#distinguished films

J.J. Abrams has taken on an immense responsibility that few creative professionals would ever want to shoulder. After the success of his television show Lost the sharp geek transitioned into directing and producing Hollywood films. Now this television emperor is single handedly ushering in the rebirth of two iconic science fiction empires. With both Star Wars and Star Trek under his control has Abrams bitten off more than he can theoretically chew? His second Trek film, Star Trek into Darkness, came out last week and the reviews from critics and fans are mostly lukewarm. With both sides to pointing to serious flaws, is it a smart idea to have one director at the wheel of two billion dollar franchises? My short answer is no.

As F. Scott Fitzgerald's most well known and popular novel The Great Gatsby has always been a difficult story to adapt but that hasn't stopped a laundry list of directors, writers and producers from trying their hand at the "great american novel". Speaking of just the films there have been four officially accepted attempts the most famous of which is the 1974 version starring Robert Redford and Mia Farrow that took home two Oscars. It's 2013 now and the auteur Baz Luhrmann has finally released his take on Fitzgerald's seminal work and while it's not as daring as his Romeo + Juliet it maybe the best adaptation of the bunch.

Jon "Iron Man" Favreau is dead, long live Jon Favreau. The Shane Black directed, written and produced Iron Man 3 is a continuation that catches up with Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) after the events of the Avengers (2012). Our Metal Suited Mechanist is fresh from the fight in New York with Loki, a headstrong Captain America, a thunderous Thor and the entire Chitauri army. Even as a man who literally saved humanity Tony is now back in Los Angeles attending to the day to day of his company while trying to get past a terrible bout of anxiety brought on by the past months events.

Oblivion is set in a not to far flung science fiction future of 2077 where humanity has been struggling to survive after doing battle with an invading alien force. 60 years ago the Scavengers or "Scavs" entered our atmosphere after destroying our moon. In the days following the loss of our eternal satellite earthquakes, tsunamis and flooding claimed a significant portion of Earth's population. We fought back with our most powerful weapons and eventually won the war. Unfortunately with the loss of our moon and the nuclear battle with the Scavs our planet was permanently damaged.

We've been to this cabin in the woods before. In this location on a Summer eve In 1981 Ashley "Ash" Williams (Bruce Campbell) watched helplessly as his friends were turned into demon fodder one by one. In Evil Dead (1981) five friends visiting a summer cabin knew not what unspeakable evil they'd disturbed. Within hours the entire cabin was turned upside down: doors were pulled of hinges, windows were blown out, walls creaked and the foundation groaned as an approaching storm crashed thunder outside. Inside the awakened demon possessed each person in the group killing off the remaining members until only Ash remained. That was over three decades ago and now Sam Raimi has seen fit to grace us with Evil Dead (2013) but be warned this is not the Evil Dead you once remembered.

Stephenie Meyer's novels seem to appeal to a very specific crowd, one that has been begging for a competent and consistent story since J.K. Rowling finished off her Harry Potter series in 2007. Early in Meyer's publishing career Twilight (2005) caught the public's attention and she was contracted to produce three more entries in Bella Swan's story. Movie rights were quickly signed away to Summit Entertainment so they could spin up the media machine that would eventually gross $3.3 billion worldwide in box office receipts. Now Meyers second series has reached theaters with the debut of The Host.

After a 4 year development cycle G.I. Joe: Retaliation finds the fearless fighting force with new actors, new villains and lots of new problems. My generation didn't spend their mornings watching G.I. Joe on television. By the time I was up it was pretty much just Pokémon and the lingering remnants of the Transformers. For me the Joes had always fought a mysterious and faceless enemy organization known as Cobra. Cobra eventually transformed from its origins as a terrorist organization into a cabal for snake-men & mutants. This change seemed like it was executed to compete with the success of X-Men. With G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (2009) Hasbro and Paramount attempted to reboot the heros casting them into more modern archetypes.

For almost three straight months now trailers for Oblivion have been preceeding some of the biggest movies of 2013. I've seen them running in front of almost every type of movie possible, from children's flicks to action films. It's become a bit of a running joke for me as to when or if Tom Cruise's voice will break the silence of the darkened theater. When it comes to comparing me to the normal moviegoer I see more than the average number of movies each year so by the time March rolled around I had viewed the Theatrical trailer for Oblivion almost 20 times. I have a theory that seeing a commercial, even a good one, too often can sour the content for you. Oblivion was about to test that theory in a real-world setting.

Star Trek Into Darkness isn't your typical prequel, or sequel for that matter. The odd title isn't a normal subtitle and the entire movie including it is storyline have been debated up and down on Internet forums for the past few months. Fans and critics are unsure if J.J. Abrams is trying to pull a fast one by hiding the identity of the film's antagonist but many signs are now pointing to hints that Benedict Cumberbatch is indeed the famed Khan Noonien Singh from 1982's Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan. Mysteries and debates aside the trailers for this film run the gamut from the soulful and heartfelt Official Trailer which was released in December to the versions which are punchy with tons of action. Needless to say when May rolls around fans around the world will be lining up in droves to catch the latest adventure for Kirk and his crew.

It's the unofficial beginning of the 2013 Summer Movie Season and I sat down this weekend for one of the biggest March releases in recent memory. Oz the Great and Powerful is a gigantic $235 million bet by Disney that audiences are now ready after 74 years to revisit and reboot one of cinema's most-loved classics. The House of Mouse is fresh off the heals of acquiring Lucasfilm and their coveted Star Wars franchise, now they're revisiting one of the biggest filmic fish that ever "got away". Disney's return to the Land of Oz has been part of a much longer journey that has spanned almost the entire three quarters of a century since MGM's release of The Wizard of Oz.