Okay, okay. We've all read the book, right?  I think it was part of most High School curriculums. What am I talking about... The Great Gatsby. The book was written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, was and is one of the most famous English language books ever written according to many and now for the 2^nd time in the last 40 years it has been made into a big screen movie.

The Great Gatsby (PG-13) opening Friday May 10^th, tells the story of J. Gatsby and his friend Nick Carraway, who tells us Gatsby’s story. Carraway (Tobey Maguire) is the cousin of Daisy (Carey Mulligan) who is married to Tom Buchanan (Joel Edgerton) who finds out that he lives next door to the elusive Gatsby. Nick strikes up a relationship with Gatsby and later goes to one of his big time parities and gets to see what the talk around town is all about.

Gatsby’s parties are crazy and a bash that brings the roaring twenties right in front of your face. Gatsby and Carraway’s relationship grows and Gatsby feels the need to entrust his life story to Carraway including his upbringing and why he is one of the richest people in the area. We also find out that Gatsby also wants to re-ignite a relationship with Daisy whom he had fallen in love with many years earlier, in fact it’s the reason why he is so close to Daisy, living across the bay from her, enough to see her house from his.

Daisy’s life isn’t going that great, her husband Tom is engaged in many affairs but the old money is there and she’s just going through the movements. With Nick’s help Gatsby and Daisy find their love again and Gatsby thinks it’s time for Daisy to leave Tom and run away with him. What follows is some ups and downs for everyone and well I don’t want to spoil it.

The Great Gatsby is an interesting movie, it’s directed by Baz Luhrmann, who directed Leonardo DiCaprio back in 1996’s Romeo & Juliet, and brings that same feel to this movie as that one. A very fast paced, quick cut movie, Gatsby looks to make the 1920’s hip and now, which includes the music of Jay-Z.

Trust me, it’s not the Gatsby of your Grandfather. Tobey Maguire brings a steady hand to the Nick Carraway figure who tell us the story through his writing of the adventure he had but never seems like he fits.  Joel Edgerton brings the womanizer Tom Buchannan to life, a character who gets what he wants whenever he wants it, the quintessential playboy, I enjoyed his portrayal.  Carey Mulligan who plays Daisy does a nice job but I never bought into her, the fact that she was someone Gatsby would drop his whole life over just didn’t win me over.

Now the real reason you do need to see The Great Gatsby is for DiCaprio, this guy is a star, if you didn’t know this already. The minute he walks on the screen the movie explodes. His charisma and persona takes you away and you definitely feel like he is larger than life and Gatsby incarnate.  He really carries this movie and adds the interest you need to care about everyone else and why they're there.

Look, The Great Gatsby is not the greatest movie but it’s a nice movie that you can get involved with and defiantly take your girlfriend, wife or significant other.  At more than 2 hours, the movie does have its slow points but for the most part moves very well.

Director Luhrmann does a nice job of giving you the ambience of the 1920’s and relating it to today’s movie goer. I liked Gatsby but I didn’t love it, but I do think it’s worth a try.

It must be the start of the summer blockbusters because here comes the first, Iron Man 3. Opening Friday May 3^rd,, Iron Man 3 follows the continuing adventures of Tony Stark/Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) and his fight against evil, while trying to balance his love life with Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow). Iron Man, coming off a great adventure in the Avengers film, which I loved, finds himself in a bit of a dilemma. He is having super anxiety because of some of the events from The Avengers while trying to cope with a new villain, The Mandarin (Ben Kingsley).

Tony works hard to try and cope with this new found anxiety, which is nice because it brings some regular person feel to his character, even the great Tony Stark has flaws.

He setout to try and stop a terrorist of very large proportions called the Mandarin. He also gets involved with another manipulator named Aldirich Killian played by Guy Pierce who also has his eye set on Tony for reasons you can find out when you go see this movie, but let’s say he’s not happy with good ole Tony Stark.

The similarities of the fight against terror that our country is currently going through and the fight to stop the mythical Mandarin are sometimes too close to home. Iron Man and his friend War Machine/Iron Patriot (Don Cheadle) have to team together to find out what is going on and why certain events are not initially making sense.  In this chapter of the Iron Man franchise Tony Stark/Iron Man has to fight many inner demons as well as go back to the basics to get his point across including befriending a young boy who gives him added inspiration and help for that matter.

