After Earth

Set in the not too distant future, Earth's atmosphere has become too dangerous for humanity to remain on the planet. In a desperate attempt to save the population from extinction, they settle on a distant planet whose atmosphere is similar to Earth's, enabling them to live safely on the planet and hopefully thrive. Unfortunately they are soon face with another threat: a race of violent beasts called Ursa that attacked their settlements. Humanity lived in fear of the Ursa until one man named Cypher Raige was able to rid himself of any and all fear and single handedly kill any Ursa that threatened his people. A few years later, Cypher's son named Kitai tries to follow in his father's footsteps by enrolling in a military academy and becoming a general like his father. Kitai fails in his pursuit of a military career, so to help his son get over the pain of failure Cypher allows Kitai to accompany him on a mission to another planet. En route to their destination the ship gets caught in an asteroid field and is severely damaged as a result, forcing them to take refuge on a quarantined planet. The ship breaks apart during their landing, and all but Cypher and his son die in the crash. Cypher's leg is broken during the crash, so Cypher sends his son on a rescue mission to retrieve a distress beacon in the tail end of the ship over 100 kilometers away.

After Earth has an interesting concept, and I was looking forward to seeing it when I first heard about it. Part of what made me interested is Will Smith is one of my all time favorite actors. Unfortunately, I was ultimately bored with the whole movie. Not even Will Smith could help that fact for me. After Earth has been advertised as a science fiction/action flick, but there wasn't enough action sequences to keep me interested. As far as the acting goes, Will Smith's son Jaden is honestly not that great of an actor. I did like him in his first movie role in The Pursuit of Happyness, but ever since his acting has declined dramatically. Even Will Smith was bad in this one. I've never seen such robotic, almost emotionless acting from him. His character was supposed to be a tough, ready to fight type of character but he came off as just bland and not entertaining. This was one of those movies I had high hopes for but was extremely disappointed in. For me it wasn't even worth waiting to see it at the dollar theater.

Despicable Me 2

The dastardly villain-turned-good-guy Gru is back in the sequel to the lovable family flick Despicable Me. This time around he is trying to get accustomed to the idea of fatherhood with his three daughters (Margo, Edith, and Agnes) who we met in the first film. With the help of his "army" of yellow Minions, he takes care of his daughters the best way that he knows how. As he's trying to take care of his girls, he also tries to avoid a nosy neighbor attempting to be his matchmaker. One would think someone would look at this situation and say he's got enough on his plate already, but a secret organization called the Anti-Villain League is trying to recruit him to help them catch an unknown criminal who has stolen a dangerous serum that turns innocent creatures into devilish purple monsters (similar to Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde). Gru resists at first, but at the urging of his daughters he agrees to assist in catching the criminal. Gru must infiltrate a local shopping mall with his new partner named Lucy Wilde from the AVL if he has any hope of finding the missing serum and catching the criminal responsible.

Back in 2010, Despicable Me arrived in theaters and won the hearts of kids and adults alike with its kid-friendly humor and its fantastic messages about the importance of a father figure in kids' lives. Now, three years later, this lovable sequel is just as humorous and filled with as many positive messages as its predecessor. The voice talents of Steve Carell as Gru, Kristen Wiig as Lucy, and Miranda Cosgrove, Dana Gaier, and Elsie Fisher as Margo, Edith, and Agnes, respectively are all wonderfully top notch. Just like in the first Despicable Me, the Minions are the ones that steal the show here. Their Three Stooges style of humor is hilarious throughout the entire film. Parents and kids alike will greatly enjoy this one as much as the original. I personally liked the original better, but I still absolutely loved it.

The Heat

Special Agent Ashburn is a tough, by-the-book FBI agent who is up for a major promotion but only if she can catch a high-profile drug dealer who has never been identified except by a name: Julian. In order to catch Julian and stop the drug ring Ashburn must head to Boston and work with a street-wise cop named Mullins who prefers to work alone. Ashburn and Mullins butt heads and try to outdo each other until they realize that Mullins' brother is somehow involved, so they put aside their differences and work together to bring down the drug dealer and save Mullins' brother.

