“Transformers: Rise of the Beasts” wants to be “Avengers: Infinity War.” It’s got a band of heroes, an unstoppable team of powerful villains and a race to acquire mystical McGuffins, the use of which will destroy the Earth and every life on it. Okay, so Thanos only wiped out half the life on Earth (and throughout the rest of the universe). “Rise of the Beasts” still wants to tell a very similar story.

If only the filmmakers had made this movie about the giant transforming robots instead of centering it on the human characters that we don’t really care about, they might have had something special.

Set in 1994, “Rise of the Beasts” introduces us to Noah (Anthony Ramos), a former soldier who’s struggling to keep his family’s heads financially above water, and Elena (Dominique Fishback), a talented but put-upon museum intern. They find themselves drawn into a battle to protect the planet from the evil planet-consuming Unicron (Coleman Domingo) and his henchbots led by Scourge (Peter Dinklage).

To do that, Noah and Elena must team up with Optimus Prime (Peter Cullen) and his Autobot crew, as well as the Maximals and their leader, Optimus Primal (Ron Perlman). A race to pieces of a powerful Cybrotronian artifact, and lots of transforming robot carnage, ensues.

The biggest problem is that if you’re coming out to the theater to see a “Transformers” movie, you’re probably not doing it to see the human characters. You want to see Optimus Prime kick booty. You want to see robots transforming into various vehicles. You want to see robots in disguise, not some dude stressing about his family’s money problems.

Yes, you get a big opening fight between the Maximals and Scourge. But then the movie takes us into this first act that focuses on Noah struggling to help his family and Elena getting pushed around by her boss.

That would be fine if these characters were compelling, but they aren’t. They’re standard characters with standard motivations and even though Ramos and Fishback are talented actors, there’s only so much they can do.

While this causes the first act to drag, things start to pick up when Mirage (Pete Davidson) enters the story. Mirage’s interactions with his fellow Autobots are enough fun to keep the film from completely sinking until the action scenes spool up.

While there’s nothing we haven’t seen before in “Rise of the Beasts” (and I’m pretty sick of the slow-mo hero shot where a projectile whizzes past a main character, barely missing them), there’s still a bit of enjoyment to be found in watching giant robots pulverize each other. “Rise” could use some of the Bayhem that defined the action sequences in Michael Bay’s “Transformers” films, but the battle scenes save this movie.

Overall, “Transformers: Rise of the Beasts” is a mediocre summer blockbuster. It shoots for something more grand but in the end, the human story inserted into the script to bring us into the world of the movie and give us someone to relate to is the very thing that almost kills it.

2 ½ Indy fedoras out of 5

MPAA Rating: PG-13

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Miles Morales made quite a splash with his first big-screen adventure, “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.” The web-slinging adventure brought Spidey’s exploits to vivid life in a way that was closer to what you’d find in the pages of Ol’ Web-heads comics. While the latest chapter, “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” doesn’t feel quite as fresh and isn’t the sugar rush of fun that the first movie was, it’s still well worth watching.

“Across the Spider-Verse” finds Miles (Shameik Moore) trying to live something that resembles a normal teenage life while fighting bad guys. The Spot (Jason Schwartzman), a scientist who was collateral damage at the collider incident at the end of the last movie, has taken a heel turn and sworn to rob Miles of everything he holds dear.

At the same time, Gwen Stacy (Hailee Steinfeld) re-enters Miles’ life and he follows her to a different dimension where innumerable variants of Spider-Man led by Miguel O’Hara (Oscar Isaac) are trying to prevent worlds throughout the Spider-verse from blinking out of existence.

This movie doesn’t feel like just another installment in the “Spider-Verse” franchise, like way too many sequels from other franchises do. “Across the Spider-Verse” has more on its mind than just getting the hero into a situation where he has to beat this movie’s villain. It’s got questions it wants to ask, things it wants us to think about.

