With this week’s release of J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek, I thought the time was right to look back at an earlier big-screen installment of the franchise. But which one? Despite the enduring popularity of the Star Trek brand, few of the Trek movies could be classified as blockbusters. Even The Wrath of Khan, the current fan favorite among the original-cast adventures, only grossed a fairly unremarkable $78 million domestically. As of earlier this week, the biggest hit out of the Trek movies is the series’ fourth entry, 1986’s The Voyage Home, which was the only pre-Abrams Trek movie to gross upwards of $100 million.

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The blog-a-thon is a trend that's spread like wildfire all over the Internet cinephile community, but judged against even the loftiest of its predecessors, the Close-Up Blog-a-Thon, focusing (naturally) on great close-ups, was a runaway success. Hosted by critic/filmmaker Matt Zoller Seitz at his blog The House Next Door, the Close-Up Blog-a-Thon has attracted a daunting selection of talent from all over the blogosphere, with topics ranging from contemporary arthouse cinema to classic Warner Brothers cartoons. Hop on over and check it out, but only if you’ve got plenty of time on your hands. Believe me, it’s well worth it. — Paul Clark