Here’s an interesting rumor. Sources over at Cinema Spy has reporting that Chris Pine (Star Trek) may be one of the actors in the running to play Steve Rogers. For those not in the comic-book know, Steve Rogers is the secret identity of Marvel’s Captain America who is heading to the big screen soon in Joe Johnston’s The First Avenger: Captain America.

Just last week, Joe Johnston was mentioning that the role of Cap wouldn’t be going to a big Hollywood name. Several of the actors suggested to be in the running fit this description; Chad Michael Murray, Ryan Partlin, and Supernatural’s Jensen Ackles.

Now though, it appears that Chris Pine is at the forefront of the list. Pine just finished playing another Captain, Kirk, in the summer’s smash hit Star Trek. He’s also showed up in some smaller pics lately like Bottle Shock and the horror thriller Carriers. I’m not sure he would qualify outside of ‘a big Hollywood name’ now, but he’s definitely more of an up-and-comer as opposed to an established presence like Brad Pitt or Tom Cruise.

Personally I can see this happening, but would just as soon prefer it didn’t. Pine’s got the Trek franchise and he’s done a great job making that role his own, despite the definitive spin Shatner had stamped on it. I’m not sure I want to see him juggling two big blockbusters, since it’s quite possible they could interfere with one another.

Of those names mentioned above, I’m most interested in the Jensen Ackles mention. Although he’s got one more contracted season of Supernatural, I think he has the right presence and personality to pull off Steve Rogers. It might also be the break he needs to really come into his own with the general audience of filmgoers. So far, he’s mostly done low budget thrillers like My Bloody Valentine outside of his work as Dean Winchester.

What do you think? Is Pine right for the role? Or would bringing in a lesser known face be the right move for Captain America? For all of you Supernatural fans, how bout Jensen? Think he could cut it?

I just don’t understand. Where are the seat belts? People getting thrown all over the main bridge of the ship every time a space torpedo hits. You’d think someone would come up with a space restraint that protects without chafing… The USS Enterprise doesn’t have any space restraints, but director J.J. Abrams does an incredible job of protecting the series without chafing fans by paying homage to Gene Roddenberry’s original vision even as he blows up your father’s Star Trek.

If you loved the original Star Trek, you’re going to love the relaunch of your favorite characters in a fresh perspective. If you’ve never seen any Star Trek before, you’re going to love a summer blockbuster that delivers across the board.

This movie is a two hour, jam packed, epic that doesn’t waste a minute with anything frivolous. When you’ve got the birth of Captain James T. Kirk (Chris Pine) with the childhood of Spock (Zachary Quinto -Heroes) and the back-story of Dr. ‘Bones’ McCoy’s (Karl Urban) sour attitude, on top of a time-traveling space baddy Romulan named Nero (Eric Bana), mixed in with new perspective on the size of the Enterprise, spaceship fighting and black holes – well, you better buckle up! I came out of the theater overstimulated. Between the IMAX screen and the amount of story told so masterfully, you won’t need coffee to keep you awake long into the night talking about your favorite scene.

The majority of the movie focuses in on the destruction of a planet and the attempts by the USS Enterprise to keep the same thing from happening to Earth. Unfortunately, there’s a gigantic Romulan mining ship that’s been retrofitted with enough firepower to take out as much of the fleet as the Federation is willing to throw at them. Nero’s been nursing a grudge against Spock since before this Spock was born and wants his revenge. But James Kirk and company are fresh from the Federation Academy and looking to test the capabilities of their Constitution-class ship. Getting there is going to require friendship to overcome the disdain and antagonism between Spock and Kirk.

This is a giant prequel that gets everything right. The supporting characters are fantastic. From some great action with a not-so-subdued Sulu (John Cho) to a smart and sexy Uhura (Zoe Saldana) and her love interests, engineer Scotty (Simon Pegg) says it all, in his deep Scottish accent, with the line “this ship is excitin!” But – his accent is second fiddle to navigator Chekov’s (Anton Yelchin) hilarious accent woes. Seriously, it gets me laughing every time I think about that scene.

The other character that needs to be mentioned is the future/original Spock played by the erstwhile Leonard Nimoy. This is some great writing that pulls everything together. When you hear his line to the new Spock, “Put aside logic, and do what feels right,” you almost wonder if it’s more of a blessing on this new adaptation than merely wise words to a young protege’.

