Written by David S. Goyer; directed by Zack Snyder
With Henry Cavill, Michael Shannon, Russell Crowe, Amy Adams, Kevin Costner, Diane Lane • Rated PG-13

By Ed Symkus

Comic books have become the go-to place for cinematic source material, so it should be no surprise that Iron Man 3 will still be in theaters when Man of Steel begins its run. All of that metal, and all of those fans who are as divisive as Democrats and Republicans when it comes to being fans of DC or Marvel.

The differences between the two comic giants and the differences between the two movies are palpable. DC’s Superman and Batman stories are serious, with light moments. Marvel’s Iron Man and, say, Spider-Man stories are serious, with goofy moments. DC often features touches of angst in its characters. Marvel usually overflows with it.

Superman, of course, has always been the heartbeat of DC, with Batman running a close second. Man of Steel was co-produced by Batman director Chris Nolan, and his fingerprints are all over it. But it was directed by a different sort of visionary: Zack Snyder, whose resumé of effects-driven films includes 300, Watchmen, and Sucker Punch.

The effects in Man of Steel get an extra “E” for “excessive.” But that’s not a complaint. When they’re done right, as they are here, even if they go to excess, as they do in the final act, in which Metropolis takes a shellacking that would make Godzilla proud, I’ll gobble up as much as Snyder wants to dish out.

You know the story. The distant planet Krypton is about to explode. Scientist-leader Jor-El (Russell Crowe, playing it stoic) and his wife can only save their newborn baby by shipping him off to Earth, where atmospheric conditions will give him super powers. But the spectacular opening segment on Krypton is also rife with political turmoil. Bad decisions have exhausted the planet’s natural resources, leading to a worse choice, one that will destroy it. Yet there might be a way to fix things, insists proud and dangerous military leader General Zod (Michael Shannon). But all hell breaks loose, and the infant Kal-El is soon zooming through the universe, en route to the farmland of Jonathan and Martha Kent (Kevin Costner and Diane Lane, and I’ve gotta say, they do make one fine-looking couple!)

From that point on, Snyder and screenwriter David S. Goyer (Batman Begins, Dark City) go the non-linear route. There’s a daring sea rescue led by a strong young man named Clark (Henry Cavill), which cuts to a younger Clark at school where he’s labeled a freak, which cuts to a reporter named Lois Lane (Amy Adams) working on a story and proving that she’s tough, feisty, and inquisitive.

It’s also a film where the dead can live again, or at least their consciousness can, which is why Crowe is in the movie so much even after Zod kills Jor-El right near the start.

Yes, the action becomes relentless, with fight sequences galore, pushed forward by Hans Zimmer’s propulsive, percussive score. But the reason this is a great film is because it smartly and effectively examines some fascinating issues while things are roaring around them. Clark Kent has lived a life of conundrums, never quite fitting in anywhere. He’s dealing with the meaning of his own life. General Zod looks to be a man of pure malevolence, but the script eventually reveals some reasoning behind it, a sort of warped Kryptonian patriotism. And then there’s the film’s central concern: heartfelt father-son relationships – the one between Jor-El and his son Kal-El, and the one between Jonathan Kent and his stepson Clark (nee Kal-El).

Perry White is around. He’s black and has a stud in his ear. But there’s no Jimmy Olsen or Lex Luthor. Well, if you look close, you’ll see a LexCorp reference, which should make you smile almost as much as the film’s spot-on last lines of dialogue.

“A Sister’s Call” @ The Cinema Theatre, June 25

Dryden Theatre at George Eastman House

900 East Ave.; 271-4090 / eastmanhouse.org
(All films shown at 8 pm unless otherwise noted.)

6/12 Flash Gordon
6/13 They Might Be Giants
6/14 & 16 Monsieur Lazhar (Fri. @ 8 pm; Sun. @ 2 pm) *French, English & Arabic w/ subtitles
6/15 Night Across the Street *Spanish & French w/subtitles
6/18 Written On The Wind
6/20 The Seven-Per-Cent Solution
6/21 & 23 The Loneliest Planet (Fri. @ 8 pm; Sun. @ 2 pm)
6/22 The Right Stuff
6/25 Imitation of Life
6/26 Galaxy Quest

