cinema – Page 126 – Matthew Liedke on Film

Man of Steel review

Director:
Zack Snyder
Cast:
Henry Cavill
Amy Adams
Michael Shannon
Russell Crowe
Kevin Costner
Laurence Fishburne
Rated: PG-13

Yes! Superman does more than throw an island into space! Hooray!

“Man of Steel” is another venture into a superhero universe for Director Zack Snyder who directed 2009’s “Watchmen.” The film is, at its heart, a superhero origin movie. However, Snyder manages to elevate it to a higher level than some of the other origin stories that have been done over the past few years. Instead of learning about the character through a standard a, b and c plot-line, Snyder instead uses multiple flashbacks to not only show the development of who Superman becomes but how he had to deal with his powers too.

The movie reaches the point where Clark Kent/Kal-El (Cavill) discovers who he really is, meeting a conscience hologram of his father Jor-El (Crowe) who explains why the alien is on Earth in the first place and what he should do for the planet and humanity. Jor-El’s enemy, Zod (Shannon) finds his way to Earth too, and seeks to wipe out humanity and restore the Krypton race. To stop Zod, Superman has to work together with Daily Planet reporter Lois Lane (Adams) who is one of the first to discover his origins.

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The Purge review

Director:
James DeMonaco
Cast:
Ethan Hawke
Lena Headey
Max Burkholder
Adelaide Kane
Edwin Hodge
Rhys Wakefield
Rated: R

“The Purge,” aka the hardcore version of “Home Alone.”

“The Purge” takes place in the year 2022. The United States has become a utopia, the economy is booming, crime is at an all time low, unemployment is at 1 percent and dogs and cats get along. This is all because for one 12 hour period every year, the government suspends all emergency services and allows all crime. This lets people to purge all of their hatred and get it out of their system.

The film follows the Sandins, a wealthy family of four with the dad named James (Hawke) who sells home protection services. On the night of the purge, the Sandins lock down their entire home while chaos is going on outside. Everything seems to be running smoothly until a man (Wakefield) running down the street comes along yelling for help. It turns out that he is a target for a group purgers who is trying to escape. The son in the Sandins named Charlie (Burkholder) feels bad for the guy and decides to let him in to the house.

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The Internship review

In case you didn’t know that Google was a sponsor for this movie, it will remind you about a thousand times.

“The Internship” follows two salesmen, Billy and Nick, played by Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson, who sell watches at their company, owned by their boss played by John Goodman. Things take a turn for the worse though as the company gets shut down and Billy and Nick are left without a job and have to find employment elsewhere.

Billy eventually gets the bright idea to join an internship at Google for an opportunity at getting a job. The duo become interns and find they have to work with a team of young misfits through the summer to win the job against other intern teams. The only problem is the protagonists don’t have any computer experience. However, they do have people skills.

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After Earth review

Director:
M. Night Shyamalan
Cast:
Jaden Smith
Will Smith
Sophie Okonedo
Zoe Kravitz
Rated: PG-13

Well, let’s be happy Jaden is only acting and not rapping.

“After Earth” begins with a large backstory of what happened to the human race. Years into the future, because of environmental problems, humans are forced to abandon the planet. While relocating to another planet, the surviving humans come in contact with aliens and the forces have a conflict. The brave general Cypher (W. Smith) leads them to victory by fighting off monstrous creatures by ghosting, which completely suppresses one’s fear.

Cypher’s son, Kitai (J. Smith) not only tries to live up to his father’s name and become a ranger himself, he still has bad memories of his sister being killed and not being able to help. Cypher and Kitai eventually go on a mission together on a ship but unfortunately it crash lands on a planet and the rest of the crew is killed. Because Cypher’s leg is injured, Kitai has to travel to another piece of the ship that broke apart during the crash to recover a beacon that can save them, however the planet they have landed on is Earth and it has become very dangerous for humans.

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Now You See Me review

Director:
Louis Leterrier
Cast:
Jesse Eisenberg
Mark Ruffalo
Woody Harrelson
Isla Fisher
Dave Franco
Morgan Freeman
Michael Caine
Melanie Laurent
Rated: PG-13

I wish someone would have used a magic trick to make this a better movie.

“Now You See Me” sets up a few different story arcs that intertwine throughout the film’s run. The first arc that the audience is introduced to is the story of the Four Horsemen. These four, including a street magician named Daniel Atlas (Eisenberg), a mentalist named Merritt McKinnney (Harrelson), an escape artist named Henley Reeves (Fisher) and a young magician named Jack Wilder (Franco).

