Star Trek Beyond Movie Review

One of the great things about Star Trek, be it any of the series or many of the feature films, is the way it has always put ideas at the forefront of its stories, valuing philosophy and political science above action and swashbuckling. Even First Contact, my absolute favorite of all the movies, found a way to work some excellent action sequences into a film that was mostly about ideas and really developed some of the characters.

25 Years Ago This Month: November 1986

The fourth Star Trek feature film, Dennis Hopper's only Oscar-nominated role, Mike Tyson wins his first pro boxing title, a large chemical spill turns the Rhine red, the Iran-Contra scandal gets its first exposure, and the loss of a Hollywood legend, all 25 years ago this month.

Star Trek First Contact Movie Review

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I’m by no means a “Star Trek” nerd. I’ve enjoyed the show (Original Series and Next Generation) and I’ve seen all the films, but I can’t rattle off facts and episode titles as easily as I can Oscar trivia. The first “Star Trek” film I saw in the cinema was Star Trek: First Contact and I thought it was fantastic straight away. I’ve seen it several times since and I still have to agree it’s not just a good “Star Trek” movie – it’s a good movie.

One of the great things about “Star Trek” has always been its reliance on philosophical ideas and problems to sustain its stories. This was originally in spite of a very low budget on the original series. Even the nadir of “Star Trek” films – Star Trek V: The Final Frontier – at least starts with the premise of an interesting idea, although the realization and execution are dreadful.

Old Film Review: Star Trek Generations

I’ve just taken a second look at Star Trek: Generations, that transition film between the original crew of Kirk, Spock and McCoy to “The Next Generation” of Picard and Riker. It blatantly attempts to accomplish two major feats: to bridge the gap between the first series of six films starring William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy to what would become a new series with a new crew that could take the adventures further into the future; and to kind of one-up the previous films in terms of action sequences and effects.

It succeeds at one of those tasks. It utilizes visual effects (including what I imagine must be a combination of CGI and miniatures) which continue to hold up 16 years later. Barring a handful of obvious blue screen shots involving close-ups of characters, the seams are difficult to spot (at least on my tiny television).