Italian American Community Center

150 Frank DiMino Way, Off Manitou; 585-594-8882 www.iacc.org

6/20 Italian Cinema Night: Salvatore Giuliano 7 pm

The Little Theatre

240 East Ave.; 258-0444 www.thelittle.org

6/14-16 One Take: Stories Through the Lens Series:
6/14 Don’t Look Back / Daybreak Express / Ziggy Stardust 6:30 pm
* Guest appearance by filmmaker D.A. Pennebaker
6/15 Monterey Pop / Dave Lambert (1 pm) / Don’t Look Back (9:30 pm)
6/16 Ziggy Stardust 9:30 pm

Memorial Art Gallery Auditorium

500 University Ave.; 742-1690 ganondagan.org/events

6/27 Friends of Ganondagan present: Bury My Heart with Tonawanda 7-9 pm

Reel Mind Film Series Screening

Cinema Theatre
957 S. Clinton Ave.; 325-3145 x100 reelmindfilmfest.org

6/25 A Sister’s Call 7 pm

D. A. Pennebaker @ Little Theatre

The Little Theatre at 240 East Avenue brings documentarian D. A. Pennebaker to town for a weekend music film series.  Pennebaker will introduce several of his works including Don’t Look Back, hailed as one of the greatest rock documentaries of all time. He will also introduce his 1973 film, Ziggy Stardust, which captures David Bowie’s last concert with the Ziggy persona and the Spiders from Mars.  Call (585) 258-0400.

Alternative Music Film Fest

The Memorial Art Gallery will screen The Joy Division Documentary (2007) on June 15 as part of their Alternative Music Film Festival.  The piece tells the story of a British post-punk band of the late 1970s through TV clips, newsreel, and interviews with surviving band members.  The MAG is located at 500 University Avenue.  Call (585) 276-8900.

Comfort Zone

In celebration of its 20th anniversary year, Rochester Community TV is hosting a Film Forum and Speaker Series.  Next up is Comfort Zone which takes a thought-provoking look at what impact climate change will have on upstate NY.  The screening will be on June 24 at the Cinema Theater, 957 S. Clinton Avenue; and will be followed by a Q & A session with the filmmakers.  Visit www.rctv15.org.

Written by Petter Skavlan; directed by Joachim Ronning and Espen Sandberg
With a whole bunch of Norwegian actors whose names you won’t be able to pronounce
Rated PG-13

By Ed Symkus

In the days before DVDs and video cassettes (anyone remember Betamax?) , if a teacher wanted to show a movie in class, it would be on 16-millimeter film, with a big, clunky projector and a tinny speaker. That’s how I first saw the 1950 movie Kon-Tiki, many years after it won the Oscar for Best Documentary, many years after it had started making the rounds on the educational circuit.

In thinking about it recently, I couldn’t recall any details, but did remember both some high adventure and a sense of charm. In re-watching it recently (thank you, local library) on DVD, those memories proved to be fairly accurate. I even sought out and read the book by Thor Heyerdahl that preceded the film.

The Kon-Tiki was a raft, a large one, made of balsa, fir, and bamboo that was lashed together with hemp rope, with a small cabin on top to protect its crew from the elements. The sailors were the Norwegian anthropologist Heyerdahl – who was trying to disprove the theory that the people of Polynesia came from Asia; he believed they came to those islands from South America, floating there on balsa rafts – along with four other Norwegians, one Swede, and a Spanish-speaking parrot. Over a period of 101 days in 1947, they floated, pushed only by winds and currents, from Peru to Polynesia. With just the addition of modern-day provisions, cameras and film, and a transmitting-receiving radio, they recreated a voyage that would have been taken a long, long time earlier by South Americans. Heyerdahl was right.

Now, all these years later, two Norwegian directors have made a feature film, using both the documentary and the book as source material, of the voyage, with a few changes here and there, in the name of dramatic license. But they’ve pretty much stuck to the actual story, leaving the adventure and charm intact.

