JJ, I apologize

I've made no secret of my personal antagonism towards JJ Abrams (I mean as antagonistic as you can be to a writer director whose work you consistently enjoy and yet continues to frustrate the living hell out of you!) but all is forgiven.

I just got back from Star Trek, and I've gotta say, this was a really really good movie. Like I said, I'm not a big fan of Star Trek, I don't dislike it, I just came to it far too late for it to really take hold, but even I had high expectations, after all as a pop culture historian and a person who encourages others to embrace the cheese, I appreciate what Trek has to offer.

I went to the movie with two of my good friends who are big big Star Trek fans, they aren't quite Trekkies, especially since one of them only counts the first series as being real. (I don't know.) One of them is Jen, a frequent commenter and I'm sure she'll give her opinion.

I don't want to ruin the plot, since as it reveals itself its very very good and surprise is half of that. So I'll stick to the stuff that I enjoy analyzing anyway, performances and characters.

We'll start with Chris Pine as James Kirk. Pine's performance sort of takes Kirk back, a character that has become a bit of a charicature. Pine resists pregnant pauses and long lingering looks and yet is still Kirk, its very very good.

Then Zoe Saldana as Uhura...Uhura's a character that I really like, even in my limited Star Trek knowledge. For a woman who's job is basically to talk to a computer and wear a miniskirt she's pretty badass. Saldana brings just the right about of edge to her and definitely rocks the mini.

Karl Urban is perfect as McCoy...I regret that there was no "He's dead Jim" but that's not Urban's fault, its just something to add to my list of reasons why I hate JJ Abrams.

Simon Pegg, John Cho and Anton Yelchin are great as Scottie, Sulu and Chekov respectively, especially Yelchin, who I just wanted to hug everytime he was on screen.

And save the best for last...Zachary Quinto, now I'm a Heroes fan, so obviously I love Quinto, but this just cemented my admiration for this guy's acting ability. He was Spock without simply imitating Leonard Nimoy, who was also awesome, but like biiig shock there. There is a particularly fun scene where he basically tells the Vulcan council to go ef themselves with four little words, "Live long and prosper." Oh right, and you want to see Spock get pissed, insult his Mommy, go ahead, I dare you.

Oh right, and at the bar where Captain Pike convinces Kirk to join up with Star Fleet, Uhura orders a Slusho...SAWEET!