Nerd in the 'Noke

RoboCop (2014), PG-13, 108 minutes - I'm not sure when it started, but a trend has come to my attention over the last couple of years.  That of movie studios dropping macho-centric flicks over Valentine's Day weekend.  Last year it was A Good Day to Die Hard and this year it was this reboot of the RoboCop franchise.  I see what they are trying to do, but I'm not sure it has been all that successful.  Although, I suppose that could be in part because neither of the films mentioned were all that spectacular.  Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed this reboot, but it wasn't Earth-shattering enough that I would have been able to talk my wife into seeing it over something more romantic!   To be honest, this new version of RoboCop was better than I expected.  The same basic idea of the original was kept in place: in the not-too-distant future (2028) a private defense firm (OmniCorp) is developing drones to help combat crime and must find a way to 'humanize' t...

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...