Here are seven spoiler-free things about Star Trek: Into Darkness (2013).
1. You already know whether or not you will enjoy Star Trek: Into Darkness. If you are a Star Trek fan or like action movies in space, you will see the movie no matter what I say. And you probably will not be disappointed. For a Star Trek fan like me, it is a very entertaining movie and the most fun I have had at the cinema in awhile.
2. Director J.J. Abrams continues with our heroes in an alternate time-line from the 1960s series and the characters from the original series. In this first sequel to J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek (2009) reboot, where time does not need to be wasted on the set-up, we are starting to see the brilliance of having the freedom to change the events of the “past” while also connecting to the stories we know.
3. While the first film took me awhile to adapt to the new actors in the classic roles, by now the actors fit well into their roles. Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, Karl Urban, Simon Pegg, John Cho and others have become the characters we know. Benedict Cumberbatch does a good job as the bad guy too.
4. There are several references to the old TV and movie series. I will leave it to you to decide whether the movie overdoes it. On one hand, one might conclude there was a little too much old and not enough new — while also wondering if this alternate universe storyline really makes much sense for the characters. But on the other hand, the connections did make for an entertaining and clever movie.
5. As Slate has noted, the new film has a little something to say about the U.S. war on terrorism, making the movie relevant in the way the old series was. The Atlantic, however, finds the message is not so ambiguous. There is a lot to discuss on this point, which makes the movie even more memorable.
6. While many speculated about the identity of the villain prior to the film’s release (and which I will not spoil here), I was pleasantly surprised by the appearance of one of these (warning: clicking on the link will give you a minor spoiler).
7. Conclusion? If you liked past Star Trek films, you should see Star Trek: Into Darkness. But I probably did not need to tell you that.
What did you think of Star Trek: Into Darkness? Leave your two cents in the comments.
PBS premiered as part of its American Masters series a new documentary about the legendary filmmaker and funny guy Mel Brooks called Mel Brooks: Make a Noise (2013). The informative movie follows Mel Brooks’s early career through his classic movies like Young Frankenstein (1974) and Blazing Saddles (1974) and through his Broadway hit The Producers. The documentary also delves into his childhood and personal life, including his marriage to actress Anne Bancroft.
PBS has made the documentary available online for a limited time, and you may find out more on the PBS website.
Robert Trachtenberg wrote, directed, edited, and produced Mel Brooks: Make a Noise. You may read reviews of the film on the A.V. Club or in the Los Angeles Times. What is your favorite Mel Brooks film? Leave your two cents in the comments.
I watched the U.S. version of The Office since it first premiered (after loving the British version), and I was sad to see the series end. Finishing a good book or ending a long-running TV series can do something that movies cannot accomplish by making you feel like you are losing a life-long friend.
There will be plenty of articles critiquing The Office finale and comparing it to other series’ final episodes. I might think about those questions at some point, but as the series ended I just enjoyed seeing the characters one last time. I discovered one thing, though, that I had missed as I watched the series all these years. I did not know that the character Creed Bratton, played by Creed Bratton, had been in the Grass Roots. How did I miss that?
The final episode noted that the character Creed had been in the Grass Roots. And then when he sang at the end while playing guitar, it made me realize that they were not joking.
After searching for the lyrics (along the lines of “I saw a friend today . . . we forgot each other’s names” and “all the faces that I know have that same familiar glow”), I found that it is indeed a Creed Bratton song, “All the Faces.”
Here is a live version of the real Creed singing the song he sang on The Office finale. Nice.
The Grass Roots & Creed Bratton
The Grass Roots were a popular rock band in the 1960s and 1970s, with a number of hits. Creed Bratton joined the Grass Roots in 1967 and played guitar for the band. He played on songs like the classic, “Let’s Live for Today.”
Creed is the guy in this video in the striped shirt on your left.
Bratton quit the band two years later. Creed more recently explained that he left the band when he objected to the use of studio musicians for its albums. The band had begun to use studio musicians with the album Lovin’ Things because they were busy on tour.
Creed on The Office
After leaving the band, Creed’s life did not go so well for awhile. By the nineties he was doing catering jobs. But then he got a big break when he got a job in 2005 on The Office playing someone with the same name as him.
