Gallery Link: Movies > Carriers (2009) > DVD Captures

If your interested you can read my thoughts on the movie after the cut.
I can agree, the movie isn’t award worthy by any means but it’s definitely not one to be pushed aside either. It has humor (sarcasm too) and angst but also a sense of reality where as the continuing spread of a deadly virus is concerned. I will admit it is odd how the movie starts off in the middle of it all but then again I’ve seen my share of movie’s which fall in comparison plot wise and it’s not a horrible change to see what’s going on after the worst as happened rather than watch two hours of it unravel. Needless to say whether you find the movie as enjoyable as I, one thing we can agree on is Chris’s talent certainly shines through no matter the caliber of the movie itself. He plays the perfect grade A jerk with a sense of urgency to protect himself and his little brother. Needless to say I think every Chris fan should give it a watch, whether it’s your cup of tea or not don’t let the previous reviews cloud your judgment.

okay well he says it’s “a good movie” not “a great movie” and he doesn’t even really talk about Chris BUT STILL. I was glad to see that someone else was also disappointed that Carriers didn’t get a wider release. Especially since that someone is a widely popular best-selling author and blogger for Entertainment Weekly. In his article this month, Mr. King bemoans the fact that small-scale, well made films like Carriers can’t even get shown in all fifty states, while Transformers 2 is playing on 5 screens at your local AMC.

You can read the entire article below by clicking the photo.

All four actors do a fine job fleshing out their roles, with Pine demonstrating a less appealing side of the cockiness he brought to James T. Kirk and well-matched with the spunky Perabo.

You can read the full review here @ Fangoria.com

Actually, the only bad thing about “Carriers” is its trailer, which gives moviegoers the false impression that the feature film may evolve into a zombie flick. By no stretch of the imagination does this movie belong to the horror genre. Rather, it is a methodical thriller about the humanity’s response to its own demise. And, as the movie suggests, that is the most terrifying monster of all.

You can read the full review here @ Phoenix Movie Examiner

Now, contrary to what the trailer, ad campaign, and net buzz would lead you to believe, Carriers is not a zombie movie. Yes, there is a viral epidemic and yes, it wipes out most of the human race. But rather than turning those infected into violent, mindless, flesh-eating ghouls, it simply brings them a slow and painful death. And in a way, this helps the film.

You can read the full review here @ Pittsburgh Horror Movie Examiner

Chris Pine carries the film for much of its length. As the group’s de facto leader, his character Brian is a charming prick who does anything necessary to keep himself and his brother alive. The group’s motto, “the sick are already dead,” leads this film into morally ambiguous territory and forces the characters to make difficult decisions. In this world, if the disease doesn’t get you, the survivors might.

You can read the full review here @ MoviesOnline.ca

Gallery Link: On Stage – Play Photos > Farragut North ( 2009 )

“Farragut North,” Beau Willimon’s engaging drama about the dirty tricks and brutal backstabbing of those conducting the spin war for aspiring presidents, attempts to reignite our tapped-out passion for political one-upmanship. The play, which is having its West Coast premiere at the Geffen Playhouse, may not be able to compete with the loony stranger-than-fiction cast of recent election battles or offer us any stop-the-presses scoops about our Swift Boat campaign culture, but it does capture the frenzied scheming and counter-scheming of would-be Washington kingmakers.

Better yet, the production has a rising superstar on board who could give Barack Obama a run for his charismatic money. Chris Pine, the paparazzi’s current object of affection after his breakout role as Capt. James T. Kirk in the new “Star Trek” film, stars as Stephen Bellamy, a 25-year-old press secretary for a Democratic presidential candidate who remains an invisible presence throughout. Imagine Karl Rove as a fit, chicly dressed media strategist for the other side and you have some idea of the nature of this latest boy genius.

