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‘Fast & Furious 6’ best yet in the franchise

Fri, 24 May 2013 02:10:08 -0500

RICHARD ROEPER: Against all odds, the “Fast & Furious” franchise is actually picking up momentum, with “FF6” clocking in as the fastest, funniest and most outlandish chapter yet. Whether we’re seeing stunt work or special effects or a combo platter, director Justin Lin keeps raising the bar, going for intentional laughs and thrilling moments as cars pull off impossible maneuvers and humans keep flying in the air and landing with thuds. “Furious 6” couldn’t be any less plausible if it were animated, but that’s sort of the point.

‘Man of Steel’ beset by Kryptonite

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 15:08:47 -0500

RICHARD ROEPER: Here’s the most ambitious and occasionally the most impressive take on the Superman myth we’ve ever seen, but it falls far short of the bar set by the “Dark Knight” trilogy or even the “Iron Man” troika. Though there are moments, even complete scenes, when we see glimpses of what might have been, but then we’re plunged back into a mostly underwhelming film, with underdeveloped characters and supercharged fight scenes that drag on forever and offer nothing new in the way of special-effects creativity.

Summer festivals in the Southland 2013

Wed, 29 May 2013 22:54:04 -0500

Here is a look at the summer festivals set for the Southland from May to September. Updates posted on 5/29 include the Starry Nights concert series presented by the Homewood-Flossmoor Park District.

Crowd Pleasers for June 14, 2013

Fri, 14 Jun 2013 02:19:22 -0500

Here is a look at some crowd pleasers. Events include Driving the Dixie in several suburbs, Throttle Fest Chicago at Toyota Park in Bridgeview, and Pro Championship Wrestling’s Dream Night XII in Midlothian.

Roeper: Vaughn and Wilson got game in ‘The Internship’

Fri, 07 Jun 2013 02:14:06 -0500

When it’s time for Vince Vaughn’s 40-something guy in “The Internship” to give a pep talk to fellow interns half his age, his go-to movie is “Flashdance.” That Pittsburgh welder with a dream gave it her all! Who knows where that water came from when she pulled the lever? But she pulled that lever! It’s a ridiculously corny speech in a shamelessly corny movie that also serves as the single longest product placement in motion-picture history. And, of course, we’ve seen Vaughn play this type of fast-talking gift-of-gabber in a dozen other movies. And yet there’s something irresistible about this …

‘Star Trek Into Darkness’ turns out to be quite the Enterprise

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 07:24:40 -0500

RICHARD ROEPER: Director J.J. Abrams is a true talent, and he’s also a pop-culture savant who has great respect for the legacy of this franchise as well as a keen understanding of the mega-importance of box-office figures. There’s no better choice to make the best, the purest AND the most accessible big-budget “Star Trek” movie possible. Yet with all the futuristic splendor and the fine performances, “Into Darkness” only occasionally soars, mostly settling for being a solid but unspectacular effort that sets the stage for the next chapter(s).

Roeper: M. Night Shyamalan’s ‘After Earth’ crashes and burns

Sat, 01 Jun 2013 10:46:17 -0500

We know it’s the future because nobody lives in the suburbs and nearly everyone wears gray or white. If there’s a guidebook titled “Movies Set in the Future,” the chapters on architecture and fashion must be very slim and quite redundant. As for the plot, I guess recycling remains in vogue centuries from now. There’s so little here we haven’t seen done previously, and done better. In “After Earth,” Will Smith and his son Jaden headline a formulaic, at times dreadfully dull and sometimes unintentionally funny sci-fi “thriller” directed with little imagination by a director once thought to be the …

Review: ‘Hangover’ trilogy ends on a dark note

Thu, 23 May 2013 02:19:08 -0500

★★★ “Daring” isn’t a word you’d use very much to describe 2011’s “The Hangover Part II,” the disappointingly lazy, beat-for-beat rehash of the wild and wildly successful original “Hangover” from 2009. Yet, here we are with “The Hangover Part III,” which runs a different sort of risk by going to darker and more dangerous places than its predecessors, both artistically and emotionally. The third film dares to alienate the very audience that made “The Hangover” the highest-grossing R-rated comedy of all time because, well, it isn’t exactly a comedy. Sure, there are some outrageous lines and sight gags, mostly courtesy …

Baz Luhrmann gets ‘Great Gatsby’ just right

Tue, 11 Jun 2013 06:17:16 -0500

RICHARD ROEPER: Given the wretched and sometimes wonderful excesses of Baz Luhrmann’s “Romeo + Juliet” and “Moulin Rouge,” not to mention a trailer that gave the impression Luhrmann’s interpretation of “The Great Gatsby” would be one extended anachronistic music video, it turns out Luhrmann’s “Gatsby” is first and foremost F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “Gatsby.”

