Star Trek Into Darkness keeps with the practice established in the 2009 Star Trek of remixing things from previous Star Trek films and television shows many long time Trek fans will remember while still being accessible to new fans of the franchise. It continues to hit that balance action, drama, and comedy, a recipe for any fun summer blockbuster.
The latest installment in the series that kicked off a phenomenon in modern movie history has arrived. Marvel Studios’ Iron Man 3 is the first real leap for that summer blockbuster brass ring. The hype for everything Marvel after last year’s juggernaut, The Avengers, has put this movie on everyone’s radar. The general rehashing of past films won’t cut it. So how does Marvel take on the Herculean task of matching the hype?
The true story of criminal bodybuilders in mid 90s Miami is a match made in heaven for a director like Michael Bay. He couldn’t have come up with a better piece of fiction himself. Based on the crimes of the so called “Sun Gym Gang” the movies follows Daniel Lugo (Mark Wahlberg), Adrian Doorbal (Anthony Mackie), and Paul Doyle (Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson) as they decide to kidnap, murder, and steal to live the lives they have always wanted for themselves.
This is the film 3D has been waiting for. Unfortunately no one told this to the writers. Have you ever wondered how the Wizard got to Oz has amassed so much power? Well Disney has decided to tell us that tale with cult favorite director Sam Raimi at the helm. Just how does a simple carnival magician put aside his greed and womanizing ways to become the Great and Powerful benefactor of a land of enchantment?
Arguably one of the greatest filmmakers of all time is the subject of director Sacha Gervasi’s biographical film, Hitchcock. Delving into the idiosyncratic relationship between Alfred Hitchcock and wife Alma Reville, Gervasi gives an insight into the couple’s life during the filming of Psycho. With a quirky and never flinching view of their world we get a greater appreciation for the man and woman behind the infamous silhouette.
With seven previous movie and two television adaptations under its belt, Anna Karenina has been a massively popular story since it was written by Leo Tolstoy in 1877. The story of a woman in Russian high society who decides to risk it all for an affair with a younger man clearly resonates with audiences and its not hard to imagine why.
For a movie that was so formulaic and predictable I sure did have a lot of questions. There are many things that simply didn’t make sense, weird issues with consistency or things that really needed an explanation while others did not. That said by the last act I was having a good time with a few good humor moments and overall things were simply coming together well. Oh, and the damn shaky cam was lighter toward the end so that helped.
Considered to be one of the greatest presidents that has ever graced the United States, Abraham Lincoln, has always been a prominent figure in American culture. There have been numerous books about the man, but none more recognizable than Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin. Director Steven Spielberg aimed to capture one section of Team of Rivals in his biographical drama, Lincoln.
I had mixed emotions going into Skyfall. On the one hand as a long time fan of James Bond, I had very high expectations for the film given the pedigree of those involved. On the other hand I tend to always set expectations high for Bond films and have been disappointed on a few occasions (most recently with the 2008 release of Quantum of Solace). Thankfully, director Sam Mendes has met my lofty expectations and has delivered the best Daniel Craig Bond film and perhaps the best Bond film overall.
Director Ben Lewin’s retrospective sexual journey of a semi-paralyzed man and the woman he loves is a simple yet satisfying film. The Sessions retells the true story of poet, Mark O’Brien, who hires a sexual surrogate to help him experience sex for the first time. The basic idea of the movie is fascinating in its own right, but the care to which Lewin constructs character interactions makes the story truly memorable.