Iron Man 3 follows the same theory as many other of the Marvel super hero movies, to save the day but it does it in a fun way. Robert Downey Jr. is again wonderful as Iron Man. I found myself asking for as much screen time from him as they could possibly give. Gwyneth Paltrow is always good, and something about her is very engaging plus I think Ben Kingsley steals the show as the arch villain. This movie has its great share of special effects and storyline, though I do wish that there would have been a little bit more of the Iron Man kickin' butt but we do get a chance to evolve the characters through more of a storyline than explosions.

The film is not amazing but its definitely worth the price of admission and it's a film that everyone can enjoy, It's just fun. It's not without some flaws, but not enough to keep me or you away.

The fact that Tony Stark is vulnerable in this movie is refreshing and shows that you don’t have to be Iron Man to be a superhero. It takes us for a ride, I just wish there were more rides, but there is enough to do its Iron Man duty.

Go see Iron Man 3 and have a great time... I did.

Inspirational, heartwarming, sad, and scary, these are all words that can describe the new Warner Brothers movie 42 (opening Friday, April 12th). Trust me they're many words that can also describe this PG-13 movie that chronicles the summer of 1947 and how a man named Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in the national pastime of baseball.

This movie is much more than the story of one man, it's the story of a movement, the story of how Dodgers President Branch Rickey, Jackie Robinson and his wife Rachel became the part of one of the toughest segregations of our time. Up until 1947, baseball was played by only white players, there was a baseball league for black players but they weren’t allowed to play with their white counterparts. It wasn’t until Dodgers executive Branch Rickey (Harrison Ford) decided it was time for a change, though the thought of money was in his head their were other motives that we find out later in the film.

Jackie Robinson (Chadwick Boseman) goes through one hell of a ride from his time with the Dodgers farm team the Montreal Royals to finally getting his chance to prove himself in the show. His wife Rachel Robinson (Nicole Beharie) becomes his rock of Gibraltar standing by Jackie through his ordeal and offering great positivity when times seemed so overwhelming.

I think we all feel we know the story of the great Jackie Robinson. He was the first black player to play Major League Baseball, but there was more. He was a wanted man and he was looked upon by not only racist fans and players; not deserving to be there no matter how great he was but because of the color of his skin.

He endured racial epitaphs on a constant basis from managers from other teams. In one town a policeman threatened to arrest Jackie if he continued to be on the field. There were even teammates of Jackie on the Dodgers who were not to keen to sharing the field or shower with the man. It’s a testament to Jackie that he kept his cool through all this and by all means he almost broke down during the course of the season but he knew it was all part of a bigger picture and so did Mr. Rickey.

This movie was a long time coming, I read an article in the L.A. Times that said that former MLB player Ken Griffey Jr said that many teen players he tutored didn’t even know who Jackie Robinson was. In this day and age of many different issues of equality, 42 stands alone as a great starting place of mans injustice toward fellow man just because he or she doesn’t look like you do.

Chadwick Boseman does a great job in a tough role as the man, while Nicole Beharie brings a loving yet strong portrayal of Rachel Robinson who kept Jackie on the straight and narrow. I love Harrison Ford, he really lost himself in the role of Branch Rickey. He brings a hard nosed edge to the man who was very powerful, not only with the Dodgers but with the MLB as well.

Yes, 42 is a baseball film, it brings the feel of 1940’s baseball to the screen but it doesn’t shy away from the actual game even though we know it takes backstage to the real story of a man's courageous fight. We also get to meet people, Wendell Smith (Andre Holland) who helps Jackie stay the course by being his eyes and ears protector through his first year with the Dodgers while going through his own racism as being a black sportswriter who is not even allowed in the press box. We also get a chance to meet many of the great Dodgers like Pee Wee Reese (who’s one act in this movie can and bring a tear to your eye) and Ralph Branca who started off skeptical but soon realized that this man could help them win and that was more important than the color of his skin.

The film is harsh with many words that can be hurtful even in this day but the blunt nature only furthers the reality of the cruelty we showed and may still do so take the PG-13 rating into mind when deciding who in your family is ready to see it.