Rumor has it that J.J. Abrams is known to approach strangers, hold his finger beneath their nose while stifling a laugh and then ask them if they can tell which box it smells like. That probably isn’t true, but the man most definitely loves a good mystery. As writer, director and/or producer he’s been attached to dozens of films and TV shows featuring mysteries both big and small. The secret to Lost‘s island, the reveal of the monster in Cloverfield and the alien in Super 8, the explanation as to why Felicity cut her hair… all mysteries we eventually saw answered after a glorious period of intense curiosity. Hell, we’re still eagerly awaiting an answer to what exactly he was thinking while writing Gone Fishin’. Abrams famously explained his attraction to the idea of a “mystery box” during his 2007 TED Talk, and it basically boils down his belief that “mystery is more important than knowledge.” There’s a semantics argument to be had there, but the core point is a sound one that more often than not gets lost in an online world used to having all of the answers and information available 24/7. People who read books don’t (usually) read the ending first, so why do so may of us want to know as much as possible about the plot points, casting and cameos in the movies we’ve yet to watch? Abrams simply prefers as little as possible be revealed in advance of our eyeballs actually seeing his work

Please note, this piece is to be read by those who have either seen Star Trek Into Darkness or who don’t mind having its various plot points spoiled for them. It is a frank discussion of what works and what doesn’t work in the film and will include descriptions of all the major beats, including the ending. Let me start by saying that I quite like Star Trek Into Darkness. I have now seen the film three times and while I don’t quite love it like I love the 2009 Star Trek – director J.J. Abrams‘ first attempt at boldly going and so on — I did enjoy it. The first film certainly has problems of its own, but several things keep you from stopping to think about the film’s issues, mainly the breakneck pace, the incredibly charismatic cast, Michael Giacchino’s fantastic score and, yes, even Abrams’ direction. In fact, it’s most of those same things that help keep Star Trek In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida afloat. But the cracks in the hull are far more apparent this time around, and the whole thing could have easily been a disaster. After the jump I review the downsides and then move past them to highlight the upsides.

2009′s big screen Star Trek reboot was a success on just about all fronts thanks to director J.J. Abrams and friends’ delivery of an exciting and entertaining adventure that managed to overcome large script flaws with personality, fun and a real sense of energy. It was a hit with audiences and critics alike and left many people genuinely interested in a follow-up. Four years later and Star Trek Into Darkness is finally here, but instead of taking that time to strengthen the area of their first film’s biggest weakness (the script) they’ve actually made things worse. Fresh faces, dazzling lens flares and witty one-liners were enough to distract before, but this time the script’s egregious efforts to pillage the past for story ideas and even lift whole scenes has resulted in a hollow shell of a film that thinks ticking recognizable boxes is a valid substitute for earned emotion and engaging narrative. After a brief pre-title card scene on a primitive alien planet where the Prime Directive is seemingly redefined, Captain Kirk (Chris Pine) and his pointy-eared second in command Spock (Zachary Quinto) are called before Admiral Pike for punishment. Kirk is demoted, but when a terrorist attack in London leads to a deadly assault on Starfleet headquarters he’s quickly de-demoted and sent after the suspect, John Harrison (Benedict Cumberbatch). Himself a member of Starfleet, Harrison has gone rogue for reasons unknown, but when the Enterprise follows him to a Klingon planet the truth is revealed and endangers everyone aboard.

What happens when a legendary film critic brings is geriatric crankiness to an internet movie show? Film Jockeys follows the adventures of Carl Barker, his far-too-young production staff, the filmmakers and the movie characters that inhabit their world. Written and illustrated by Derek Bacon, it’s the perfect webcomic for passionate fans who want to support movies and cinema. For your consideration, Episode #22:

If you’ve been bummed about getting shut out of next week’s Friday screenings and sold out Wednesday night IMAX sneak peeks of Star Trek Into Darkness, worry no more (or, at least, worry a bit less), as Paramount Pictures has now officially moved the release date of the J.J. Abrams sequel to Thursday, May 16th. So, yes, you can now see the film on Wednesday at an IMAX preview. Or on Thursday at a regular theater near you. Or even on Thursday at an IMAX theater. Or, well, on Friday or the rest of the weekend and onward wherever the heck you want. The possibilities are just endless on this one. Will you be catching STiD this week, or are you holding out on this one? [Press Release]  

Tonight on Movie News After Dark, it’s time to talk about Breaking Bad (YES!), dig a little deeper into the world of Iron Man, examine spoilers in trailers and get excited for summer movie season. Pretty much the same stuff we do every day, but better.

