Change Your Image
CinemaSerf
Ratings
Most Recently Rated
Reviews
Five Children and It (2004)
Five Children and It
We start a bit like as with the "Chronicles of Narnia" story with a family dislocated from war-torn London to stay with their potty "Uncle Albert" (Kenneth Branagh), his brattish son "Horace" (Alexander Pownall) and their housekeeper "Martha" (Zoë Wanamaker). Of course they miss their home and their mother (Tara Fitzgerald) but it's really dad (Alex Jennings) who is away fighting the Bosch that they are most concerned about. When they are playing on the beach one day, they encounter a curious looking rock and it's inhabitant - a Psammead. A what? Well, that's what they ask and soon discover that it is an ancient creature that lives in the sand, and it also has the power to grant one wish per day (that, crucially, expires at sunset). Initially the kids think of fun things to do, but gradually they begin to want to do more - even if whatever they do achieve will revert back when the sun goes down. It falls to elder brother "Cyril" (Jonathan Bailey) to try to manage the expectations of his siblings - but that proves especially difficult with "Robert" (Freddie Highmore) who is full of ideas to retrieve their absent dad! Meantime, their ghastly cousin is suspicious of where they go and what they do each day - and we certainly don't want that imbecile getting a wish! This is essentially a charming children's story stretched out for ninety minutes and I think it works nicely. The kids are engaging, the message is one of affection, longing and mischief and the animation of "It" from Jim Henson's Creature Shop is just scary enough at the start. It's enjoyable feel good cinema, with a comedic and sometimes quite sarcastic script, that avoids too much sentiment and I enjoyed it.
Young Woman and the Sea (2024)
Young Woman and the Sea
On the face of it, it's a bit similar to last year's "Nyad", only I found this to be a more engaging depiction of the story of a young woman determined to struggle against not just the water, but of the societal limitations put upon her sex and assumed about her potential a mere century ago. As a young child, Trudy Ederle contracts measles. The doctor thinks that nothing can be done, but she has no intention of throwing in the towel yet and decides she'd rather have some cheese than a coffin! This illness is taking place against news of a maritime tragedy that saw many women killed. They were afraid to leave the burning ferry boat because they couldn't swim. Trudy wants to learn to swim, her mother wants her to learn to swim - but her father, an immigrant German butcher, is much more conformist. It's not right for women to swim! Now we get our first indication of the strength of mind of the women in this family as, sure enough, mother (Jeanette Hain) finds her and sister "Meg" (Tilda Cobham-Hervey) a women only swimming club run by "Lottie" (Sian Clifford) and next, after some seriously punishing training sessions, she (now Daisy Ridley) has her heart set on the Paris Olympiad. History takes over her story now as we follow this hugely inspirational person who sets out to prove that her sex need be no barrier to her abilities and that with the right support around her, she can accomplish just about anything. A combination of Ridley's enthusiastic and exhausting performance and a strong slew of supporting actors make this a genuinely quite poignant piece of cinema. Not only does it address issues of sexual repression, but also of racial and cultural attitudes that needed looking at from both within and without. Stephen Graham turns out well as the savvy coach Burgess and Kim Bidnia also strikes a fine balance between caring, fearing and inspiring as her father Henry. I am not really a fan of Christopher Eccleston, and his overly hammy depiction of Scotsman Jabez Wolffe didn't quite work for me, but this story is built well from the sand up by Joachim Rønning allowing us to feel some of the emotions running through the veins of this groundbreaking athlete and understand just quite why the public at the time cared, too.
