Pacific Rim 3D - 3 smiles

Although “Pacific Rim” is derivative (of other monster movies like Godzilla), it’s also an imaginative sci-fi epic with first-class special effects, crafty behemoths that calculate and react to circumstances in non-dumb ways, a smart director who injects a sense of fun and surprise whenever he can, characters you don’t mind watching and a few decent plot twists. However, about 75% of the movie takes place at night or deep under the ocean, where light is at a premium. 3D by its nature diminishes the amount of light that reaches the viewer’s eyes and this becomes an issue. There are many times when it’s difficult to see what’s happening in 3D. Also the comic relief featuring Charlie Day and Burn Gorman as rival scientists is distracting and played too over the top although their presence is integral to the narrative.

The movie opens with a prologue, explaining that the first Kaiju, an enormous amphibious dragon, rose from beneath the seas, Godzilla-style, to decimate San Francisco. Mankind’s answer to continued attacks has been to build 25-story-high Jaegers, fighting metal robots controlled by two pilots, whose minds are synced together, positioned inside them. The initial Kaiju/Jaeger showdown, along the Alaska coast during a nocturnal hurricane, has hotshot pilot Raleigh Beckett (Charlie Hunnam) and his older brother Yancy (Diego Klattehoff) fighting an aggressive Kaiju. They defeat the beast, but Yancy is killed. The movie picks up a few years later when the Jaeger program is being dropped in favor of building giant walls to protect seaside cities. Jaeger force commander Stacker Pentecost (Idris Elba) searches for a disillusioned Raleigh, who has dropped out of sight, to pilot one of his few remaining Jaegers in a plan to close the bridge in the ocean that’s allowing the Kaiju to enter our world. Under the sure hand of del Toro, all of the crash-bang action scenes move the narrative forward, rather than being space fillers. Everything is coherent. For someone who watched all of those cheesy black and white monster movies, “Pacific Rim” is a hoot! 7/14/13

Despicable Me 2 - 3 smiles

“Despicable Me 2” follows the formula for animated success. There’s just enough ‘smart’ material to retain the interest of adults and sufficient slapstick and colorful action to keep kids involved. However, there’s not a lot of story as the plot is thin, veering off into tangents related to Gru’s struggle to be a good parent (he’s terrified by the thought that his girls, especially Margo, might be discovering boys) and his attempt to kindle a romantic relationship with Lucy. There’s never much of a mystery about who the bad guy is and the climactic battle is not filled with much suspense. The satirical elements that played a big part of the original movie have been toned down although the minions play a bigger role in the narrative. And the voice talents, especially Steve Carell and Kristen Wiig, are excellent so everything works.

Former super-villain Gru (Carell) is living a life of domestic simplicity with his three adopted daughters: Margo (Miranda Cosgrove), Edith (Dana Gaier) and Agnes (Elsie Fisher). And his day-to-day routine consists of running a legitimate business (making jelly) and planning Agnes’ birthday party. Then Secret Agent Lucy Wilde (Wiig) of the Anti-Villain League recruits Gru for a special assignment. An unknown person has stolen a shipment of a super-secret toxic substance that threatens the world’s safety. If injected, it can turn the most passive creature into something that’s purple and acts like a Tasmanian Devil. Of course, Gru and Lucy must discover who stole the formula and recover it. “Despicable Me 2” is fun and colorful with lots of minion mischief. 7/1/13

The Lone Ranger - 1 smile

“The Lone Ranger,” directed by Gore Verbinski (who also directed the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise) and starring Johnny Depp and Armie Hammer, is overly long (2 1/2 hours), mind-numbingly tedious and downright stupid. And to top it off, the script, written by Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio and Justin Haythe, has turned the Long Ranger into a wimpy doofus. If you’re old enough to remember either the radio or TV show, you’re certainly not the intended audience for this remake, where half the time, Verbinski has his characters playing everything straight and the other half, his characters are mugging (especially Depp). Since the film really is all about Tonto, it should be called “Tonto.”

