“So I responded in kind.”

The Enterprise’s crew is on a recently discovered planet. Its inhabitants are simple and impressionable. While Spock leaps into a volcano to stablize it*, the enormous starship zooms overhead, the people instantly proclaiming it to be their god. This is not the only reference of a higher power in the film. J.J. Abrams has been given the keys to the universe. A few in fact. One wonders if being the brains behind not only the reboot of Star Trek, but future versions of Star Wars as well has given him the appropriate complex.

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“Every allied country gave me a medal…even Montenegro.”

I could live in a Baz Luhrman world. Everything is effervescent and luxurious. The people are beautiful, the scenery is handsome; even car crashes seem romantic. Luhrman’s forté is spectacle, and he does his craft service with the latest adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s 1925 classic, The Great Gatsby. The director is the perfect mouthpiece for the story. It oozes excess, dripping in high fashion, and even higher drama.

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“I loved you in A Christmas Story, by the way.”

In the end credit sequence, the words, “Tony Stark will return” pop up on the screen which is appropriate, as Iron Man 3 is very much a story about the man inside his reinforced alter-ego. Since the climactic battle at the conclusion of The Avengers, Stark is at his most vulnerable. He suffers from post traumatic stress disorder, occurring from his near-death escape from the intergalactic wormhole. As you do. His panic attacks are sudden and distressing. For a man that has battled gods, swarms of aliens, and metallic monsters, a psychological disorder seems beneath him.

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Ahh, to be a fly on the wall at the Marvel Studios office. Once can only imagine the conversations that led to the release of Shane Black’s Iron Man 3. It’s true that Iron Man 2 slightly underperformed, both financially and critically, but considering the miracle that Jon Favreau had achieved with the franchise up until that point, the decision to replace him (or not pay him enough to return) for IM3 was a confusing one. On top of that, they opted to bring in yet another out of the box helmer.

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“The bike’s part of the family.”

Harper Lee famously wrote, “You can choose your friends, but you sho’ can’t choose your family, an’ they’re still kin to you no matter whether you acknowledge ‘em or not, and it makes you look right silly when you don’t.” In The Place Beyond the Pines, Luke Glanton (Ryan Gosling) is a nomadic shadow, a folk hero of the eccentric. His absurd clothes and chaotic tattoos tell the story of his life and his process. His introduction is a close-up of a toned torso; the camera follows closely behind as he makes his way towards his motorcycle and a death-defying stunt. The anonymous crowd cheers. This place and these people are his kin.

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“I love this feeling, even if it makes me cry sometimes.”

To The Wonder is told through narration and whispers. A soft-spoken account of connection and the hopeful revival of sensation. What is important? What fulfills us? Director Terrence Malick strips away the baggage, leaving only what’s essential, here. Once more he has created a moving, lyrical poem. It is about man and woman. This is not a love story, but a life story.

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“I got Scarface on repeat. Constant, ya’ll.”

The Spring Breakers sit around, bored in class. While the professor dispenses knowledge, the girls doodle in their notebooks, drawing penises with ‘Spring Break’ written on them. They smoke weed in dorms and perform gymnastics in the hallways, brainstorming different ways to fund a trip down to South Florida for the annual rite of excessive drinking and nudity. This is a land where one-piece suits and body hair are strictly forbidden.

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“I can always go eat with another dude…hang you back up to the ceiling.”

I was in calculus class, freshman year when the first plane crashed into the north face of One World Trade Center. I was one in a hall of about 400 students, when a handful of phones began to ring, then dozens more, all with the same horrific news. For the remainder of the day, I, like countless others was riveted to the television, watching the residual scenes unfolding in realtime. I’ll remember that moment in the classroom, and that day for the rest of my life. Important events tend to do that, instantly searing themselves in our brain like an emotional polaroid picture.

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After playing patty-cake with the internet, releasing 6-second, and 20-second teasers, James Mangold and team have unveiled the first long look for The Wolverine. I know we were all wondering, but do not fret, it’s now confirmed that Hugh Jackman still stuck to his ab routine.

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“I don’t have a phone. They don’t let me make calls.”

We’re quickly shown that Pat and Tiffany are mangled, mentally. Pat is recently released from an asylum. He was there because he assaulted his wife’s fatter, bald lover after he caught the two having sex in the shower; Tiffany is grieving from the recent death of her husband. To cope, she sleeps with every man in her office. The two meet at a mutual friend’s dinner party and immediately start to bicker about everything. Literally everything. The next morning, Pat wears a sweatsuit and a garbage bag and goes jogging, soon bumping into Tiffany. An agreement is reached: he will practice and later perform with her at a local dance competition. In turn, Tiffany will pass along a note to Pat’s wife Nikki, stating how changed he is, which will, he hopes, ignite a reconciliation.

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