“Star Trek Into Darkness” is like fan-boy fiction on a $185 million budget. It’s reverential, it’s faithful, it’s steeped in “Trek” mythology. It’s also an excessively derivative what-if rehash of themes and interactions that came before, most of the characters lesser copies and even caricatures of the originals. The scenario’s been hijacked and rejiggered from better “Trek” … Continue reading →

After Adolf Hitler’s suicide, as the Third Reich falls, five German children are left on their own. Their Nazi parents are arrested by the victorious Allies. But before their mother is imprisoned, she instructs her eldest daughter, 14-year-old Hannelore Dressler, to leave Bavaria with her siblings and go north, where their grandmother lives. The Allies, her … Continue reading →

If any piece of classic American literature should be depicted on film with wildly decadent and boldly inventive style, it’s “The Great Gatsby.” After all, who was the character of Jay Gatsby himself if not a spinner of grandiose tales and a peddler of lavish dreams? And Baz Luhrmann would seem like the ideal director to bring … Continue reading →

The people of “Peeples” make a better impression than most collections of oddballs in the weary mold of comedies centered on meeting the prospective in-laws. They still overstay their welcome, though. With a long, boring buildup that finally pays off with scattered laughs in the second half, “Peeples” also manages to leave a better impression than … Continue reading →

Fifteen directors and one concept are packed into the cinematic love song to New Orleans, Where Y’at (hello). Echoing the communal spirit that helped produce Louisiana’s entry into last year’s Oscar race, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Timecode:NOLA, a New Orleans filmmaker collective, assigned specific street corners throughout the city to specific directors. In the … Continue reading →

As resourceful as industrialist-inventor-superhero Tony Stark is, he’s frequently tested to his limits in Iron Man 3. Not just tested, Stark is defeated in a spectacular series of bruising losing battles. Stark’s gargantuan struggles against a mysterious, overwhelming enemy known as the Mandarin, fly by in a flash of fight and action sequences. Continue reading →

There’s a siege mentality about Michael Bay’s movies, as though viewers are the enemy holed up in a bunker and he’s the guy ordering heavy-metal music around-the-clock to wear down our morale and force us to surrender. Bay’s true-crime caper “Pain & Gain” lacks the visual-effects mayhem and sci-fi cacophony of his “Transformers” blockbusters, yet the movie … Continue reading →

Early in the sleek sci-fi thriller “Oblivion,” Tom Cruise, as a flyboy repairman living a removed, Jetsons-like existence above an invaded and deserted Earth, intones his home sickness. “I can’t shake the feeling that despite all that’s happened, Earth is still my home,” he narrates. One can’t help but chortle and wonder if Cruise is speaking … Continue reading →

“42” is the story of Jackie Robinson, the first African-American to play American Major League Baseball. Starring Chadwick Boseman as Robinson and Harrison Ford as Branch Rickey, the Brooklyn Dodgers’ president and general manager, this film looks at the two years following Robinson’s entrance into the league in 1947. The Good Stuff: “42” is a terrific film. … Continue reading →

Hollywood goes for the formulaic in 42. A biopic about barrier-breaking baseball great Jackie Robinson, the film scratches the surface of history and diminishes Robinson’s very real human achievement by casting him in the ill-defined haze of myth. Born in 1919 in Cairo, Ga., Robinson left the Jim Crow-era South and became a … Continue reading →

Writer-director Sam Raimi’s 1981 horror classic, The Evil Dead, gets a worthy remake via the intensely taut Evil Dead. Minus the original’s “The,” Evil Dead revives Raimi’s sturdy, effectively spare source material for what likely will become a new horror classic. Continue reading →

If a big, dumb action movie knows it’s a big, dumb action movie and revels in that fact, is that preferable to a big, dumb action movie making the mistake of thinking it’s significant, relevant art? That’s the question to ponder — if you can think straight and your ears aren’t ringing too badly — during “G.I. … Continue reading →

In countless films about emergencies, crimes and police work, the 911 dispatcher is but a bit player, an anonymous, robotic voice briefly heard on the other end of a breathless call made by our movie’s main players. But in “The Call,” the 911 operator gets a starring role. It would seem to be long overdue, since Halle … Continue reading →

In the action-drama-terrorist tale Olympus Has Fallen, an enemy aircraft, specifically a heavily armed and fortified C-130 transport plane, slips undetected into airspace over Washington, D.C. The plane is nearly on top of the White House before a pair of U.S. fighters intersect it. The mighty American fighter jets are too little, too late, helpless … Continue reading →

Harmony Korine seems to want it both ways, all day, with “Spring Breakers,” his super-stylized descent into a sunbaked hell where bikini-clad, gun-toting college babes serve as our guides. As writer and director, Korine wants us to be appalled and aroused, hypnotized and titillated. He wants to satirize the debauchery of girls gone wild while simultaneously reveling … Continue reading →

