The rich live highly privileged lives, in complete luxury and with access to phenomenal health care. Everyone else (the vast majority of humanity) lives in slums, dangerous places with brutal police, uncaring bureaucrats, and general misery. Oh, and it’s 150 years in the future, and all the rich people live in space. Welcome to “Elysium,” a science fiction film as low on science as it is on subtlety.
Directed by: James Mangold Starring: Hugh Jackman, Rila Fukushima, Tao Okamoto, Svetlana Khodchenkova, Haruhiko “Hal” Yamanouchi, Will Yun Lee, Brian Tee Rated: PG-13 for sequences of intense sci-fi action and violence, some sexuality and language The last big time we saw Logan, aka The Wolverine (Hugh Jackman), he was cradling the body of his beloved Jean Grey (Famke Janssen) in his arms, having killed her to stop her alternate personality from destroying the world. When we catch up with him in “The Wolverine,” he’s living in the middle of nowhere, only walking into town for occasional supplies. What draws him out of his self-imposed exile is a request from an old friend: Yashida (Haruhiko Yamanouchi) has sent young Yukio (Rila Fukushima) to find Logan and bring him to Tokyo. Back during World War II, Logan saved Yashida’s life and the man, now a wealthy industrialist, says he wants to repay his debt before he dies.
Directed by: Dean Parisot
Starring: Bruce Willis, Mary-Louise Parker, John Malkovich, Helen Mirren, Anthony Hopkins, Byung-hun Lee, Catherine Zeta Jones
Rated: PG-13 for pervasive action and violence including frenetic gunplay, and for some language and drug material
The gang of agents marked Retired: Extremely Dangerous are back for another adventure in “RED 2,” helmed by director Dean Parisot (“Galaxy Quest”). If you enjoyed the silliness and action of the first film, this one will not disappoint. If you missed the first movie, you’ll need a strong grip on your suspension of disbelief and a willingness to take a lot of things on faith. Those who insist on character development, a lack of plot holes, and seriousness should give this one a pass.
“Pacific Rim” is one of those movies where the trailers don’t do it justice, but can still make it pretty obvious whether you want to see it or not. If the idea of Guillermo del Toro (“Hellboy,” “Pan’s Labyrinth”) directing a movie in which enormous robots fight enormous alien sea monsters fills you with glee, run – do not walk – to the movie theater and see this film if you somehow haven’t already. If you think that concept sounds stupid, or dislike big, loud movies, stay away.
The Lone Ranger is an American icon from a time long past. He lived on the radio and on black and white TV sets in a time when cowboy sagas and problematic portrayals of Native Americans were a big part of popular culture. When Gore Verbinsky and the rest of his “Pirates of the Caribbean” filmmaking crew set out to remake “The Lone Ranger” they clearly tried to give that some thought – word has it that they had Comanche advisors to help with authenticity, for example. But they also wanted to please fans of the original material, plus fans of their own material. The result is a bizarre mishmash of the awesome and the cringe-inducing. I’m sure there are folks who will love this movie (and there’s a fair amount to like!), but I am not one of them.
Directed by: Marc Forster Starring: Brad Pitt, Mirelle Enos, Daniella Kertesz, Fana Mokoena, Pierfrancesco Favino, Ruth Negga Rated: PG-13 for intense frightening zombie sequences, violence and disturbing images Every so often a film tries to be two or more things that seem incompatible. In some cases, this succeeds – but most of the time, it fails, and fails hard. “World War Z” is in the latter category: it’s too tame to be a good zombie movie but too scary to be a good international thriller. As we follow Gerry Lane (Brad Pitt) around the world trying to find the source of a zombie virus outbreak, there are plenty of individual scenes that work, but the film as a whole just doesn’t gel. The first act of the film works well enough: we follow Gerry, his wife Karin (Mirelle Enos), and their two children through a normal morning, with the news playing in the background occasionally
If you like heist movies, sleight-of-hand magic, and snappy dialog, you are in for a treat: “Now You See Me” mixes elements of the traditional bank heist movie with the world of professional magic (both up-close street magic and big-stage Las Vegas magic). Add in some interesting conspiracy elements, a director who knows how to make a film with great economy of time and footage, and you are in for a treat.
The latest outing in the “Fast & Furious” franchise is another romp packed full of fast cars, beautiful people, gunfights, fisticuffs, and explosions. If you’ve somehow missed out on the previous films, don’t worry: this is not a series built on complex character and plot development. If you’ve seen any team heist movies and/or car chase movies, you’re set. This is a ridiculous film, and a ridiculously fun ride if you’re willing to hang on.
Directed by: J. J. Abrams Starring: Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Benedict Cumberbatch, Zoe Saldana, Simon Pegg, John Cho, Karl Urban Rated: PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi action and violence There’s a lot to like about the new Star Trek movie, “Star Trek: Into Darkness.” It has a great cast, incredible special effects, and thrilling action. Unfortunately, it also has an incredibly badly-written villain, a storyline that should be fine but somehow falls apart, and it completely fails to embody the underlying themes of the Star Trek canon. If you just want eyecandy, it’s fine, but if you have strong opinions about Star Trek, you should probably either skip this one or bring a flask of your favorite fortifying beverage. The story relies heavily (a little too heavily, for my taste) on several sudden reveals, so I won’t discuss it in too much depth here other than to say that it revolves around a villainous
Get a handful of people in a room who have read F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, and you’re likely to find at least a few who love it and at least a few who hate it. Baz Luhrmann’s adaptation of the great American novel is likely to provoke similar reactions. Both have to walk the fine line between critiquing the excesses of the Jazz Age and simply being part of them.