Movie Review: 'Star Trek Into Darkness'

Star Trek Into Darkness Starring Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Benedict Cumberbatch Directed by J.J. Abrams Rated PG-13

I was never the Star Trek fan in my family.  No, that distinction goes to my Mom.  The TV show, the original 6 movies, marathon after marathon on any random cable channel, she was all about it.  And despite her best efforts, I just couldn’t get into it.  But let it be known I have seen a good portion of the TV show along with all of the movies.  Then in 2009, J. J. Abrams comes along with his reboot of a franchise that at that point, had become more of a mocked gesture than a sincere one.  And despite my initial reluctance, I went and saw the J.J. Abrams version of Star Trek…and enjoyed the hell out of it.  Sure it was more action driven, many would say Star Wars-esque, but you can’t deny that Abrams put some much needed life into the series.  Dare I saw he made it a little more accessible.

Which leads us to now and Star Trek Into Darkness, Abrams' follow up and presumably swan song from the series (at least as director).  Into Darkness isn’t dark, in fact the first one might have been a little darker.  Into Darkness also doesn’t skimp on the action, in fact it relies heavily on action sequences.  This may send more than a few Star Trek purists into fits of rage who already had beef with the 2009 Star Trek.  The action stuff is both good and bad, which I’ll get into later, but Into Darkness is a solid piece of entertainment.  And while the movie doesn’t improve upon its predecessor, it also doesn’t let it down either. 

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Movie Review: 'The Great Gatsby'

The Great Gatsby Starring Leonardo Dicaprio, Tobey Maguire, Carey Mulligan Directed by Baz Luhrmann Rated PG-13

Most of us have, whether it was in Jr. High, High School or beyond, read F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby.  Then beyond that most of have seen at one of the few adaptations that have been made over the years;  all of them faithfully following Fitzgerald’s tale of love, greed and the pursuit of the American dream during the roaring 20’s.  So at this point what’s left to be said right?  Enter Baz Luhrmann,  a man who loves to give you an extravagant affair on film.  The decadence of the time and people that populate Fitzgerald’s book matched with Luhrmann seems tailor made for each other.   That turns out to be the case, aesthetically, but Luhrmann is also the wrong person to make The Great Gatsby.

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Movie Review: 'Iron Man 3'

Iron Man 3 Starring Robert Downy Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Guy Pearce, Rebecca Hall, and Ben Kingsley. Directed by Shane Black Rated PG-13

What is there to say about Iron Man 3 that hasn’t already been said?  I could think of plenty of adjectives to describe the film but only word actually means something: Awesome!   What is the follow up to The Avengers, Iron Man 3 manages to scale down the danger but not really.  It feels different than all the other Marvel Phase One films, tackling something that feels darker and light-hearted at the same time.  This is how Marvel should do their films before each Avengers flick.

The year is 1999 New Years Eve and Tony is a smug bastard womanizer, like any day of the year.  He meets with Maya, (Rebecca Hall) a scientist whose official title was way too complicated for me to grasp, whom he has a one night stand and blows off Aldrich Killian (Guy Pearce), a young scientist.   Fast forward thirteen years later where Tony has forgotten about 1999, is feeling the effects of anxiety from New York, and building new technology to cope.  Then, in comes Mandarin (Ben Kingsley) a ruthless psychopath who wants the US government to pay for their sins. 

 

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Movie Review: 'The Big Wedding'

The Big Wedding Starring Robert De Niro, Susan Sarandon, Diane Keaton, Katherine Heigl, Topher Grace, Ben Barnes, Amanda Seyfried, and Robin Williams Directed by Justin Zackham Rated R

When you have a film with a talented group led by Robert De Niro  you should expect something better than so-so.  That’s not the case with The Big Wedding.  The film has the appeal of a Nora Ephron film and the polish of a Lifetime movie.  The characters aren’t likeable or even relatable and every one of their arcs is met with clichés.  I didn’t have a terrible time with it but it’s not the film you should see in theaters, only on TV when it’s playing on TNT. Also, it's a waste of talent.   

Don (De Niro) is the father of three children, Lyla (Katherine Heigl), Jared (Topher Grace) and Alejandro (Ben Barnes) who was adopted from Colombia.  Don cheated on his ex-wife, Ellie (Diane Keaton) with Bebe (Susan Sarandon), with whom he’s now with.  Alejandro is getting married to Missy (Amanda Seyfried) and has invited his biological mother, played by Patricia Rae, from Colombia.  Uh oh, Alejandro’s mother, Madonna, is a devout Catholic and considers it a sin to divorce.  That means Don and his ex-wife must pretend to be married for a weekend to please Madonna.  Yeah, from there you should know the film wouldn’t be any good.

 You'll wonder why De Niro or Keaton agreed to this film

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Movie Review: 'Pain & Gain'

Pain & Gain Starring Mark Wahlberg, Dwayne Johnson, Anthony Mackie Directed by Michael Bay Rated R

How does one even begin a conversation about Michael Bay?  The go to whipping boy for critics, bloggers, general film lovers (hardcore and the more casual), myself; the man can be seen as somewhat of a cancer on the film industry.  But someone out there likes him, otherwise his movies collectively wouldn’t have raked in over 1.8 billion dollars domestic.  But Michael Bay also doesn’t help out his case, he really hasn’t from day one.  Big loud obnoxious displays of grandeur, that’s what you get with a Michael Bay film.  Hell, even Pearl Harbor was that way.  Things got out of control with the Transformers films, where with each film seemed to display with glee everything that people either outright hated, or were only before irritated by Bay’s ‘finesse’ when it came to shooting a movie.  While Pain & Gain isn’t Michael Bay trying to transform his ways and make The English Patient, it is a movie that…I can’t believe I’m saying this…is one that I will wholeheartedly recommend.

Yep, it’s true, Pain & Gain works.  It works just a pure entertainment, it works with Michael Bay’s bombastic panache (though to his credit, the bombast is turned down in this movie) and the comedy, which has come under fire from some given the brutal nature of the story, works.  What Michael Bay has done is gone and made his version of Goodfellas and Boogie Nights…whoa, did those words just come out of my mouth?  Yes, they sure did.  But let’s get one thing straight, this is still Michael Bay.  Pain & Gain won’t get any mentions for best of the year or any awards, this movie is about 30 minutes too long and Bay still loves his slo mo shots…but gosh darn it, this movie works and it works well.

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