Fast and Furious 6 - 3 1/2 smiles

All of the Fast and Furious movies are big, dumb, loud, ridiculously implausible and highly melodramatic. But the appeal of this series of movies, which has made $1.5 billion so far and shows no signs of slowing down, is undeniable, especially with 2012’s Fast Five. “Fast and Furious 6’ continues in the same vein, bringing back all of the characters from Five and adding a new villain and a return of an original character. The latest edition proves that car chases with real stunt drivers are still more thrilling than most CGI spectacles. Now, I have to admit that I enjoy even the cheesiest of action flicks so it should be no surprise that I looked forward to seeing this one. And I wasn’t disappointed. “Fast and Furious 6” is a great ride!

Letty (Michelle Rodriguez), supposedly killed in the fourth chapter of this story, is actually alive and apparently working for a nefarious former SAS officer and current terrorist named Shaw (Luke Evans). FBI agent Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson), decides that the only way to stop Shaw is by recruiting the now-wealthy-and-off-the-grid crew led by the love of Letty’s life, Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel). Because, of course, all other FBI agents are busy and Dom’s crew is probably more effective anyway. And there’s no such thing as an action sequence that is too over-the-top as people fly from one moving vehicle to another. Just about every character gets to do this at least once. And Rodriguez has a knock-down-drag-out fight with mixed-martial-arts actress Gina Carano that’s impressive. “Fast and Furious 6” doesn’t need CGI or 3D to please its audience. This is definitely a summer crowd pleaser. 5/24/13

Star Trek: Into Darkness - 4 smiles

To appreciate fully “Star Trek: Into Darkness,” it helps if you saw J.J. Abrams’ 2009 Star Trek reboot and are a fan of the original Gene Roddenberry TV series. You can certainly enjoy “Into Darkness” as a stand-alone sci-fi action flick, but the deeper pleasure comes from a history with the franchise. As the central characters, Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Simon Pegg and Karl Urban have an easy camaraderie and are so good that we never feel like we’re watching imposers. Pine’s Kirk has the swagger, looks and heroism to match Shatner’s while Quinto finds the balance between logic and emotion that Nimoy used in the role of Spock. Pegg’s often put-upon Scotty is humorously right on and Ubran’s McCoy offers a near-pitch perfect echo of Kelley’s sardonic wit. As the villain, Benedict Cumberbatch brings depth to the typically one-dimensional bad guy. The special effects are first rate although seeing the movie in 3D isn’t necessary.

The film starts a short time after the conclusion of the 2009 entry. Kirk (Pine) and his crew are trying to save a primitive society from an erupting volcano. In the process, Spock (Quinto) becomes trapped and Kirk must violate The Federation’s ‘Prime Directive’ to save him. This results in the Enterprise being given back to Admiral Christopher Pike (Bruce Greenwood) and Kirk being demoted to First Officer. However, as this is happening, a rogue Starfleet officer, Commander John Harrison (Cumberbatch), has declared war on his employers. He detonates a bomb in London then stages a sneak attack on Starfleet Headquarters. Admiral Marcus (Peter Weller), Pike’s superior, gives Kirk back his ship with new orders: track down Harrison, who is hiding on a Klingon planet, and bring him to justice. Director Abrams takes an opportunity to do what the old Star Trek often did: use a futuristic scenario to comment on contemporary issues. In this case, it’s terrorism and the policy of manufacturing a war to eliminate a perceived threat. “Star Trek: Into Darkness” is a gratifying continuation of characters we’ve come to care about. 5/15/2013

The Great Gatsby - 2 smiles

Although Baz Luhrmann interpretation of  “The Great Gatsby” is faithful to the essence of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s great American novel, some of his choices are bizarre. The party sequences, which feature music from the likes of Kanye West and Jay Z, are so wildly out-of-step with the setting and essence of the movie that they’re jarring. The decision to film the movie in 3D seems unnecessary and the occasional use of pop-up words across the screen is juvenile and distracting. And finally, the use of a framing device, with Nick Carraway (Toby Maguire) telling his tale to a psychologist in a sanitarium, seems unnecessary.