The Locked Door (1929)
The Locked Door
We start off here on a fine liner amidst a raid that sees "Ann" (Barbara Stanwyck) getting caught up with the rake that is "Devereaux" (Rod La Rocque) and photographed by the police. Skip forward a while and now she is married to the loving and respectable "Lawrence" (William Boyd) and living with his younger sister "Helen" (Betty Bronson). It's this latter gal who starts to cause ructions when she meets and falls for the roguish "Devereaux" - a romance her new sister-in-law is determined to thwart. It won't be that simple, though - "Devereaux" is a rogue, but quite a calculating one and he has evidence that could rock the happiness "Ann" has found to it's foundations. Meanwhile. It's also reaching her husband's ears that his sister is fraternising with this wrong 'un, and so an unannounced arrival at his apartment sets up a showdown that will eventually involve the police, the ditzy and entertaining switchboard operator (Zasu Pitts) and just about everyone else. Stanwyck stands out here - not because she's very good, but because she is so much better than everyone else. The script and pace of the thing do just about enough leading to a denouement that isn't quite what was expected. A story of love, lust and loyalty that passes an hour or so easily enough.
Gekijôban Haikyû!! Gomi Suteba no Kessen (2024)
Haikyuu!! The Dumpster Battle
After an astonishing run of success in the Harutaka High School Volleyball championships, "Karasuno" school must now face their rivals from "Nekoma" and the film depicts, in almost real-time, the ebbs and flows of that game whilst providing us with a narrative of the characters in each team and of their relationships with each other in "peace time" - past and present. The animation of the game is lively and at times quite visceral. Each player has their set task within their own team - they must continually evolve their tactics on the court as each pushes the other to new standards, to move quicker or jump higher. One team is much more aggressive and forceful with the ball, the other much more adept at controlling the pace and hopefully frustrating errors from their opponents - and the exhausting dedication required to play as well as the emotional trials faced is well captured as the story reaches it's denouement. It's based on a series I haven't seen, but unlike many of it's contemporaries, this film provides for enough of the backstory via flashback and narration to give us enough information to be able to treat this more as a stand alone story within the confines of the match itself. The style of artwork is very two-dimension with precious little effort gone into activating the crowd beyond the audio, but the close up nature of the facial and athletic imagery as well as the soundtrack give the thing quite an intensity and show just how team sports can be character-building and to an extent, even life affirming. Tough old game volleyball, too!
The Walls Came Tumbling Down (1946)
The Walls Came Tumbling Down
This is really all about the last ten minutes as we quite entertainingly finish off this otherwise unremarkable drama. "Gilbert" (Lee Bowman) is a red-top journalist who loves nothing more than a good old dose of salacious rumour-mongering. His life takes a more serious turn when his friend is murdered. The man was a priest, and the mystery deepens when we discover that his two bibles are being sought by the menacing "Stoker" (George Macready). Why? Well one of them contains a code that will lead to the secret hiding place of a priceless Da Vinci painting. The police suspect that maybe "Pat" aka "Laura" (Marguerite Chapman) is somehow involved, so she and our gossip-pedlar join forces hoping to find it (and some romance) first, or at least to stay alive! It's a bit better than your standard afternoon feature this and that's almost entirely down to the sparingly featured Macready and to Edgar Buchanan's contributions as "Bradford" - and I did quite like the carefully choreographed cellar-denouement. Nope, you'll never remember it, and it could probably lose twenty minutes of waffly preamble, but it's not bad.
Mystery in Mexico (1948)
Mystery in Mexico
This is quite a decent little crime thriller that starts with what looks like a burglar being shot. Turns out, though, that the victim was an insurance investigator and "Hastings" (William Lundigan) is now despatched to Mexico to find out just what happened to him. In trying to piece things together, he encounters the sister of the missing man. "Victoria" (Jacqueline White) is also trying to track down her missing brother. Quite what she sees in him is anyone's guess - he's actually quite an odious fellow - but click they do and are soon on the case of the rather obvious villain of the piece. This film is probably only notable as a project from Robert Wise but it doesn't hang about and though the plot does follow the usual tram lines a little too readily, there's a lively effort here from White and it passes an hour easily enough.
