Thursday, June 09, 2005

The MTV Movie Awards

So, the MTV Movie Awards aired tonight, and will air about eighty more times over the next month or so. I have to say this about it. No matter how retarted it is at times, award shows (the VMA's as well) are one thing that MTV has actually gotten right on occasion. I love that they take away all of the stuffiness, that ABC would like to tell you is glamor, from the Oscars, Grammys, etc. I mean could you ever imagine seeing Eminem performing "Ass" with a bunch of women dressed up like big busted puppets from "Crank Yankers" on the Oscars or Emmy's? Does that make it funny? Not to me, but to each is own. However, I still applaud MTV, and I never thought that was something I would ever utter. I like my awards shows less stuffy and arrogant; the MTV Movie Awards might not stand for much, but do the Oscars stand for anything anymore? I mean, really?

4 Comments:

At 6/10/2005 08:06:00 AM, Blogger Jade said...

I forgot this was on last night or I probably would have tuned in. Someone said there was a funny anakin skit in it.

Honestly, I stopped watching mtv after they gave a ton of awards to TPM or AOTC (can't remember which) without even nominating Star Trek Nemesis for best action sequence. I mean, if ST can't even win an award on MTV. . .that's bad.

But I have this whole theory about how it's "cool" to be a star wars geek but not cool to be a star trek geek so I guess they didn't want to cross that line. Foolish.

Hey, did you guys ever do a review of Nemesis? (Wait, you started in 2003 right?. . .When did that come out?)

 
At 6/10/2005 09:32:00 AM, Blogger Jonathan said...

"Star Trek: Nemesis" came out in 2002, and it was a huge bomb. Bombs don't get nominated for MTV awards for the most part; especially since the viewers are the ones voting for it. I've thought about doing a huge write up on Trek because I've followed it closely since 91 or so, and would have a lot to say about it.

I could give a quick review of "Nemesis" for you, though. The first time I saw it, which was of course in the theater, I was blown away by a lot of it and saddened by it probably being the last of the TNG films at least. However, after seeing it a few more times, I still like it for the most part, but it suffers for a lot of the same reasons all of the other "TNG" movies have. And that would be the fact that Rick Berman and Brannon Braga are involved. These are two people that have taken the great imagination of Gene Roddenberry and crapped all over it with their supposedly cute in-jokes, and ridiculous gaping plot holes that you could drive many, many semis through.

Even "First Contact," which many, including myself, consider the best of the "TNG" films already seems a little dated. While, the Borg is probably one of the coolest villains to be put on the big screen, there's really nothing else going on in that movie of interest. The scene with Picard and Alfre Woodard where he destroys his little ships and shouts a bunch of nonsense is just nauseating to watch. Although my favorite bit of nonsense comes in "Star Trek: Insurrection" when Worf bumps his head in the bunk bed.

"Star Trek: Nemesis" suffered from having a terrible whiny villain. I'm sorry, but Picard started coming off as too much of a diplomat for me; Kirk and Sisko would have kicked this guy's ass the minute they met him, and Janeway would have at least talked him to death. The make-up in the movie was god awful. Marina Sirtis and Jonathan Frakes proved yet again how their inabilities to act are better suited for television.

The most insulting thing about the film though was Data's death. First off, it's a ripoff of Spock's death in "Wrath of Khan." The mighty Berman would lead you to believe it was an homage, but let's be real here. And in typical Berman/Braga style, just in case they do make another of these movies, they introduce the character of Soon's first android, who of course looks like Data. So, basically, if there is another film, then Data can basically still be there. His death, in the end, meant absolutely nothing.

I'm glad "Trek" is taking a break. I'm still hoping at some point they'll show some balls and make an intense R rated "DS9" movie; using that show, they could really get into some dark territory. But whatever they do, I hope Rick Berman and Brannon Braga's names are nowhere near the damn thing.

I have always loved "Star Trek," and like most fans have followed it no matter how crappy it's gotten. I watched all seven crudtacular seasons of "Voyager." I thought at times "Enterprise" worked quite nicely; when it was good it was even better than "TNG." "DS9" was always my favorite anyways. And hopefully this break will be the thing it needs to bring it back in some form or another that will blow people away again, much like "TNG" did after it's first couple of seasons.

 
At 6/10/2005 12:11:00 PM, Blogger Jade said...

I didn't know nemesis was a complete bomb. I guess I liked it enough that I didn't really pay attention to the reviews and such. (I'm still mad at mtv though. It was an amazing battle sequence. I'm stubborn like that.)

I dislike berman as well. If only Gene were still alive. . .Enterprise would have never been made. The Trek world would be better for it too.

You don't like Frakes and Sirtis? I've always enjoyed the TNG cast as an ensemble, but maybe I'm still looking at it from the innocence of childhood (I was five when it started) and not really caring that much. Oh well. Either way, I'd prefer to stay that way. TNG is one of the most comforting best things to me and I wouldn't want it to be ruined by anything.

First Contact is my favorite as well. But I liked all the intensity with picard. The only thing that sucked was it wasn't an episode where the next week he can be back to his normal self. They made him into this revenge driven person for the whole movie and that's just not who picard is. They got back to how he should be in Insurrection though. I still love the, "How many people does it take, Admiral, before it becomes wrong?" line. :)

Thanks for the mini review. Was it only 2002 that Nemesis came out? Wow.

 
At 6/10/2005 03:50:00 PM, Blogger Jonathan said...

To answer some of your questions. Frakes and Sirtis didn't bother me so much on television; well, at least Frakes didn't bother me. I just didn't think they translated to the big screen well. Some people just work better on television. For instance, Kelsey Grammar will never blow anyone away on the big screen. Sirtis was fine, but her character got on my last nerve especially after seven years. Her empathic abilities never seemed to amount to much except to hear her uttering lines like, "I sense confusion, Captain."

"Nemesis" was not a bomb in the sense that say, "Gigli" or "Ishtar" were. But it only made around $45 million, and compared to the other ones before it, and how much it cost, it did not gross very much. I'm pretty sure it beat "Star Trek V" as the least grossing of the series. I could be wrong about that, though.

And you know, while as a whole, "First Contact" is probably the best of the "TNG" movies, I think "Insurrection" did the best job of nailing the characters down. The problem about "Insurrection" was that it just didn't seem big enough to be on the big screen; it was the one that really just seemed like an episode of the series instead of a movie. I mean, as dissapointing as "Generations" was, it at least had the big movie story going for it. That is a really good scene from "Insurrection" that you mentioned, and I thought that F. Murray Abraham gave the best performance of any of the villains in the "TNG" movie series.

And I think that's cool you find comfort in "TNG"; there is nothing wrong with that. I love having those older shows that you loved, and with DVD you can just keep watching them over and over whenever you want. I don't know what I'd do without my collection of "DS9", "Newsradio", and "Columbo." Not to mention quite a few other shows I've collected on DVD. Not that the new stuff is bad, but it's nice to go back and watch what you fell in love with when you were younger. And, yes, I'd admit it, I love me some, "Columbo."

 

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