For the Two Towers
http://slate.msn.com/?id=2075650
As my synopsis implies, The Two Towers starts with a hash of exposition, the characters are sketchy, there's no payoff, and the cross-cutting among the three separate plots kills whatever momentum the filmmakers manage to build.
The film is, by most criteria, an ungainly piece of storytelling.
I'll probably give the same little shrug when I go off to The Return of the King next year—but I'll plunge in just the same. I didn't learn all these damn names to be deprived of a big finale.
Compared to... Star Trek Nemisis
http://slate.msn.com/?id=2075395
Star Trek: Nemesis is a proud addition to the franchise
Logan doesn't just recycle, though: He devises a brilliant, roof-raising feminist-revenge variation on one of Wrath of Khan's biggest moments (as Troi, Marina Sirtis has the best acting moment of her career); and he weaves the philosophical issues through the action instead of confining each to its own sphere. Logan also has, on the whole, a richer group of characters (and a much better group of actors) with which to play.
With its blind, arrogant supervillain and his grisly weapon of mass destruction (it petrifies its targets, then reduces them to ash), Nemesis is eerily in synch with the current landscape of war:
This last line is the best however...
Whenever studios attempt to translate a TV series to the cinema, fans have a lot riding on the outcome: Will their beloved living-room obsession look good on a grander scale? Will a wider audience go for it, or will they be publicly shamed? It's often touch and go with the Star Trek movies, but Nemesis reaffirms the faith. And the universe's physical laws are intact.
...still laughing
