Snow and a Double Review: Star Trek Beyond and Arrival

Yup. We got hammered again. I drove home in white out conditions, wishing I'd accepted my boss's offer of a ride. He has a big giant Dodge Ram. I have a '97 Volvo wagon. Guess who's better in the snow? Guess who didn't get in her driveway without shoveling, and then just enough so the plows won't wack the rear end off. There was no way I was getting all the way in. It was way too deep. In the words of my son, good times. But let's talk about Star Trek Beyond cuz it's March and there's only 5 days left til spring and this snow is not going to be able to stick around long.

My thoughts: Disappointed. I was really hoping for something a lot better. There were so many ways this third movie could've gone but some idiot decided to blow up the Enterprise again and offer up what could at best be called a weak story-line. I also thought that the actors felt a little tired, as if they, too, wanted to roll their eyes. This movie is not a keeper in my opinion.

Arrival, on the other hand...

...is the sort of movie you'll watch again because you know you'll pick up on something you missed the first, second, or third time you watch it. Movies like Inception, Memento, or The Usual Suspects come to mind. Anyway. Arrival begins with the arrival of aliens, which prompts the government to call in linguist professor Louise Banks, played by Amy Adams (she was awesome, really, everyone was, but she was perfect, imo). The question, of course, is what do they want? But as Louis demonstrates, asking, "what do you want?" means there has to be a basic understanding of what is meant by 'you.' Is you Joe Blow alien or is you all of them? Is a weapon a tool or a tool a weapon? Or both? Language is tricky, and I love how Louis Banks shows just how tricksy it can be. This movie is a keeper. And as soon as I get it back from my son I'm going to watch it again for everything I know I missed.