was unimpressive at best. The script was terrible, and they went nowhere with clearly the most interesting character in the movie—hint: it wasn’t John Connor. I was expecting more. I’ll give it a low 3 stars.

California’s interminable series of special elections today, this week’s Economist has a feature on California, “the ungovernable state.” You’ve long heard me rant about the utter failure that is democracy in this state—here is an explanation with historical context. The article paints a grim picture indeed, and says that the only solution may be to scrap California’s existing bloated constitution and write a new one. If so, the next few years could be very exciting for Californians.

Both the major film festivals in San Francisco this year were disappointing; SFIAAFF was too small, and SFIFF had a high percentage of bad movies. Plus, and I still don’t know why, SFIFF is still using those #)*(@&! pencil-in ballots (though I made it a point to tell everyone who offered me a ballot that I wouldn’t take one until they had tear ballots). My reviews for the festival follow:

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Just got back from watching the new Star Trek movie, and it rocked. 5 stars, baby: beautifully imagined, gorgeously made, and, oh yeah, just plain fun. The best Star Trek ever. Yes, even better than The Wrath of Khan—the rest of the summer blockbusters have some big shoes to fill.

here’s the final set of reviews for SFIAAFF 2009:

• All Around Us – 4 stars

  This movie was the clear standout of the festival. It was an intense, understated drama with a terrific cast and a smart script. Though it became a bit tedious near the end, the movie on the whole was excellent. Highly recommended.

• Tokyo! – 3 stars

  One of the other lessons we’ve learned through bitter experience is this: never watch a triptych. Anything with three stories sucks. This wasn’t nearly as bad as Love for Share or 3 Needles, nor yet as mediocre as Three Times, though one of the three films featured in this particular triptych, the one in the middle, was flat out terrible. I mean really awful. The first movie, directed by Michel Gondry, was charming and entertaining, and the third, directed by Joon-ho Bong (of The Host fame) was simply the most gorgeously filmed movie at the festival, and the best-filmed movie I had seen in quite some time.