The Motion Picture was so dull and IMO not at all what Star Trek was - certainly it wasn't in the same spirit as the original series and failed miserably at being true to the iconic TV series.
Wrath of Khan was a great movie, again it wasn't in the spirit of the original series but it was the polar opposite to TMP, dark, brooding and a logical progression from the original series and in particular the episode "Space Seed"
The Search for Spock dreamed big and would have been really cool had it been given the money to be all it could have been. Having said that, IMO it's truly satisfying as a follow up to Wrath of Khan. If Khan set the tone, Search established the TOS movie tone.
The Voyage Home was such a brilliant balance between mainstream comedy movie, slight parody and awesome Star Trek movie and those aspects combined turned out to be a really great Trek movie, great message, great humour, great Trek. Hope was high for Star Trek five.
The Final Frontier oh dear...
The Undiscovered Country came too late I feel. Had this been Star Trek five, I think it would have been remembered as one of the best Star Trek movie but I think whilst the story is great, and on the whole the film works, I think the crew were past their prime and not having grown up on TOS (I'm a TNG boy) I just felt that these guys were just too old to be saving the universe. TNG had taken the wind out of TOS by the time TUC came along.
Generations was where Star Trek began to grab my attention. I'd been watching TNG and DS9 on TV, BBC 2, 6pm for a few years since my mum is a huge Star Trek fan but I'd never really take it in and appreciate it... Until Generations. The climactic crash sequence was incredible and from that day forth I was a Star Trek fan.
First Contact was just an amazing movie and is my favourite of the 10 classic Star Trek movies. It did with TNG what WoK did for TOS.
Insurrection a decent TV movie
Nemesis I loved back in 2003 (it released in Jan 2003 in the UK), the Enterprise E crashing into the Scimitar was just brilliant and I remember thinking that Star Trek had become cool again... over 10 years on Nemesis kind of revealed itself to be a decent but a flawed movie
Star Trek was one of those movies that made me realise how incredible Star Trek could be with the right amount of money. Had Frakes or Meyer been given this kind of money they'd have done their Star Trek movies like this. That opening 10 minutes was just jaw dropping. Star Trek for me had come full circle. the past nicely wrapped up with the future just beginning... Star Trek was back.
Into Darkness was simply incredible. From the action, to the suggestive storyline. Did it have it's faults? Yes sure but what Trek movies... What movies haven't and to be fair, there have been Star Trek movies with far more issues and plot holes than Into Darkness.
I've approached this new era of Star Trek movies with an open mind. This is of course just another chapter in the history of Star Trek just as TNG was a radical departure from TOS and just as Deep Space Nine was a departure from TNG. Whilst many fans remain adamant that this betrays whatever, it really doesn't. From TMP, Star Trek has always been able to be anything in style and substance, from the gung-ho, wagon train nature of TOS to the slow, thoughtful and intellectual (hmm) story of TMP to the humour of TVH, the cheesy, crap-tastic, TFF and now the action and spectacle of the Abrams movies...