The Talent Show: Chris Pine

Chris Pine made his acting debut back in 2004, when he co-starred alongside Anne Hathaway in The Princess Diaries 2: The Royal Engagement. Since then, he's starred in several movies including Bottle Shock with Alan Rickman, the sci-fi thriller Carriers, Unstoppable with Denzel Washington, People Like Us with Elizabeth Banks, and done voice over work for the animation Rise of the Guardians. Though he's probably most famous for his role as Captain James T. Kirk in J.J. Abrams's reboot of Star Trek and its sequel Star Trek Into Darkness. 

A lot of times he plays the charming, if a bit narcissistic and overconfident but very likable characters. But this year, Pine seems to be venturing into different types of film. He just recently starred as the intelligent Tom Clancy analyst in Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit and will also be seen this year in Horrible Bosses 2 and we'll hear him sing in the movie adaptation of the Broadway musical Into the Woods. 

And while his career and personality might be an interest to some and not to others, that doesn't matter because this is the talent show, after all. So, let's throw out all acting talk and get to why I'm writing this article to begin with: to admire Chris Pine's genetic makeup. Included in this are his Peter Gallagher-esque eyebrows, the sexy beard, and his very, very sparkly blue eyes. Check out the pictures below and take the time to admire the pretty! 

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'Attack the Block' director Joe Cornish in the mix to helm next 'Star Trek'?

After all of that waiting and secrecy, Star Trek Into Darkness hit theaters and....well, at least the Trekkers turned out for it, I guess. Paramount's probably not doing any backflips over the box office, although it could possibly be saved on the foreign market. But it does make the likelihood of a third film a bit cloudier, especially with J.J. Abrams moving on to helm Star Wars: Episode VII. After serving to the needs of Abrams' schedule on the last film, Paramount isn't going to sit around waiting again, and it looks like a list of names have already begun to emerge as his replacement.

El Mayimbe over at Latino Review says that a list of contenders to take over Star Trek 3 is out there, and at the top of it is Attack the Block director and Ant-Man co-writer, Joe Cornish. Abrams and Bad Robot will be sticking around to produce, and it's likely he and his team will have some other creative input. Paramount will want to get the ball moving on this soon, as they'll probably want to have the next film ready by Star Trek's 50th anniversary in 2016.

Attack the Block was an offbeat, genre-busting cult classic and one of the more exciting films of the last few years, and it would interesting to see what he can do on a much larger scale. We'll see if these rumors hold true, and who else may be in the running.

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You knew it was coming! The 'Star Wars: Into Darkness' mash-up trailer

If somehow you were living under a hole, or in my case were 30,000 feet in the air when the big news broke, but J.J. Abrams is taking over the most sought after gig in Hollywood by directing Star Wars: Episode VII. Not only that, but he'll stick around to produce the next Star Trek film after Star Trek Into Darkness wraps up. So basically he's in charge of the two most influential and popular science fiction franchises ever. What's next, directing a Dr. Who movie?

So while the 'Trek' vs. 'Wars' debate will take an interesting turn for the next couple of years, it's also opened up the window for what will certainly be a wave of new mash-ups combining the two worlds. The first is out now, and it's basically the Star Trek Into Darkness score and mood backing images from the classic Star Wars. It works, but I'm expecting them to get far more elaborate over time. Thanks, Reddit!

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DVD Deal of the Day: Star Trek: The Next Generation Motion Picture Collection

I'm sure Wrath of Khan fans will argue with me, but I consider First Contact to be the best Star Trek movie evah! Yes, even better than JJ Abrams' updated take. It features The Borg, by far the best villains in Star Trek history. Period. Then again I'm also biased by the fact that I was never really a huge fan of the original series. I've seen all the flicks, and with the exception of The Final Frontier find them all to be pretty good extensions of the TV show. The Next Generation movies are more up my alley, but I've always wished we could've seen at least one film that included the Deep Space Nine crew.

For those who prefer their Star Trek captains a bit balder and more Shakespearian, Amazon has a an awesome 4-disc set featuring all the flicks featuring the cast of Star Trek: TNG. Special features include an intriguing one called Borg Invasion 4D. I have no idea what it is but it sounds cool. Why? Because The Borg is cool.  For only $27.99 this one is a steal. Or you can get it on Blu-Ray for only $17 more.

 

Special Features

The Evolution of the Enterprise
Villians of Star Trek
I Love the Star Trek Movies
Farewell to Star Trek: The Experience
Klingon Encounter
Borg Invasion 4D
Charting the Final Frontier

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Has Captain America Already Been Found?

