I saw the latest Trek movie, "Beyond", last week. Meh. I am a big Trek fan and I thought the opening movie of the current reboot was quite good and showed a lot of promise for more movies to come. Unfortunately, installments 2 and 3 of the new movie series have only been so-so. The current Trek creative team has knuckled under to the requirement that any summer 'blockbuster' must supply a steady stream of explosions, crashes, lasers, and things zipping around the screen. While a good Trek movie can have a bit of that, it is really not at the core of the series. The bits and pieces of the real Trek that survive were pretty good, but can't make up for the sheer waste of time on the other stuff - other stuff that is pretty much interchangeable with the explosions and things zipping around the screen of any number of other blockbusters. A disappointment.
I saw the new Woody Allen movie today, "Café Society". Not perfect, but pretty damn good for late-period Woody Allen. Some thoughtful writing, good performances by the cast (kudos especially to Kristen Stewart, somewhat to my surprise), a nice mix of drama with a light sprinkling of comedy (but this is not a comedy overall, and not intended to be), and some lovely cinematography. I really enjoyed it.
When there's an eel in the lake that's as long as a snake that's a moray.
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