Monsters University

Are man-eating zombies not your thing? If not, then Pixar's latest film, Monsters University is the film for you. It takes the cast of Monsters Inc. and explains how they met.

As established in the earlier film, Mike Wazowski (Billy Crystal) and James “Sulley” Sullivan (John Goodman) are monsters who specialize in scaring kids. It's all for a good cause: the screams of children are their world's power-source.

But in this film, Mike and Sulley are students of the prestigious Monsters University. It's the Alma-matter of the best scarers around, which the hard-nosed Dean Hardscrabble (Helen Mirren) takes very seriously.

By the end of the semester, Mike and Sulley are in trouble. They're not cut out for the Scaring Major, says Hardscrabble. But they have a chance: the Scare Games. They pit MU Teams against each other in tests of scaring aptitude. Enlisting in the Oozma Kappa (OK) Frat House, the duo has to get its members in shape to face the jock house: Roar Omega Roar (ROR).

Pixar's first prequel is a good effort. Its plot is kind of easy to sniff out from a mile away. But it genuinely surprises at the end with some great plot revelations. It was also fun to see the OK House using teamwork to overcome its Scare Game challenges. Its real big drawback was its too lighthearted tone, playing much more to kids than overall families.

As usual, Pixar gets points for its production values. Its monsters are cuddly and creatively designed. The world they live in is wonderfully bright and colorful. Its sound design includes some incredibly strong roars and screams. Hopefully, they'll be strong enough to be noticed by the Academy, just as it nominated Monsters Inc.

Some have called this an Average film by a once great Animation House. But Monsters University passes because it succeeds in being a decently entertaining film. Its opening short, The Blue Umbrella, though, is certainly better than average.

World War Z

World War Z came back from the dead after a nightmarish production. Unlike the creatures it features, it didn't come back wrong.

Gerry Lane (Brad Pitt) used to be a U.N. Researcher. Now, he and his family are on the run from really fast zombies. Each person they kill becomes another zombie. They get on an aircraft carrier thanks to Gerry's U.N. connections. There, the guy in charge tells Gerry to help them find the source of the zombies. Otherwise, his family goes off the boat.

Gerry's quest takes him from South Korea to Jerusalem to Wales. Each site has a good zombie presence. Gerry has to outrun the undead if he's to avoid joining their side.

Max Brook's novel, from which this story came from, was a documentary on print set after the end. This is an action film set during the end. Very dissimilar things. So, how did they do with the film they ended up making?

Its first few minutes go straight from Gerry's happy home-life to he and his family stuck in traffic as the undead debut. Through the rest of its first half-hour, the film shows society deteriorating. Even at its PG-13 rating, the world it effectively portrays is a nightmare. It's the type of world I sure don't want to live in.

Things settle down afterwards. The zombie attacks go from unsettling to thrilling. It's helped by some good visuals and an even better soundmix. There's also some displays of humor, some unintentional. Its ending, meanwhile, may strike some as bizarre, but it's redeemed by some good exposition.

One might complain of its divergences from the book. But for what it actually is, World War Z is a good thriller with an undead perspective. If these type of monsters aren't your thing, you might want to enroll in Monster's University.

Man of Steel

For years, Superman's movie career wasn't looking good. Warner Bros tried to continue it with Superman Returns, but it didn't do so well.

So now, just as he did with Batman, producer Christopher Nolan has restarted Superman's cinematic life. This first new cinematic crusade is Man of Steel, directed by Zack Snyder.

Once again, scientist Jor-El (Russell Crowe) sends his young son, Kal-El, away from their doomed planet Krypton to Earth. Years later, Kal-El, now Clark Kent (Henry Cavill), travels the world. Clark was raised by farmer Jonathan (Kevin Costner) not to use his super powers in front of other people. But Clark uses them anyway when the time comes.

And that's all before he gets his blue suit.

