Reviews

'The Hangover' giveth and 'The Hangover' taketh away.

The first 'Hangover' made Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, and especially Zach Galifianakis stars, and it elevated Todd Phillips from middling Hollywood director to name-brand comic auteur. But in the film industry, success that surprising and enormous demands more success; the beast must be fed. But as 'The Hangover Part II' and especially the new 'Hangover Part III' prove, it is very hard to make a good sequel to a truly original idea. 'Part II' went the rehash route, recycling the plot of the first movie so brazenly you almost had to admire its chutzpah. 'Part III' finally breaks with the formula a little (SPOILER ALERT: there is no hangover), but still doesn't produce anything even remotely worthy of the first film.

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J.J. Abrams is going to make the greatest 'Star Wars' movie in history.

With 'Star Trek Into Darkness,' Abrams' follow up to the 2009 'Star Trek' reboot (or continuation of the series, if you are Spock Prime) he has solidified his position as a master of propulsive, visceral filmmaking. Dude knows where to put the camera, when the music should swell, when the characters should zing each another or when they should project pathos to the cheap seats. The 'Star Wars' films are mostly gut and little brains and, unfortunately, that is what we have here. The movie still works as an exemplary thrill ride – I laughed, I cried, I cheered – but woe be to anyone who gets caught in a conversation afterwards trying to explain the overly complicated and, at times, silly plot. If you expect something a little sharper out of 'Star Trek' you may come away with some mixed emotions.

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From the earliest days of his appearances in Marvel Comics' 'Tales of Suspense,' Tony Stark has always been modeled after aviator/inventor/industrialist Howard Hughes. With 'Iron Man 3,' Stark assumes a new dimension of Hughes' persona: that of the paranoid shut-in who, in his later years, became notorious for roaming his private floor of the Desert Inn Hotel in Las Vegas, freaking out about invisible germs and collecting jars of his own urine. 'Iron Man 3's' Tony Stark, played once again by the inimitable Robert Downey Jr.isn't quite that bad, but he's getting there.

After the events chronicled in 'The Avengers,' where Manhattan was nearly leveled by invading aliens and Tony himself was almost killed, he's become obsessed with upgrading his armor -- leaping all the way from the Mark VII to the Mark 42 in a matter of months. When anyone mentions New York or aliens, Tony gets panic attacks. There's a reason Daredevil, not Iron Man, is the Marvel hero known as "The Man Without Fear." Poor Tony is terrified.

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I stand before you, humbled, and tasked with explaining, in comprehensible terms, just what the heck 'G.I. Joe: Retaliation' is all about. Attaining comprehensibility, however, is a chore the filmmakers didn't wrestle with, doubling-down on pure adrenaline and big movie star charisma. It's a risky move and sometimes it works. Sadly, this is not one of those cases.

While there are chuckles to be had (I mean, that Cobra Commander helmet is just too incredible to dismiss) there isn't enough whiz-bang in this film to fully deflect the utter lack of a story or absence of intriguing characters. It is, surprisingly, the lesser of the two 'G.I. Joe' films, with Stephen Sommers' 2009 'The Rise of Cobra' featuring much more team spirit, pep and fun.

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Just in time for tomorrow's Oscar night telecast, we've found a great supercut that offers a fun blast of film history. 

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After watching the television show 'Killing Lincoln' last night, I can officially say I felt cheated. I believe the story, as well as the Kennedy assassination, have been exploited and over-analyzed for years, and people like me only watch shows about them in the hope that the author has gained some insight or uncovered some new fact that will add some interest to the subject.

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For anyone who has ever sat down to a hot fudge sundae and thought, "You know, this is really delicious, but I really wish it could get me drunk," we give you SnoBar, the new alcohol-infused ice cream and ice pops with a full shot in every serving.

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Mad scientists have been hard at work trying to develop a sex-drive-enhancement drug for women ever since those wily old coots emerged nearly 15 years ago with a little blue pill called Viagra. Interestingly enough, it appears as if science is no match for men dedicated to breeding a society full of hornier women, because those fiends have done it.

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I know many who are passionate about buffet style food in this area. However, some of the best buffet style food around here can be summed up with one word: Charley's.

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Usually a business will have a grand opening as soon as a place opens.  However, The Station on State in Knob Noster waited six months to hold their grand opening. Owners Bart and Lori Amsbaugh thought it would be good to get their restaurant up and running and concentrate on establishing themselves and training their staff.  The official grand opening was held on Saturday, September 15.

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