Weekend Highlights: Star Trek edition

All the stars aligned on Friday afternoon, when my good friend Aurora (check out her great cocktail reviews on Miami.com) gave me a call. The last thing I expected her to tell me was that she had an extra advanced screening pass for two to see Star Trek Saturday morning, but she did. Needless to say, both Augi and I shifted our schedules to be able to make this happen!

We got to Sunset Place two hours early to ensure that we’d be let in and basked in the ultimate J.J. Abrams-fan-nerdiness that were our fellow movie goers. It was very hard not to interject when I heard all the LOST theories being thrown around, but I managed as best as I could! It was just really fun to be around so many enthusiastic people – unfortunately, there are not many around these parts.

But enough about that, let me get to the good stuff: the movie! Warning: I will obviously be talking about the movie’s plot & characters, so make sure you know what you are doing when you click to continue reading. There will be spoilers, so don’t say I didn’t warn you (in large bold letters)!

First off, let me begin by saying that I am not a Trekkie. Not even close. I believe I mentioned this in a previous post, so this is coming from a person that is just a fan of J.J. Abrams’ work and the action/sci-fi genre. And I believed the movie to be absolutely amazing. Hear me? Amazing. Good, let’s continue.

1. Somehow this movie got me to cry right off the bat – the first 10 minutes get you emotionally involved in the story instantly.

2. Loved Greg Grunberg’s “cameo” while baby Kirk was driving the Corvette through the Iowa desert!

3. Uhura ordering Slusho at the bar was fabulous. I love it when J.J. ties elements of his movies together (Cloverfield reference).

4. Surprisingly enough, not one cast member bothered me. At all. I loved them all and think they did a great job in their roles. Simon Pegg was hilarious (as to be expected), Zachary Quinto didn’t let the Sylar-ness seep through, Chris Pine was an extremely lovable Kirk, Eric Bana was almost unrecognizable, and Karl Urban was possibly my favorite as Dr. McCoy.

5. In true Abrams fashion, the element of alternate universes and time travel was in full effect. And it was great. Afterall, no one does time travel quite like him. I couldn’t help but smile while “Old Spock” was filling in Kirk about the future/past (?) – it was such a LOST moment 😉

6. The visuals in this movie are mind-blowing. That alone is worth going to see the movie – it is absolutely gorgeous and will sometimes make you gasp out loud.

7. The movie was engaging from beginning to end: never really had a lull, kept you on your toes whether it was through humor, intensity or action. And again, this is a lot coming from someone that makes fun of her Trekkie husband.

So I definitely recommend getting your tickets (preferably for the IMAX experience) and heading to the theater to catch it this weekend when it opens nationwide. And this goes for whether you have seen every single episode of Star Trek and all its incarnations or not a single one. It is just a great and fun movie. Period.

Well done, Mr. Abrams, although I never did doubt you for one second.