A morality tale about an attractively malign central character, “Farragut North” is as much about what drives Stephen’s merciless pursuit of victory as it is about the way political machinations have eclipsed what’s really at stake in our elections. As a character study of a “crackberry” generation mover-and-shaker, who lives a life of wall-to-wall work (with scheduled barroom binges and hotel room dalliances), the play has a fresh accuracy that suggests the playwright, who worked for both Sen. Charles E. Schumer of New York and Howard Dean, the former governor of Vermont, was taking juicy notes on the campaign trail.

But the drama doesn’t concentrate its energies as satisfyingly as it might. Willimon tries (and mostly succeeds) in staying one step ahead of the audience with his foxy plot. Yet this hectic legerdemain distracts from character development, and the result is that even such crucial figures as Paul Zara, Stephen’s battle-hardened boss, who’s played by Chris Noth (a.k.a. Mr. Big from “Sex and the City”), and Molly, the 19-year-old sexually assertive campaign intern, who’s played by the entrancing Olivia Thirlby (“Juno”), can seem like functions of Stephen’s story more than fleshed-out figures in their own right.

Set in Des Moines, Iowa, weeks before the state’s caucuses will officially commence, the play begins — where else? — in a booth at a bar. Stephen is holding court with Paul, Ida Horowicz (Mia Barron), a New York Times journalist who’s as professionally manipulative as she is easily manipulated, and Ben (Dan Bittner), an earnest deputy press secretary whose idealism hasn’t yet been contaminated by the ugly reality around him.

This opening scene sets up expectations that these ruthless talkers, who are cackling over the way Stephen once pinned the anti-Semitic label on a rival candidate, are operating in a David Mamet universe. But the production, directed by Doug Hughes (who also staged the attractive new revival of “Oleanna” at the Mark Taper Forum), treats the play more like a topical David Hare drama in which the compromises of private conscience and the debasement of public values are seen as inextricably linked to each other.

Willimon subtly introduces a snowballing complication into the plot when Stephen meets Tom Duffy (Isiah Whitlock Jr.), the campaign manager for a rival candidate, at a dingily discreet restaurant. A furtive job offer sets off a squall of intrigue in which all parties are implicated in a contest of professional sabotage.

But this story line is just a useful device. The riveting interest is always Pine’s seductive double-talk, the way he maniacally stirs up trouble whenever he feels the heat from his incessantly moaning phone. There’s a reason his Stephen is so adroit at his job — a genially handsome exterior conceals a ruthlessly Machiavellian interior. He’s upfront about his moral shortcomings, but somehow that only adds to his lethal charm. Molly, who’s no old-fashioned purist, can’t help wishing that this sad, self-made dreamboat was made of better stuff. Pine coaxes us into falling into the same sinister trap.

This well-acted Atlantic Theater Company production includes several members from the original off-Broadway company, including Noth, who presents a flabby, middle-aged reflection of who Stephen will become if he doesn’t get out of this awful racket. It’s a well-knit ensemble that has little difficulty with the play’s rapid pulse.

The sets by David Korins aren’t particularly eye-catching, but then the locations aren’t supposed to be five-star. Joshua White and Bec Stupak’s video collages of TV news clips and election sights and sounds don’t add much to the visual palette, but they do keep the staging’s motor revved.

The strength of “Farragut North,” however, lies in the reflex duplicity that marks Stephen’s dealing with everyone in his orbit, particularly Molly. She may not be a fully formed character, but as portrayed by Thirlby with a tricky mix of guile and naivete, this jean-clad pixie is perhaps the only one with any chance to teach Stephen about the limits of work and the necessity of trust.

source: latimes.com

We were lucky to see the first night preview Tuesday night of the play Farragut North at the Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles with Chris starring along side an all star cast including Chris Noth, Olivia Thrilby, Isiah Whitlock, Jr., Mia Barron, Dan Bittmer and Justin Huen. We won’t give you any spoliers, but Chris Noth surprised us as the political boss, and we loved the sparks that flew between Chris Pine and Olivia during their sexy love scenes!

