To boldly go....

Last night, I got a fun opportunity to go and see Star Trek: Into Darkness at an advance screening. As everyone likely knows by now, the film started its' nationwide run last night at midnight, but I decided on a review anyhow!

By no means do I call myself a Trekkie - I have family and friends who are, but I'm not, really. I have seen some here and there in the course of my life, but never been incredibly interested. When the first reboot film came out in 2009, I decided to go see it, and I absolutely loved it! As someone who wasn't that invested in Star Trek or the original stories, these films work for me. And that is what they were meant as - a reboot of a franchise many decades old.

Going into Into Darkness blind was likely the best thing I ever could have done. Throughout the course of the entire film, I was entertained. From the trip to Nibiru that began the film to the characters' hilarious rapport (for the most part), it was perfect to me. All of the actors complement not only their characters, but each other so very well, and I cannot imagine other actors in those roles. I was a little bit disappointed that Bones was typecast as a background character in this film, instead of a character on par with Spock or Kirk.

I tried not to be spoiler-tastic, but let me leave you with this: if you're thinking of seeing Star Trek: Into Darkness, do it! I saw it in 3D, and would actually like to see it again in 2D - only because the 3D left me a little bit more distracted than I usually am watching a movie. And it's opening weekend - what better chance than now?

Night at the Movies: Magic Mike

For me, going to the movies is an old pastime. I remember being in high school and getting my parents to pony up $20 so I could go see Pirates of the Caribbean for the fourth time and just how exciting it was. Now, movies are overpriced and I'm not the biggest fan of going to them. In the past couple of weeks, however, I've gone to two!

courtesy Lionsgate

Two weekends ago, I got together with my best friend from high school, Laura, and we had a girls' day. That day included shopping, giant margaritas, a trip to the casino, and finally, to see Magic Mike. It looked ridiculous, so of course, I wanted to see it.

seriously, these margaritas were no joke! i had 2.

I personally didn't know the backstory of Channing Tatum's history as a former male stripper, and nor did I really care. I just thought Magic Mike would make a fun afternoon, and it definitely did.

The story followed Mike, a part time male stripper in a revue called Xquisite. His real dream was creating custom furniture, but his credit and background couldn't get him a loan. He wound up doing side work in construction and shaking his ass every night. On one of these side jobs, he met Alex Pettyfer's character, Adam, and decided to bring him along to that night's show. Of course, he didn't let him in on the fact that he thought Adam would make a great addition to the cast.

The cast was great. Matthew McConaughey played the club's manager wonderfully, while Joe Manganiello, Matt Bomer, and the other big names brought up the tail end (get it?) in a great way. Sure, there was a lot of random gratuitous male nudity, but of course it didn't matter but to be a feast to the eyes.

The storyline wasn't something I was expecting. In a way I thought that things jumped around a bit too much - from the club, to the side jobs, to drug overdoses and blossoming relationships - and then it was just over. If I could change anything, I would definitely change the ending. I've also never seen a Steven Soderbergh movie (I don't think), so I wasn't expecting such a large storyline to go along with a film that was being advertised as nothing but a bunch of gratuitous nudity. Definitely was not what I expected, but it was still a good time.

If you're looking for an excuse to hang out with an old friend, or even to get together with the girls, Magic Mike is definitely a surefire bet for a great time.