So we get to see actors recreating both the camaraderie and the emotional challenges that came from being, literally, tiny specks in the sea for a long period. We see their fair skin become sun- and weather-beaten, and their stubbly faces slowly get covered by not-very-attractive beards. We meet up with the same creatures the real men met: flying fish, hungry and dangerous sharks, a majestic whale shark (all of which was done in very believable style via CGI). We watch everyone and everything get tossed about in a frightening nighttime storm at sea (filmed in a large tank, not on the open sea).

We also get to learn some interesting, and till now, well hidden information, such as the fact that Captain Heyerdahl couldn’t swim, was actually terrified of water, but wouldn’t let that get in the way of him proving his theory.

The film provides a feeling of escapism in that the intrepid, and not very experienced, sailors are escaping from the world they knew to go on an adventure, full of danger and doubt. The only flaws come welling up like waves when the story veers into dramatic territory that doesn’t really need to be here.

There’s a side story about Heyerdahl’s wife getting all upset about him going on the voyage into the unknown, played out in long-distance phone calls. One of the sailors – Herman Watzinger – makes a couple of instinctual errors that cause tension on the raft, but were invented by the screenwriter because, according to an interview with the directors, “We needed a character on the raft to be afraid.”

But these problems, along with a slightly too-slow pace, are minor ones. It’s OK that it’s a film of medium adventure, rather than high adventure. One interesting note: It was filmed in two languages at once: one take in Norwegian, and the next in English, over and over. The Norwegian version is because there was funding from the Norwegian Film Institute, and that was one of their requirements. The English version is because many years ago, Heyerdahl, who died in 2002 at the age of 87, made a deal with producer Jeremy Thomas that it would be made in English – again according to the directors – “for the world to see.” The version playing at the Little Theatre is in English.

900 East Ave.; 271-4090 / eastmanhouse.org
(All films shown at 8 pm unless otherwise noted.)

5/29 The Rules of the Game
5/30 The Tree of Life
5/31 & 6/2 Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid (Fri. @ 8 pm; Sun. @ 2 pm)
6/1 Gregory Crewdson: Brief Encounters *with Director Ben Shapiro
6/4 Magnificent Obsession
6/5 Silent Running
6/6 The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes
6/7 & 6/9 Wuthering Heights (Fri. @ 8 pm; Sun. @ 2 pm)
6/8 Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
6/11 All That Heaven Allows
6/12 Flash Gordon

“Different Is The New Normal” @ The Cinema Theatre, June 11

Reel Mind Film Series Screening

Cinema Theatre, 957 S. Clinton Ave.
325-3145 x100 reelmindfilmfest.org

6/11 Different Is The New Normal 7 pm

STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS

Written by Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman, Damon Lindelof; directed by J.J. Abrams
With Chris Pike, Zachary Quinto, Karl Urban, Zoe Saldana, Simon Pegg, Benedict Cumberbatch
Rated PG-13

By Ed Symkus

It’s a grim, foreboding title. Lots of bad stuff happens. There are terrorists who cause major devastation. There are life and death situations. There are Klingons, just itching to do what they like best: go to war. Things get worse before they get better.

But for some viewers, this sequel to J.J. Abrams’ really, really good, but not quite great reboot of the franchise is going to be an absolute joyride. Here are a few reasons why: The writing has been knocked up a few notches; though Kirk and Spock still remain, as they should, at the film’s center, the rest of the crew has been given more to do; and most important, Into Darkness takes the shape of a valentine to Star Trek fans, especially those who have been into it since the original TV show. Spread generously throughout the film are little shout-outs to us. A couple of times the film just walks up and says hello to hardcore fans of the show and to a lesser degree, the first films. Newcomers to the Star Trek universe won’t realize what’s going on, while certain references will make those in the know smile wide.

But whether you’re a geek-level fan or just a casual moviegoer, the less you know about the film in advance, the more you’ll enjoy it. With that in mind, here are the very few pieces of it that it’s OK to be in on.

It takes place in 2259. No, that’s not a star date, it’s the year. Some of it happens in San Francisco, some in London, some way out in space, the final frontier. Some time is taken to provide a bit of insight into Spock’s mind. Spock is and always will be a stick-to-the-rules guy. Kirk is a freewheeling leader who does what needs to be done to get things done. Someone utters the words “acting Captain Sulu.”