The Diamond (1954)
The Diamond
This has something of the "Rumpelstiltskin" to it, only it's not straw into gold, it's sugar into diamonds! "Dennison" (Dennis O'Keefe) is on the trail of some thieves who stole a fortune in US treasury bonds and are heading to London to do a deal with the gem fakers. His arrival sees him allied with "Insp. McClaren" (Philip Friend). This policeman is also working on a more sensitive case involving a nuclear scientist - and it just so happens that his daughter "Marline" (Margaret Sheridan) is wearing a brooch with one of the Wonka-jewels in it. As we discover who made it, the threads of the story start to come together - but who is pulling whose strings? It's a bit long and takes a while to get started, but once the wheels are in motion it's not a bad little thriller with some magical science (courtesy of Paul Hardtmuth) and a bit of menace from the usually reliable Francis de Wolff. It's all production line stuff with themes based on already well used, adequate acting and predictable plot-lines , but it is watchable enough.
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
Just as "Seven Days in May" was hitting our screens, Stanley Kubrick used a superbly over-the-top effort from Sterling Hayden to depict a rogue general who has decided to use all the checks and balances in place to defend the United States to his own mischievous advantage and launch a pre-emptive bombing campaign on those pesky "Ruskies". It's only his perfectly moustachioed British executive officer "Mandrake" (Peter Sellers) who smells a rat, but he is on lockdown in their air force base that is, indeed, being besieged - but not by the "Reds". Meantime, the American President (also Sellers) is only just finding out that he's about to start a nuclear war and nobody knows quite how to top it - not even his chief of staff "Turgidson" (George C. Scott). A call to his opposite number in the Kremlin reveals that the Soviets haven't been letting the grass grow, and that they have their own shield - and one that's use would make the effects of the Hiroshima bomb look like a damp squib. With all this mistrust and mayhem abounding, is it going to be possible to avert the destruction of humanity? Sellers has multiple parts and carries them out effectively, but it's the support from Hayden, Scott and the gung-ho, yee-ha, merchant "Maj. Kong" (Slim Pickens) - in charge of the heavily laden bomber that is likely to stat the conflagration, that demonstrate really entertainingly not just the faults in the whole principle of a paranoia-driven command and control structure, but also of the flaws of human nature when it comes to increasing reliance on technology and automation. The calculating eponymous character, who could have come straight out of a "Bond" movie, also quite cleverly points to the provenance of so many of the scientists who supported the West's military programming whilst their historical loyalties were dubious at best. It's only ninety-odd minutes, but packs plenty to think and laugh about as the ridiculousness and seriousness of the scenario are presented satirically and potently, at a time when the cold war was warmer.
For Those in Peril (1944)
For Those in Peril
Flyer "P" (Ralph Michael) has been grounded by the RAF and posted to assist a naval rescue squadron tasked with fetching shot-down pilots from the Channel. He's not very happy about this, but his stoic CO "Murray" (David Farrar) is sympathetic to his disgruntlement and gradually hopes that his new charge will begin to appreciate the cruciality of their task. They zip about the water in their high-speed motor launches avoiding enemy fighters and minefields (planted by both sides) and there's a decent sense of peril built up for just about an hour. It's not quite propaganda, but it has a 1944 feel good element to it that is augmented by loads of library footage and a sense of the stiff upper lip. John Slater adds amiably to the cast of familiar British faces and though it's all a bit predictable and the acting/writing nondescript, it raises awareness of the perilous nature of the risks of tracking and rescuing stranded air crews (and the flimsiness of some of their kit) as the conflict neared it's close.
Flyboys (2006)
Flyboys
Based quite loosely on the activities of a famed group of young American pilots who joined the French cause during the Great War, this is a rather disappointing drama. James Franco takes the lead as the charming "Rawlings". He's a man who doesn't really think rules apply to him, but like the rest of his disparate gang, is a brave man who knows how to get his balsa-wood bi-plane up and dangerous. Back then, there was still a certain code of honour between the warring parties and their Bosch opponents (including the "Red Baron") observed some of the niceties of war - a dignity useful on occasion as weapons jamming and engines failing wasn't uncommon. Then he encounters "Lucienne" (Jennifer Decker) in an house of ill-repute, falls for her and must then undertake a perilous rescue mission - against the orders of CO "Thenault" (Jean Reno). The result? Well, she gets shot and he gets a medal! Thing is, though, she must be relocated to a safe hospital and he has to lead a bombing raid - will they ever meet again? Will their love endure? Did anyone care? The camera loved James Franco here, and he does bring a degree of charisma to help carry it through. Otherwise, though, the acting - especially from Reno, is really flat; there's much too much dialogue and what airborne antics there are are not especially well integrated CGI effects that lack realism and culminate in a rather weakly photographed denouement. It could have been better had they bothered to use a few real planes and scored it a little more engagingly. As it is - it's just too long and plodding.
