Star Trek Beyond (non-spoiler) review, plus DVD panel at Comic-Con tonight!

Thursday, 21 July 2016 14:34

Star Trek Beyond (non-spoiler) review, plus DVD panel at Comic-Con tonight!

All right, it’s been a crazy few days here at The Bits, so I’m just going to post a quick update today.

First up, I was down at San Diego Comic-Con last night for the premiere of Star Trek Beyond. Paramount put on a great event, and I really quite liked the film. It’s definitely better than Star Trek Into Darkness, and it’s very different in tone to either of the first two films. Think of it this way: It’s the biggest, most action-filled episode of The Original Series you’ve ever seen, for all the good and bad that implies. The key thing is that it’s fun. It has a decent (and novel) sci-fi concept for a change, the action is imaginative, all of the cast gets involved, and there are a ton of great character moments. Karl Urban’s Bones gets his biggest part yet and he really makes the most of it. [Read on here…]

There are also many references to classic, prime-timeline Treks. There’s a new character, Jayla (Sofia Boutella), who steals the show - she reminds me a bit of Leeloo from The Fifth Element. There’s a great tribute to Leonard Nimoy (and Spock) as well as Anton Yelchin. Michael Giacchino’s score is terrific. Oh, and all is forgiven with regard to that first trailer everyone disliked. You’ll understand when you see the film. Star Trek Beyond is not perfect by any means, but just go with your mind open and be willing to have fun, and I think you’ll really enjoy it.

Also today, if you’re down at Comic-Con, our friend Chris Gore is hosting a fun DVD-Duesday panel tonight at 7PM in Room 25ABC. More old friends are on the panel, including Cliff Stephenson, Charles de Lauzirika, and Brian Ward from Shout! Factory. Do check it out if you’re there!

Now then... I’ll get you all caught up on the latest Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K announcement news tomorrow, and I’m going to dive into review mode to cover a lot of new, recent, and forthcoming titles over the next couple of weeks, including Batman v Superman, Sing Street, and others. So be sure to check back tomorrow for that.

In case you missed it earlier this week, here’s another look at the Blu-ray cover artwork for most of the titles mentioned above as well as most of the newly-announced Criterion October titles (with Amazon pre-order links if available)...

Meanwhile... stay tuned!

- Bill Hunt (@BillHuntBits)