Film & TV

The best of the two is “White House Down,” a picture that balances wild action sequences with a healthy sense of humor. “Olympus Has Fallen,” on the other hand, takes things deadly serious. It centers on Mike Banning (Gerard Butler), a U.S. Secret Service agent who loses favor by failing to save the first lady (Ashley Judd) in the aftermath of an automobile accident. Mike gets an opportunity to redeem himself when the White House is taken over by well-organized attackers. 

End-of-the-world movies have long been a popular genre, but Hollywood seems particularly taken by them in 2013. “After Earth,” “Pacific Rim,” “World War Z” and “Elysium” all operate on the premise that human control of Earth is a privilege, and that we may someday become outcasts on our own planet. Writer-director Joseph Kosinski (“Tron: Legacy”) offers his own post-apocalyptic vision with “Oblivion,” a science-fiction adventure set about 60 years in the future. 

Set in China in 1975 and told through the eyes of an 11-year-old boy, 11 Flowers is many things at once: a coming-of-age story; a thriller; a slice of life from a remote village in the Guizhou province; and a glimpse of the social tension caused by China’s Cultural Revolution. Thoughtful and quietly poignant, the film manages all these elements beautifully, without allowing its young central character to be eclipsed by the events surrounding him.

With “G.I. Joe: Retaliation” – a sequel to 2010’s “The Rise of Cobra” –Reese, Wernick and director Jon M. Chu seem to resign themselves to the fact that the project is so over-the-top that a truly great movie would be impossible. So, they do the best with what they have. The result is a smash-bang action film that shoots first and thinks later. This doesn’t make “Retaliation” good, but it does make it moderately entertaining.

These achievements would be more than enough to put Ferlinghetti on the map of American scholarship, but his legacy as a free speech supporter, champion of original writing, and proponent of radical political thought have spread his influence beyond the beat poets that he nurtured. Christopher Felver’s Ferlinghetti: A Rebirth of Wonder is a jazzy tapestry of a documentary, tracing the man’s life from his chaotic beginnings to his World War II experiences to his patronage of the counterculture and beyond. 

No matter what genre director Danny Boyle tackles, he is capable of remarkable heights. With “Trance,” he moves from the reality drama of “127 Hours” and the underdog story of “Slumdog Millionaire” to a brazen thriller that keeps viewers guessing throughout its 101-minute run. The movie starts with narration by Simon (James McAvoy), an art auctioneer who explains that the act of stealing a precious painting is no longer a simple, strong-arm job. 

His early light science-fiction films garnered him much attention in Hollywood, but nothing compared to the 1996 blockbuster "Independence Day" (which also put Will Smith on the map as a blockbuster film star). Two years later, his film "Godzilla" topped the groundbreaking visual effects of "Independence Day", further proving the quality of his films. "The Patriot" (2000), a great historical piece set in the time of the American Revolution, traded widespread terror from aliens and monsters for widespread blood and gore. 

Much like Dick Butkus or Bo Jackson, Gordie Howe was the epitome of virility. However, the Canadian-born Howe played a violent, physically grinding game at an elite level for much longer than any of his professional peers, finally retiring at age 52. Howe did it all without wearing a helmet. The film “Mr. Hockey: The Gordie Howe Story” begins at the end of Howe’s career with the Detroit Red Wings. The film depicts a predictably bored Howe who misses the day-to-day action of being a professional athlete as a figurehead in the Red Wings front office.