Star Trek Beyond (2016) Film Review

Captain Kirk (Chris Pine) is approaching the birthday that will make him older than his father ever was, and it’s having an effect. He’s unhappy, and thinking about a change. But then another mission calls and things get exciting and he’ll just have to leave his pesky emotions behind. A bit glib? Yeah, sorry. I just can’t say that I really get Star Trek. It is probably because I’ve never really watched it, and I can see the various reasons why it is loved by many, and this script is quite funny and has a lot of awesome explosions and running scenes and all of the stuff I like in an action film. I should have enjoyed this a lot more than I did, but as it happens, I spent a lot of time urging the film to just hurry up.

 

Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle (2004) Film Review

Two stoners, Harold (John Cho) and Kumar (Kal Pen) get hungry and decide to go to White Castle (which is a specific brand of takeaway in the US that apparently is not all that prevalent). But things get really difficult, because they get into all kind of trouble. And that’s about it. It really is just your standard crap goes wrong to a couple of mates film, but there is one difference – the two stars are not white. It’s just so rare to see an Indian man and a Korean man as the two leads. Although that was kind of one of the reasons I hadn’t watched it sooner – I figured it would be a bunch of race jokes and stupid situations that wouldn’t make it worthwhile.

Well, yes, the villains of the films are all the whiteys – the arsehole workmates of Harold, the group of dickheads who run around tormenting shop owners and our two heroes with all kinds of racist nastiness, and the idiot police who are not only dumb but massively racist. But then, just about everyone in the film is an offensive stereotype. Yet there were a lot of parts of this film that I actually enjoyed – though I didn’t actually laugh out loud. There was also Neil Patrick Harris, which is always nice. Still, I won’t be racing off to see the other Harold and Kumar films, but I didn’t hate it.