Star Trek (2009)

I know I said I was going to move on to Star Wars but I had totally forgotten about the new Trek films.  I can't believe it's been five years since I've seen this movie.  Like, it makes sense considering I just watched the third one in the rebooted series but still.  This really did become an instant classic and it shows no sign of slowing down.  Originally posted 31 Dec 2011.    This movie became an instant classic the minute it hit movie screens which seemed to be a daunting challenge considering the rabid fan base this franchise has.  To completely revamp the established universe and replace every star with a younger, sexier version sounds great on paper but usually fails miserably.  But J. J. Abrams, fresh off of Lost and with money to burn, took this idea and turned it into pure magic.

It was nominated for four Academy Awards for Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing, Best Visual Effects, and Best Makeup and won the last.  The entire movie is outstanding.

As you may have heard, space is the final frontier.  Out patrolling its vast reaches are the ships of the United Federation, one of which is the USS Kelvin when it is attacked by a Romulan ship.  The captain (Chris Hemsworth) stays behind to allow as many escape pods to make it to safety as possible, one of which contains his wife (Jennifer Morrison) and son.  Twenty years later, James Tiberius Kirk (Chris Pine) has grown into a cocky, headstrong yokel when he is coerced into becoming a cadet.  Proving himself brilliant but an asshole, Kirk designs a cheat for the unbeatable final test, earning him the enmity of the test's designer, Commander Spock (Zachary Quinto), a half-Vulcan, half-human.  Before Kirk can get expelled, however, there is a distress call from the planet Vulcan and all the ships are mobilized.  Kirk makes it onboard the USS Enterprise with some help from his friend, Bones (Karl Urban) and sets about trying to convince the captain that the distress call is actually a trap from the same Romulan ship that killed his father.  From there, the movie gets too epic to describe so you're just going to have to watch it for yourself.

Seriously, I think this movie should come standard on every single multimedia device that will support it.  I don't know a single person who saw it and didn't like it.  Even people who never saw the television series (any of them) and who didn't get all the inside jokes liked this movie.  Although how you could manage to make it to your thirties without having seen even a rerun of Star Trek is kind of a mystery to me but whatever.  This movie is fantastic.  Watch it now.