First and foremost, this movie is about loneliness and feeling like there’s nobody you can talk to because no one will understand what you’re going through. That point is made in the opening scene where Gwen tells us about the suffering Miles has been through. She keeps repeating “And he’s not the only one,” implying that to be a Spider-Man is to suffer and the only people who might understand are other Spider-Men.

But this movie could just as easily be about taking back one’s right to decide who you want to be and finding people you belong with. It’s also a cinematic rendering of that thought experiment where you have to choose between a runaway train killing one person you love or killing many people you don’t know. How can either choice be moral?

Because it’s juggling weightier topics, “Across the Spider-Verse” isn’t quite as much fun as the original movie. The front end of this flick also feels a little too long and it spends too much time taxiing down the runway before it really takes off.

Rest assured, though, take off it does. The action scenes make up for a lot of flaws in the film, combing stylish visuals, energy and color in a way live-action movies can’t reach quite yet. The scene where hundreds of Spidey variants chase Miles is a blast, and the fight scenes with The Spot employ portals in some really amusing ways.

Visually, “Across the Spider-Verse” can still take your breath away. From Miles and Gwen sharing an upside-down view of the city to the way the movie integrates multiple character designs and styles from multiple different comic books, this movie is always a joy to look at.

Throw in some solid voice work, especially from Steinfeld and Moore — who carry this film emotionally — and plentiful moments of humor, and “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” is almost as much fun as the first one. And with the more thought-provoking themes, this one might wind up being more rewarding on multiple watches.

3 ½ Indy Fedoras out of 5

MPAA Rating: PG

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LOS ANGELES, California (AP) — A Los Angeles County judge on Thursday said she will dismiss a lawsuit that the stars of 1968’s “Romeo and Juliet” filed over the film’s nude scene, finding that their depiction could not be considered child pornography and they filed their claim too late.

Superior Court Judge Alison Mackenzie ruled in favor of a motion from defendant Paramount Pictures to dismiss the lawsuit brought by Olivia Hussey, who played Juliet at age 15 and is now 72, and Leonard Whiting, who played Romeo at 16 and is also 72.

Mackenzie determined that the scene was protected by the First Amendment, finding that the actors “have not put forth any authority showing the film here can be deemed to be sufficiently sexually suggestive as a matter of law to be held to be conclusively illegal.”

RELATED | ‘Romeo & Juliet’ stars sue over 1968 film’s teen nude scene

In her written decision, she also found that the suit didn’t fall within the bounds of a California law that temporarily suspended the statute of limitations for child sexual abuse, and that a February re-release of the film did not change that.

The actors’ attorney denounced the decision and said they plan to file another version of the suit in federal court.

“We firmly believe that the exploitation and sexualization of minors in the film industry must be confronted and legally addressed to protect vulnerable individuals from harm and ensure the enforcement of existing laws,” lawyer Solomon Gresen said in a statement.

The film and its theme song were major hits at the time, and — despite the nude scene that briefly shows Whiting’s bare buttocks and Hussey’s bare breasts — it was played for generations of high school students studying Shakespeare’s tragedy.

Director Franco Zeffirelli, who died in 2019 at age 96, initially told the two that they would wear flesh-colored undergarments in the bedroom scene that comes late in the movie and was shot on the final days of filming, the suit alleged.

But on the morning of the shoot, Zeffirelli told Whiting and Hussey that they would wear only body makeup, while still assuring them the camera would be positioned in a way that would not show nudity, according to the suit.

Despite those assurances, they were filmed in the nude without their knowledge, in violation of California and federal laws against indecency and the exploitation of children, the suit alleged.

Zeffirelli told them they must act in the nude “or the Picture would fail” and their careers would be hurt, the suit said. The actors said that the opposite occurred, that neither had the career the film’s success suggested, and that the fraud, sexual abuse and sexual harassment they underwent caused them emotional damage and mental anguish for decades. They had sought more than $500 million in damages.

The judge, though, found that the plaintiffs “cherry-picked” from the law and failed to provide legal authority for why it should apply to “purported works of artistic merit, such as the award-winning film at issue here.”