If there’s anything to pick on at all, for me it was the scenes on Hoth, er, I mean, Delta Vega. That was the only time I felt the movie veered from ‘everything essential’ to ‘we need to add a monster chase scene for the kids.’ It’s not bad. And it sets up the encounter that ties it all together. But, my 13 year old son, who’s never seen Star Trek, looked at me and said, ‘Oh, it’s the old big monster gets eaten by a bigger monster chase scene.’

Despite that hiccup, I think this movie is going to be hard to top this summer. If it does, I guess it will be just another example of one big monster of a movie getting eaten by a bigger monster of a movie. And really, if that happens…we all win.

Rating: ★★★★½ 

Star Trek is the anti-Watchmen. Most of you will scratch your heads, but the two share much in common. Both were handled by directors whom the fans were either against or didn’t think could do it. Each property is hard science fiction that isn’t as accessible to the common folk as would be Batman or Star Wars. Where they begin to differ (aside from one being a comic and another a television show) is how Zack Snyder and J.J. Abrams approached their respective material. Snyder chose to honor the Watchmen novel as best he could without trying to alienate people who never read it. My thoughts on his masterpiece aside, the general audience didn’t take well to it. Enter J.J. Abrams who went for the opposite, and has crafted a Trek film made clearly with a Star Wars mentality but hoping to keep what was so loved about The Original Series.

As a film, J.J.’s Star Trek is one of the most entertaining films of the year. It’s thrilling, exciting and the cast gels perfectly together. Those afraid that something would be lost due to Abrams’ modernization of the material need not fear. There are some liberties taken (more later) but overall they honor what worked about the original series to craft a film that’s sure to get people watching the original crew’s adventures. The biggest reason Star Trek works is due to its leading man and, dare I say, Chris Pine is James Kirk to a T. His performance isn’t as comical as Shatner’s (no “we…must…GET over there”), in fact he makes the role his own. It’s a wonderful thing to watch as Pine battles wits with Spock or has his way with a certain green alien. I expected Simon Pegg to steal the show when in fact, this is Chris… no, KIRK’s film. There’s no denying Shatner will always be Captain James T. Kirk, but Pine deserves to be in the conversation with him. It’s tough coming up with words to describe how great he is so I’ll leave it to the audience to discover his brilliance this weekend.

Zachary Quinto’s Spock is another matter altogether. He was my biggest concern coming in after hearing reports he was dull but that’s not the case. He honors Spock well and while he doesn’t do what Pine does with Kirk, Quinto is far from dreadful. His take is a little different than Nimoy’s which rings especially true toward the end of the flick. Whereas Nimoy’s was laid back and had a sense of cool about him, this Spock is quiet, a stickler for logic, and more feminine. Some things don’t work but overall he’s serviceable and hopefully will grow into the role with the later installments. Maybe it’s not his fault though because along with Pine, Karl Urban fits like a glove into Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy. He’s essentially channeling DeForest Kelley but you can tell he’s enjoying the part. He’s probably the second best to enjoy next to Chris Pine. Much was made of Simon Pegg playing Montgomery Scott and he, like always, delivers. He’s the opposite of the laid-back Scotty we all know and love but it’s barely noticeable. If James Doohan was alive, he’d be proud of what Pegg does here. He also gets one of the most memorable lines in the film. Zoe Saldana is decent as Uhura, but for a good part of the film she feels like just another plot device. She’s independent, sure, but they sort of take that away from her when she they show her relationship with Spock (again, more later.) Anton Yelchin is just as good as Chekov while John Cho is pretty nice as Sulu although not as memorable as George Takei. What helps us remember who these people are, though, is that every character is given a moment to shine but in a different way. Yes, it’s the Kirk/Spock show for most of it but the film allows enough time for Sulu to show off his skills or Chekov to make the save in the nick of time. Special mention has to be given to Leonard Nimoy who still proves that he has been, and always shall be Spock. It’s one of the best moments of the film to see him light up the screen once more with that bowl cut and those pointy ears.

Star Trek’s action has always been more naval to Star Wars‘ air force action and that rings true here. It’s faster paced and understandably so, but the Enterprise can’t move like an X-Wing. The action is classic Trek complete with ship-to-ship communication and photon torpedoes being fired to finish off a ship. In fact most of the hyper action takes place away from Enterprise rather than on it. None of it feels like it’s too much but it’s just enough to keep both classic and new fans happy. The real treat are the visual effects which are some of the best I’ve seen in a film. Every dollar of their budget is spent on the screen as everything looks like it was shot in space using the real Enterprise. I don’t know if it’s set the new standard like Transformers was, but I do know if this doesn’t get the Best Visuals award then shame on the Academy again. Also, I’d like to know where J.J. is hiding the Enterprise so I can take her out for a spin. As for the references to the original show, they are in there but none of them feel forced. I geeked out a couple of times for some (notably a couple of Wrath of Khan ones) and I appreciated how organic most of them feel.

