Unstoppable (2010)

To say this movie is about generations getting along might be a bit of a stretch. There is also a little train action too. But that is a major theme. Old school methods clashing with young gun mentality.

Denzel Washington, who used to be one of the young gun guys now settles in nicely in the old school role. Chris Pine, who has not yet been type-cast as the new Capt. Kirk, plays the rookie fresh out of training. Their two worlds collide and in the process a train smashes a bunch of stuff too. The third person in the new dynamic trio is played convincingly by Rosario Dawson.

On the movie gets rolling, he action does not stop (pun intended) until the end. Along the way there is a little humor and a bunch of drama. Since we pretty much know how things end I can't really spoil anything for you. As usual in this case you just can't be sure of the how.

Watch this movie with someone who likes trains.

Star Trek (2009)

Wow. If you were not a Trek fan before (I was) you should almost certainly be one after watching this great prequel. Do you need to have watch the original TV series in the 70's to get this? No, but it will certainly help. You may not get the inside jokes, the puns, and the surprise relationships as much if you have not seen these characters on the little screen. And that is about half the movie.

The other half of the movie is an equal masterpiece. There are tributes or homage to so many other great space or action movies that I almost lost count. Can you spot them all? Star Wars, Top Gun, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Indiana Jones, and others get a heart-felt nod.

I highly recommend the Special Features on the DVD that covers the making of the film. In fact, I suggest watching that first and you may gain a greater appreciation of the special things done to give this movie a more authentic feel. One thing to note if you choose to not watch this feature, nothing was done via CG that could be done live. I was impressed and I hope you are too.

Leonard Nimoy reprises his role as Spock in a very interesting story twist. Zachary Quinto plays the younger Spock. I loved when the two meet at the end. Brilliant.

Chris Pine plays Captain Kirk and thankfully modeled his performance off of characters in Top Gun and Indiana Jones rather than the character from TV. All the rest of the cast were very good and totally believable as the younger versions of the familiar older characters many of us know and love so well.

Watch this movie with a Trekkie and a Star Wars fan and notice which parts they enjoy together.

Bottle Shock

Here is another installment in a fun list of films introducing the rest of the world to a part of California many know very little about. The Napa Valley is only about an hour north of San Francisco, and is now well known for it's wine. But that was not always the case. This movie is about how that all got started, and many are surprise that is was not all that long ago.

Alan Rickman does a superb job playing a wine snob. He nails it. A Brit wine snob kept out of the inner circle of the then-dominant French wine industry hears that rowdy, upstart, Californians claim they have made wines as good as, if not better than, anything in France.

A contest during the American Bicentennial in 1976 is organized as a result. The now infamous "Judgment of Paris" is re-enacted as part of the film. Beautiful.

Bill Pullman and Chris Pine (the newest Capt. Kirk) play the father and son team who fought each other AND the French. They pull it off so well one might think they really are related. I wonder who they took notes from?

Freddy Rodríguez may not be the biggest star of the film but he is certainly the soul, the conscience, and the heart of the story. I've enjoyed everything thing young actor has done and I always look forward to seeing his work.

If you consider yourself a wine aficionado or just a enthusiastic amateur, you should enjoy this movie. But even if you know nothing about wine, like me, you can still catch even the finer points of the story.

Watch this movie with someone who knows thinks they know everything about Napa Valley.