The evil General Zod (Michael Shannon), who tried to take over Krypton in its last days, comes to Earth. He decides to build a new Krypton from Earth's ashes, but he needs a MacGuffin Jor-El sent to Earth with Clark. And he wants it bad. It's up to Superman to defeat the bad guy and save the day.

The "new and improved" Superman is quite visual. Its Krypton, in particular, has a creative assortment of creatures, spacecraft and geography. On Earth, Superman's super powers are displayed in some amazing scenes. The final fight scenes, though, wear out some of their welcome as they go on and on.

Much of the movie is all about Clark growing up Super. As a kid or adult, Clark maintains the audience's interest throughout the film. In fact, the earliest parts were so particularly captivating that I didn't notice at least 40 minutes had gone by.

The rest of the film's cast has plenty of well-cast characters. As Zod, Shannon is a perfectly brutal villain whose motives, though not methods, are actually understandable. Amy Adams, meanwhile, is great as the intrepid Lois Lane.

This new Superman is good, but misses some of the sense of wonder that Richard Donner introduced in 1978. Hopefully, the next one will make it really fun to believe a man can fly. Still, its ending, while long, doesn't raise a lot of logical questions as the first one did.

Now You See Me

On stage, a magician's tricks are best left unexplained. In Now You See Me, a film about magicians, there's plenty of magic revealed.

J. Daniel Atlas (Jesse Eisenberg), Henley Reeves (Isla Fisher), Jack Wilder (Dave Franco) and Merritt Osbourne (Woody Harrelson) were four down on their luck magicians. Brought together by a mysterious benefactor, they are the Four Horsemen. They make a name for themselves when, during a Vegas performance, they whip out a teleportation device. They beam one lucky sap to a Paris Bank vault and shower its 3 million Euro supply on to their audience.

Naturally, agent Dylan Rhodes (Mark Ruffalo) wants to know how they did it. But they're not telling. So he gets magic debunker Thaddeus Bradley (Morgan Freeman) to help him. As the Horsemen plan their next stunts in New Orleans and New York, they have to do what they can to throw the Law off their trail.

It's a $75 million dazzler directed by Louis Leterrier. There are plenty of amazing magic tricks conjured up by its visual effects crew. There are also plenty of magical plot twists from the screenplay to bedazzle the audience. Initially, one might find the magic less incredible once its secrets are exposed. But as it goes on, it'll make much more sense.

Think of it like The Sting, but with magicians. I did.

The Actors make for a good ensemble. They play with the audience's expectations of their role in the grand scheme of things amazingly. That's where the best magic is.

At 115 minutes, Now You See Me drags on for quite a bit, especially at the end. But its written and visual magic makes it worth it at any price.

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.

Oblivion

The world didn't end last year. So now, we face Oblivion.

Actually, it's only a movie.

It's directed by Joseph Kosinski (Tron: Legacy), who pitched the story as a graphic novel. The end result looks great, sounds great, but its story is only OK.

Jack (Tom Cruise) and Victoria (Andrea Riseborough) live on Earth in 2077. Sixty years earlier, alien Scavengers invaded the planet. They got driven off, but Earth got wasted. So now, humanity is on Saturn's moon Titan.

Our heroes have to extract Earth's resources for the new home world. They also have to repair the drones who battle the remaining Scavengers.

A space ship crashes to Earth one day. In the wreckage is Julia (Olga Kurylenko), the literal woman of Jack's dreams. For some reason, the drones tried to kill her. Jack tries to find out why, which results in some big secrets.

(Excuse me while I catch my breath.)

(So anyway...)

Its scenery, filmed mainly in Iceland, looks great. It's supposed to be New York in the future, but you wouldn't know that from first glance. Its CGI additions make it look like a real wasteland. The futuristic vehicles, a mix of CGI and on-set props, are creative as well.

As Jack, Tom Cruise is a confident, likable action hero. He helps the film even as the story gets murky overtime. In particular, there's a final plot twist that's more perplexing than shocking. Meanwhile, the film treats some supposedly important supporting characters as background.

