Star Trek Directed by J.J. Abrams By Tony Sheppard Capitol Weekly I’ll open by cutting to the chase and saying that this is a neat movie, firing on all dilithium chambers and achieving everything I had hoped it would achieve, despite a host of hurdles to overcome.  So what about those hurdles…  Star Trek has a back story that’s intimidating to say the least. One has to decide whether to stick to the original canon or branch off in a new direction and enrage a generation of fans. Or, in the case of Trekkies, a generation and a next generation of fans. It’s now 40 years since the first TV series ended, and there have been six series, including an animated version, and 10 movies. Some of

Battle for Terra Directed by Aristomenis Tsirbas By Tony Sheppard Capitol Weekly “Battle for Terra” is the latest politically-charged kids’ movie. It’s also the latest to come to the screen—where available—in ‘Real D’ 3D. Thankfully, it didn’t seem quite so overt in its pandering to the 3D technique and, as such, I think I enjoyed the effect more than when I feel like I’m being played by having things cinematically thrown at me. Alternatively titled as just “Terra” the story expands on an idea that director Aristomenis Tsirbas explored in a seven minute animated short of the same name in 2003. We’re first introduced to an alien world of seemingly near-idyllic bliss, with a capable but s

X-Men Origins: Wolverine Directed by Gavin Hood By Tony Sheppard Capitol Weekly At the end of this movie, one of my reviewer colleagues remarked about superhero back stories and their generally downbeat nature. He was right: After all, one doesn’t get a grudge, a revenge motive, or a haunted, dark personality from a childhood full of happy picnics in the park and adorable puppies. You start to feel bad for anybody who encounters these characters early on. It’s like watching TV’s “Seventh Heaven” and sympathizing with anybody who had the misfortune of encountering the Camden children – only more violent. However, in all of its dark moodiness, “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” is a fairly fun ri

We often hear about internet competitions to name things, host things, win things, etc.  Well, a couple of weeks ago, Hugh Jackman announced that he would travel to whichever town raised the highest number of votes, to host the wolrd premiere of the new "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" movie, complete with all the trappings and stars of a Holywood premiere. Amazingly, as the clock ticks down to today's deadline, Davis is in the running to host the event! Here's the original youtube video press release with Jackman making the announcement: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-drLdnk-g24 To vote and help influence the outcome and maybe have a little Hollywood glamour and blitz in our own backyard, l