What should be a hilarious, long-overdue pairing of two hugely likable, superstar comedians ends up being a major disappointment with “Admission.” As much film and television work as they do individually, Tina Fey and Paul Rudd surprisingly never have worked together. In theory, her smart, zingy persona should mesh beautifully with his easygoing goofiness — or their … Continue reading →

The normally clandestine world of the Shin Bet, Israel’s secret service, is revealed with remarkable transparency in The Gatekeepers. A thought-provoking documentary by Israeli filmmaker Dror Moreh, The Gatekeepers examines Israel’s decades of strife-ridden post-World War II history. Moreh tells the story through historic film footage and, most of all, six former heads of the Shin … Continue reading →

In Detroit filmmaker Bryan D. Hopkins’ documentary, Dirty Energy, Louisiana residents affected by the Deepwater Horizon oil rig disaster and its prodigious gusher of an oil leak get a chance to tell their stories. Of course, none of these people has deep pockets of the kind that allow them to run national TV campaigns about how they’re going to make something that’s so terribly wrong right. Continue reading →

Audiences can follow the yellow brick road again in a newly devised prequel to the beloved 1939 MGM musical The Wizard of Oz. This modern take on the Oz story has many of things contemporary audiences expect, including a multitude of special effects and 3D. Oz the Great and Powerful also lacks many things that … Continue reading →

When I heard about “Snitch,” the words drug dealers, guns and The Rock stuck in my mind. I went in with low expectations, assuming I would see plenty of action, shooting, muscles and corny one-liners. What I did not expect was a movie about the unbreakable relationship between father and son. The starring role is … Continue reading →

When hearing that the producer of popular thrillers “Insidious,” “Sinister” and “Paranormal Activity,” has created a new movie, one’s mind will go directly to paranormal happenings and ghosts or demons lurking around in the shadows. However, “Dark Skies” doesn’t particularly follow any previous plots or ideas. It is a new thriller based on unworldly visitors, but ghosts and … Continue reading →

A big-budget, effects-laden, 3-D retelling of the Jack and the Beanstalk legend may seem like the unlikeliest pairing yet of director Bryan Singer and writer Christopher McQuarrie, but “Jack the Giant Slayer” ends up being smart, thrilling and a whole lot of fun. Continue reading →

If you liked “The Hangover” but felt like it needed more projectile vomit, stampeding buffaloes and naughty sorority pledges being spanked, then “21 & Over” is the feel-good, feel-bad movie for you. The writers of that 2009 smashed smash hit, Jon Lucas and Scott Moore, wrote the script here, too, and direct for the first time. Comparatively, … Continue reading →

A film that makes good, unglamorized use of its gritty New Orleans locations, The Power of Few introduces five stories containing five parallel sets of characters. Few, a girl seemingly minding her own business as she walks down a city street, serves as the launching pad for it all. As each story unfolds, often accompanied by … Continue reading →

• Power of Few director pleased with Louisiana filmmaking
• Video: Leone Marucci talks about 'Power of Few'

The film adaptation of Rudolfo Anaya’s first novel, Bless Me, Ultima, has strong performances by a mostly Latino cast. The film’s also got beautiful images of nature and individual scenes of undeniable power. The choice to include a ponderous narration, however, violates that basic rule of storytelling: Show rather than tell. Film being most of all … Continue reading →

“A Good Day to Die Hard,” the newest sequel to the action-junkie’s favorite series, “Die Hard,” opened in theaters on Valentine’s Day. However, this is probably not the movie for couples who want to cozy up for a romantic night out. It is action-packed, relatively plotless and stars the ever-present, ever-impressive king of the action movie Bruce Willis. Continue reading →

If “Side Effects” is indeed Steven Soderbergh’s final film, as he’s said it will be after toying with the notion of retirement for a couple of years now, then intriguingly it feels like he’s coming full circle in some ways to the film that put him on the map: the trailblazing, 1989 indie “sex, lies and videotape.” Continue reading →

With growing zombie fans around the world expecting a fast-approaching zombie apocalypse, it’s about time for Hollywood to start rethinking the overdone traditional zombie film. Director Jonathan Levine works magic as he composes this endearing comedy that brings hope to a world of expected misery. “Warm Bodies,” presents a fresh depiction of these well-known zombies and … Continue reading →

When a movie actually has the word “movie” in the title, one would think they are sitting through an hour and a half of a production that includes a plot and a development of characters. In basic fundamentals of learning, it has been taught that a successful story includes an introduction, rising action, climax, falling action and a … Continue reading →

First there was Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. Now there’s Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters. In the fairy tale collected and published by the Brothers Grimm, Hansel and Gretel are children who, after they’re abandoned by their parents, fall into a trap set by a cannibal witch. But the children outwit their captor and escape. … Continue reading →