Actually, there’s so much going on in this movie, I’m going to let loose with four lines of dialogue, totally out of context.

“We’re defenseless, sir!”

“Beam me out!” (Yes, that’s out, not up.)

“What are you doing with that Tribble?” (I told you there were references.)

“Dammit, I’m a doctor, not a …” (You can fill in the rest.)

Star Trek Into Darkness starts the way great action movies should start, with a lot of action. Kirk and Bones are literally on the run, Spock is busy putting his life on the line (and wearing the coolest copper colored space suit). Interplanetary rules are broken, souls are bared, fast banter is volleyed, and attitudes are very much on display, as are relationships. The romantic one between Spock and Uhura has become serious; swinging single Kirk is revealed to have a thing for alien females – yes, that’s plural (You can tell they’re aliens because they have tails!).

Even back in its early TV days, Star Trek was famous for making its stories the most important piece of the puzzle. This one’s no exception, and Into Darkness’ story really kicks into gear with the introduction of the villainous John Harrison (the deep-voiced Benedict Cumberbatch, British TV’s current Sherlock Holmes). Initially we don’t know much about this guy except that he’s responsible for what would generally be termed a terrorist attack on a major city, and that he is, according to the folks in Star Fleet, “one of our own.”

There are spectacular visuals to match the wild action, and there are moments of quiet, serious talk that nicely complement perfect segments of comic relief. Best of all, the writers have learned an important lesson from 2009’s Star Trek. This time they’ve made sure to stay away from anything resembling the time-space continuum business of that film that had even some of the most diehard fans wondering what the heck was going on.

“Dirty Rotten Scoundrels” @ The Dryden Theatre, May 17

Dryden Theatre at George Eastman House,

900 East Ave.; 271-4090 / eastmanhouse.org
(All films shown at 8 pm unless otherwise noted.)

5/15 Ruggles of Red Gap
5/16 The Thin Red Line
5/17 Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
5/18 To the Wonder (7 pm & 9:30 pm)
5/19 To the Wonder (2 pm & 5 pm)
5/21 Confidentially Yours *French w/ subtitles
5/22 If You Could Only Cook
5/23 The New World
5/24 Bowfinger
5/25 & 26 Hendrix 70: Live at Woodstock (Sat. @ 8 pm; Sun. @ 2 pm)
5/28 Il Sorpasso *Italian/Latin/German w/ subtitles
5/29 The Rules of the Game

Reel Mind Film Series Screening,

Cinema Theatre, 957 S. Clinton Ave.; 325-3145 x100
www.reelmindfilmfest.org

5/28 Praying With Lior 7 pm

Directed by Michael Bay
With Mark Wahlberg, Dwayne Johnson, Anthony Mackie, Tony Shalhoub, Ed Harris
Rated R     

By Ed Symkus

Yes, it’s a new Michael Bay film. He’s the guy who, in a recent interview, described himself as “the guy who critics love to hate,” mainly because he’s the guy who made all three Transformers movies, which a lot of people, other than critics, made into huge hits.

But Bay’s pre-Transformers days include such far more accessible items as The Rock and Bad Boys, which, while filled with testosterone and guns and explosions, told pretty good stories.

With Pain & Gain, he tells the mostly true story, based on events that went down, almost 10 years ago, in and around Miami, albeit with less funny business than is presented in the film.

The film stars Mark Wahlberg, who puts on a strong display of emotional ups and downs, kind of like he did years ago in Boogie Nights. But the best part of Pain & Gain is Dwayne Johnson. The man has proven to be a competent actor during his time out of the wrestling ring, in both minor and major roles. But this time he reaches new levels, shows multiple sides of a complex character, shines just a little brighter than the other glowing folks around him.

This is the story of Daniel Lugo (Wahlberg) – a man who did time for bilking money from unwary investors, reinvented himself as a personal trainer in a Miami gym, then went for his version of the American dream: getting as much money as possible by simply taking it from a rich guy he despised.

