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.

Snitch

Based on a true story, Snitch portrays the events in which a father named John Matthews went undercover to bust up a drug ring in order to have his son Jason's prison sentence for drug possession reduced. Jason is in prison due to making a poor choice of allowing a friend of his to ship a package of pills to Jason's house so that he can make some money off of it. As a result he is busted by the DEA and given 10 years in prison - the minimum for a drug possession charge. The district attorney's office tries to make a deal with Jason by asking him to help them bust some of his friends who might be dealing drugs and in return have his sentence reduced. Jason refuses, but his dad begs the D.A. to allow him to be the one to help them make the busts. As John goes undercover he soon realizes that he might be in over his head. He meets up with a high-level thug named Juan Carlos 'El Topo' Pintera in the hopes of getting enough evidence to bust him and reduce his son's sentence.

Snitch is advertised as an action flick, but it's more than that (and not in a good way). As far as the action goes it's not really all that exciting, just a bunch of random sequences of car chases, shootouts, and fist fights. The story itself is more of a criticism on the harshness of the laws regarding drug possession and the government's willingness to pull out all the stops to end the "war on drugs". The audience is supposed to feel pity towards John and his son in this situation - never mind the fact that it's Jason's stupidity in his decision making which put him in this situation. The editing in the film is a little weird too. Most films have soundtracks that are exciting and loud whenever an action sequence is taking place. That isn't the case with Snitch. It had a weird, slow and almost eerie tone during these sequences that personally didn't make sense. Overall the movie was decent, but nothing too special. It's probably better as a rental/date night type of flick than one to see on the big screen.

Oz the Great and Powerful

Set a few years before the events of The Wizard of Oz, Oscar Diggs is a seedy magician (or rather, a con man) who makes a living traveling in a rundown carnival show. He has a knack for charming any audience, especially the ladies. Oscar is the kind of man that the song The Wanderer by Dion talks about. He charms his way into people's lives and then when he gets to close he moves on to the next town to find some new people to con. You see, the girls he meets want him to be a good man and settle down for once; but that's not the life for him. He doesn't want to be a good man - he wants to be a GREAT one. One that people will remember for his wealth and stature.

All of that changes one stormy day when he runs into a jealous beau of one of the girls he seduced. As he's running from the man he hops into a hot air balloon and gets caught up into a strong gust of wind which carries him into a huge tornado. He gets knocked out during the storm and when he wakes up he finds himself in a strange, yet colorful place. A place filled with ruby flowers, an emerald city, witches and little animated China dolls. A land called Oz. Oscar eventually meets a beautiful young lady by the name of Theodora who informs him that the people of Oz have been waiting a long time for him. It seems there is a prophecy that a great wizard will one day arrive in the land of Oz to rid them of a terrible witch that has been terrorizing them. She tells him (much to his delight) that all the riches of Oz are his...but he must first rid Oz of the Wicked Witch of the West.

Oz the Great and Powerful starts off a bit slower than I would have liked, but once it gets past the first 20 minutes or so it picks up steam and becomes a fantastic thrill ride for fans of the original Wizard of Oz. I saw it in 3D, and while I'm not a huge fan of 3D, it was one of the very few movies I would recommend seeing in 3D. Oz does a great job of not only connecting the dots from this prequel to the original, but also of being a great stand-alone film. I loved James Franco in the role of Oscar Diggs. My only complaints were the beginning was a bit slow for me, and the China doll character seemed a bit too much of a whiny brat. I didn't hate her character but I felt she could have been created somewhat nicer. Oz is a great little film that will make kids of all ages (and even parents who loved the original) want to take another trip down the yellow brick road.