It's not in 3D, so the choice is whether to see Oblivion at all. It's an adequate pre-summer blockbuster, but it could've been quite better.

42

Now that it's April, it's time for Baseball. In time for the season comes a Baseball movie. It's 42, a decent sports film about one of Baseball's greatest players.

In 1945, Brooklyn Dodgers executive Branch Rickey (Harrison Ford) decides to find an African-American ballplayer for his team. Despite all objections, he finds his candidate in Jackie Robinson (Chadwick Boseman).

Once he's signed, Jackie faces the racism of fans and ballplayers. Every insult tests his character. But to beat them, he has to have "the guts not to fight back." That philosophy helps not just the Dodgers, but the soon-to-be Civil Rights Movement.

Writer/Director Brian Helgeland has made an involving biopic. As Robinson, Boseman isn't afraid to stand up for his rights. Yet, he struggles to not let racist insults hurt him. That's what earns him the audience's sympathy, a point actually discussed in the film.

Also adding to the film are Editors Kevin Stitt and Peter McNulty. They make each ballgame exciting and every round of insults towards Robinson more tense. Composer Mark Isham also contributes strongly with a memorable score.

Still, bits of the story were too obvious. A minor one involves a young fan of Robinson's named Ed Charles, later of the Boston Braves. Even without knowing who he was, I knew he had to be someone important.

But those obvious parts didn't detract from the experience. 42 does what it wanted to do and that's what matters. That's a good enough reason to see it soon.

A Place at the Table

A Place at the Table brings up an issue brought up again and again: people are hungry. The reason it brings it up now is that no one seems to be listening.

Directors/Producers Kristi Jacobson and Lori Silverbush bring up the economic and social powers that control our food supply. First, they show that many people can't afford good food. Second, they show that many people live too far from the nearest grocery stores.

As a result, people are "food insecure." They don't know if and when they'll get food. And it's a crisis that needs to be addressed now.

It shows multiple personal stories surrounding the food insecurity crisis. They're the kids living in poverty and the single mothers trying to work their way out of poverty. They're the reasons why we should take this social inequality seriously.

One part that got my attention was its economic analysis. Junk food is cheap and healthier foods are pricey. That's part of the cause of increasing obesity rates. According to the film, it's due to economic mishandling by corporate farms. It's a thorough analysis that really got me thinking on that topic.

Before you have your next meal, think about those who can't. And think about how you can help. That's what A Place at the Table's message is. If you can find it, do try to see it. You will be educated.

GI Joe: Retaliation

I was supposed to review this last year.

But instead, GI Joe: Retaliation missed its summertime release and hit theaters now. Apparently, "Channing Tatum in 3D" sounded better than "Hasbro sunk again."

The GI Joes, led by Duke (Tatum) and Roadblock (Dwayne Johnson), are dead. The President of the United States (Jonathan Pryce) set them up for an ambush. While Duke didn't make it, Roadblock, Flint (D.J. Cotrona) and Lady Jaye (Adrianne Palicki) did. They make it back to civilization to get to the bottom of this.

It turns out that the "President" is Zartan (Arnold Vosloo), agent of the evil Cobra Organization. Through him, Cobra Commander (Luke Bracey) can now hold the world hostage with their new superweapon. To save the day, the Joes enlist General Joe Colton (Bruce Willis) and the ninjas Snake Eyes (Ray Park) and Jinx (Elodie Yung).

Director Jon M. Chu's follow-up to GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra succeeds in delivering over-the-top action. Its best sequence is a battle between good and evil ninjas in the Himalayas. The scene is dialogue-free, which leaves its amazing sound design and visual effects to do the talking. Anyone expecting exciting battles won't be disappointed.

Among its cast, the best is Jonathan Pryce as Zartan-as-the-President. He's smug, evil and proud of it, but he's also delightfully over-the-top crazy. As Joe Colton, Willis provides the best laughs from the good guys.

A few of its plot points are hard to follow. But overall, GI Joe: Retaliation wasn't boring. If there's a third GI Joe, let's hope that when it sets on a release date, it stays on target.

