Star Trek (2009)

The 11th Star Trek film is the action-packed first of the reboots which cleverly combines a fresh new cast (including a perfectly cast Chris Pine as Captain James T Kirk and Zachary Quinto as Spock) with an alternate reality/time travel plot that allows director J J Abrams to go right back to the beginning (the birth of Kirk) and then get loose with Star Trek dogma.

★★★★☆

CINECAL: ONE SENTENCE REVIEWS

Star Trek Beyond (2016)

That scene, barely a second long, showing Sulu when he is not at the helm of the Enterprise is a brilliant addition to a series that at its core is a celebration of universal diversity and inclusion, with this particular episode also succeeding where perhaps Into Darkness didn't, delivering good old reliable Star Trek space exploration, action, humour and philosophy — the franchise doesn't need too many tweaks or new skins or tricks, as its fifty year anniversary this year clearly demonstrates.

★★★★☆

CINECAL: ONE SENTENCE REVIEWS

Star Trek Into Darkness (2013)

A terror attack sets in motion the convoluted events of this 2013 Star Trek episode which eventually ties together a number of plot threads about warheads, cryogenically frozen superhumans and an Enterprise stopover at Kronos where the Klingons live, but in Director J J Abrams' hands, this scifi action is punchy, fun, exciting and full of ace special effects even if it apparently disappointed Trekkies and contains no openly gay Starfleet officers.

★★★☆☆

CINECAL: ONE SENTENCE REVIEWS

Star Trek First Contact (1996)

Heralding a new era of Star Trek movie quality and a departure from the 80s kitsch of the Shatner movies, First Contact improves on the less interesting Generations, bringing the Enterprise in contact with an Earth under threat from the Borgs, and is entertaining despite several scenes in which James Cromwell groovily dances.

★★★☆☆

CINECAL: ONE SENTENCE REVIEWS