I'm usually not a fan of R-rated comedies, there are very few that I would recommend due to the comedic content being extremely crude and not all that funny. I would prefer comedies stayed in the same vein as early comedies such as The Princess Bride, Cool Runnings, Robin Hood: Men in Tights, or even more recent ones such as Hitch and Mr and Mrs Smith. The Heat doesn't shy away from the harsh language and vulgar jokes, but I did find myself busting out laughing more often than I would have originally thought I was going to. I went in mostly expecting to hate it, yet at the same time willing to give it a chance. That realization puts me in a difficult position because I would love to recommend The Heat, yet I feel like I should exercise a bit of caution in recommending this to people. Since it is rated R, and a lot of the content is pretty crude I would caution parents to preview it before they allow their kids to see it. For the rest, The Heat really is funnier than most R-rated comedies out there. If you can withstand a bit of crude humor then you will enjoy The Heat.

Man of Steel

On a distant planet called Krypton, a man named Jor-El attempts to plead with the leaders of his people to evacuate the planet due to its core turning volatile and making the planet a time bomb about to explode. When Jor-El fails to convince his leaders to evacuate he enacts a plan to evacuate his son to safety so at least their civilization is not completely annihilated. Before Jor-El is able to complete his mission, however, a ruthless Kryptonian General named Zod attacks the Kryptonian leaders in a coup to save the planet. Zod's coup fails to stop Jor-El from sending his son out among the stars and can't save the planet from exploding and as a result for his insubordination is sent to a place of limbo called the Phantom Zone. Jor-El's son's ship crashes in the field of an older couple by the names of Jonathan and Martha Kent in Kansas who raise the baby as their own. It isn't until Clark Kent is an adult that he begins to understand where he truly came from and the purpose for his being sent to Earth.

Man of Steel is the highly anticipated reboot of the Superman franchise that has been rumored to be the beginning of DC Comics' goal of introducing the Justice League to the big screen. While Man of Steel is quite possibly one of the best Superman films to date, it does have some pretty major flaws. It felt like the story was rushed at times so the audience didn't get a fair chance to really get to know any of the characters. The classic romantic relationship between Clark Kent/Superman and Lois Lane is barely touched upon, reduced to little more than an onscreen kiss near the end of the movie. Man of Steel also completely lost a chance to show the audience Clark Kent trying out his abilities when he first figured out he was different everyone else. The one thing I disliked the most was the way in which the story kept jumping from between the past and the present showing Clark as an adult and a kid. It was hard to keep track of what was a flashback and what was the present.

I did love Henry Cavill in the role of Clark Kent/Superman and Michael Shannon as General Zod. I felt they both had a great chemistry onscreen. Amy Adams as Lois Lane was great also, but I felt her character could have been developed a bit more than the story allowed. I absolutely loved Russell Crowe as Jor-El, he had some of the most memorable lines in the movie.

"You will give the people an ideal to strive towards. They will race behind you, they will stumble, they will fall. But in time, they will join you in the sun. In time, you will help them accomplish wonders." If you know anything about the Superman legend, then you have also probably heard the comparison between Superman and Jesus Christ. It has never truly been a perfect comparison, but one can't help but see the similarities. Man of Steel is filled to the brim with spiritual content that can't help but make Superman out to be a savior of sorts. Superman willingly and peacefully surrenders himself to the government to build trust between him and the rest of humanity; he takes the time in the heat of battle to help out a fallen soldier or move an innocent bystander to a safer place. When Clark Kent is torn between surrendering himself to the government or not, he takes refuge in a church and discusses his predicament to the priest there. The priest advises him to take a leap of faith in deciding his next move.

Man of Steel is not a perfect film by any means, but it is solid enough to keep fans of Superman happy and casual movie goers also entertained. It is worth seeing at least once or twice. I personally can't wait to see where this story gets taken to next and whether there really is going to be a Justice League film in the near future.

Fast & Furious 6

Dominic "Dom" Toretto, Brian O'Conner, and the rest of their group of adrenaline junkies/international criminals have traded in their fast-paced lifestyle and settled down in Rio de Janeiro. They're all enjoying retirement until out of the blue Luke Hobbs, the federal agent that has been chasing them, catches up to them. Instead of arresting and turning them in, however, Hobbs give Dom a proposition - help Hobbs catch a former Special Ops officer named Owen Shaw who has gone rogue trying to build a high tech bomb with the ability to wipe out an entire country's communications. As leverage for their help, Hobbs drops an even bigger bomb (metaphorically speaking) - Letty, Dom's former girlfriend, is alive and working for Hobbs. Dom feels he has to find out for himself if Letty is still alive so he, along with the rest of his team, agrees to help Hobbs catch Shaw.