The Croods

The Croods aren't "crude" at all. They are, however, the stars of the latest 3D animated film from Dreamworks. And as earlier reported, it's also Dreamworks's first film to be distributed by Fox.

The Croods are the last Caveman family around. They survived because papa Grug (Nicolas Cage) keeps them in their cave. But daughter Eep (Emma Stone) loves to explore the outside world. One night, Eep sneaks out and meets Guy (Ryan Reynolds) and Belt the Sloth (co-director Chris Sanders). Guy tells her that the world's ending; the next day, their peaceful canyon is destroyed in a quake.

Beyond their destroyed home is a jungle land with exotic creatures. Further beyond, there's a place that Guy calls "Tomorrow." They bring Guy and his "modern" inventions along to help them on the Road to Tomorrow.

It's a fun, silly caveman adventure co-scripted by Sanders, co-director Kirk DeMicco and John Cleese. Its slapstick escapades, including the Croods' first experience with fire, were certainly entertaining. The Croods themselves are fun characters who are likable throughout the film. Especially fun is Sandy, the youngest, most feral of the Croods. Rather than a celebrity voice, sound designer Randy Thom created her growls from animal noises.

The Jungle Land the Croods travel through was also amazing. Everyone of its creatures, from a land-bound whale to the killer flamingo-parrots (I think), were wonderfully exotic. A few of them even join the road trip as characters.

Its only flaw was that it felt long, even at ninety-eight minutes. But in this cinematic landscape currently barren of good cartoon movies, The Croods fills that need quite nicely. As usual, I'll leave the 3D or Flatscreen decision to you, the paying consumer.

Oz: The Great and Powerful

A thousand giants can't do what Oz: The Great and Powerful does. Director Sam Raimi's prequel to The Wizard of Oz is a nice, colorful trip down the Yellow Brick Road.

Oscar Diggs (James Franco) is nothing more than a Kansas showman. He calls himself Oz: The Great and Powerful, but he wants to be more than a humbug. While making a getaway in a hot-air balloon, Oscar goes straight into a tornado. Instead of dying, he finds himself in the Land of Oz.

In Oz, he meets the witch sisters Theodora (Mila Kunis) and Evanora (Rachel Weisz). They believe that he's the great Wizard who will save them all from the Wicked Witch. But that all goes upside down once he meets the "Wicked Witch:" Glinda the Good (Michelle Williams). Confronted with the real Wicked Witches, our "hero" has to put up a real fight.

As with the 1939 film, the first scenes in Kansas are in monochrome. It's also in 4:3 Academy ratio, the aspect ratio of the earlier film. Once Oz gets to Oz, the picture expands to widescreen in glorious technicolor. The credit for this feat goes to cinematographer Peter Deming and production designer Robert Stromberg.

As the Wizard of Oz, Franco is a believable humbug who hates being a humbug. Among the supporting cast, the porcelain China Girl (Joey King) and Finley the Flying Monkey (Zach Braff) are likable digital creations. There's also an amusing cameo by Sam Raimi favorite Bruce Campbell as a Winkie Guard. Another fun cameo was the appearance of someone who was either the Cowardly Lion or an ancestor thereof.

It's in 3D and Flatscreen, but if you want to see it soon, see it on the big screen. At 130 minutes, it did feel long at parts, but it was mostly fun. And unlike Jack the Giant Slayer, it's also a lot more memorable. Perhaps its success will bring that other Oz prequel, Wicked, to the big screen.

Jack the Giant Slayer

Fee, Fie, ho-hum, I smell the blood of an average movie.

It's Jack the Giant Slayer, or Jack the Giant Killer as it was formerly called. It takes Jack and the Beanstalk and Jack the Giant Killer, two different yet similar sounding fairy tales, and makes them one. It's not that bad of a film, but it's no milestone in film-making either.

