My immediate reaction?

finally caught Star Trek. Fun, but needed some Klingons instead of deranged Romulan miner as foil for Kirk, Spock and crew. Red matter?!?

With a bit more reflection, and space, I appreciate the restart of once-compelling franchise. Handling the aging of Shatner, Nimoy, and crew was getting to be beyond awkward. Rewinding to the never-before-shown beginning of their “careers” gives the well-known characters additional years to tell new & different tales without apologizing or hiding their age.

In this movie, the scenes on planets (Earth and otherwise) are more compelling than the starship moments. Time travel plays too large a part, but I’ll forgive the trick as long as subsequent films take advantage of the wide open vistas of storytelling space generated by this gimmick.

Metacritic calculates an 83. I date myself by preferring Wrath of Khan still.

This simple film delights in the very human flaws of the two brothers and their extended family. They support each other, fight each other, and end up facing each other on the field with their futures on the line. While soccer is the thread, not much action is on screen…and that works. However, the ending cycles back to an earlier scene in a knowing way, with a nod to the harshness of the game.

67 from MetaCritic falls short of my rating, though I wouldn’t go as high as the user rating of 90. We saw this film two weeks ago, and besides Up and Star Trek, I’m not sure what else worth seeing is out there right now.

Metacritic offers a just better than mediocre 64. Two weeks after seeing the movie, I’d agree… it’s slipped a few points for me since my original reaction.

I’m not running with Metacritic here, which measures 90 for “universal acclaim” — but it’s a very good film. Waltz with Bashir earned an Oscar nomination this year.

But any gloom in Clint Eastwood’s new movie is lifted by simple moments and insights, and a touch of humor. The caricature of grumpy old man suits Eastwood here; he must have enjoyed substituting growling for dialogue as a blunt marker of his character’s dissatisfaction with his family, neighborhood, and life. When Eastwood’s character does speak, it’s blunt, unfiltered, and unambiguously racist. The slow thaw in his relations with Asian neighbors is foreseeable, but not rushed. You can almost imagine his transformation being real, and his later sacrifice is contextual, if still surprising.

The gloom and grit of suburban Detroit are, strikingly, always portrayed in sunny summer weather. Any decay is presented in bright sunshine. The contrast underlined the point, rather than hiding it.

Only 72 from Metacritic? Bahhhh…too low. I missed dinner beforehand, and didn’t even mind being hungry for this one.

Late in the movie, the breakfast after a stormy scene creeped me out. The absence of action and emotion from Winslet’s wife — and the puppy-dog earnestness of DiCaprio’s husband to take the change at face value — left me stunned. Read my immediate reaction from Tuesday night.

Metacritic offer a lower-than-expected 69, but maybe I’m cutting DiCaprio some slack and over-emphasizing Winslet’s ability to raise a good movie into the great category.

This was my third David Lean movie. I hardly remember A Passage to India, but I’ll never forget watching Lawrence of Arabia during a Boston snowstorm in my college dorm room. This was before reading Seven Pillars of Wisdom, and writing a not-so-enlightening paper on said book. I won’t be following up by reading Doctor Zhivago: the film can stand on its own merits, for me.

Kevin Bacon stood out as Nixon’s assistant and advisor, visibly clenching his entire frame to stay loyal to a man whose flaws he knew only too well. Metacritic shares an 80. I’d ease that a bit higher.