The story flashes back to 1922 New York and introduces the main characters. In addition to Nick, who has moved to the city to sell bonds, we meet his cousin Daisy Buchanan (Carey Mulligan), her husband, Tom (Joel Edgerton), and Daisy’s best friend, Jordan Baker (Elizabeth Debicki). Then there’s Jay Gatsby (Leonardo DiCaprio), the wealthy, mysterious man who lives in a mansion next door to the little cottage Nick has rented for the summer. Gatsby wastes little time in befriending Nick, but his ulterior motive is to reconnect with Daisy and rekindle their former romance. There’s no arguing that DiCaprio looks the part of Gatsby. Unfortunately, the pacing is consistently off and DiCaprio’s Gatsby has bouts of stiffness (which might be intentional, but it’s distracting nonetheless). Maguire’s Nick functions as observer and narrator. Mulligan is unremarkable as Daisy mainly because Daisy’s character is superficial and unremarkable. She has the look of Gatsby’s ‘Golden Girl,’ his unattainable goal and she’s not asked to show much depth. Edgerton is effective as a man who wants both his wife and his mistress. In between instances of excess, there are moments of beauty and Fitzgerald’s themes about love, power and the American Dream are intact. Unfortunately, there’s too much 3D razzle-dazzle and not enough substance. 5/10/2013

Iron Man 3 - 3 1/2 smiles

I like “Iron Man 3” as much as I liked the original Iron Man. The problem that keeps 3 from being the best movie in the series is the credibility issues that result from 3 being a standalone adventure, taking place in the Avengers universe. Although Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) refers to events in The Avengers (aliens and the black hole that he flew into to save the world), the absence of SHIELD is puzzling, especially since Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury was a presence in Ironman I and 2.  Nonetheless, Downey is as funny and effective as ever, if not more so and he is the main reason to see “Iron Man 3.” If this is Downey Jr.’s last as Iron Man in a solo movie (as he has indicated in interviews), it’s a solid way to end the series. However, 3D adds nothing to the movie except to inflate the ticket price.

The movie begins shortly after the events depicted in The Avengers and Tony Stark has returned to Malibu where he and Pepper Pots (Gwyneth Paltrow) live together.  Tony has a case of insomnia and also suffers from anxiety attacks. Unable to sleep, he tinkers with new versions of The Suit. When an attack from a terrorist known only as ‘The Mandarin’ (Ben Kingsley) puts Stark’s faithful bodyguard Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau) in a coma, Tony vows revenge. This puts him in the crosshairs of The Mandarin and his henchman, Aldrich Killian (Guy Pearce). Tony met Killian, a brilliant scientist, in 1999 at a New Year’s Eve party along with Maya Hansen (Rebecca Hall), another brainy scientist. He doesn’t think much about either of them until now. Circumstances transport Tony to rural Tennessee, where he is helped by an 8-year-old boy (Ty Simpkins). Adorable Simpkins is a good match for Downey’s cynical Tony. There are a couple of satisfying twists, one of which is hilarious and an encounter with a fan boy is also funny. Tony must rely on his wits as much as his Iron Man suit although the when the suit reemerges, it does so in varying (and humorous) degrees. Director Shane Black includes the requisite big action scenes, blowing up a lot of everything. Even Don Chile’s Col. James Rhodes gets into the action. “Iron Man 3” is definitely worth seeing. 5/3/13

Kon-Tiki - 3 smiles

“Kon Tiki” is an old-fashioned, man vs. nature movie, based on Thor Heyerdahl’s epic journey of 5,000 miles from Peru to Polynesia by raft in 1947. Heyerdahl’s book about this journey sold more than 50 million copies and a 1951 documentary earned the Academy Award. Heyerdahl (Pal Sverre Hagen), a born risk-taker from childhood, develops a theory that the Polynesia islands were not populated 1,500 years earlier by Asians, as was commonly thought, but by South Americans. (Although anthropologists largely doubt that theory today.) Whether it’s from stubbornness, ego or ambition or all of these, Heyerdahl, with the financial aid of the president of Peru, readies a journey to prove his theory and with his small crew, constructs a balsa wood raft that is christened Kon-Tiki, after the Incan sun god said to have guided ancient mariners.