Fans of the Fast and Furious franchise who might be worried the series might be losing steam need not worry anymore. Fast and Furious 6 is still a high octane thrill ride that is well worth the price of admission. It doesn't quite beat Fast Five as the best in the series, but it comes pretty darn close. The one thing I've loved about the Fast and Furious franchise (besides the really cool fast cars) is the theme of family is consistent throughout the franchise. It is still the case here. Dom feels it's his duty to go after Letty and bring her back home where she belongs. Even when she initially rebuffs him he still pursues her in the hopes of her returning to her roots. Dom emphasizes that "you don't turn your back on family, even when they do."

The things I haven't liked about the series (and is frequently the case here) is the over-the-top stunts that don't really seem humanly possible to attempt. Probably the biggest moment that had me going "how is that possible?" is a stunt where Dom's group is on the highway and out of the blue two characters jump from opposite sides of a bridge off the roof of their cars and safely land on top of another car before either of them were smashed by a tank. There's another scene shown in the trailer where several cars take down a 747 by shooting cables onto the wings and attach the cables to their cars to bring it down.

Despite the many elaborate stunts that shouldn't be humanly possible, Fast 6 is a fantastic thrill ride with a positive message about family that is sure to make fans of the series happy and ready for the next (and final) installment.

Star Trek Into Darkness

The last time that we saw Captain James T. Kirk and his crew aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise they were attempting to halt an assault by Romulans from the future for a supposed act of war by Spock. This time around, Captain Kirk and his crew are on a peaceful observation mission at an unknown world to study the primitive people there. As they are in the process of gathering data they discover a volcano which will destroy the planet and its inhabitants once it erupts. Kirk makes a decision to break the Prime Directive and make their presence known so they can save the planet. Once the volcano is safely made dormant the ship returns to Federation headquarters. Captain Kirk is promptly reprimanded for his actions against his orders and is demoted while his crew is disbanded and assigned to other ships. Before Kirk can properly say goodbye to his crew, however, an explosion rocks the Federation headquarters killing many high ranking officers - including Kirk's mentor Captain Pike. Kirk angrily offers up his ship's services to track down and take out the fugitive responsible: a man named John Harrison. Unfortunately Harrison has taken refuge on the one place in which the Federation is not allowed to enter - the Klingon home world of Kronos. Kirk must secretly travel to Kronos and capture John Harrison if he wishes to bring justice for his fallen comrades without igniting a war against the Klingons.

I'm not a die hard "Trekkie", though I did enjoy watching the Deep Space Nine and The Next Generation series as a kid. I'm more of a Star Wars fan than anything. I also honestly wasn't all that impressed with the first J.J. Abrams Star Trek movie; I liked it but wasn't completely blown away. All that said, however, Star Trek Into Darkness shattered my expectations. I loved it. The action sequences were completely breathtaking despite the fact that the attacks on the Federation headquarters briefly brought up memories of past terrorist attacks on American soil such as 9/11 and the most recent bombings. The sarcastic banter between the main characters on the Enterprise can get pretty hilarious. My favorite thing about Star Trek 2 is the positive messages about standing up for your beliefs, discerning what is right vs. wrong and also putting the needs of others ahead of yourself. Not very many films nowadays seem to have such blatant messages they are trying to get across to viewers; most of the time viewers have to dig deep to find even a small piece of the message(s). Rarely do I look forward to a sequel so much, but in this case I hope there is a Star Trek 3. I'm also looking forward to see what J. J. Abrams does with the Star Wars franchise.

Iron Man 3

Does the suit make the man or does the man make the suit? Such a question has been haunting Tony ever since the attack on New York in The Avengers. He's unable to sleep, and when he does he has recurring nightmares. He also begins to have panic attacks. The only time that he feels safe and sound is when he's in his garage tinkering away at his suits. Of course in doing so he alienates himself from his friends and the one person he cares about the most - Pepper Potts. She pleads with him to let his suits go, but he can't. It takes a terror greater than any Tony Stark has ever faced before in the form of an unknown terrorist who calls himself The Mandarin for him to shrug off his doubt and insecurities and answer once and for all: Does the suit make the man or does the man make the suit?

Iron Man 3 is an action-packed adventure that is a lot of fun, hilarious at times, but at the same time a bit disappointing. The action is insane and thrilling, yet the story itself is full of holes; it didn't explain very well how some characters fit in, had some pretty predictable twists, and the one twist that should have been a complete shocker ended up being a cheap ploy to keep the story afloat. The only things that saved the movie for me was the humor, the action, Ben Kingsley's character and of course Mr. Tony Stark himself. Even though Iron Man 3 is the worst in the trilogy it still ended up being pretty entertaining.