Ben Kingsley finds great depth in ‘Iron Man’ villain

Tue, 04 Jun 2013 06:08:11 -0500

LOS ANGELES — Iron Man is the first one to admit that even he has his, uh, Kryptonite. “These superheroes are only ever as good as their bad guys,” Robert Downey Jr. said “If you have a lame bad guy then you’re done.” There is nothing lame about the baddie in “Iron Man 3.” In fact, he’s Sir Bad Guy. Sir Ben Kingsley, who turns 70 years old in 2013, plays the Mandarin, an evil sort who seems to have terrorism on his mind. “I tried to give the Mandarin in his political broadcasts a certain political sense of righteousness. …

Summer in the multiplex is for the boys

Thu, 02 May 2013 14:14:00 -0500

Who’s the man at the multiplex this summer? In a season of epic showdowns, you have Iron Man and Superman. If that’s not enough testosterone, there’s Wolverine (half man, half beast) and Brad Pitt trying to kill men who aren’t even men anymore, but zombies. The virile Captain Kirk is back in the pilot’s seat, and Bruce Willis is seeing “Red” again. And then there’s the Wolfpack in “The Hangover, Part III” — drunk, disorderly men hoping to have an Excedrin good time in Mexico and Vegas. Welcome to the summer movie season 2013, where all you need is a …

LEGO ‘Star Wars’ Miniland exhibit showcases movie

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 13:32:48 -0500

“Star Wars’” and LEGO — for many children, they click together as tightly as one LEGO brick into another. LEGOLAND Discovery Center Chicago recently opened the temporary LEGO “Star Wars” Miniland display, which is billed as the first time an American LEGOLAND will showcase a “Stars Wars” exhibit. It’s also the first new exhibit at the Schaumburg LEGO emporium since it opened five years ago. The exhibit is a galaxy far, far away from the Chicago and jungle-themed LEGO rooms at the center. “I’m really pumped for it to be open,” said Andrew Johnson, LEGOLAND Discovery Center’s master model builder. …

13 films to watch for in 2013

Mon, 25 Feb 2013 11:40:45 -0500

If you have been to the movies once in the last six months, you know “Oz, the Great and Powerful” and “Man of Steel” are coming out in 2013. If you haven’t, you don’t really care what is coming out. Let’s talk here about some of the 2013 releases you may not have read about already. Here are 13 to watch for in 2013: TRANCE (March): Just a couple of years ago Danny Boyle made the Best Picture-winning sensation “Slumdog Millionaire,” but it would be a mistake to watch just one of this fascinating director’s films. He has taken on …

Will Smith having good time with ‘After Earth’

Fri, 07 Jun 2013 02:23:44 -0500

His trademark line in any summer movie is “Aw, hell no!” But when Will Smith worked with his son Jaden in the new film “After Earth,” it was definitely an “aw, hell yes” moment. “He doesn’t ask me for much advice,” Smith says. “Jaden is the kind of actor who really digs deep and knows what he wants to do when he gets to the set. Jaden is completely in character on a set. I’m one proud dad.” Smith, now 44, and his son are saving what’s left of the world in M. Night Shyamalan’s latest film. A crash landing …

Archie Bunker’s Edith, Jean Stapleton, dies at 90

Sat, 01 Jun 2013 16:37:15 -0500

NEW YORK (AP) — Jean Stapleton, the stage-trained character actress who played Archie Bunker’s far better half, the sweetly naive Edith, in TV’s groundbreaking 1970s comedy “All in the Family,” has died. She was 90. Stapleton died Friday of natural causes at her New York City home surrounded by friends and family, her son, John Putch, said Saturday. Little known to the public before “All In the Family,” she co-starred with Carroll O’Connor in the top-rated CBS sitcom about an unrepentant bigot, the wife he churlishly but fondly called “Dingbat,” their daughter Gloria (Sally Struthers) and liberal son-in-law Mike, aka …

Review: ‘42’ is classy but tame Robinson tale

Sun, 19 May 2013 07:37:16 -0500

★★1/2 Jackie Robinson was the ideal class act to break the barrier and become the first black player in Major League Baseball. Writer-director Brian Helgeland’s Jackie Robinson biopic “42” is a class act itself, though not always an engaging act. It’s such a familiar story that any faithful film biography almost inevitably will turn out predictable, even a bit routine. With an earnest performance by Chadwick Boseman as Robinson and an enjoyably self-effacing turn by Harrison Ford as Brooklyn Dodgers boss Branch Rickey, “42” hits every button you expect very ably. The film riles with its re-creations of the heartless, …