Ghosts of Girlfriends Past

Rated PG13 for language, sexuality

Starring Matthew McConaughey, Jennifer Garner, Michael Douglas, Breckin Meyer, Lacey Chabert

This take on the classic Charles Dicken's "A Christmas Carol" focuses on Connor Mead (McConaughey), a playboy magazine photographer.

Connor and his younger brother Paul (Meyer) lost their parents when they were just kids and were raised by their playboy uncle in his lavish mansion. After having been rejected by his best friend Jenny (Garner) at a junior high dance (she has her first kiss with the popular jock, rather than Connor), he takes comfort in Uncle Wayne (Douglas), who goes to show him how to pick up women and teaches him in the ways of becoming a playboy.

On the eve of his brother's wedding, Connor is visited by the ghost of Uncle Wayne, who tells him he will endure visiting his past tonight to learn the error of his ways. Soon after, Connor is visited by the ghost of his first girlfriend, Allison (Emma Stone), who takes him on a journey of all his many many past relationships (some which lasted a whole 30 seconds!). Next he is visited by the ghost of his assistant Melanie (Noureen DeWulf), who shows him his present, which is pretty pathetic. Before the night is over, he is visited by a mysterious ghost of the future, who shows him what a dim lonely future he has ahead of him if he continues on the same path.

It was a cute and had it's funny moments when Connor is conscious and freaking out about seeing ghosts, however it was extremely predictable. Connor does realize that there's more to life than just being a playboy and that sleeping around all time can still leave you feeling lonely when you have no solid relationship with someone. It also points out the importance of family, as Paul defends his brother despite his fiance (Chabert) and her friends objections towards Connor, and after majorly messing everything up, Connor sets out to make things right with Paul.

If you like girly movies, but don't mind them being predictable, settle in for the night with this twist on the classic Dicken's tale.

Star Trek

Rated PG13 for sci-fi action and violence, mild language

Starring Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Leonard Nimoy, Eric Bana, John Cho, Karl Urban, Zoe Saldana, Simon Pegg, Anton Yelchin

In the year 2387, the galaxy is threatened by an unusually volatile supernova. Ambassador Spock (Nimoy) pilots a ship carrying "red matter", which will create an artificial black hole to consume the supernova. Before not before it destroys the planet Romulus. Captain Nero (Bana) blames Spock for the destruction of his planet and chases him through a black hole's event horizon, putting them both in the past.

Nero's ship arrives first, 154 years earlier, and since his arrival appears in the form of a space lightning storm, the Federation sends out the ship Kelvin to investigate, which ends up getting attacked by Nero. Acting Captain George Kirk orders an evacuation, which includes his wife and unborn son, saving over 800 lives in a matter of minutes while he stays behind on the ship and acts as a cover for the departing shuttlecraft. Spock arrives 25 years later, where he is captured by Nero and marooned on the planet Delta Vega so that he can witness the destruction of Vulcan, as retribution for Spock's failure to save Romulus.

James T. Kirk (Pine), now born without a father, grows up to be an intelligent young man, despite his reckless rebel behavior. After an encounter with some Starfleet Academy students, Captain Pike realizes who Kirk is and encourages him to enlist in Starfleet and do better than his father did, in order to get Kirk to realize his full potential. We also see a younger Spock, mocked by the other kids because of his half human, half Vulcan heritage.

The rest of the film takes place during Kirk's third year at Starfleet, and follows how Kirk became Captain of the USS Enterprise and together with Spock (Quinto) and the rest of the crew, they overcame Nero and the Romulans.

Personally, I've never really been into Star Trek, but I did find myself enjoying this movie. The characters were likeable and had depth to them, and the plot was easy enough to follow for a non-Trekkie with little to no previous knowledge of Star Trek. This was a good film to kick off the summer season.