Jack (Nicholas Hoult) is the farm-boy dreaming of a better life. Isabelle (Eleanor Tomlinson) is the princess who wants to escape from her father's control. One day, Jack goes to town to sell the horse and gets some beans instead. That night, the Princess seeks shelter from the rain in Jack's house. Of course, that's when the beans grow into the beanstalk that takes the Princess up high and leaves Jack down low.

The next day, the King (Ian McShane) enlists Jack to join the Knights on a quest to save the Princess. Up in the clouds, they find the Kingdom of Giants, who are just waiting to eat them. 

In director Bryan Singer's early summer blockbuster, the best scenes are its first. It goes back and forth between Jack and Isabelle so seamlessly it's a bit ingenious. In the rest of the film, most of the characters are so summer stock that they're not memorable. One exception is the human villain, Roderick (Stanley Tucci), a sneaky ham who gets offed way too soon.

As for its obligatory blockbuster effects, they're OK at best. The growing beanstalks are amazing displays of CGI wizardry, and the motion-capture giants are adequately ugly. There were times, though, when the CGI effects stood out for the wrong reason: they were too obviously CGI. 

Overall, Jack the Giant Slayer is simply nothing more than a film to entertain an audience for an afternoon. When summer arrives for real, let's hope that it's blockbusters will be a lot more memorable than this.

Beautiful Creatures

Now that Twilight has run out of books to film, Hollywood's gone to the book shelf again for new ideas. Last year, they got The Hunger Games and this year it's Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl.

Ethan Wate (Alden Ehrenreich) hates his boring, far behind the times town of Gatlin. But one day he meets Lena Duchannes (Alice Englert), the literal girl of his dreams. The God-fearing townsfolk don't like her, and Ethan later finds out why.

Lena is a witch, or Caster as they call themselves. And on her sixteenth birthday, the forces of the moon, or something, will make her a good witch or a bad witch. All depends on her inner nature.

The wicked Sarafine (Emma Thompson) and Lena's also-evil cousin Ridley (Emmy Rossum) want her to join them. Ethan wants to be with Lena. Lena's uncle Macon (Jeremy Irons) wants her to do with none of them. And Lena just wants to choose what she wants to be. Simple as that.

All of this is more fun than it sounds.

The Screenplay, by director Richard LaGravenese, has a good sense of humor. There's plenty of hilarious one-liners and many fun performances by the supporting cast. Its young leads were great; even more so because their romance didn't indulge in excessive melodrama. There were some later plot elements that were odd, but they didn't detract from how good this was.

There's also some amazing visuals for those that want them. In particular, the dazzling interior of Lena's house was enough to actually evoke "wows" from the audience around me. Its special effects, including a dinner scene that goes awry, were also great. 

Those looking for a new supernatural romance won't be disappointed. On page, this story goes on for three more novels. On-screen, you'll be left with anticipation where this story will go next.

Zero Dark Thirty

Zero Dark Thirty is yet another film that makes history exciting. It's an even bigger challenge than what Argo and Lincoln did because this is really recent history on-screen.

Maya (Jessica Chastain) is a CIA agent who wants one thing: Osama bin Laden dead and gone. In her line of work, she has no time for anything else. She starts off by torturing terror suspects. Once she works up the ranks, she participates full-time in surveillance operations. She gets a lead on bin Laden's location, but only she is positive they'll find him there.

Of course, as history proves, she was very much right.

Having won Oscars for The Hurt Locker, director Kathryn Bigelow and writer Mark Boal assemble again for their latest political thriller.

It's not a film for those with high blood pressure. The film's editors William Goldenberg and Dylan Tichenor keep the audience on edge as the characters, both civilian and government, face death. Sound editor Paul N. J. Ottosson provides the payoffs by following easy silence with forceful sound-effects.

It's enough to make one cover their ears at all times.

As Maya, Jessica Chastain's performance helps keep the film going. Her character maybe one-track minded, but she's also doubtful of herself. By the end of the film, when her duty's done, we're wondering what she'll do with her life. Meanwhile, Harold Perrineau, Jason Clarke and Jennifer Ehle stand out as a few of Maya's closest confidants.