While this one should be filed under 'I' for Idle Speculation at this point, but I'm not so quick to dismiss it as total horse pucky. Cinemaspy received an anonymous tip from an insider, stating that Paramount and Marvel are close to a deal that would ink Chris Pine to star as Captain America in the upcoming superhero flick. Director Joe Johnston was just recently quoted as saying that a casting decision needed to be done sooner rather than later, and this could tie directly into that statement. According to the source, a couple of other actors are still in the running, but Pine is the lead dog.

Pine has been on a roll ever since starring in last year's Star Trek reboot courtesy of JJ Abrams. He's already been tapped to take on the role of Jack Ryan in Tom Clancy's famed espionage series of films.

The reason I think Pine might be the choice is simple: fanboy cred. Ignoring the fact that he's got nearly two years until his big projects come back around, the guy has gained a serious following after Star Trek's surprise success. He's got the clean cut look, the right build(remember Steve Rogers was a lanky kid initially, not a bulked up musclehead), and the screen charisma for the role. While I would prefer Human Target's Mark Valley to play the part, this is a good second choice.

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From Starfleet to Asgard, Hemsworth to Take on Thunder-God!

You might not recognize the name Chris Hemsworth, but if you saw the recent Star Trek film then you'll certainly recognize his face. Hemsworth played the role of Captain Kirk's heroic father, who sacrificed his life to save his wife and unborn son in the face of a devastating Romulan attack. Well now Hemsworth has a role only slightly more glorious than that of Starship Captain, as he will be taking on the role of the thunder god, Thor, in Kenneth Branagh's upcoming superhero film. Hemsworth beat out a number of worthy contenders for the part, and seems to be on something of a role lately, as he's also nailed down a major part in the upcoming Red Dawn remake. No further word on any other casting details, but I'm dying to see who's gonna play Loki and the Warriors Three!

Thor is scheduled to be released May 20th, 2011.

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Top Shelf at the Box Office

Ok, as has been proven pretty consistently week in and week out, I don't know shit about predicting box office. That's why I'm not an analyst, but given their less than stellar track record for these things I'm in pretty good company. But anyway, I went out of my way to say that I thought Star Trek would under perform at the box office, and it looks like my prediction was way off in the Outer Rim someplace. I was right about Next Day Air, though!

1. Star Trek- $72.5M/$76.5M

Star Trek warped past all other competitors this week, bringing him 72.5M this weekend plus $4M at the Thursday previews. The opening is the highest grossing of the Star Trek franchise, besting my favorite ST flick, First Contact which only opened at $30M. Considering that the receipts actually grew from Friday to Sunday, that implies that ST could have significant staying power. In fact, I'll go on to state that I think it will manage to hold off Tom Hanks and Ron Howard's strangely promoted Angels and Demons this week in a big budget showdown. Star Trek has the benefit of a limited IMAX run of two weeks, which should force people to continue to see it for atleast that period of time.

2. X-men Origins: Wolverine-$27M/$130M

Wolverine is the best he is at what he does, and what he did this week was drop about 70%. That's due in no small part to Star Trek's blazing start, which was still less than Wolvie's opening by a healthy margin, but also due to poor word of mouth. With the news that nearly 4 million people also downloaded the film illegally nearly a month before it's release, it must also factor in that maybe the majority of "new" viewers have already seen the movie and that it will falter from here on out. This second week tally is the lowest for all of the X-men films, even that stinker of a third film.

3. Ghosts of Girlfriends Past- $10.4M/$30.2M

The Shirtless Wonder proved that he's got more staying power than one would think, only losing about 30% of last week's gross. The film didn't do itself any favors with the timing of it's release, nor the odd marketing campaign that made it seem like dead folks were hounding the main character, which ain't the case.

4. Obsessed- $6.6M/$56.2M

Yesterday my grandma told me that she and my grandpa desperately want to go see "that Obsession movie", which I'm assuming they meant Obsessed. Only goes to prove my point that trashy, racially tinged B-movies featuring hot broads knows no generational bounds.

5. 17 Again- $4.41M/$54.2M

6. Next Day Air- $4M

I'm not sure what studios were expecting from a dark buddy comedy about two murderous, drug dealing criminals but I'm pretty sure it was more than they actually got. Then again there are practically no bankable faces here, and maybe this is exactly what they were expecting. It was a decent film, at any rate.

7. The Soloist- $3.6M/$23.5M

This just keep chuggin' along, hoping it hangs around late enough that it might be remembered come Razzie season. I mean Oscar season! Slip of the finger!