The Lady in Scarlet (1935)
The Lady in Scarlet
Reginald Denny is on good form in this rather formulaic whodunnit as "Oliver Keith" - an accomplished PI drafted in to investigate the killing of a wealthy art dealer. Once on the case, he discovers there is a lot more to the case than just the fatality - and there are no lack of suspects mired in this tale of greed and ambition. What helps this along nicely is the engaging double-play between Denny and his equally competent, if somewhat undervalued, assistant "Ella" (Patricia Farr) and Lew Kelly is quite good as the pretty hapless policeman. Only an hour long, but still a decently paced nostalgic look at crime fighting in days when everyone wore a hat and called themselves Mr. & Miss.
The Bourne Ultimatum (2007)
The Bourne Ultimatum
I got off to a bit of a bad start with this third instalment - the idea that a bloke in a building in Langley was issuing orders to murder a British journalist in a London railway station used by almost 100 million people a year really didn't sit at all well with me; so I already felt that whatever our hero wanted to do here was OK by me! Just as well, because Matt Damon has his hands full trying to stay alive and to discover the nature of the upgraded "Treadstone" operation - this time called "Blackbriar" which may well shed more light on just how "Bourne' became who he is! Again, Paul Greengrass elicits the best from his star - ably complemented by Joan Allen, again as "Landy"; David Straithairn as his ruthless pursuer "Noah Vosen" and Edgar Ramirez ("Paz") who is never far from his tail/trail. It features more end-to-end action - again, though, not gratuitously long and violent like many others I've seen and although the script is not so good in this one , it remains of the few franchises where the third film is up there with the others. I think it's done now, though - let's not have any more.
Casino Royale (2006)
Casino Royale
As reboots go, this is probably the best I've seen. Daniel Craig takes up the mantle of Ian Fleming's "007" in this two-part thriller that starts off at break neck speed and rarely drops below third gear for almost 2½ hours. Having just attained his licence to kill status - after disposing of the double-crossing "Dryden" (Malcolm Sinclair), he is now hot on the trail of a courier in an African republic. After a chase of pretty epic proportions that sees them leaping from buildings and cranes before "Bond" finally manages to trash an embassy, he obtains a cellphone with just one word. What does it mean? Well now he must use all of his roughly hewn skills to find out - a challenge that takes him via the Bahamas to Miami where he has two thwart a daring attack at the airport on a brand new airliner that would bankrupt the manufacturer and make someone $100m. That someone is now seriously annoyed - and in quite considerable danger themselves, so phase two of the story starts - and this is where it gets interesting. Off to the beautiful land of Montenegro for the ultimate game of poker. Staked by a rather wary HM Government, he is put in the capable hands of "Vesper" (Eva Green) and with the help of local fixer "Mathis" (Giancarlo Giannini) faces his new nemesis "Le Schifre" (Mads Mikkelsen). Quite literally - winner takes all. The story here is strong, the plot has twists - especially towards the end; there is loads of action, gadgets - a cracking Aston Martin; and loads of glamour. That latter element was largely missing during the Dalton/Brosnan eras for this suave and debonaire super-spy. Craig exudes a classiness about him, and Green likewise as she quickly realises that his is a dangerous business. Mikkelsen makes for a good baddie - so much of his acting is done through his expressions, and here he radiates a sort of measured menace that proves quite effective as the story reaches it's rather painful climax! David Arnold has written a score that nods to the John Barry sweeping and orchestral style of the early films and the writing doesn't waste time trying with the puerile double-entendres that dogged some of the earlier outings for "Bond". The one man missing, rather notably, is "Q" and "Moneypenny" has become a bloke called "Villiers" (Tobias Menzies) working for Dame Judi Dench's no-nonsense "M". The denouement is as action packed as the rest of it, and it introduces us to the idea that there is an organisation out there guiding so much of the criminal fraternity. A spectre of things to come, perhaps? Let's hope this is a sign of a new and improved vivacity for this tiring franchise. This is a very good re-start.