Some have condemned the film as pro-torture propaganda. But it really depicts torture as anything but attractive. It's a point that it hits home by stretching the few torture scenes on and on.

While it maybe pushing three hours, Zero Dark Thirty breezes through those hours with some ease. It did feel long at some times, but the climactic raid was a worthy payoff. It's certainly a film that earned its place amongst last week's Oscar nominations.

Gangster Squad

Gangster Squad? That sounds like a superhero team. But in reality, it's just a true crime story. But then again, gangster superheroes sound fun.

Anyway, the actual movie stars Josh Brolin as the hero, John O'Mara. He's a police sergeant in 1949 Los Angeles. The evil gangster Mickey Cohen (Sean Penn) has made a name for himself in the City of Angels. He's made such a name that no one will testify against him.

LAPD Chief Parker (Nick Nolte) is painfully aware of Cohen's power. So, in response, he has O'Mara assemble a bunch of cops to take on Cohen. Together, they are the Gangster Squad, with the power to break the law as they please to punish the lawbreakers. Now, all they have to do is to prevent Cohen from becoming wise to their scheme.

Director Reuben Fleischer starts the film off well. He gives the heroes some fun moments together and apart; a highlight being an escape from jail that goes awry. With Oscar-winning cinematographer Dion Beebe, his Los Angeles scenery is appropriately gritty and pulpish.

Its best moments, though, were when the film behaved as an action comedy. But for most of it, it played itself too straight. Not merely switching from fun to drama halfway, but playing both in the same scene. The best example is Mickey Cohen, whose hamminess belonged more to Warren Beatty's Dick Tracy. While the rest of the characters do earn some good laughs, they were overall too generic to care about.

As an action film, Gangster Squad will not disappoint. But as a gripping true crime drama, you might want to find something else.

The Impossible

It's nice to have a hotel room with an ocean view. You can see the ocean up-close; you can even see it as it comes to kill you.

Sorry.

But while you watch a movie like The Impossible, you might want to try anything to keep your spirits up. Even if it is a dumb joke.

Maria (Naomi Watts) and Henry Benett (Ewan McGregor), based off the real life Belons, take their three sons to Thailand for a nice vacation. Unfortunately, it's Christmas 2004; the day after Christmas, there comes the Tsunami.

When the water washes away, Maria and the eldest son, Lucas (Tom Holland) are stranded, alone, in what used to be paradise. Together, they try to survive hell on earth. Meanwhile, Henry tries to find them while keeping the younger sons, Thomas and Simon safe.

A good word for this movie is relentless. Its scenes of carnage and drama are its dominating forces. Among the "highlights": Maria being thrashed about the water for a long while, and suffering injuries which makes one question the film's PG-13 rating. There's barely, if any, relief from the drama, which only adds to the intensity on-screen.

Also contributing to the drama are its leads. Watts, McGregor and Holland convincingly portray desperate people who find hope by keeping others' spirits up. The more they prove resilient, against nature and for each other, the more these characters earn the audience's admiration. Even before the disaster hits, these are characters the audience hopes would reunite in the land of the living.

At 103 minutes, The Impossible stays on point as it heads for an upbeat ending. Even so, getting to that ending is a definitely intense experience. So don't go into the movie unprepared.

Chasing Ice

In the documentary Chasing Ice, director Jeff Orlowski set out to document the magnificence of glaciers. And also, to remind viewers that unless things change, these frozen wonders will no longer exist.

It's about photographer James Balog, founder of the Extreme Ice Survey. With his fellow researchers, Balog set out to photograph key glacier sites in Iceland, Greenland, Montana and Alaska. What they set out to do was to see just how much the glaciers have been melting.

End result: they have been melting too much, too fast. The more they melt, the more they exacerbate major weather systems. And what's been making the melting worse? Fossil fuels, for one thing.

