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Before they were at the top of their game working for Monsters Inc., Mike (Billy Crystal) and Sully (John Goodman) had to cut their teeth in the academic world of Monsters University. Finding acceptance, coming into their own, and learning to apply themselves the unlikely duo are challenged by the University’s Dean Hardscrabble (Helen Mirren), but failure means being expelled. Navigating the Greek system, making the grade, and developing friendship’s to last a lifetime their time at MU will be invaluable, but will they learn to scare? Once again Pixar strikes gold. Family fun, quick dialogue, and well thought out backstory makes for a decent sequel to the wildly successful Monsters Inc.. Albeit, not a million laughs a minute, still multilayered and easily relatable to multiple generations– college drama for all ages. An entertaining romp for the family, Monsters University is rated G.

Inspired by actual events, a group of semi-privileged high school friends, Rebecca (Katie Chang), Marc (Israel Broussard), Nicki (Emma Watson), Chloe (Claire Julien) and Sam (Taissa Farmiga), follow up on their obsessions with Hollywood’s young elite by breaking into the homes of socialites such as Paris Hilton, Orlando Bloom, and Ashley Tisdale. More than just simple break-in’s the group’s hunger turns to theft, but the long arm of the law isn’t far behind. Obsessed and self absorbed, this can’t end well. Directed by Sofia Coppola this bleak outlook on the youth of today serves as an unsettling mirror to depict the “me first” generation, unaware of their own impact, denying responsibility, yet striving for instant fame and gratification; the message is loud and clear. But, buyer beware, the relatively thin storyline contained within hardly seems enough to fill the 90 minute runtime, almost from the get go one wonders “when will the other shoe fall?” Acting from the ensemble feels moody and angsty, just like a brooding teenager should be, so there’s that. Coppola’s fetish for pop culture also feels mated nicely with this latest endeavor. Sum of the parts, a rough watch; but, if you’re hankering for character study this might just be your ticket. The Bling Ring is rated R.

Raised in rural Kansas by Jonathan and Martha Kent (Kevin Costner and Diane Lane), Clark Kent (Henry Cavill) had very normal Midwestern American upbringing. The trouble is, Clark is anything but “normal” himself; as fate would have it he was actually born on the planet of Krypton just before the planet collapsed. Against all odds Clark’s biological parents Jor-El and Lara Lor-Van (Russell Crowe and Ayelet Zurer) had the good sense to ship their baby son to Earth with the idea that he would be raised to fit in and someday give hope to the people. On Earth, in a different atmosphere than Krypton, Clark’s body develops to superhuman strengths and abilities, it’s these abilities he must sharpen in order to stop the power hungry survivor of Krypton, General Zod (Michael Shannon). But will Clark be able to rise to the occasion or will Zod’s plan of destruction bring an end to all life on earth? Directed by Zack Snyder there’s lot’s to like about this latest reboot of one of America’s most beloved comic characters. In particular, Snyder’s ability to grasp the scope of the Superman mythos, and the fact that the film is beautifully cinematically stylized. Henry Cavill seems to be a great fit for the role, he’s ridiculously good looking, wears the cape well, and understands the humor and humility of Clark Kent/Kal-El without being campy. Michael Shannon’s take on General Zod is equally fitting and even in their smaller roles Costner and Lane hold Kansas together perfectly, then again, all you have to do is put Costner in a corn field and you’ve got cinema magic. Amy Adams as Lois Lane is kind of plain but honest, this isn’t her fault, she’s just not written with much of interest. So where does the other shoe fall? As expected we get an eyeful of CGI most of which is fine, but the bizarre phallic depictions of Krypton are almost chuckle inducing and Krypton itself is a bit much overall. But it’s the film’s final act where things go off the rails, granted it’s a tough balance of too much action or not enough, but seriously, one fist fight after another, and after seeing so many buildings of Metropolis come crashing to the ground one begins to wonder “how many more buildings can there possibly be left standing?” and “who could possibly still be alive in Metropolis?” The whole thing becomes a bit numbing after a while, this might explain why nobody in Metropolis seems to care after the fact either. So in essence we have a very faithful body, but seem absent of soul. Still, it’s an epic beast, and we’ll definitely want to see more of this man of steel. A story of fathers and sons just in time for father’s day, go on, take your dad, it’ll be fun. Man of Steel is rated PG-13.