The theater was packed and the crowd cheered loudly for Chris as he took his bow at the end of the show. And who could blame them? We definitely enjoyed seeing Chris dressed up in hottie suits on stage. The entire cast joined the young theater patrons at an private event after the show, and RadarOnline.com spotted Chris chatting with lots of excited fans.

But he’s not raking in the big bucks in this show. Although he’s starring in the biggest hit of the summer, our theather friends tell RadarOnline.com that the Star Trek stud did this play as a “labor of love,” and was paid favored nation status – which means that everyone in the cast made the same amount of money and our sources tell us this was NOT a big paycheck at all.

So why do we like Chris in this play so much? All we can say is you don’t get to see Captain Kirk strip down to his boxer briefs in Star Trek!

Thanks so much to Chris Alexander of RadarOnline for sending this to me!
source: radaronline.com

You can read what I thought under the cut, it’s not really spoilery but mentions a few details. Feel free to discuss if you to have had the chance to see it or you can join the forum and do so there as well!

I can honestly say I have never watched Star Trek in my life, unless it was brief and even at that I barely had much knowledge of any of the series’s interesting facts and legacies of which it carried. I think it is a great action flick and it doesn’t move to fast or to slow to explain the story at hand. The dynamic between Chris and Zachary as Kirk and Spock was wonderful. Their chemistry was definitely noticeable and they were great on screen together but even more so when apart. What I really did not expect was the comedy throughout the movie, more so with Kirk. I hadn’t expected the film to produce much comedic humor than a few sprinkles but I was wrong. It not only made you laugh, jump due to the sudden people and or objects jumping on the screen suddenly and a result of the masterful sound effects and music. I underestimated the beginning and was truly shocked when I found myself so wrapped in up in intensity of all the events occurring that I actually cried briefly when George Kirk so bravely sacrificed his life to save the lives of everyone else. I can put most of that emotional pull on Jennifer Morrison as she has always managed to convey the emotion directly to whomever is watching and really cause you to truly feel. So all elements combined it was a bittersweet beginning to what I believe is another amazing and larger than life series of movies.

Chris done a amazing job and I don’t believe that word truly suffices how great he was in his role. I honestly believe this is just the beginning. Dear World, meet Chris Pine.

Chris especially manages to show the arrogance and the humanity in Kirk that we loved from William Shatner

You can read the full review here @ InTheNews.co.uk

But it’s Pine, stepping into the staccato-delivery shoes of William Shatner, who’s the standout, with an instantly star-making turn. His grin veers just the right side of smackable, luring in even the most sceptical of viewer while his stand-offs with Quinto’s Spock add depth and huge dramatic tension to a film that already excites, moves and compels.

Yet scriptwriters Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, and of course Pine and Quinto who play the duo, succeed brilliantly in this aim and give the movie (and hopefully the ensuing franchise) its heart and soul. The pair are just perfectly cast. Pine looks and sounds nothing like Shatner, but gets right to the essence of Kirk’s character with his combination of rough-shod charm and cocky arrogance. The actor looks like just another product of Hollywood’s bland pretty-boy conveyor belt, but actually proves extremely charismatic and nails the part.

On a side not in Austin, Texas yesterday at a Fan event (which was promoted as a ‘10 minutes preview’). – source

FAN REVIEW #1 SNIPPET: As far as performances go, Chris Pine is outstanding. He’s the embodiment of a conflicted soul, transcending the cliche of the troubled rebel with a greater destiny. His delivery manages to give depth while maintaining the cocky veneer. You can read the full fan review here

FAN REVIEW #2 SNIPPET: First and foremost is Chris Pine as James Tiberius Kirk — with the unquantifiable big shoes of William Shatner to be filled, Pine steps up and delivers a performance that is well beyond anything you might expect. He captures the arrogance and fortitude of Kirk while also keeping that bit of humanity and depth that Shatner was so good at. Kirk is reckless at times, but he’s smart and ever-confident in his own abilities — and Pine captures that quite well. You can read the full fan review here