During the production of 2008′s Star Trek, director J.J. Abrams was quite determined to keep as much information about the film from the public as possible. This included tactics on set such as putting actors under blankets to hide their costumes, additional security on set and limiting (until the last moment) how much information was distributed to the press. He loves this game, as evidence by the even more secretive Cloverfield project and his extensive talk about his mystery box. He enjoys the fun of not knowing everything that’s going to happen next. As a longtime Star Trek fan, I found myself alright with his stance. Even though knowing a great deal about the film would fulfill some part of my devilish curiosity, the moments of discovery that occurred during that fateful first screening of Star Trek in 2008 were more than worth the wait. In that case — as it has many times — J.J. Abrams’ mystery machine worked. So now that he’s signed on to bring Star Wars back to life for new owner Disney, will Abrams toy with Wars fans as he did his Trekker brethren? And would you want him to play things close to the chest? This is the subject of this weekend’s big discussion.

The Jane Got a Gun production has been a wild ride. After losing director Lynne Ramsay just before shooting started they pulled in Gavin O’Connor with the quickness, but the Natalie Portman-starring film was in limbo for at least a weekend. So, our old friend Sleepy Skunk put together a mashup of what the movie might look like if Terrence Malick, Wes Anderson or J.J. Abrams replaced Ramsay — but not before the production managed to lose Jude Law, throwing even this video into question. It’s really hard to keep up with this one. Nevertheless, sit back and enjoy playing What If with us, will you?

There is a lot of Star Wars material to work with. George Lucas originally had a few thoughts on where Episodes VII – IX should go, there are countless novel adaptations and comic books, and if you culled the collective amount of fan advice, there would be enough storylines for a thousand more movies. Screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan probably knows that better than most, but as the scribe has signed on to write one of the new sequel entries, he told the LA Times that his plan was to start from scratch. “I’m trying to start fresh,” he said. “There are certain pleasures that we think the saga can bring to people that they’ve been missing, and we’re hoping to bring them that, and at the same time, have them feel that it’s all new.”

What happens when a legendary film critic brings is geriatric crankiness to an internet movie show? Film Jockeys follows the adventures of Carl Barker, his far-too-young production staff, the filmmakers and the movie characters that inhabit their world. Written and illustrated by Derek Bacon, it’s the perfect webcomic for passionate film fans who also desperately want to see a Portal movie. For your consideration, Episode #9:

Some pretty big movie news came out of the 2013 DICE Summit today. Why did talk suddenly turned to film during an event that’s generally thought of as a summit for video game companies? Because Bad Robot head J.J. Abrams took the stage with game developer Valve’s co-founder and managing director Gabe Newell in order to lead a discussion about storytelling. This wasn’t just some casual discussion of video games and movies and how they sort of intersect because they both tell narratives though. Oh no, Abrams and Newell had announcements to make. Not content just to revamp Star Trek and Star Wars for entirely new generations, Abrams and his Bad Robot company are now preparing to tackle the age-old question, “Why has nobody been able to pull off making a half-way decent video game movie?” The film discussion first started when Abrams announced that, “there’s an idea for a game that we’d really like to work with Valve on,” a remark to which Newell then added, “we’re super excited about that and we also want to talk about making movies, either a Portal movie or a Half-Life movie.” So, that’s it in a nutshell. Not only is Bad Robot talking with Valve about making some sort of video game in the future, but they’re also talking about developing movie versions of two of their biggest game franchises. Getting a big name, quality director who runs a production company with a good track record interested in a popular video game

J.J. Abrams is a no-brainer for Star Wars: Episode VII. He’s proven himself as a popular storyteller of science fiction by working with, among others, a giant international franchise that takes place in space. He’s also a self-diagnosed fan of George Lucas‘ grand creation — a factor that went into his feigned earlier denial of the directing gig when speculation was at its peak. From a business angle, from a fan angle, from every angle, he’s the ideal filmmaker to take over for the franchise. Which is why his hiring is potentially terrible. It all boils down to two key problems. One, the consolidation of creative visions under too few roofs, and two, the potential for a generic future of a revolutionary franchise.

Here’s what we know: there will be a new Star Wars movie in the next few years (2015 to be more precise). Currently producer Kathleen Kennedy has Toy Story 3 writer Michael Arndt working on a script for Episode VII of the saga. George Lucas will serve as a consultant. In today’s round of “it might be true but might be completely made up” Star Wars Episode VII news, several reputable outlets including Deadline and LA Times are reporting that J.J. Abrams has been chosen by Disney and Co. to head up the rebirth of one of the most prosperous franchises in the history of cinema. Which is interesting, as Abrams actively denied involvement, placing him on the ever-growing list of who won’t direct Star Wars Episode VII. Whether or not this story is true could be held inside Abrams’ Mystery Box for all we know, but it is notable that it’s making the round with otherwise responsible outlets. It would be unprecedented to see Abrams take over Star Wars just after rebooting Star Trek, but it also might not be such a bad thing. As Star Trek fans can attest, Abrams does have the goods. In more concrete news, Abrams does have Star Trek Into Darkness coming out on May 17.

As any enthusiastic, detail oriented Trekker would tell you, the DVD and Blu-ray release of J.J. Abrams’ 2009 Star Trek reboot included several deleted scenes that involve villain Nero (Eric Bana) and his crew being caught and imprisoned by the iconic Enterprise adversary the Klingons. The trip to the Tower of Klingon was cut from that movie, but the design of the Klingon getup and the promise of their presence in this newly created Star Trek world was there. Now a new prequel comic for Star Trek Into Darkness is adding fuel to the fire that burns inside those of us who want to see Klingons emerge amongst the many lens flares.