Almost every moment of Depp’s Tonto is played for laughs, beginning with the dead crow on his head (which he feeds grain), but the stone-faced Tonto fails to generate any charm. There’s an unnecessary framing device of having Tonto recount his exploits decades after the fact, while posing in a ‘Noble Savage’ exhibit at a circus. As a contrast, Armie Hammer’s conflicted Lone Ranger is a naïve tenderfoot. Without his mask (which he’s reluctant to wear), he’s a pacifist eastern lawyer John Reid. He abhors guns and believes that the Wild West of 1869 is just waiting to be civilized, which it surely isn’t. Not when there are bad guys running around, like the greedy railway builder Lathan Cole (Tom Wilkinson) and psychopathic outlaw Butch Cavendish (William Fichtner). There are even killer rabbits with fangs. Don’t ask. With “The Lone Ranger,” there’s got to be at least a hundred million dollars worth of special effects. Probably more. Too bad there wasn’t more investment in a better script. 7/5/13

The Heat - 3 smiles

The main reason to see “The Heat,” a cop-buddy movie with women, is the explosive chemistry between its stars Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy. The story is fairly predictable and the violence sometimes jarring, but director Paul Feig (whose best known for Bridesmaids) has created a new genre amidst the testosterone-stuffed summer blockbusters and the smartest thing he did was to pair his two stars. McCarthy has scenes that prove she can act as well as be laugh-out-loud funny. It also gives her Sandra Bullock, a comedian of equal skill but of completely different style and manner, to play off of. They’re wonderful together.

Bullock is Sarah Ashburn, an uptight New York FBI agent, hated by her peers and pushing for a promotion. Her boss (Demian Bichir) sends her to Boston to see if she can work with others in a case that shares jurisdiction with the local police department. Ashburn’s experiences in early scenes efficiently set up a theme that will be revisited throughout the movie, which is the routine sexism that women must contend with in professional situations. Though Ashburn is smarter than her colleagues, she still has to endure their overt condescension and thinly veiled resentment. Once she gets to Boston, Ashburn encounters another lady cop on the case, brassy, bawdy Shannon Mullins (McCarthy), who’s cleaning up her neighborhood one scumbag at a time. The two certainly don’t get off on the right foot, but soon they realize their outlaw-apprehending talents are complementary and they reluctantly join forces. “The Heat” is a crude, low-brow audience-pleaser that you won’t want to miss. 6/29/13

White House Down - 3 1/2 smiles

Implausible? Definitely.  Far fetched? To be sure. Entertaining? Without a doubt. This is mindless summer action fun, a certain popcorn pleasure. With a script written by James Vanderbilt, “White House Down” borrows from solid actioners that have come before, like Die Hard, where you have the lone blue-collar cop in a white sleeveless T-shirt fighting against an overwhelming force of heavily armed terrorists. And under the masterful direction of Roland Emmerich, everything comes together and it’s a fun ride. Plus you have Channing Tatum bringing just the right amount of charm, muscle and humor to the hero’s role and Jamie Foxx being just tough enough and human enough as the President. If there’s a criticism, the movie, at 137 minutes, is too long. Emmerich could have cut Tatum’s final fight with bad guy Stenz (Jason Clarke) in half.

Tatum is Cale, a Capitol cop who dreams of becoming a Secret Service agent. To further this end he brings his White House-obsessed daughter Emily (Joey King) on a tour of the building, which is to also double as a job interview for him. He meets Secret Service agent Finnerty (Maggie Gyllenhaal), who interviews him and promptly turns him down for the job. When he joins Emily on the tour, terrorists attack. It’s an inside job and they quickly gun down all of the security guards and take over the White House. Of course, Emily is in the bathroom at the time of the attack, so she and Cale are separated. He must not only save her, but save the president and in the process, save the world!! “White House Down” is utterly ridiculous, completely derivative and relentlessly violent. And, of course, the good guy wins. What’s not to like? 6/28/13