We just saw the third film in the reboot of my favorite TV series: Star Trek: Beyond. Once again, the plot was driven by a bitter middle-aged man who vows to make the universe run red with the blood of vengeance. Haven’t we had enough of this from Donald Trump?
I’m a middle-aged man, and there are things in my life I’m not happy about, but I don’t feel like making humanity pay for my unhappiness. In fact, it’s none of humanity’s business.
So are these films an expression of angst by the middle-aged men who write them? Or, if they’re written by younger men, are these films an attack on their fathers? There’s a lot of male stuff here. To quote an illustrious film critic well-versed in gender issues: “What is going on?”
I don’t know. But I know this: A woman will become president of the United States before Paramount allows a woman to write a Star Trek movie.
Sad.
Random Pan of the Day
Supertramp, Breakfast in America (1979)
I’m so pissed off by Star Trek I don’t feel like making anything a Pick.
Some of the songs on Breakfast in America are pleasant; they could’ve been dashed off by John or Paul while they were down with the flu. Supertramp’s big bad insanely sentimental epic, “Take the Long Way Home,” offers a cascade of ooooohs and aaaaahs around the 4:17 mark. I guess this is where they eased themselves into the hot tub.
Breakfast in America has one of the iconic album jackets of the 1970s. Keep the jacket and recycle the record.
Random Pan of the Day
Depeche Mode, Depeche Mode 101 (1989)
I’m still pissed.
A live album where the songs don’t budge a centimeter from the studio versions. Sorry, boys, but a concert is more than a crowd screaming with joy because you blew up a firecracker. AC/DC would’ve fired a cannon out of a bagpipe.
Random Pan of the Day
Mugstar, anything
Contemporary English prog rockers who go on. And on and on. The Doors in “The End” said everything Mugstar is still stumbling over 40 years later. However, Mugstar has a talent for song names. Two examples: “European Nihilism” and “Children of the Gravy.”
Run-DMSteve 
So, a little ‘Sabotage’ & the score didn’t make up for an all too familiar plot?
After all, it is all about the music, isn’t it?
I admit they surprised me with “Sabotage” from the first film, but I wasn’t paying much attention at this point. I was more concerned with the popcorn at the bottom of my bag, which I think came from something else at the refreshment stand. Maybe nachos.
Usually at this point in a sci-fi movie they play “Back in Black” or “Highway to Hell.” At least this was different.
It’s all about the music until things get really stupid!