GoldenEye (1995)
GoldenEye
This actually starts out quite promisingly with a double-hander between Pierce Brosnan's "007" and his colleague "006/Alec" (Sean Bean) having a battle royal then a rogue general pinching the controls for a deadly satellites system - and that's pretty much all before Tina Turner gets her lungs around the theme song. Then, sadly it sinks into a really procedural action drama with some really mediocre writing and as B-level a cast as I've seen for ages. You could see the obvious twist in the plot from the satellite in orbit above, Joe Don Baker's megalomaniac arms dealing "Wade" is almost as comical as Robbie Coltrane's Russian gangster "Zukovsky" who is in turn almost as bad as Alan Cumming's even more thickly accented geek "Grishenko". Dame Judi had the sense to say in London for most of this and so out of harm's way as the denouement lurched into view. There's a nod to the Ian Fleming humour, I suppose, with this one's "Bond" girl being "Xenia Onatopp" (the entirely unconvincing Famke Janssen) but I'm afraid I just lost interest. It's hard to keep reinventing the franchise and to be original - but if it's going to be this hard, then maybe just stop?
Licence to Kill (1989)
Licence to Kill
I was just not a fan of Timothy Dalton's "007" and so can't say I was looking forward with much enthusiasm to this. Sadly, it didn't surprise - it's a really far fetched, frankly rather unpleasant, outing for Ian Fleming's deadly agent that sees him on the trail of an evil drug lord who fed "Felix" (David Hedison) to a shark whilst doing away that man's new wife. What now ensues is just a series of unremarkable set-piece escapades that have precious little jeopardy to them. Anthony Zerbe just doesn't cut it as the supposedly menacing "Milton Krest" (surely a milk-shake?) nor does Robert Davi as baddie-in-chief "Sanchez". Not that it's unusual for a "Bond" film - but this one really does play a bit too much to stereotype without any of the fun; the tongue-in-cheekiness or any charisma at all from the star very much on the wain here. As adventure films go, it is entertaining enough - there are gadgets; but the banal dialogue grates after a while and this one somehow appears much less "British" than many of it's forebears - certainly it is grittier and more violent. Adequate, but I would not say anything for the far classier and engaging Connery or Moore to worry about.
A View to a Kill (1985)
A View to a Kill
Roger Moore's last outing as 007 is his weakest. This story that Christopher Walker "Zorin" plans to dominate the world micro-chip industry by destroying California's silicon valley takes the franchise just a shade beyond credible. Whilst Grace Jones' "May Day" is lithe and beautiful, she has no subtlety or panache and Walken hasn't the script or the charisma to do justice to his role as the megalomanic industrialist. Moore tries his best, and with early appearances by Patrick Macnee there is a semblance of some of the style of films gone before; but as it develops this is all - except, perhaps, the "butterfly act" about large scale photography and product placement. Duran Duran & John Barry got a Golden Globe for the title song, but that is probably the only highlight for me...
Octopussy (1983)
Octopussy
This is my favourite Roger Moore outing as Ian Fleming's "007". A good, solid adventure story with Louis Jourdan as the ruthless, scheming "Kamal Khan" and Maud Adams as the equally ruthless, but far more glamorous "Octopussy" who are both involved in some seriously high-end jewel smuggling to fund a Soviet nuclear attack on NATO by the rogue Steven Berkoff ("Gen. Orlov"). The action flows quickly and smoothly, with some fun cameos from a racket-wielding Vijay Amritraj and Albert Moses as a sort of lethal "Oddjob" in a turban. Sure, there are plenty of double-entendres but there is also a much better cohesion to the story than with many of the others, less crass innuendo - actually a decent thriller lurking underneath the traditional "James Bond" wrapping that is largely down to strong, characterful, performances for the quartet of baddies and a good script for Moore to deliver with more than a soupçon of glint in his eye. An under-rated theme song from Rita Coolidge (via Messrs. Barry & Rice); some decent aerial photography at the start and cracking locations all contribute strongly too.