Its primary case is that humans, while not the main cause, are a major factor in climate change. It argues that case with major scientific and photographic evidence. Among the evidence, Balog and his team find toxic sludge, residue of fossil fuels, melting the ice. Through time-lapse photography, Balog also demonstrates just how fast glaciers have been melting. It's such a well-argued case that should shock many a skeptic.

As a personal chronicle of Balog, the film is also a good travelogue of these glacier sites. Through him and his team, the audience gets to marvel and worry as the glaciers disappear. Overall, while the film's frozen scenery is wonderful, the fact that it's disappearing is not. If that's on your mind after the film is done, then the film's 75 minutes will have been well spent.

It's one of the 15 films, along with such works as Bully and Searching for Sugar Man, eligible for the Best Documentary Oscar this year. Even if it's not cited next Thursday, this is still a documentary worth giving a try. Whether major or minor, you're sure to learn something new about Earth's frozen landscape.

Silver Linings Playbook

While 2012 maybe gone, the films of 2012 are preparing for the Oscars next month. One such film is Silver Linings Playbook, a film quite more enjoyable than the usual Oscar type by a touchdown.

Pat Solitano (Bradley Cooper), who has bipolar disorder, has just been released from a mental hospital. After having nearly murdered his estranged wife, Nikki's, lover, Pat now has a restraining order against him. Despite that, Pat decides to do everything to find the Silver Lining in his cloudy life. Even if it means reading depressing works such as A Farewell to Arms.

One day, Pat meets the recently bereaved Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence). Tiffany offers to help Pat reconnect with Nikki. But first, Pat has to be her partner for a dance competition she's preparing for. Pat agrees and their awkward romance begins.

But there's also Pat's father, Pat Sr. (Robert De Niro) and his obsession with the Philadelphia Eagles. How's Pat going to find time for that?

Originally a novel by Matthew Quick, this crazy story was realized onscreen by writer/director David O. Russell. Its story balances comedy and drama wonderfully because of its endearing characters. Even if some of their actions aren't endearing, they are all people the audience would have no trouble emphasizing with.

As the leads, Cooper and Lawrence are the best of this "crazy" ensemble. Amongst the supporting cast, Chris Tucker and Anupam Kher, as Pat's friend Danny and psychiatrist Dr. Patel, respectively, are great comic relief and moral support. But really, these are just examples of an overwhelmingly excellent ensemble.

As a film about optimism, Silver Linings Playbook doesn't lose sight of its central premise. It's definitely one of the former year's best films and it deserves its place in next month's Oscars.

Les Miserables

While Victor Hugo's epic novel Les Miserables has had cinematic life over and over again, its most famous rendition hadn't. That, of course, is the equally epic musical composed in French by Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg and translated to English by Herbert Kretzmer.

But now, director Tom Hooper, to follow his Oscar for The King's Speech, has finally made the people sing.

Jean Valjean (Hugh Jackman) has just been released from nineteen years of hard-time for stealing bread. Valjean skips parole and makes a new life for himself as an honest man. Valjean aids the destitute, dying Fantine (Anne Hathaway) by adopting her daughter, Cosette (Isabelle Allen/Amanda Seyfried). But Inspector Javert (Russell Crowe) is right behind him, determined to bring the "crook" back to prison.

There's also a student uprising in Paris, during which Cosette falls for the revolutionary Marius (Eddie Redmayne). He also has a secret admirer in plain sight named Eponine (Samantha Barks). That is where the chase ends up, but who'll yield first?

I've seen this on stage before. Was it worth it?

Yes.

Since Hooper, bucking tradition, had the actors sing live on set, the sound crew had much work to do. What they have done is to create clear vocals to go along with the orchestrations. As a result, the show's memorable music is just as grand on the big screen as it was on stage.

What Hooper basically hoped to accomplish was to make a musical where singing and acting went hand in hand. This is especially true with Jackman and Hathaway, whose strong vocals move the audience's pathos wonderfully. The standout solos of Redmayne and Barks, meanwhile, also deliver some of the film's strongest moments. Stealing the show are Sacha Baron Cohen and Helena Bonham Carter, who provide much needed comic relief as the crooked Thenardiers.

