My quibble with Trek is that in retrospect, I feel that there wasn't enough "showing" of Kirk and Spock becoming friends and far too much anvilicious "telling", and that as fun as it was, and boy howdy was it fun (lots of laughter in my theatre), again in retrospect if feels gimicky. You know, Gimli cracking wise in LotR and gags that failed to serve plot or character. Too much on the spoof side of things (as opposed to paying homage or continuity).

Went and watched Doom again for a Karl Urban fix. Also watched the mess that was Max Payne, so it was a funny comparison of "hero is dying, takes the drug that has been EVIL EVIL EVIL in order to fight on". Doom was so much more awesome. I'm not even a gamer, and when the first-person pov came into play, I still got geeked out.

Also, Rosamund Pike is divinely gorgeous and needs to be in more movies.

I agree, Juliebird. So pretty!

I should see if I could find a dvd of The Bourne Supremacy just to have some glowering Karl Urban with a rather bad Russian accent but looking very pretty, especially in India. That buzz cut of his makes his eyes just jump out at you--yummmm! (IMO, he has the best eyes in Hollywood since Paul Newman, and no, I'm not exaggerating.)

Dude, even when his eyes are closed, they are pretty.

My quibbles with Star Trek are the same quibbles I have with all of JJA's work - if you look at the plot too hard it will crumble into a sad little disconnected pile of individually awesome dust particles.

I have a much higher tolerance for that in 2-hour chunks, because I usually don't feel the need to look at the plot in a movie the way I do for a TV series (Leverage being my exception, because the casting is so excellent and the show is so fun).

I feel that there wasn't enough "showing"

I think the casting went a long way here.

Jessica, your last whitefonted question - I know!!

I think the casting went a long way here.

I don't know that I take your full meaning

I don't know that I take your full meaning

Sorry, just that the actors managed to do a lot with subtext - an expression, a gesture, and I bought it. I will have to watch more closely the next time I see it. (Must see it soon!)

Star Trek!

Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

That's pretty much all I've got.

I thought the Bones-Kirk friendship felt more 'earned' because we were free to sketch in a history between them at the academy.

I figured Bones and Kirk became good friends because they both like booze.

(I'm only being a little sarcastic.)

eta: I agree with this EW review: [link]

Spoilery. But I think I can quote this:

Abrams revives the slightly tongue-in-cheek reverence that even those of us who aren't Trekkies still feel for Kirk, Spock, and their human/Vulcan, emotion/logic cornball yin-yang. The '60s series had its brain-warping concepts, plus all those ''special'' effects (that tacky tilt-a-cam whenever the Enterprise got hit). It was tin-pot Isaac Asimov, yet the 40-year-old cosmic joke of Star Trek is that the delectable, overemphatic ham passion of William Shatner (those staccato pauses!), counterpoised with the poker-faced minimalist charm of Leonard Nimoy, created a kind of map of the spirit for geeks everywhere. Abrams follows that map to pop bliss.