Nerd in the 'Noke

Fast & Furious 6 (2013), PG-13, 130 minutes - It amazes me that a little film from 2001 about street racing has spawned a franchise that isn't only still going, but arguably gets stronger with each and every entry.  Director Justin Lin took over with 2006's The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift and now, with Fast & Furious 6, he continues to develop the world of Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) and Brian O'Connor (Paul Walker) as well as building toward future franchise installments. Fast & Furious 6 is just what the trailer makes it look like: a summer time popcorn flick with tons of action and one liners between characters.  The trailer also does a pretty good job of laying out the plot for Fast 6 - Agent Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson), who spent most of Fast 5 pursuing Toretto and his crew enlists their help in trying to apprehend an even bigger fish: an international criminal named Shaw (Luke Evans).  Toretto only agrees because it provides the chance to determi...

Star Trek Into Darkness (2013), PG-13, 132 minutes - The last couple of weeks have been pretty chaotic in our house and I wasn't sure that I was going to get the chance to see Star Trek Into Darkness over opening weekend.  As it turned out, the opportunity presented itself Sunday evening so I jumped at it.  I thoroughly enjoyed J.J. Abrams' 2009 reboot of the Star Trek franchise and was very much looking forward to this sequel.  Into Darkness marks the second sequel film that I was wicked excited about to kick off this year's summer movie season ( Iron Man 3 being the other). Abrams successfully navigated the waters that often lead to a sophomore slump for many franchises and produced a film that is equally as fun, entertaining, emotional, and action packed as the first.  All of the important players from the 2009 Star Trek return, led by Chris Pine (Captain Kirk) and Zachary Quinto (Spock).  Outside of further exploring the adventures of the U.S.S. Enterp...

42 (2013), PG-13, 128 minutes - I've had a love for the the game of baseball for as long as I can remember.  And because of that, I've been looking forward to this film since last winter when I saw the teaser trailer about one of baseball's most legendary figures: Jackie Robinson.  It has been my experience that just about everyone knows the name and why he was significant, but for those that don't, Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier of Major League Baseball back on April 15, 1947. Much like Lincoln last winter, 42 is a biopic that focuses on a short period of Robinson's life, from late 1945 through the end of the 1947 season.  It opens with Branch Rickey (Harrison Ford) declaring his intent to 'bring a negro to the Dodgers'.  His reasoning is simple he says, money isn't black or white, it's green and it all spends the same.  He realizes how shocking this move will be to not only the league but the country and begins pouring over scouting r...

Iron Man 3 (2013), PG-13, 130 minutes - Iron Man 3.  Wow.  There's quite a bit to say and I'm not really sure where to start (and that's after thinking about it all last night and this morning).  There were things that I liked and things that I didn't.  I'm not sure that I've worked it all out yet, but I do know this for sure: there will be a longer than usual spoiler section at the end of this post. Iron Man 3 starts off with a narration from Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.) himself, thinking aloud, trying to figure out how to best tell the story of how he has gotten to this point in his life.  He starts once, stops, then starts again, flashing back to a technology conference held over New Year's of 2000, settling on that as the point at which everything currently happening can be traced back to.  That flashback sequence sets up some of the major players of Iron Man 3, Aldrich Killian (Guy Pearce), and Maya Hansen (Rebecca Hall) as well as giving us a ...