It maybe around three hours, but those hours went by fast. My only complaint is that sometimes it went too fast. And while some folks might cry foul over the film's rearrangement of the stage libretto, Les Miserables works well as a movie musical. It definitely is one of the best films to wait all year for.

Jethro's Note: No Apocalypse.

Django Unchained

Mixing spaghetti western with American Western, director and writer Quentin Tarantino has created his latest stylized epic, Django Unchained. As with his other works, this film is certainly not for all tastes.

Django (Jamie Foxx) is a slave separated from his loving wife, Broomhilda (Kerry Washington). He is liberated by Dr. King Schultz (Christoph Waltz), once a dentist but now a bounty hunter. Schultz offers to make Django his associate, promising to help Django find Broomhilda if he does. Of course, Django takes up the offer and thus they go bounty hunting.

It takes them a while, but they find her in the plantation of Calvin J. Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio). Candie, despite appearing to be a Southern Gentleman, isn't willing to give up Broomhilda that easily. Or even at all.

Essentially, this is part Blazing Saddles, part Mortal Kombat. While it is a bloody romp through history, this is also a live-action cartoon. Its violence, and some of its characters' bigotry, is so exaggerated that they provide the film its best laughs. Its best, bloodless scene, is when a night raid by wannabee Klansmen almost goes awry because their hoods make it impossible for them to see!

But when Candie, and his slave henchman Stephen (Samuel L. Jackson) appear, two problems emerge. While the two make formidable villains, their entrance begins the point when the film becomes un-cartoonish. Even worse, it's also the point when its 165 minute runtime becomes glaringly obvious. What appears to be the film's final shootout turns out not to be and the wait for its real ending is just so long. When it does get to the real ending, though, the payoff is spectacular.

For those who can withstand historical bloodbaths, this film will certainly satisfy them. It will also satisfy its savviest of film-goers with its throwbacks to the Spaghetti Westerns of old. But if you can't stand ultra-violence, then something like Les Miserables will certainly be more satisfying.

Hitchcock

I like movies. I like movies about movies. I like Hitchcock. It may not be a masterpiece in film-making  unlike much of the career of its namesake, but it was a good film still.

It's 1959, and Alfred Hitchcock (Anthony Hopkins) has just debuted North by Northwest. But at the age of 60, he feels that his life and career haven't been as great as they once were. Once he's introduced to Robert Bloch's new novel, Psycho, he decides that its tale of Murder, Mayhem and Mother is what his career needs.

Everyone around him, from Paramount, to the Censor, to even his wife Alma Reville (Helen Mirren) don't find this latest project appealing. But Hitchcock is willing to make it anyway, even if it means mortgaging his house to do so. But as Alma grows more interested in writer Whitfield Cook (Danny Huston), Hitchcock finds himself going mad. So much so that Ed Gein (Michael Wincott), the real-life inspiration for Psycho's Norman Bates, becomes his imaginary friend.

As Mr. Hitchcock, Anthony Hopkins pulls off a great impersonation. His droll sense of humor, as seen in not just Alfred Hitchcock Presents, but the trailers for his films, is presented spot-on. His impersonation is completed by extensive makeup, which looks good on-screen.

Amongst the supporting cast, James D'Arcy and Ralph Macchio stand-out in their brief cameos as Anthony Perkins and screenwriter Joseph Stefano. Meanwhile, Helen Mirren, as Alma Reville, makes a great equal for her on-screen husband.

But at a brisk 98 minutes, it breezes by its characters too quickly. All of Hitchcock's eccentricities, such as his obsession with his leading ladies, are present. But unlike Norman Bates, it seems all his motivations can be summed up in three words: "because he is."

If the film dealt more with Hitchcock's own psychosis, then a much more compelling picture could've emerged. But as entertainment, Hitchcock is a fun, although a bit dark, piece of entertainment.