of course, are those where we get to see all of the various museum exhibits coming to life. Also, it is a real kick to see Dick Van Dyke, Mickey Rooney, and Bill Cobbs in their roles as the three elder, soon to be retired, night guards.

Star Trek (2009)
Saw this one Friday night. Don't have the time to go into a long review here. I'll just say that I did really enjoy it. But, being a long time "Trekkie"/"Trekker", I will have to see it a second time in theaters to be able to completely absorb it. The first viewing for me of a movie like this is one of seeing just what's going to happen and to mentally put it into context with what has come before it. A second viewing will allow me to get a more all around feeling for the movie as a work in and of itself. I will say that I thought that the casting was good for the most part. I especially liked how young Kirk, McCoy, Scott, and Uhura were portrayed, although I have no real complaints with any of the performances. Quinto was good as young Spock but he, due to his higher recognition status for his role as "Sylar" on Heroes, it was a bit hard for me to come to a clear appraisal of his performance here on my first viewing. (There was a time or two when I felt that just a bit too much humor was poking its way through his stoic demeanor. Something about the mischievous look Quinto can sometimes get in his eyes and his almost-but-not-quite smile.) The humorous parts all worked, for the most part, and the special effects were very good. The rather massive changes to the timeline (creating a new, completely separate timeline from everything that's come out prior to this, apparently) are indeed significant, but that's all I'll say about that here, for the time being. Summing things up, this new Star Trek movie succeeded in it's primary goal, in my opinion, that of giving the venerable franchise a shot in the arm and spinning it off into a bold, new direction. While I will always prefer the universe created and developed over the decades from 1966 through 2009 and beyond (via the continuing novels and comics featuring those versions of the characters), and likewise am interested in seeing just where this new version of Trek will lead in the following sequel movies and other possible spin-offs (future TV series?) and tie-ins (novels and comics).