Initially, Creed had a non-speaking role in the series. But in the second season, he got a speaking role in a Halloween episode where Michael Scott was struggling to fire him. Because of his performance, he was promoted to a guest star, then a recurring role, and eventually as a regular character.
During the run of the series, the real-life Bratton continued to work on his music. On The Office, viewers were mostly kept in the dark about the character’s musical past.
But until the final episode, there were hints of Creed’s career — as well as at least a couple of almost reveals early in his time on the series. For example, during the Season 3 episode, A Benihana Christmas, Creed sang a karaoke rendition of his song “Spinnin’ N Reelin’.” In perhaps a nod to his music career, in the fourth season episode Money, Creed claimed “he never goes bankrupt” because all his debt “is always transferred to William Charles Schneider” (Creed’s birth name).
Further, his Grass Roots career was revealed in at least two scenes that were deleted before broadcast. In a deleted scene from the season two Booze Cruise episode, he played guitar and revealed his Grass Roots past. Also, in a deleted scene from Product Recall (Season 3, episode 21), a reporter from the Scranton Times recognized him as being from the band the Grass Roots.
But it seems the producers ultimately decided not to reveal the Grass Roots past . . . at least until the final episode. I am not sure why they saved the reveal about his past for so long. Viewers would have assumed it was a joke, but it did make a beautiful touch to the final episode.
Creed is releasing new music with Tell Me About It, a three-part “audio biography.” Check out “Faded Spats.”
Two members of the Grass Roots — Rob Grill and Ricky Coonce — have passed away. In addition to Creed, Warren Entner is still alive. The two are still good friends.
In the final episode of The Office, near the end, the character Creed talks about how life is “arbitrary” in the way things happen in one’s life. But, he explains, no matter where one ends up, “human beings have this miraculous gift” to make a place their home.
With a life of ups and downs, the real Creed Bratton found a home on The Office and continues his creative journey. Although he will always be that odd guy on The Office to me, he is of course much more than that. It looks like we haven’t heard the last of Creed Bratton.
What is your favorite Creed moment on The Office? Leave your two cents in the comments.
In the category of upcoming films I can’t wait to see, I would have to include Gravity (2013). The movie is directed by Alfonso Cuarón, whose last feature film was the excellent Children of Men(2006), which was about a crumbling future society where humans stopped reproducing. Gravity is also in the science-fiction category, but this time Cuarón goes to space.
Gravity stars Sandra Bullock and George Clooney as two astronauts on a space shuttle mission where the shuttle is destroyed, leaving the two stranded in space. It is an interesting casting choice, especially considering that it looks like the two leads will have to carry the film. Clooney has already been in a very good creepy space science-fiction film with Solaris (2002), and Bullock is an excellent actress.
The trailer makes me think the movie might give me nightmares, but the cool kind of lost-in-space nightmares, not the scary-monster nightmares. Check it out.
Gravity is scheduled to be released October 4, 2013. Mark your calendar. What fall movies are you looking forward to? Leave your two cents in the comments.
As noted previously on Chimesfreedom, filmmakers Joel and Ethan Coen have been working on Inside Llewyn Davis (2013), a movie about the early 1960s Greenwich Village folk scene. As the Coen Brothers prepare for the movie’s Cannes showing, they have released a “red band” trailer (i.e., a trailer that is only approved for mature audiences). So if you are mature, check out the new trailer for Inside Llewyn Davis, which does not reveal too much about the plot of the movie.
As in the previous trailer we posted in January, the song playing in this new red band trailer is Bob Dylan’s “Farewell.” Dylan wrote the song in 1963 but it did not appear on any official record releases until 2010 on The Bootleg Series, Vol. 9: The Witmark Demos: 1962-1964.
Oscar Isaac stars in Inside Llewyn Davis, which also features Carey Mulligan and Justin Timberlake. The film, reportedly roughly based on singer Dave Van Ronk’s book The Mayor of MacDougal Street, has taken awhile to arrive. But from the trailer, it might be worth the wait. You may see some still photos from the film on DigitalSpy.
Will you watch Inside Llewyn Davis? Leave your two cents in the comments.
Here are seven spoiler-free things about Star Trek: Into Darkness (2013).
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