8. Monsters vs. Aliens- $3.38M/$187M

9. Earth- $2.49M/$26.1M

10. Hannah Montana: The Movie- $2.41M/$74.1M

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Review: Star Trek

Much like the vaunted Enterprise, navigating the murky seas of deep space, I will attempt to navigate this review completely spoiler free...

No small task. Let me be honest here. I'm not the biggest Star Trek fan in the known universe. I'm of the rival Star Wars faction, not accustomed to all these Starfleet regulations and such. But what I am most assuredly, is a fan of science fiction. I was worried most of all that J.J. Abrams reboot/retelling/rewhatever of the Trek franchise would be little more than porn for the already converted, leaving those of us who are just looking for a fun space romp out in the frozen wastes like a Tauntaun.

I needn't have worried.

It's been over a week since I first caught Abrams' latest. I waited because I wanted to see if the feeling of euphoria evoked from the experience would abate even a little. It hasn't. What Abrams has created here is the freshest, exhilerating piece of space fantasy I've seen in years. You might mistake that for hyperbole, but I assure you it's not. I'm on record here on this site saying that I think these types of movies have been making a big comeback lately, what with Danny Boyle's Sunshine and Serenity topping the list. But they didn't have the sheer amount of baggage that this movie has to contend with. Not only did Star Trek have to appeal to the old schoolers, but also appeal to the guys like me lookin' to get a foot in the holodeck, so to speak. And boy, does it ever.

Without spoiling too much, I can say that Star Trek revolves around the formation of the original crew that we know and love. Cast in the familiar Starfleet uniforms are a young, good looking cast of recognizable faces. Zachary Quinto(Heroes) amiably takes over the role of Spock. Chris Pine(Smokin' Aces) was the biggest question mark for me. My concern being that he would try to emulate Shatner's unique cadence and mannerism. Fortunately, that never becomes an issue. Everyone puts their own unique spin on these characters, making them both new and familiar at the same time. Everyone melts into their roles seamlessly. Well, except for Anton Yelchin as Chekhov, who I thought was straining to hold on to his Russian accent. Not enough to bother me, though.

As for the story itself, it's probably a bit more convoluted than is necessary, but that's okay. Eric Bana as Nero is the type of villain that I absolutley love. He's got a real reason to seek vengeance against Starfleet, and the technology and firepower to see it through. He's obviously evil, but his point of view has merit considering what's been done to him. Honestly I didn't even recognize Bana, and he seems more into this part than he has since Munich in '05.

Not all is sweet smelling roses, however. I gotta take issue with one little(read: HUGE) problem. Tyler Perry. No, I'm not about to go off on a rant about why his movies suck ass and keep down an entire people during a Star Trek review. So why do I bring him up? He's in the movie. Yes. THAT Tyler Perry. Cross-dressing Tyler Perry. And what's worse, we get no warning. I expect that if Tyler Perry is going to stick his raisinette-lookin' dome in the middle of a movie he's got no business being in that we should get fair warning. Stamp that shit in big letters during the opening credits so I can clench my teeth in preparation. To top it all off he's in here twice! We're practically bookended by that bamma! Aaargh!

Whatever. I can deal with that only because of how great this film is. To quote my friend Margot(who got me in to the screening in the first place, Thanks Again!!) "J.J. hit the ball out of the park." It's funny, action-packed, gripping, and any other buzz word you can throw at it. I might just be ready to trade in my lightsaber for a phaser.....

Nah, not quite.

9/10

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From JTK to GL: Chris Pine to play Green Lantern

IESB and Latino Review are reporting that Chris Pine, who is already set to play James T. Kirk in the new Star Trek reboot, has been offered the lead role in Warner Bros. upcoming Green Lantern film. He would be taking on the role of Hal Jordan, without doubt the most well known ringbearer and one of the DC Comics most iconic heroes.

I'm kinda diggin' this selection if this pans out. Although Jordan is a man in his 30's, Pine seems to occupy a middle ground where he could appeal to both new and older fans. I still think ultimately he would be a better fit for Kyle Rayner, the GL who replaced Hal Jordan for awhile, but there's no way in hell they'd do a Green Lantern film without Hal.

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Star Trek Super Bowl Spot

Here's the spot that ran during last night's Super Bowl for the new Star Trek. The trailers and spots they are releasing are really doing alot for my confidence in this movie. I definatley see what they mean by 'This is not Star Trek for Trekkies', the action, which I thought lacked in the movies/TV series before, seems to be on overload. I just hope it's not like a "watch cool Capt. Kirk be a space James Bond" type flick but we shall see.

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