The four meet after being summoned to the same apartment building and a year later they are putting on a big show in Las Vegas. During their performance they end up robbing a bank and there enters the next story arc, an FBI agent named Dylan (Ruffalo) and an Interpol agent named Alma (Laurent), who are on the Four Horsemen’s trail. Another arc comes into play as a man who is an expert at debunking magicians, Thaddeus (Freeman), decides to help out the FBI for his own gains.

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Epic review

Director:
Chris Wedge
Cast:
Colin Farrell
Josh Hutcherson
Amanda Seyfried
Beyonce Knowles
Rated: PG

“Epic” is another animated film from the studios that have brought you the “Ice Age” sequels and “Rio,” and like those movies, this one is stunningly mediocre.

The film follows a teenage girl named M.K. (Seyfried), who is planning to live with her father played by Jason Sudeikis. The only problem is that her father is an obsessed scientist who believes that there is a race of tiny people who live in the forest.

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Fast and Furious 6 review

Director:
Justin Lin
Cast:
Vin Diesel
Dwayne Johnson
Paul Walker
Michelle Rodriguez
Tyrese Gibson
Rated: PG-13

With the stuff some of the characters survive in this flick you would think they were super humans.

“Fast and Furious 6” is the latest installment of the now over decade long franchise. In this film, a dangerous, highly trained criminal named Shaw, played by Luke Evans, is after a weapon system worth billions. DSS agent Hobbs (Johnson) is after Shaw and requests the help of Dominic Toretto (Diesel) and his crew, not only because the crew is one of the best but also because Hobbs has information that Toretto’s old girlfriend Letty (Rodriguez) could still be alive.

With that, the crew from the past films are re-united and face down their toughest threat ever. This time the villains bring along tanks and other heavy weapons that the crew has to take down.

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It boldly goes where other Star Trek films have gone before.

“Star Trek Into Darkness” is the sequel to the 2009 movie that served as a sort of reboot to the franchise going back to the original characters. The film, which takes place in a sort of separate reality than the original series, follows Captain James T. Kirk (Pine), who is now in command of the Enterprise. His reckless actions though cause him to get into some trouble with the higher ups in Star Fleet.

Kirk’s issues with the upper command is pushed aside though as a new threat arises to challenge Star Fleet. Because of this, Kirk, along with his crew consisting of Spock (Quinto), Uhura (Saldana), Leonard McCoy (Urban), Scotty (Pegg) and Sulu (Cho). Have to go after the individual raising the threat. However the villain behind this threat, played by Benedict Cumberbatch, turns out to be one of the most fierce adversaries that the Enterprise has to face.

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Iron Man 3 review

Director:
Shane Black
Cast:
Robert Downey Jr.
Gwyneth Paltrow
Don Cheadle
Guy Pearce
Rebecca Hall
Jon Favreau
Ben Kingsley
Rated: PG-13

The 2013 summer movie season starts with a lot of booms, most of them coming from Tony Stark’s house getting blown to bits.

The third installment of the “Iron Man” franchise picks up not long after the mega super hero team up film “The Avengers.” After the events in New York, billionaire, Iron Man inventor Tony Stark (Downey Jr.) is trying to move on and live his life normally. However, because of the events that occurred with the alien attacks, Stark has been feeling nervous and has had anxiety attacks. To deal with this, Stark has been building multiple versions of his high tech suits.

While this is going on, a new threat begins to rise with an international terrorist who calls himself The Mandarin (Kingsley) starts taking responsibility for a number of mysterious bombings. At the same time, a man who has his own science corporation, Aldrich Killian (Pearce), has his own mysterious dealings going on and could possibly be connected to The Mandarin. Because of the threat that is brewing, Stark has to fight against The Mandarin, yet he finds himself short of much of his technology.

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The Big Wedding review

Director:
Justin Zackham
Cast:
Robert De Niro
Katherine Heigl
Diane Keaton
Amanda Seyfried
Topher Grace
Susan Sarandon
Robin Williams
Rated: R

This movie dares to ask “how many sub plots can you fit into one movie?”

“The Big Wedding” follows a large family that has been split apart by a few different issues over the years. Mainly, Don (De Niro) and Ellie (Keaton) were once married for many years and had three children, Jared (Grace), Lyla (Heigl) and the third, an adopted child, Alejandro (Barnes). The two are now split up and Don has a new woman in his life named Bebe (Sarandon).

Alejandro is the one in the family getting married with the character Missy (Seyfried).

Things would seem like just a normal wedding if it wasn’t for the fact that Alejandro’s birth mother will be attending the wedding and is a devout catholic who believes divorce is a sin. So Alejandro convinces Don and Ellie to act as though they are still married so he can make sure his mother gives her full blessings.

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