While answering questions about something very few people care about (NBC’s Revolution) writer/director/mystery boxer/producer J.J. Abrams went on the defensive about his secrecy concerning projects. The filmmaker, who has his hands in many, many different pies, has long been known to keep relatively mum about his projects, whether they’re television shows like Lost or the upcoming sequel to Star Trek. Abrams said that it was no fun always having to keep mum on his projects, but ultimately it’s worth it. On the subject, he said “all the work we’re doing is about making this a special experience for the viewer; let’s preserve that as long as we can.” He went on to say that, as a movie fan himself, he doesn’t understand why people are always clamoring for information. While Abrams and I may disagree on the subject of lens flares, on this one we are 100% in agreement.

While the announcement trailer (which is something studios are doing now) was decidedly dark, there’s a shining kind of hope in this new look at Star Trek Into Darkness (via iTunes) even as the Tom Waits Lite voice of Benedict Cumberbatch issues threats and Bruce Greenwood tells Chris Pine‘s Captain Kirk that his arrogance is going to be his (and everyone around him’s) downfall. Maybe it’s because we’re given glimpses of those people, crew members that we’ve already come to know and care about from the first movie. Or maybe there’s cause for celebration with the scope of this film. Or maybe it’s just because it isn’t as dark as it could have been.

J.J. Abrams and friends are going to introduce Star Trek Into Darkness to the world in a big way when they show a 9-minute prologue to audiences salivating to see The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. This is par for the course for giant films, and so is showing off the work to movie website runners before everyone else.  While we caught early footage of the first Abrams Trek and were lucky enough to sit next to Leonard Nimoy for the surprise Drafthouse premiere, we didn’t go early into the Darkness. Fortunately, we have eyeballs and internet browsers, so we collected a lot of the first responses. Granted, these come with a shovel-full of salt (just like insane trailer/poster speculation), but the overall message from pundits and fans? All is well. Calm down. Into Darkness is set up for greatness. Gird your loins for a few minor, opening scene details but not for who Benedict Cumberbatch is playing.

There has been plenty of speculation over whether Khan (Khan!!!!) will appear as Star Trek 2‘s villain. This trailer — which is packed with tons of footage for a teaser — almost feels like a confirmation that Khan is indeed the antagonist of Star Trek Into Darkness. While no character outright says his name, there is a specific shot and line which implies they Abrams and his team were heavily inspired by Wrath of Khan. Or, knowing Abrams, that’s just a game of misdirection Paramount is playing… Take a look at the domestic trailer for yourself and decide, courtesy of Apple:

I had never seen a Star Trek episode or movie until I saw J.J. Abrams‘ Star Trek. Afterward, I watched a handful of the first season, caught Khan and then dug deeper into Next Generation thanks to my wife’s loving insistence. The short version: I’m by no means a Trekker. Still, Abrams’ flick was a lot of fun, and it’s obvious why the franchise has captured the imaginations of so many millions. Through humanity and high adventure, it has secured untold dedication from the most hardcore of fan bases – a details-oriented group that cares about canon and gets genuinely excited by the core message of exploration and human achievement pumping from the heart of Gene Roddenberry’s vision. And now here’s the Star Trek Into Darkness poster – a piece of advertising that is so clearly lifted from The Dark Knight/Rises that every movie website made the connection immediately (Den of Geek even put them side by side). On top of a half-stolen smoldering logo concept, it’s a poster so generic that you can’t even quite tell who’s on it. We all know it’s Benedict Cumberbatch, but it might as well be Neo or Captain Jack Harkness or Captain Jack Sparrow. Hell, even the typography mimics Transformers the way the plot synopsis echoes what every sequel has tried to do since Empire. This is a lot to level at a piece of marketing, but the sheer scope of how unoriginal this image is draws into focus how this, like many

Would it be cool if Chris Pine fistfights a sentient nuclear bomb named Fat Man in J.J. Abrams‘ Star Trek Into Darkness? Of course it would. Unfortunately, they’ve gone with a human villain which means that we’ll be deprived of that gift to humanity(unless the set footage was an elaborate rouse, and Benedict Cumberbatch is voicing the anthropomorphic atomic missile). What we won’t be deprived of, according to the plot synopsis, is the kind of second act tragedy that has to befall freshly minted heroes for a sequel to work well. If they can cut off Luke Skywalker’s hand while changing his entire self-identity, something terrible has got to happen to the farm boy who became king of the Enterprise. Also on the menu? The aforementioned “one man weapon of mass destruction.” Spoiler alert: it won’t be Tom Hardy playing a clone. It’s not hard to parse the tough parts out of the official synopsis for the film (even though it struggles with the basic rules of syntax). If you care to be enlightened, check it out for yourself: