Fast & Furious 6

The first thing you need to know about Fast & Furious 6 is that it has cars. Cars that are fast and furious. The rest that you need to know is in the following paragraphs.

This time, illegal street racer and thief Dom Toretto (Vin Diesel) and his motley crew are enjoying their retirement after their big heist at the end of Fast Five. Federal Agent Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) finds them, not to arrest them, but to recruit them for an important assignment.

British Special Agent Owen Shaw (Luke Evans) has assembled his own motley crew to strike military targets. One of them is Letty (Michelle Rodriguez), Dom's thought to be dead girlfriend. Their goal is to steal enough parts to make a blackout bomb, and sell it to the "right buyers." Dom's crew is assigned to stop them before they can put it together. If they can do that, they'll get pardons for their criminal pasts.

This sixth installment is the fourth by director Justin Lin and writer Chris Morgan. As usual, they come up with impossible and amazing stunts with fast cars. Especially so is its finale, when they use their cars to bring down a Jumbo Jet. It's goal is to entertain, and for that, it succeeds.

Outside of the cars, the heroes make for an entertaining ensemble. They work so well together, and their dialogue can get hilarious. Hobbs, in particular, has an interrogation scene that's so intentionally stupid it's funny. Evans, as the bad guy, is so perfectly vile that the audience has no trouble wishing him dead. 

A bit of the plot depends on the events of the fourth film, Fast & Furious. It brings the viewer up to speed well enough so they won't get lost. Still, one has to be familiar with the third movie, Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, to get the during-credit scene. Any continuity snags are rendered inert by the overall fun factor of this sequel.

This film is for those who love their cars fast and/or their stunts impossible. The next sequel, title yet to be determined, is already coming next year. Its aforementioned during-credit scene introduces the next bad guy; he goes unnamed, but his presence will leave the audience wanting more.

Epic

Last Fall, William Joyce had his Guardians of Childhood books become Rise of the Guardians. This time, his book, The Leaf Men and the Brave Good Bugs, gets the big screen treatment. It's called Epic. If film titles were more honest, it be called OK.

Mary Katherine (M.K. For short) (Amanda Seyfried) moves in with her eccentric dad, who lives alone in the woods. Her father (Jason Sudeikis) is trying to prove the existence of a hidden world in the woods. But M.K. thinks he's nuts. That all changes when she's shrunk down to microsize by the dying Queen Tara (Beyonce Knowles).

Tara, the Queen of the Forest, was the only one who could fix the damage of the evil Boggans. She had a magic pod that'll bloom into her successor by the light of the full moon. With her gone, the Boggans are free to destroy the Forest. M.K. has the pod now, and with the heroic Leafmen, she has to get it to bloom the right away. If it doesn't bloom with moonlight, it'll be a new Boggan.

The end result is good, but not that good. Its story-line was typical, but fortunately, not apathy-inducing average. It's helped by its cast of characters, especially the Chief Boggan Mandrake (Christoph Waltz). It's also helped by some nice visuals and Danny Elfman score. Still, some of its humor was more appealing to the kids in the audience than me.

Epic isn't as big as its title suggests. But if you're looking for a good family matinee, it'll do nicely. It may be cliched, but it doesn't wear out its welcome for anyone in the audience.

Star Trek Into Darkness

Captain Kirk, Mr. Spock and the rest of the Enterprise alumni are back on the big screen. Once again envisioned by J.J. Abrams, the Star Trek crew are going Into Darkness.

That's the title: Star Trek Into Darkness.

OK. Joke's not that funny when you explain it.

In the opening sequence, Kirk (Chris Pine) and company save the inhabitants of the Planet Nibiru from volcanic annihilation. The Federation takes away the Enterprise from Kirk, since that act broke their Bystander Policy (formal name: the Prime Directive). But Kirk gets it back when mad bomber John Harrison (Benedict Cumberbatch) shows up.

Their pursuit lands them on Kronos, the Klingon home-world, and John's refuge. Once they get him aboard, a lot of secrets are revealed. Among them: Kirk and company have met John before in another time with another name and in another movie.

Following on 2009's Star Trek, this voyage isn't as amazing as the last film. Like the last film, though, there are great effects scenes and background aliens. But there are also some bumps in the story and character logic that keep the amazing freshness factor down. Still, there's Michael Giacchino, whose music score is as incredible as always. Not to mention Simon Pegg, a great scene-stealer as Mr. Scott.

Overall, this voyage for the Starship Enterprise will make a good outing on a matinee. By Star Trek logic, in which the films alternate between good and bad, this is in the middle. Here's hoping the next one'll lean towards good. If not, then we'll need new logic.

The Great Gatsby

Since Hollywood can't get enough of him, F. Scott Fitzgerald's angsty millionaire Jay Gatsby is back. Rendered in 3D by director Baz Luhrmann, The Great Gatsby is unarguably the most colorful rendition of the story yet.

In his "younger and more vulnerable years," Nick Carraway (Tobey Maguire) pursued the American dream as a stockbroker. His cousin, Daisy (Carey Mulligan) found the American dream by marrying the brutish Tom Buchanan (Joel Edgerton). Next door to Nick is Jay Gatsby, the millionaire host of New York's biggest parties. No one has seen him, but they all love his parties.

One night, Nick becomes the only man invited to Gatsby's latest free-for-all. And it's here where the man (Leonardo DiCaprio) reveals himself.

Gatsby, it turns out, used to be in love with Daisy. In fact, he still is: all his parties are in the hope of getting her attention. Through Nick, Gatsby hopes to get Daisy by his side again. But once they meet again, things don't turn out the way he'd like.

Adding to the extravagance is Luhrmann's wife, Production and Costume designer Catherine Martin. The New York of 1922 is one of the biggest, loudest, most colorful renditions of the old city ever. It should easily remind viewers of Moulin Rouge, for which she won two Oscars. Her work here should put her up for consideration for two more.

Still, at times, it could've helped if Luhrmann showed some restraint. Its excessiveness outshines its characters by a wide margin. Even Daisy, Nick and Gatsby, the nicest characters in the book, were good but not compelling. Unlike Anna Karenina, I at least wasn't bored all the way through.

This Gatsby is good, but not Great. It's still worth at least a watch. Maybe someday, someone will make The Greatest Gatsby. Someday.

Iron Man 3

Last summer, the armored Marvel Iron Man was one of The Avengers. Now, he's flying solo, maybe for the last time, in Iron Man 3. And if it is the end, then it's a good one.

Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr) hasn't been feeling great since The Avengers. After his near-death experience protecting New York, Tony has been making Iron Man armors non-stop. His hobby's endangering not just his health, but also his relationship with Pepper Potts (Gwenyth Paltrow).

But then The Mandarin (Ben Kingsley) shows up. The evil mastermind of the Ten Rings Organization (from Iron Man) has returned to take his revenge on the world. His minions take out Tony's home, leaving him stuck with an imperfect new armor. Once Tony gets back together, he'll have to face villains powered by something called Extremis.

This sequel replaces director/co-star Jon Favreau, who still appears here, with director/co-writer Shane Black. It gives Tony plenty of fun things to do even out of the suit(s). One of the best was Tony defeating a few minions with ingenuity instead of an armor. Even The Mandarin has some fun when his true nature is revealed.

Of course, there's plenty of in-suit action to enjoy. Whether in 3D or Flatscreen, scenes such as Tony's daring rescue of an entire free-falling airplane crew are sure to amaze all. But the highlight is the final battle with dozens of automated armors fighting the villains.

There were a few oddities with the plot. But they were so minor they didn't detract from the fun.

Iron Man 3 needs to be seen on a big screen first. It's an incredible start to a summer with many, many, many more blockbusters to come. But overall, it's a super threequel that's just as fun as its original.