As you'll discover, I personally believe the even-odd rule to be bunk.
I also disdain the TNG movies to the point where I decided to headcanon a couple Patrick Stewart TV movies as Picard's messing around in the Holodeck because they'd end up being the best ones.
15. Star Trek: Insurrection
1998
D: Jonathan Frakes
**********
Unambiguously the worst of all the Trek movies. A species pretends to Pre-Warp so they can selfishly hoard a life-saving resource, and Picard and Co. miss the point of the Prime Directive and take their side.
14. Star Trek Beyond
2016
D: Justin Lin
**********
A mindless (and not terribly fun) action movie with little substance other than lazy tacked-on fanservice. Shares the first reboot’s problem of a bland villain with faux-understandable motivation: he wants to take revenge on the Federation and its innocent citizens for not bailing him out of the dangers of space exploration that he consented to.
13. Star Trek
2009
D: JJ Abrams
**********
A formulaic, mindless popcorn movie made by someone who by his own admission would have rather make a bad Star Wars rehash. At least it had some good visuals.
12. Star Trek Generations
1994
**********
D: David Carson
A middling episode of TNG stretched out into a movie with a poor attempt to include a meeting between Picard and Kirk. The results are disappointing. Extra points for having the nerve of recycling the exploding Bird of Prey footage from the last film. It also sullied the Series' perfect ending by continuing the TNG story, which next to nothing good came out of since.
11. Star Trek: First Contact
1996
D: Jonathan Frakes
**********
The movie that missed the point of the Borg by giving them a Queen. Generally considered to be the best TNG movie simply for being passably entertaining as an action flick. The high point is this eloquent speech from Picard despite its being deconstructed by the plot, but not really.
10. Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
1986
D: Leonard Nimoy
**********
Despite its popularity, it’s the worst of the numbered movies. Its stupid premise literally named a discredited trope in a desperate attempt to convey a fashionable lesson. Its generally liked for its good execution and its showcasing of the characters’ being themselves, as well as a few good details involving deterministic time travel.
9. Star Trek: Nemesis
2002
D: Stuart Baird
**********
Mostly a waste of a great Trek premise: the Romulans attempt to clone Picard in order to replace him with a mole but, being Romulans, they undergo one of their many violent regime changes, and the new government abort the plan and send the clone to die in some slave colony. Now said clone (a very charismatic Tom Hardy) has led yet another coup and wants to reclaim his destiny (Q should have been in this movie, he would have a field day with this). A few crowd-pleasing moments, but it’s a great idea reduced to a cheesy action movie when it should have been a political thriller. It doesn’t help that they killed off Data only to imply that he can be easily replaced with a copy.
1999
D: David Jones
**********
Picard messing around in the Holodeck as Scrooge as a means to self-assess his own misanthropic tendencies. Redundantly competent as a Christmas Carol adaptation, but fwiw it’s an above-average TNG movie.
2013
D: JJ Abrams
**********
Despite all the complaints about its being a cheap fanfiction of Wrath of Khan, it’s actually the most watchable of the reboots. Unlike the other two, it features a charismatic villain whose motivations actually make sense, and it has effective action. Abrams, being a normie, at least has enough appreciation of Star Trek II to make this one work. Ironically, the best argument for the even/odd rule.
6. "Moby Dick"
1998
D: Franc Roddam
**********
Picard once again examines his minanthropic tendencies in the Holodeck by playing an appropriate character. This time he explores the possibility he could be obsessive to the point of insanity. This, along with his turn as Scrooge, possibly helped him develop as a character throughout the series. It doesn’t hold a candle next to the prose of the novel, but it works as a surprisingly good adaptation with good casting choices like Ted Levine as Starbuck and Hugh Keays-Byrne as Stubb. The latter casting choice makes it a bit disappointing that Stubb’s scene with the noisy sharks was not included.
5. Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
1991
D: Nicholas Meyer
**********
I would like to give this the runner-up position for its execution and intrigue, but it has way too many plotholes to fully let get away with.
4. Star Trek V: The Final Frontier
1989
D: William Shatner
**********
Despite its inappropriately campy execution, it’s a solid character-driven story. Despite its apparent irreverence, it’s actually more like a based deconstruction of Reformed Theology (it’s probably not a coincidence that the dude who played Sybok is Catholic). I also love the idea of the Federation, Klingons, and Romulans’ giving lip service to détente by designating a back-water planet as a “Friendship World” and dumping three over-the-hill officials to just hang out there. I'd like to see a sitcom about those guys.
3. Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
1984
D: Leonard Nimoy
**********
A movie good enough to make retconning a character’s death work (mostly by coming at a cost), while deconstructing the apparent utilitarianism of Spock’s mantra. Also a great moment for Star Trek lore: introducing the Bird of Prey, the Oberth class, the Excelsior, and the fully-developed Klingon language.
2. Star Trek: The Motion Picture
1979
D: Robert Wise
**********
An artfully directed film with wonderful visuals and the nerve to show them off. Mostly maligned for being a slow-burn, but its biggest problem is its suspicious resemblance to “The Changeling.” At least it’s a better rehash of that than TFA is of ANH.
1. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
1982
D: Nicholas Meyer
**********
Just submitting to public consensus here. A rare instance in which an underdog villain manages to work. Good depiction of an antagonist who overplays his card because he’s obsessed with revenge, complete with Moby-Dick homages.
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