She quoted from an appeals court precedent that said child pornography is “particularly repulsive,” but “not all images of nude children are pornographic.”

The ruling relied on California law that is meant to protect the free speech of defendants from being squelched by lawsuits, and is often the first line of defense when lawsuits are filed.

An attorney for Paramount declined to comment about the ruling.

The Associated Press typically does not name people who say they have been sexually abused unless they come forward publicly, which Hussey and Whiting did.

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HOLLYWOOD — “F9,” the last entry in the “Fast & Furious” franchise, did something I’d been waiting for years to see in these movies. It sent members of Dom Toretto’s gang to space. It was a singular moment that captured how far these movies had come since the original “Fast” flick debuted in 2001.

The problem is that once you’ve been to space, where else can your franchise go from there? For the makers of “Fast X,” the answer was to re-travel a well-worn road the franchise has traveled several times before.

“Fast X” finds Dom (Vin Diesel) and Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) in a celebratory mood the day before members of their found family embark on a mission in Italy, led by Roman (Tyrese Gibson). When they realize the mission is a trap, Dom and Letty race to help their friends out, only to run right smack into Dante Reyes (Jason Mamoa), the son of a guy they tangled with all the way back in “Fast 5.”

Cue the mayhem.

This movie is the “Fast” franchise’s latest variation on the theme of “rich, powerful baddie comes to take revenge on Dom and his family.” Dom and the gang have been running afoul of rich, powerful baddies for years and they usually tell Dom some variation of, “Your family is your weakness.” This plot is so old, it’s growing grey whiskers.

That bad guy, Reyes, is one of the weakest parts of this movie. Mamoa plays him in such a cartoonish, over-the-top way that it’s hard to take him seriously as a threat. One moment he’s talking about killing everyone Dom cares about; the next, he’s talking about ballet or dancing around like Peter Quill. I get that he’s probably going for menacingly insane but it’s hard to buy that this cat can think coherently, let alone be ten steps ahead of Dom at any moment.

Another weak link is that the dynamic between the characters in Dom’s crew is growing stale. Roman and Tej (Chris “Ludacris” Bridges) continue to bicker like an old married couple, but now it’s just tired and lacks humor, as if they’ve run out of trash talk so they have to recycle old lines.

On the plus side, director Louis Leterrier is a good fit for this franchise. He knows how to use camera movement and editing to create energy and excitement. The action scenes are fun, even if a good portion of the time you’re watching computer-generated cars crashing and creating CG explosions, CG flames and CG smoke. The early scene involving a giant rolling bomb is like the scene at the beginning of “Raiders of the Lost Ark” times a thousand.

Also, John Cena adds a bit of levity as Dom’s brother, Jakob. The scene of him rocking out to Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch was one of the few things in this movie that made me smile.

Overall, “Fast X” isn’t the worst movie I’ve ever seen. But it’s full of lazy writing, one-dimensional characters and tired plotting. They can’t even keep their in-universe laws of physics consistent in these movies. But if you like watching movie stars, “Fast X” gives you plenty of bang for your buck. The action is pretty solid. If you’re looking for some turn-off-your-brain good times, “Fast X” will be hard to beat.

2 ½ Indy Fedoras out of 5

MPAA Rating: PG-13

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“Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 3” goes to some pretty grim places. It takes an emotional toll as its plot unspools. It’s intense, scary and some scenes may be hard to watch. But it’s also a story that ends the “Guardians” trilogy on a hopeful note and rewards you for sticking with it.

“Vol. 3” picks up with Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) still struggling with the loss of Gamora (Zoe Saldana) during the events of “Avengers: Endgame.” Quill’s moping is interrupted when an encounter with Adam Warlock (Will Poulter) leaves Rocket (Bradley Cooper) on the verge of death.

Quill marshalls the rest of the Guardians to undertake a mission to save Rocket, which means teaming up with a different version of Gamora who doesn’t like Quill too much. It also means throwing down with The High Evolutionary (Chukwudi Iwuji), a powerful but cruel scientist bent on creating the perfect society and destroying billions of lives in the process. What is it about crafting a perfect society that drives everyone who tries it crazy?