Star Trek has always been about the characters first and while the actors do a fine job, the story that’s around them isn’t half bad. Nero is a sort of one-note villain but Bana raises him above being one of the worst Trek villains. His plan isn’t that illogical in the grand scheme and he is sort of an interesting character. There are some things that don’t work, starting with Spock being the programmer behind the Kobiyashi Maru test. As much as I loved seeing Kirk beat the test, I felt indifferent to Spock being the one who designed it. It feels like it’s there just to give more tension to Kirk and Spock’s relationship and not because it’s an interesting idea (which it’s not.) Things are also fumbled with having Spock and Uhura in a relationship which just happens. It’s hinted at so quickly as things get underway that it feels random and out of place when the two engage in a kiss. They also have a golden opportunity to utilize the chemistry Pine and Saldana have together and instead pair her with a fire extinguisher. It’s not that Spock is devoid of all emotion, it’s that there is no sparking from the actors. There are other things I want to get into, but as to not reveal spoilers, I shall remain silent. The other distracting thing in this film are the lens flares. I’m not too sure why J.J. or cinematographer Daniel Mindel decided this was a good idea but it gets really distracting, really quick. A friend turned to me and said you could make a drinking game out of how many lens flares are in this movie and he’s right. I’m all for a director using a gimmick as long as it makes sense within the film he’s trying to tell. Here, I don’t see the purpose or need other than to blind the audience.

Overall this Star Trek works largely due to it’s leading cast and especially Chris Pine. The real captain, though, is J.J. who did a tremendous job of updating this franchise for new fans while keeping everything we love about The Original Series intact. I’ve seen the film twice now (once on IMAX) and at the end my feelings largely remained unchanged. It’s one of the best times I’ve had at the theater all year and is really enjoyable to watch unfold on the screen. In my book, the summer movie season starts here and kicks off with a bang. There are problems, yes, but the film is simply too fun to let those bog down an otherwise entertaining flick. Beam me up for the sequel, J.J.

Rating: ★★★★☆ 

Paramount Pictures has released 20 totally new photos from JJ Abrams’ Star Trek.  Five photos can be found on the Star Trek website.

A young Spock is tortured over his mixed heritage, the emotions he fights to control and the very different paths he has before him. He must choose between the Vulcan world which will never accept him as anything other than ‘half human’ and Starfleet Academy, worlds away from everything he has ever known. We meet Dr ‘Bones’ McCoy and a young linguist Uhura at the Academy and watch as a headstrong Kirk wreaks havoc on Starfleet’s rules and regulations.

Stay tuned to Atomic Popcorn for a few reviews of the movie come May 8th.

Click on the photos to enlarge.

Chris Pine

It seems that not even a day went by and we have some casting rumors/news about who will be Hal Jordan in Martin Campbell’s “Green Lantern” for WB.

Rumors are flying all over the internet that one very young and new Captain James T Kirk will be wearing the power ring of OA and playing Hal Jordan. Could Chris Pine be playing Hal Jordan in September when shooting begins?

Pine’s publicist Melissa Kates is on vacation and thus was not available for comment says internet site IESB.

Latino Review says their sources have confirmed that the ‘official offer’ is out to Pine.

Aint It Cool’s Harry Knowles says that Pine is who Producers are targeting for the role.

Personally I think Pine is too young. Hal is a veteran pilot with years of experience before becoming a test pilot for Ferris Air. I know the studios want “young” so they can do a three picture deal but you have to have believability in the character and his age. I still say that Nathon Fillion is the perfect choice to play Hal Jordan.

Either way we’ll know by September who wears the ring. A December 2010 release is scheduled.

Star Trek Superbowl Teaser

Star Trek, the latest sure winner from J.J. Abrams is getting better and better. The below teaser from the upcoming Superbowl looks pretty damn sweet. While I must say I have never seen a TV episode or a movie of Star Trek, I am okay with that and don’t plan on seeing any of the older stuff. This new movie will be a good introduction to the Star Trek world and I can be okay leaving it at that.

Check out the teaser below.

What do you think? I really think J.J. is a hit making machine, TV and Movies alike. Star Trek comes out May 8th and aims to please, fans and newbies alike.