He brought two fellow bodybuilders onboard – Paul Doyle (actually an amalgam of a couple of people), played by Johnson, and Adrian Doorbal (Anthony Mackie). As portrayed in the film, the combined intelligence level of this trio wouldn’t provide a light bulb with enough brightness to read. Their inept approach to the kidnapping of wealthy braggart gym client Victor Kershaw (Tony Shalhoub) goes wrong from the start, and provides the film with some sparkling comedic moments.

In fact, the film takes a few moments out to kind of wink at the audience, with a narrator saying right at the start that the story is “unfortunately” true, and later by flashing up a note on the screen reminding us of that fact, despite the outlandishness of it all.

But let’s go back to Michael Bay, and the often rough and tough sensibility he brings to his films. These criminals actually did some really loony things, but they also abandoned any normal behavior when they lost control of their “plan” and they had to wing it. The comedy here turns dark, then black, then pitch black, then gruesome.

But the combo of a slick, mostly believable script from Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely (co-writers of Captain America and the Narnia trilogy), and some perfectly timed ensemble acting from the three leads, a manic Shalhoub, and a calm and collected Ed Harris as a private detective, results in a film that makes you laugh while you cringe, then makes you laugh some more.

It’s a bizarre, complicated story filled with jaw-dropping left turns and a few scenes that aren’t for the squeamish. Some artistic license has been taken as far as the facts, to help it go down a little easier, but a quick Google search on Daniel Lugo will reveal that you can’t just slough it off by saying it’s only a movie. The story really did happen.

“In A Dream” Part of “The Reel Mind” Film Series, Screening may 14 @ The Memorial Art Gallery

Reel Mind Film Series Screening

Memorial Art Gallery
500 University Ave.; 325-3145 x100 reelmindfilmfest.org

Now in its fifth year, The Reel Mind film series, which addresses the social stigma of mental illness and provides a message of hope that recovery is possible, opens this season with the screening of In A Dream on May 14 at the Memorial Art Gallery, 500 University Avenue.  The film is an award-winning documentary chronicling the work of artist Isaiah Zagar along with his mental health struggles.  Other screenings include Praying With Lior on May 28; Different Is The New Normal on June 11; and A Sister’s Call on June 25, each presented at the Cinema Theatre, 957 S. Clinton Avenue.  Call (585) 325-3145.

Dryden Theatre at George Eastman House

900 East Ave.; 271-4090 / eastmanhouse.org
(All films shown at 8 pm unless otherwise noted.)

5/1 Reds
5/2 Badlands
5/3 & 5 The Jerk (Fri. @ 8 pm; Sun. @ 2 pm)
5/4 Joel Hodgson: Riffing Myself *Appearance by Joel Hodgson
5/7 The Conformist
5/8 The Fallen Idol
5/9 Days of Heaven
5/10 Roxanne
5/11 & 12 Band of Sisters (Sat. @ 8 pm; Sun. @ 2 pm)
5/14 The Outside Man
5/15 Ruggles of Red Gap

Written and directed by Brian Helgeland • Rated PG-13

By Ed Symkus

It was not with much excitement or anticipation that I sat down to watch 42, the bio-pic about Jackie Robinson, second baseman for the Brooklyn Dodgers, and the first black player to make it into the major leagues. I’m neither a big fan of usually over-reverential Hollywood bio-pic fare (my favorite remains The Music Lovers, the lurid and overwrought story of Peter Tchaikovsky), nor of sports movies that all seem to lead up to “the big game” (OK, there are a couple I’ve liked: Friday Night Lights and It Happens Every Spring).

Which brings us to the sports bio-pic 42, a movie that, to my surprise, engrossed me, moved me, educated me, entertained me. The title, for those unfamiliar with the man and the story, refers to the number Robinson wore on his back as a Dodger.

After seeing the film, I did some research on Robinson, and found that there were enough exploits in his life, even before he was catapulted from the Negro leagues to the majors in the late-1940s, to provide ample fodder for another whole movie. But believe me, this one will do for now.

As played by Chadwick Boseman, a busy background actor (lots of TV, and a part in The Express), here getting his first lead role, Robinson comes across as both uppity and laidback, as a hard-driving athlete and proud man, as someone who knows that he’s making history but in doing so must show a lot of restraint against the personal challenges thrown at him. Boseman is terrific in the part.

