Man of Steel, the latest reboot in a series of large, blockbuster reinventions, completely knocks it out of the park, telling the origins of Superman and recreating a popular comic book hero. From Zach Snyder, David Goyer, and Christopher Nolan, Man of Steel has absolutely everything Superman fans could ask for and so much more. The quality of this film is so good that there is no doubt this franchise will go in the same direction as Nolan’s “Batman” series or the vast collection of recent Marvel films (Iron Man, The Avengers, Thor, Captain America, etc.).
Courtesy of WB Pictures
Man of Steel starts fresh and offers a unique, darker interpretation of the Superman story. When a far away planet known as Krypton is facing extinction and destruction, one of the planet’s scientists, Jor-El, sends his baby son Kal-El to Earth along with a piece of Krypton in hopes of someday creating a new planet. When a small town couple finds the crashed alien ship in Kansas, they take in the baby and raise him as their own. Given the Earth name, Clark Kent, Clark struggles to fit in and adapt to superhuman special abilities. After some time on Earth, Clark finds an abandoned alien ship buried in the ice and activates the ship’s systems, alerting a group of military prisoners from Krypton who have managed to escape their planet’s destruction. Once the prisoners locate Clark on Earth, the audience sees the aftermath of an alien invasion and discovers whether or not the human race will accept Clark as one of their own. Meanwhile, Clark must make his own decision whether to save Earth or help the prisoners destroy the planet to recreate Krypton. (more…)
I recently got a chance to seeThis Is The End, and writing a review onthis unique film was actually somewhat difficult. It is a stupid and vulgar waste of an hour and a half for non-moviegoers, but pure entertainment with inappropriate and hilarious comedy for fans of these actors and those who enjoy crude humor and mindless gags. This Is The End was directed and created by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg and features actors and real life friends, Seth Rogen, Jay Baruchel, James Franco, Jonah Hill, Danny McBride, Craig Robinson and more, in one of the wildest and inventive comedies of all time.
Courtesy of Sony Pictures
The first thing to note is that all of the aforementioned actors, as well as the supporting cast, play exaggerated versions of their real life selves in the film. This Is The End begins with Jay (Baruchel) arriving in Los Angeles to visit his long time friend, Seth (Rogen). They quickly plan out their night and decide to go to a party at James Franco’s house, where we see a lot of familiar faces, including most of the main cast as well as popular celebrities like Rihanna, Michael Cera, Emma Watson, and so on. After a series of unusual and catastrophic events leave L.A. devastated, six friends, mentioned above, find themselves trapped in Franco’s house. From this point on, it’s very apparent that this group of friends and the filmmakers are going to push the limits of this film and the generous R rating this movie was given. (more…)
Shawn Levy’s The Internship is a fun, entertaining, and pleasantly different kind of film. At its core, The Internship is basically an elaborate commercial for Google, as the movie places Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson as Google interns, living and working at the Google campus in California. Unlike other product placements, the film is completely consumed with Google advertisements, products, places, and more. The Internship is unique in that it combines older generations with newer “tech” generations and places them together in a comedic, Google-filled environment.
Courtesy of Google Images
After losing their jobs as salesmen, Billy (Vaughn) and Nick (Wilson) find themselves desperately searching for a job, quickly realizing that they are “dinosaurs” who are inexperienced and under qualified for the new digital age. They soon stumble upon an opportunity as Google interns, where they must compete with a group of young, tech-savvy geniuses for a chance at real employment. Once at Google, Billy and Nick struggle to fit in and understand their surroundings, where they are matched with a group of fellow interns in a contest to see whom the smartest team is. The Internship creates an amusing and humorous situation as Billy and Nick’s old school ways clash with the smarts of the younger, knowledgeable interns. (more…)
Now You See Me is a funny, witty, exciting film about a group of magicians who pull off bank heists during their performances and reward their audiences with money. Starring Jesse Eisenberg, Mark Ruffalo, Woody Harrelson, Isla Fisher, Dave Franco, Melanie Laurent, Morgan Freeman, and Michael Caine, this is a uniquely original film filled with stunning special effects and clever magical illusions. Now You See Me doesn’t have quite the smoothness as The Prestige, Oceans Eleven, or any other magic/illusion/heist film, but does feature enough positive elements to make this movie worth seeing and a great addition to summer movies.
Courtesy of Google Images
The film begins by showing the four individual magicians who are featured in this film, Daniel Atlas (Eisenberg), Merritt McKinney (Harrelson), Henley Reeves (Fisher), and Jack Wilder (Franco), and gives us a glimpse at their specific talents. After seeing a brief “trick” by each magician, they are each recruited by a man in a grey hoodie, who is later revealed in the end. Flash forward to a year later and our group of magicians is going from venue to venue with a very impressive performance. In the first show we see, the closing act involves picking someone at random from the audience and allowing them to rob their own bank. This is where we see for the first time what this group of magicians is truly capable of, and the audience sees that there is something more at work than just a magic show. Following their performance, the FBI questions the group, and the magicians spend the rest of the movie dealing with the backlash and criticism while continuing to put on the performance of a lifetime. (more…)
Last week, I got a chance to see The Hangover Part III, and it didn’t quite live up to expectations derived from previous “Hangover” films. Don’t get me wrong, this was a decent ending to an epically hilarious series, but it is often hard to continue recreating the same chemistry and magic present in TheHangover. This finalebrings as many similarities as there are differences to previous ones, as director and writer Todd Phillips tries to create something new while remaining true to the trilogy and wrapping up the story. In the end, The Hangover Part III makes for an average, comedic, slightly different, and entertaining adventure with the same characters and chaos that audiences have come to love.