Food of Love (2002)
Food of Love
"Paul" (Kevin Bishop) is an impressionable young pianist who is delighted to be asked to turn the pages for the acclaimed "Richard" (Paul Rhys). That's that! Well, no - not quite. "Paul" is travelling with his mother "Pamela" (Juliet Stevenson) and when they arrive in Barcelona he realises that he has just missed the latest concert from his idol, but finds his hotel and goes to visit. A drink leads to a back rub leads to some over-large boxers and... Talk about love at first sight? Well that's a non-starter and so he gets back to study at Juliart in New York where he studies piano whilst sleeping with as many wealthy old men as he can - usually in the same building. Coincidence! More to come as one of his partners knows another who happens to be the manager/boyfriend of "Richard". Small world? Smaller when mum goes through his suitcase and finds a porno magazine and a photo she thinks is incriminating. That's when all hell is let loose with enough home truths to sink a battleship. There are times when this is quite touching, and Bishop does put some effort into his performance, but Stevenson (and her accent) are dreadful, Rhys is little better and by the conclusion I had really lost interest in this shallow character study of hormones and tantrums that really does fall off the cliff in the last half hour. On the plus side, there's some nice Mahler and photography of the stunning Gaudi architecture.
You Only Live Twice (1967)
You Only Live Twice
This time, "007" (Sean Connery) has to investigate some mysterious goings on in outer space as first an American, then a Soviet rocket disappear. Naturally, they blame one another but "M" (Bernard Lee) has an inkling that Japan might be the source of the mischief and so our suave and debonair "Mr. Bond" is duly despatched. Allied with their spy chief "Tiger" (Tetsurô Tanba) who has his own underground train - he is soon hot on the trail of the "Ning Po" berthed by a small island that might well provide some answers. It's got loads of action scenes - "Little Nelly" and her heavily armed aerobatic battles being one of the better ones. The beautifully delicate Akiko Wakabayashi provides the glamour - though little of substance and Donald Pleasence - armed with some peckish piraña fish - turns up as the scheming arch enemy just before a series of disappointingly set-piece battle scenes at the end of what had, up until the last 15 minutes been a more sophisticated and intriguing film that relied more on subterfuge and mystery, as well as a decent soupçon of Japanese culture (including some interesting bathing/wedding traditions that our "James" joined in with, heartily). It's a good film, with a memorable Nancy Sinatra theme song (from Messrs. Barry and Bricusse), but not one of the best, I'd say.
Thunderball (1965)
Thunderball
Whilst he isn't quite as megalomaniac as "Auric Goldfinger"; Adolfo Celi is great here as "Largo" - the Spectre agent charged with their most ambitious mission yet. A great deal of meticulous planning has gone into their scheme to hijack an RAF plane carrying nuclear missiles that they intend to blackmail the world with. "M" (Bernard Lee) despatches "007" (Sean Connery) to investigate, a global journey that ultimately ends up in the Caribbean Sea. The film has oodles of pace and sexiness; the story is probably the best of the original Ian Fleming adaptations (by Richard Maibaum) and the last half hour finds us dabbling with sharks and scuba-divers armed with lethal spears; underwater jet-craft and ultimately a cracking boat chase with the original super-yacht - the "Disco Volante". Claudine Auger as "Domino" is one of my favourite, fiestiest "Bond Girls" - loads of attitude and glamour with just a hint of dastardliness of her own; and the characterisations are rich enough across the board to offer us a really superior, well put together, action adventure topped off with a rousing theme from John Barry, Don Black and a superlative Tom Jones.
