JJ Abrams has made a terrific movie. Despite the fact that I’ve seen all the Star Trek movies, but seem unable to remember the plots of any of them…I loved this one. Maybe it’s because, at its core, it such a simple story: it’s the story of a friendship. Kirk (Chris Pine) and Spock (Zachary Quinto) aren’t just colleagues, they’re polar opposites, two guys who fly together, fight together, and in the end, love each other.
The franchise started with such promise: a fresh idea, lots of laughs, and almost $500 million at the box office. Part II served up refried ideas, fewer laughs, but enough revenue to make Part III a certainty. Now, the trilogy concludes with a movie that can’t decide what it wants to be: a buddy comedy, a dark crime caper, a road-trip, a chase epic? Maybe Three Men and a Psycho?
Imagine a time when every day is the 4th of July and every night is New Year’s Eve. Imagine a place filled with manic energy and garish opulence. Welcome to the first half of The Great Gatsby. This is really a story in two parts – one fueled by grand decadence, one told on a more human scale.
“You can’t get to my age without some regrets,” Sharon (Susan Sarandon) says. “But I would do it all again. Better. Smarter. I would do it all again.” This is a movie about lives led and lies told, choices made and secrets kept.
Dino, I don’t think we’re in Bedrock anymore. I went to The Croods expecting an update of The Flintstones – and got something else entirely. What we have here is a stylish and sophisticated work of animation.
In the Movie Bible according to Michael Bay, this movie’s director, the first – maybe only – commandment is this: Thou shalt do everything to excess or thou shalt not bother doing it at all.
Here is a quote from this film, spoken by Tom Cruise’s character, Jack Harper. It gives you an idea of what we’re dealing with: “If we have souls, they're made of the love we share. Undimmed by time, unbound by death.”
The plot is a bit preposterous and some of the violence is way, way over the top, but this is actually a well made, if copycat movie. It will remind you of so many others – the original Die Hard comes to mind – but the movie does get you thinking about the kind of decisions the President (or, in this case, the ‘acting President’) has to make – and for the first time in a very long time, I actually liked Gerard Butler in a role.
Mud is a tale of elemental things -- falling in love, and putting your faith in others, and spending summer days with your best friend when you’re fourteen years old.
Like the paintings Pierre-Auguste Renoir created, this is a movie filled with visual splendor.