Courtesy of WB Pictures
The Hangover Part III begins with the jailbreak of a familiar “hangover” character, international gangster, Leslie Chow (Jeong), who is seen getting into trouble with the main characters in previous films. The audience is then taken to our “Wolfpack” members Phil (Cooper), Alan (Galifianakis), Stu (Helms), and Doug (Bartha). This time, Alan has become out of control and has stopped taking his medication. When Alan’s friends and family stage an intervention, they decide it is best to take him to a treatment center in Arizona. While on the way to Arizona, the pack encounters crime boss, Marshall (Goodman), who is looking for Chow and knows of the group’s previous antics. Marshall takes Doug hostage and demands the other three find Chow immediately. Our characters then embark on a journey in search of Chow, where they meet a few familiar faces and create as much mayhem as ever before. (more…)
Star Trek Into Darkness is an explosive, action-packed, sci-fi thriller filled with aliens, spaceships, intergalactic war, combat, and a nonstop space adventure. From director J.J. Abrams, Star Trek Into Darkness is a great film for Stark Trek fans or anyone who appreciates the sci-fi fantasy genre, and includes everything and more than its predecessor, Star Trek (2009). Star Trek Into Darkness features a complex, highly intelligent story with stunning visuals, further character development, friendship, honor, loss, loyalty, and sacrifice.
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Star Trek Into Darkness opens with immediate action as the crew of the USS Enterprise find themselves trying to save a nearby planet from a volcano. Although violating several space-military rules, the crew escapes from the planet unharmed and stops the volcano just in time. After the Enterprise returns home, they find themselves in the midst of a great terror as an unstoppable force from inside their organization attacks the fleet with a bomb. Failing to capture this fugitive, Captain Kirk (Pine) and his crew embark on a manhunt to a space war-zone to capture this new threat. Lives are lost, relationships are challenged, and sacrifices are made as the Enterprise crew does everything they can to stop their villain in a combat-heavy space adventure. (more…)
Posted by
Caitlin Clark |
May 17th, 2013 at 12:20 pm
Once again, the Dallas Comic Con will be a major attraction for the Irving Convention Center. With an impressive line-up of talent across a wide range of Film, TV, Comic Books, and Graphic Novels, Texas’ biggest pop culture event attracts fans from around the world.
With appearances by William Shatner, Brandon Routh, John Romita Jr. (co-creator of KICK-ASS), Nathan Fillion, Andrew McCarthy and many more, there will be plenty for everyone at this year’s Dallas Comic Con.
The latest release of Walt Disney and Marvel Studios’ Iron Man 3 marks the third installment in the Iron Man/Tony Stark saga. Like any fantasy film, audiences must suspend their belief of traditional reality. Similar to previous Marvel films, Iron Man 3 has a lot of intense action, special effects, and ingenuity combined with superhuman abilities. Based on previous and current box office numbers, Marvel knows what they’re doing.
Iron Man 3 continues the long list of large-scale, superhero/comic book, fantasy blockbuster films from Marvel, including past films such asIron Man, Iron Man 2, Thor, Captain America: The First Avenger, and The Avengers, and future films like Thor: The Dark World, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, The Avengers 2, and more. Iron Man 3 does a great job of making the audience feel like they are in the right place and time following the events of The Avengers. This film is also the first of the Iron Man series available in 3D, creating a darker and different experience than before.
Courtesy of Google Images
Iron Man 3 takes place after the events of The Avengers, with New York City recovering from the aftermath of an alien invasion and the departure of the rest of the superheroes as they’ve gone back to their respective homes or planets. The film begins with Tony Stark (Downey Jr.) speaking to the audience and quickly flashing back to Stark’s younger party years, where he overlooked several people eager for his attention. Tony has no idea that these relationships will someday come back to haunt him. The audience is then taken back to present day, where Stark is tinkering in his workshop.
Soon after these events, a new threat presents itself to humanity: the Mandarin (played by the hilarious Ben Kingsley), who seems hell-bent on seeing man suffer and surrender as he carries out a series of terrorist attacks. At first, Stark is too preoccupied to interfere, but when his friend, Happy Hogan (Favreau), is caught in one of the Mandarin’s attacks, Iron Man must suit up to save the day. Stark quickly sends a public message to the Mandarin, including an invitation to come to Stark’s mansion along with his address, and the events that follow send Tony on a journey of rebuilding and retribution.
Oz the Great and Powerfulis a fresh, exhilarating fantasy adventure, loosely based on the 1900 novel, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and the 1939 film, The Wizard of Oz. Oz the Great and Powerful tells the story of how the Wizard first came to Oz, and the trouble he finds himself in. Directed by Sam Raimi (The Spiderman Trilogy) and offering everything a fan could want from the original story, Oz the Great and Powerful stars James Franco, Michelle Williams, Mila Kunis, Rachel Weisz, and Zach Braff in a fascinating tale of magic and the fight for good.
Courtesy of Google Images
Oz the Great and Powerful begins with the same classic black-and-white format as the original “Oz”, while setting Oscar Diggs (Franco) in Kansas as the conniving and questionably ethical, circus magician looking for greatness. When Oscar must escape the trouble he finds himself in, his hot air balloon is lost in a tornado. After surviving the tornado, Oscar discovers a world he has never seen before, the Land of Oz. While in Oz, Oscar meets three witches, Theodora (Kunis), Evanora (Weisz), and Glinda (Williams), and he must choose between good and evil, and whether or not to save Oz from a great darkness. As his journey in Oz hits its climax, Oscar puts on the greatest act of his life using his bag of tricks, illusion, and ingenuity, transforming himself into the great and powerful Wizard of Oz. (more…)