Stand Up Guys is a modestly budgeted movie loaded with charm, amusement and poignant moments that arrive with the unannounced stealth of a neighbor’s cat. A trio of Oscar-winning old pros come together to play three retired partners in crime. It’s a treat to see Al Pacino, 72, Christopher Walken, 69, and Alan Arkin, 78, at … Continue reading →

Filmmakers who want to out-Tarantino writer-director Quentin Tarantino had best beware. The soon-to-be 50 filmmaker behind Django Unchained, Inglourious Basterds, Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction is the undisputed master at making Tarantino movies. Barry Battles, also a writer-director, may have had a good idea behind the Slidell-shot The Baytown Outlaws, but the execution of this bloody, … Continue reading →

“Parker” plays like the bloodiest promotional video ever made for Palm Beach tourism. Stabbings, explosions and furniture-smashing brawls occur at some of the ritziest (and name-checked) locations within the sun-splashed, pastel-soaked slab of Florida opulence. Kinda gives a whole new meaning to the idea of The Breakers. The city is the setting for an elaborate, $50 million … Continue reading →

It should come as no surprise that every character in a movie called Broken City is either rotten to the core, or a liar, or a schemer, or the bearer of seriously damaging secrets. What is surprising — and frustrating, really — is that these characters never feel like real people, despite a series … Continue reading →

Having played the part of governor of California from 2003 to 2011, Arnold Schwarzenegger is back in action for The Last Stand. It’s his first leading role since 2003’s Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines. But moviegoers didn’t come out in big numbers for The Last Stand during its opening weekend. The film’s ninth place finish … Continue reading →

It should come as no surprise that every character in a movie called “Broken City” is either rotten to the core, or a liar, or a schemer, or the bearer of seriously damaging secrets. Continue reading →

“The Last Stand” is the Arnold Schwarzenegger movie you didn’t even realize you wanted to see. This is the action superstar’s first leading role in a decade, having left acting to serve as the governor of California and whatnot, and while it may not have occurred to you to miss him during that time, it’s still surprisingly … Continue reading →

LUV , an urban, indie drama and coming-of-age tale, takes moviegoers to the mean streets of Baltimore. Eleven-year-old Woody Watson lives with his grandmother in suburban Baltimore. Woody’s drug-addict mother is in rehab. His father is nowhere in sight. In dreams, Woody sees himself and his mother together in a peaceful patch of woods somewhere. … Continue reading →

“Gangster Squad,” a pulpy, violent tale of cops and mobsters in 1949 Los Angeles, rides an uncomfortable line between outlandishness and outright parody, and it’s difficult to tell which is director Ruben Fleischer’s intention. Which is a problem. While the film wallows in period detail and has some sporadic moments of amusing banter, it’s mostly flashy, empty … Continue reading →

Speaking in character as Daisy Suckley, Laura Linney narrates Hyde Park on Hudson, a jumble of history and philandering involving of the most powerful man in the world. Daisy is the poor-relation fifth cousin of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. She’s also his mistress. Make that one of his mistresses. Linney delivers her … Continue reading →

Zero Dark Thirty is a different kind of action movie, a different kind of drama. It has the realism of a documentary and intimacy of cinéma vérité, a form of documentary that draws directly from life. Directed by Kathryn Bigelow and written by Mark Boal — the team behind the Iraqi war drama, The Hurt Locker … Continue reading →

Billy Crystal and Bette Midler bring back laughter and a heart-warming story to the big screen in “Parental Guidance.” Artie and Diane Decker (Crystal and Midler) are the “other” grandparents to three young children, as shown by the minuscule amount of their pictures on the mantle. But when their daughter, Alice, played by Marisa Tomei, needs … Continue reading →

Tchoupitoulas, a semi-documentary set in and near the French Quarter, looks for magic and sometimes finds it. Co-directing brothers Bill Ross IV and Turner Ross and their hand-held cameras trail three brothers from Algiers who ride the ferry to Canal Street. The siblings experience a meandering, sometimes kaleidoscopic night in New Orleans. They also get bored … Continue reading →

The gruesome tale of the “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” comes back to life with a twisted continuation of the original 1974 film. The original “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” leaves us with an eerie scene of a girl escaping the clutches of Leatherface, the cannibalistic serial killer. “Texas Chainsaw 3D” picks the story up right where it left off and police … Continue reading →

The day after Christmas, 2004, an earthquake sparked a series of massively destructive waves in the Indian Ocean. The tsunami killed 230,000 across the region. Millions more were left homeless. Thailand was among the tsunami’s targets. Devastating tidal waves crashed upon Thai beach communities in 10-minute intervals, leaving 5,000 dead and more than 2,800 missing. Continue reading →