May 24 2013

Fast & Furious 6

Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel), high end criminal, badass, and fast car driver, is living on a remote island halfway ’round the world hiding from extradition to the U.S.. It’s the good life for Dom, until he’s visited by Officer Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) of the U.S. Government who has a unique proposition. Hobbs has evidence of a criminal mastermind who’s currently building one of the world’s most powerful weapons, but wait, there’s more, Hobbs also has proof that Dom’s ex, Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) is in on the deal. Oooh, now it’s about family, and it’s about to get personal. Dom must assemble his team of mercenary drivers from around the world to put an end to this criminal (Luke Evans), the payoff being full pardons from the U.S. for all. It’s time to come home, but first he’ll have to drive fast and furious!FastFurious So let’s be clear about this, the twisting screenplay here is totally ridiculous, but the way storylines from all previous Fast & Furious films are woven together makes for a fun watch, and yet, you can come in completely cold on this one and still keep up. Acting wise, nobody’s getting an Oscar, but well choreographed action and fighting, over the top stunts, and artful high speed driving make this one heck of a ride– at times eliciting laughter as much as cheering from the audience. Director Justin Lin knows where Fast & Furious belongs on the Mensa scale (low), but doesn’t insult the audience along the way and instead lets the good times roll. As far as popcorn chomping fun, thrills, chills, and spills go this one’s hard to beat. Surprisingly worth your while, and stick around for the credits for even more fun. The Fast & Furious 6 is rated PG-13.


May 24 2013

The Hangover Part III

Wolf pack assemble! This time Phil, Stu, and Doug (Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Justin Bartha) rally to help move Alan (Zach Galifianakis) to a special care facility. Naturally, along the way the gang get held up, this time by a Mobster named Marshall (John Goodman). Apparently Mr. Chow (Ken Jeong) has stolen millions of dollars in gold that belongs to Marshall. Marshall knows his best shot at getting to Chow is through Chow’s only “friends” Alan, Phil, Stu, and Doug. So, extortion it is; now it’s up to the boys to track and bring in Chow and return Marshall his gold. Easier said than done, but it’s one last excuse to take on the mean streets of Tijuana and Vegas all in the name of friendship.HangoverIII Trying to bilk audiences one more time on this franchise Director/producer/writer Todd Phillips goes to the well for more water, but sadly comes up with a bucket of dust instead. Although, where The Hangover and Hangover II were basically the same movie we do actually get some variation on the theme this go round, hardly an improvement. While there are a few chuckles here and there, the comedic gold audiences are hungry for is absent, at least until the credits, at which point where a semi comedic epilogue does lighten things a teensy bit, even then it’s a stretch. On the positive, fans will enjoy some of the flashbacks we’re given, and the completion of a few character’s arcs from previous installments feels mildly on par. Hardly worth your hard earned dollar, unless you’re the type of person who feels the need to see a series through to its completion (in which case good for you, fans with conviction are always appreciated); I however, want my 100 minutes back. The Hangover Part III is rated R.