First Contact is actually pretty good on the little screen. It’s unwatchable on the big screen though because Frakes was so addicted to the Trek TV directing style of nothing but closeups and extreme closeups. The biggest thing I remember from watching it on the big screen is the cracks in the Borg makeup, years later seeing it on the little screen I actually could watch a pretty good story, but I’ll always hate it for that first viewing.
I watched the first movie again last weekend, I swear it gets worse every time. So plodding and slow and self important, it feels like a so-so episode of the show they added an hour and a half to. Not to mention the incredibly awful FX. My “favorite” 2 scenes are the cardboard cutouts (at least that’s what they look like) of Kirk and Scotty in the shuttle pod docking with the Enterprise, and the 4 minutes of V’Ger making noise (near the end when they’ve figured out what V’Ger) that’s nothing but cuts between the set with lights flashing in and on it and reaction shots of the crew looking confused (pretty sure they weren’t acting, they were just confused). And we were so in love with that thing when it came out too, wasn’t until years later when the VHS came out that we realized it stank on ice.
It had great music though...as did wrath of Khan. Those music directors must have been listening to Vaughn Williams’ Sea Symphony for inspiration.