From Russia with Love (1963)
From Russia With Love
We used to have a maths teacher at school who was small in stature. When the class got a little unruly, she used to stamp her foot on the floor like a petulant child. We called her Miss "Klebb"! I don't think that she ever had a poisonous spike that protruded from her shoe, but I wouldn't have been surprised. In that role, Lotte Lenya is up there in the league of deadly protagonists faced by 007 in this franchise. Robert Shaw - always underrated, I feel - is superb as "Grant" and Pedro Armendáriz is entirely convincing as the urbane "Karim Bey". The story here is a bit of a stretch, but Terence Young keeps it moving along as Sean Connery vies with SPECTRE to pinch a secret decoder from the nasty Soviets with a lethal briefcase of gadgets and gizmos. It's great!
Dr. No (1962)
Dr. No
This first cinema outing for James Bond is actually quite lucky it managed to spawn any sequels at all... Sean Connery is suave and debonair as the British Secret Agent dispatched to Jamaica to investigate a mysterious murder with potentially far more serious repercussions. Ursula Andress is great as the first "Bond girl" but the film itself is a bit short on substance. It's pretty light on action, the script a little too innuendo-ridden and Dr. No hardly features at all - when he does he hardly sets your teeth a-chattering with fear. It has no theme song, either.... It's passes the time OK, but not the best.
Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989)
Star Trek V: The Final Frontier
Starts off promisingly, but descends quickly into a somewhat outlandish tale as the crew of the Enterprise meet up with the half brother of "Spock". We are then lumbered with a search for "God" that messes up the whole point of escapist fantasy with religiosity and along the way subjects us to a mind-numbing attempt at indoctrination. Of course there is scope for a discussion on a more ethical approach to the universe and our place in it; but "Star Trek" movies are just not that place - and I am afraid the story just glugs along like a rhino stuck in a puddle of treacle. The SFX are great and the usual trekkie team keep this from being a complete disaster, but it's not a good film.
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986)
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
Probably my favourite of these sci-fi adventures. Having revived "Spock" to something akin to his previous, pompous old self; the crew of the now destroyed "Enterprise" set sail for home in their captured Klingon Warbird. Meantime, unbeknown to them, a probe is wreaking havoc on the galaxy as it emits odd pinging sounds on it's way to Earth. Our explorers approach the planet to discover that the probe has polarised the atmosphere and even the sophisticated Starfleet Command has no idea what's going on... Well, it turns out that the probe is pretty fluent in humpback whale-song but we have long since hunted them into extinction. What's required now is some legerdemain and a bit of time travel to go get some from back in 20th century California. What follows is a fun series of escapades as they set about their tasks - and all of the crew have their own roles to play. It touches on the ecology issues in a humorous but pointed manner and all round delivers an enjoyable 2 hours of entertainment.
Star Trek Into Darkness (2013)
Star Trek: Into Darkness
I will own up to actually quite enjoying this. It has less of the holier-than-thou moralism of some of the "Star Trek" features and is basically just a sci-fi adventure that pitches Chris Pine ("Kirk") and his crew against enemies as they say - both foreign and domestic! The dynamic between Pine and "Spock" (Zachary Quinto) still doesn't quite work for me; but Karl Urban makes for quite a good "McCoy" complete with all his daft metaphors. (The less said about Simon Pegg's "Scotty", the better - but fortunately, he features sparingly). The "Enterprise" must track down the arch-criminal "Khan" (Benedict Cumberbatch) - responsible for a bombing in London and then an attack on Starfleet Command - in dangerous Klingon territory and off they set armed with some distinctly dodgy torpedoes. There's a bit of jovial banter between the unlikely couple of "Uhura" and "Spock" which raises a smile, and Anton Yeltsin still has trouble with the computer comprehending his "w's". It's got plenty of phaser fights, the shirts get ripped quite a few times and the story has a bit of definition to help it move along. The last fifteen minutes do, however, drag out the ending just a bit too much - but hey, if you are looking for some high-end science fiction with a few twists in the plot and a good look to it, then you could do worse than this.