Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979)

2/5

Star Trek: The Motion Picture, produced by Gene Roddenberry and directed by Robert Wise, was made 10 years after the television series was canceled. The plot? When a dangerous and curious life form plots a course straight for Earth, Admiral Kirk retakes command of the Enterprise to investigate and prevent the Earth's demise. While it may hold very special sentimental value for many viewers, I grew up on The Next Generation and have no nostalgic feelings for it. I value it as a movie, and not too highly at that. While there was doubtless acres of history I missed out on, the movie subtly hinted at it without boring those who already knew it. And it was probably just as exciting as the show used to be, but much longer.

The pacing is abysmally slow. Much of the movie seems to give us time to be awed by what we are seeing on the screen, but the dated special effects do not amaze us. In fact, they bore us. (Although I guess it's better than the George Lucas alternative of re-editing the movie with CGI to satisfy our modern sensibilities.) The score is reminiscent of Italian horror films like Deep Red--in a word, atrocious--although it was great to hear the familiar theme music once more. The acting and dialogue were also laughable, as was the costuming. The best part about the movie was the alien life form, more specifically how it raised questions regarding the nature of life. It explored some very intriguing philosophical thematics as it approached its finale. Still, it's not enough to see this movie. If you love the original Star Trek, you will probably love this movie. As for myself, I cannot help but laugh at it.

IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0079945/

Judgment at Nuremberg (1961)

4/5

First off, the acting in this movie by Marlene Dietrich, Maximilian Schell, and Burt Lancaster is unforgettable. The dialogue in the script is spot-on; sensational when need be, understated at other times. The ending is phenomenal, and utterly uncompromising in its verdict. The power is amplified by the uncertainty and moral ambiguity present up until the finale. It could get surprisingly emotional and devastatingly powerful at times. It grips you from the start and never lets you go, even after the screen blackens.

Stanley Kramer doesn't know how to direct worth crap. The camera movements and shot composition were so ludicrous, unnatural, and just plain ugly, it distracted tremendously from the most impressive components (story and acting). Although, by setting practically the entire movie in a courtroom, he set himself up for disaster. He had two options: either create artificial camera movements or use extremely stale, stationary shots. He unfortunately chose the former, but even if he had chosen the latter, it wouldn't have been much better because the editing was terrible. On that note, it's unnecessarily long; nothing is gained by the extraneous scenes that neither flesh out characters nor progress the plot. Also, repetition to ensure understanding of the theme is, as I've always stated, insulting to the viewers. Luckily, it doesn't occur very often. But when it does happen, it's especially heinous and cringe-inducing. For example, some minor characters were introduced for the sole purpose of bluntly reiterating a point that had already been made subtly. Speaking of characters, some were dealt with extremely poorly (forgotten or introduced at the very end), especially in comparison to the main ones. Others were extremely stereotyped and not really fleshed out at all (Richard Widmark's characters, for example). But really, imagine how amazing the rest of this movie must be for me to be able to look past all those negatives and still give it a four; I highly recommend this movie.

IMDb link: http://imdb.com/title/tt0055031/