Star Trek

Starring: Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana
Directed by: J.J. Abrams (“Mission: Impossible 3″)
Written by: Roberto Orci (“Transformers”) and Alex Kurtzman (“Tranformers”)

Welcome me with open arms Trekkies worldwide.

While I may not know the difference between photon and polaron torpedoes and can’t speak a lick of Klingon, the new J.J. Abrams-helmed “Star Trek” has created a new fan – at least of the most recent film.

Commanding the Starship Enterprise is a young James T. Kirk (Chris Pine), the son of a former captain whose reign was short-lived after being attacked by a Romulan ship the night his wife gave birth to James. Leading the enemy ship throughout the film is Nero (an unrecognizable Eric Bana), a Romulan who wants nothing more than to make anyone he comes in contact with suffer, especially the Vulcan race.

The back stories to the most influential characters of the series, including Kirk, Spock, and “Bones” McCoy are extremely fascinating. Give credit to screenwriting team Robert Orci and Alex Kurtzman of the overblown “Transformers” movie for reenergizing this franchise. With so much material to work with in “Star Trek” folklore, Orci and Kurtzman do well in dabbling in both the old and the new aspects of what has made the franchise popular for so long.

As the new half human-half Vulcan Spock, actor Zachary Quinto is spot on, not only with his pointy-eared look but when what he brings to the character. The scenes he shares with the original Spock (Leonord Nimoy) are well-written and fit in nicely with the new story. The most important thing about this small cameo is that Nimoy doesn’t feel like he was thrown in as a gimmick. His contribution to the film is integral and Abrams uses the short time he has with him to expand the story by light years.

Once Kirk enlists in the Starfleet, “Star Trek” never lingers. It’s an extraordinary action film complete with impressive special effects and solid performances by the entire cast.

Bottle Shock

Starring: Chris Pine, Alan Rickman, Bill Pullman
Directed by: Randall Miller (“Marilyn Hotchkiss Ballroom Dancing & Charm School”)
Written by: Randall Miller (“Marilyn Hotchkiss Ballroom Dancing & Charm School”) and Jody Savin (“Marilyn Hotchkiss Ballroom Dancing & Charm School”)

It’s always inspiring when a studio picks up a film based on a little-known event that happened years ago. It’s less encouraging, however, when that story is adapted into a human-interest narrative that you would find buried in the back of the food section in any local community newspaper.

That’s how little regard “Bottle Shock” seems to have for it true-life and triumphant tale of Chardonnay. Directed and co-written by Randall Miller (“Marilyn Hotchkiss Ballroom Dancing & Charm School”), the story featured is “The Judgment of Paris,” a blind wine tasting competition held in Paris in 1976 where a panel of French judges surprisingly chose the vintage wines of California’s Napa Valley over those of their home country. The contest is said to have put California on the map as a respected wine producer since the French were always regarded as the best winemakers in the world.

Alan Rickman (“Love Actually”) plays Steven Spurrier, an English wine aficionado living in Paris who travels to California to find the best wines to compete against the French favorites. One of the wineries he visits is owned by Jim Barrett (Bill Pullman), who has no interest in finding out if his wines can beat the best the French have to offer. His son Bo (Chris Pine), however, believes in the family business although he’d much rather be corkscrewing the summer intern (Rachel Taylor) than butting heads with his old man about issues of the past. Freddy Rodriguez (“Bobby”) rounds out the cast as Gustavo Brambila, a winery worker with an impressive palate, who’s passionate about making his own sweet nectar.

In terms of films about wine, “Bottle Shock” is not even close to being on the same menu as something like 2004’s Academy Award-nominated film “Sideways.” While an exciting history lesson about “The Judgment of Paris” would have been highly desired, what’s sadly missing from “Shock” is a developed set of characters and relationships we can become emotionally invested in. Instead, meaningless drama in the chateau knocks the film’s pacing off track and some rather dull moments in Napa ruin the overall beauty of the countryside.