Star Trek Beyond (2016)

As I finished checking out some documentaries, I decided to get back into some regular movies. After a trip to Family Video, I settled on a flick that I have heard different things about. That movie is the 2016 entry Star Trek Beyond.

Plot/ After docking at Starbase Yorktown, the USS Enterprise, halfway into their five-year mission, ventures into new dangerous uncharted territory. There, the Enterprise is destroyed by a new ruthless enemy with a deep hatred of the Federation, and strands Kirk and his crew on a remote planet with no means of communication. Kirk must then work with the elements to reunite his crew and get back to save Starbase Yorktown from this dangerous menace.

After watching this entry in the rebooted version of Star Trek, I am sure that it will be one of the more polarizing entries. Fans and viewers will either love it or hate it, with very little middle ground mentioned. I can definitely understand that as I was torn myself (although, to be honest I am not a huge Star Trek fan). There were many facets of the movie that were interesting and entertaining including the solid cast (which are growing together as a unit), some exciting effects in the battle scenes, and there are some cool new characters added in. Unfortunately, the storyline is a bit thin with an enemy that does not truly strike fear into the film, the pacing felt off for a Star Trek film, and the scripting did not truly develop anything with the characters creating almost a repetitive shadow with extremely predictable actions. In the end, I did enjoy this as a Sci-Fi entry and likely would have loved it if I were not expecting another movie in the Star Trek franchise. You can give it a shot, but be warned, it is not your typical Star Trek flick.

Ancient Mysteries: Bigfoot (1997)

 

 

Last night, I took a break from everything as I headed out for a Friday high school football game, and to see my oldest daughter rock out on her trumpet with the band. Unfortunately, the hometown football team lost, but her band did rock out. Now, being back out in the mode, I decided to jump back into a Bigfoot Documentary with the 1997 Ancient Mysteries: Bigfoot from A&E.

 

 

Plot/ Ancient Mysteries examines the history and myths surrounding the Pacific Northwest creature known as Bigfoot.

 

 

This newer reincarnation of the classic Leonard Nimoy series In Search Of, continued the ideal of taking on a subject by presenting the audio or visual evidence along with a cross-section of interviews. In this case, as with a lot of documentaries, there is quite a bit of rehashed material. In fact, this one did a great job of providing a solid historical look with a modern take and theory.  In the end, it was an entertaining documentary of the subject, but it offered very little in new evidence. Is it worth watching, absolutely, but do not expect a revelation to come out of it.