Have you ever gone back and changed your mind about a film?

I saw Nemesis today for the first time in 5 years or so and I liked it more than I thought I did. I've never hated it but I did have problems with it. But this time they really didn't bug me. Of the 4 TNG movies I'd place it second after FC. Last week I saw Generations for the first time in about 5 years and I didn't like it as much as I did before. It seemed a lot slower than I remembered. OTOH, I enjoy First Contact even more every time I watch it. I've seen it more than any other Trek movie except Wrath of Khan.

 

The Search for Spock.

Originally, I really liked this movie, but now I find it kind of boring and the Klingons acted really odd. It's not a bad film per say, but I don't rank it highly.

 

For me it's Star Trek V. I started out watching Trek as a teen in the 90's and I guess I got sucked into the vortex of thinking it sucked because most everyone else did. Now watching it as an adult, I like most of it. I like the little moments with the various friends amongst the crew doing their shore leave together. I think the humor is awesome, there are some touching moments, and Kirk asks "God" what he needs with a starship which is epic all by itself.

 

I've never been a big fan of the TNG movies, with only FC pressing the right buttons upon release. Subsequently, I find it rather syrupy and I don't really watch it that often. Nowadays I find NEM to be far more enjoyable (I was non-plussed with it a few years back), I think it has dated quite well considering the train wreck most people think it to be.

I found GEN and INS to be big letdowns upon release. Having watched them again a few months back, the letdown has given way to blood pressure increasing frustration, with GEN being the worst culprit.

Of the Classic movies, I've only changed my mind on TUC having loved it originally, I find it a bit preachy and pretentious now. I only watch I-IV nowadays, on which my impressions have never really changed over time. I've always loved each and every one of them (with TMP sneaking the win). They are amongst my all time favourite movies.

 

Improved with time/viewings: TMP, Final Frontier (if only they could fix ending), Insurrection (but only with hilarious Frakes/Sirtis commentary, whole new movie), Nemesis.

TWOK remained unchanged.

Only saving graces of TUC are Chang, Valeris and Sulu as Capt. Political allegory embarrassing. Meyer was trying too hard.

Never really liked TVH, Generations or FC. All just a bit meh.

 

I need to try this. Maybe I will change my opinion on this one too

 

For years, though I still watched it here and there, I though TMP was a very boring film. Sure, the special effects and music were great but the pacing was poor and it lacked the camaraderie that I was used to from the series.

In recent years however, I began re-evaluating it. My favorite aspect of Star Trek has always been 'Boldly Go...' which is something that is not present in any of the other Trek films beyond TMP. In this film they are encountering the unknown. There is no real villain to fight, no ships blowing up. Just the encounter with an unknown. In my view this saves the film and has made it my favorite of the lot.

 

frakes commentary makes every movie better

 

as a kid i hated TMP and V. the older i grow the more i appreciate those movies. i'm well aware of their flaws and everything, but there's just something about those two that i like. i guess they 'feel' like Trek more than the others.

 

Plus, I personally find it much easier to watch one movie without needing to watch one or two others to get the whole story, like some of the 80s Trek sequels made you do.

 

Let me guess, this commentary only appears on the Blue Ray? There are (unfortunately) no commentaries on my two disk version.

 

Tighter? Yes. More polished? Highly debatable.

 

I used to think that Insurrection was merely a meh movie that I had trouble staying awake while watching, but after forcing myself to pay attention the plot really pisses me off now. I wish I could go back to those carefree, innocent days when Insurrection was a good cure for insomnia.

 

I never disliked TMP, but I did find it boring. Then I saw 2001 and realizing that TMP was Trek's attempt at doing a movie like 2001 gave me a greater appreciation. Judging it against the other movies will only cause it to come up lacking, but judging it under different criteria makes it more enjoyable. Don't get me wrong, it doesn't hold a candle to 2001, but understanding it's not meant to be an action movie in the vein of II, III, and so on, makes me enjoy it more.