“Vol. 3” is much darker than the proceeding “Guardians” movies, with much of the darkness coming in scenes that explore Rocket’s origin. Through a series of flashbacks, we see where Rocket came from, what was done to him as he was being created and what that process cost him.

The film makes very clear how tortuous Rocket’s creation was for him and how cruel and abusive The High Evolutionary is. Even though these atrocities are being carried out against computer-generated animals, it’s still disturbing. Because of these scenes, I find it hard to recommend “Vol. 3” to families with young kids or to people who love animals.

If you get past that, “Vol. 3” has a lot of good stuff to offer, especially in the way the characters develop and show sides of them we’ve not yet seen. Drax (Dave Bautista), Mantis (Pom Klementieff) and Groot (Vin Deisel) all get character moments that show how they’ve grown and changed through the “Guardians” films. Even beloved side characters, like Kraglin (Sean Gunn) and Cosmo the Spacedog (Maria Bakalova), get their moments to shine.

Visually, “Vol. 3” still takes us to some crazy locations, including an organically-grown space station. Writer/director James Gunn is one of Marvel’s more talented visual stylists, so the action scenes are stylish and fun, while the color palette is more vivid than what you normally get in a Marvel movie.

As for the acting, you can kind of tell some of the actors are done playing these characters. Saldana isn’t bad this time around but it does feel like she’s holding back a bit, as if she’d love to be somewhere else. Other performances help lift the movie. Klementieff and Bautista are still fun to watch together. Pratt continues to find new layers within the Quill character.

The major flaws “Vol. 3” has are mostly related to elements of the Marvel movie formula that it just can’t get away from. I, for one, have had enough of seeing death fake-outs in Marvel movies. The humor is dialed back a little and that’s appropriate for the story they’re telling. But it still rears its ugly head at inappropriate times. And if I’m honest, the third act of this movie drags a little.

Still, “Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 3” is a very solid ending for one of the better Marvel Cinematic Universe trilogies. Considering where these characters started out, as junior varsity (at best) characters for Marvel and the way Gunn and his collaborators were able to get a massive moviegoing audience to fall for weird ideas like an anthropomorphic tree and talking raccoon, it’s hard for me to think of a better way to send this team of heroes off.

3 ½ Indy Fedoras out of 5

MPAA Rating: PG-13

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(CNN) — Netflix is officially winding down the business that helped make it a household name.

This fall, the streaming giant will officially say goodbye to its DVD rental service and all of the red envelopes that made it possible.

“On September 29th, 2023, we will send out the last red envelope,” the company tweeted Tuesday. “It has been a true pleasure and honor to deliver movie nights to our wonderful members for 25 years.”

“Our goal has always been to provide the best service for our members, but as the DVD business continues to shrink, that’s going to become increasingly difficult,” co-CEO Ted Sarandos wrote in a blog post Tuesday. “Making 2023 our Final Season allows us to maintain our quality of service through the last day and go out on a high note.”

The company reported a miss for its second-quarter earnings after market close on Tuesday. Shares fell by around 6%.

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Illumination, the studio that made “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” has a reputation for prioritizing elements like humor and action over the narratives of its movies. “Super Mario Bros.” is chock full of colorful, exciting action sequences that bring its video game source material to life, yet its story is as bland as plain cottage cheese.

That’s a long way of saying that you’d probably be able to tell Illumination made “Super Mario Bros.” even if it didn’t have the studio logo at the head of the film.

“Super Mario Bros.” introduces us to Mario (Chris Pratt) and Luigi (Charlie Day), two brothers who’ve just started a plumbing business in their hometown of Brooklyn. An encounter with a strange pipe sends them hurtling into a strange land and getting separated. Mario joins forces with Princess Peach (Anya Taylor-Joy) in the quest to find Luigi and recruit the Kong army to help them thwart the Koopa invasion led by Bowser (Jack Black).

