Iron Man 3

So after the superhero-y goodness that was "The Avengers," what do you do for a follow-up act?
Why, the continuing saga of Tony Stark, the charismatic, snarky, smart-guy who can build cool things in a cave...with a box of scraps!
"Iron Man 3" sadly does not fall under the short list of movies that comprise of 3rd installments in trilogies that are good, but this film does what it can to wrap things up as tidily as it can.
The story starts when Tony Stark, now plagued with semi-insomnia because every time he tries to sleep he flashbacks to the time he almost died in a wormhole to outer space, vows revenge against a terrorist that had been causing quite a stir in the world (well at least after "the Avengers") after he orchestrated an attack in front of the famous Chinese theater in LA. Going after the movie industry? You've gone too far terrorist scum!
Then out of nowhere, Tony challenges the terrorist, known as the Mandarin, despite him not even being any kind of Asian, for a showdown at his home...where his live-in girlfriend lives...oops. After narrowly escaping with his life, then he has to slum it low-tech in a sleepy little town in the middle of the US, trying to piece together the mystery of the exploding minions, to get over his PTSD, AND fight off maniacs who want to (possibly?) kill him. This leads up to him McGyvering up a way to the enemy stronghold...leading to disappointment and a reveal of an even bigger bad. From then, there's a great many action scenes of increasing scope and impressiveness leading to a climax of many many Iron Man suits responding to the call of Gondor, erm, Tony Stark.
Let's take a step back now shall we? It's the summer of 2008. Both "Iron Man" and "The Dark Knight" are duking it out in the theaters. Such thoughts can be summed up in this video. Now we fast forward to the present and it seems like the 3rd installment in both franchises are still duking it out...granted "Dark Knight Rises" was released earlier this time, there are a whole lot of parallels that can be drawn here. And while "Dark Knight Rises" is not a perfect movie, I feel like there are aspects of it that were done there that were much better than what was accomplished in "Iron Man 3."
With that said, while it is a pretty poor movie, I CAN say that Robert D. Jr. still pulls of his classic charisma and wit in almost any scene he's in. The effects are stunning as are usual and the sight of an army of Iron Man suits is like a iron-gloved slap of happy. While I don't doubt the money-making juggernaut of Marvel to find a way to make more sequels, the ending makes it seem pretty final...which is dumb since we already know that there's an Avengers 2 in the works. So really, all we can do is wait and see what the future holds for our favorite billionaire playboy philanthropist.

That's adorable Loki.

Star Trek Into Darkness

If you know anything about the previous Star Trek movies, you'll know that most people consider "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan" to not only be the best Star Trek movie of the franchise, but the best movie thematically ever.
That being said, does JJ Abrams' 2nd movie about the crew of the USS Enterprise make Trekkie, critic, and casual summer-blockbuster-movie-goer alike flail about in glee?
Take a trek...a Star Trek...Into Darkness...of a movie theater...

A British terrorist has not only waged on Starfleet itself, but made it personal when one of his victims is someone close to Captain Kirk. So the crew is sent on what could only be interpreted as a "black ops" mission to kill this dude and bring peace to the universe.
...
Nope. The Enterprise crew come across a massive conspiracy involving Starfleet and the evil Brit, and only they can stop it from coming to full fruition. Along the way, humor, action, high-speed chases, pathos, and moral dilemmas pop up to beleaguer Kirk, Spock, Scotty, Uhura, Bones, Sulu and the rest.

Coming from someone with only a passing knowledge of the Star Trek universe and mythos, I can honestly say that this film is greatness. It can enrapture you with the superb acting, the atmosphere from the settings these characters inhabit, and the enjoyability of each character interacting with and playing off each other. Of particular note is the terrorist John Harrison, played by Benedict Cumberbatch, as he plays one of the most competent villains I've seen in any movie. He has the chilling, sophisticated evil that is exhibited by such villains such as Hannibal Lecter, Maleficent, and, in some incarnations, Ra's Al Ghul. At the same time, he can handle himself in a fight, with such a maniacal, ferocious, pants-wetting scariness.  We are also shown his capacity for honor and reason, but at the same time, we see he's also a horrible back-stabber. No doubt he stole the show.
Aside from the characters, the grandness of space is again fully realized in this film, despite so few scenes actually being in space or alien planets (most of the action is on the ship). The humor is a bit hit-or-miss, with most of the laugh-out-loud moments coming from either the dry delivery of Zachary Quinto's Spock or Simon Pegg's Scotty antics.
Overall, great film, and definitely one to see if you're itching for a good action flick for Trekkie and casual movie-goer at the same time...although a couple of scenes might rub true die-hard Trekkie the wrong way...like REALLY wrong.

To sum up the villain, he's what happens when you mix this:

 with the ferocity of this