As for the other movies, V was the first one I saw in the theater as a Trek fan (I saw IV in the theater as a 7 year old, liked it, but had little idea about the backstory stuff, until I started watching TNG and then went back to watch II and III). From V onward, I have always walked out of the theater satisfied and then later, for some of them, changed my opinion. Needless to say, my opinion of V went down over the years, while VI went up.

With the exception of V, the only one I don't currently have on disc, I did rewatch all of the Trek movies recently and enjoyed each one for what it was. I didn't have a negative opinion of any of them. This was especially true of First Contact and Nemesis, two movies I had originally had favorable feelings towards (FC moreso than NEM), but my enthusiasm for them dipped a bit recently. With FC, I caught a few scenes on HBO a few years back and thought it hadn't aged well. However, with my recent rewatch, I chalk that up to having to seen the entire movie, instead of scenes to really enjoy it.

I never felt NEM was as bad as others made it out to be, especially my two friend who I went to see it with opening night. They walked out disappointed, where I walked out satisfied. However, a rewatch 2 years ago left me somewhat colder than my original viewpoint, but this recent rewatch elevated it a bit in my opinion.

I have to say though, and I know not everyone feels the same, that my opinion of Trek '09 has not changed. I loved it to pieces the first time I saw it and I still love it. The same goes for TWoK which I feel just as strongly now is a great movie as I did seeing it for the first time.

 

It took years for me to re-watch NEM and I found it even worse than I did when it came out.

The painful, unfunny wedding reception scene, the positronic signal BS, the pathetic excuse to get them down on the planet, the clowns that can't hit the broadside of a barn with machine guns as Picard cruises around in that oh so awesome dune buggy... just over 20 minutes in and I couldn't watch anymore and turned it off.

My views on TUC, INS and NEM have all lessened with time and (attempted) re-watches.

 

I just rewatched FC a couple days ago. I used to love this film, but on my recent rewatch so many little problems caught my attention that it was hard for me to suspend my disbelief.

Why on earth would the Enterprise crew tell Cochrane so much about the future? I thought that they were trying to preserve the timeline.

Picard's "revenge" completely contradicts the events of I, Borg. In I, Borg he overcame his desire for vengeance when he chose to not exterminate the entire Borg race with the virus. In this film he once again wants to make the Borg pay for what they did to him, even though he had supposedly already came to terms with what happened.

The humor isn't funny, and in general the script feels like it was dumbed-down for mass audiences.

The premise makes no sense. Too many plot holes in the whole "Borg travel back in time to assimilate Earth."

A weak villain. The Borg were feeling stale by this point in time (things only got worse with Voyager), and adding a Queen to the mix was totally unnecessary.

There are a lot of other things that I could complain about, but I'll stop there for now. Most of these problems are things that I either never noticed before or just didn't care about. My old score for FC would have been a 9/10 (near perfect), but my new score is 4/10 (below average). Quite a change.

 

I know this criticism gets thrown at First Contact quite a bit, but I've always felt that "I, Borg" was the episode where Picard was out of character and that "First Contact" is more accurate. I pretty much just pretend that "I, Borg" never happened.

 

I guess it just depends on what you prefer. I personally think that I, Borg is a much better TNG episode than First Contact is a TNG movie, but if you disagree that's cool.
I, Borg, IMO, is more intellectual and thought provoking than FC, so when it comes to choosing what's canon and what isn't I give points to I, Borg. But that's just me.
Since you appear to favor FC, what is it about I, Borg that you didn't like?

 

No, I thought I, Borg was a fantastic episode overall. I just found Picard's decision to let the Borg live to be out of character and unbelievably stupid. It was still a good episode in spite of that, but it does bring it down a bit.

 

I've tried to go back and change my mind about TMP and I will probably keep trying ever few years. I've also tried to like NEM but I'm still as meh about it as the first time I saw it.

I probably like IV more than I originally did, because time has camped it up for me.