Review: ‘Hangover’ trilogy ends on a dark note

★★★

“Daring” isn’t a word you’d use very much to describe 2011’s “The Hangover Part II,” the disappointingly lazy, beat-for-beat rehash of the wild and wildly successful original “Hangover” from 2009.

Yet, here we are with “The Hangover Part III,” which runs a different sort …

‘Star Trek Into Darkness’ turns out to be quite the Enterprise

RICHARD ROEPER: Director J.J. Abrams is a true talent, and he’s also a pop-culture savant who has great respect for the legacy of this franchise as well as a keen understanding of the mega-importance of box-office figures. There’s no better choice to make the best, the purest AND the most accessible big-budget “Star Trek” movie possible. Yet with all the futuristic splendor and the fine performances, “Into Darkness” only occasionally soars, mostly settling for being a solid but unspectacular effort that sets the stage for the next chapter(s).

Ben Kingsley finds great depth in ‘Iron Man’ villain

LOS ANGELES — Iron Man is the first one to admit that even he has his, uh, Kryptonite.

“These superheroes are only ever as good as their bad guys,” Robert Downey Jr. said “If you have a lame bad guy then you’re done.”

There is …

Baz Luhrmann gets ‘Great Gatsby’ just right

RICHARD ROEPER: Given the wretched and sometimes wonderful excesses of Baz Luhrmann’s “Romeo + Juliet” and “Moulin Rouge,” not to mention a trailer that gave the impression Luhrmann’s interpretation of “The Great Gatsby” would be one extended anachronistic music video, it turns out Luhrmann’s “Gatsby” is first and foremost F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “Gatsby.”

Quirky ‘Pain & Gain’ goes on a steroid-fueled crime spree

RICHARD ROEPER: Here’s the mostly true story of three idiot bodybuilders who went on a steroids-fueled, tragicomic crime spree in south Florida in the 1990s, directed by Michael Bay with hard-R, turn-your-head-away violence. Even though the film does mine laughs from real-life tragedy, it refuses to glamorize these meatheads. Kudos to Bay and his screenwriters for making sure we’re laughing at them, not with them.

Review: ‘The Croods’ is simple but dazzles visually

★★1/2

Cavemen — they’re just like us! — or so “The Croods” seems to be saying with its familiar mix of generational clashes, coming-of-age milestones and generally relatable laughs.

The animated adventure features a strong, star-studded cast and dazzles visually in wondrously colorful, vibrant 3-D, …

Review: ‘42’ is classy but tame Robinson tale

★★1/2

Jackie Robinson was the ideal class act to break the barrier and become the first black player in Major League Baseball.

Writer-director Brian Helgeland’s Jackie Robinson biopic “42” is a class act itself, though not always an engaging act.

It’s such a familiar story …

Tom Cruise soars in ‘Oblivion,’ an epic paying homage to sci-fi

RICHARD ROEPER: “Oblivion” is an extremely well-crafted, at times engrossing but ultimately standard-issue futuristic epic with some big ideas and spiritual touches separated by loud and explosive chase scenes, high-powered gun battles and even some good old-fashioned hand-to-hand combat involving Tom Cruise. It’s the sci-fi movie equivalent of a pretty darn good cover band.

Summer in the multiplex is for the boys

Who’s the man at the multiplex this summer? In a season of epic showdowns, you have Iron Man and Superman. If that’s not enough testosterone, there’s Wolverine (half man, half beast) and Brad Pitt trying to kill men who aren’t even men anymore, but zombies. …

Schaumburg’s LEGOLAND Discovery Center unveils ‘Star Wars’ showcase

‘Star Wars’ and LEGO — for many children, they click together as tightly as one LEGO brick into another.

Starting March 8, LEGOLAND Discovery Center Chicago opens the temporary exhibit “LEGO Star Wars Miniland,” the first time an American LEGOLAND will showcase a “Stars Wars” …

13 films to watch for in 2013

If you have been to the movies once in the last six months, you know “Oz, the Great and Powerful” and “Man of Steel” are coming out in 2013. If you haven’t, you don’t really care what is coming out. Let’s talk here about some …

New on DVD for May 17, 2013

Here is a look at what’s new on DVD this week. Many of these titles were released on May 14.

Angelina Jolie says she had double mastectomy to try to prevent cancer

LOS ANGELES — Angelina Jolie says she had a preventive double mastectomy after learning that she carried a gene that makes it extremely likely she’ll get breast cancer. Jolie authored an op-ed for Tuesday’s New York Times, in which she writes that in April she finished three months of surgical procedures to remove both breasts.

Lucasfilm: New ‘Star Wars’ movie to be shot in UK

LONDON (AP) — The next “Star Wars” movie will be shot in a galaxy far, far away from Hollywood — Britain.

New on DVD for May 10, 2013

Here is a look at what’s new on DVD this week. Many of these titles were released on May 7.