The main reasons to see “Super Mario Bros.” are Black’s performance as Bowser and the wonderful action scenes. Black is easily the best thing about this movie. His deep, thundering voice possesses real menace and yet he deftly bounces back and forth between scary and funny. Oh, and the piano ballad he sings for Princess Peach? The brightest highlight of the movie.

Not far behind that, however, are the movie’s action scenes. They are so full of imaginative camera work, kinetic movement and vivid colors that you can’t help but smile. In particular, the Rainbow Road sequence involving speeding karts was more fun than anything I’ve seen in any recent Marvel movies and took me back to warm memories of watching “Wacky Races” cartoons as a little kid. It was kind of magical.

If all you’re looking for from this movie is a faithful, fun adaptation of some old video games, I suspect you’ll be plenty happy. Unfortunately, Illumination Studios movies do Illumination Studio movies things and once you get past Black and the action sequences, “Super Mario Bros.” doesn’t have much to offer in the story department.

“Super Mario Bros.” follows the well-worn plotline of “ruler seeks help to stop an invading force from destroying their picturesque kingdom.” Taken at its most basic level, “Super Mario Bros.” treads the same story path as movies like “Star Wars – Episode 1: The Phantom Menace.” In a world as colorful and imaginative as the Mushroom Kingdom, that just feels like a let-down and it really put a damper on my enthusiasm for this movie.

That’s not to say that “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” is bad. Pretty far from it. It’s got some laughs. Although Black steals the show, the rest of the cast is pretty solid. It’s a beautiful-looking film, and the action is terrific. It’s not quite on the level of “Dungeons & Dragons,” another recently-released game adaptation. Still, if you grew up playing the “Mario” games or if your kids are into them, this movie is the best way to spend an hour and a half.

Next to playing the actual games, of course.

3 Indy Fedoras out of 5

MPAA Rating: PG

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(CNN) — The live action remake of “The Little Mermaid” will have updated lyrics to include consent, the songwriter has said.

The classic Disney movie, originally released as an animation in 1989, has been updated to reflect changing social attitudes towards consent, according to composer Alan Menken, who wrote the soundtrack to the original movie with Howard Ashman.

Songs “Kiss the Girl” and “Poor Unfortunate Souls” will include new lyrics to reflect this shift.

Menken collaborated with American songwriter Lin-Manuel Miranda on the live-action remake, which will premiere next month.

“There are some lyric changes in ‘Kiss the Girl’ because people have gotten very sensitive about the idea that [Prince Eric] would, in any way, force himself on [Ariel],” Menken said in an interview with Vanity Fair last week.

In the movie, Ariel makes a deal with sea witch Ursula to trade her beautiful voice for human legs so she can explore the world above water and impress Prince Eric. In the animated classic, Ariel must secure the kiss of “true love” within three days, or else she transforms back into a mermaid and will belong to Ursula. The song’s lyrics urge Prince Eric to kiss Ariel before it’s too late.

In the original lyrics to “Kiss the Girl,” Sebastian, Ariel’s crab pal, sings: “Yes, you want her. Look at her, you know you do. Possible she wants you, too. There is one way to ask her. It don’t take a word. Not a single word. Go on and kiss the girl.”

“Poor Unfortunate Souls” has also been revised, Menken said, because the original contained “lines that might make young girls somehow feel that they shouldn’t speak out of turn, even though Ursula is clearly manipulating Ariel to give up her voice.”

“The men up there don’t like a lot of blabber. They think a girl who gossips is a bore,” sings Ursula in the original track.

“Yet on land it’s much preferred for ladies not to say a word. And after all, what is idle babble for?”

Ursula advises Ariel: “It’s she who holds her tongue who gets a man.”

The new lyrics to the songs have not yet been revealed.

The remake directed by Rob Marshall and is set to premiere in theaters on May 26.

It features Halle Bailey as Ariel, Melissa McCarthy as Ursula, Jonah Hauer-King as Prince Eric and Javier Bardem as King Triton.