Unfortunately, we know little about the crew. The downtime the men experienced would have provided screenwriter Petter Skavlan with ample opportunity for scenes in which the crew talked about their lives and allowed the audience to know them. Instead we get the Guy Who Plays the Guitar, the Guy with the Camera and the Guy with the Parrot. Nonetheless, there are thrilling scenes of a powerful storm; a tense, bloody shark attack; a close encounter with a whale and, at the end, a deadly reef to navigate. The fact that the outcome is known does not diminish the suspense or excitement of witnessing how Heyerdahl and company accomplished an amazing feat. 4/28/13

Arthur Newman - 1 frown

There’s a leaden feel to “Arthur Newman” that its stars, Colin Firth and Emily Blunt, can’t salvage. Its message about accepting yourself and your past is a good one, but the story just plods. Firth plays Wallace Avery, a man so depressed with his life that he decides to reinvent himself as Arthur Newman, golf pro.  On his way to a new job in Indiana, Arthur meets Michaela or Mike (Blunt), a fragile kleptomaniac who’s fleeing her own messed-up life. For a few days and a few hundred miles, they hang out together, watching other couples and trying on new identities. They’re not in love, but each finds something poignant in the other. It sounds more interesting than it really is.

The essential problem is that director Dante Ariola fails to make a boring man interesting. And Firth, as talented as he is, brings nothing to the role, which is probably a result of a script that doesn’t delve too deeply into Arthur’s psyche.  Arthur loves hot dogs, pastel polo shirts and golf. That’s it. Blunt’s role is a little livelier, but no less believable. In a better movie, Arthur and Mike would eventually get into trouble. Instead this road movie heads towards docile acceptance and boredom. 5/2/13

Mud - 4 smiles

“Mud,” a lyrical coming-of-age tale that feels like a Mark Twain story in a contemporary setting, explores romantic love from the perspective of an idealistic adolescent, excellently played by Tye Sheridan. Matthew McConaughey is quite effective as the enigmatic Mud and it’s easy to see how this charming, ragged fellow could enrapture a pair of impressionable kids. Because writer-director Jeff Nichols allows his story to develop slowly, you’re pulled in from the start and his sense of place feels real. The sensitive Ellis (Sheridan) and his loyal, smart-aleck pal Neckbone (Jacob Lofland) stumble across a grizzled fugitive named Mud (McConaughey), hiding out in an abandoned boat on a small island on the Mississippi River. Mud needs their help fixing the boat so he can flee with his bad-news girlfriend, Juniper (Reese Witherspoon). And Ellis, whose parents are splitting up, is won over by this stranger’s sense of romantic heroism.

What might have been a heavy-handed, overly sentimental piece of regional misery is leavened by suspense and jolts of laughter. Some of the levity comes from Neckbone, who serves as a cynical and pragmatic foil to his dreamy buddy. The two boys, whose faces register their contrasting temperaments, have been guided into exceptionally subtle feats of acting. The adults, including Sam Shepard as an enigmatic neighbor to Ellis and his family, are all good. If there’s a criticism, it’s the few underdeveloped subplots, especially with Neckbone’s oyster-fishing uncle (whose scenes seem to exist to give Michael Shannon some screen time). Nonetheless, “Mud” is a stirring tale that’s rich in detail and character development and emotionally rewarding. It’s not to be missed. 4/26/13