Arbitrary Tacos

The four Diamonds of Steven Universe.

(Side note: I had to sit through almost 20 minutes of trailers, none of which were new and almost all of which were terrible or dull; still saying the Nerd Prayer for Suicide Squad)

When you take the reins of Star Trek away from J.J. Abrams, Robert Orci, and Alex Kurtzman and give it to Justin Lin, Simon Pegg, and Doug Jung you get:

Every character having a plot-purpose and a highlighted moment where they shine

Prominent casting of non-white actors

Women who kick ass, fix spaceships, and don’t have a camera leer at them

No sexist jokes

A deeply touching send off to Leonard Nimoy

Hikaru Sulu taking charge of the bridge

Hikaru Sulu having a husband

Nobody making a big deal of Sulu having a husband

James T. Kirk, infamous lady’s man, looking at Sulu with his husband and daughter and clearly wishing he had that kind of close family to come home to because heteronormativity is dead in the future

Cast being listed in alphabetic order in the end credits so that John Cho goes first

I guess what I’m saying is that with both the director and one of the writers being Asian-American, there was clearly a push for Sulu to get the honor he deserves in this

So many possible couple pairings from all the scenes together, and I ship them, all of them, just a big free love multishipping orgy onboard the Enterprise

Creative fight scenes that incorporate futuristic sci-fi tech and zero gravity

New plot instead of recycling the end of Wrath of Khan

Kirk riding a motorcycle, but in a completely plot-justified and clever diversionary tactic

Beastie Boys’ “Sabotage” being used in one of the best scenes in the movie, I kid you not, it actually makes sense in context

Lots of humor and witty banter

Trek’s traditional shining optimism about unity in diversity and human potential for good

Continuity references

The best Rihanna song in a long time for the end credits