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LONDON (AP) — For “Star Wars” lovers, new entertainment is a little less far, far away — Lucasfilm announced three new live-action films in the franchise Friday.

The news, which includes the return of Daisy Ridley as Rey in one of the films, was revealed at Star Wars Celebration Europe 2023 in London by Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy and also on the Star Wars website. Directing the movies will be James Mangold, Dave Filoni and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy. Kennedy brought the directors onstage for the announcement.

Mangold’s film will return to the dawn of the Jedi. Filoni’s will be about the New Republic, and “will close out the interconnected stories told in ‘The Mandalorian,’ ‘The Book of Boba Fett,’ ‘Ahsoka,’ and other Disney+ series,” the announcement said. Obaid-Chinoy’s movie will focus on the events after “The Rise of Skywalker,” and feature Ridley back as Rey “as she builds a new Jedi Order.”

Mangold directed “Logan” and the upcoming “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.” Filoni helmed “The Mandalorian” and “Ahsoka,” and Obaid-Chinoy directed “Ms. Marvel” and “Saving Face.”

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It’s been a while since I last played Dungeons and Dragons. I’m talking since before COVID hit. I miss throwing dice and having adventures with my nearest and dearest. But for the two hours and fourteen minutes I spent watching “Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves,” I felt like I was hanging out with my old party, cracking jokes, talking trash and having a blast.

That is the highest compliment I can pay “Honor Among Thieves”: that while I was watching it, I wasn’t missing my old D&D gang.

“Honor Among Thieves” tells the tale of Edgin (Chris Pine) and Holga (Michelle Rodriguez), two old friends who embark on a mission to free Edgin’s daughter from the clutches of Forge (Hugh Grant). They recruit sorcerer Simon (Justice Smith) and shape-shifting Doric (Sophia Lillis) in their mission to bring down Forge and evil wizard Sofina (Daisy Head). The quest is stuffed full of monsters, magic and even a little romance.

While it’s set in a fantasy world, “Honor Among Thieves” doesn’t try to be a “Lord of the Rings”-style epic adventure. Instead, this movie is a fast-paced, funny heist movie with a lively cast. Think of it as “Ocean’s Eleven” where the leads have to stop their thieving every so often to cross swords or fight dragons.

In other words, this movie is a blast.

The foundation of all this fun is a witty, well-balanced script written by Jonathan Goldstein, John Francis Daily and Michael Gilio. Between the script and the direction by Goldstein and Daily, it becomes clear that the filmmakers love Dungeons and Dragons and understand what makes the game so cool. They get that it’s as much about getting the right people together to play with as the specifics of the game itself that makes D&D fun.

In that regard, Goldstein and Daily hit a home run. This cast is delightful. Pine and Rodriguez work really well together as the buffoon and deadpan duo in the movie. Grant is a scene stealer and gets a whole bunch of the film’s biggest laughs. Smith and Lillis also have plenty of highlight scenes that make their characters feel like essential members of the party and not just distracting side characters.

The filmmakers’ love for D&D shows up in the action scenes, too. While the battles don’t rewrite the action sequence handbook, most of them go that little extra mile to provide something memorable. For example, Holga gets to beat up bad guys using whatever she finds around her in a way that recalls some great Jackie Chan movies.

But my favorite part of “Honor Among Thieves” is the way this movie feels like an actual D&D campaign you’re playing through with friends. You can almost feel the personalities of the players manipulating the characters on screen. You get to laugh at their misfortunes and rejoice at their successes, just like in a real game. I wasn’t expecting that from this movie but I’m so glad that I got it.

“Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves” is a cut above the usual big Hollywood franchise movie. It gets a level of care from the filmmakers that it just wouldn’t get if all that mattered to them was making money. It doesn’t throw any twists at you and it can be a bit predictable, but this movie is so fun, it more than makes up for its flaws.

3 ½ Indy Fedoras out of 5

MPAA Rating: PG-13

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