Independence Day (1996) — PICK
Midnight Special (2016) — PICK
Star Trek (2009) — PICK
Star Trek Into Darkness (2013) — PICK
Recent home-video releases include a raft of sci-fi options, including a great many things Star Trek, one of the biggest movies of the 1990s and one of the smaller but more thoughtful movies of 2016.
Let’s start at the more obscure end: Midnight Special, from Mud director Jeff Nichols, is a thoughtful, low-key drama starring Michael Shannon as a father trying to protect his young son, caught between a religious cult and government officials, who are both interested in the boy.
What begins as a noir-ish thriller ends with Spielbergian revelation, evoking themes of faith, grief and parental sacrifice. Whether or not it’s completely successful, Midnight Special is one of the year’s more interesting films.
Much less interesting, though undeniably fun, is Roland Emmerich’s celebrated blockbuster Independence Day, pitting Will Smith, Jeff Goldblum and Bill Pullman against a world-destroying alien invasion on an unprecedented scale.
The latter-day sequel now in theaters, Independence Day: Resurgence, may be a dud, but the original is still an enjoyable romp, with its mile-wide spaceships.
Then there are the two rebooted Star Trek films, with their latest home-video release timed to coincide with the release of Star Trek Beyond.
Directed by J.J. Abrams, who was also responsible for last year’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Star Trek (2009) brings energy, pizzazz and a sense of fun to a frothy exercise in nostalgia that evaporates somewhat over time — a trick that appears to be Abrams’ specialty.
Star Trek Into Darkness repeats the trick successfully enough, though it treads too closely in the footsteps of The Wrath of Khan.
Both films star Chris Pine as a brasher, more reckless version of James T. Kirk in a timeline where he grew up without a father. Zachary Quinto does a fine Leonard Nimoy as Spock, while Zoe Saldana’s Uhura has basically nothing in common with Nichelle Nichols.
Caveat Spectator: Independence Day: Much disaster destruction and mayhem; heavy cursing, crude language and some profanity; some suggestive content. Midnight Special: Gunplay and sometimes deadly violence; menace involving a child; brief language. Star Trek: Both Trek movies include much sci-fi action violence, brief suggestive bedroom sequences (nothing explicit), brief shots of a woman in lingerie and limited crude or coarse language. All four films are generally okay for teens and up.