Star Trek Into Darkness is the twelfth installment in the Star Trek franchise and the sequel to 2009′s Star Trek. J.J. Abrams once again directs with a screenplay written by Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman and Damon Lindelof.

This new adventure brings back all of our favorite crew members, adds some new ones, and gives us one hell of a ride from start to finish. The movie is reverential, faithful, and steeped in “Trek” mythology. Good or bad, this is a damn fun movie that Trekkies new and old can enjoy.

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In 1999, Fox released the movie X-Men, a remarkable achievement considering the previous track record with big budget comic book movies (BatmanForever, we’re looking at you). Fans of the franchise got to see reasonably accurate portrayals of their favorite characters. Spider-man quickly followed, proving to the world that comic book properties were money making landmines. Since then, the people have been given a wide variety of comic book movies from Hulk to The Avengers.

Iron Man has long stood out as a shining star of Marvel Studio’s rooster. Built on the back of Robert Downey Jr.’s astounding performance as Tony Stark, as well as Jon Farvreau’s realistic vision of a man with a nightlight in his chest and a suit of high tech armor, Iron Man took the genre to the next plateau, leading the charge to what many could only dream of: The Avengers movie. Once again Tony Stark returns to the big screen this year for the first time since his epic journey into space strapped to an atom bomb. Director Shane Black has taken over both partial writing and directing duties, but with it he has also taken Iron Man from the fans and given him to the masses.

*SPOILERS AHEAD*

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I don’t want to run a halfway decent idea into the ground, but I had so much fun with the “Ten Books, A Thousand Pages” project (Part One is here, and Part Two here) that I had to do it again. So I present The Return of Ten Books, A Thousand Pages, wherein I pick ten science fiction or fantasy books from the front-and-center display of the bookstore and read the first 100 pages of each to see if it’s something you (or I) would want to finish reading.

The idea is to do a quick and dirty review of the books that are going to be in your face the next time you’re out shopping or browsing the Recommended Reading sections online. And honestly, if a book can’t capture your attention in a hundred pages, I think it’s safe to find something you might like better.

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Over time the fighting game genre has grown from an arcade clique to a world wide tournament. Many have tried to carve their niche in the fighting game world, but one company has outlasted and out gunned many upstarts.  NeatherRealm, the creators of the legendary Mortal Kombat series, have their roots planted deep in the fighting game community being the first to introduce blood and gore into their games.  Now with a combined effort from DC Comics, the most iconic heroes and villains will go head to head in an arena built for epic Kombat.

 

Overall: 8.6  “Gotta get it!”

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Oblivion is the brand new science fiction movie by writer/director Joseph Kosinski, whose previous film was 2010′s Tron: Legacy. It takes place in the year 2073, after an alien invasion sixty years prior which destroyed the Moon and nearly all of Earth. Jack Harper (Tom Cruise) is Tech 49, one of the last remaining humans stationed on the planet. He and his communications officer Victoria (Andres Riseborough) are part of an operation to extract the planet’s remaining resources for use on the Moon Titan, which is where the surviving humans have settled. As Jack goes though his daily routine, he begins to question what he knows about his mission and himself. And like in all good science fiction, not all is what it seems.

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The Son of Sam has returned, and his name is Fede Alvarez. Based on the 1981 Cult Classic The Evil Dead directed by Sam Raimi (Wizard of Oz), the newest incarnation Evil Dead released this friday isn’t a remake as many have thought, but rather an intended sequel with A LOT of fan service to the original. Evil Dead still finds a familiar cast of young 20-somethings in a familiar cabin where an evil is released and one by one everyone dies brutal, gory deaths in a film that is relentless from beginning to end.

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G.I. Joe: Retaliation is the squeal to the 2009s G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra. Duke is back leading a new team of Joes: Roadblock, Lady Jaye, Flint, Snake Eyes, Jinx, and General Joseph Colton. The Joes band together to take on Cobra Commander, Zartan, Storm Shadow, and Firefly before they destroy the world. Whereas the first one felt like a messy toy commercial, this new movie feels more like the G.I. Joe movie fans would want.

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We all knew Bioshock: Infinite was going to be something special. The question was whether it would be a flawed-but-unquestionably-incredible title like the original, or a flawed-but-slightly-lackluster effort like Bioshock 2. Well, Irrational Games’ much anticipated Bioshock: Infinite is here, and the verdict is in.

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In one year, some action flicks come out that are really good, and many of them get lost in the mix. Especially in recent years now filled with comic book action movies, how does a standard one stand out from another? A good plot, a tight script, and wonderful actors doing great characters usually helps. Olympus Has Fallen has all that and more. Director Antoine Fuqua, known mostly for Training Day, has taken the action genre back with a hard hitting, no holds barred, everything-blows-up style of action flick that has been sorely missing from our cinema lately.

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Rating: 7.0

I’m a sucker for a good Castlevania game, and even more so on a handheld device. There is something special about getting to sit down and kill zombies on the go. This time around Konami went for the 3DS promising a 3D-2D Castlevania. So how does this game hold up to it’s predecessors? Is this the next great handheld Castlevania??

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