He’s matched every step of the way in acting chops and character portrayal by Harrison Ford as Branch Rickey, the crusty, determined, business savvy general manager of the Dodgers who got the idea to bring Robinson across the racial barrier. Packed into a fat suit to bulk him up to the real Rickey’s size, it’s Ford’s best performance in years.

But acting aside, perhaps the reason the film works so well is that aside from placing Robinson at the center, where he proves himself over and over on the field and at the plate, and showing him as a loving husband and a good man, the excellent script also keeps an eye on the people and events all around him.

This isn’t just a biography; it’s an unflinching study of the times. Racism wasn’t thought of as a bad thing; it was an accepted way of life, at least in the world of baseball. Robinson had to keep his cool when dealing with foulmouthed, bad-tempered fans and other players, even some of his own teammates.

One of the most difficult parts of the film to take is when Robinson becomes the target of vitriolic Ben Chapman (Alan Tudyk, who played the pilot in the great science-fiction TV series Firefly), the hateful manager of the Philadelphia Phillies, who hurls more N bombs at him than anyone uttered in Django Unchained.

Yet writer-director Brian Helgeland, while rightfully keeping scenes like that uncomfortable, balances the movie out with people on the other side of the issue – other fans, other players, folks like Branch Rickey – getting their say, rooting for Robinson to make it. There’s even a sidelight of comic moments, courtesy of John C. McGinley as legendary announcer Red Barber, a man responsible for turning some of the most colorful phrases in broadcast booth history.

This is not exactly a feel-good movie, as it covers some emotionally rough terrain. But it’s a class act all the way through, providing plenty to think about along with some great moments in baseball.

The High Falls Film Festival, April 18-20

High Falls Film Festival

The 11th season of Rochester’s High Falls Film Festival, celebrating women in film,  is scheduled for April 18, 19 & 20 this year with screenings at the Little Theatre, 240 East Avenue; the Dryden Theatre at the George Eastman House, 900 East Avenue, and the Cinema Theatre, 957 Clinton Avenue South.

The event offers 25 screenings of international films, documentaries and shorts as well as question and answer sessions with filmmakers.  There are also Gala Opening and Closing Night Celebrations scheduled along with the awarding of the Susan B. Anthony “Failure is Impossible” Award.  Visit www.highfallsfilmfestival.com for full details.

Rochester International Film Festival

Produced by Movies on a Shoestring Inc. since 1959, the Rochester International Film Festival is the longest-running, continuously held festival of short films in the world.  This year, screenings will include narratives, animations, and documentaries; with award-winning filmmakers from all over the world in attendance to discuss their work.  The Rochester International Film Festival will run April 25 thru 27 in the Dryden Theatre at the George Eastman House, 900 East Avenue. Visit www.rochesterfilmfest.org and call (585) 271-3361.

A Night @ The Movies

The Brockport Symphony Orchestra will present “A Night at the Movies” on April 18 in Seymour Union Ballroom on the SUNY College at Brockport campus.  The concert is actually a collaboration between the Dept. of Theatre and Music and the Film Studies program.  It will feature films and film music – from the silent era to the present – with Dr. Sidney Rosenweig introducing the film pieces.  Harold Lloyd’s “Ask Father” will be shown as well as scenes from “The Andy Griffith show,” “Around the World in Eighty Days,” and ”Calamity Jane.”  Visit www.brockportsymphony.org.

Dryden Theatre at George Eastman House

900 East Ave.; 271-4090 / eastmanhouse.org
(All films shown at 8 pm unless otherwise noted.)

4/17 Maurice
4/18 & 21 Room 237 (Thurs. @ 8pm; Sun. @ 2pm)
4/19 2001: A Space Odyssey
4/20 High Falls Film Festival (Details @ highfallsfilmfestival.com)
4/23 Le Grand Amour *French w/ subtitles
4/24 The Householder
4/25-27 Rochester International Film Festival (Details @ rochesterfilmfest.org)
4/28 Sunset (2 pm)
4/30 Land of Milk and Honey *French w/ subtitles